History of Utah ..

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HIST0RY 2F (JTAH

COMPRISING

PRELIMINARY CHAPTERS ON THE PREVIOUS HISTORY OF HER FOUNDERS, ACCOUNTS
OF EARLY SPANISH AND AMERICAN EXPLORATIONS IN THE ROCKY MOUN-
TAIN REGION, THE ADVENT OF THE MORMON PIONEERS, THE ESTAB-
LISHMENT AND DISSOLUTION QF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERN-
MENT OF THE STATE OF DESERET, AND THE SUBSEQUENT
CREATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE TERRITORY.

in royR VOLUMES.

By ORSON F. WHITNEY.

lllusfpafcd.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH :

GEORGE Q. CANNON & SONS CO., PUBLISHERS.

MARCH, 1892.

r

COPYRIGHT APPLIED FOR.

1714325

PREFACE.

/i. HE author here presents the first volume of his history of Utah,
>r a work which has engaged his attention, though not uninter-
ruptedly, since May, 1890. As will be seen, it is a continuous
historical narrative of the early settlement and formation of the Ter-
ritory and its growth and development up to the year 1861, a point
of time just prior to the advent of the electric telegraph, and not
long before the arrival of the great Pacific Railway. This period,
which marks in local annals the close of one era and the beginning
of another, seemed a fitting place for the authors pen to pause,
while the press gave the first fruits of his present labor to the
public.

Necessarily this volume has most to say of the Mormon people.
Being the pioneers and earliest builders of our inter-mountain com-
monwealth, it was as proper as it was unavoidable to give them first
and foremost mention in a work of this character. It was also
deemed essential, for reasons stated elsewhere, that the opening
chapters should deal more or less comprehensively with the history
of Utah's pioneers and founders prior to their advent into the Great
Basin. Something of their religious and political views, their early
experiences in the east and the motives which impelled them west-
ward, are therefore herein contained. Of the non-Mormon portion
of the community, and the important part played by them in the
stirring drama of our social, political and material development, as
much will be said hereafter.

As the author has endeavored, in volume one, to present a fair
and truthful statement of facts antedating and leading up to the new
era that was ushered in by the telegraph and the locomotive. — which

iv PREFACE.

came as it were on the wings of the lightning, or on the back of the
enchanted iron horse, — he will as diligently strive, in the succeeding
volumes, to deal faithfully and impartially with events that have
since taken place. It is the design, after completing the general nar-
rative here begun, to give the histories of the various counties of the
Territory, and the professions and pursuits of the people. Special
chapters on agriculture, manufacture, mining, commerce, etc., may
be looked for; as well as others on churches, newspapers, theaters,
railways and other agencies of civilization. Literature, music
and the drama, poets, painters and sculptors will each be placed in
an appropriate niche, while bench and bar, civil and military affairs
in general and in detail will all be duly represented. Biographies of
prominent citizens, men and women, will also form a feature of the
work.

In conclusion, the author expresses his grateful appreciation to
all who have in any way assisted or encouraged him in his literary
labors: to Dr. John 0. Williams, to whom belongs the credit of
originating the history project — of which he was once the main pro-
prietor— and of pushing forward the business pertaining to it with
characteristic energy and ability; to Mr. J. H. E. Webster, his part-
ner, who, in conjunction with Dr. Williams, has ably conducted and
continues to conduct the canvass for the work. With these gentle-
men and their associates my relations have been of the most pleasant
character. To President Wilford Woodruff and council, and other
leading citizens, for their warm approval and endorsement of the
project: to Governor Arthur L. Thomas, for various courtesies
extended ; to the Church historian, Apostle Franklin D. Richards, his
assistant, John Jaques, General Robert T. Burton and A. M. Musser,
Esq., for advice and assistance such as an author can best appreciate,
I feel deeply indebted. Nor should the name of Hon. F. S. Richards
be omitted, he being one of the first to recognize the importance of
the history enterprise, as a public benefit, and to give it his hearty
encouragement and support. To the press of Salt Lake City and the
Territory in general, to the Union Pacific, Rio Grande Western and

PREFACE. v

Utah Central railways, and the Salt Lake City Railroad Company, I
return hearty thanks for favors bestowed. The share of credit clue
the publishers and now main proprietors of the history — Messrs.
George Q. Cannon and Sons — is manifest from the appearance of the
work itself.

I shall begin immediately upon the second volume, and while
taking time and pains to do the work in a manner worthy the subject,
it is my intention to push it to completion with all possible dispatch.

Orson F. Whitney.

Salt Lake City,

February, 1892.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

1805-1827.

Page.
Antecedents of Utah's Early Settlers — Joseph Smith and Mormonism — The Prophet's
Birth and Boyhood — Social and Religious Phases of Seventy Years Ago — Seek-
ing for the True Church — Joseph's First Vision — The Father and the Son — For-
bidden to Join any of the Churches — The Youth tells his Story — Prejudice and
Persecution — The Angel Moroni — Discovery of the Golden Plates — The Prophet
on Probation — The Record of Mormon, the Nephite, in the Hands of Joseph,
the Translator. 17

CHAPTER II.

1827-1830.
Translation of the Book of Mormon — Poverty and Persecution — The " Money-
Digging and Wife-Stealing" Stories — Martin Harris — The Prophet Removes to
Pennsylvania — Description of the Plates and the Urim and Thummim — Martin
Harris and Professor Anthon — The Reputed Method of Translation — The Stolen
Manuscript — Oliver Cowdery — John the Baptist and the Aaronic Priesthood —
Baptism of Joseph and Oliver — Joseph Knight's Beneficence — David Whitmer —
Joseph and Oliver Remove from Harmony to Fayette — The Melchisedek Priest-
hood—The Three Witnesses— The Eight— The Translation Complete and the
Book of Mormon Given to the World 28

CHAPTER III.
What the Book of Mormon Claims to be — The Narrative of the Nephite Record —
How the World Received it — The Spaulding Story — " Mormonism Unveiled" —
The Sidney Rigdon Anachronism — Discovery of the Original "Manuscript
Story" — Its Condensed Narrative — Mormon's Record and Spaulding's Romance
Compared — Reynolds' " Myth of the Manuscript Found" — President Fairchild's
Opinion — Numerous Editions of the Translated Work 37

CHAPTER IV.

1830.
Organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — The Doctrine of
Common Consent — Oliver Cowdery the First Public Preacher of Mormonism —
Newel Knight— The First Conference of the Church— The Elders at Colesville—
Joseph Smith Arrested for " Preaching the Book of Mormon " — His Trial and
Acquittal at South Bainbridge — Re-arrested and Tried at Colesville — Another
Failure to Convict — Return to Pennsylvania — A Schism Threatening the Church
— Revival of Opposition at Harmony — The Prophet Removes with his Family
to Fayette — The Schism Averted — -A Mission to the Lamanites Announced. 57

viii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

1830-1831. Page.

Mormonism's Mission to the Lamanites — Its Significance — Oliver Cowdery, Parley P.
Pratt, Peter Whitmer, Junior, and Ziba Peterson the Chosen Evangelists to the
Red Men — Their Departure for the West — The Catteraugus Indians — Kirtland
and the Gampbellites — Sidney Rigdon — His Conversion to Mormonism —
Edward Partridge — Newel K. Whitney — Success of the Elders in Ohio — Their
Pilgrimage Resumed — Elder Pratt's Arrest and Escape — Simeon Carter — Among
the Wyandols — Storms and Privations — Arrival at Independence, Missouri —
Preaching to the Delawares — Government Agents and Christian Missionaries —
The Elders Ordered out of the Indian Country. 66

CHAPTER VI.
1830-1833.
The Church Removes to Ohio — The United Order — Organization of the Rishopric —
Joseph Smith's First Visit to Missouri — Jackson County the Chosen Site of the
City of Zion — The Land Dedicated for the Gathering of Israel and the Ruilding
of the New Jerusalem — The Return to Kirtland — The Prophet and Elder
Rigdon at Hiram — A Vision of Human Destiny — The Mobbing of Joseph and
Sidney — A Second Visit to Missouri — The War of the Rebellion Predicted —
The First Presidency organized — The Kirtland Temple Projected. . . 79

CHAPTER VII.
1833.
The Jackson County Expulsion and its Causes — Mobocratic Mass Meetings at Indepen-
dence— Destruction of the Office of the "Evening and Morning Star "—Bishop
Partridge Tarred and Feathered — The Mormons Required to Leave the County
Forthwith— A Truce Agreed upon — The Mob Rreak their Pledge — Renewal of
Depredations — The Mormons Appeal to Governor Dunklin — He Advises them to
seek Redress in the Courts — Legal Proceedings Instituted — The Mob Enraged — ■
The October and November Riots — A Battle on the Big Blue — Lieutenant-
Governor Boggs calls out the Militia — The Mormons Disarmed and Driven —
Clay County receives the Refugees — Jackson County, Missouri, still " The Land
of Zion." 100

CHAPTER VIII.
1833-1837.
Brigham Young, the Founder of Utah, Embraces Mormonism— Heber C. Kimball
Enters the Fold— Wilford Woodruff— George A. Smith— Jedediah M. Grant—
Erastus Snow — The First High Council Organized — Zion's Camp — The Twelve
Apostles Chosen — The Seventies Selected — A Revelation on Priesthood —
Mormonism and Education — The Kirtland Temple Dedicated — Lorenzo Snow —
The Missouri Mormons — Their Removal from Clay County to Caldwell — The
Founding of Far West. *. Ill

CONTENTS. ix

CHAPTER IX.

1836-1838. Page.

The Kirtland Apostasy — The Temporal at War with the Spiritual — Financial
Disasters — " Something New must be done to Save the Church " — Opening of
the British Mission — Heber C. Kimball and his Confreres in Lancashire —
Marvelous Success of Mormonism Abroad — Affairs at Kirtland Continued — A
Dark Hour — Brigham Young's Fidelity — John Taylor — Setting in Order the
Church — Flight of the Prophet and his Friends from Kirtland — The Church"
Removes to Missouri — Excommunications — New Calls to the Apostleship — The

Law of Tithing Instituted 131

CHAPTER X.
1838-1839.

The Mormons in Missouri — Far West, Diahman and Dewitt — A Slumbering Volcano
— Celebrating the Nation's Birthday — The State Election — Attempt to Prevent
Mormons from Voting — The Gallatin Riot — The Volcano Awakes — Daviess
County in Arms — Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight Arrested — The Mob Army
Threatens Diahman — The Mormons arm in Self-defense — Generals Atchison,
Parks and Doniphan — The Saints Exonerated — Siege and Bombardment of
Dewitt — Governor Boggs Appealed to — He Declines to Interfere — Dewitt Evacu-
ated and Diahman again Threatened — -Gilliam's Guerillas — The Mormon
Militia Make War upon the Mob — The Danites — Battle of Crooked River — Death
of David W. Patten — Governor Boggs Espouses the Cause of the Mobocrats —
The Mormons to be " Exterminated or Driven from the State" — The Haun's
Mill Massacre — Fall of Far West — The Mormon Leaders in Chains — Liberty

Jail— The Exodus to Illinois 142

CHAPTER XI.
1839-1842.

Nauvoo — The Saints in Illinois and Iowa — Daniel H. Wells — The Apostles Depart
for Europe — -The Prophet lays the Grievances of His People Before the General
Government — President Van Buren's Reply — " Your Cause is Just, but I can do
Nothing for You" — Illinois Politics — Whigs and Democrats — The Mormons
Hold the Balance of Power — A Cloud on the Horizon — Missouri Demands
of Illinois the Mormon Leaders as Fugitives from Justice — The Requisition
Returned Unserved — The Nauvoo Charter — The Apostles in Great Britain — The
Beginning of Mormon Emigration from Abroad — The Saints Concentrate at
Nauvoo — The Politicians Alarmed — Rise of the Anti-Mormon Party — The
Missouri Writ Re-issued and the Prophet Arrested — Habeas Corpus — Judge
Douglas — Liberation — John C. Bennett — The Shadow of a Coming Event — The
Prophet Predicts the Flight of His People to the Rocky Mountains. . 107

CHAPTER XII.
1842-1843.

Again in the Toils — Joseph Smith and Porter Rockwell Arrested, Charged with
Attempted Murder — Ex-Governor Boggs of Missouri the Alleged Victim — How

x CONTENTS.

Pace.
the Deed was Done — The Prisoners Released by Habeas Corpus — They Evade
Re-arrest — Rockwell Kidnapped and Carried to Missouri — Governor Ford Suc-
ceeds Governor Carlin — The Prophet Submits to a Judicial Investigation — Judge
Pope — The Mormon Leader Again Liberated — Another Requisition — Joseph
Smith Kidnapped — His Rescue and Release — Anti-Mormon Depredations

Around Nauvoo 197

CHAPTER XIII.
1843-1.^44.
Celestial Marriage — Why the Mormons Practiced Polygamy — The Prophet and the
Politicians — Joseph Smith a Candidate for President -of the United States — His
Platform of Principles — Planning the Western Exodus — The Laws, Fosters, and
Higbees Excommunicated — The "Expositor"' Abatement — Arrest of the Mayor
and City Council of Nauvoo— A Gathering Storm — Nauvoo under Martial Law —
Governor Ford Demands the Surrender of the Mormon Leaders — The Prophet
and his Friends Start for the Rocky Mountains — The Return — The Surrender —
Carthage Jail — Murder of the Prophet and Patriarch. .... 210

CHAPTER XIV.
1844-1845.
Rrigham Young Succeeds Joseph Smith — The Man for the Hour — Sidney Rigdon
Rejected and Excommunicated — Factions and Followings — The Prophet's
Murder Proves an Impetus to Mormonism — The Crusade Renewed — The
Apostles Driven into Retirement — The " Bogus Brigham " Arrest — Repeal of
the Nauvoo Charter — Josiah Lamborn's Opinion of the Repeal — Governor Ford
Advises a Mormon Exodus — The Prophet's Murderers Acquitted — The Anti-
Mormons Change Their Tactics — The Torch of the Incendiary in Lieu of the
Writ of Arrest — Sheriff Rackenstos — The Mobocrats Worsted and put to Flight
— Governor Ford Interposes to Restore Order — General Hardin and the

Commissioners — The Mormons Agree to Leave Illinois 233

CHAPTER XV.
1845-1*47.
The Exodus — Brigham Young Leads his People Westward — Sugar Creek — Samuel
Brannan and the Ship "Brooklyn" — Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah — The
Saints Reach the Missouri River — The Mexican War and the Mormon Battalion
— Elder Little and President Polk — Colonel Kane — More Anti-Mormon Demon-
strations— The Battle of Nauvoo — Expulsion of the Mormon Remnant from the
City — Colonel Kane's Description of Nauvoo — The Church in the Wilderness

— Winter Quarters. 248

CHAPTER XVI.

1540-1847.

Mi. Beginning of Utah History — Why the .Mormons did not Colonize the Pacific

Coast — The (iioat Basin — Utah's Physical Features — Daniel Webster on the

"Worthless West " — Early Spanish Explorations — Escalante in Utah Valley —

La Hontan's Hearsays — American Trappers on the Shores of the Great Salt

CONTENTS. xi

Page.
Lake — Colonel Bridger — Captain Bonneville — Colonel Fremont — Early Emigra-
tions from the Missouri to the Pacific — The Dormer Disaster. . . . 281
CHAPTER XVII.
1847.
The Mormon Pioneers — Their Journey Across the Great Plains — Pawnees and Sioux
— The Pioneer Buffalo Hunt — Fort Laramie — The Mississippi Mormons — South
Pass — Major Harris — Colonel Bridger — " A Thousand Dollars for the First Ear
of Corn Raised in Salt Lake Valley " — A Discouraging Prospect — Elder Brannan
Again — Some of the Battalion Boys — Fort Bridger — Miles Goodyear — Echo
Canyon— The Valley of the Great Salt Lake 298

CHAPTER XVIII.
1847.
Pen Picture of Salt Lake Valley — How it Looked to the Pioneers — Contrasted Impres-
sions— Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow the First Explorers — The Camp on City
Creek — Plowing and Planting — Arrival of the President — The First Sabbath
Service in the Valley — Orson Pratt's Sermon to the Pioneers — Brigham Young
Lays Down the Law — Apostle Lyman and Elder Brannan Arrive — Exploring
and Colonizing — Ensign Peak Named — The Great Salt Lake Visited — Black
Rock Christened — Tooele Valley — Utah Lake Seen — Salt Lake City Planned
and Located. ........... 325

CHAPTER XIX.
1847.
The Pioneer Settlers Reinforced — Captain James Brown and his Company — The
Mississippi Mormons — An Indian Affray — Utes and Shoshones — The " Old
Fort " Projected — The First City Survey — Utah Valley Explored — " Renewing
Covenants" and "Selecting Inheritances" — Cache Valley Visited — Ascent of Twin
Peaks— The First House Finished in Salt Lake City— The First White Child
Born in Utah — First Death in the Pioneer Colony — The Ox-team Companies
Return to Winter Quarters — Great Salt Lake City Named — The Pioneer Leaders
Recross the Plains — Immigration of 1847 — Captains of Hundreds and Fifties —
The First Stake of Zion in the Rocky Mountains — Arrivals from the West —
Winter at the Fort — Harriet Young's Adventure — Indian Captives and Captors —
Cedar and Rush Valleys Explored— Close of the Year 1847. . . . 342

CHAPTER XX.
1847-1849.
Founding New Settlements — Brigham Young as a Colonizer — Davis County Occupied
— The Goodyear Purchase — The Cricket Plague — Saved by the Gulls — Days of
Famine — The First Harvest Feast — How Gold was Discovered in California —
Immigration of 1848 — Matters Spiritual and Temporal — Lands Distributed to
the Settlers— The First Utah Currency— More Apostles Ordained— The Stake
Reorganized— Salt Lake City Divided into Bishops' Wards. . . . 370

xii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXI.

1849. Page.

Beginning of Utah's Political History — The Provisional Government of Deseret —
Utah Valley Settled— The Ute Indians— Sowiette and Walkara— The Gold-
Hunters — " Winter Mormons " — Deseret Applies for Statehood — First Celebra-
tion of Pioneer Day — The Stansbury Expedition — The Perpetual Emigrating
Fund — The First Missionaries Sent from the Rocky Mountains — Why Brigham
Young Discouraged Mining — The Great Salt Lake Valley Carrying Company —
Sanpete and Tooele Valleys Settled. 389

CHAPTER XXII.
1849-1851.
Salt Lake, Weber, Utah, Sanpete, Juab and Tooele Counties Created — Parley P. Pratt
Explores Southern Utah — The First Indian War — A Skirmish at Battle Creek
—The Two Days' Fight at Provo— Table Mountain— A Treaty of Peace— The
Pioneer Newspaper of the Rocky Mountains — Death of Presiding Bishop
Whitney — The First P. E. Fund Emigration — George A. Smith Pioneers Iron
County — Educational Beginnings — The University of Deseret — The Cities of
Salt Lake, Ogden, Provo, Manti and Parowan Receive their Charters — The
First Municipal Government in the Great Basin. ..... 420

CHAPTER XX III.
1850-1852.
Utah Territory Created — Brigham Young Governor — How the News Beached Deseret
— Dissolution of the Provisional Government — Its Acts Recapitulated — The First
Utah Census — The First Territorial Election — John M. Bernhisel Delegate to
Congress — Arrival of the Federal Officials — Brandebury, Brocchus and Harris —
A Discontented Trio — Judge Brocchus Insults the Mormon People at Their
Conference — Brigham Young's Beply — The Three Officials Leave the Territory
— Governor Young's Letter to President Fillmore — Beport of the "Runaway"
Judges and Secretary — A Case of Moral and Official Hari-Kari — The Grant
Letters — Utah's First Legislative Assembly — Its Initial Acts — The First Murder
Trial in Utah — Fillmore, Millard County, the Chosen Capital of the Territory
— Box Elder and Juab Counties Settled — The San Bernardino Colony — A Ter-
ritorial Library — Probate Judges and Their Jurisdiction. . . . 442

CHAPTER XXIV.
1852-1853.
A Great Pacific Railway Wanted — The Governor and Legislature of Utah Petition
Congress for its Construction — Celestial Marriage Proclaimed to the World as a
Mormon Doctrine — Orson Pratt Preaches the First Sermon on Polygamy — His
Mission to Washington — The "Seer" — Utah's ottering to the Washington Monu-
ment— Governor Young on Manual Training and Home Industries — His Views
of Slavery — Feramorz Little and the Mail Service — The Pioneer Merchants of
Utah— Dramatic Beginnings — The Salt Lake Temple Begun — Arrival of the
New Federal Officials 486

CONTENTS. xiii

CHAPTER XXV.

1853-1854. Page.

Another Indian War — Causes of the Outbreak — Pedro Leon and his Associates —
Governor Young Proclaims Against the Mexican Slave-traders — Purchase of Fort
Bridger — Walker on the War Path — Indian Raids in Utah and Sanpete Valleys
— The War Becomes General — Colonel George A. Smith Given Command of the
Southern Utah Military Districts — Governor Young's Letter to Chief Walker —
The Gunnison Massacre — End of the Walker War — Other Events of 1853-4 —
Summit, Green River and Carson Counties Created — Utah Settlements at the
Close of 1853 — John C. Fremont at Parowan — Death of President Willard

Richards — A Grasshopper Visitation. 508

CHAPTER XXVI.
1854-1856.
Brigham Young's Record as Governor — An Administration Acceptable to Both Mor-
mons and Gentiles — They Unitedly Petition for his Reappointment — Colonel
Steptoe — The Gunnison Massacre Investigated and the Murderers brought to
Justice — Death of the Ute Chief Walker — The Triumph of Brigham Young's
Indian Policy — Why the Savages Drew a Distinction Between " Americans " and
"Mormons" — Death of Chief Justice Reed — Judge Kinney Succeeds Him —
Morgan County Settled — The Elk Mountain and Salmon River Missions — The
Carson Colony — George Q. Cannon and the "Western Standard" — Death of
Associate-Justice Shaver — The Mormon People Honor the Memory of Their
Departed Friend — Judge Drummond Succeeds Judge Shaver — The Utah Legis-
lature Convenes at Fillmore — Another Movement for Statehood — Cache, Box

Elder and Other Counties Settled 532

CHAPTER XX VII.

1856.

A Year of Calamities — Another Famine in Utah — More Indian Outbreaks — Death of

Colonel Babbitt — Massacre of the Margetts Party — The Hand-cart Disaster —

Narratives of Messrs. Chislett and Jaques — The Reformation — Death of Jedediah

M. Grant 547

CHAPTER XXVIII.
1856-1857.
The Utah Expedition — Buchanan's Blunder — Some of the Causes which Led to It —
An Historic Beview — The Magraw Letter — Judge Drummond's Charges — Clerk
Bolton's Reply — Indian Agent Twiss and his Complaint — The B. Y. Express
Carrying Company — The Real Reason why the Troops were Sent to Utah — Sec-
retary Floyd and his Record — Mormondom Sacrificed to Favor Secession —
Blaine on Buchanan's Cabinet — General Scott's Instructions to the Army — Fera-
morz Little and the New York Herald — The Expedition Starts Westward —
Mayor Smoot Brings the News to Utah. ...... 567

CHAPTER XXIX.
1857.
Pioneer Day in the Tops of the Wasatch Mountains — The Celebration at Silver Lake

xiv CONTENTS.

Page.

— Tidings of the Coming of the Troops — How the News was Received — Brigham
Young Determines to Resist the Entry of the Army into Salt Lake Valley — Gen-
eral Johnston and his Command Leave Fort Leavenworth — Captain Van Vliet
Precedes the Expedition to Utah — His Interviews with Governor Young — The
Mormon Leader's Ultimatum — "When those Troops Arrive They shall find Utah
a Desert" — A Second Moscow Threatened — Van Vliet's Official Report. . 600
CHAPTER XXX.
1857-1858.
The Echo Canyon Campaign — Utah Under Martial Law — Colonel Burton Takes the
Field — The United States Troops Enter the Territory — General Wells Goes to
the Front — Echo Canyon Fortified — Lot Smith Burns the Government Trains —
Major Taylor's Capture — Mormon Cossacks — Colonel Alexander's Dilemma — He
Starts for Soda Springs — Colonel Burton Intercepts Him — The Project Aban-
doned— Correspondence Between Colonel Alexander and Governor Young —
Apostle Taylor's Letter to Captain Marcy — Arrival of General Johnston — A
March of Misery — Forts Bridger and Supply Burnt — Colonel Cooke's Experience
— Camp Scott — The Federal Army goes into Winter Quarters — Return of the
Militia — Preparing for the Spring Campaign 619

CHAPTER XXXI.

1858.
President Buchanan Begins to see His Blunder — Colonel Kane the Mediator — His
Mission to Utah — The Mormons Agree to Receive Governor Gumming, but not
With an Army at his Heels — Colonel. Kane Visits Camp Scott — He Escorts the
New Executive to Salt Lake City — Cordial Meeting of the Two Governors —
Judge Drummond's Falsehood Exploded — The Court Records Found Intact —
The "Move " South — The Peace Commissioners — President Buchanan's Pardon
— Johnston's Army Enters the Valley — Camp Floyd — The Citizens Return to
Their Homes. 664

CHAPTER XXXII.

1858-1861.
After " The War " — The Federal Courts in Operation — Judge Sinclair §eeks to
Renew the Strife — He Sentences a Murderer to be Hung on Sunday — Judge
Cradlebaugh's Administration — The Story of the Mountain Meadows Massacre —
Cradlebaugh's Vain Attempt to Fasten the Awful Crime upon the Mormon
Leaders — He Summons the Military to his Aid — The Court House at Provo Sur-
rounded by Federal Bayonets — The Citizens Protest and the Governor Proclaims
Against the Military Occupation — A Conspiracy to Arrest President Young
Thwarted by Governor Gumming — Attorney-General Black Rebukes the Utah
Judges— The Anti-Mormons Seek the Removal of Governor Gumming — Colonel
Kane to the Rescue — How Utah was Affected by Johnston's Army — Horace
Greeley at Salt Lake City — More Newspapers — The " Valley Tan" and the
"Mountaineer" — William H. Hooper Delegate to Congress — The Pony Express
— The Civil War — Camp Floyd Abandoned 689

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Brigham Young
Joseph Smith
Hyrum Smith
Parley P. Pratt
Heber C. Kimball -
Willard Richards
William Miller
George A. Smith
Levi Richards
Wilford Woodruff
Amasa M. Lyman
Clara D. Young
Ellen S. Kimball
William Clayton
The Pioneer Route, 184
First Glimpse of ;i The
Great Salt Lake Valley
Erastus Snow -
John Pack -
Lorenzo D. Young
Captain James Brown
Charles C. Rich
John Young
Daniel Spencer
Joseph Horne
Joseph B. Noble
Jacob Houtz
Harriet Page Wheeler
Peregrine G. Sessions
John Stoker
Lorin Farr
Horace S. Eldredge
Charles Crismon
Edward Hunter

Page.

Page.

[Frontispiece]

Mary J. Dilworth Hammond

433

57

Julian Moses

- 434

62

Nathaniel H. Felt

436

70

Seth M. Blair

- 452

111

John M. Bernhisel

458

- 231

William C. Staines

- 483

236

William Jennings

500

- 250

Alonzo H. Raleigh

502

260

Jesse W. Fox

504

298

Truman O. Anuell

- 506

300

Anson Call

522

- 302

Dimick B. Huntington

- 526

306

John Nebeker

529

- 310

Salt Lake City in 1853

- 530

7 - 318

Leonard W. Hardy

542

Valley" 322

John Neff

- 548

f. 1847 325

Jedediah M. Grant -

564

- 330

Abraham O. Smoot

- 567

334

John R. Murdoch

586

- 338

Feramorz Little

- 596

344

Nicholas Groesbeck

598

- 348

Silver Lake

- 600

358

Lake Martha

604

- 360

Lake Blanche

• 608

362

Daniel H. Wells

619

364

James Ferguson

- 622

366

Robert T. Burton

626

Young 368

Andrew Cunningham

- 630

372

J. D. T. McAllister

640

- 374

Edwin D. Woolley

- 648

376

John I!. Winder

661

- 384

Samuel W. Richards

- 666

386

Colonel Thomas L. Kane

674

416

Reuben Mii.lec

71K

HISTORY OF UTAH

CHAPTER I.

1805-1827.

Antecedents of Utah's early settlers — Joseph smith and mormonism — the prophet's

birth and boyhood social and religious phases of seventy years ago seeking

for the true church joseph's first vision the father and the son forbidden

to join any of the churches the youth tells his story prejudice and

persecution the angel moroni — 'discovery of the golden plates the prophet on

probation the record of mormon. the nephite, in the hands of joseph, the

translator.

/^tS IT would be natural, in describing a lake or large body of
^■^ water, to give some account of the origin, course and character

of the streams flowing into and forming it, so is it expected of the
historian, who describes a city or country and its inhabitants, to
dwell to some extent upon their antecedents, to speak of the sources
whence they sprang. The history of Utah, therefore, must include
the history of her founders, and with their general narrative, as a
religious community, it now suits our purpose to begin.

In the early part of the present century, in the little town of
Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, there lived an humble family of
the name of Smith. Joseph and Lucy were the parents' names, and
their children, seven sons and three daughters — some born prior,
some subsequent to the time of which we write — were Alvin, Hyrum,
Sophronia, Joseph, Samuel H., Ephraim, William, Catharine, Don
Carlos and Lucy. The father was a farmer, though not a flourishing
one, having lately lost his property through the dishonesty of a
trusted friend, and was now renting a farm in Sharon, and toiling

18 HISTORY OF UTAH.

early and late for a bare livelihood. They were a God-fearing folk.
honest, straightforward in their dealings, and of good repute among
their neighbors.

It was on the 23rd of December, 1805, that the son was born to
whom was given the paternal name. This son. Joseph Smith, junior,
was the famous Mormon Prophet, the founder of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The boy was about ten years old when his parents migrated from
Vermont and made their home at Palmyra, Ontario — now Wayne
— County. New York ; whence they removed, four years later, to Man-
chester in the same county.

A brief glance at some of the social conditions of those early
times and primitive places may here be necessary. Western New
York, the arena of our story's immediate action, was then an almost
new country. Farm and forest, society and solitude, civilization and
semi-savagery divided it. The red man. though no longer roaming
wildly, had not disappeared from its borders, and the whites, who of
course predominated and held sway, if. like all Yankees, shrewd and
intelligent, were mostly illiterate and untaught. The masses were
poor, but there were farmers and artisans who were prosperous, and
the people, as a rule, were industrious and provident. Their style of
living was exceedingly plain. Houses were usually small, unplas-
tered, unpainted and rudely furnished. A huge fire on the hearth,
fed with pine knots from the neighboring forest, gave light and
warmth to those within the house, or the flickering flame of the tal-
low-dip shed its uncertain lustre over the scene. The floors were
often without carpets, the tables without cloths, and the frugal meal.
cooked amid the glowing embers on the hearth, or in the iron pot
suspended by a chain from the chimney hook, was eaten from pewter
or wooden plates, with horn-bandied knives and iron spoons. Clocks
were a rarity, the ••time o' day" being commonly "guessed" by the
sun : pictures avid musical instruments were few and of inferior kind,
and the family library consisted, in most instances, of the Bible, an
almanac and whal books were in vogue at the village school. In

HISTORY OF UTAH. 19

shovt.it was just such a social condition as life in our own Utah once
presented, and in rare cases yet presents, in sparsely settled localities,
where primitive taste or poverty still reigns.

The people of those times, or at any rate of that region, were
generally religious, and were great Bible readers ; though many spirit-
ually inclined and well versed in scripture, were neither communi-
cants nor church-goers. The leading sects of today were nearly all
represented in the ecclesiastical category of the period, each having
its doughty champions, its Davids in the field, armed cap-a-pie and
confronting -with valorous zeal the gigantic Philistines of sin and
unbelief. The infidel, however, did not abound, as at a later day.
Nearly every one professed some sort of religion. Religion, indeed,
and not agnosticism, was the fashion and flavor of the times. Yet
the tide of spiritual thought and emotion, like any other tide, was
subject to the extremes of ebb and flow.

Soon after the removal of the Smith family to Manchester, a
wave of religious excitement, of a character common to the period,
began rolling over the land, and camp-meetings and revivals, like
bubbles on the crest of the mighty billow, were held far and near
under the auspices of the various Christian sects. The whole region
rang and resounded with the echoing notes of the evangelic trumpet.
The village of Manchester shared in the general excitement and enthu-
siasm,— Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, etc., all vieing with each
other in the work of " soul-saving," and crowds of converts flocking
to the standards of the ministers of the rival faiths. Among the
proselytes made by the Presbyterians were Lucy Smith, Joseph's
mother, his brothers Hyrum and Samuel, and his sister Sophronia.

Fruitful as were the labors of the revivalists, however, one thing
militated against their further success. It was lack of unity. They
were not united ; either in doctrine, sentiment or common Christian
feeling. Divisions in doctrine among the Christian churches were
neither shocking nor surprising ; from the days of Wycliffe, Luther
and Wesley the world had grown used to such things ; and so long as
modern Christians merely differed in opinion regarding the "one Lord,

20 HISTORY OF UTAH.

one faith, one baptism" of the ancients, and were careful to "love one
another " and "avoid disputations,*' their course would occasion little
comment and less complaint.

But strife and hatred among professed ministers of Christ, while
provoking mirth and mockery from the infidel, are to all good Christ-
ians horrifying. And such things, sad to tell, were manifested by the
ministers of whom we are speaking, and by many of their converts as
well, and deprecated and deplored by divers thoughtful and pious
minds, who consequently stood aloof and forbore to taste of the
fountains that sent forth such bitter Avaters.

In matters of doctrine, as said, the sects were much divided, —
though on certain points agreed. For instance, some held, as now,
that the ordinance of baptism was non-essential to salvation. Others
contended that it was essential. Some claimed sprinkling to be
the proper mode of baptism ; others, that pouring water upon the
head was the true method, and others still that immersion of the
whole body in the liquid element was necessary. And similar
differences in other doctrines. The main points upon which most of
the sects agreed were : that God was a being without body, parts or
passions ; that He no longer communicated His will to man ; that
the heavens were closed and the canon of scripture full ; that the
days of miracles and revelations were over ; that faith without works
was sufficient to save, and that all who died without hearing of or
believing in Jesus Christ as the world's Redeemer, were doomed to
never-ending torment. Even infants were not exempt, according to
the Calvinistic creed, but were fated to eternally "roast in sulphur,"
if Ihe Almighty had seen fit to cut short their lives ere they came to
the knowledge of His only begotten Son. A chaos, a Babel of religi-
ous opinions and their professors, differing, yet all claiming to be
right, and to have the Bible as their basis of belief and source of
inspiration ; a ceaseless clash and war of words in support of those
opinions. Such iii brief was the spiritual condition of the Christian
world at the period of which we are writing.

Among 1 1 lose who stood aloof, surveying the scene of strife,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 21

wondering which of all these wrangling sects was the true Church of
Christ, was Joseph Smith, the farmer's boy, then a little over fourteen
years of age. Anxious for his soul's salvation, — for he was a
thoughtful and conscientious lad, — he much desired to know the true
way, in order that he might walk therein. Unable to solve the prob-
lem, though feeling assured that the contending churches were not
all divine, he forbore to join with any, but attended their meetings
as often as convenient, particularly those of the Methodists, to whom
he was somewhat partial.

One day, he relates, while reading the scriptures, his eye chanced
to rest upon the fifth verse of the first chapter of the Epistle of James,
running as follows : "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,
that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be
given him." The sacred words sank deeply into the boy's simple soul.
He did "lack wisdom," wisdom to know the truth ; and he would "ask
of God," who had thus promised, by His ancient apostle, to hear and
answer prayer. Such was his simple faith. Such was his earnest
resolve.

Joseph's record then relates how on a bright spring morning in
the year 1820, he retired to the woods, — a sylvan solitude not far from
his father's home, — and finding himself alone, bowed down in prayer.
It was his first attempt to orally address Deity. He had scarcely begun,
he declares, when suddenly he was seized by some mysterious power
which paralyzed his tongue so that he could no longer speak. Simul-
taneously a cloud of darkness encompassed him, filling his soul with
horror and presaging instant destruction. So literal were his sensa-
tions that he felt himself in the fell grasp of some actual, though
unseen, personage or influence of another world. Exerting all his
powers, he called upon God for deliverance — his thoughts now pray-
ing in the absence of speech — and just as reason seemed tottering,
and hope was hovering on the brink of despair, he saw a light
descending from heaven, directly over his head, of such surpassing
brilliance as to exceed that of the noon-day sun. The pillar of splen-
dor gradually fell until it rested upon the prostrate youth, who. the

22 HISTORY OF UTAH.

moment it appeared, found himself delivered from the deadly influ-
ence that had held him bound. In the midst of the pillar were two
personages of ineffable glory, in the form of men, one of whom,
addressing Joseph by name, and pointing to the other, said. "This is
my beloved Son, hear him !"

The amazed and enraptured youth, so soon as he could collect
his thoughts and command utterance, recalling the object of his
quest, asked of the glorious oracles which of all the religious sects
was right, and which one should he join ? To his astonishment he
was told that none of them were right, and that he must not unite
with any; that their creeds were an abomination and their professors
corrupt ; that they taught for doctrine the commandments of men,
drawing near to the Lord with their lips while their hearts were far
from Him. and having a form of godliness but denying the power
thereof. Again forbidding him to join any of the churches, the two
personages withdrew, the pillar of light ascended and vanished, and
the rapt youth, recovering from his vision's ecstacy, found himself
lying upon his back gazing up into heaven.

Naturally enough, the boy's story, being told, and its truth per-
sisted in — and that, too. with every evidence of solemn sincerity —
created no small sensation. Some were amazed, some simply amused
at its audacity ; others horror-stricken at its blasphemy, — for such it
seemed to them. In the midst of a generation which doubted and
even denied the Creator's personality, applying to Him, in thought if
not in word. Pope's eloquent definition of the all-pervading Spirit,
which

Warms in the sun. refreshes in the breeze.
Glows in the stars and blossoms in the trees,
Lives through al] life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent,

be mi untutored lad. bad bad tbe temerity to assert, in full face of
the teachings and traditions of the sects and schools, that God the
universal Father was a man, a living, breathing, glorified man. and
thai God the Sun was a man also. made, like other men. in the imaee

HISTORY OF UTAH. 23

of that Father's person.* Moreover, that he had both seen and heard
them. The idea was preposterous — blasphemous ! It was a matter-
of-fact, even skeptical age, — skeptical as to modern miracles and spirit-
ual manifestations, — that Joseph Smith confronted, and such a tale,
however sincerely told, was altogether too marvelous for belief. Such
an event was very much too literal to suit the temper of the times.
To speak of Christ's coming to earth at some future period was one
thing ; to claim that He had already come, and had appeared to so
insignificant a person as young "Joe Smith" was quite another thing.
The fellow must be mad, or else a wicked and designing impostor.
So thought that generation — so thinks this — with comparatively few
exceptions.

Joseph had a friend, a Methodist minister, prominent in the
religious movement then agitating the neighborhood. To him, among
the first, he confided his story, thinking that his clerical friend would
rejoice at the recital. In this, however, he was disappointed. The
minister treated the matter with utter contempt, flatly telling him that
it was '• all of the devil ; " that there were no such things now as
visions and revelations, that they had all ceased with the Apostles,
and that the world would never have any more of them.

But the matter did not end there. With the usual zeal of the
heretic-hunter, the minister, forgetting his former friendship for the
boy, went about prejudicing the minds of his fellow preachers and the
people against him. The result was that the lad, who had formerly
been a favorite with the preachers, suddenly found himself an
object of their distrust and derision, — the target- of their bitterest
scorn. Continuing to affirm the truth of his tale, prejudice increased.
and the arrows of persecution began falling around him. The
preachers and professors, so disunited before, all united now upon
one point, — to deride and denounce "Joe Smith the imposter." Nay,
more; his very life was attempted by the bullet of the ambushed
assassin. Still, said he, "I had seen a vision. I knew it, and I knew

* "God Himself was once as we air now, and is an exalted man. and sits enthroned
in yonder heavens." — (oseph Smith.

24 HISTORY OF UTAH.

that God knew it, and I could not deny it: at least I knew that by so
doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation."

Three years elapsed, and still this strange boy, — for strange he
must have seemed, — scorned and buffeted and belied, steadfastly main-
tained his testimony. Driven from the ranks of the religious and
respectable because of his convictions, he was often forced for com-
panionship, which his genial and kindly nature craved, into society
not the most select, and was led in the way of temptations which he
did not always resist. During those days he did things, as he
candidly confesses, that were " offensive in the sight of God." Self-
condemned for his youthful follies, accusing conscience finally drove
him to seek forgiveness of his Maker, and implore a fresh proof of
his "state and standing before Him."

For what followed in his experience we again refer to his own
record, which necessarily forms the principal basis of this portion of
our narrative. It was the night of September 21st, 1823. Joseph,
retiring to rest, began pleading with the heavens and pouring out his
soul in penitent supplication. While so engaged he saw ;a light
appearing in his room, increasing in brilliance until brighter than the
blaze of noon-day. Immediately a glorious being, clad in a loose
robe of radiant whiteness, his countenance lustrous as lightning,
stood at his bedside, his feet seemingly resting on air. The head,
neck, hands and feet were bare, and the body, wherever exposed, of
all but transparent purity. He called the youth by name, and giving
his own name as Moroni, proclaimed himself a messenger from the
presence of God. He told Joseph that the Lord had a work for him
to do, and that his name should be spoken both well and evil of
among all nations ; showed him in vision where there was a record
deposited, written upon plates of gold, giving an account of the
ancient inhabitants of America and their origin, and containing the
fullness of the Everlasting Gospel as delivered by the Savior to those
inhabitants; also that an instrument called the Vrimand Thmtmim,
consisting of two stones set in a silver bow and fastened to a breast-
plate, was deposited with the plates, having been prepared by the

HISTORY OF UTAH. 25

Almighty for the purpose of the book's translation. The angel then
quoted from the scriptures various prophecies relating to the restora-
tion of the Gospel and the Priesthood, the setting up of Messiah's
latter-day kingdom and the ushering in of the Millennium. These
prophecies, — including part of the third and all of the fourth chapters
of Malachi, the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, the twenty-second and
twenty-third verses of the third chapter of Acts, and the last five
verses of the second chapter of Joel, — he said were about to be ful-
filled. He also declared that "the fullness of the Gentiles" would
soon come in. He warned the youth that when he obtained posses-
sion of the plates, he must not show them to any save those to whom
he should be commanded to show them, — otherwise he should lie
destroyed. Having delivered his message the angel departed, ascend-
ing by what seemed "a -conduit opening right up into heaven," and
the room made radiant by his presence again grew dark. But while
musing and marveling over this visitation, with its new and strange
revealings, Joseph saw the light returning. In an instant the same
messenger stood at his bedside. Rehearsing without the least varia-
tion the things before related, the oracle added that great and grievous
judgments, desolations by famine, sword and pestilence were coming
upon the earth in this generation. Again he departed, but still again
returned, and after repeating his former message, cautioned the youth
against giving way to a mercenary spirit that would tempt him. owing
to the pdverty of his father's family, to obtain the plates for purposes
of worldly gain. This he must not attempt to do, but seek only to
glorify God and build up his kingdom. A third time the messenger
vanished, when almost immediately the village cock crew, and the
first faint streaks of dawn shot athwart the eastern horizon.

From loss of sleep and the severe strain upon his physical pow-
ers, incident to his extraordinary experience. Joseph, going into the
field to labor that clay, found himself exhausted and utterly unable
to toil. Noticing his condition, his father, who was near, bade him
return to the house and rest. He attempted to obey, but in crossing
the fence from out the field his strength completely failed, and he

26 HISTORY OF UTAH.

fell helpless and unconscious to the ground. A voice calling him by
name aroused him. He looked, and lo ! the angel messenger of the
past night standing above him in a halo of glory. For the fourth
time Moroni delivers his message, which now burns as in letters of
fire upon the young man's mind, then bids him return to his father
and tell him all. Joseph obeys, his sire declares it to be divine, and
directs him to go and do all that the angel has commanded.

Accordingly, as the record continues, he set out for the spot
where he bad been shown the plates were deposited. It was a bill.
two or three miles from the village of Manchester. " On the west
side of this hill," says he, " not far from the top, under a stone of
considerable size, lay the plates deposited in a stone box : this stone
was thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner
towards the edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the
ground, but the edges all round Avere covered with earth. Having
removed the earth and obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the
edge of the stone, with a little exertion I raised it up ; I looked in
and there indeed did I behold the plates, the TJrim and Thummim and
the breast-plate, as stated by the messenger. The box in which they
lay was formed by placing stones together in some kind of cement.
In the bottom of the box were laid two stones cross-ways of the box,
and on these stones lay the plates and the other things with them."

Attempting to possess himself of the box's contents, Joseph finds
himself restrained, and at that moment the angel who has directed
him thither appears and forbids him to touch them. Four years, he
is informed, must elapse before the season will be ripe and the records
delivered into his hands. Meantime he must lead a godly life, and
visit the bill once a year, until the four years' term has expired; then
and there to be further taught in relation to his prophetic mission.
Much more does the angel unfold. — among other thing that lie.
Moroni, while living in the flesh, was the last of a line of prophets
who ministered to an ancient people called Nephites, who inhabited
ibis land : Ihal lie was the son of Mormon, a Nephite prophet, general
and historian, whose record il is Ihal there lies deposited, where

HISTORY OF UTAH. 27

Moroni, divinely directed, hid it fourteen centuries before; that this
hill was called by the Nephites Cumorah, but to the Jaredites, their
historic predecessors, it had been known as the hill Ramah. Having
finished his course of counsel and admonition, the messenger departs,
and the youth, after carefully covering the box containing the records
and replacing the surrounding soil, seeks his home to tell to the
astonished household the marvelous things revealed by the heavenly
messenger. Unlike the minister in whom he formerly confided, they
believe his words and rejoice in his strange and wondrous story.

Agreeable to his instructions, Joseph, at the end of each year, or
on the 22nd of each of the four succeeding Septembers, repairs to
the hill Cumorah, meets and receives further teachings from Moroni.
Finally, at the end of- the fourth year — September 22nd. 1827 — the
angel custodian of the golden plates and the Urim and Thummim
delivers the ancient relics into his keeping.

28 HISTORY OF UTAH.

CHAPTER II.

1827-1830.

Translation of the book of mormon — poverty and persecution — the " money- digging"
and "wife-stealing" stories martin harris the prophet removes to pennsyl-
vania description of the plates and the urim and thummim martin harris and

professor anthon the reputed method of translation the stolen manuscript

oliver cowdery— -john the baptist and the aaronic priesthood baptism of joseph

AND OLIVER JOSEPH KNIGHt's BENEFICENCE DAVID WHITMER JOSEPH AND OLIVER

REMOVE FROM HARMONY TO FAYETTE THE MELCHISEDEK PRIESTHOOD THE THREE WIT-
NESSES THE EIGHT THE TRANSLATION COMPLETE AND THE BOOK OF MORMON GIVEN TO

THE WORLD.

1(©\0T for some months, according to Joseph, after receiving the
-I b. golden plates, was he enabled to begin the task of their trans-
lation. In the first place he was very poor, and having married, was
obliged to labor more diligently than ever for his daily bread. In
the next place he was constantly harassed by enemies.

He tells that while on his way home with the plates, he was
repeatedly set upon by unknown men, who strove to wrest them from
him. Once they dealt him a severe blow with a bludgeon. Thanks
to his superior strength, for he was now a stalwart youth of nearly
twenty-two, and aided as he believed by the Almighty, he success-
fully withstood his assailants, and finally reached home in safety.
But his enemies did not rest. Falsehood like a flood pursued him,
and the waves of prejudice rose higher and higher. The house in
which he lived was beset by mobs; armed assassins lay in wait for
liim ami shut at him as he passed; robbers broke into his rooms to
cany off the records, and every means imaginable, both of force and
strategy, was vainly employed to get them from him.

In the interim of his fourth and fifth visits to Cumorah, Joseph
had married Miss Emma Hale, daughter of Isaac Hale, of Harmony,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 29

Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. He had formed her acquaint-
ance in the fall of 182o, while working for a Mr. Josiah Stoal. a resi-
dent of Chenango County, New York, who had hired him to go with
him to Pennsylvania and dig for a silver mine. While thus employed,
Joseph boarded in the family of Mr. Hale, and became enamored of
his daughter, who returned his affection. The silver mine proving
an ignis fatuus, after a month's fruitless labor Joseph persuaded his
employer to abandon the useless enterprise. Subsequently he made
overtures for the hand of Miss Hale, but her parents withheld their
consent to the union. Emma, however, was of age, and a girl of high
mettle, and her lover no less spirited and determined. They acted
without consent, and went elsewhere to be married; the nuptial knot
being tied by one Esquire Tarbill. at his home in South Bainbridge.
Chenango County, New York, on the 18th of January. 1827.

From these two incidents in his career. — his being employed to
dig for a silver mine, and his marriage with Miss Hale away from her
father's home, — arose the prevalent stories of "money-digging" and
''wife-stealing," used against him by his enemies.

The anger of Emma's parents over the independent action of the
young couple, now happily wed, evidently soon abated; for at the
expiration of a few months after their marriage, we find them con-
templating a removal to the home of the Hales in Pennsylvania. And
this, owing to the annoyance and persecution to which they were sub-
jected at Manchester. Too poor to pay the expenses of the trip. — a
distance of about a hundred miles. — Joseph at this juncture received
timely aid from a Mr. Martin Harris, a well-to-do farmer residing in
Palmyra Township, a few miles from Manchester. Mr. Harris, who
had previously become interested in Joseph, gave liini fifty dollars to
assist him on his journey. This enabled the young couple to reach
their destination. They arrived at Harmony in December, LS27. On
their way thither, the wagon in which they traveled was twice stopped
by officers, or men claiming to be such, armed witli search warrants,
who ransacked the vehicle in quest of the golden plates. They were
secreted, it is said, in a barrel of beans, and thus escaped discovery.

30 HISTORY OF UTAH.

These plates are thus described. They were of uniform size.
about eight inches in width, each one a little thinner than ordinary
tin. They were bound together by three rings running through one
of the edges, forming a book about six inches in thickness, one-third
of which was sealed. This part was not to be opened: the time not
having come for its contents to be known. The unsealed two-thirds
of the volume, — the plates of which could be turned like the leaves of
a book, and were covered, both sides, with strange characters, "small
and beautifully engraved." — were left free to be translated by means
of the Vrim and Thummim.

This instrument consisted of two precious stones, set in the rims
of a silver bow, and fastened to a breast-plate. The breast-plate, like
the record plates, was of gold, the inside concave, the outside con-
vex, and four golden bands attached served to fasten it to the person
of the wearer.

In February. 1828. Martin Harris, the Palmyra farmer, visited his
young friend at Harmony. Being shown certain mystical characters,
which Joseph informed him he had copied from the golden plates and
translated. Martin, by permission, took these characters to the city
of New York, to exhibit them to the savants and linguists of the
metropolis.

According to his account, he first submitted them to Professor
Charles Anthon. of Columbia College, who stated that the translation
was correct, and as to the characters, translated and untranslated,
that they were Egyptian. Chaldaic, Syriac and Arabic — true and gen-
uine. Being asked for a certificate to that effect, he willingly gave
one. addressing it to the people of Palmyra.

" How did the young man learn that there were gold plates
there?" asked the Professor, as Harris, having folded the certificate
and put it in bis pocket, turned to go.

•• An angel of God revealed it to him," answered the farmer.

A look (it dismay, as if doubting the speaker's sanity, stole over
the lace of the Professor, who, as soon as he could regain himself.

exclaimed "Lei me see that certificate."

HISTORY OF UTAH. 31

Martin returned the paper, whereupon Professor Anthon tore it
in pieces, remarking that there were no such things now as minister-
ing of angels, but that if the plates were brought to him be would
translate them.

Martin informed him that a portion of the golden book was
sealed, and that he would not be permitted to bring it.

"'I cannot read a sealed book,"* replied the Professor, and the
interview abruptly ended.

Harris next consulted Dr. Mitchell, another scholar, who sec-
onded all that Professor Anthon had said concerning the characters
and the translation.

Such was the report of his errand with which Martin Harris
returned to Joseph Smith. So far was he now converted to the lat-
ter"s views, that lie then and there offered to act as his scribe in the
work of translation. As Joseph Avas a poor penman, this offer was
gratefully accepted.

The following is the reputed method of translation. The Pro-
phet, scanning through the Urim ami Thummim the golden pages,
would see appear, in lieu of the strange characters engraved thereon,
their equivalent in English words. These he would repeat, and the
scribe, separated from him by a veil or curtain, would write them
down. A peculiarity of the process was that until the writing was
correct in every particular, the words last given would remain before
the eyes of the translator, and not disappear. But on the necessai-y
correction being made, they would immediately pass away and be
succeeded by others. In this manner the Book of Mormon is said to
have been translated. Hence the claim of the Latter-day Saints. —
called "Mormons" for their belief in the book. — to its plenary
inspiration.

From the 12th of April to the 14th of June, 1828, Joseph and
Martin continued, with some intermissions, their joint labor of trans-
lating. In that interim the latter copied by dictation one hundred

The Latter-day Saints regard lliis us

32 HISTORY OF UTAH.

and sixteen pages of foolscap manuscript. These pages he much
desired to show to his wife and other curious or skeptical persons,
with a view to their conversion. After many entreaties and refusals,
he obtained Joseph's permission to do so. on condition that they
should be shown only to certain persons who were named. Martin.
however, broke his pledge and permitted others to see them. The
result was that the manuscript was stolen. Neither he nor Joseph
ever again beheld it. A temporary estrangement ensued between
them, and the Prophet, it is said, having angered the Almighty, lost
his gift tnr a season. Martin, though eventually forgiven, never again
acted as Joseph's scribe.

Oliver Gowdery next comes upon the scene. He is a school-
teacher by profession : by trade a blacksmith; young in years, but a
man of intelligence and education. Pursuing his vocation of peda-
gogue at Manchester. New York, during the winter of 1828-9, while
boarding in the family of Joseph Smith, senior, he hears of young
Joseph, his visions and the golden plates, and is impressed with a
belief in their genuineness. He is also imbued with the idea that
his future destiny and that of the Prophet are in some manner
interwoven. At Sabbath sunset, April 5th, 1829. he presents himself
at Joseph's door in Harmony, and volunteers his services as
a scribe and secretary. The proffered aid is eagerly accepted.
Two days later the youthful twain. — who are yet to be known as the
first and second Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. — continue the work of translating the Nephite record. The
rendering into English progresses rapidly under their united and
almost incessant labors, and by the middle of May the greater part of
the translation is complete.

Joseph and Oliver testify that on a certain day they suspended
I heir task and went old into the woods to pray and inquire of the
Lord concerning the doctrine — then well nigh obsolete in Christen-
dom— of baptism for the remission of sins, which they had found
mentioned in the translation of the plates. While calling upon the
Lord, they declare, a heavenly messenger descended in a cloud of

HISTORY OF UTAH. 33

light, and laying his hands upon their heads, spake these words :
" Upon you, my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the
Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of
angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immer-
sion for the remission of sins ; and this shall never again be taken
from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto
the Lord in righteousness."

The angel who thus ordained them said that his name was John,
the same who was anciently surnamed "the Baptist," and that he
acted under the direction of Peter, James and John, who held the keys
of the Melchisedek Priesthood; this, the higher authority, should
in due time be conferred upon them, and Joseph should then be
the first Elder and Oliver the second Elder in the Church of Christ.
The Melchisedek Priesthood would authorize them to bestow the
Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, a power not conferred by the
Priesthood of Aaron. They were then directed to baptize each other
by immersion ; Joseph first to baptize Oliver, Oliver then to baptize
Joseph ; after which, in the same order, they were to re-ordain each
other to the Aaronic Priesthood. These instructions were carefully
obeyed. The date given for these events is May 15th, 1829. Accord-
ing to the record, it was soon after this that the Melchisedek Priest-
hood was conferred upon Joseph and Oliver by the Apostles Peter,
James and John.

In the latter part of May the mobocratic spirit, which till then had
lain dormant in that locality, manifested itself at this place of peace-
ful name, Harmony, where a violent assault upon the two young men
was only prevented by the personal influence of Mr. Hale, Joseph's
father-in-law. Joseph was now living in his own home, but the gaunt
wolf of poverty still hovered round his door. Hearing of his strait-
ened circumstances and having faith in his professions, an elderly
man named Joseph Knight, residing at Colesville, Broome County, New
York — thirty miles distant — came bringing supplies of food and other
necessaries, to enable him and his scribe to continue their work with-
out interruption. This act of beneficence was several times repeated.

34 HISTORY OF UTAH.

A family named Whitmer, friends of Oliver Cowdery, at Fayette.
Seneca County, New York, had also been apprised of the situation.
Early in June David Whitmer arrived at Harmony with a message
from his father, Peter Whitmer, senior, inviting Joseph and Oliver to
come to Fayette and make their home in his household. This offer
was thankfully accepted.

At the home of Father Whitmer, to which they at once repaired,
they zealously prosecuted their labors. At intervals Joseph and Oliver
would converse with the Whitmers and other people of the neighbor-
hood upon the subject of religion, baptizing such as believed and
desired to embrace their principles. During the month of June,
Hyrum Smith, David Whitmer and Peter Whitmer, junior, were bap-
tized in Seneca Lake ; the first two by Joseph Smith, the last-named
by Oliver Cowdery. Samuel H. Smith had been baptized by Oliver at
Harmony some time before.

Among the predictions of the Book of Mormon is one to the
effect that three special witnesses should be chosen to behold the
plates from which it was translated. These plates were to be shown
them by an angel. Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris
were selected as these witnesses. The event is thus recorded in their
own words, forming a portion of the preface to the Book of Mormon :

THE TESTIMONY OF THE THREE WITNESSES.

Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people unto whom this work
shall coine, that we, through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have
-ecu Hi" plales which contain this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and
also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and also of the people of Jared, who came from the
tower of which hath been spoken ; and we also know that they have been translated by
the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us ; wherefore we know of

a surety thai the work is true. And we also testily thai we have seen il ugravings

whii li are upon the plates; and they have been shewn unto us by the power of God. and
not of man. And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down

'"'in heaven, and he brought and laid befor r eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates.

and il ugravings thereon ; ami we know that il is by the grace of God the Father, and

our Lord JeSUS Christ, thai we beheld and hear record that these things are true: and it is

marvelous in our eyes, nevertheless the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should

bear rd of it; wherefore to he obedienl unto the commandments of God, we bear

testi y of these thing! And we know that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid

HISTORY OF UTAH. 35

our garments of the blood of all men, and be found

spotless before the judgment-seat of

Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in the h

eavens. And the honor be to the

Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, whi<

•h is one God. Allien.

Oliver Cowdery,

1714325

David Whitmer,
Martin Harris.

Eight others also testify, as follows :

THE TESTIMONY OF THE EIGHT WITNESSES.

Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people unto whom this work
shall come, that Joseph Smith. Jun., the translator of this work, has shewn unto us the
plates of which hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold ; and as many of
the leaves as the said Smith has translated, we did handle with our hands ; and we also
saw the engravings thereon, all of which has the appearance of ancient work, and of
curious workmanship. And this we hear record with words of soberness, that the said
Smith has shewn unto us, for we have seen and hefted, and know of a surely that the
said Smith has got the plates (if which we have spoken. And we give our names unto
the world. In witness unto the world that which we have seen ; and we lie not. God bear-
ing witness of it.

Christian Whitmer, Hiram Page,

Jacob Whitmer, Joseph Smith, Sen..

Peter Whitmer, Jun., Hyrum Smith,

John Whitmer, Samuel H. Smith.

Among the revelations recorded as "given through Joseph the
Seer" during the month of June, 1829, is one making known the
calling of the Twelve Apostles of the coming Church. The mission
to ''search out the Twelve" was given to Oliver Cowdery and David
Whitmer. In other revelations, addressed to various individuals, it
is reiterated that '"a great and marvelous work is about to come forth
among the children of men."

As the translation drew to a close, the Prophet and his friends
visited Palmyra, the home of Martin Harris, to arrange for the pub-
lication of the Book of Mormon. They secured the copy-righl and
contracted with Mr. Egbert B. Grandin to print live thousand copies
for the sum of three thousand dollars. Martin Harris was In furnish
the money. The copy-righl was secured June 11th. 1829.

Respecting the final disposition of the plates and the Urim and
Thummim, Joseph slides that the same heavenly messenger who com-

36 HISTORY OF UTAH.

mitted them to his care, reclaimed them when the work of translation
was over.

The manuscript of the Book of Mormon was carefully copied,
the original retained by the translator, and the copy, — said to be in
the writing of Oliver Cowdery,* — placed in the hands of the printer.
Joseph then paid a visit to his home in Pennsylvania, leaving his
more scholarly friend Cowdery to superintend the proof-reading and
other details of publication. Early in the year 1830 the first edition
of the Book of Mormon was given to the world.

* This manuscript is now in the possession of the family of the late David Whitmer,
at Richmond, Ray County, Mo.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 37

CHAPTER III.

What the book of mormon claims to be — the narrative of the nephite record — how
the world received it the spaulding story " mormonism unveiled " the sid-
ney rigdon anachronism discovery of the original " manuscript story " its

condensed narrative mormon's record and spaulding's romance compared

Reynolds' " myth of the manuscript found " — president fairchild's opinion —
numerous editions of the translated work.

•L HE Book of Mormon claims to be a record of two great races that
>K flourished successively upon the American continent ages prior
to its discovery by Columbus. Their combined histories, written
by a succession of authors — prophets and kings — cover a period
extending from the time of the Tower of Babel down to about the
beginning of the fifth century of the Christian era. The records of
these authors comprise fifteen books, named in their order as follows :
I. Nephi, ii. Nephi, Book of Jacob, Book of Enos, Book of Jarom,
Book of Omni, The Words of Mormon, Book of Mosiah, including
the Record of Zeniff, Book of Alma, Book of Helaman, in. Nephi, iv.
Nephi, Book of Mormon, Book of Ether, and the Book of Moroni.

The first of the ancient races referred to, whose histories are
briefly given in these records, were the Jaredites, who, in the disper-
sion following the confusion of tongues, came across the great deep
and peopled what is now North America. Their leaders were .Tared
and his brother, Mahonri Moriancumr, from the former of whom the
nation derived its name. Their greatest national character, however,
was this " brother of Jared," — otherwise nameless in the record, * —
under whose inspired leadership the colony left the land of Shinar,
and crossing one of the great oceans in ships or " barges " of their
own building, landed on these northern shores, made glorious during

::: Joseph Smith supplied the proper name, Mahonri Moriancumr.

38 HISTORY OF UTAH.

the lapse of centuries by their power, wisdom, wealth and civiliza-
tion.

The Jaredite leaders were democratic in their instincts, abhorring
the idea of kings and monarchies, which they had been taught to
believe could not long flourish upon this goodly land, — a land destined
to be " free from bondage." But their people, like the Israelites of a
later period in the far-off land of Canaan, desired a king, and besought
them ere they died to anoint one of their sons to rule over them.
The thought was repugnant to the great and good founders of the
nation, who foresaw the inevitable result, — the captivity, perchance
the destruction of their people. However, they yielded reluctant
assent, and one of the sons of Jared — Orihah — his three brothers and
all the sons of the brother of Jared having declined the proffered
purple, was anointed king.

A short period of prosperity followed, for the people served
God and were righteous. Then came wealth, class divisions, pride,
tyranny, with their usual concomitants. — luxury, licentiousness and
crime. The worship of God was neglected, then abandoned. Self-
interest dethroned patriotism, and passion usurped the place of
principle. Civil wars broke out, dismembering and dividing the
nation. From civilization and refinement the race sank into brutal-
ity and savagery, until finally, over the precipice of destruction, of
utter annihilation, swept the awful torrent of a mighty people's ruin.

The last of many prophets who taught and warned the Jaredites,
seeking in vain to avert their coming doom, was Ether their historian,
wIki. having witnessed the destruction of his people, hid up their
records for discovery in after ages, and disappeared from view.

A few passages from the Book of Ether*, as abridged by Moroni
the Xephite. are here presented :

And now I, Moroni, proceed to finish my record c terning the destruction of the

) i1'1' of whom I have been writing.

For behold, thej rejected the words of Ether; for he truly tn],l them of all things,
from the beginning of man ; and thai after the waters had receded from oil the face of this

Chapter xiii. 1-14.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 39

land, it became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord ; wherefore
the Lord would have that all men should serve him who dwell upon the face thereof;

And that it was the place of the New Jerusalem, which should come down out of
heaven, and the Holy Sanctuary of the Lord.

Behold, Ether saw the days of Christ, and he spake concerning a New Jerusalem
upon this land ;

And he spake also concerning the house of Israel, and the Jerusalem from whence
Lehi should come ; after it should be destroyed, it should be built up again a holy city
unto the Lord, wherefore it could not be a New Jerusalem, for it had been in a time of old,
but it should be built up again, and become a holy city of the Lord ; and it should be
built unto the house of Israel ;

And that a New Jerusalem should be built up upon this land, unto the remnant of
the seed of Joseph, for which things there has been a type ;

For as Joseph brought his father down into the land of Egypt, even so he died there ;
wherefore the Lord brought a remnant of the seed of Joseph out of the land of Jerusalem,
that he might be merciful unto the seed of Joseph, that they should perish not, even as he
was merciful unto the father of Joseph, that he should perish not ;

Wherefore the remnant of the house of Joseph shall be built upon this land ; and it
shall be a land of their inheritance ; and they shall build up a holy city unto the Lord,
like unto the Jerusalem of old ; and they shall no more be confounded, until the end
comes when the earth shall pass away.

And there shall be a new heaven and a new earth ; and they shall be like unto the
old, save the old have passed away, and all things have become new.

And then cometh the New Jerusalem ; and blessed are they who dwell therein, for it
is they whose garments are white through the blood of the Lamb; and they are they who
are numbered among the remnant of the seed of Joseph, who were of the bouse of
Israel.

And then also cometh the Jerusalem of old; and the inhabitants thereof, blessed are
they, for they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb ; and they are they who were
scattered and gathered in from the four quarters of the earth, and from the north countries,
and are partakers of the fulfilling of the covenant which God made with their father
Abraham.

And when these things come, bringeth to pass the scripture which saith, There are
they who were first, who shall be last ; and there are they who were last, who shall be
first.

And 1 was about to write mure, but am forbidden; but great and marvelous were the
prophecies of Ether, but they esteemed him as nought, and cast him out, and be hid
himself in the cavity of a rock by day. and by night he went forth ■vfewiag the things
which should come upon the people.

And as he dwell in the cavity of a mek, he made the remainder of this record,
viewing the destructions which came upon the people by night.

The sole survivor of the final slaughter, which took place near
the hill Ramah, between the two great contending factions of the

40 HISTORY OF UTAH.

fratricidal Jaredites, was Corianlumr. their king. Having slain Shiz,
the leader of the opposing host, in a duel upon the bloody field,
where all save this twain had fallen, Coriantumr lived long enough
to tell the sad story of his people's ruin to their successors upon this
northern land. These, the people of Mulek. were a colony led out
from Jerusalem under Mulek, son of Zedekiah, king of Judah, about
the time of the beginning of the Babylonian captivity. They did not
remain a distinct nation, but coalesced with the Nephites, the second
of the two great races mentioned.

The Nephites, with whose history the Book of Mormon begins,
— the discovery of Mulek's colony and the finding and translating of
the Jaredite Book of Ether being incidents in their career, — were
likewise from Judea. They were mostly the descendants of Lehi,
who, divinely guided, departed with his family from Jerusalem about
the year 600 B. C, — eleven years before Mulek's colony emigrated, —
while the Prophet Jeremiah was pouring his solemn warnings in the
ears of king, princes, priests and people of the sin-laden and doomed
city. Lehi was descended from Joseph, through Manasseh. His
wife's name was Sariah. Their children, when leaving Jerusalem,
were four sons, — Laman, Lemuel, Sam and Nephi, — and several
daughters whose names are not given. Subsecraently were born to
them two more sons, — Jacob and Joseph. The other members of
Lehi's colony were Ishmael and his family, who were of Ephraim,*
and a servant named Zoram. The sons and daughters of Lehi and
Ishmael intermarried.

The course of the colony from Jerusalem led to the Red Sea and
along its shores ; thence eastward across the peninsula of Arabia.
On the shores of the Persian Gulf, under the inspired direction of
Nephi, who became the virtual leader of the colony, they built a ship,
and in it crossed £i the great waters " — the Indian and Pacific oceans
— to South America. They are supposed to have landed on the coast
of the country now called Chili. Thence, as their nation or nations

* Joseph Smith said thai the manuscripl lost by Martin Harris so stated.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 41

grew, and the people multiplied, the descendants of Lehi spread over
the whole face of South and North America.

After Lehi's death the colony divided ; Laman and Lemuel, who
had always been jealous of their younger and gifted brother Nephi,
rebelling against his rule, and leading away others to form a separate
people. Thenceforth there were two nations ; the followers of Laman,
who were known as Lamanites, and the adherents of Nephi. who
took upon them his name in like manner. The Lamanites. for their
iniquity, were cursed by the Almighty with dark skins. They became
a loathsome and benighted race, savage and blood-thirsty, roaming
the wilderness and subsisting upon wild beasts, killed for game, or
by their frequent marauding incursions into the territory of the
Nephites. The latter were highly civilized, dwelling in cities and cul-
tivating the arts and sciences. Unlike their dark-skinned neighbors,
they were " a white and a delightsome people," fair and beautiful to
look upon. Gentle in peace, valorous in war, refined, intelligent,
wealthy and powerful, they were at once the envy and the terror of
their foes, the ferocious Lamanites, who hated them with an inten-
sity indescribable. Many were the wars and conflicts between the
two races ; the Lamanites being generally the aggressors, while the
Nephites fought in self-defense. Their warriors were highly disci-
plined, wore armor, and wielded the sword, spear and javelin, while
the Lamanites, whose favorite weapons were the bow and sling, went
half nude or clothed in skins, affording little protection against the
sharp blades and keen points of their adversaries. Still they were
fiercely brave, and frequently came off conquerors. When the
Nephites served God they prospered, and in war were invincible and
invulnerable. When they forgot Him, as they often did, their power
waned and departed, and they fell an easy prey to their enemies.
But as often as they repented, their strength and valor returned, and
the God of battles fought with them and against their foes.

The religion of the Nephites, until the advent of the Savior, —
who appeared to them shortly after His resurrection and established
His church among them, — was the law of Moses; though they also

42 HISTORY OF UTAH.

understood and practiced the first principles of Christ's gospel,
revealed to them prior to His coming. One of their first projects,
alter separating from Laman and his followers, who turned entirely
from the Lord, was to build a temple to the Most High, constructed
after the pattern, though not on the same scale of magnificence, as
the temple of Solomon. Nephi, his brothers Jacob and Joseph and
their descendants were the officiating Priesthood.

The Nephite government was originally a limited monarchy, with
Nephi, — against his own will, for he, like the first Jaredite leaders, was
an anti-monarchist, — as king or protector. His successors, for sev-
eral centuries, were mostly wise and able rulers, during whose reigns
the Nephites enjoyed many periods of prosperity, and the nation,
though at times brought to the brink of ruin by the wickedness of
its people, spread abroad and became powerful. The Lamanites like-
wise had kings, who were autocrats, but, as stated, they were a
nomadic and savage race, and only at rare intervals. — and then by
fusion or contact with the Nephites, — reached a standard of civiliza-
tion.

In the year B. C. 91, tin- Nephite republic was proclaimed, and
for a period of one hundred and twenty years the nation was ruled
by judges elected by the people. Wars with the Lamanites and with
bands of truculent outlaws known as C4adianton robbers ; victories,
defeats, internal dissensions, revolutions, disasters, works of glory and
deeds of darkness mark this checkered period, — an era of violent
vicissitudes. In the year A. D. 30 the republic was disrupted, and the
people divided into tribes and factions.

Then came the greatest, most glorious, and withal most terrible
event in the annals of the Nephite nation. — the advent of the risen
Redeemer; His appearance to the more righteous portion of the
people, preceded by the appalling, overwhelming destruction and
desolation of the wicked. First, according to those annals, an awful
tempest, unparalleled in force and fury, swept over the land, leaving
denili and devastation in its wake. Three hours it endured, — but what
hours! During the prevalence of the storm, while the lightning's

HISTORY OF UTAH. 43

fiery falchion smote, and the batteries of heaven thundered and rever-
berated, the whole face of nature was changed, disfigured, like the
rage-distorted visage of an angry man. Mountains disappeared,
sunken or swept away. Valleys became towering peaks. Impelled by
the whirlwind, great boulders hurtled through the air, as if thrown
by Titan hands, or rolled grinding and crashing along the quivering
earth. The mighty heart of nature throbbed tumultuously. Earth-
quakes with awful rumblings rent the ground. Great chasms opened,
like monster jaws, engulfing cities with their living millions, while
others were devoured by fire, or swallowed by the raging seas, heav-
ing beyond their bounds. Three hours of fearful turmoil, with three
days of thick darkness following, during which the affrighted inhabit-
ants, survivors of the tempest and its terrors, lay shuddering half
lifeless upon the quaking earth, listening to the horrible groanings and
grindings of the storm ; or when its fury lulled, loudly bewailing their
own and their fellows' woes.

At length the tumult ceases ; the earth no longer trembles, and
the voice of Him who stilled with a word the stormy waves of Galilee
is heard from heaven proclaiming in solemn tones the calamities that
have befallen. A note of awful warning to the transgressor; a prom-
ise of peace and of pardon to the penitent. Subsequently the Savior
appears. The more righteous of the Nephites behold Him. He
shows to them His wounded side and the prints of the nails in His
hands and feet: instructs them in the truths of His gospel; heals
their sick, blesses their children, administers the sacrament and
establishes His church in the midst of them. Therein are apostles,
prophets, etc. — the same orders of Priesthood, the same doctrines,
ordinances, gifts and graces that characterize the church at Jerusa-
lem. He informs the Nephites that they are the "other sheep," of
whom He spake lo His Jewish disciples — though they understood
Him not — who were "not of that fold:'* not of Judah but of Joseph:
and that from them He goes to visit still "other sheep," not of this
land, ••neither of the land of Jerusalem." Having fully instructed
them He departs: not. however, before giving to three of the Twelve

44 HISTORY OF UTAH.

whom He has chosen, power over death, insomuch that the destroyer
cannot assail them, and to all the Apostles power to preach the gos-
pel, administer its ordinances, work miracles, build up the Church
and bring souls to Him.

Then ensue nearly two centuries of unexampled peace and pros-
perity, during which period the Church of Christ, a pure theocracy,
reigns supreme. A community of interests, spiritual and temporal —
more than realizing the theories of a Bellamy — is established; Neph-
ites and Lamanites throughout the entire land are converted unto
Christ, and bask in the light of an almost Millennial era. This
happy state continues until the year A. D. 200, when the first signs of
disintegration appear. Other churches are then founded, other creeds
promulgated, and the order of unity, equality, fraternity, is aban-
doned. Thirty years later a great separation takes place, and the
people are again known as Nephites and Lamanites.

It is the beginning of the end. The period of the nation's
decline and downfall has arrived, and the descent is thenceforth ruin-
ous and rapid. Contentions, crimes and disasters follow in succes-
sion. Nearly a century rolls by. The great international conflict
has resumed. Again have wars between Nephites and Lamanites
drenched and deluged the land with blood and tears. The Nephites
now occupy "the land northward," whither they have been driven by
their victorious foes, who hold possession of the southern continent.
The "narrow neck of land" divides them. The struggle goes on.
Each army invades alternately the territory of the other ; only to be
repulsed and driven back. Again and again sounds the tocsin of war.
Again and again the two nations rush to battle. Peace after peace is
patched up, only to be rent asunder. At length the Lamanites gain
an advantage. They once more invade the northern continent. The
degenerate Nephites no longer prevail against them. Bravely, des-
perately they contend, but vainly. The God whom they have offended
is no longer with them, and victory perches permanently upon the
banners <>(' their adversaries. Backward, still backward they are
driven, disputing with stubborn valor every inch of ground. The

HISTORY OF UTAH. 45

whole land reeks and smokes with blood and carnage. Rapine and
slaughter hold sway. Each side, drunken with blood, besotted and
brutalized, vies with the other in cruelties and atrocities. Finally
the hill Raman — Cumorah — is reached, and there, on the spot where
ages before the Jaredite nation perished, the Nephites, similarly
fated, make their final stand.

Their general, Mormon, foreseeing the destruction of his people,
has committed to his son Moroni, — like himself one of a righteous
few left of a degenerate nation, — the records of their race, including
an abridgment of their history written with his own hand upon
plates of gold. These are accompanied by certain instruments called
"interpreters" — Urim and Thummim — used by the Nephite prophets
in translating.

The carnage of Cumorah ensues ; the Nephite nation is annihil-
ated, and the Lamanites, — ancestors of the dusky aborigines whom
Columbus, centuries later, found and named Indians, — are left in
absolute, undisputed possession of the soil. Moroni, having sur-
vived the awful massacre, abridges the Jaredite record, adds it to the
Nephite history written by his sire, and deposits the golden plates
and interpreters in the hill Cumorah, A. D. 420.

Such, briefly, is the story of the Book of Mormon, which Joseph
Smith and his confreres had now given to the world; the famous
"Gold Bible," so styled in derision by opponents of Mormonism, but
revered by the Latter-day Saints as an inspired record, of -equal
authority with the Jewish scriptures, containing, as they claim, the
revelations of Jehovah to His Israel of the western world, as the
Bible His revelations to Israel in the Orient. The Saints hold that
the Book of Mormon is the veritable "stick of Joseph," that was In
be one with the "stick of Judah" — the Bible — as foretold by
Ezekiel.*

The book being published and circulated, speculation at once
became rife as to its origin. Of course nobody believed, or compar-

* Chapter xxxvii. 16-19.

46 HISTORY OF UTAH.

atively few, that it had come in the way its translator and the wit-
nesses declared. The same skepticism that repudiated the idea of the
Father and the Son appearing to Joseph Smith, now ridiculed the
claim of the Book of Mormon to being a divine record. That it was
purely of human origin, or worse, was very generally believed.
Passing by the many minor theories put forth to account for it. we
will merely take up one. the celebrated Spaulding story, which
obtained greater credence and notoriety than any other, and still
forms the back-bone argument of objectors to the divine authenticity
of the Book of Mormon.

In the year 1816, at Amity, Washington County, Pennsylvania,
died Solomon Spaulding. a native of Ashford. Connecticut, where he
was born in 1761. A few years prior to his decease, he had resided
at Conneaut, Ashtabula County, Ohio. At one time in his life he
was a clergyman, — at least he wore to his name the prefix of
"Reverend," — and is said to have been a graduate of Dartmouth Col-
lege. Though not a man of much ability, nor of much education, if
we may judge from his work, he cultivated a taste for literature.
and aspired to the distinction of authorship. His mind ran upon
ancient and archaic themes, insomuch that about the year 1812. while
living at Conneaut, he wrote a romance entitled "Manuscript Story,''
giving a fabulous account of the pre-historic races of North America.
The romance was suggested by the discovery, near the author's home,
of certain relics, such as bows and arrows, and the existence in that
vicinity of the ruins of an ancient fort. Two years later, Spaulding
removed from Ohio to Pennsylvania, stopping awhile in Pittsburg,
and then settling at Amity, where, as stated, he died in 1816.

The romance, unpublished, remained in the possession of his
widow until 1834, — four years after the Book of Mormon was pub-
lished,— at which time she was living at Monson, Hampden County,
Massachusetts, and having re-married was then Mrs. Matilda
Davison.

During the year 1834, D. P. Hurlburt, an apostate Mormon, came
to Mrs. Davison and procured the "Manuscript Story" written by her

HISTORY OF UTAH. 47

former husband. His avowed purpose was to use this work, of which
he had heard in Pennsylvania, in an expose of Mormonism, which
certain opponents of the Saints, — whose headquarters were then at
Kirtland, Ohio, — were helping him to publish in that state. Hurl-
burt's reason for desiring the romance was that he had recognized,
from the account he had obtained of it, a supposed resemblance
between it and the Book of Mormon, which he was then zealously
decrying. He agreed with Mrs. Davison to publish the story and give
her half the profits realized from its sale. She reluctantly consented
to part with the relic, giving him an order for it addressed to Mr.
Jerome Clark, of Hartwick, Otsego County, New York, with whom she
had temporarily left an old trunk containing the manuscript. Hurlburt,
having secured it, returned to Ohio. A perusal of its pages, how-
ever, failed to afford him and his colleagues the satisfaction they had
anticipated. The supposed resemblance between it and the Book of
Mormon, they found to be indeed suppositional, or at all events so
vague as to poorly subserve their purpose. They therefore sup-
pressed it. Hurlburt wrote to Mrs. Davison that the manuscript "did
not read as he expected," and that he should not publish it. He did
not return it, however, though repeatedly urged by the owner so to
do, but gave out that it had been accidentally destroyed by fire, claim-
ing to have been so informed by Mr. E. D. Howe, a publisher at
Painesville, with whom he had left the romance to be read and then
returned to Mrs. Davison. From that time, until fully fifty years
later, nothing further was known of the fate of the Spaulding manu-
script.

"Mormonism Unveiled" — Hurlburt's expose — appeared in due
time; not, however, in the name of D. P. Hurlburt. but of E. D. Howe,
who had purchased the work and published it. It was a satirical
assault upon Mormonism in general, and upon Joseph Smith in par-
ticular. It announced to the world that the Book of Mormon, in. all
probability, was Solomon Spaulding's romance revised and amplified.
The assertion was supported, not by extracts from the two records,
compared, bid by depositions from various persons who claimed to lie

48 HISTORY OF UTAH.

familiar with both, touching the points of alleged similarity between
them. It denied, on the authority of these deponents, that the writ-
ing obtained of Mrs. Davison was the "Manuscript Story," and
claimed that it bore no resemblance to it. Mrs. Davison, however,
though no friend to Mormonism, stated that it was the " Manuscript
Story," thatHurlburt obtained of her, and her statement is borne out
by the fact that no other manuscript of like character, claiming
Solomon Spaulding as its author, has ever yet appeared.

The theory put forth by the author of " Mormonism Unveiled "
regarding the origin of the Book of Mormon was this : that Sidney
Rigdon, — then Joseph Smith's "right-hand man," — who had formerly
resided at Pittsburg, where Mr. Spaulding once tarried for a time.
had procured the dead clergyman's manuscript from the printing-
office of Messrs. Patterson and Lambdin, in that city ; that being a
man of ability and education, Rigdon had altered and enlarged the
original work, adding the religious portions, and then, through Joseph
Smith, had palmed it upon the world as an ancient and inspired
record. This hypothesis found many believers, and even to this day,
among non-Mormons generally, is accepted as authentic and reliable.

On the other hand, Mormon pens and tongues have been busy
for fifty years denying the truth and consistency of the Spaulding
story. They have always affirmed that until after the Book of
Mormon was published, Joseph Smith had not been seen, nor scarcely
heard of, in those parts traversed by the Spaulding manuscript ; that
Sidney Rigdon did not visit Pittsburg until years after the removal of
the Spauldings from that city; that he never was connected, as
alleged, with a printing-office in that place ; that up to the fall of
1830, several months after the Book of Mormon was published, he
had not so much as seen the book, and that until December of the
same year he and Joseph Smith had never met. In short, that
Rigdon's alleged connection with the origin of the Book of Mormon
was an anachronism pure and simple, and that any theory seeking to
identify that record with the Spaulding romance was susceptible of
the easiest disproof.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 4U

But all in vain. The world had made up its mind. The Mormon
side of the story was too miraculous for belief: the Hurlburt-Howe
theory too plausible for disbelief ; and the Spaulding romance, with
Sidney Rigdon or "some other designing knave"' as its amplifier and
embellisher, has continued to be regarded as the literary nucleus of
the Book of Mormon.

In the year 1884, fifty years after its disappearance and alleged
destruction, the missing Spaulding manuscript was brought to light.
Its discoverer was Mr. L. L. Rice, of Honolulu, Sandwich Islands.
Being visited that year by President James H. Fairchild, of Oberlin
College, Ohio, Mr. Rice, at his suggestion, was looking through his
papers in quest of certain anti-slavery documents, when he came upon
a package marked in pencil on the outside •'Manuscript Story — Con-
neaut Creek," which proved upon examination, to their great surprise,
to be the long-lost romance of Dr. Spaulding. Its presence among
the private papers of Mr. Rice was explained by the fact that about
the year 1840 he and a partner had purchased from E. D. Howe, the
publisher of " Mormonism Unveiled," the business and effects of the
Painesville " Telegraph." At that time Mr. Rice, — who in Ohio was
an anti-slavery editor, — had received from Howe a collection of
miscellaneous papers, which, prior to Mr. Fairchilcfs visit, he had
never taken time to thoroughly examine. The original of the
" Manuscript Story" Mr. Rice presented to President Fairchild. but
an exact copy, procured of the former by a representative of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was published verbatim
et literatim at Salt Lake City in 1886.*

As stated by Howe — or Hurlburt — it is "a romance purporting to
have been translated from the Latin, found on twenty-four rolls of
parchment in a cave : " its author thus anticipating a method in
vogue among popular novelists of the present period, — notably of
the H. Rider Haggard school. It contains perhaps a tenth as much
reading matter as the Book of Mormon, and unlike that record is

* Josephites — dissenting Mormons — have also published the "Manuscript Story."
Their edition was the firsi t<> appear.

50 HISTORY OF UTAH.

written in modern style. None of the proper names, and few if any
of the incidents, are similar to those of the Nephite narrative. Its
rhetoric is exceedingly faulty. — more so than the usually criticised
passages of the Book of Mormon. — and the pamphlet throughout is
largely mis-spelled and poorly punctuated. Rehabilitated and con-
densed, the story would run about as follows :

In the reign of the Emperor Gonstantine, a young patrician named
Fabius. secretary to his imperial majesty, sails from Rome for Britain.
with an important commission to the commander of his country's
legions stationed there. After safely traversing the Mediterranean, the
ship encounters near the British coast a terrific storm, which drives
her oceanward until she is utterly lost in the midst of the watery
wilderness. Five days the tempest rages, and the vessel flies west-
ward before a furious gale. On the sixth day the storm abates. The
black mists which have hung over the deep, obscuring the lights of
heaven, are dispelled, and the sun dawns in glory upon a cloudless
sky. But. no land is in sight: only '-water, water everywhere." Con-
sternation reigns, and the ship is still driven westward. Finally a
mariner comforts his fellow castaways by announcing that the
Almighty has revealed to him that land is not far off. and that gentle
breezes will soon waft them into a safe harbor and to hospitable
shores. Five days later the prediction is fulfilled. Land heaves in
sight, and the storm-beaten ship enters the mouth of a spacious river.
Sailing up many leagues, it arrives at a town on the river's bank, the
home of the king and chiefs of a savage nation, upon whose
domain the outcasts have entered. They are the ''Deliwares," one
of several tribes or nations inhabiting the land. The Romans are
kindly received, and conclude to remain. The seven damsels of the
party select husbands from their male companions, leaving the
residue to lead lives of celibacy, or choose mates from the ranks of
the copper-colored maidens of the land. Two years later the white
colonists leave the country of the "Deliwares," and migrating to the
north-west, take up their abode among the "Ohons," another native
tribe vastly more numerous, powerful and civilized.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 51

The remainder of the story, which is disjointed and incomplete,
includes a series of philosophic, geographic, and astronomical
observations by Fabius ; descriptions of the religious teachings and
traditions of the natives, their social and political customs and an
elaborate narration of their glorious antecedents. Their great oracle
and law-giver, a sort of Moses and Hiawatha combined, — though
there is no allusion to Israel in all the text, — was one Lobaska. an
illustrious character, a portion of whose biography is given. After
dwelling upon the manner in which Lobaska united all the tribes or
kingdoms of the land under one government, gave them their "sacred
roll"" of religious . tenets, and framed their political constitution, it
describes their subsequent wars and dissensions, and closes abruptly
on the eve of a great battle between the hosts of the militant empires
of " Sciota '* and " Kentuek."

The latter is by far the best written portion of the narrative, the
quality of which differs so in places, and descends so often from the
half sublime to the wholly ridiculous, as to tempt the reader to believe
that more than one pen was employed in its composition.

To enable the reader to compare the respective styles in which
the two books are written, brief selections from each are here
presented :

HOOK OF MORMON, II. NEPHI. CHAP. 1. MANUSCRIPT STORY, CHAP. II.

And now it came I" pass after I. Nephi, As no alternative now remained, bul

had made an end of teaching my brethren, either to make the desperate attempt in re-

our father, Lehi, also spake many things turn across the wide boistrous ocean or to

imlo them, how great things the Lord had take up our residence in a country in-

done lor them, in bringing them mil of the habitedby savages and wild ferocious beasts

land of Jerusalem. we did not long hesitate. We held a

Ami he spake unto them concerning their solem treaty with the king & all the chiefs

rebellions upon the waters, and the mercies of his nation. They agreed In cede in us a

nf God in sparing their lives, that they were tract of excellent Land mi the north pail of

nut swallowed up in the sea. Hie town on which was six wigwams. &

And he also spake unto them concerning engaged perpetual amity & hospitality & the

the land of promise, which they had ol>- protecti if our lives & property. * *

tained: how merciful the Lord had been in Bul now a mosl singular & delicate subject

warning ns that we should flee nut of the presented itself for consideration. Seven

land nt Jerusalem. young women we had mi board, as passen-

HISTORY OF UTAH.

BOOK OF MORMON.

iii which I know that Jerusalem is destroyed:
and had we remained in Jerusalem, we
should also have perished.

But. said he, notwithstanding our afflic-
tions, we have obtained a land of promise.
a land which is choice above all other lands;
a land which the Lord God hath covenanted
with me should be a land for the inherit-
ance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath cove-
nanted this land unto me, and to my chil-
dren for ever ; and also all those who
should be led out of other countries by the
hand of the Lord.

Wherefore, I, Lehi, prophesy according to
the workings of the Spirit which is in me,
that there shall none come into this land,
save they shall be brought by the hand of
the Lord.

Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto
him whom lie shall bring. And if it so be
that they shall serve him according to the
commandments which he hath given, it
shall be a land of liberty unto them ; where-
fore, they shall never be brought down into
captivity ; if so, it shall be because of in-
iquity : for if iniquity shall abound, cursed
shall be the land for their sakes ; but unto
the righteous it shall be blessed for ever.

MANUSCRIPT STORY.

Britain — Three of them were ladies of
rank, and the rest were healthy bucksom
Lasses. — Whilst deliberating upon this sub-
ject a mariner arose whom we called droll
Tom — Hark ye shipmates says he, Whilst
tossed on the foming billows what brave
son of neptune had any more regard for a
woman than a sturgeon, but now we
are all safely anchored on Terra firma —
our sails furled & ship keeled up. I have
a huge longing for some of those rosy
dames — But willing to take my chance with
my shipmates — I propose thai they should
make their choice of husbands. The plan
was instantly adopted. * * * The Capt.
A; myself, attended with our fair partners &
two mariners repaired to a new habitation
which consisted of two convenient apart-
ments. After having partook of an elligant
Dinner & drank a bottle of excellent wine
our spirits were exhOerated & the deepgloom
which beclouded our minds evaporated.
The Capt. assuming his wonted cheerfulness
made the following address. My sweet good
soaled fellows we have now commenced a
new voige — Not such as brot us over moun-
tain billows to this butt end of Hie world.
No, no, our voyge is on dry land & now
we must lake care that we have sufficient
ballast for the riging — every hand on board
this ship must clasp hands and condescend to
each others humour, this will pro-good cheer
and smooth the raging billows of life. Sur-
rounded by innumerable hords of human
lieiir_;s. who resemble in manners the
Ourang Outang — let us keep aloof from
them & not embark in (lie same matrimon-
ial ship (with them). At the same time we
will treat them with good cheer & enlighten
their dark souls with good instruction. By
continuing a distinct people & preserving
mil customs, manners, religion & arts and
sciences another Italy will grow up in this
wilderness .V we shall he celebrated as the
Fathers of a great & happy nation.

HISTORY OF UTAH.

BOOK OK MORMON, ETHER. CHAP. XIV.

And it came to pass thai Lib did pursue
him until he came to the plains of Agosh,

Ami Coriantumr had taken all the | pie

with him, as he fled before Lib in that
quarter of the land whither he fled.

And when tie had come to the plains of
Agosh, he gave battle unto Lib, and he
smote upon him until he died ; nevertheless,
the brother of Lib did come against Corian-
tumr in the stead thereof, and the battle
became exceeding sore, in the which Co-
riantumr fled again before the army of the
brother of Lib.

Now the name of the brother of Lib was
called Shiz. And it came to pass that Shiz
pursued after Coriantumr, and lie did over-
throw many cities, and he did slay both
women and children, and he did burn the
cities thereof,

And there went a fear of Shiz throughout
all the land: yea. a cry went forth through-
out the land, who can stand before the army
of Shiz? Behold he sweepeth the earth
before him !

And il came to pass that the people began
to flock together in armies, throughout all
the lace of the land.

And they were divided, and a part of
them fled to the army of Shiz. and a part
of them fled to the army of Coriantumr.

And so great and lasting had been the
war. and SO long had been the scene of
bloodshed and carnage, thai the whole lace
of the land was covered with the bodies of

the dead :

And so swill and speedy was Ihe war,

thai there was uone left to bury (be dead,
bm they did march forth from the shedding
of bl I to the shedding of blood, leaving

Ihe bodies of both men. women, and chil-
dren. Strewed upon the lace of the land. In
become a prey In the wnnns of Ihe llesh :

And ihe scenl thereof wenl forth upon
the face of ihe land, even upon all the face

of the land: wherefore ,ple aine

troubled by day and hv [light, because of ihe

scent thereof:

Determined to conquer or die. it was

would have gained Ihe victory had Ihe di-
visions or bands in the rear of each army
remained inactive. Bui anxious lo engage
with the boldest warriors. Ihe Keninck-
Bands, led on by their heroic princes, rushed
between Ihe division of the grand arm) &
made a nmsl furious charge upon Ihe Scio-
tans — They broke thro' their Ranks — polic-
ing with deadly wounds their indignanl
foes — heroes fell before I hem — & many of
ihe Sciotans being strnck with sin-prise &
terror began to retire back — But Ihe hands
in the rear of their army instantly rushed
fin waul & met their furious combatants —
The battle was now spread in every direc-
tion. Many valiant chiefs who commanded
under their respective Kings were over-
thrown— & many thousand robust A brave
warriors, whose names were not dis-
linguislied by office, were compeled lo
receive deadly wounds & lo bite the dust.
— It was Elseon fortune to attack the
division led by the valiant HainolT — He
broke his ranks A killed many warriors —
while driving them furiously before him —
he met Hamkol al the head "I' many
thousand Sciotans— Hamkol beheld the
young Prince A knew him .V being fired
with 'the greatesl rage & thirsl lor revenge,
he urged on Ihe combat with the most
daring violence Now he Ihot. was a
favorable chalice lo gain immortal renown
— Elseon says he shall feel the effects of m\
Conquering sword — The warriors on both
side charged each other with incredible fury
— & Elseon & Hamkol mel in the center of
their divisions— 1 have found you says
Hamkol perliduous i ster— 1 will leach

ipn

Hi. hi I

V

slaugl

HISTORY OF UTAH.

BOOK OP MORMON. MANUSCRIPT STORY.

rtheless, Shi/, did nol cease to pur- quick as the lightning Elseon darted his
iantumr, for he had sworn to avenge sword thro1 his heart — \_IInmkor\ knashed
upon Coriantumr of the blood oi his teeth together & \yoith a groari] tumb-
ling, who had been slain, and the ling headlong with a groan expired. —
r the Lord which came to Ether,
iriantumr should no1 fall by the

A portion of Christ's prophecy to the Nephrites, concerning the
gathering of Israel and the destiny of the Lamanites in the last
days, is also here given:

BOOK OF MORMON. III. NEPHI, CHAP. XXI.

Ami. verily, I say unto you, I give unto you a sign, that ye may know the time
when these things shall be about to take place, that I shall gather in from their lung
dispersion, my people, 0 house of Israel, and shall establish again among them my Zion.

Therefore when these works, and the works which shall be wrought among you
hereafter, shall come forth from the Gentiles, unto your seed, which shall dwindle ill
unbelief because of iniquity;

For thus il behoveth the Father thai it should come forth from the Gentiles, that he
may show forth his power unto the Gentiles, for this cause, that the Gentiles, if they will
not harden their hearts, that they may repent and come unto me. and he baptized in my
name, and know of the true points of my doctrine, that they may be numbered among
my people, 0 house of Israel:

And when these things come to pass, that thy seed shall begin to know these things,
il shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already
commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who
are of the house of Israel.

And when that day shall come, it shall come to pass that kings shall shut their
mouths; lor thai which had nol been told them shall they see: and that which they had
nol heard shall they consider.

For in that day. for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall he a greal
and marvellous work among them: and there shall he among them who will not believe
it. although a man shall declare il unto them.

Bui behold, the life of my servant shall he in my hand: therefore they shall not
hurl him. although he shall he marred because of them. Vet I will heal him. lor I will
shew unto them thai my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.

Therefore il shall cane to pass, that whosoever will not believe in my words, who

am JesUS Christ, whom the Father shall cause him lo bring forth unto the Gentiles, and

shall give i him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall he

done even as Moses said.) they shall he cut oil' from among my people who are of the

covenant,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 55

Ami my people who are a remnant of Jacob, shall be among the Gentiles, yea. in the
midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks
of sheep, who. if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can
deliver.

Their hand shall be lifted up upon their adversaries, and all their enemies shall be
cut off.

Yea, wo he unto the Gentiles, except they repent, for it shall come to pass in that
day. saith the Father, that I will cut off lhy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will
destroy thy chariots.

## * * ■ # # * # *

And 1 will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such
as they have not heard.

But if they will repent, and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I
will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant, and he
numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom 1 have given this land for their
inheritance.

And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also, as many of the
house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall lie called the New
Jerusalem ;

And then shall they assist my people that they may lie gathered in. who are scattered
upon all the face of the land, in unto the New7 Jerusalem.

And then shall the power of heaven come down among them: and I also will he in
the midst:

And then shall the work of the Father commence at tliat day. even when this gospel
shall be preached among the remnant of this people. Verily I say unto you, at that day
shall the work of the Father commence among all the dispersed of my people; yea. even
the tribes which have been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem.

Yea, tin-' work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people, with the
Father, to prepare the way whereby they may come unto me. that they may call on the
Father in my name.

In a little work called "The Myth of the Manuscript Found,"*
by Elder George Reynolds of Salt Lake City, the arguments pro and
con upon the question of the alleged identity of the Book of Mor-
mon and the Spaulding romance, are clearly and intelligently set
forth. Mr. Reynolds, being a believer in the Book of Mormon,
devotes himself to the task of puncturing and shattering the
Hurlburt-Howe hypothesis, but Ibis does not prevent him from doing-
justice to the other side in the controversy, by stating fully and
fairly the position that he assails.

* "Manuscript Found" is the more generally known title of the Spaulding tale.

56 HISTORY OF UTAH.

President James H. Fairchild, in the New York Observer of
February 5th, 1885, speaking of the discovery by Mr. Rice of the
Spaulding romance, says : " The theory of the origin of the Book of
Mormon in the traditional manuscript of Solomon Spaulding will
probably have to be relinquished. * * * Mr. Rice, myself
and others compared it (the Spaulding manuscript) with the Book of
Mormon, and could detect no resemblance between the two. in general
or detail. There seems to be no name nor incident common to the
two. The solemn style of the Book of Mormon, in imitation of the
English Scriptures, does not appear m the manuscript. :;: * *
Some other explanation of the origin of the Book of Mormon must
be found, if any explanation is required."

Here we take leave of the subject. Up to the present time —
1892 — the Book of Mormon has passed through no less than thirty
American and English editions, aggregating many tens of thousands
of volumes, scattered broadcast upon both hemispheres. It has been
translated and published in eleven foreign vernaculars, namely :
English, Welsh. French. Spanish. Italian. German. Dutch. Danish.
Swedish. Hawaiian and Maori. — including, as seen, all the leading
languages of modern times. It has also been translated, but not
published, in Hindoostanee and the Jewish. A Russian translation.
unauthorized, is likewise reported to have passed through the press.

-

HISTORY OF UTAH.

CHAPTER IV.

183Q.

Organization of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints — the doctrine of

common consent oliver cowdery the first public preacher of mormonism newel

knight the first conference of the church the elders at colesville joseph

smith arrested for ''preaching the book of mormon'" his trial and acquittal

at south bainbridge re-arrested and tried at colesville another failure to

convict return to pennsylvania a* schism threatening the church revival of

opposition at harmony the prophet removes with his family to fayette the

schism averted a mission to the lamanites announced.

1g) ESUMING from the spring of 1830 the thread of our his-
-■■T torical narrative. On the 6th of April of that year, at the
town of Fayette, Seneca County, New York, was organized the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormonism at thai
time had two score or more disciples, — persons who had embraced
its principles and been baptized. Only six of these, however. — no
less than that number being required by law to form a religious
society, — participated in the organization. They were Joseph Smith,
junior, Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Peter Whitmer. junior. Samuel
H. Smith and David Whitmer. Other believers were present at this
initial meeting, which was held at the house of Peter Whitmer.

From the first the doctrine of common consent was practically
exemplified in all the meetings and deliberations of the Latter-day
Saints: the right of the people to a voice in the selection of their
leaders, and in the establishment of the laws which govern them,
being a cardinal principle of their religious, no less than of their
political faith. Accordingly, in this instance. Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery, who were to be the first and second Elders of the
Church, prior to ordaining each other or proceeding at all with the

58 HISTORY OF UTAH.

organization, called upon the disciples present to manifest whether
or not they would accept them as their spiritual teachers, and were
willing to be organized as a religious body. Unanimous consent
being given, the purpose of the meeting was effected. Joseph
first laid hands upon Oliver and ordained him an Elder in
the Church of Christ. Oliver then ordained Joseph in like manner.
The sacrament of the Lord's supper was administered to those
who had been baptized, and they were then confirmed members of
the Church by the laying on of the Elders' hands. Others of the
brethren — for the Saints were thenceforth to each other "brethren
and sisters" — were likewise ordained to various offices in the Priest-
hood. While together on this occasion, the Prophet voiced to his
flock the following revelation : :;:

Behold there shall be a record kept among you, and in it thou shalt be called a seer,
a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church through the will
of God the Father, and the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ.

Being inspired of the Holy Ghost to lay the foundation thereof, and to build it up
unto the most holy faith,

Which church was organized and established in the year of your Lord eighteen hun-
dred and thirty, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month, which is called
April.

Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his winds and com-
mandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness
before me;

For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith;

For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea. and
the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the
heavens In shake for your good, and his name's glory.

For thus saith the Lord God, him have I inspired to move the cause of Zion in
might] power for good, and his diligence 1 know, and his prayers I have heard.

Yea his weeping for Zion I have seen, and I will cause thai he shall mourn for her
no longer, lor his days of rejoicing are come unto the remission of his sins, and tin- man-
ifestations of mj blessings upon bis works.

For, behold, I will bless all those who labor in my vineyard with a mighty blessing.
ami the] shall believe on his words, which are given him through me by the Comforter,
which iiianifestelh that Jesus was crucified by sinful men for the sins of the world, yea.
for the- remission of sins unto the contrite heart.

Doctrine and Covenants, Section xxi.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 59

Wherefore it behoveth me that he should be ordained by you. Oliver Cowdery,
mine apostle ;

This being an ordinance unto you. that you arc an elder under his hand, he being
the first unto you, that you might be an elder unto this church of Christ, bearing my

name,

And the first preacher of this church unto the church, and before the world, yea,
before the Gentiles: yea. and thus saith the Lord God, lo. lo! to the Jews also. Amen.

Thus was founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. Thus arose, as a system, what the world terms Mormon-
ism. — universally regarded as the most remarkable religious move-
ment of modern times ; detested and denounced throughout Christ-
endom as a dangerous and soul-destroying imposture, but revered
and defended by its disciples as the wonderful work of the Almighty,
the veritable "marvelous work and wonder" foretold by Isaiah and
other ancient seers, which was to prepare the world, by the preach-
ing of a restored gospel and the founding of a latter-day Zion for
Messiah's second coming and the advent of the Millennium.

Five days after the organization — Sunday. April 11th — at the
house of Peter Whitmer, in Fayette, Oliver Cowdery preached the
first public sermon delivered by a Mormon Elder. Many persons
were present besides the Saints. The seed sown took instant root,
and that day several more were added to the Church.

The following paragraphs of a revelation recorded about
this time will give some idea of the Church government and
discipline :*

The duty of the elders, priests, teachers, deacons, and members of the church of
Christ. — An apostle is an elder, and it is his calling to baptize,

And to ordain other elders, priests, teachers, and deacons,

And lo administer bread and wine — the emblems of the flesh and blood of Christ —

And to confirm those who are baptized into the church, by the laying on of hands for
the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, according to the scriptures;

Ami lo leach, expound, exhort, baptize, ami watch over Hie elnnrli ;

And to confirm the church by the laying on of hands, and the giving of the Holy
Ghost,

And lo lake the lead of all meetings.

* Doctrine and Covenants. Sec. xx.. 38-59;

60 HISTORY OF UTAH.

The elders are to conduct the meetings as they are led by the Holy Ghost, according
to the commandments and revelations of God.

The priest's duty is to preach, teach, expound, exhort, and baptize, and administer the
sacrament,

And visit the house of each member, and exhort them to pray vocally and in secret
and attend to all family duties;

And he may also ordain other priests, teachers, and deacons.

And he is to take the lead of meetings when there is no elder present ;

But when there is an elder present, he is only to preach, teach, expound, exhort, and
baptize,

And visit the house of each member, exhorting them to pray vocally and in secret,
and attend to all family duties.

In all these duties the priest is to assist the elder if occasion requires.

The teacher's duty is to watch over the church always, and be with and strengthen
them,

And see that there is no iniquity in the church — neither hardness with each other —
neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking ;

And see that the church meet together often, and also see that all the members do
their duty.

And he is to take the lead of meetings in the absence of the elder or priest —

And is to be assisted always, in all his duties in the church, by the deacons, if occa-
sion requires ;

But neither teachers nor deacons have authority to baptize, administer the sacrament,
or lay on hands :

They are. however, to warn, expound, exhort, and teach and invite all to come unto
Christ.

During the month of April the Prophet visited Colesville, the
home of Joseph Knight, who had ministered to his necessities on a
former occasion. Mr. Knight and several members of his family
were Universalists. At his home the Prophet held several meetings,
which subsequently bore fruit in the baptism of many. The first
miracle recorded in the Church, — for it was a gospel of "signs"
following the believer, as in days of old. that was being preached by
the Elders, — is accredited to Joseph Smith during tbis visit. It
was the casting out of Satan from the person of Newel, son of
Joseph Knight. Newel was baptized at Fayette in the latter part of
May. Martin Harris, Joseph Smith, senior, Lucy Smith. Orrin Porter
Rockwell and other historic names, by this time had also been added
to the Church roll of membership.

The first conference of the organized Church convened at

HISTORY OF UTAH. 61

Fayette on the first day of June. Thirty members were present on
the opening day, besides many others who were investigating tbe
new faith. More baptisms followed, more Elders, Priests, Teachers
and Deacons were ordained, and Mormonism began spreading rapidly.
As a matter of course it encountered opposition, much excitement
at times prevailing over the preaching of its strange doctrines and
the exercise of its novel " gifts," and its disciples suffered more or
less petty persecution. Still it spread. The smoking flax was every-
where bursting into flame, and all efforts to quench it proved
powerless.

Again visiting his borne in Pennsylvania, Joseph returned
bringing his wife, and in company with her and three Elders repaired
to Colesville. There they found many awaiting baptism. It was
Saturday, and the Elders constructed a dam in a stream, which they
designed using next day for baptizing. That night a party of men,
instigated it was believed by ministers of other denominations, tore
away the dam, thus preventing the Elders from executing their
purpose on the Sabbath. Early Monday morning, however, before
their opponents could assemble in sufficient force to prevent, they
reconstructed their dam, and Oliver Cowdery, entering the water,
immersed thirteen converts to the faith ; Emma Smith, the Prophet's
wife, being one of the number.

Fierce was the anger of their foes when they learned whal had
taken place. Fifty strong they surrounded the house of Joseph
Knight, to which the Elders had retired, foaming with rage and
threatening violence. But Joseph Smith was no coward : neither a
physical weakling. Calmly confronting the mob he btrove, though
in vain, to pacify them. Finally they withdrew to malhre their
plans, and the Elders, deeming it prudent, departed also, g^ing QOW
to the house of Newel Knight.

That evening, just as they were about to confirm their
converts, a constable appeared upon the scene and arrested the
Prophet on the charge of being a disorderly person, for preaching
the Book of Mormon and setting the country in an uproar. The

62 HISTORY OF UTAH.

officer, however, became friendly and informed Joseph that some
men were in ambush, not far away, whose purpose was to get
him into their power and maltreat him. He added that he was
determined to defend him at all hazards. The statement proved
true. A crowd of men surrounded the wagon in which the con-
stable drove away with the Prophet, and would undoubtedly have
taken him from custody had not the officer plied his whip, given
his horse full rein and left them far behind. The two drove on
rapidly to South Bainbridge, in Chenango County, where they put
up at a tavern. The constable permitted his prisoner to occupy
the bed in their room, while he slept with his feet against the
door and a loaded musket at his side, ready to defend him against
assault.

At the trial, next day, various charges were preferred against
the Prophet. Some of them were of a very frivolous character.
For instance, he was accused of obtaining from Josiah Stoal, his
former employer, a horse, and from one Jonathan Thompson a yoke
of oxen, by telling them that he had received revelations that he was
to have them. Messrs. Stoal and Thompson, taking the witness
stand, testified in the prisoners favor, and he was promptly
acquitted. On leaving the court-room, however, he was re-arrested
on a warrant from Broome County, and taken back to Colesville for
trial. This time he was in the custody of an officer who treated him
with great harshness; subjecting him to the insults of the rabble,
refusing him for many hours any refreshment, and finally allowing
him for his supper only a diet of bread-crusts and water.

At the Colesville trial Newel Knight was put upon the stand and
made to testify concerning the miracle reported to have been per-
formed upon him.

" Did the prisoner, Joseph Smith, junior, cast the devil out of
you?" asked the prosecuting attorney of the witness.

"No, sir." replied Mr. Knight.

"Why. have not you had the devil cast out of you .'"

"Yes, sir."

HISTORY OF UTAH. 63

•'And had not Joe Smith some hand in its being done?"

"Yes, sir."

"And did not he cast him out of you ? "

" No, sir. It was done by the power of C4od. and Joseph Smith
was the instrument in the hands of God on the occasion. He com-
manded him out of me in the name of Jesus Christ."

" And are you sure that it was the devil ? *'

•• Yes. sir."

" Did you see him after he was cast out of you ? "

•• Yes, sir; I saw him."

" Pray, what did he look like '? "

Here the prisoner's counsel informed the witness that he need
not answer the question. Mr. Knight, however, replied :

" I believe I need not answer your last question, but I will do it
provided I be allowed to ask you one question first, and you answer
me. namely : Do you, Mr. Seymour, understand the things of the
spirit ? "

" No," answered Mr. Seymour. "I do not pretend to such big-
things."

" Well then," rejoined Knight, " it would be of no use to tell
you what the devil looked like, for it was a spiritual sight, and spir-
itually discerned ; and of course you would not understand it were I
to tell you of it."

A roar of laughter, at the lawyer's expense, shook the court-
room. Mr. Seymour then arose and addressing the court paid his
respects in no gentle terms to the prisoner. Among other things
he repeated the story of his having been a "money-digger." The
defendant, however, was not on trial for money digging, and his
counsel having returned the forensic fire of the prosecution, he was
again set at liberty.

In the breasts of many, hitherto hostile, a revulsion of feeling
now took place. Even the officer who had treated the prisoner so
harshly came forward and apologized for his conduct, and offered to
help him evade a mob that had assembled outside the court-room, to

64 HISTORY OF UTAH.

" tar and feather" the Prophet and ride him on a rail. Taking
advantage of this opportunity to escape, Joseph, rejoining his anx-
ious wife, returned with her to Pennsylvania.

A few days later Joseph and Oliver revisited Colesville for the
purpose of confirming their converts ; but the mob, again gathering,
compelled them to forego their purpose and beat a hasty retreat,
hotly pursued by the belligerent multitude. A subsequent visit was
more successful. The inciters of this opposition were said to be
prominent Presbyterians.

At his home in Harmony the Prophet now devoted some
time to making a record of and arranging in their proper order the
revelations he had from time to time delivered. At first Oliver Cow-
dery assisted him, but he soon departed for Fayette, and Emma
Smith then acted as a scribe to her husband.

Hitherto the relations between Joseph and Oliver seem to have
been of the most friendly character. Mutually helpful, — Oliver to
Joseph by means of a better education, and Joseph to Oliver by
reason of superior intelligence and strength of character, — they were
congenial in spirit and united in purpose. The first intimation
of a change of heart in Oliver was contained in a letter from him
to the Prophet, calling in question certain words of one of the
revelations, and demanding that they be changed. The First Elder
replied to the Second that the revelation came from God, and must
stand as it had been delivered until God should change it. A per-
sonal visit to Fayette followed, where Joseph found that some of
the Whitmer family were in sympathy with Oliver. It required
much pleading and persuasion on the part of the Prophet to finally
convince them that they were in error. Even then the breach was
closed only to be soon re-opened.

During August the persecutive spirit revived at Harmony, where
the Methodists now conspired to create trouble for the hated founder
of the rapidly growing rival Church. The influence brought to
bear was such as to alienate from Joseph the friendship of his father-
in-law, Isaac Hale, who joined the ranks of his opponents and

HISTORY OF UTAH. 65

became his bitter and relentless foe. Life at Harmony for Joseph
and Emma, was now rendered intolerable. He therefore accepted a
second invitation from the Whitmers to remove to Fayette, this time
with his family, and take up his abode in their domicile. He arrived
there during the last week in August.

Again, to his surprise and sorrow, the Prophet found the spirit
of dissension among his followers. The trouble this time was
over a certain stone in the possession of Hiram Page, one of the
eight witnesses. From this stone, it was claimed, sundry mys-
terious communications had been received, of a tenor and purport at
variance with revelations already on record. These communications
Joseph pronounced spurious, but Elder Cowdery and some of the
Whitmers still placed reliance in them. The Prophet then spoke to
them in the name of the Lord. Oliver was reminded that while he
was as Aaron to Israel — a spokesman to the Prophet — Joseph was
as Moses, the mouthpiece of the Almighty. He alone had the right
to voice revelations to the Church for its guidance. Oliver was
required to use his influence with Hiram Page to induce him to dis-
card the stone — the apple of discord — and was informed of an
important mission in store for him, a mission to the Lamanites,
upon which he should set out as soon as the differences then agitat-
ing the Church had been settled. Allusion was made in this revela-
tion to a certain "city" that was to be built "on the borders by the
Lamanites."

Subsequently, at a conference held early in September, Hiram
Page and his associates renounced the stone and "all things con-
nected therewith," and in common with the whole Church renewed
their covenant of fealty to Joseph, as its supreme prophet, seer and
revelator. Thus was "the imminent deadly breach" closed, and
what threatened to be for Mormonism. in its infancy, a serious it not
a fatal wound, healed. Immediately afterward preparations went for-
ward for the departure of the mission to the Lamanites.

66 HISTORY OF UTAH.

CHAPTER V.

1830-1831.

MORMONISM'S MISSION TO THE LAMANITKS ITS SIGNIFICANCE OLIVER COWDERT, PARLEY P. PRATT.

PETER WHITMER. JDNIOR, AND ZIBA PETERSON THE CHOSEN EVANGELISTS TO THE RED HEN

THEIR DEPARTURE FOR THE WEST— THE CATTERAUGUS INDIANS— KIRTLAND AND THE

CAMPBELLITES SIDNEY RIGDON HIS CONVERSION TO MORMONISM EDWARD PARTRIDGE

NEWEL K. WHITNEY SUCCESS OF THE ELDERS IN OHIO THEIR PILGRIMAGE RESUMED

ELDER PRATT'S ARREST AND ESCAPE SIMEON CARTER AMONG THE WYANDOTS STORMS

AND PRIVATIONS ARRIVAL AT INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI PREACHING TO THE DELAWARES

GOVERNMENT AGENTS AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES THE ELDERS ORDERED OUT OF THE

INDIAN COUNTRY.

HE significance of the missionary movement inaugurated by
the Prophet, in sending forth Elders to evangelize the
American Indians and distribute among the dusky tribes
copies of the Book of Mormon, is only to be fully comprehended by
those who have made careful study of the contents of that record,
and of the various revelations voiced to the world by Joseph Smith.
Indeed, the only key to the real history of Mormonism, from
Cumorah to Carthage, and from Carthage to Deseret, is a knowledge
of the aims and motives of its founders and disciples, as learned
from their own lips or reflected from the pages of the records
esteemed by them divine. Neither the enemies of a people, nor the
disinterested, uninitiated observers of that people, however fair and
honest, are trustworthy oracles and reliable exponents of their views
and doctrines. Methodism, Catholicism, Mormonism, or any other
ism. in order to be properly understood, must be permitted, like Paul
before Agrippa, to speak for itself. In this light let us take a brief
general glance at Mormonism.

First of all it must be borne in mind, as a basic fact, upon
which to found all further argument or theory in relation to the

HISTORY OF UTAH. 67

Saints and their religion, that they sincerely believe themselves
to be literally of the blood of Israel; children of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, — mostly of Joseph through the lineage of Ephraim. The
loss of their tribal identity, and their scattered state among the
nations, — whence the gospel, they say, has. begun to gather them, —
is explained to them by the scriptures, which declare that Ephraim
hath "mixed himself with the people ;" that is, with other nations,
presumably from the days of the Assyrian captivity. They believe,
moreover, that in this age, ''the dispensation of the fullness of
times. "" — a figurative spiritual ocean, into which all past dispensations
of divine power and authority like rills and rivers run. — it is the
purpose of Jehovah, the God of Israel, to gather His scattered people
from their long dispersion among the nations, and weld in one vast
chain the broken links of the fated house of Abraham. They quote
from Jeremiah: "Hear the word of the Lord, 0 ye nations, and
declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will
gather him. and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock."" This gath-
ering of Israel, they claim, is a step preparatory to the ''gathering
together in one" of "all things in Christ," both in heaven and on
earth, as spoken of by Paul the Apostle. Mormonism. to its disci-
ples, is no more nor less than primitive Christianity restored ; and
Christianity in its primitive state, unpaganized, unapostate, no more
nor less than the restored religion of Adam, Enoch, Noah, Mel-
chisedek. Abraham, Moses and other ancient worthies who received
the same from God, successively, all down the dispensations.

Israel's gathering in the " last days," — the closing period of our
planet's mortal probation, — is a cardinal doctrine with the Latter-
day Saints, accounting as it does for their world-wide proselytism,
the wanderings abroad of their Apostles and Elders in quest of the
seed of Ephraim, their fellows, and their migrations from the ends of
the earth to the American continent, believed by them to be the
land of Zion.* Upon this land, winch they hold to be the inherit-

: Tli is in a ucnt'ial sense; speeilieally their " land of Zion " is Jackson County, ML

s

68 HISTORY OF UTAH.

ance of Joseph, — given him by the Almighty in the blessings of Jacob
and Moses,* and occupied for ages by his descendants, the Nephites
and Lamanites. — is to arise the latter-day Zion,- New Jerusalem,
concerning which so many of the prophet-poets of antiquity have
sung. It was for this purpose, say the Saints, that the land
was held in reserve, hidden for ages behind Atlantic's waves — the
wall of waters over which, in Lehi and his colony, climbed Joseph's
-fruitful bough." Next came the Gentiles, with Columbus in their
van, to unveil the hidden hemisphere ; then a Washington, a Jeffer-
son and other heaven-inspired patriots to win and maintain the
liberty of the land, — a land destined to be "free from bondage."
And all this that Zion might here be established, and the Lord's
latter-day work founded and fostered on Columbia's chosen soil.
Yes. these Latter-day Saints, — false and fanatical as the view may
seem to most, — actually believe that the greatest and most liberal of
earthly governments, that of the United States, was founded for the
express purpose of favoring the growth of what the world terms
Mormonism.

Ephraim and Manasseh, the half tribes of Joseph, are to com-
bine for the up-building of Zion, which is to become, in due time,
" the joy of the whole earth." the glorious head and front of the
world's civilization. ••And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and
kings to the brightness of thy rising." Much of the seed of Ephraim
is mixed with the Gentiles; therefore is he to be gathered from
among them. Manasseh is largely to be found among the Laman-
ites. the American Indians, and the dark-hued dwellers of the neigh-
boring ocean islands. Though cursed of God and smitten by the
Gentiles, the red men are yet to be reclaimed and the curse lifted
from off them. Then will they become ''white and delightsome,"
as of yore. ^The Book of Mormon and its believers declare that
these Lamanites — Manasseh — will yet build the Zion of God, the
Jerusalem of America, in which work they will lie .joined — some say

* Genesis xlix: 22-26. Deuteronomy xxxiii: 13-17.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 69

assisted, some directed — by. the Latter-day Saints, the children of
Ephraim.

But the gathering of Israel is to include the whole house of
Jacob ; not merely the half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. It
involves the restoration of the Jews and the. re-building of old Jeru-
salem, prior to the acceptance by Judah of the gospel and mission
of the crucified Messiah: also the return of the lost Ten Tribes
from '" the north country" and their re-establishment in Palestine,
their ancient Canaan.

The preliminary work of founding Zion. as well as a greater
spiritual mission to follow, when the Ten Tribes from the north will
receive in Zion their blessings under his hands, devolves upon
Ephraim. the "first-born," empowered by a restored gospel and
priesthood unto this very end and purpose. Hence, say the Sain Is.
the mission and calling of Joseph Smith, the Prophet of Ephraim, who
claimed to be a lineal descendant of Joseph who was sold into Egypt.

Again, the message borne by Ephraim in the last days, reversing
the order of ancient-day evangelism, is first to the Gentiles, and then,
when "the fullness of the Gentiles" has "come in," to the whole
house of Israel. Perhaps it was a type, designed to foreshadow the
anticipated fulfillment, this sending of the Elders, in the fall of 1830,
after several months proselyting among the Gentiles of New York
and Pennsylvania, to Lamanitish Israel, mostly inhabiting the wilder-
ness beyond the nation's western frontier. The mission of these
Elders was to preach the Gospel to the red men, as contained in the
Bible and the Book of Mormon, — the sticks of Judah and of Joseph
now •' in the hand of Ephraim." — * deliver to them the record of
their forefathers, and inasmuch as they received their teachings to
establish the Church of Christ among them. In other words, to pre-
pare Manasseh for his part of the work of building up Zion. Such,
from a Mormon standpoint, was the significance of that Lamanite
mission, and such in general is the Mormon view of Mormonism.

Ezekiel xxxvn : in

70 HISTORY OF UTAH.

The Elders chosen for this service were Oliver Cowdery, Peter
Whitmer, junior, Parley P. Pratt and Ziba Peterson.

A word here in relation to Parley P. Pratt, the future poet-
Apostle of Mormonism, whose personal history interweaves at this
point with several important events of that period. He was a native
of the state of New York, and was now in his twenty-fourth year.
Prior to his baptism by Oliver Cowdery in Seneca Lake about the
1st of September, 1830, he had been connected with a religious
society called Reformed Baptists, or Campbellites, which he had
joined two years before in the wilds of northern Ohio. In fact
he had been a preacher of the Campbellites, who numbered among
their leading men Alexander Campbell, the founder of the sect, and
Sidney Rigdon. the latter, like Parley, an eloquent and gifted
expounder of the scriptures. The magnet which had drawn Parley
into the Campbellite fold was the scriptural nature of their doctrines,
which included not only faith, repentance and baptism by immersion,
— which, as a good Baptist, he believed in already, — but baptism for
the remission of sins and the promise of the Holy Ghost, tenets not
taught by the orthodox sects of Christendom. These doctrines had
been preached by Sidney Rigdon in Parley's neighborhood : he being
then a colonizer on the shores of Lake Erie. Soon after embracing
the Campbellite faith, in August, 1830, he resolved to devote himself
entirely to the work of the ministry. Selling out at a sacrifice, and
abandoning his home in the wilderness, he traveled eastward to his
native state; his young wife, nee Thankful Halsey, accompanying
him. Near the city of Rochester, leaving his wife to pursue the
journey homeward, Parley felt impelled to stop and preach, and
walked ten miles into the country for that purpose. There, at the
house of an old Baptist deacon named Hamlin, he first heard of and
first saw the Book of Mormon. Deeply interested in its perusal. —
particularly in that part descriptive of the personal ministry of the
Savior to the Nephites, — he decided to visit the young man who
claimed to have translated the record from plates of gold. Arriving
at Manchester, the parental home of the Smiths, he learned that

i

1

m

m

HISTORY OF UTAH. 71

the Prophet was then living in Pennsylvania. He met Hyrum
Smith, however, who entertained him kindly, presented him with a
copy of the Book of Mormon and subsequently accompanied him to
Fayette. There, being fully converted to the new faith, he was bap-
tized, as stated, confirmed and ordained an Elder. He then revisited
his old home in Canaan, Columbia County, where he converted and
baptized his brother Orson, then a youth of nineteen years; destined
like himself to achieve fame as a Mormon Apostle, and as one of the
pioneer founders of Utah. Returning westward, Parley met for the
first time Joseph Smith, who had returned from Pennsylvania and
was visiting his parents at Manchester. Soon afterward, being
called to accompany Elders Cowdery, Whitmer and Peterson upon
their mission, he set out for the land of the Lamanites.

It was late in October, 1830, that the four Elders departed for
the west. As was customary then with itinerants, unable to
afford a nag or vehicle, or to pay coach and steamboat fares, they
started afoot, husbanding their scanty means and trusting in Provi-
dence to "'open up the way." They first visited the Catteraugus
Indians, near Buffalo, New York. By them they were kindly
received, much interest being manifested by the red men in the
strange things told them by the Elders. Presenting them with copies
of the Book of Mormon, for the perusal of such of the Indians as
could read, the missionaries bade them farewell and continued their
journey westward.

The scene now changes to northern Ohio, a region at that time
almost if not quite a wilderness, in the midst of which, among the
hills and dales and glens and groves and streams that beautify the
shores and give back the echoing music of Erie's rolling waves, not
only these Mormon Elders, — who were merely the vanguard of a
general migratory movement haying westward as its watchword and
religion as its guiding star. — but Mormonism itself, their parent
church, was destined soon to plant its pilgrim feet.

Kirtland, a few miles inland from Lake Erie, was a picturesque
and flourishing little town of one or two thousand inhabitants, doing

72 HISTORY. OF UTAH.

business across the lakes with the fur-trapping regions of Michigan
and some of the principal cities of the east. The leading "store'' of
the town, and indeed in all that region, was owned and conducted
by Messrs. Gilbert and Whitney, who had formerly been in business
at Painesville.

In this vicinity the Campbellites, or Disciples, as they called
themselves, had made many converts. Among those now associated
with them were Edward Partridge, of Painesville, and Newel K.
Whitney, of Kirtland. both merchants. — the former a native of Pitts-
field. Berkshire County. Massachusetts, and the latter of Marlborough,
Windham County, Vermont. Like Parley P. Pratt, these men, who
became the first two Bishops of the Mormon Church, were converts
in the Campbellite faith of Sidney Rigdon's.

The prominent part played by this notable man in the affairs of
Mormonism entitles his past record to some mention. Sidney Bigdon
was born in St. Clair Township. Allegheny County. Pennsylvania, on
the 19th of February, 1793. Connecting himself in his twenty-fifth
year with the regular Baptist Church, he became, in March, 1819. a
licensed preacher of that persuasion. Two months afterward
he removed to Trumbull County, Ohio, where he subsequently mar-
ried. Called in 1821 to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of
Pittsburg, he there became a very popular minister. Less than three
years later, becoming dissatisfied with the doctrines of the Baptists,
he conscientiously resigned his pastorate and withdrew from the
society. During the next two years he labored in a tannery for a
livelihood. Again removing to Ohio, — this time to Bainbridge, in
Geauga County, — he there re-entered the ministry. He now preached
the Campbellite doctrines. It seems that the founder of that sect.
Alexander Campbell, had been one of Rigdon's parishioners at Pitts-
burg. Following his pastor's example, he had left the Baptist
Church, and with Mr. Walter Scott, and warmly supported by Mr.
Rigdon, had founded the society of Beformed Baptists, or Camp-
bellites. Rigdon's success, always pronounced, was now remarkable.
The fame of his eloquence and reasoning powers spread far and wide.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 73

After a year's effective service in and around Bainbridge, he accepted
a call to Mentor, thirty miles distant. There, in the midst of much
persecution, occasioned by his phenomenal success, he continued to
flourish. He converted and baptized multitudes, and organized
congregations in all the country round. One of these was near the
mouth of Black River, where Parley P. Pratt was converted. Sidney
Rigdon was at the summit of his fame and popularity as a Campbell-
ite preacher when Oliver Cowdery and his confreres, — the first
missionaries sent westward by the Latter-day Saints from the cradle
of their Church, — set out for the land of the Lamanites.

It was to Kirtland, not far from Mentor, that those Elders now
made their way ; Parley P. Pratt being desirous of laying before his
former friends and associates the principles he had recently espoused.
As a reminder to the reader of what those principles comprised,
the Articles of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, as formulated a few years later by the Prophet, are here
presented :

1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the
Holy Ghost.

2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's
transgression.

3. We believe that through the atonement of Christ all men may be saved, by
obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.

4. We believe that these ordinances are : First, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ; sec-
ond, repentance; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, laying
on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

5. We believe that a man must be called of God by ''prophecy, and by the laying
on of hands," by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the
ordinances thereof.

6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, viz.:
apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc.

7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, inter-
pretation of tongues, etc.

8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God. as far as it is translated correetlj ;
we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we
believe llial He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom
of God.

10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten

6-VOL. 1.

74 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Tribes. That Zion will be built upon this continent. That Christ will reign personally
upon the earth, and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisic glory.

11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates
of our conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where
or what they may.

12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers and magistrates, in obey-
ing, honoring and sustaining the law.

13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good
to all men: indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul, ;' We believe all
things, we hope all things," we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure
all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek
after these things.

Such were the doctrines that Parley P. Pratt desired to present
to his former friends in and around Kirtland. The commission of
the Elders being to ''preach the gospel to every creature." regardless
of creed or color, they were nothing loth to tarry for a season
within the confines of civilization and "thrust in their sickles
and reap," wherever the field of souls appeared " white unto the
harvest." Calling on Mr. Rigdon, they presented him with the Book
of Mormon, at the same time relating to him its history. This was
his first knowledge of the record which, a few years later, he was
accused of assisting Joseph Smith to create out of the materials of
the Spaulding story. He entertained the Elders hospitably, and
promised to read the book carefully. The result was his conversion
to Mormonism. After due deliberation he offered himself to the
Elders as a candidate for baptism. Many of his flock were likewise
converted. Within three weeks after their arrival at Kirtland. the
Elders baptized one hundred and twenty-seven souls. Among these
were Sidney Rigdon, Newel K. Whitney. Frederick G. Williams. Isaac
Morley, Lyman Wight, John Murdock and others whose names
became more or less notable in the annals of Mormonism. Edward
Partridge was also converted, but was not immediately baptized.

But the Elders must not tarry too long at Kirtland. The season
is far advanced, the storms of winter will soon burst forth, and a
vast journey still lies before them. They now prepare for departure.
Ordaining Sidney Rigdon and others to the priesthood, and setting

HISTORY OF UTAH. 75

them apart to minister for the rest, the four Elders reported by letter
to the Prophet, and bidding their new-found brethren and sisters
adieu, resumed their westward pilgrimage. Frederick G. Williams
accompanied them.

Near the mouth of Black River, in the neighborhood of
Parley P. Pratt's former home, they stopped one night at the house
of Simeon Carter. Here Parley was arrested on some trivial charge
and held in durance till morning. Escaping by strategy he rejoined
his companions, and they trudged on through mud and rain toward
the interior. Everywhere they found that their fame had preceded
them. Though ill-treated by some, they preached to crowded con-
gregations, and sowed the seed broad-cast of a future bounteous har-
vest. Simeon Carter, at whose home Parley, on the night of his
arrest, had left a copy of the Book of Mormon, perused it carefully,
was converted, and walked fifty miles to Kirtland, where he was bap-
tized and ordained an Elder. Returning, he began himself to
preach and baptize, and built up a branch of the Church in his
neighborhood numbering sixty members.

At Sandusky, Elder Cowdery and his companions came upon
another Indian nation, the Wyandots, with whom they spent several
days very agreeably. Like the Catteraugus Indians, they warmly
welcomed the missionaries, listened with interest to their teachings,
and at parting gave them God-speed. They also requested the Elders
to write to them regarding their success among the tribes farther
west. Proceeding to Cincinnati, the Elders tarried certain clays,
preaching, and in the latter part of December took passage on a
steamboat bound for St. Louis. The mouth of the Ohio River being-
blocked with ice, their boat could proceed no farther. At that point,
therefore, they landed and continued their journey afoot. Two hun-
dred miles traveled in this manner brought them to the vicinity of
St. Louis. Heavy storms of rain and snow now detained them for
over a week, during winch they were kindly cared for by hospitable
people in that section.

With the opening year — 1831 — they resumed their journeyj

76 HISTORY OF UTAH.

passing through St. Louis and St. Charles. Then out over the bleak
and storm-swept prairies, through wintry winds and stinging hail
and driving sleet, at times half frozen, often fatigued, but never dis-
heartened. Their frequent diet was frozen bread and raw pork,
munched by the wayside, as they trudged along weary and foot-sore
through deep and drifting snows, looking in vain for house or sign of
shelter. Three hundred miles were thus traversed. Finally, after
much privation and some suffering, they reached Independence.
Jackson County, Missouri, then on the extreme western frontier of
the United States. Their pilgrimage was now practically ended.
Beyond lay the trackless wilderness, — trackless indeed save for the
foot-prints of wild beast or savage, hovering in friendliness near the
border, or roaming at will the vast plains stretching westward to the
unexplored regions of the Rocky Mountains.

The country in which they found themselves was settled, or
partly settled by whites, mostly ignorant and half civilized, with
Indians and negroes interspersed, — a typical frontier population.
Renegades and refugees from justice, who had fled from the older
states to this out-of-the-way region, formed at that time no inconsid-
erable portion of the inhabitants of western Missouri. Civilization,
however, was advancing; schools had been introduced and were
beginning to thrive, and to offset the reckless criminal element many
intelligent, upright and respectable people were numbered among the
citizens. The curse of the country was the political demagogue,
playing as ever for personal ends behind the mask of patriotism. —
proverbially "the last refuge of a scoundrel." Missouri, only nine
years a state, — having been admitted to the Union under the cele-
brated pro-slavery compromise of 1821, — was just the field where
such characters might flourish, and flourish they did. to the infinite
sorrow of their betters.

Jackson County, named for General Andrew Jackson — then
President of the United States — was settled principally by people
from Tennessee and farther south. Clay County, immediately north,
and separated from Jackson County by the Missouri River, had

HISTORY OF UTAH. 77

been named for Henry Clay, Jackson's opponent in the presidential
contest of 1828. Its settlers were mostly Kentuckians. Indepen-
dence, the county seat of Jackson, was a new town prettily situated
on a piece of rising ground, about three miles south of the river, and
twelve miles east of the state boundary line. It contained a court-
house built of brick, two or three merchants' stores, and a score or
more of private dwellings. The houses generally were log cabins,
without glass windows or floors, and many of the settlers, women as
well as men, dressed entirely in skins. Their food was also of the
coarsest, consisting usually of wild meat, wild honey, pork and corn
bread, prepared in the most primitive manner. These conditions
prevailed among the poor. The rich and those well-to-do of course
had things in much better style. The settlers of Jackson County, as
said, were mostly from the south, and were either slaveholders or
advocates of slavery. Christian churches had their representatives
there, as elsewhere, and the general government its Indian agents
and other functionaries. West of Jackson County was the Indian
Territory, now the State of Kansas.

Leaving their companions at Independence, where two of them
obtained temporary employment as tailors, Oliver Cowdery and
Parley P. Pratt crossed over the line into Indian Territory, entering
the country of the Shawnees and Delawares. The Delaware chief
was the sachem of ten tribes. He was also a polygamist, having
several wives. He welcomed his white visitors cordially, and though
averse to missionaries in general, after some hesitation called a
council of his leading men and permitted Elder Cowdery to address
them. The Elder explained through an interpreter the import of
his visit, and the mission of himself and his brethren to that land ;
gave an account of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, with a
brief statement of its contents, and closing presented the aged chief
with one of the volumes. The gift was graciously accepted, the
sachem testifying his appreciation of the efforts of the Elders in
behalf of him and his people, and promising that in the spring they
would build a large council house wherein they might be taughl

78 HISTORY OF UTAH.

more fully. Several clays elapsed, during which the two Elders
continued to instruct the aged sachem and his people. They
lodged meanwhile at the house of Mr. Pool, a blacksmith employed
for the Indians by the government. He became a believer in the
Book of Mormon, and served the Elders as an interpreter. The
Indians manifested great interest in what was told them, insomuch
that considerable excitement began to prevail among them. This
coming to the ears of Christian missionaries, excited their jealousy,
and inspired by them the agents of the government ordered the
Elders to quit the Indian country. Threatened with the military if
they failed to comply, Elders Cowdery and Pratt reluctantly recrossed
the border and rejoined their companions. During the remainder of
their sojourn in that land, they confined their proselyting labors
mainly to the white settlers of Jackson County, some of whom were
converted and baptized. And so ended this mission to the Laman-
ites.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 79

CHAPTER VI.

1830-1833.

THE CHURCH REMOVES TO OHIO THE UNITED ORDER ORGANIZATION OF THE BISHOPRIC JOS-
EPH SMITH'S FIRST VISIT TO MISSOURI JACKSON COUNTY THE CHOSEN SITE OF THE CITY

OF ZION THE LAND DEDICATED FOR THE GATHERING OF ISRAEL AND THE BUILDING OF

THE NEW JERUSALEM THE RETURN TO KIRTLAND THE PROPHET AND ELDER RIGDON AT

HIRAM A VISION OF HUMAN DESTINY THE MOBBING OF JOSEPH AND SIDNEY A SECOND

VISIT TO MISSOURI — THE WAR OF THE REBELLION PREDICTED THE FIRST PRESIDENCY

ORGANIZED THE KIRTLAND TEMPLE PROJECTED.

EANTIME, in Ohio and in the east the cause of Mormonism
J^A- had heen steadily, even rapidly progressing. The Prophet
and his co-laborers, after the departure of the Lamanite mission, had
been kept busy preaching, baptizing and building up the Church in
the states of New York and Pennsylvania. Among those who had
recently become associated with the Mormon leader were Thomas B.
Marsh, the future President of the Twelve Apostles, and Orson Pratt,
another member of that council.

In December, 1830, there came to Fayette on a visit to the
Prophet, Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge, from Kirtland, Ohio.
Sidney, as seen, had been baptized, and was now an Elder of the
Church. His companion, though converted, had not yet entered the
fold, but was baptized by Joseph in Seneca River, a few days after
his arrival at Fayette. Both these men, Sidney Rigdon and Edward
Partridge, whose acquaintance with the Mormon leader here began,
afterwards attained high positions in the Church.

A work now engaging the attention of the Prophet was a revi-
sion of the Scriptures. In the absence of Oliver Cowdery in the
west, and of John Whitmer, who had been sent to preside over I lie

80 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Saints in Ohio, he had need of an expert scribe to assist him in his
literary labors. Such an assistant he found in Sidney Piigdon, who
now became his secretary and near associate. In a revelation re-
corded about this time, Sidney is likened unto John the Baptist, —
referring to his former labors as a Campbellite preacher, whereby, he
was informed, he had prepared the way unwittingly for a greater one
to follow.

It now became evident to the Prophet, whose mind had already
conceived the idea that the west, and not the east, was the field of
Mormonism's greater destiny, that the season was ripe for a general
movement of his people in the direction of their promised Zion.
The site of the future city had not yet been definitely declared,
though it was understood in general terms to be "on the borders by
the Lamanites." Thither Oliver Cowdery and his companions were
now wending their way. But the success of those Elders in northern
Ohio had indicated an eligible spot for the founding of a "stake of
Zion," a temporary gathering place, where, pending further move-
ments toward the building up of their central city, the Saints might
assemble.* Accordingly, ere the month of December had expired,
the word went forth from the Prophet to his followers in the eastern
states to dispose of their possessions, migrate westward and "assem-
ble together at the Ohio."

Not that the east was to be relinquished as a field for prose-
lytism. Not that the Prophet and his people, as might be imagined,
had become dispirited and lost confidence in the cause with which
they were identified. On the contrary, never had the sun of hope
beamed for them more brightly ; never had their thorny pathway
seemed so thickly bestrewn with flowers. True, they were hated and
opposed on every hand, their leader's life was threatened, and
secret plots, he had been warned, were even then forming for his
destruction. But such had been their experience heretofore, and

* The distinction between Zion and the Stakes of Zion should lie borne in mind by
be reader who desires to properly understand Mormon history.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 81

these were not the impelling causes of the migratory movement now
in contemplation. Joseph Smith's character has not been read
aright, nor the record of his people from the beginning, if it be
imagined that fear for his personal safety or the hope of immunity
from further persecution were the motives that then actuated them.
No ; it was to them the beginning of Israel's latter-day gathering,
an initiatory step toward the building up of Zion ; and though the
reason may have been, in part, that Mormonism, — hated, defamed,
and struggling against apparently overwhelming odds, — might gain a
firmer foot-hold for its fight of faith than seemed possible amid the
warring spiritual elements of the more thickly populated portions of
the land, it was far from being the chief purpose and principal end
in view. These Latter-day Saints believed they were fulfilling a
God-given destiny in thus flocking Zionward, — in fleeing, as Isaiah
had said Israel should, "upon the shoulders of the Philistines
toward the west." They were destined to make literal these words
of the ancient seer to an extent little dreamed of at that time in
their philosophy.

A farewell conference was held at Fayette on the 2nd of Jan-
uary, 1831. The affairs of the Church in the eastern parts were
settled, or left in the hands of trusty agents to wind up as speedily
as possible, and the Prophet, accompanied by his wife, and by Sidney
Rigdon, Edward Partridge, Ezra Thayre and Newel Knight, toward
the latter part of the month set out for Kirtland.

They arrived there about the 1st of February. Driving his
sleigh through the streets of the little town, the Prophet drew up at
the mercantile door of Messrs. Gilbert and Whitney. Alighting from
his vehicle he entered the store and introduced himself as "Joseph
the Prophet," to Newel K. Whitney, the junior partner of the firm.
By him and his household, Joseph and his wife, pending other
arrangements for their reception, were cordially received and enter-
tained.

The first step taken by the Prophet, after setting in order the
Church at Kirtland, — the affairs of which, after the departure of

82 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Elder Gowdery and his confreres, had become somewhat demoralized
spiritually, — was to lay the foundation of what is known to
Latter-day Saints as the United Order. A brief exposition of this
principle of their religion will here be necessary.

Some of the views of the Saints relative to the up-building of
Zion have already been dwelt upon. Of the United Order, or the
Order of Enoch, as it is otherwise named, it may be said it is a
religio-social system involving the methods whereby that "up-build-
ing" is to be accomplished. Said Joseph Smith: "It is not given
that one man should possess that which is above another.*' This is
the key-note of the United Order.

Co-operative or communistic schemes the world had known
before. Saint Simon and Fourier in France, Owen in England and
in America, each ere this had launched his bark of philanthropic
thought and theory upon the waters of social reform. As early as
1825 Robert Owen and his associates had established industrial
communities on both sides of the Atlantic. There was even at this
time, in the vicinity of Kirtland — though not of Owen*s origin — a
small community called "the family," which, following the example
of some of the early Christians, held their temporal possessions in
common. But the United Order introduced by Joseph Smith proba-
bly went further toward realizing, or foreshadowing, the Millennarian
dream of the prophet, poet and philanthropist, than anything the
world had before witnessed.

Nor are these idle words, words of unmerited eulogy. A Mil-
lennium without a God is impossible. A communistic scheme, a plan
for social reconstruction, without a religious basis, the love of God
and man as its central idea, is born but to perish, howsoever for a
season it may thrive. And even with religion, — the highest and
strongest motive that can impel selfish humanity. — will it not be
found a stupendous and all but impossible task? Instance the fail-
ures of those would-be social reformers, secularists, who have
thought to leave God and religion out of their otherwise grand
schemes for society's reconstruction and regeneration. Deity must

HISTORY OF UTAH. 83

be recognized, must be at the head and helm of all plans for man's
perfecting. Otherwise they cannot endure. The "natural man"* is
too much an enemy to God, too much the enemy of his fellow man, to
conquer covetousness and love his neighbor as himself, save God
be with him. And without self-conquest, without love of humanity,
no Millennium, no universal brotherhood, no reign of peace and
righteousness is possible.

Herein lay the superiority of Joseph Smith's concept over those
of the eminent social reformers, his predecessors and cotempor-
aries. The United Order was not a mere financial scheme, not a
co-operative, joint-stock mercantile concern; not a mere plan for
social reconstruction, involving only a community of temporal inter-
ests. It was all these and more. It was religious, not secular in its
character; spiritual, not temporal in its genius; and yet, being spir-
itual, it comprehended and circumscribed the temporal. How and
where Joseph Smith obtained it is not the question to be here deter-
mined. He declared that it was revealed to him by the Almighty.
Impartial history can neither affirm nor deny it. The province of
the historian is the field of facts, and it is a fact that Joseph Smith
so stated. At all events, God was recognized as its author, its laws
as His laws, its aim and purpose His. Its avowed object was to glor-
ify God by lifting up man, mentally, physically, morally, spiritually.
It was to the Saints the Millennial lever that was to move the world,
gradually but effectually, toward the glorious goal of universal
brotherhood and good will. It was as the voice of Elias, — the voice
of one crying in the wilderness : " Prepare ye the way of the
Lord."' " Make His paths straight." " Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low ; and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." In other words,
it meant the leveling of class distinctions, — the bringing down of
the mountains of pride, the exalting of the valleys of humility ; the
extirpation of fraud and crookedness, and the eventual triumph of
true culture and civilization. By means of it Zion was to "'arise and
shine," the "joy of the whole earth," ere the coming of Him whose

S4 HISTORY OF UTAH.

peaceful and righteous reign has been the theme of prophet tongues
and poet pens in all ages.

It was an order of industry, too, and not of idleness ; a rule of
law and not of anarchy, wherein each soul, having consecrated his
all. and being assigned his stewardship, was to labor faithfully for
the common weal in that field or pursuit for which he proved best
fitted and designed. " Every man seeking the interest of his neigh-
bor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God."
Such was the theory of the United Order.

More practically speaking, the system meant that each indi-
vidual, on entering the Order, was to deed to the Church, or its
authorized representative, his or her property in toto, utterly relin-
quishing its possession. It might be a farm, a workshop or a sum
of money, much or little, that was thus "consecrated." But what-
ever it was, it thenceforth belonged to the Order, and not to the indi-
vidual. All would then be owners alike, and equality in temporal
things be inaugurated.

A deed would then be given by the Church, or its representa-
tive, to each member of the Order, conveying to him or her a certain
portion of the general property, probably the same farm or work-
shop that the individual had before consecrated. This was a " stew-
ardship," thenceforth possessed by the individual, but to be used
for the general good ; all gains reverting to a common fund or store,
whence each steward should derive his or her support. All were
required to labor diligently — there were to be no drones in the hive
— and to deal fairly and justly with one another. Apostasy from
the Church was equivalent to withdrawal from the Order. The
individual might then retain his stewardship, but not reclaim the
residue of property, over and above that portion, which he had conse-
crated to the common cause. Unity and equality were the watch-
words of the Order; man's salvation and God's glory the ends to be
kept constantly in view.

According to the faith of the Saints, it was just such a system
as this that sanctified in antediluvian times the City of Enoch and

HISTORY OF UTAH. 85

prepared it for translation, when, according to the record, " the Lord
called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one
mind and dwelt in righteousness, and there was no poor among
them;** a system established in after ages by the Apostles at Jerusa-
lem, when "the multitude of them that believed were of one heart
and of one soul, — neither said any of them that ought of the things
which he possessed was his own ; but they had all things common ; ""
a system which, according to the Book of Mormon, prevailed upon
this land among the Nephites for nearly two centuries after the
coming of Christ. An order of unity and equality, a system of
consecrations and stewardships, the abolition of fraud and monopoly
in all their phases, a sinking of individual interests into and for
the purpose of the common good, the sacrifice of self at the shrine
of principle — of pure religion — whose incense, call it charity, phil-
anthropy, or what we will, is the pure love of God and humanity.

It was to the establishment of such an order, — one object of
which, in the arcana of the faith, was to pave the way for the return
of the Zion of Enoch, which the Saints believe will yet descend to
earth, the planet whence it was taken, — that Joseph Smith, as early
as February, 1831, more than fifty years before Edward Bellamy and
his ingenious book "Looking Backward" were heard of, directed his
thoughts and labors.

A movement to that end was the organization of the Bishopric,
representing the temporal wing of the Mormon Church government.
The Apostleship, which pertains to the Priesthood of Melchisedek,
though possessing general powers has a special calling to minister
in spiritual things ; while the Bishopric, which is the presidency of
the Priesthood of Aaron, administers, under the direction of the
higher authority, in things temporal.

The first call to the Bishopric was that of Edward Partridge,
who received his appointment on the fourth day of February. He
was required " to leave his merchandise and spend all his time in
the service of the Church," for which he was to receive his support,
or a just remuneration. Two other Elders were called to officiate

86 HISTORY OF UTAH.

as his counselors. The duties of this Bishopric were outlined as
follows : *

And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for
their support, that which thou hast to impart unto them with a covenant and a deed which
cannot be broken.

And inasmuch as ye impart of your substance unto the poor, ye will do it unto me,
and they shall be laid before the bishop of my church and his counselors, two of the
Elders, or High Priests, such as he shall or has appointed and set apart for that purpose.

And it shall come to pass, that after they are laid before the bishop of my church,
and after that he has received these testimonies concerning the consecration of the pro-
perties of my church, that they cannot be taken from the church agreeable to my com-
mandments ; every man shall be made accountable unto me, a steward over his own
property, or that which he has received by consecration, inasmuch as is sufficient for
himself and family.

Wherefore let my servant Edward Partridge, and those whom he has chosen, in
whom I am well pleased, appoint unto this people their portion, every man equal accord-
ing to their families, according to their circumstances, and their wants and needs.

And let my servant Edward Partridge, when he shall appoint a man his portion,
give until him a writing that shall secure unto him his portion, that he shall hold it, even
this right and this inheritance in the church, until he transgresses and is not accounted
worthy by the voice of the church, according to the laws and covenants of the church, to
belong to the church ;

And if he shall transgress and is not accounted worthy to belong to the church, he
shall not have power to claim that portion which he has consecrated unto the bishop for
the poor and needy of my church ; therefore, he shall not retain the gift, but shall only
have claim on that portion that is deeded unto him.

And thus all things shall be made sure, according to the laws of the land.

Ami again, let the bishop appoint a storehouse unto this church, and let all things
both in money and in meat, which is more than is needful for the want of this people, be
kept in the hands of the bishop.

And let him also reserve unto himself for his own wants, and for the wants of his
family, as he shall be employed in doing this business.

And thus 1 grant unto this people a privilege of organizing themselves according to
my laws:

And 1 consecrate unto them this land for a little season, until I. the Lord, shall pin-
vide for them otherwise, and command them to go hence:

And the hour and the day is not given unto them, wherefore let them acl upon this
laud as for yours, and this shall turn unto them for their good.

■'■'• Doctrine and Covenants, Sec.. 4'_\ verses 30—32; Sec. 51, verses 3—6 and lo-17.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 87

Such was the general outline of the United Order, which the
Mormon Prophet sought to establish, and did introduce, among his
people in Ohio and in Missouri. That it was not permanently estab-
lished was clue partly to persecution, and partly to the innate selfish-
ness of human nature. It is still with the Saints one of the prob-
lems of the future, as they hold that Zion cannot be built up
without it.

The fourth general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints convened at Kirtland on the 6th of June, 1831.
Nearly two thousand Saints assembled, including those who had
followed the Prophet from New York and Pennsylvania. Among
the Elders present was Parley P. Pratt, who had returned in Feb-
ruary to report the labors of himself and his confreres in Missouri.
There Elder Cowdery and the others yet remained. Several High
Priests, the first known to the Church, were ordained at this confer-
ence. Most of the Elders were now commissioned to go forth two
by two, after the manner of the Apostles anciently, proclaiming that
the kingdom of heaven was at hand, preaching and baptizing.
The appointed destination of the majority of them was the Mis-
souri frontier, toward which they were directed to travel by differ-
ent routes. It was decided that the next conference of the Church
should be held upon that land. The burden of the message the
Elders were to bear as they wended their way, was as follows : *

Wherefore I, the Lord, have said, gather ye out from the eastern lands, assemble
ye yourselves together ye elders of my church; go ye forth into the western countries,
call upon the inhabitants to repent, and inasmuch as they do repent, build up churches
unto me ;

And with one heart and with one mind, gather up your riches that ye may purchase
an inheritance which shall hereafter be appointed unto you.

And il shall he called the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place
of safety for the saints of the must High God ;

And the glory of the Lord shall be their, and the terror of the Lord also shall be
there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it, and il shall be called Zion.

And it shall come lo pass, among the wicked, thai every man thai will not take bis

sword againsl his neighbor, must needs flee unto Zion for safety.

Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 4.1. verses tit-

88 HISTORY OF UTAH.

And there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven : and it shall
be the only people that shall not be at war one with another.

And it shall be said among the wicked, Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for
the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand.

And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all
nations, and shall come to Zion, singing with songs of everlasting joy.

Among the Elders thus commissioned were Joseph Smith, junior,
Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, John Corrill, John Murdock, Hyrum
Smith, Thomas B. Marsh, Ezra Thayre, Isaac Morley, Ezra Booth,
Edward Partridge, Martin Harris, David Whitmer, Harvey Whitlock,
Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Solomon Hancock, Simeon Carter, Edson
Fuller, Jacob Scott, Levi Hancock, Zebedee Coltrin, Reynolds Cahoon.
Samuel H. Smith. Wheeler Baldwin, William Carter, Newel Knight,
Selah J. Griffin, Joseph Wakefield, Solomon Humphrey, A. S. Gilbert,
William W. Phelps, and Joseph Coe. Newel Knight and the Coles-
ville branch of the Church, formerly of Broome County, New York,
but now at Thompson, Ohio, were instructed to migrate in a body to
Missouri.

On the 19th of June the Prophet set out from Kirtland on his
first visit to Missouri. He was accompanied by Sidney Rigdon,
Martin Harris, Edward Partridge, William W. Phelps. Joseph Coe and
A. S. Gilbert and wife. Journeying by wagon, stage and canal-boat
to Cincinnati, they there took steamer for Louisville, Kentucky;
whence, after a brief delay, they proceeded by water to St. Louis.
From that point Sidney Rigdon and the Gilberts continued by steamer
up the Missouri river, while the Prophet and the rest of his party
walked across the state of Missouri, reaching Independence, Jackson
County, about the middle of July. The meeting with Elder Cowdery
and his companions was one of great rejoicing.

Immediately after the Prophet's arrival the site of the City of
Zion. the central gathering place, where the Saints, according to their
faith, will yet assemble to await Messiah's coming, was for the first
time definitely designated. Independence and its vicinity was the
chosen spot. Here lands were to be purchased by the Saints, and the
soil dedicated for the gathering of Israel and the building of the New

HISTORY OF UTAH. 89

Jerusalem. Here Bishop Edward Partridge was to take his stand
as "a judge in Israel," to receive the consecration of properties,
assign stewardships and apportion to the Saints their inheritance.
Martin Harris, who had before contributed so generously for the
publication of the Book of Mormon, was selected as. "an example to
the Church," in laying his monies at the feet of the Bishop.

It may interest the reader to know. what form of conveyance
was used in connection with the consecration of properties. It was
as follows:

BE IT KNOWN, THAT I, , Of Jackson county, and state of Missouri,

having become a member of the Church of Christ, organized according to law, and estab-
lished by the revelations of the Lord, on the 6th day of April, 1830, do, of my own free
will and accord, having first paid my just debts, grant and hereby give unto Edward Partridge
of Jackson county, and state of Missouri, bishop of said church, the following described
property, viz: — Sundry articles of furniture valued fifty five dollars twenty seven cents, —
also two beds, bedding and extra clothing valued seventy three dollars twenty five cents, —
also farming utensils valued forty one dollars, — also one horse, two wagons two cows and
two calves valued one hundred and forty seven dollars.

For the purpose of purchasing lands in Jackson County Mo. and building up the New
Jerusalem, even Zion, and for relieving the wants of the poor and needy. For which I the

said ■ do covenant and bind myself and my heirs forever, to release all my

right and interest to the above described property, unto him the said Edward Partridge
bishop of said church. And I the said Edward Partridge bishop of said church, having

received the above described property, of the said ■ do bind myself, that I

will cause the same to be expended for the above mentioned purposes of the said

to the satisfaction of said church ; and in case I should be removed from the

office of bishop of said church, by death or otherwise, I hereby bind myself and my heirs
forever, to make over to my successor in office, for the benefit of said church, all the above
described property, which may then be in my possession.

In testimony whereof, WE have hereunto set our hands and seals this day of

in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty —

[h PRESENCE OF

The legal document securing to the individual his stewardship,
was in this form:

BE IT KNOWN, THAT 1. Edward Partridge of Jackson county, and state of Mis-
souri, bishop of the church of Christ, organized according to law, and established by the
revelations of the Lord, on the 6th day of April, 1830, have leased and by these presents,

do lease unto of Jackson county, and state of Missouri, a member of -aid

church, the following described piece or panel of land, being a part of section No. three

7-VOL. 1.

90 HISTORY OF UTAH.

township No. forty nine range No. thirty two situated in Jackson county, and state of Mis-
souri, and is bounded as follows, viz: — beginning eighty rods E, from the S. W. corner of
Sd Sec, thence N. one hundred and sixty rods thence E. twenty seven rods 25 L, thence
S. one hundred and sixty rods, thence W. twenty seven rods 25 L, to the place of begin-
ning, containing twenty seven & i acres be the same more or less subject to roads and
highways. And also have loaned the following described property, viz: — Sundry articles of
furniture valued fifty five dollars twenty five cents, — also two beds, bedding and clothing
valued seventy three dollars twenty seven cents, — also sundry farming utensils valued forty
one dollars, — also one horse, two cows, two calves and two waggons valued one hundred
forty seven dollars to have and to hold the above described property, by him the said

to be used and occupied as to him shall seem meet and proper. And as

a consideration for the use of the above described property, I the said

do bind myself to pay the taxes, and also to pay yearly unto the said Edward Partridge
bishop of said church, or his successor in office, for the benefit of said church, all that I
shall make or accumulate more than is needful for the support and comfort of myself and
family. And it is agreed by the parties, that this lease and loan shall be binding during

the life of the said unless he transgress, and is not deemed worthy by the

authority of the Church, according to its laws, to belong to the church. And in that case

I the said do acknowledge that I forfeit all claim to the above described

leased and loaned property, and hereby bind myself to give back the lease, and also pay
an equivalent for the loaned, for the benefit of said church, unto the said Edward
Partridge bishop of said church, or his successor in office. And further, in case that said

or family's inability in consequence of infirmity or old age, to provide for

themselves while members of this church, I the said Edward Partridge bishop of said
church, do bind myself to administer to their necessities out of any fund in my hands
appropriated for that purpose, not otherwise disposed of, to the satisfaction of the church.

And further, in case of the death of said his wife or widow, being at the

time a member of said church, has claim upon the above described leased and loaned
property, upon precisely the same conditions that her said husband had them, as above

described; and the children of said in case of the death of both their

parents, also have claim upon the above described property, for their support, until they
shall become of age, and no longer; subject to the same conditions yearly that their
parents were : provided however, should the parents not be members of said church, and
in possession of the above described property at the time of their deaths, the claim of the
children as above described, is null and void.

In testimony whereof, WE have hereunto set our hands and seals this day of

in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty

In presence of

The dual duty of dedicating the land of Zion and writing a
description of ii for the benefit of the Church, was devolved upon
Sidney Rigdon. "William W. Phelps, assisted by Oliver Cowdery. was
to establish himself as the Church printer in that land, and A. S.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 91

Gilbert, senior partner of the firm of Gilbert and Whitney, was given
a mission to open a store at Independence, and act as an agent for the
Church in purchasing lands in the surrounding region.

The first formal step toward the founding of the city of Zion
was taken on the 2nd of August, 1831. In Kaw Township, twelve
miles west of Independence, in which locality the newly arrived
Colesville Saints were settling, the first log of the first house was
that day borne to its place by twelve men, representing the twelve
tribes of Israel. The Prophet was one of the number. The same
day Elder Rigdon dedicated the land of Zion. On the day following,
the site of the future temple, near Independence, was consecrated by
the Prophet. Then came the appointed conference. It was held at
the house of Joshua Lewis, in Kaw Township, all or most of the
Saints in that region being present.

On the 9th of August the Prophet and ten other Elders set out
to return to Kirtland. From Independence Landing a fleet of sixteen
canoes carried them and their provisions clown the Missouri. Three
days they rowed and drifted. The Prophet, with Elders Cowdery and
Rigdon, then left the canoes in charge of their companions, and con-
tinued the journey by land. They reached Kirtland on the 27th of
August.

Having thus planted a colony of his people in their "land of
promise," and set in motion a migratory stream of the Saints in that
direction, the Prophet resumed his task of revising the scriptures, — a
work suspended since the previous December. For this purpose he
and Elder Rigdon retired to the little town of Hiram, in Portage
County, thirty miles south-east of Kirtland, where, on September
12th. Joseph took up his abode at the home of John Johnson, a
member of the Church there residing. Emma Smith accompanied
her husband, taking with her two infants, twins, the children of
John Murdock, which she had adopted in lieu of twins of her own
that had died. John Johnson was the father of Luke S. and Lyman
E. Johnson, two of the future Twelve Apostles, and father-in-law to
Orson Hyde, who also became one of that council. Orson had

92 HISTORY OF UTAH.

recently been a clerk in the store of Gilbert and Whitney, at Kirtland.
At Hiram the Prophet continued his literary labors, and from time to
time took active part in the ministry, attending frequent conferences
and issuing verbal or written instructions to the Church at large.
Many of these were in the form of revelations, now of record in the
book of Doctrine and Covenants. It was about this time that
William E. McLellin, a prominent Elder, lost some prestige with the
Saints by attempting, in a spirit of rivalry, to write revelations sim-
ilar to those uttered by the Prophet.

Kirtland as a Stake of Zion continued to grow and prosper, her
numbers increasing as converts multiplied, despite the constant
drain upon her population by the Missouri emigrations. The Ohio
Saints, like those in Missouri, being required to enter " the Order,*'
an accession to the Bishopric now became necessary. On December
4th, 1831, Newel K. Whitney was called to be the Bishop of Kirt-
land ; two counselors being chosen to assist him. The powers and
duties of the Bishopric of Kirtland were similar to those of the Bish-
opric in Missouri.

It was during his sojourn at Hiram that the Prophet enunciated
the doctrine of universal salvation. He declared that all men would
be saved except a certain few called "sons of perdition," — shedders of
innocent blood and sinners against the Holy Ghost, — but that souls
would be saved upon principles of justice and mercy, according to
their merits, in different degrees of glory. There was hope, he said,
for the heathen, who had never heard the name of Christ ; hope
even for the wicked, who were " thrust down to hell," after they had
paid the "uttermost farthing" and suffered sufficiently for their sins*
No soul, he maintained, could escape merited punishment, designed
to purge away uncleanness, simply by confessing Christ. As for
little children, there was no damnation for them. They were irre-
sponsible innocents redeemed by the blood of Christ from the

* Joseph Sinilli taught thai ••eternal punishment" did not mean
ishment, but punishment inflicted by Him who is Eternal.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 93

foundation of the world. A few excerpts from the "Vision" of
February 16th, 1832, wherein are set forth the Prophet's views relat-
ing to the various states of man hereafter, will here be appropriate :*

We, Joseph Smith, jun., and Sidney Rigdon, being in the Spirit on the sixteenth of
February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two,

By the power of the Spirit our eyes were opened and our understandings were
enlightened, so as to see and understand the things of God —

Even those things which were from the beginning before the world was, which were
ordained of the Father, through his Only Begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the
Father, even from the beginning,

Of whom we bear record, and the record which we bear is the fullness of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, who is the Son, whom we saw and with whom we conversed in the
heavenly vision;

And this we saw also, and bear record, that an angel of God who was in authority
in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son, whom the Father
loved, and who was in the bosom of the Father — was thrust down from the presence of
God and the Son,

And was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him — he was Lucifer, a son of
the morning.

And we saw a vision of the sufferings of those with whom he made war and over-
came, for thus came the voice of the Lord unto us.

Thus saith the Lord, concerning all those who know my power, and have been made
partakers thereof, and suffered themselves, through the power of the devil, to be overcome,
and to deny the truth and defy my power —

They are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better
for them never to have been born,

For they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil
and his angels in eternity ;

And the only ones on whom the second deatli shall have any power;

Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord,
after the sufferings of his wrath;

For all the rest shall lie brought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the
triumph and the dory of the Lamb, who was slain, who was in the bosom of the Father
before the worlds were made.

*********

And again, we bear record, for we saw and heard, and this is the testimony of the
gospel of Christ, concerning them who come forth in the resurrection of the jus! ;

* Doctrine and Covenants, Section 70.

94 HISTORY OF UTAH.

They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and
were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and
this according to the commandment which he has given,

That by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all
their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is
ordained and sealed unto this power,

And who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which
the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true.

They are they who are the church of the first born.

They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things —

They are they who are Priests and Kings, who have received of his fullness, and of
his glory,

And are Priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchisedek, which was after
the order of Enoch, which was after the order of the Only Begotten Son ;

Wherefore, as it is written, they are Gods, even the sons of God —

Wherefore all things are theirs, whether life or death, or things present, or things to
come, all are theirs and they are Christ's and Christ is God's.

These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the
glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as
being typical.

And again, we saw the terrestrial world, and behold and lo, these are they who are
of the terrestrial, whose glory differs from that of the church of the first born, who have
received the fullness of the Father, even as that of the moon differs from the sun in the
firmament.

Behold, these are they who died without law,

And also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son visited, and
preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh,

Who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it.

These are they who are honorable men of the earth, who were blinded by the crafti-
ness of men.

These are they who receive of his glory, but not of his fullness.

These are they who receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fullness of
the Father ;

Wherefore they are bodies terrestrial, and not bodies celestial, and differ in glory as
the moon differs from the sun.

These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore they obtain
not the crown over the kingdom of our God.

:■: * * * $ * * :•: :•:

And again, we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that of the lesser, even
as'tlic glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament.

These are they who received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus.
These are they who deny not the Holy Spirit.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 95

These arc they who are thrust down to hell.

These are they who shall not be redeemed from the devil, until the last resurrection,
until the Lord, even Christ the Lamb shall have finished his work.

These are they who receive not of his fullness in the eternal world, but of the Holy
Spirit through the ministration of the terrestrial ;

* * * * * * * * *

And the glory of the celestial is one, even as the glory of the sun is one.

And the glory of the terrestrial is one, even as the glory of the moon is one.

And the glory of the telestial is one, even as the glory of the stars is one, for as one
star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another in glory in the
telestial world;

*********

For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive
according to his own. works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared,

And they shall be servants of the Most High, but where God and Christ dwell they
cannot come, worlds without end.

Joseph Smith here virtually declares that Gocl is man made per-
fect, and that man in his highest estate, resurrected and glorified, —
the child developed to the status of the parent, — is nothing less than
Deity. The idea of "Lords many and Gods many," a celestial
brotherhood, a divine United Order, is also plainly set forth. What-
ever may be thought of such views, one thing is certain, the charge
that Mormonism teaches a narrow salvation here falls to the
ground. Nor is the thought that man by development becomes
Gocl. — retaining his individuality, while doffing his mortal nature
and blossoming into an eternal being, — a groveling concept of
human destiny. The Nirvana of Buddhism pales before it, as do the
mystical views of most Christian divines.

About the time of the Prophefs removal to Hiram, Ezra Booth,
one of the Elders who had accompanied him to Missouri, aposta-
tized, and in a series of letters published in the Ohio Star was now
assailing the system and principles he had once accepted and advo-
cated as divine. He succeeded in creating considerable prejudice
against the Prophet, and through his influence several others
turned from the Church. A feeling of intense hostility was awak-
ened at Hiram, where, on the night of March 25th, a violent assault
was committed upon the Prophet and Elder Rigdon. Joseph and his

96 HISTORY OF UTAH.

wife had been watching at the bedside of the twins, who were dan-
gerously ill, and weary and worn from loss of sleep he had thrown
himself down and was slumbering heavily. Suddenly the door was
burst open, and in rushed a mob of ten or a dozen men, who, sur-
rounding the sleeper, seized him and attempted to drag him from
the house. His wife's screams aroused him, and he struggled des-
perately with his assailants. His hands being held, he felled one
man to the floor with a vigorous kick. Enraged at bis resistance,
they threatened to kill him if he did not desist, and suiting the
action to the word seized him by the throat and choked him until
he was insensible.

Father Johnson, whom the mob had locked in a room prior to
attacking his guest, regaining his liberty, pursued them, club in
hand. Encountering another party who had captured Elder Rigdon,
he knocked one of them down, and was about to fell another when
the crowd turned upon him and held him at bay.

Joseph, recovering consciousness, found himself lying upon the
ground surrounded by his captors, about a mile from the house
where his weeping and half frantic wife still watched beside the sick
babes, one of whom was now death-stricken. Near him lay the
motionless form of Elder Rigdon, whom the mob had dragged by his
heels over the hard frozen earth until life was almost extinct.
Joseph supposed him dead. He himself was now hurried into a
meadow, a mile farther away, where the mob stripped off his clothes,
cursing and beating him meanwhile, and coated his naked form with
tar. They forced a tar paddle into his mouth, and a phial contain-
ing aqua fortis between his lips. The phial broke against his tightly
clenched teeth, and the deadly acid was spilled. One of the mob
then fell upon him like a wild-cat. tearing his flesh and shrieking in
his ear: "That's the way the Holy Ghost falls on folks." Having
sated their fury, they departed, leaving their bleeding victim to find
his way, as best he might, through the cold and darkness back to
Father Johnson's. At sight of his lacerated form, covered with tar,
his wife screamed and fainted, supposing him to have been horribly

HISTORY OF UTAH. 1)7

mangled. He spent the rest of the night cleansing the tar from his
bruised and bleeding body.

Next day was the Sabbath, and the Saints in that vicinity
assembled for their usual worship. Methodists. Baptists, Campbell-
ites and Mormon apostates came also. Some of them had helped
compose the mob party of the previous night. Scarred and wounded
the Prophet appeared before them, bore a ringing testimony to the
truth of his mission, and that day baptized three more into the
Church.

But the mobocratic spirit was now rampant, not only at Hiram,
where fresh plots were at once formed against the Mormon leader,
but also at Kirtland, and throughout the surrounding region. Elder
Rigdon, after recovering from the effects of the ill-treatment he had
received, fled with his family from Hiram to escape further outrage.

Joseph and Emma remained another week, during which one of
the sick twins died. He then sent his wife to Kirtland. and set out
upon his second visit to Missouri. He was accompanied by Sidney
Rigdon, Bishop Whitney and others, who joined him at different
points along the way. A circuitous route was taken, to evade mobo-
cratic ambush and pursuit. The party reached Independence late in
April.

The affairs of the Church in Missouri were found to Lie pros-
pering, though some prejudice had been created against the Saints
by certain persons who had misinterpreted their motives in settling
there. A series of petty persecutions had resulted. Stones and
brick-bats were thrown through their windows, and they were other-
wise insulted and annoyed. It was the beginning of sorrows. I lie
precursor of the coming storm, the first, faint sparks of a furious
conflagration, destined ere many months to burst forth as a besom
of fire, sweeping before it into exile the whipped and plundered
Saints of Jackson County.

Early in May the Prophet started back to Kirtland, Elder
Rigdon and Bishop Whitney accompanying him. Near Greenville,
Indiana, the Bishop bad his leg broken, while jumping from a run-

98 HISTORY OF UTAH.

away stage-coach. This delayed him and the Prophet for a month
at a public house in Greenville. Elder Rigdon meanwhile proceeding
on to Kirtland. During the stay at Greenville an attempt was made
to murder the Prophet by mixing poison with his food at dinner.
He narrowly escaped death. Next morning he and his friend
departed from the dangerous neighborhood, and sometime in June
arrived at Kirtland. The birth of the Prophet's son Joseph, the
present leader of the sect known as Josephites, or. as they call
themselves, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, occurred on November 3rd of this year, just prior to the
return of his father and Bishop Whitney from a hasty trip to the
east.

On Christmas Day, 1832, was recorded the following "revelation
and prophecy on war:"*

Verily, thus saith the Lord, concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, begin-
ning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and
misery of many souls.

The days will come thai war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at that
place ;

For behold, the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the
Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called,
and they shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other
nations; and thus war shall be poured out upon all nations.

And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up against their masters,
who shall be marshalled and disciplined for war:

And it shall come to pass also, that the remnants who are left of the land will
marshal themselves, and shall become exceeding angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a
sore vexation ;

And thus, with the sword, and by bloodshed, the inhabitants of the earth shall
mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquakes, and the thunder of heaven, and
the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the
wrath, the indignation and chastening hand of an Almighty God. until the consumption
decreed hath made a full end of all nations.

The Saints claim that this prediction began to be fulfilled on
April 12th. 1861. when the Confederate batteries at Charleston. South
Carolina, opened fire on Fort Sumter.

Doctrine and Covenants. Section 81

HISTORY OF UTAH. 99

During the winter of 1832-3, the Mormon leader organized at
Kirtland the School of the Prophets, designed for the instruction of
the Elders in the "things of the Kingdom." He also completed his
revision of the scriptures.

On the 18th of March, 1833, was organized the First Presidency,
the highest depository of authority in the Church. This council
consists of three High Priests after the order of Melchisedek, chosen
and sustained by the whole body, over which they preside. The
personnel of the Presidency at this first organization was as follows :
Joseph Smith, junior, President; Sidney Rigdon, First Counselor;
Frederick G. Williams, Second Counselor.

It was now decided to purchase lands in and around Kirtland,
surnamed "the land of Shinehah," and build up and beautify the
city while awaiting further developments in Missouri, "the land of
Zion." Farms were accordingly purchased, work-shops and mills
erected, and various industries established. During the early part of
1833 a temple at Kirtland was projected.

100 HISTORY OF UTAH.

CHAPTER VII.

1833.

THE JACKSON COUNTY EXPULSION AND ITS CAUSES MOBOCRATIC MASS MEETINGS AT INDEPEN-
DENCE DESTRUCTION OF THE OFFICE OF THE "EVENING AND MORNING STAR" BISHOP

PARTRIDGE TARRED AND FEATHERED THE MORMONS REQUIRED TO LEAVE THE COUNTY

FORTHWITH A TRUCE AGREED UPON THE MOB BREAK THEIR PLEDGE RENEWAL OF

DEPREDATIONS THE MORMONS APPEAL TO GOVERNOR DUNKLIN HE ADVISES THEM TO SEEK

REDRESS IN THE COURTS LEGAL PROCEEDINGS _ INSTITUTED THE MOB ENRAGED THE

OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER RIOTS A BATTLE ON THE BIG BLUE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR

BOGGS CALLS OUT THE MILITIA THE MORMONS DISARMED AND DRIVEN CLAY COUNTY

RECEIVES THE REFUGEES JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI, STILL "THE LAND OF ZION."

•LwELVE to fifteen hundred Latter-day Saints now inhabited
\K Jackson County, Missouri. They had purchased lands and
improved them, built houses — mostly log- cabins — and were
occupying them, sowed their farms and fields and reaped
repeated harvests. A store had been established by them at Inde-
pendence, a printing press and type had been procured from the east,
and a periodical called the Evening and Morning Star, edited by
William W. Phelps, was being issued. A school of Elders, number-
ing sixty members, with Parley P. Pratt as its president and
preceptor, had been instituted, and preaching to the Missourians was
continued with success.

Plans for the city and temple of Zion had been forwarded by the
Prophet from Kirtland, but so far little had been done toward the
building of the New Jerusalem. The Book of Commandments, or
revelations, had also been sent from Ohio to be published in
Missouri. The United Order, though still in its incipiency, was being
established as fast as circumstances would allow.

The Saints, as a rule, were poor, but were sober, moral, honest

HISTORY OF UTAH. 101

and industrious; attending strictly to their own affairs, and not med-
dling with the concerns of their neighbors. Indeed, so thoroughly
did they "mind their own business" as to lay themselves open to
the charge of exclusiveness.

They were far from being a perfect people — an ideal Zion. On
the contrary, they manifested many of the faults that are the com-
mon heritage of weak humanity. But those faults were chiefly man-
ifested among themselves, and were violative of the precepts of their
religion rather than of the laws of the land. Seldom were they
subversive of the rights of the Missourians. But in an Order such
as theirs, demanding strict unselfishness of its members, it could
not be but some would slip and frequently break the rigid rules that
bound them. They were repeatedly warned by the Prophet of dire
consequences that would follow these infractions, and were especially
admonished against covetousness and disunion.

But with the esoteric views of the Saints, as to divine punish-
ments visited upon them for transgressing the rules of their
Order, the historian has naught to do. He has only to consider here
their every-day dealings with their fellow-men. So considering, it
must be admitted by those cognizant of the truth, that not to their
misdeeds against the Missourians — though some misdeeds there may
have been — but to their social and religious peculiarities, are we to
look for the main causes of the calamities that now befell them.
These peculiarities, which have ever rendered the Mormons unpopu-
lar with other sects and parties, were made doubly obnoxious by
the misrepresentations of those politically, religiously or pecuniarily
interested in decrying them.

Allusion has been made to the fact that the motives of the Mor-
mons in migrating to Missouri had been misinterpreted by the older
settlers. Some of these actually supposed, and others affected to
believe, that it was the purpose of the Prophet's followers, when
they became strong enough, to take forcible possession of the coun-
try, unite with the Indians across the border and drive the Gentiles
from the land. That this fear, wherever sincerely felt, was due in

102 HISTORY OF UTAH.

part to ill-advised and vain-glorious utterances of persons connected
with the Church, — whose views were as much at variance with truth
and the teachings of authority as the deductions of the ignorant and
inflammable masses around them, — is more than probable. That it
was also due to misrepresentation by Mormon apostates, political
and religious opponents of the Saints, bent upon furthering their own
ends and playing for that purpose upon the credulity of the common
people, is not only probable, but an established fact.

The teachings of the Book of Mormon and the Church authori-
ties upon these points were as follows : That God had given into
the hands of the Gentiles this land ; had inspired them to discover
it and maintain it as a land of liberty ; that the Gentiles, such as
embraced the faith, were to assist Ephraim and Manasseh in building
up Zion and would share in her glory; and that the duty of the
Saints in relation to the Gentiles was to preach to them the gospel
of peace, and honestly purchase every inch of ground to be used or
occupied in the rearing of the New Jerusalem.

True, the Book of Mormon contains certain prophecies of retri-
bution upon the Gentiles, such as rejected the Gospel and oppressed
the Lamanites. But the Lamanites themselves were to avenge their
own wrongs, and that Avithout aid or instigation from Ephraim. The
queerest phase of the subject, and it would be extremely funny but
for the terrible tragedy to which it led, was that the Missourians.
who like most people scoffed at the Book of Mormon and scouted
the idea of "Joe Smith" being a prophet, should have allowed these
predictions to so alarm them. Perhaps it was their effect upon the
Saints that was feared. In that event the hapless Mormons were
punished, not for crimes committed, but for crimes they were
expected to commit.

Besides the charge of "tampering with tbe Indians," the Mor-
mons were accused by the Missourians of being abolitionists — anti-
slavery advocates — which charge, supported only by the fact that
tln\ were mostly eastern and northern people, was sufficient at that
time, and in that region, to blacken their characters irredeemably.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 103

Their United Order theories were dubbed "Communism," and were
said to involve a community, not only of goods and chattels, but of
wives. Also, — though the reader may smile incredulously at the
statement, — the fact that they were poor was urged as an accusation
of evil against them. This charge, unlike the rest, had the merit of
being strictly true.

A man named Pixley, local agent for a Christian missionary
society, took an active and initiative part in circulating these reports,
which were caught up by others and sown broad-cast until well-nigh
all Jackson County with the anti-Mormon spirit was aflame. As
early as April, 1833, meetings were held to consider the most effec-
tive means of ridding the county of the unpopular Mormons. Law-
ful methods were not considered, for obvious reasons. The Mormons
were law-abiding and peaceable. Poverty, superstition, unity, unpop-
ular doctrines, — these were their crimes. What law, in a land of
civil and religious liberty, could reach them I No ; law could not,
but mob violence, trampling on law, strangling liberty in her very
sanctuary, could and would, and did.

Three hundred men assembled one day in April, at Indepen-
dence, and endeavored to unite upon a plan for the proposed Mormon
extirpation. Too much liquor having been imbibed beforehand, the
meeting, after much cursing and quarreling, broke up in confusion.

Other attempts, in July, were more successful. On the 20th of
that month a mass meeting of five hundred convened, presided over
by Colonel Richard Simpson. James H. Flournay and Colonel
Samuel D. Lucas acted as secretaries. A declaration against the
Saints, embodying charges similar to the foregoing, was unanimously
adopted, and it was resolved that they be required to leave the
county forthwith, and that no Mormon be permitted in future to
settle there. It was demanded that the publication of the Evening
and Morning Star be at once suspended. A committee of thirteen
was sent to confer with the local Mormon leaders, acquaint them with
the decision made concerning them and their people, and repori to
the mass meeting within two hours. The committee having executed

104 HISTORY OF UTAH.

its errand returned, reporting that the Mormons requested sufficient
time to fully consider the matter and consult their leaders in Ohio.

A furious yell was the only answer vouchsafed, and forth rushed
the mob to begin its work of outrage and destruction. A red flag led
them on. Surrounding the house of William W. Phelps, editor of
the Star, they razed it to the ground, confiscating the printing press.
type and other materials found upon the premises. The editor's
family, including his wife with a sick child in her arms, were brutally
thrust into the street, and the household furniture, books, etc.,
destroyed or carried away by the rabble. The editor himself was
captured, but escaped through the crowd.

The Church store was next assailed, but the mob soon desisted
from their work of plunder and gathered upon the public square.
Thither, Bishop Edward Partridge had been dragged from his
fireside. Refusing to at once leave the county, he was stripped
of most of his apparel, covered with tar. and feathers were thrown
over him. Elder Charles Allen suffered similar treatment. Mixed
with the tar was a powerful acid which severely burned their flesh.
Other Mormons were threatened and abused. Night coining on, the
mob dispersed.

These lawless acts were committed, not alone by the rabble,
ignorant, easily inflamed, and perhaps not wholly accountable for
their frenzy, but by men of prominence and position. Clergymen,
magistrates, state and county officials, who had sworn to honor and
sustain the law, looked on approvingly while the law was being-
violated, and even participated in its infraction. It is said that the
leaders of the mob, prior to engaging in these acts of vandalism, in
imitation of the patriot founders of the nation pledged to each other
" their bodily powers, their lives, fortunes and sacred honor."
Shortly alter the affair. Lilburn W. Boggs, Lieutenant-Governor of
Missouri, said to some of the Mormons: "You now know what our
Jackson boys can do. and you must leave the county."'

Three days after the assault upon Bishop Partridge and his
brethren, the mobocratic mass-meeting again convened, this time in

HISTORY OF UTAH. 105

greater numbers than before. The recent acts of violence had seem-
ingly sated in part their anger. At all events they were a little more
reasonable than before. A new committee was appointed to confer
with the leading Mormons, and the result was a mutual agreement
between the two parties. By the terms of this compact, one half the
Saints were to be permitted to remain in the county until the 1st of
January, 1834, and the other half until the 1st of April. It was
agreed that the Star should not again be published, nor a printing-
press set up by any Mormon in Jackson County. Their immigration
thither was at once to cease. In return for these concessions by the
Saints, the committee gave a pledge that no further attacks
should be made upon them. This agreement the mass meeting
ratified and then adjourned.

Oliver Cowdery now carried to Kirtland a full account of what
had taken place in Missouri. Affairs in Ohio at that time were
far from peaceable. The Prophet was harassed with law-suits, and
frequently threatened with violence. Yet the Kirtland Stake was
progressing. The corner-stone of the Temple was laid on the very
day that the Jackson County mob issued its decree of expatriation
against the Saints. It was decided, after Elder Cowdery*s arrival, to
purchase a new printing press and continue the publication of the
Evening and Morning Star at Kirtland ; also that another paper
called the Latter-day Saints' Messenger and Advocate be published
there. The latter was succeeded by the Elders' Journal.

About the middle of September the Prophet sent Orson Hyde
and John Gould to Missouri, with a message of comfort and
instruction to his people in that State. By this time the mob
troubles in Jackson County had resumed. It was Punic faith in
which the Saints had trusted. The pledge given by the mass
meeting in July had been broken. Two months had not elapsed
before the mob renewed hostilities. Some of the Saints then moved
into adjoining counties, hoping thereby to allay excitement anil
secure peace and tranquility. Vain hope. They had no sooner
settled there than they were threatened with expulsion from these

106 HISTORY OF UTAH.

newly acquired homes. " The Mormons must go ! " was now the
prevailing sentiment south of the Missouri river.

An appeal was next made to the Executive of the State. Daniel
Dunklin was then Governor of Missouri. A document setting forth
the wrongs the Saints had suffered from their fellow-citizens of
Jackson County, describing the situation, and asking for military aid
and protection while seeking redress in the courts, was carried to
Jefferson City and delivered at the Governor's mansion by William
W. Phelps and Orson Hyde. This document was dated September
28th, 1833. A reply was received late in October. The Governor
declined to give the military aid requested, but advised the peti-
tioners to make a trial of the efficacy of the laws, and promised that
if they failed to obtain a proper execution of the same he would then
take steps for their relief.

Pursuant to the Governor's advice, though not without some
apprehension as to the result, the Mormons, having secured for the
sum of a thousand dollars the services of four lawyers, instituted
legal proceedings against their oppressors. It was as the application
of the lighted match to the mine. An explosion of popular fury fol-
lowed, before which, like stones and timbers of some huge building
blown, to atoms, the entire Mormon community, men, women and
children, were driven in every direction from Jackson County.

It was about the last of October. Night attacks by armed mobs
were made simultaneously at several points. Beyond the Big Blue
river, in the western part of the county, houses were unroofed, men
beaten, and women and children driven screaming into the wil-
derness. Similar scenes were enacted elsewhere. For three con-
secutive nights the work of rapine and ruin went on. At Independ-
ence houses were attacked and the expelled inmates whipped and
pelted with stones. The Church store was broken open and plun-
dered, its goods strewing the streets. One man, caught in the act of
robbing the store, was taken before Justice of the Peace Samuel
Weston, who refused to issue a warrant for his arrest. The robber
was thus turned loose to rejoin his companions. Later, the Mor-

HISTORY OF UTAH. 107

mons who had arrested him were taken into custody, charged with
assaulting their prisoner. Being fired at while under arrest, they
were placed in jail to save them from the fury of the rabble. Every
effort of the Mormons to obtain justice was unavailing. The
officers of the law were either too timid to come to their rescue, or
were in league with the mob against them. The circuit judge at
Lexington, being applied to for a peace warrant, refused to issue one,
but advised the Mormons to arm themselves and shoot down the
outlaws who came upon them.

To the Saints such advice was most repugnant. Their religion
forbade strife, and strictly prohibited the needless shedding of blood.
To meet violence with violence, however, now seemed their only
recourse. The mob, emboldened by their policy of non-resistance,
were hourly becoming more aggressive. The Mormons must either
defend themselves, or supinely submit to wholesale outrage, plun-
der and massacre. Preferring the former course, they followed the
advice of the Lexington judge and armed themselves, and the next
onslaught of their foes found them ready to receive them.

On the 4th of November a marauding band fired upon some of
the settlers beyond the Big Blue. A battle ensued. Several Mor-
mons were wounded, one fatally, and it was found that two of the
banditti had bitten the dust. The Mormon mortally wounded was a
young man named Barber. He died next day. Philo Dibble, who
was thought to be fatally shot, recovered and is still living, an aged
and respected citizen of Utah.

A " Mormon uprising" was now widely heralded. The purpose
of the Missourians had been accomplished. They had goaded their
victims to desperation, and at length blood had been shed. The rest
of the program was comparatively easy. On November 5th Lieu-
tenant-Governor Boggs ordered out the militia to suppress the alleged
insurrection. Colonel Thomas Pitcher, a radical anti-Mormon, was
placed iu command. He permitted the mobocrats, who had caused
the trouble, to enroll themselves among the troops called out to put
down the "uprising." He required the Mormons to lay down their

108 HISTORY OF UTAH.

arms, and deliver up to be tried for murder certain men who had
taken part in the previous day's battle. The rest of the community
were required to leave the county forthwith.

The first two behests being obeyed, Colonel Pitcher, to enforce
speedy compliance with the other, turned loose his mob militia to
work their will upon the disarmed and helpless Saints. Scenes beg-
garing description were now enacted. Armed bands of ruffians
ranged the county in every direction, bursting into houses, terrify-
ing women and children and threatening the defenseless people
with death if they did not instantly flee. One of these bands was
led by a Christian minister heading, like another Peter the Hermit,
this holy crusade. Out upon the bleak prairies, along the Missouri's
banks, chilled by November's winds and drenched by pouring rains,
hungry and shelterless, weeping and heart-broken, wandered forth
the exiles. Families scattered and divided, husbands seeking wives,
wives husbands, parents searching for their children, not knowing if
they were yet alive. Such was the sorrowful scene — a veritable
Acadian tableau — enough, it might be thought, to melt a heart of
stone. But alas, the human heart, inhumanized by hate, is harder
than stone.

.Most of the refugees, after much suffering from hunger and
exposure, found an asylum in Clay County, on the opposite shore,
where they were kindly received and their woes compassionated. All
the other counties to which the Mormons had fled followed the
example of Jackson and expelled them from their borders. Ten
settlements were now left desolate.

But the exiles did not despair. It was a lawless mob that had
driven them from their homes and robbed them of their possessions.
Surely in a land of law and order there was recompense and redress
for such wrongs. The Governor, Judges and other state officials
were in turn appealed to, and even the President of the United
Stales was memorialized in relation to the Jackson County tragedy.
Courteous replies came back, deprecating and deploring what had
taken place, lull that was all. Governor Dunklin held that he could

HISTORY OF UTAH. 109

not lawfully extend military aid to maintain the Mormons in posses-
sion of their homes, and the reply of the President, hy the Secretary
of War, was to the same effect. The mob then was supreme. So
seemed it to these homeless and plundered American citizens, suing
in vain for redress at the feet of the highest civil and military
authority in the land.

. President Jackson, as well as Governor Dunklin, doubtless sin-
cerely desired to right the wrongs of the exiles. It was not like
"Old Hickory,"* with his "anti-nullifying" record, to hesitate or falter
in the presence of what he deemed a duty unperformed. He evidently
thought, as most Democrats would think, that the Jackson County
episode was a local wrong to be locally rectified, and that he was
powerless, unless requested by the Governor or the Legislature of the
State, to interfere and take action against the Missouri mob, as he
had formerly against the South Carolina nullifiers.

As to Governor Dunklin, a well-meaning though rather weak
official, he perhaps did all that a man of his calibre and stamina
could be expected to do under the circumstances. At his instance a
court of inquiry was held, and Colonel Pitcher for his conduct was
court-martialed. It was decided that there had been no Mormon
uprising, and that the calling out of the troops and the enforced sur-
render of arms by citizens defending themselves against unrighteous
aggression, was therefore unnecessary and unlawful. The Governor
commanded the officers of the militia to restore to the Mormons their
arms. This order they ignored. Further efforts for the relief
of the Saints were made by fair-minded citizens, — who regarded the
Jackson County affair as a grave crime, a stain upon the fair fame of
the State, — but owing to popular prejudice, and the difficulty of
enforcing in a mobocratic community the edicts of law and order, no
adequate recompense was eVer given, and the Mormons remain dis-
of their lands in that locality to this day.

Nearly sixty years have passed since then, yet Jackson County,

* A surname of Andrew Jackson's.

110 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Missouri, to the Latter-day Saints, is still "the land of Zion." Stakes
of Zion have multiplied, and the people have flocked thereto ; but
" the place for the city " has remained unchanged. Zion has not
been "moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scat-
tered." The generation which once possessed the land — whose
descendants still possess it — after repeated mobbings and massacres,
endured for conscience-sake, have nearly all fallen asleep. But
their aims and aspirations survive in the hearts of their children,
who as confidently look forward as did ever their exiled sires, who
followed Joseph Smith to Nauvoo and Brigham Young into the
wilderness, to the eventual return of the Saints to Jackson County.
and the rearing upon its sacred soil, consecrated by their fathers for
that purpose, of the glorious Zion of their hopes.

^/t^TiJ^^X

112 HISTORY OF UTAH.

highly educated, — a common school training, and a limited amount
of that, being all that either could boast, — they were men of gifted
minds, possessing unusual intelligence and strength of character.

Brigham Young was a man of undoubted genius, — a master
mind, well balanced and powerful, thoroughly practical in thought
and method, and of Napoleonic energy and intuition. Heber C.
Kimball was a natural prophet, — a poet he would have been, had
education lent his genius wings. A deep spiritual thinker, a great
yet simple soul, replete with eccentricity. In religion Heber, when
Mormonism found him, was a Baptist ; while Brigham, like Joseph
Smith in his boyhood, leaned toward Methodism.

Brigham Young first saw the Book of Mormon in the spring of
1830, at the home of his brother Phineas in Mendon. It had been
left there by Samuel H. Smith, brother to the Prophet. Two years
later a party of Mormon Elders from Pennsylvania came preaching
in that neighborhood. Being converted to the faith, Brigham was
baptized by Eleazer Miller on the 14th of April, 1832. Heber C.
Kimball was baptized by Alpheus Gifford on the day following.
John Young, senior, Phineas H., Joseph and Lorenzo D. Young,
John P. Greene, Israel Barlow and a score of others with their
families, in and around Mendon, also embraced Mormonism about the
same time. Ordained to the ministry, Brigham, Heber and others
rendered the Church efficient service in that region.

Not long afterward Brigham and Heber. accompanied by Joseph
Young, visited Kirtland and became acquainted with the Prophet. It
was the summer or fall of 1832. This was the first meeting of
Joseph Smith with the man who was destined to be his successor.
It is said that Joseph predicted about this time that Brigham Young-
would yet preside over the Church.

Returning east the three visiting Elders re-engaged in the work
of the ministry, Brigham and Joseph Young visiting Upper Canada,
whence the former, in July, 1833, led several families of converts to
Kirtland. Again returning to Mendon. where his wife had died the
year before, Brigham and his two motherless daughters dwelt for a

HISTORY OF UTAH. 113

season under the roof-tree of his friend Heber, and in the fall of that
year accompanied him and his family to Kirtland.

Other notable stars were likewise dawning or were about to
dawn upon Mormonism's cloud-hung horizon. Wilford Woodruff,
afterwards an Apostle and the fourth President of the Church, was
baptized by Zera Pulsipher at Richland, Oswego County, New York,
on December 31st. 1833. He was a native of Farmington — now
Avon — Hartford County, Connecticut, and was born March 1st, 1807.
George A. Smith, a cousin of the Prophet's, had come to Kirtland
with his parents from Potsdam. St. Lawrence County, New York, in
May, 1833. Jedediah M. Grant, of Broome County. New York, had
joined the Church in March, and Erastus Snow, in February, had
espoused the faith in his native State of Vermont. George A. and
Jedediah were then youths of sixteen and seventeen respectively, and
Erastus only a lad of fourteen.

It was about this time that D. P. Hurlburt was severed from the
Church for immoral conduct. He felt his disgrace keenly. He first
threatened the Prophet's life, — for which he was tried and put under
bonds at Chardon, — and then set diligently to work to stir up strife
and prejudice against the Mormons and their leader. He was quite
successful in this, and the Prophet was guarded night and day by
trusty friends, who feared his attempted assassination. We have
already seen how Hurlburt, after his expulsion from the Church,
originated the theory identifying the Book of Mormon with the
Spaulding story.

On the 17th of February, 1834, was organized at Kirtland the
fust High Council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. It was composed of twelve High Priests, presided over by
three of the same order. A few words here in relation to High
Councils and Mormon religious tribunals in general.

It is pretty well known by this time that the Mormon leaders do
not favor litigation among their followers; that ••brother going to
law against brother" is an offense against the precepts and regula-
tions of the Church. To obviate the need of such things there are

114 HISTORY OF UTAH.

instituted among the Saints tribunals called Bishops" Courts and
High Councils, the members of which serve gratuitously and - labor
much in the capacity of peace-makers ; adjusting difficulties between
Church members in such a way as to save expense and prevent ill-
feeling at the same time.

The Teacher is the peace-maker proper of the Church, but if he
finds it impossible to reconcile the parties disagreeing, it is his duty
to report the case to the Bishop, — whose officer he is, — together with
any iniquity he may discover from time to time in visiting among the
Saints of his '•district.-* There may be many districts and many
teachers, — two of whom usually act together, — in the "ward" over
which the Bishop and his two counselors as High Priests preside.

The Bishop's Court hears evidence pro and con and decides
accordingly. An appeal from its decision may be taken, if the
gravity of the case warrants, to the High Council of the Stake in
which the Bishop"s ward is located. A Stake may have many
wards, as the Church at large has many Stakes. Each Stake has its
High Council, consisting of twelve High Priests, presided over by
three other High Priests who are known as the Stake Presidency.
This presidency, to whom the ward Bishops are accountable, are
amenable themselves to the First Presidency. The High Councils
are the appellate courts of the Church, having also original jurisdic-
tion.

Each party to a case before the High Council has a right to be
represented by half the members of that body. — one or more on
either side being appointed to defend him. — and the matter in
dispute having been thoroughly ventilated, the President renders
his decision, which, if sustained by a majority of the Council, is the
end of controversy, unless a rehearing is ordered by the First
Presidency on a review of the evidence.

The greatest punishment inflicted by the Bishop's Court is disfel-
lowshipment, — suspension from all privileges of Church membership.*

This applies to persons holding llio MelehisenVk Priesthood. Members not holdi
that Priesthood maj be excommunicated 1 >y llie Bishop's Couri.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 115

The extreme penalty adjudged by the High Council is excommunica-
tion from the Church. All its members are amenable for transgres-
sion to these tribunals, one of the main objects of which is to pre-
vent expensive and strife-breeding litigation among the Saints.
They were not designed, though it is often alleged, to supersede or
in any way interfere with the operations of the civil courts. Accord-
ing to Mormon doctrine, offenders against the laws of the land
are amenable to those laws, as interpreted by legally constituted
tribunals.

The twelve High Priests composing the fmt High Council,
organized in February 1834. were Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Coe,
Samuel H. Smith. Luke Johnson, John S. Carter, Sylvester Smith,
John Johnson, Orson Hyde, Jared Carter, Joseph Smith, senior, John
Smith and Martin Harris. The presidency of this council was
identical with the First Presidency of the Church, namely : Joseph
Smith, junior, Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams.

In the latter part of February, the Prophet began organizing at
Rutland, an expedition for the relief of his people in Missouri. This
organization is known in Mormon history as Zion's Camp. It con-
sisted when complete of two hundred and five men, nearly all Elders.
Priests, Teachers and Deacons, organized as a military body, with
Joseph Smith as their general. They took with them twenty wagons,
well laden with supplies. The object of the expedition was to
"redeem Zion:" in other words to regain possession of the lands in
Jackson County from which the Saints had been driven. It subse-
quently transpired that the Prophet had another purpose in view :
that of proving the mettle of the men who were to be his future
Apostles.

One hundred of the Camp left Kirtland on the 5th of May,
1834. The remainder reinforced them on the way. They crossed
the Mississippi early in June, and in the latter part of the month
pitched their tents between two forks of Fishing River, Missouri.
between Richmond. Ray County, and Liberty, the county seal of
Clay. There they were joined by some of their brethren of those

116 HISTORY OF UTAH.

parts, and from them learned particulars of further outrages upon
the few remaining Saints in Jackson County.

The news of the coming of Zion's Camp, with exaggerated
rumors concerning their numbers and the purpose of the expedition,
created considerable excitement in western Missouri. Armed bands
went out to meet them, and dire threats were uttered as to their
doom. They were saved from attack one night on Fishing River by
a terrible storm which beat back their foes and rendered the raging
stream impassable. Colonel Sconce, of Ray County, Sheriff Gilliam,
of Clay, and other prominent men of that vicinity then visited the
camp and conversed with the Mormon leader. Having learned from
him that his design was merely to secure an amicable adjustment of
the difficulties between his despoiled disciples and the people of Jack-
son County, they were soon placated and became friendly.

Certain dissensions had broken out in Zion*s Camp while on the
way from Kirtland, and the Prophet, it is said, severely reprimanded
some of his followers and predicted that a scourge would come upon
the camp in consequence. Certain it is that a scourge did come, in
the form of cholera, appearing among them about the 22nd of June.
Sixty-eight were attacked by the malady, and thirteen or fourteen
died. Among those who fell victims was Algernon S. Gilbert, who
had kept the Church store at- Independence.

During the plague the camp removed from Fishing River to
within a few miles of Liberty. There they were met by General
David R. Atchison and others, who in a friendly spirit recpuested that
they come no nearer the town, as the excitement caused by the sen-
sational rumors concerning them had not yet abated. This request
was complied with, the Camp changing its course to Rush Creek,
where some of the Mormons had settled. In order to show still
further that his motives were not hostile, the Prophet disbanded his
force and apprised General Atchison of the fact, requesting him to
inform Governor Dunklin, whose ears were being filled with all sorts
of tales from Jackson County regarding "Joe Smith and his army."'

Negotiations, already begun, now continued between the Mormon

HISTORY OF UTAH. 117

leaders and the men of Jackson County. The latter proposed to pur-
chase the possessions of the Saints in that locality. To this the Mor-
mons would not listen, deeming it sacrilege to sell their •'sacred
inheritance." On their part they submitted a proposition to buy out
all residents of Jackson County who did not desire to dwell as their
near neighbors. This offer their opponents rejected. It was evident
that upon no condition would the Mormons be permitted to return.
Samuel C. Owens, a prominent mobocrat, advised the Mormons to
"cast an eye back of Clinton" — a distant county — and seek a new
home in the wilderness. Believing that further effort would be vain,
at all events for the present, the Prophet concluded to return to Kirt-
land.

Before starting, however, he organized a High Council among
his followers in Clay County, and set apart a presidency to take
charge of the Church in Missouri. David Whitmer, William W,
Phelps and John Whitmer were that presidency. The twelve high
councilors were as follows : Simeon Carter, Parley P. Pratt, William
E. McLellin, Calvin Beebe, Levi Jackman. Solomon Hancock, Chris-
tian Whitmer, Newel Knight, Orson Pratt, Lyman Wight, Thomas B.
Marsh and John Murdock. This High Council was organized early
in July, 1834. On the 9th the Prophet and his friends set out for
Kirtland. And so ended the Zion's Camp expedition.

Work on the Kirtland Temple was now zealously prosecuted.
The Saints, as before stated, were poor, and of late their numbers in
Ohio had been much diminished by the Missouri emigrations. But
all united with a will. — the Prophet and other Elders setting the
example by laboring in the quarry or upon the building, while the
women sewed, knit, spun and made clothing for the workmen. The
walls of the edifice, which were only partly reared when the Missouri
expedition took from Kirtland nearly all the bone and sinew of the
Church, now that the laborers had returned climbed rapidly toward
completion.

The next notable event in Mormon history was the choosing of
the Twelve Apostles, the council next in authority to the Firsl Presi-

118

HISTORY OF UTAH.

dency. It took place at Kirtland on Saturday, February 14th, 1835.
The survivors of Zion's Camp were that day called to assemble, and
the Twelve were selected from their numbers. The choosing was
done by the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, after which
each Apostle was blessed and set apart by the First Presidency.

The Twelve Apostles were equal in authority, but the order of
precedence in council was determined by their ages. According to
seniority they ranged as follows: Thomas B. Marsh, David W. Pat-
ten, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde. William E.
McLellin, Parley P. Pratt, Luke Johnson, William Smith, Orson Pratt,
John F. Boynton, Lyman E. Johnson.

The same month witnessed the selection of the Seventies —
assistant Apostles — who were likewise chosen from the ranks of the
survivors of Zion's Camp. Two quorums of Seventies were ordained.
Their names are here given :

' PRESIDENTS.

Hazen Aldrich,

Joseph Young,
Levi W. Hancock.
Leonard Rich,
Zebedee Coltrin,

Lyman Sherman.
Sylvester Smith.

MEMBERS.

Elias Hutchings
Cyrus Smalling,
Levi Gilford.
Stephen Winchester,
Roger Orton.
Peter Buchanan,
John D. Parker,
David Elliot.
Samuel Brown.
Salmon Warner,
Jacob Chapman,
Charles Kelley,
Edmund Fisher,
Warren Parrish,
Joseph Hancock,

Alden Burdick,
Hiram Winters.
Hiram Blackmail,
William D. Pratt,
Zera S. Cole.
Jesse Huntsman,
Solomon Angell,
Henry Herriinan,
Israel Barlow.
Jenkins Salisbury.
Nelson Higgins,
Harry Brown.
Jezaniah B. Smith,
Lorenzo Booth,
Alexander Badlam.
Zerubbabel Snow,
1 Lupin RiggS,
Edson Bail icy,
Joseph B. Noble,
Henry Benner.
David Evans,
Nathan B. Baldwin
Burr Riggs,
Lewis Bobbins.

Alex. Whitesides,
George W. Brooks,
Michael Griffith,
Royal Barney.
Libbeus T. Coons,
Willard Snow,
Jesse D. Harmon,
Heman T. Hyde.
Lorenzo D. Barnes,
Hiram Stratton,
Moses Martin,
Lyman Smith,
Harvey Stanley.
Almon W. Babbitt,
William F. Cahoon,
Darwin Richardson,
Milo Andrus,
True Glidden,
Henry Shiblcy.
Harrison Burgess,
Jedediab M. Giant.
Daniel Stevens.
Amasa M. Lyman,
Crm-r A. Smith,

HISTORY OF UTAH.

119

Elijah Fordham,
Hyrum Dayton,
Joel H. Johnson,
Daniel Wood,
Reuben McBride,
Jonathan Holmes,
Lorenzo D. Young,
Wilford Woodruff,
Jonathan Crosby,
Truman 0. Angell,
Chauncey G. Webb,
Solon Foster,
Erastus Snow,
Nathan Tanner,
John Gould,
Stephen Starks,
Levi Woodruff,
William Carpenter.
Francis G. Bishop,
William Gould.
Sherman A. Gilbert.
William Redfield,
John Herrit,
Jonathan Hampton.

SECOND QUORUM.

Samuel Phelps,
Joel McWithy,
Selah J. Griffin,
Shadrach Rouudy,
Zera Pulsipher,
King Follett,
Joseph Rose,
Robert Culbertson,
John Young,
James Foster.
Salmon Gee,
Nathaniel Millikin.
Gad Yale.
Josiah Butterfield,
Elias Benner,
Ariel Stephens,
William Perry,
Milton Holmes,
James Dalay,
Arvin A. Avery,
Charles Thompson,
Joshua Grant,
Andrew J. Squires,

Bobert Rathburn,
Giles Cook,
John E. Page,
William Tenney,
Edmund Marvin.
Marvel C. Davis,
Almon Shearman,
Isaac H. Bishop,
Elijah Beed,
Bums Fisher,
Dexter Stillman,
Thomas Gates,
Uriah B. Powell.
Amasa Bonney,
Ebenezer Page,
Loren Babbitt,
Levi S. Nickerson,
Edmund Durfee, jr
Henry Wilcox.
Edmund M. Webb.
William Miller,
Stephen Post,
William Bosley,

From the following paragraphs of a revelation on Priesthood the
reader may derive all desired information regarding the duties and
powers of the various councils and quorums in the Church: *

There are, in the church, two Priesthoods, namely, the Melchisedek, and Aaronic
including the Levitical priesthood.

Why the first is called the Melchisedek Priesthood, is because Melchisedek was such
a great High Priest.

Before his day it was (ailed the Holy Priesthood, after the order of the Son of God.

Hut mil of respect or reverence In the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too
frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that Priesthood
after Melchisedek. or the Melchisedek Priesthood.

All other authorities <>r offices in the church are appendages to this Priesthood;

But there arc two divisions or grand heads — one is the .Melchisedek Priesthood, and
the other is the Aaronic, or Levitical priesthood.

( lovenants, Se

L20 HISTORY OF UTAH.

The office of an elder comes under the Priesthood of Melchisedek.

The Melchisedek Priesthood holds the right of Presidency, and 1ms power and
authority over all the offices in the church in all ages of the world, to administer in spirit-
ual things.

The Presidency of the High Priesthood, alter the order of Melchisedek. have a right
to officiate in all the offices of the church.

High Priests after the order of the Melchisedek Priesthood, have a right to officiate in
their own standing, under the direction of the Presidency, in administering spiritual
things: and also in the office of an elder, priest, (of the Levitical order.) teacher, dea-
con and member.

An elder has a right to officiate in his stead when the High Priest is not present.

The High Priest and elder are to administer in spiritual things, agreeable to the cove-
nants and commandments of the church; and they have a right to officiate in all these
offices of the church when there are no higher authorities present.

The second priesthood is called the priesthood of Aaron, because it was conferred
upon Aaron and his seed, throughout all their generations.

Why it is called the lesser priesthood, is because it is an appendage to the greater or
the Melchisedek Priesthood, and has power in administering outward ordinances.

The bishopric is the presidency of this priesthood and holds the keys or authority of
the same.

No man has a legal right to this office, to hold the keys of this priesthood, except he
lie a I i lend descendant of Aaron.

But as a High Priest of the Melchisedek Priesthood has authority to officiate in all
the lesser offices, he may officiate in the office of bishop when no literal descend. ml ..I
Aaron can be found, provided he is called and set apart and ordained unto this power by
the hands of the Presidency of the Melchisedek Priesthood.

The power and authority of the Higher or Melchisedek Priesthood, is to hold the keys
of all the spiritual blessings of the church —

To have the privilege of receiving tin' mysteries of the kingdom of heaven — to have
the heavens opened lo them — to Commune with the general assembly and church of the
first horn, anil to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and .lesus the
Mediator of the new covenant.

The power and authority of tin/ lesser, or Aaronic priesthood, is to hold the keys of
the ministering of angels, and to administer in outward ordinances, the letter of the gospel
— the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, agreeable to the covenants and
commandments.

Of necessity there are presidents, or presiding offices growing out of, or appointed of
or from among those who are ordained to the several offices in those two priesthoods.

Of the Melchisedek Priesthood, three Presiding High Priests, chosen by the body,
appointed and ordained to thai office, and upheld by the confidence, faith, and prayer of
the church, form a quorum of the Presidency of the church.

The Twelve traveling counselors are called lo be the Twelve apostles, or special wit-
nesses of the name of Christ in all the world; thus differing from other officers in the
church in the duties of their calling.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 121

And they form a quorum, equal in authority and power to the three Presidents pre-
viously mentioned.

The seventy are also called to preach the gospel, and to be especial witnesses unto
the Gentiles and in all the world. Thus differing from other officers in the church in the
duties of their callings ;

And they form a quorum equal in authority to that of the Twelve special witnesses
or apostles just named.

And every decision made by either of these quorums, must be by the unanimous
voice of the same : that is, every member in each quorum must be agreed to its decisions,
in order to make their decisions of the same power or validity one with the other.

(A majority may form a quorum, when circumstances render it impossible to be
otherwise.)

The Twelve are a traveling presiding High Council, to officiate in the name of the
Lord, under the direction of the Presidency of the church, agreeable to the institution of
heaven; to build up the church, and regulate all the affairs of the same in all nations :
first unto the Gentiles, and secondly unto the Jews.

The seventy are to act in the name of the Lord, under the direction of the Twelve or
the traveling High Council, in building up the Church and regulating all the affairs of the
same in all nations — first unto the Gentiles and then unto the Jews ;

The Twelve being sent out, holding the keys, to open the door by the proclamation of
the gospel of Jesus Christ — and first unto the Gentiles and then unto the Jews.

Verily, I say unto you, says the Lord of hosts, there must needs be presiding elders
In preside over those who are of the office of an elder;

And also priests to preside over those who are of the office of a priest ;

Ami also teachers to preside over those who are of the office of a teacher: in like
manner, and also the deacons ;

Wherefore, from deacon to teacher, and from teacher to priest, and from priest to
elder, severally as they are appointed, according to the covenants and commandments of
the church.

Then comes the High Priesthood, which is the greatest of all:

Wherefore it must needs be that one be appointed of the High Priesthood to preside
over the Priesthood, and he shall be called President of the High Priesthood of the
church ;

Or. in other words, the Presiding High Priest over the High Priesthood of the
church.

From the same comes the administering of ordinances and blessings upon the church,
by the laying on of the hands.

Wherefore the ol'liee of a bishop is nol equal unto il : for the office of a bishop is in
administering all temporal things;

Nevertheless a bishop must be chosen from the High Priesthood, unless he is a literal
descendant of Aaron ;

122 HISTORY OF UTAH.

For unless he is a literal descendant of Aaron he cannot hold the keys of that priest-
hood.

Nevertheless, a High Priest that is after the order of Melchisedek, may be set apart
unto the ministering of temporal things, having a knowledge of them by the Spirit of
truth,

And also to be a judge in Israel, to do the business of the church, to sit in judgment
upon transgressors upon testimony as it shall be laid before him according to the laws, by
the assistance of bis counselors, whom he has chosen, or will choose among the elders of
the church.

This is the duty of a bishop who is not a literal descendant of Aaron, but has been
ordained to the High Priesthood after the order of Melchisedek.

* * * * * * * * *

But a literal descendant of Aaron has a legal right to the presidency of this priest-
hood, to the keys of this ministry, to act in the office of bishop independently, without
counselors, except in a case where a President of the High Priesthood, after the order of
Melchisedek, is tried, to sit as a judge in Israel.

And again, verily I say unto you, the duty of a president over the office of a deacon
is to preside over twelve deacons, to sit in council with them, and to teach them their duty
— edifying one another, as it is given according to the covenants.

And also the duty of the president over the office of the teachers is to preside over
twenty-four of the teachers, and to sit in council with them, teaching them the duties of
their office, as given in the covenants.

Also the duty of the presMent over the priesthood of Aaron is to preside over forty-
eight priests, and sit in council with them, to teach them the duties of their office, as is
given in the covenants.

This president is to be a bishop; for this is one of the duties of this priesthood.

Again, the duty of the president over the office of elders is to preside over ninety-six
elders, and to sit in council with them, and to teach them according to the covenants.

This presidency is a distinct one from that of the seventy, and is designed for those
who do not travel into all the world.

And again, the duty of the President of the office of the High Priesthood is to pre-
side over the whole church, and to be like unto Moses.

*********

And it is according to the vision, showing the order of the seventy, that they should
have seven presidents to preside over them, chosen out of the number of the seventy;

And the seventh president of these presidents is to preside over the six;

And these seven presidents are to choose other seventy besides the first seventy, to
whom they belong, and are to preside over them;

And also other seventy, until seven times seventy, if the labor in the vineyard of
necessity requires it.

And these seventy are to be traveling ministers unto the Gentiles first, and also unto
the .lews;

Whereas other officers of the church, who belong not unto the Twelve, neither to the

HISTORY OF UTAH. 123

seventy, are not under the responsibility to travel among all nations, but are to travel as
their circumstances shall allow, notwithstanding they may hold as high and responsible
offices in the church.

Early in May the Twelve Apostles started upon their first mis-
sion. They traveled through the Eastern States and Upper Canada,
preaching, baptizing, advising the scattered Saints to gather west-
ward, and collecting means for the purchase of lands in Missouri and
the completion of the Kirtland Temple. They went two by two,
but met together in councils and conferences at various points. Late
in September they returned to Kirtland.

It is often asserted by opponents of Mormonism that the
founders of the Church were coarse and illiterate men, and that the
system itself fosters ignorance and is opposed to education. The
assertion is for the greater part groundless. That many of the early
Elders were at the outset of their careers uncultured and unlearned,
is true. No Latter-day Saint disputes it. But that Mormonism
fosters or favors ignorance, or in any Avay opposes education, they
emphatically deny. •'It is impossible to be saved in ignorance."
"A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge." " The glory of
God is intelligence." "Seek ye out of the best books words of wis-
dom ; seek learning even by study and also by faith." Sample
precepts, these, of Joseph Smith's. No teacher ever taught more
plainly that knowledge in any sphere, in or out of the world, is
power.

Reference has already been made to the establishment of the
School of the Prophets at Kirtland, and its counterpart the School of
Elders in Missouri. These were instituted mainly for spiritual
culture. Other schools were founded by the Prophet for secular
instruction. A grammar school at Kirtland. taught by Sidney
Rigdon and William E. McLellin, was supplemented by a school of
science and languages, presided over by learned preceptors engaged
for that purpose. Professor Seixas, a finished scholar, was one of
these. The Prophet and many other Elders attended these schools.

At the age of thirty Joseph Smith was no longer an illiterate

124 HISTORY OF UTAH.

youth, but had become, if not a ripe and rounded scholar, at least a
proficient student, uniting with the lore of ancient languages the
far-seeing wisdom of a statesman and a social philosopher. Later he
added to these acquirements a knowledge of law. It was about this
time that he translated, from papyrus found upon some mummies
brought from the catacombs of Egypt, the record known as the Book
of Abraham.

The views of the Prophet and his people on civil government
and its relationship with religion are set forth in the following pro-
nunciamento of August, 1835 : *

We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man, and that
he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, either in making laws or
administering them, for the good and safety of society.

We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and
held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right
and control of property, and the protection of life.

We believe that all governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to
enforce the laws of the same, and that such as will administer the law in equity and
justice, should be sought for and upheld by the voice of the people (if a republic,) or the
will of the sovereign.

We believe that religion is instituted of God, and that men are amenable to him, and
to him' only, for the exercise of it, unless their religious opinions prompt them to infringe
upon the rights and liberties of others ; but we do not believe that human law has a right
to interfere in prescribing rules of worship to bind the consciences of men, nor dictate
forms for public or private devotion ; that the civil magistrate should restrain crime, but
never control conscience; should punish guilt, but never suppress the freedom of the
soul.

We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments
in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws
ut -mil governments; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus
protected, and should be punished accordingly; and that all governments have a right to
enact such laws as in their own judgment are best calculated to secure the public interest,
.ii the same time, however, holding sacred the freedom of conscience.

We believe that every man should he honored in his station: rulers and magistrates
as such, being placed for the protection of the innocent, and the punishment of the guilty :

mill that In Mie laws, nil ii owe respect and deference, as without them peace and harmony

would he supplanted by anarchy and terror: human laws being instituted for the express
purpose of regulating our interests as individuals and nations, between man and man. and

* I (octrine and < lovenants, Se<

HISTORY OF UTAH. 125

divine laws given of heaven, prescribing rules on spiritual concerns, for faith and worship,
both to be answered by man to his Maker.

We believe that riders, states, and governments, have a right, and are bound to enact
laws for the protection of all citizens in the free exercise of their religious belief; but we
do not believe that they have a right in justice, to deprive citizens of this privilege, or
proscribe them in their opinions, so long as a regard and reverence are shown to the laws,
and such religious opinions do not justify sedition nor conspiracy.

We believe that the commission of crime should be punished according to the nature
of the offence; that murder, treason, robbery, theft, and the breach of the general peace,
in all respects, should be punished according to their criminality, and their tendency to
evil among men, by the laws of that government in which the offence is committed ; and
for the public peace and tranquility, all men should step forward and use their ability in
bringing offenders against good laws to punishment.

We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby
one religious society is fostered, and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the
individual rights of its members as citizens, denied.

We believe that all religious societies have a right to deal with their members for dis-
orderly conduct according to the rules and regulations of such societies, provided that such
dealings be for fellowship and good standing ; but we do not believe that any religious
society has authority to try men on the right of property or life, to take from them this
world's goods, or to put them in jeopardy of either life or limb, neither to inflict any physi-
cal punishment upon them, they can only excommunicate them from their society, and
withdraw from them their fellowship.

We believe that men should appeal to the civil law for redress of all wrongs and
grievances, where personal abuse is inflicted, or the right of property or character infringed,
where such laws exist as will protect the same ; but we believe that all men are justified
in defending themselves, their friends, and property, and the government, from the unlaw-
ful assaults and encroachments of all persons, in times of exigency, where immediate
appeal cannot be made to the laws, and relief afforded.

We believe it just to preach the gospel to the nations of the earth, and warn
the righteous to save themselves from the corruption of the world ; but we do not
believe it right to interfere with bond servants, neither preach the gospel to, nor baptize
them, contrary to the will and wish of their masters, nor to meddle with or influence
them in the least, to cause them to be dissatisfied with their situations in this life, thereby
jeopardizing the lives of men ; such interference we believe to be unlawful and unjust,
and dangerous to the peace of every government allowing human beings to be held in
servitude.

The Kirtland Temple was dedicated on the 27th of March, 1836.
Part of the interior at the time was in an unfinished state. It had
occupied three years in construction, and had cost between sixty and
seventy thousand dollars. The dimensions of the edifice were eighty
by sixty feet; the walls being fifty-seven feet high to the eaves. It

126 HISTORY OF UTAH.

comprised two stories and an attic ; the whole surmounted by a
tower. The building, which was chiefly of stone, stood upon a hill,
and was the most conspicuous object visible for miles.

The main purpose of the temple was the administration of relig-
ious ordinances, but it was also designed and used for schools, meet-
ings and councils of the Priesthood. Unlike all temples since
erected by the Saints, there was no baptismal font in this building ;
the ordinance of baptism for the dead — for which such fonts are
principally used — not yet being practiced in the Church. We will
here state, for the benefit of the uninformed, that the Mormons
believe that vicarious work, such as baptisms, confirmations, ordina-
tions, marriages, etc., may be performed by the living for the dead ;
for their friends and progenitors who died without a knowledge of
the gospel. This is one of their chief objects in temple building.

Accounts of many miraculous manifestations are recorded in
connection with the Kirtland Temple ; among them the following by
Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, dated April 3rd, 1836 : *

The vail was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding were opened.

We saw the Lord standing upon the hreastwork of the pulpit, before us, and under
his feet was a paved work of pure gold in color like amber.

His eyes were as a flame of fire, the hair of his head was white like the pure snow,
his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun, and his voice was as the sound of
the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying —

I am the first and the last, I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain, I am your
advocate with the Father.

Behold, your sins are forgiven you, you are clean before me, therefore lift up your
heads and rejoice,

Let the hearts of your brethren rejoice, and let the hearts of all my people rejoice,
who have, with their might, built this house to my name,

For behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here, and I will man-
ifest myself to my people in mercy in this house,

Yea, 1 will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine own voice, if
my people will keep my commandments, and do not pollute this holy house,

Yea tin' hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in conse-
quence <>l the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my
servants have been endowed in this house;

* Dnclrine and (lovcnanls. Section 110.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 127

And (lie feme of this house shall spread to foreign lands, anil this is the beginning of
the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people. Even so. Amen.

After this vision closed, the heavens were again opened unto us, and Moses appeared
before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts
of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north.

After this, Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham,
saying, that in us, and our seed, all generations after us should be blessed.

After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us, for
Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and
said —

Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi, tes-
tifying that he (Elijah) should be sent before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come,

To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest
the whole earth be smitten with a curse.

Therefore the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands, and by this
ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.

Among those who came to Kirtland during this period, attracted
thither not by the religion of the Saints, but by the advantages for
lingual training in the Hebrew school founded by the Prophet, was
Lorenzo Snow, a native of Mantua, Portage County, in that State, who
had been pursuing his studies at Oberlin College. Lorenzo was then
a youth of twenty-two. His sister, Eliza R. Snow, the poetess, had
joined the Church in April, 1835, and at the time that her brother
came to Kirtland was living in the Prophet's household. Lorenzo
was baptized in June, 1836, by Apostle John F. Boynton.

Returning now to the Mormons in Missouri. Expelled with fire
and sword from Jackson County in the fall of 1833, they had dwelt
since then among the hospitable and kindly disposed people of Clay
County. Nearly three years they had dwelt there in peace and amity.
Though that section was regarded by them as only a temporary abid-
ing place, where they awaited the day when law and justice should
restore them to their former homes, they had nevertheless secured
lands, purchased or erected dwellings, workshops, etc., and were re-
ceiving constant accessions to their numbers by immigration. With
these peaceful and legitimate pursuits little or no fault had hitherto
been found.

But now a change had come. The people of Clay County had

128 HISTORY OF UTAH.

partaken in a measure of the anti-Mormon spirit which reigned in
Jackson. The Saints were on the eve of another exodus, another
general abandonment of their homes; though not threatened, as
before, with "fire and brand and hostile hand." with robbery and
expulsion from the roofs which of late had sheltered them. They
had been recraestecl, however, to remove as a community from Clay
County, and "seek some other abiding place, where the manners, the
habits and customs of the people would be more consonant with their
own." Such was the action taken regarding them by a mass meet-
ing of reputable citizens which convened at Liberty on the 29th of
June, 1836.

No charge of crime had been preferred against the Mormons.
It was not claimed that they had infringed upon the rights of their
fellow citizens, broken the laws of the land, or been wanting in
respect and loyalty to the local or the general government. True,
the old charges were afloat of what they intended doing, what their
opinions were on the negro and Indian questions, etc., and these,
with their continuous immigrations into the county, were doubtless
among the chief reasons for the change of sentiment concerning
them. The men of Jackson County too, were constantly sowing the
seeds of ill-will between the old settlers of Clay County and the Mor-
mons. Doubtless some of the latter, — for there are cranks and
criminals among all peoples, — warranted the adverse opinions
formed respecting them. But this, despite the fly-in-the-ointment
proverb, ought not to have condemned the whole community.

Yet they were not accused of crime, of any overt act against
peace and good order. It was argued merely that " they were east-
ern men, whose manners, habits, customs and even dialect, were
essentially different*' from those of the Missourians; that they were
"non-slaveholders, and opposed to slavery ; " and that their religious
tenets were "so different from the present churches of the age" that
they "always had, and always would, excite deep prejudices against
them in any populous country where they might locate." Such a
prejudice, it was claimed, had taken root in Clay County, and had

HISTORY OF UTAH. 129

grown into "a feeling of hostility that the first spark might ignite
into all the horrors and desolations of a civil war."

Hence, in the spirit of mediation, with an earnest desire to
avert such a calamity for the sake of all, had the mass meeting
spoken. Such was its candid and no doubt truthful claim. "We
do not contend," said these citizens of Clay County, " that we have
the least right, under the constitution and laws of the country to
expel them (the Mormons) by force. * * * We only ask
them, for their own safety and for ours, to take the least of the two
evils." The " least evil " in question was that no more Mormons
should settle in Clay County, and that those already there should
remove to some other place at as early a period as possible.

Though perfectly aware that in complying with this request they
would surrender some of their dearest rights as American citizens,
and that if they saw fit they might entrench themselves behind the
bulwark of the Constitution and defy their opponents to legally dis-
lodge them, for the sake of peace and through a sense of gratitude
for former kindness, the Mormons decided to make the required sac-
rifice and leave the county. First, however, they determined to put
upon record their denial of the charges afloat concerning them.

At a meeting held on July 1st, presided over by William W.
Phelps, a preamble and resolutions were reported by a committee
previously appointed for the purpose. Therein the Mormons
expressed gratitude and good will toward the people of Clay County
for past kindness; denied having any claim to lands further than
they purchased with money, or more than they were allowed to pos-
sess under the Constitution and laws of the country; denied being
abolitionists, or that they were holding communications with the
Indians, and affirmed their fealty to the government, its laws and
institutions. They agreed, however, for the sake of peace and
friendship, to comply with the requisitions of the mass meeting held
in June.

Within three months they were on their way, migrating, after
selling out at a sacrifice, to the spot selected as the site of their new

130 HISTORY OF UTAH.

home. It was known as the Shoal Creek region, comprising the
upper part of Ray County, north and east of Clay. It was a wilder-
ness, almost entirely unoccupied, seven men only inhabiting its
solitudes. These were bee-hunters. The Mormons purchased their
possessions, pre-empted other lands in the vicinity, and were left the
sole occupants of that region. Here, in this isolated spot, where the
question of social and religious differences could not well arise, at
least for the present, they hoped to dwell unmolested, worshiping
God in their own way, — in the way that they believed He bad com-
manded.

In December, 1836, in response to their petition, the Legislature
of Missouri incorporated the Shoal Creek region and some adjoining-
lands containing a few settlers, as a separate county, to which was
given the name of Caldwell. The Mormons were permitted to organ-
ize the county government and select its officers. Here the Saints
settled in large numbers, and founded during the winter of 1836-7
the city of Far West.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 131

CHAPTER IX.

1836-1838.

The kirtland apostasy — the temporal at war with the spiritual — financial

disasters " something new must be done to save the church" opening of the

british mission heber c. kimball and his confreres in lancashire marvelous

success of mormonism abroad affairs at kirtland continued a dark hour

brigham young's fidelity john taylor setting in order the church flight of

the prophet and his friends from kirtland the church removes to missouri

excommunications new calls to the apostleship the law of tithing instituted.

HILE the events last narrated were occurring in Missouri,
affairs at Kirtland had bee"n hastening to a crisis. A spirit
essentially antagonistic to the genius of religion, — opposed to the
success of any great spiritual movement such as Mormonism, had
crept into the Church and was playing havoc with the faith and once
fervent zeal of many of its members.

The spirit of speculation, then so prevalent throughout the
nation; the greed of worldly gain, so fatal to religious enthusiasm
in all ages, was rapidly permeating the Mormon community at
Kirtland, cooling the spiritual ardor of the Saints, and diverting
the minds of many followers of the Prophet from the aims and
purposes for which they had renounced "the world" to become his
associates and disciples.

Even some of the leading Elders,— Apostles. High Priests and
Seventies, — whose especial mission, unless otherwise directed by
their superiors, was to administer in spiritual things, were neglecting
the duties enjoined upon them and plucking greedily the golden fruit
that hang so temptingly from the tree of mammon. Reproved for
their remissness by the Prophet, they became angry, and falling

132 HISTORY OF UTAH.

away from their fealty to Joseph, sowed the seeds of disaffection
among their friends and sympathizers.

Thus occurred the first serious apostasy in the Church. Before
it was over, about half the council of the Apostles, one of the First
Presidency and many other prominent Elders had become disaffected,
and some of them bitterly hostile to the Prophet and all who adhered
to him. Outside enemies were not slow to take advantage of this
situation, and unite with the Church's internal foes in various
schemes for its destruction.

The Kirtland '-boom** — as it would now be styled — began in the
summer or fall of 1836. and during the following winter and spring
went rushing and roaring on toward the whirlpool of financial ruin
that soon swallowed it. The all-prevailing desire to amass wealth
did not confine itself to mercantile pursuits, real estate dealings, and
other branches of business of a legitimate if much inflated character,
but was productive of "wild-cat" schemes of every description,
enterprises in every respect fraudulent, designed as traps for the
unwary.

An effort was made by the Prophet, who foresaw the inevitable
disaster that awaited, to stem the tide of recklessness and cor-
ruption now threatening to sweep everything before it. For this
purpose the Kirtland Safety Society was organized, the main object of
which was to control the prevailing sentiment and direct it in legiti-
mate channels. The Prophet and some of his staunches! supporters
became officers and members of this association.

The career of the Kirtland Bank was very brief. Unable to col-
lect its loans, victimized by counterfeiters, and robbed by some of its
own officials — subordinates having charge of the funds — it soon col-
lapsed. A heroic effort was made to save it. Well-to-do members of
the Church beggared themselves to buy up the bank's floating paper
and preserve its credit.* But in vain. In common with many other
banks and business houses throughout the country, — for it was a

Isaac Decker, a prosperous farmer, was one of these.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 133

year of general financial disaster, — it went down in the ruinous
crash of 1837.

Another opportunity was thus given to heap censure upon the
Prophet ; an opportunity of which his enemies, in and out of the
Church, cphckly availed themselves. As a matter of fact Joseph had
withdrawn from the Society some time before, not being satisfied
with the way events were shaping. It mattered not. Someone had
done wrong, and someone must be blamed. As usual the most promi-
nent target was the one fired at. Before this, however, so intense
had become the feeling against the Prophet at Kirtland, that it was
almost as much as one's life was worth to defend him against his
accusers. Affairs with Mormonism had reached a culminating point,
where it was evident — to use the Prophet's own words — that '-some-
thing new must be done for the salvation of the Church."

Joseph Smith believed, — as all men must, into whose ideas the
philosophy of the divine Nazarene enters, — that the spiritual must
save the temporal ; that life alone can redeem from death. Conse-
quently, he kneAV that in the crisis now reached, — a stagnation of the
spiritual life-blood of the Church, — a strong reactionary movement
was essential to its resuscitation. Too much care for the temporal,
with a corresponding neglect of the spiritual, had nearly proved the
ruin of Mormonism. The supremacy of the spiritual over the tem-
poral,— the basic and crowning principle of the salvation offered by
Jesus Christ, — must needs be emphasized and reasserted. At this
period, therefore, the Prophet planned and executed a project as a
measure of rescue from the ruin which seemed impending. It was
to send his Apostles across the sea and plant the standard of Mor-
monism upon the shores of Europe.

Hitherto the labors of the Elders had been confined to various
parts of the United States and Upper Canada. Into that province
such men as Brigham and Joseph Young, Orson Pratt. Parley P.
Pratt and even the Prophet himself had penetrated and made many
converts. Parley P. Pratt's missions to Canada had been especially
productive. Among his converts in the city of Toronto, in the

134 HISTORY OF UTAH.

spring or summer of 1836, was John Taylor, afterwards an Apostle,
and the third President of the Church. But as yet no foreign
mission had been attempted. Indeed, at that time, when the age of
steamships and railways was in its infancy, and months instead of
days were consumed in crossing the Atlantic, the idea of a voyage
over the ocean was to ordinary minds little less awe-inspiring and
miraculous than a projected flight to the moon. To send the Elders
to Great Britain, however, and "open the door of salvation to that
nation," was the plan conceived by the Prophet early in the summer
of 1837.

The Apostle chosen to stand at the head of this important
mission was Heber C. Kimball, a staunch friend of Joseph's, a man
unlettered, but possessed of much native ability and mental and
physical force. Hifc companion Apostle was Orson Hyde, better
educated and considerable of an orator. Orson was a native of
Oxford, New Haven County, Connecticut, where he was born on the
8th of January, 1805. Another of the party was Elder Willard
Richards, a cousin to Brigham Young, late of Berkshire County.
Massachusetts, who had but recently joined the Church. Willard
was the pioneer of the numerous and distinguished Richards family
in Mormonism.

The other members of the mission were Joseph Fielding, a
Canadian convert, Isaac Russell, John Goodson and John Snider.
The last three were now in Canada.

Apostle Kimball and the others left Kirtland on the 13th of June.
Being joined by the Canadian party in New York, they sailed from
that port July 1st, on board the packet Grarrick bound for Liverpool.

It is not our purpose in these pages to give a detailed account of
the rise and progress of the British Mission, — the first and so far
greatest foreign mission established by the Latter-day Saints. —
nor of the various missions which radiated from and grew out of it.
Such a work would necessarily fill volumes. Only the main incidents
of that wonderfully successful missionary movement. — which was
destined to bring into the Church and emigrate to America, from

HISTORY OF UTAH. 135

Great Britain alone, between fifty and seventy-five thousand souls, —
can here be touched upon.

Landing at Liverpool on July 20th, 1837, the day that Queen
Victoria ascended the throne, Apostle Kimball and his confreres
tarried two days in that city, and then repaired by coach to Preston,
thirty miles distant. There Joseph Fielding had a brother, the
pastor of a church, who had previously been informed by letter from
Joseph and other relatives in Canada, of the rise and spread of Mor-
monism in America. He opened his church— Vauxhall Chapel — to
the Elders, who, the day after their arrival at Preston, it being the
Sabbath, preached from his pulpit the first sermons delivered by
Mormon Elders on the eastern hemisphere.

Baptisms soon followed, then the usual opposition, — though of
a much less violent character than had been experienced in some
parts of America. The Reverend James Fielding, the first to wel-
come the Elders and extend to them ministerial courtesy, was also
the first to withdraw from them the hand of friendship. Learning
that some of his flock had been converted by their preaching, and
had applied to them for baptism, he quickly closed his pulpit against
the Elders and was thenceforth their bitter opponent. Later, the
Reverend Robert Aitken, a famous minister of that period, entered
the lists against them. Nothing daunted, for they were inured to
such treatment, the Elders betook themselves to the streets and
public squares, preaching in the open air to vast crowds — tradesmen,
laborers, factory hands, farmers, etc., — that thronged from all sides
to hear them. They also addressed audiences in private houses, thai
were opened for their accommodation. More opposition ensued, and
greater success followed.

From Preston, having there gained a foothold, the missionaries.
separating, passed into other counties. Richards and Goodson went
to the city of Bedford, Russell and Snider to Alston, in Cumberland,
while the two Apostles with Joseph Fielding remained to spread the
work in Preston and introduce it into other towns and villages of
Lancashire.

136 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Everywhere success attended them. — success nothing short of
marvelous. Whole villages were converted at a sweep, and fresh
friends flocked round them almost daily. The people as a rule were
very poor, and the Elders, themselves penniless, preaching "without
purse or scrip," and most of the time laboring arduously, suffered
many privations. But there was no dearth of warm hearts and
willing hands, and though the fare was often less than frugal, the
shelter never so scant, the guests whom these poor people delighted
to honor were ever welcome to the best and most of it.

Sunday. July 30th. 1837— the tenth day of the Elders on
British soil — witnessed their first baptisms, nine in number, in the
river Babble, which runs through Preston. Sunday, April 8th, 1838,
a little over eight months afterward, at a conference held there prior
to the return of the Apostles to America, their total following in that
land was reported at about two thousand souls. Three-fourths of
these had been converted by one man. — the unlettered but magnetic
Apostle, Heber C. Kimball. Twenty-six branches of the Church were
represented. Thus was laid the foundation of the British Mission.

Apostles Kimball and Hyde with Elder Bussell on the 20th of
April sailed from Liverpool aboard the Garrick, homeward bound.
Joseph Fielding was left to preside over the British Mission, with
Willard Richards and William Clayton as his counselors. Clayton
was an English convert. Goodson and Snider — the former being
disaffected — had returned to America some months before.

On the 12th of May the returning Apostles landed at New York.
There they met Orson Pratt, who. with his brother Parley, had suc-
ceeded after much labor in raising up a branch of the Church in
that city. Parley's celebrated work, the Voice of Warning, which
was destined to convert thousands to Mormonism. had been pub-
lished there the year before. Two days after landing, the Kimball
party proceeded on to Kirtland, arriving there on the 22nd of May.

Returning now to the summer of 1837. While Mormonism had
been prospering abroad, what had been its fortunes in America '.
The tidal wave of disaffection still swept over Kirtland. The Mor-

HISTORY OF UTAH. 137

mon leader was denounced as "a fallen prophet" by men who
had been his trusted friends and associates. A plot was formed
to depose him from the Presidency and put another in his
stead. Concerned in this conspiracy were several of the Apostles
and some of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon. Their choice
for Joseph's successor was David Whitmer, one of the Three
Witnesses.

Heber C. Kimball, when appointed to his foreign mission, had
asked the Prophet if Brigharn Young might go with him. The
answer was : "No; I want him to stay with me. I have something
else for him to do."

Doubtless it was well for Joseph and for Mormonism in general
that he decided to keep by him a't that time the lion heart and
intrepid soul of Brigharn Young. Firm as a rock in his fealty to his
chief, he combined sound judgment, keen perception, with courage
unfaltering and sublime. Like lightning were his intuitions, his
decisions between right and wrong; like thunder his denuncia-
tions of what his soul conceived was error. A man for emergencies,
far-sighted and inspirational ; a master spirit and natural leader of
men.

Well might Joseph, — brave almost to rashness, — whose genius,
though lofty and general in its scope, was pre-eminently spiritual,
while Brigham's was pronouncedly practical, wish to have near him
at such a time, just such a man. In that dark hour, — the darkest
perhaps that Mormonism has seen, — when its very foundations
seemed crumbling, when men supposed to be its pillars were weaken-
ing and falling away, joining hands secretly or openly with ils
enemies, the man Brigharn never faltered, never failed in his
allegiance to his leader, never ceased defending him againsl his
accusers, and as boldly denouncing them betimes for falsehood,
selfishness and treachery. His life was imperilled by his boldness.
He heeded not. but steadily held on his way, an example of valor
and fidelity, a faithful friend, sans pair et sans reproche.

Among others who stood loyal to the Prophet was John Taylor,

10-VOL. 1.

138 HISTORY OF UTAH.

the future Apostle and President, who arrived at Kirtland from his
home in Canada in the latter part of 1837. It was in Toronto, dur-
ing August of that year, that Joseph Smith and John Taylor had first
met. Seven years later they stood side by side in an Illinois
dungeon, facing an infuriate mob, together receiving the bullets. —
fatal to Joseph, well-nigh fatal to John, — which reddened with their
mingled life-blood the floor of Carthage jail.

Soon after the Prophet's return from Canada, a return rendered
barely possible by mobs lying in wait to attack him, a conference was
held at Kirtland and steps taken to purge the disaffected element
from the various councils of the Priesthood. It was Sunday.
September 3rd, 1837. On that day the Church voted with uplifted
hands to sustain in office the following named Elders: Joseph Smith,
junior, as President of the Church; Sidney Rigdon as his first
counselor; Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith, senior, Hyrum Smith and
John Smith, as assistant counselors; Thomas B. Marsh, David W.
Patten, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Parley P.
Pratt, Orson Pratt, William Smith and William E. McLellin as
members of the council of the Apostles ; John Gaylord, James
Foster, Salmon Gee, Daniel S. Miles, Joseph Young, Josiah Butter-
field and Levi Hancock, as Presidents of Seventies, and Newel K.
Whitney as Bishop of Kirtland, with Reynolds Cahoon and Jared
Carter as his counselors.

Frederick G. Williams, one of the First Presidency ; Luke S. and
Lyman E. Johnson and John F. Boynton, three of the Apostles, and
John Gould, one of the Presidents of Seventies, were rejected. Five
members of the High Council were also objected to by the people,
and new ones appointed in their stead.

Affairs of a similar nature, with other business pertaining to the
settlement of the Saints in their new gathering place, now sum-
moned the Prophet to Missouri. In company with Elder Rigdon and
others he left Kirtland on September 27th. and reached Far West
about the 1st of November. On the 7th of that month a conference
was held there, at which the general and local Church authorities

HISTORY OF UTAH. 139

were presented, as usual, to the congregation. Frederick G.
Williams, being rejected as one of the First Presidency, Hyrum
Smith, the Prophet's brother, was chosen in his stead. The local
presidency, David Whitmer, John Whitmer and William W. Phelps,
after some consideration were retained in office, as were also the
members of the High Council. Bishop Edward Partridge and his
counselors, Isaac Morley and Titus Billings, were likewise sustained.
It was decided, during the Prophet's stay, to enlarge the plat of Far
West to two miles square. About the 10th of November he
started back to Kirtland, arriving there a month later.

During his absence Warren Parrish, John F. Boynton, Joseph
Coe and others had dissented from the Church, and aided and
abetted by prominent Elders in Missouri, were now conspiring for
its overthrow. In every way possible they sought to induce others
to join them. Brigham Young's only reply was to denounce
them. Wilford Woodruff, likewise approached, remained immovable.
John Taylor stood staunchly by Joseph. As for Heber C. Kimball.
Orson Hyde and Willard Richards, they had given their answer in
June, when they accepted a call to cross the Atlantic and herald on
Europe's shores the advent of a restored Gospel, and a latter-day
Prophet in the person of Joseph Smith. The Pratt brothers, Bishop
Whitney and many more threw in their lot with the Prophet, while
others equally prominent forsook him.

Soon after his return from Missouri, the dissenters at Kirtland
boldly came out. proclaiming themselves the Church of Christ, "the
old standard." and denouncing Joseph and his followers as heretics.
Then came the climax. Threatened with assassination, their lives
in imminent jeopardy, the Church leaders were finally compelled hi
tlee. Brigham Young, to escape the fury of a mob which had
sworn to kill him, left Kirtland on the 22nd of December. Ke
directed his course toward Missouri. Less than three weeks later
the Prophet and Elder Bigdon fled also. Their flight being discov-
ered, they were pursued by armed men a distance of two hundred
miles, narrowly escaping capture. The Prophet and his party,

140 HISTORY OF UTAH.

including Brig-ham Young and others who had joined him, reached
Far West about the middle of March, 1838.

Several weeks before, a general assembly of the Saints had con-
vened there for the purpose of setting in order the Church in Mis-
souri. David Whitmer, John Whitmer and William W. Phelps, the
local presidency, whose conduct for some time had not been satisfac-
tory to the people, were now suspended from office. Subsecpuently they
were severed from the Church. William W. Phelps soon returned,
but the Whitmer brothers were never again connected with the cause.

The Prophet having arrived, the work of "setting in order" con-
tinued. Evidently a clean sweep had been determined on. The
Church, so nearly brought to ruin by apostates in Ohio, insomuch
that a general exodus of the Saints from that state was now neces-
sary, could no longer afford to harbor within its fold the disaffected
element, indifferent to or bent upon its destruction. The tree, in
order to live, must be pruned of its dead branches.

Doubtless this end was in view when, at the April conference of
1838. Thomas B. Marsh, Brigham Young and David W. Patten were
chosen to preside over the Church in Missouri. Under their admin-
istration the work of pruning went vigorously on. Neither high nor
low were spared, except they speedily brought forth "fruits of repent-
ance.*' The excommunicating axe even lopped some of the loftiest
limbs. Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer. Martin Harris, Luke S. and
Lyman E. Johnson, John F. Boynton and William E. McLellin were
all deprived of membership in the Church during this period. Luke
Johnson afterwards returned, and became one of the Utah pioneers
of 1847. Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris also rejoined the
Church many years later, but the others were never again identified
with Mormonism. The vacancies in the council of the Twelve
caused by the excommunication of Elders Boynton, McLellin and the
Johnson brothers, were filled by the calling of John Taylor, John E.
Page, Wilford Woodruff and Willard Richards to the Apostleship.

The departure of the Church leaders from Kirtland had been
the sunal foi a general migration of the Mormons from Ohio to

HISTORY OF UTAH. 141

Missouri. Far West was now their gathering place, — not their Zion,
but only a stake of Zion, as Kirtland had been before. All during
the spring and summer of 1838 the exodus continued, until the
Saints remaining at Kirtland were very few. Apostles Kimball and
Hyde, arriving there from Europe in May, tarried only long enough
to arrange their affairs and make suitable preparations for their jour-
ney to Missouri. About the 1st of July the two Apostles, accompan-
ied by Erastus Snow, Winslow Farr and others, with their families,
set out for Far West. Among those remaining at Kirtland were
Bishop N. K. Whitney and Oliver Granger, who had charge of the
Church property in Ohio.

At Far West, on the 8th of July, the law of tithing was insti-
tuted as a standing law of the Church. Hitherto it had been prac-
ticed only by individuals. Its observance was now obligatory upon
all, officers as well as members.

This event signalized the discontinuance of the United Order,
which had practically been dissolved some time before. According to
that system, which, as has been shown, the Saints yet hope to estab-
lish, the members of the community consecrated their all, and each,
being given a stewardship, with his or her support, labored unitedly
for the common weal. The law of tithing, which bears about the
same relation to the Order of Enoch as the Mosaic law to the gospel
of Christ, required of them as individual possessors, (1) all their su^
plus property, to be placed in the hands of the Bishop and by*
him cared and accounted for; (2) one tenth of all their interest
annually.

The fund thus created was for the support of the Priesthood. —
such as devoted their whole time to the service of the Church. — the
building of temples and for public purposes in general. From the
first, however, much of the tithing fund, together with special offer-
ings for that purpose, was expended to support the helpless poor.
Such was and is the law of tithing, instituted in July, 1838. and
observed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to this
day.

142 HISTORY OF UTAH.

CHAPTER X.

1838-1839.

The mormons in Missouri — far west, diahman and dewitt — a slumbering volcano —

celebrating the nation's birthday the state election attempt to prevent

mormons from voting — the gallatin riot the volcano awakes daviess county in

arms joseph smith and lyman wight arrested the mob army threatens

diahman the mormons arm in self-defense generals atchison. parks and doni-
phan the saints exonerated siege and bombardment of dewitt governor boggs

appealed to he declines to interfere dewitt evacuated and diahman again

threatened gilliam's guerillas the mormon militia make war upon the mob

the danites battle of crooked river death of david w. patten governor

boggs espouses the cause of the mobocrats the mormons to be " exterminated

OR DRIVEN FROM THE STATE" THE HAUn's MILL MASSACRE FALL OF FAR WEST THE

MORMON LEADERS IN CHAINS LIBERTY JAIL THE EXODUS TO ILLINOIS.

•L HE Mormons in Missouri in the summer of 1838 numbered in

Nr the neighborhood of twelve thousand souls. All were not

T

located in Caldwell County. Lands had been purchased or

pre-empted by them in other places as well. In two of the counties

contiguous to Caldwell, namely : Daviess on the north, and Carroll

on the east, in parts previously unoccupied or but thinly peopled,

they had founded flourishing settlements. In Daviess County, as in

Caldwell, a stake of Zion was organized.

Their chief settlement in Daviess County was Adam-ondi-Ahman,*

— abbreviated to Diahman ; the one in Carroll County, Dewitt. Good

order, sobriety and industry prevailed, and peace and prosperity were

everywhere manifest. "Heaven smiles upon the Saints in Caldwell,"

wrote the Prophet at the time, and even in parts where they were

* So named, said Hie Prophet, because Adam, who dwell there after being drivei
from Eden, would there sit, as Ancient of Days, fulfilling the vision of Daniel. Th
Garden of Eden, Joseph Smith declared, was in Jackson County,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 143

not, as there, politically dominant, they were thriving and dwelling
in amity with their neighbors.

But all this must soon change. The old fires were but smoul-
dering. The volcano only slept. Beneath the fair frail crust of out-
side seeming lurked the burning lava streams, — the pitiless torrent of
human hate, — about to be belched forth in whelming ruin upon the
hapless Saints. Missouri, in spite of every promise and fair pros-
pect,— whatever the far future might develop, — was not yet to be
their permanent abiding place. Inexorable fate with iron finger
pointed elsewhere. Destiny, for these sons and daughters of the
Pilgrims, had other fortunes in store. History. — the history of
religion in quest of liberty, wading in its search through rivers of
blood and tears, — for the hundredth time was preparing to repeat
itself.

July 4th, that day of days, in the year 1838 was celebrated at
Far West with great rejoicings. Thousands of the Saints assembled
from the surrounding districts to witness and participate in the pro-
ceedings in honor of the nation's birthday. Yes. these "disloyal"
Mormons, — for disloyal even then they were deemed, — many of
whom might trace their life-stream back to its parent lake in the
bosom of patriots of the Revolution, came together, erected a liberty-
pole, unfurled the stars and stripes, sacred emblem of the success
and sufferings of their heroic ancestors, and worshiped gratefully
beneath its glorious folds the God of truth and freedom.

True, it was but their custom so to do, as it has continued their
custom ever since. But such had been their past experience,
deprived as many of them had been of that liberty for which their
forefathers contended, and such was their present situation, as to
render the occasion one of peculiar interest. Robbed of their rights,
despoiled and trampled on, for daring to believe as conscience
dictated, and exercise as American freemen the privileges guaran-
teed by a Constitution which they believed to be God-inspired,
instituted for their especial protection, small wonder that some of the
sentiments uttered that day. a day on which patriotism is prone to

144 HISTORY OF UTAH.

take unusual and oft-times extravagant flights, did not smack entirely
of saintly meekness.

"We take God to witness," cried Sidney Rigdon, in a burst of
heated eloquence, "and the holy angels to witness this day, that we
warn all men in the name of Jesus Christ to come on us no more for-
ever. The man or the set of men who attempt it do it at the expense
of their lives ; and the mob that comes on us to disturb us, there
shall be between us and them a war of extermination, for we will
follow them till the last drop of their blood is spilled, or else they
will have to exterminate us."

Censure such sentiments, Christian reader, if you will. Fault-
finding is easy, and human nature, the world over, weak and cen-
surable. But the provocation, in such ;cases, should in all fairness
be considered.

The foundations of a temple at Far West were likewise laid that
day; the Saints thus emphasizing their determination to establish in
that place a permanent stake of Zion. Why that temple was not
built, nor another temple, projected at Diahman, we have yet in
detail to explain.

Among the numerous charges preferred against the Mormon
people, by those who seek to justify or extenuate the harsh treatment
to which they have at various times been subjected, is that of "med-
dling in politics." Parallel with this runs the charge of "voting
solidly" for the candidates of their choice.

If by meddling in politics is meant — as we assume it must mean
— practicing or participating in politics, the science of government,
there is little doubt that the defendant community, if arraigned on
such a charge, would promptly plead guilty. Moreover, they would
very likely inquire if the right of any class of American citizens, no
matter to what creed or church attached, to wield the ballot and
peacefully strive to put in office the persons of their choice, could
legally or morally be called in question? As to "voting solidly," they
would probably plead guilty again, but they might ask who was
responsible for it in their case, — for the unity and compactness of an

HISTORY OF UTAH. 145

oppressed people at the polls ? Outside pressure, they would main-
tain,— the principle that even in an urchin's hands forms from a few
loose feathery flakes the snow-ball and moulds it into a lump of
ice, — was so responsible. A common peril, they would argue, will
unite and ought to unite any people, any nation, savage or civilized.

To this extent the Mormons would admit having "meddled in
politics." They would doubtless freely concede that they had gener-
ally "voted solid" to insure the election of their friends and the
defeat of their enemies.

But, some will say, it is not the right of the Mormon people, as
American citizens, to engage in politics that is questioned. It is the
right of their leaders to control their political actions that is disputed.
It is believed that their Apostles and Bishops wield undue influence
over them in such matters; that there is a union of Church and State
among them, and that the people are not left free to vote as they
please.

These allegations the Mormons emphatically deny. They main-
tain that their leaders have never sought to wield more influence over
them in political affairs than prominent men in every community
exercise over the masses who naturally look to them for guidance
and instruction. They deny that a union of Church and State has
ever existed among them, but they affirm that it has practically
existed among those who find fault with them on that score. — the
priests and politicians who have repeatedly joined hands, on the
stump, and even in the halls of Congress, to create anti-Mormon
legislation.

They admit that their Apostles and Bishops have sometimes
given political advice, though not as Apostles and Bishops, but as
American citizens, with a free opinion and the right to voice that
opinion. They admit, too. that in Mormon communities Church
officials have often been elected to civil offices; yet not because they
were Church officials, but simply the best men that could be found in
whom the people had confidence; men who knew how to be just and
fair, and would separate their civil from their ecclesiastical functions.

146 HISTORY OF UTAH.

In the Mormon Church, it should he remembered, nearly every man
is an Elder, and it would be next to impossible to nominate from
among them a man who did not hold some order of priesthood.

They claim that while in communities strictly Mormon. Mor-
mons have necessarily held all the offices, that in mixed communi-
ties where they predominated they have allowed the minority a fair
representation. They admit that in places where they themselves
were in the minority they have asked the same privilege, demanding
it as a right, and when necessary have banded together to secure
that right. They admit having used the balance of power, which at
times they have found themselves possessed of, to put in office,
regardless of party affiliations, men of capacity and integrity, their
friends in lieu of their enemies.

If this be "meddling in politics"' the Mormons, like all other
American citizens, have undoubtedly so meddled ; and they do not
deny it.

It was just such an event as this, — their voting or trying to vote
for their friends and against their foes, — that formed the prologue
to the appalling tragedy, which, beginning with outrage, robbery and
rapine, ended in murder, massacre, and the eventual expulsion — a
mid-winter exodus — of the entire Mormon community from Missouri.

It was the 6th of August, 1838. and the state election was in
progress. To Gallatin, the principal town of Daviess County, went
twelve Mormon citizens for the purpose of casting their ballots. Colo-
nel William P. Peniston was a candidate in that district for represen-
tative to the Legislature. Having been prominent in the anti-Mormon
agitation, preceding the moderate action of the mediators, in Clay
County, he had good reason to believe that the people whom he
would have driven from their homes did not design aiding him with
their suffrages. He had therefore organized a mob, and now haran-
gued them at the polls, to prevent the Mormons from voting.
Mounting a barrel, he poured out upon them a torrent of abuse,
styling them " horse-thieves and robbers" and proclaiming his oppo-
sition to their settling in that region or being allowed to vote. He

HISTORY OF UTAH. 147

admitted having headed a mob to drive them from Clay County, and
declared that he would not now interfere to prevent a similar fate
befalling them. He also attacked their religion, denouncing as "a

d d lie"' their profession of healing the sick by the laying on of

hands.

What all this had to do with the right of the Mormons to vote,
and to vote if they wished against William P. Peniston, is not very
apparent at this time, nor was it, we opine, even then. But the
tirade had its desired and designed effect. The Mormons, pronounc-
ing his charges false, insisted upon their right to vote. Immediately
Peniston*s party, crazed with drink and furious with rage, set upon
them. The twelve Mormons, attacked by over a hundred men.
stoutly defended themselves. Clubs, stones and fists were freely
used, and even knives were unsheathed by some of the assailants.
In the melee, though no lives were lost, some on both sides were
wounded, and several mobocratic heads were broken. The Mormons
withdrew from the scene, and the election proceeded.

This event, supplemented by incendiary speeches and articles in
the local press, caused a general anti-Mormon uprising. All
Daviess County was aroused, and even in parts adjacent, as ran the
exaggerated rumor of the riot at Gallatin, the Missourians began
arming and organizing. For what? They scarcely knew, — ignorant
dupes as most of them were, tools of designing demagogues, of men
without principle, who saw, as such characters quickly see, in a pop-
ular movement against an unpopular people, opportunities for plun-
der and promotion.

Social and religious as well as political lines were sharply drawn.
Old charges, oft-denied, were reiterated, and new ones brought forth
and made to do yeoman service in the cause of the coming crusade.
The priest, the politician and the apostate again joined hands, like
the three weird sisters in Macbeth, each putting in his quota of terri-
ble tales to make the cauldron of the people's hatred "boil and
bubble."

As the excitement grew and hostilities began, hordes of red-

148 HISTORY OF UTAH.

handed desperadoes, refugees from justice, — a class commonly found
on the frontier, — scenting the conflict from afar, came pouring into
Daviess and Caldwell counties, like vultures flocking to the shambles.
Some of these painted and disguised themselves as Indians, — the
better, no doubt, to escape detection for past and future crimes. The
leader of these pseudo savages was Cornelius Gilliam, formerly
sheriff of Clay County, who styled himself "the Delaware chief."

Efforts were early made to avert the bloody crisis that was felt
to be approaching. Good and wise men on both sides met and
signed a covenant of peace, agreeing to maintain the right and use
their influence to allay the unwarrantable agitation. Among these
were Lyman Wight, John Smith, Vinson Knight and Reynolds
Cahoon, who signed for the Mormons of Daviess County ; and Joseph
Morin, senator-elect, John Williams, representative-elect, James P.
Turner, clerk of the circuit court, and others representing the older
settlers.

But all in vain. The Missourians. misled and thoroughly preju-
diced, were for war, not peace. The excitement continued to increase,
until finally nothing but bloodshed or the banishment of the hated
Mormons would suffice.

Adam Black, an illiterate politician, though a justice of the
peace for Daviess County, was visited on the 8th of August, two
days after the election, by Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight, and
requested, as other prominent men had been, to sign an agreement
of peace. He acceded to their request, writing and signing a docu-
ment amicable in tone, if well-nigh illegible in character, and imme-
diately afterwards circulated the report that his signature had been
secured by threats of violence.

On the complaint of Colonel Peniston, the mob leader at Galla-
tin. Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight were arrested, charged not only
with intimidating Judge Black, but with collecting a large body of
armed men in Daviess County, to drive out the older settlers and
despoil them of their lands. Tried before Judge Austin A. King, at
Gallatin, early in September, nothing was proven against the

HISTORY OF UTAH. 149

two defendants. Judge King, they claimed, admitted as much to
them in private, but deemed it politic to bind them over in the sum
of $500.

That the Mormons in Daviess County had been arming them-
selves, was doubtless true. True also that they had been receiving
reinforcements from other places. The Missourians, their neighbors,
had been doing precisely the same things, and threatening them daily
with attack. Already had they driven some Mormons from their
homes and compelled them to seek safety with their friends at Diah-
man. Remembering their experience in Jackson County, when,
being unarmed, they were trampled on without mercy by the mob,
the Saints, as Sidney Rigdon had declared, did not propose to tamely
submit to a repetition of such outrages. They were determined to
maintain their rights, and defend to the death, if need be, their hard
earned homes and the peace and safety of their families.

But this was their only purpose — self-defense ; a fact subse-
cpiently affirmed by the chief officers of the State militia, sent to sup-
press the insurrection. To say that the Mormons contemplated
wholesale robbery and expulsion — the infliction upon their fellow
settlers of wrongs similar to what they themselves had suffered in
Jackson County, and for which they were still hoping redress, and
that too, at a time when confronted by foes eager for an excuse to
attack and annihilate them, is to accuse them, not of criminal intent,
but of madness, sheer idiocy.

Lilburn W. Boggs was now governor of Missouri. He was
Lieutenant-Governor, the reader will remember, during the troubles
of 1833, at which time he espoused the cause of the mob which drove
the Saints from Jackson County. He was a rank Mormon-hater, as
were nearly all the residents of that county, and probably owed to
that, in part, his elevation to the executive chair. Learning of the
situation in Daviess County, the Governor directed Major-General
Atchison and other officers of militia to muster and equip men
to put down the insurrection.

While this order was being executed, the mob army was making

150 HISTORY OF UTAH.

ready to attack Diahman. For this purpose reinforcements and sup-
plies were being forwarded to them from other points. On the 9th
of September a wagon load of guns and ammunition, on its way from
Richmond, Ray County, to the mobocratic camp, was captured with
those in charge of it by Captain William Allred and his men. — Mor-
mons belonging to the State militia.

Notifying Judge King of his capture, and asking what disposi-
tion should be made of the prisoners. Captain Allred was ordered by
that official to treat them kindly and set them at liberty. Whether or
not they were promptly released does not appear. The probability
is that Captain Allred, surprised at receiving such an order, still held
them. At any rate Judge King, on the same day, wrote to General
Atchison to send two hundred or more men to force the Mormons to
surrender.

The militia of Ray and Clay Counties, commanded by Brigadier-
Generals Parks and Doniphan, now came upon the scene. Parks
proceeded to Gallatin, the county seat of Daviess, to survey the sit-
uation, while Doniphan went via Far West to Millport and Diahman.
At Far West, which place he visited with a single aide, leaving his
troops on Crooked River, General Doniphan was the guest of the
Prophet, who was favorably impressed with his frank and friendly
manner. This was the same General Doniphan who subsequently
played a notable part in the Mexican War. He and his superior,
General Atchison, were Joseph Smith's attorneys in the legal troubles
following the military episode of the autumn of 1838. Under them
also the Prophet and Elder Rigdon studied law.

Marching to the camp of the inobocrats near Millport. Doniphan
ordered them to disperse. They protested that they were merely act-
ing in self-defense. He then went to Diahman and conferred with
Colonel Wight, commanding the Mormon force, '-Host of Israel."
He found them willing to disband, provided the enemy threatening
them would disperse, and willing also to surrender any of their num-
ber accused of offenses against the laws to be dealt with by legal
authority. The prisoners and weapons taken by Hie Mormons were

HISTORY OF UTAH. 151

delivered up at the demand of General Doniphan, who, on the loth
of September joined Generals Atchison and Parks at Gallatin.

The report of these officers to the Governor was substantially as
follows : that affairs in Daviess County were not so bad as rumor
had represented, and that his Excellency had been deceived by
designing or half-crazy men ; that the Mormons, so far as could be
learned, had been acting on the defensive, showing no hostile intent,
and evincing no disposition to resist the laws ; that the officers, on
their arrival there, had found a large body of men from other
counties, armed and in the field, to assist the people of Daviess
against the Mormons, without being called out by the proper authori-
ties ; and that the Daviess County men were still threatening, in the
event of the failure of a certain committee on compromise to agree,
to drive the Mormons with powder and lead.

Colonel Wight and a score of others, accused of various offenses,
had previously given themselves up and been pledged to appear for
trial on the 29th of September. It is noticeable that no Missourians
were arrested, though many of them were guilty of riot and moboc-
racy, and that even those captured by the Mormons had been set at
liberty. During the excitement of the past several weeks overt acts
had doubtless been committed on both sides. The wonder is not
that such was the case, but that the Mormons were the only ones
called to account.

Most of the troops were now disbanded, it being supposed that
the trouble was over. Only a few companies remained under arms
to quell, if necessary, any further demonstrations of disorder.

The scene now changes to Dewitt, in Carroll County. Enraged
at being thwarted in their designs upon Diahman, the mob army, a
portion of which had previously threatened Dewitt. appeared in
force before that place, and in the beginning of October began In
bombard the town. A party from Jackson County, with a six-
pounder, assisted in the assault. The besieged, compared with the
besiegers, woe a mere handful. Colonel George M. Hinkle was their
commander. The leaders of the attacking force — which was parity

152 HISTORY OF UTAH.

composed of militia men lately disbanded — were a Doctor Austin,
Major Ashley, a member of the Legislature, and Sashiel Woods, a
Presbyterian clergyman. Later came Captains Bogart and Houston,
the former a Methodist preacher, with two companies of militia.
These, instead of operating against the mob, united with them
against the Mormons. General Parks came also, but did nothing to
restore order remaining a silent and apparently a helpless spectator
of the scene. His troops were evidently in sympathy with the mob.

The first gun was fired upon Dewitt on the 2nd of October.
Colonel Hinkle waited forty-eight hours, and then ordered the fire
returned. The bombardment continued at intervals for nine days.
During its progress the Prophet made his way through much diffi-
culty and clanger from Far West to the beleaguered settlement. He
found his people there hemmed in by their foes', their provisions
exhausted, their cattle and horses stolen, their houses burned, and
themselves threatened with death if they attempted to leave the
town.

Through the agency of non-Mormon friends in that vicinity an
appeal was made to Governor Boggs, in behalf of the beleaguered
Saints. He replied that the quarrel was between the Mormons
and the mob, and that they might " fight it out."

Finally the Mormons were permitted to evacuate Dewitt, which
they did on the 11th of October. Under the treacherous fire of
their foes the homeless and plundered refugees fled to Far West.

Eight hundred strong the mob army now marched upon Diah-
man. General Doniphan informed the Prophet of this movement,
and stated that no protection could be hoped for from the militia.

Said he : " They are d d rotten hearted." They were certainly in

sympathy if not in league with the lawless element that now concen-
trated from every direction against Diahman. It was under these
circumstances that General Doniphan advised the Mormon militia at
Far West to organize and march to the relief of their friends in
Daviess County. His advice was taken, the command of the Cald-
well regiment being given to Colonel George M. Hinkle.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 153

About this time was brought to Diahman the news of house-
burnings, drivings and other depredations committed by Gilliam's
guerillas upon some scattered families of Saints beyond Grand River.
Women, children and even the sick were dragged from their beds
and thrust out into the night, some wandering for days through a
pitiless storm that prevailed in that region about the middle of
October. One of these refugees was Agnes, wife of Don Carlos
Smith, the Prophet's brother, who was then absent in Tennessee.
Her house being burned she had fled with two babes in her arms
and waded Grand River to get beyond the reach of her ruffian
pursuers.

The Mormon blood was now thoroughly up. The Prophet
no longer counseled peace and submission. He bade his followers
arm and defend themselves ; to die, if need be, protecting their
homes, the virtue of their wives and daughters, and the lives of
their little ones. General Parks, arriving at Diahman, against
which the mob was fast gathering, permitted Colonel Wight, who
held a commission under him in the 59th regiment of the militia, to
organize his command and proceed against the robbers and house-
burners.

Here apparently was the beginning of retaliative measures on
the part of the Mormons in Missouri. Smarting under their wrongs
they made vigorous war upon the marauding bands that now fled
precipitately before them, and ceased not their efforts until Daviess
County was well clear of them. If they went further, as alleged by
the Missourians, and burned the towns — or hamlets — of Millport
and Gallatin, it was not to be wondered at after the provocation
given.

The Mormons, however, do not admit having burned the
property of the Missourians ; but allege that the mob set fire
to the houses of their own friends, and then fled, scattering
the false report that the Mormons were the incendiaries. Be
this as it may, there is at least one Missourian now living who.
while claiming that the Mormons did the burning, concedes thai

154 HISTORY OF UTAH.

they were justified in what they did, as the Missourians had set the
example.*

It was asserted by those who spread these reports that the
design of the Mormons was next to sack and burn the town of Rich-
mond. This rumor, being generally believed, or feared, — all the more
readily since the Mormons had suffered just such outrages, and the
law of retaliation is a recognized rule of human nature, — served to
augment the reigning agitation and swell the discord of the hour.

About this time the rumor become current at Far West of a
secret organization called Danites, or Destroying Angels, whose
alleged purpose was to prey upon the Gentiles and avenge the Saints
of their enemies.f The origin of the movement was accredited to
the chiefs of the Church, especially Sidney Rigdon, who, it was said,
had authorized the organization. It transpired, however, that the
originator of the movement, which was indeed attempted, was Dr.
Sampson Avard, a characterless fanatic then numbered among the
Saints, whose scheme for blood and plunder, becoming known to the
First Presidency, was repudiated and its author severed from the
Church. In revenge for the exposure of his villainy, Avard declared
that the Church leaders had authorized him to organize the death-
dealing society called Danites.

The story of these preyers and avengers, which, barring the
above, is a pure myth, — Joaquin Miller and other less reputable
romancers to the contrary notwithstanding, — is still perpetuated by
anti-Mormon writers and speakers, and has probably done the
Saints more harm than any other of the numerous tales uttered

* Messrs. Andrew Jensen and Edward Stevenson, of Salt Lake City, state that dur-
ing a visit to Daviess County, Missouri, in September, 1888, they conversed witli one
Major McGee, an old resident of Gallatin, who spoke to that effect. He said that he
thought some of the Mormons were to blame for teasing the other inhabitants with the
doctrine that they — the Saints — were the heirs to the whole country, hut that he knew of
no lawlessness committed by the Mormons prior to the troubles in 1838. He also stated
that he was taken prisoner by the Mormons during those troubles and treated kindly.
According to Major McGee, Gallatin at that lime consisted of abotil four houses.

f Genesis xlix — 17.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 155

against them. The Danite Society, according to all but anti-Mor-
mon authors, whose assertions against the Saints should be taken
cum gram salis, was nipped in the bud, and had no after existence.

The battle of Crooked River was fought on the 25th of October.
Captain David W. Patten, of the Far West militia, had been directed
by Colonel Hinkle to proceed with a company of men to the ford of
the river and disperse a band of marauders under Captain Bogart,
who were committing depredations in that vicinity. They had
captured three Mormons, — Nathan Pinkham, William Seely and
Addison Green, — and had boasted of their intention to put them to
death the next night. It was to rescue these men, as well as to put a
stop to Bogart's operations that Captain Patten went forth. Leaving
Far West about midnight, he and his company, seventy-five in
number, came upon Bogart's band in ambush just at day-break. As
the Mormons crossed the bluff above his camp, which was among
the brush and willows in the river bottom, the mob leader ordered
his men to fire. They obeyed, when young Patrick O'Banion. a
Mormon, fell mortally wounded. Captain Patten then ordered his
men to charge. Forward they dashed, returning the enemy's fire.
After delivering a second volley Bogart's band broke and fled,
crossing the river at the ford and abandoning their camp to the
victorious Mormons. The three prisoners held by the mob were
liberated, though one of them had been shot and wounded by his
captors during the engagement.

But the victory had been dearly won. Captain Patten, like
O'Banion, was mortally wounded, and Gideon Carter killed. Other
Mormons were wounded, but not seriously. Bogart, whose force
outnumbered the attacking party, lost one man.

David W. Patten died that night. He was a man much esteemed
by his people, and his loss was deeply mourned. The Church
regarded him as a martyr.

The excitement among the Missourians. already at fever heat
over the troubles in Daviess County, now became intense. The
Crooked River battle was heralded abroad as another "Mormon

156 HISTORY OF UTAH.

atrocity," and the public mind was more and more inflamed against
the Saints.

The Mormon-hating Governor of Missouri now saw his oppor-
tunity. So long as it was only the Saints who were being worsted,
he could afford to sit by, like Xerxes on his mountain throne at
Salamis, and see the two sides "fight it out." Bujt when the tables
were turned, and the mob began to suffer some reverses, he came to
the conclusion that it was high time for him to interfere for their
protection. Besides the opportunity to wreak personal spite upon the
Mormons, there was a chance to make political capital out of the
situation.

On the 27th of October Governor Boggs issued an order to
Major-General John B. Clark, giving him command of an over-
whelming force of militia, with instructions to proceed at once against
the Mormons. "Their outrages are beyond all description" said the
Governor, "they must be exterminated or driven from the State."
Other generals were ordered to take part, under Clark, in the military
crusade.

General Atchison, upon whom the command rightfully devolved,
had been ignored or relieved by the Governor, — apparently for the
same reason that caused the wife of the newly fledged Thane of
Cawdor to "fear the nature" of her lord. In General Clark, who was
not so "full o* the milk of human kindness," but proved himself a
pitiless tyrant. Boggs found a fitting instrument to execute his fell
design. Another account states that Atchison, while raising troops
to quell the disturbance, on learning of the Governor's exterminating
purpose, exclaimed: "I will have nothing to do with so infamous a
proceeding," and resigned.

Over two thousand troops, massed at Richmond under Major-
General Samuel D. Lucas and Brigadier General Moses Wilson, both
of Jackson County, during the closing days of October set out for Far
West. General Clark, their commander, was elsewhere mustering
another army for the same purpose. Lucas, on his march, captured
two Mormons named Tanner and Carey. Tanner, an old man. was

HISTORY OF UTAH. 157

struck with a gun by one of the soldiers, and his skull laid bare. A
similar blow dashed out Carey's brains. He was laid in a wagon, no
aid being rendered him, and died within twenty-four hours. Thus
the militia moved on toward the fated town of Far West.

Among the first fruits of the sanguinary edict of Missouri's
executive was the Haun's Mill massacre. It occurred on the 30th of
October. Haun's Mill was situated on Shoal Creek, about twenty
miles south of Far West. Here dwelt, in the neighborhood of
other lately arrived immigrants, all awaiting a lull in the warlike
storm before proceeding farther, a few families of Latter-day Saints.
Among them were Joseph Young and his family, lately from Kirtland.

About four o'clock in the afternoon a company of two hundred
and forty men, commanded by one Nehemiah Comstock, fell upon
the little settlement and butchered in cold blood, without warning or
provocation, nearly a score of the unoffending Mormons. Men,
women and children were shot down indiscriminately, their bodies
stripped and mutilated, their camp plundered and their horses and
wagons driven off by the murdering marauders. The dead bodies
were thrown into an old well.

Among the victims was an aged man named Thomas McBride, a
soldier of the Revolution who had served under General AVashington.
A Missourian named Rogers, after shooting the old man with his
own gun, hacked him to pieces with a corn-cutter. Another victim
was George Spencer Richards, aged fifteen, son of Phinehas Richards,
and brother to Franklin D., the present Apostle. Franklin at that
very time was making his way across the Alleghanies from his native
town of Richmond, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, to join his
people at Far West.

Among those who survived the awful butchery, though almost
riddled with bullets from the assassins' rifles, was the late Isaac
Laney, father of Judge H. S. Laney, of Salt Lake City; also the late
Alma L. Smith, of Coalville, Summit County, brother of Hon. Willard
G. Smith, of Morgan County. His father. Warren, and his brother
Sardius were among the slain.

158 HISTORY OF UTAH.

On the day of the massacre, the troops from Richmond, rein-
forced to nearly three thousand men, advanced upon and beleaguered
Far West. General Clark was still at a distance, mustering his
forces. The whole surrounding region was now being over-run by
marauding bands, shooting, burning and pillaging wherever Mormons
were to be found. As the survivors of these savage raids came flee-
ing into Far West for safety, their red-handed pursuers augmented
the army of investment. Among those who thus joined the militia
against the Mormons were Gilliam's painted guerillas and the perpe-
trators of the Haun's Mill massacre.

The inhabitants of the doomed city, their mails having been
stopped, had not yet heard of the Governor's exterminating order,
but supposed the army of General Lucas to be an overwhelming
military mob. Though greatly outnumbered by the besieging
force, they prepared to make a vigorous defense and sell their lives
as dearly as possible. Hastily throwing up some rude fortifications.
they awaited the onslaught of the foe.

A messenger was now sent from Lucas to announce that to three
persons in the town — Adam Lightner, John Cleminson and wife — two
of them non-Mormons, amnesty would be given, but that the design
was to lay Far West in ashes and exterminate the rest. "Then we
will die with them !" heroically answered the three, and rejected the
proffered pardon.

Charles C. Rich went out from the city with a flag of truce, to
confer with General Doniphan, who was with Lucas. As he
approached the camp of the militia Captain Bogart fired upon him.

It was at this critical juncture that Colonel George M. Hinkle.
commanding the defenders of Far West, entered into negotiations
with General Lucas, and without consulting his associates agreed
upon a compromise, the terms of which were as follows :

(1) The Mormon leaders were to be delivered up to be tried
and punished.

(2) The Far West militia were to surrender their arms.

(3) An appropriation was to be made of the property of all

HISTORY OF UTAH. 1-59

Mormons who had taken up arms, to indemnify for damages said to
have been inflicted by them. This was afterwards construed to
cover all the expenses of the militia in making war upon the Saints.

(4) The Mormons, as a body, excepting such as should be held
as prisoners, were to forthwith leave the State. The prisoners were
to include all Mormon participants in the Crooked River battle, who
were to be tried for murder.

The observance of these conditions, it was promised, would
avert bloodshed. The alternative was an immediate assault upon
the city.

Under pretense of arranging a conference between the Mormon
leaders and the besieging generals, and without notifying the former
of the compact he had entered into, Colonel Hinkle, on the 31st of
October, delivered up to General Lucas the following named persons,
who had been demanded : Joseph Smith, junior, Sidney Rigdon,
Parley P. Pratt, Lyman Wight and George W. Robinson. Later were
added to the list, Hyrum Smith and Amasa M. Lyman. They were
placed under a strong guard and treated as prisoners of war.

Some writers have palliated Colonel Hinkle's conduct in this
affair, on the score of obedience to his superior officer, General Lucas,
who demanded the prisoners ; also because their delivery is supposed
to have saved the lives of the other citizens. The Mormons, how-
ever, will always regard George M. Hinkle as a traitor, who to save
himself betrayed his friends, in the most cowardly and contemptible
manner possible.

Next day, the army having advanced nearer the city, the Mor-
mon militia laid down their arms, and were then compelled at the
point of the bayonet and the cannon's mouth to sign away their
property to pay the expenses of the war waged upon them. They
had made no agreement to do so, but Hinkle, forsooth, had made it
for them. All the men, save those who had escaped, were held in
temporary durance, and the town then given up to pillage. Nameless
crimes were committed by the ruthless soldiery, and their yet more
ruthless allies, the banditti. Women were abused, some of them till

160 HISTORY OF UTAH.

they died, within sight of their agonized husbands and fathers,
powerless to protect them. Let imagination paint the horror from
which the historian's pen recoils.

William E. McLellin and other apostate Mormons were in Far
West at this time, taking part against their former brethren.

On the evening of November 1st, General Lucas convened a
court-martial, consisting of the principal officers of his army, and no
less than seventeen Christian preachers. By a majority of this
religio-military tribunal, Joseph Smith and his fellow prisoners, none
of whom were permitted to be present during their trial, were sen-
tenced to be shot at eight o'clock next morning, in the public square
at Far West, in the presence of their wives and children. Generals
Doniphan and Graham refused their assent to this decision, the
former denouncing it as " cold-blooded murder," and threatening to
withdraw his brigade from the scene of the proposed massacre.
This caused Lucas and his murderous colleagues to hesitate, and
finally to reconsider their action. On the morning set for the execu-
tion they decided, in lieu of killing the prisoners, to parade them in
triumph through the neighboring counties.

Prior to setting out from Far West, General Lucas allowed the
prisoners to see for a few moments, in the presence of their guards,
their weeping wives and children. Most of them were not permitted
to speak, but merely look farewell to them, before being hurried away.

Mary Fielding Smith, wife of Hyrum Smith, a few days after this
painful parting from her husband became a mother. The child thus
born amid these warlike scenes, drinking in with his mother's milk a
wholesome hatred of tyrants and mobs, and the courage to fearlessly
denounce them, is known to-day as Joseph Fielding Smith, second
counselor in the existing First Presidency.

Leaving a large portion of his troops at Far West, to await the
arrival of General Clark, and having sent Gilliam and his banditti
against the Mormons at Diahman, Lucas, with his confrere Wilson
and a strong guard set out with the prisoners southward. As they
neared the Missouri River orders were received from General Clark,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 161

demanding the return of the captives. Lucas, however, ignored the
order, and pressed on with the prisoners to Jackson County.

They were now treated with some degree of consideration.
Wilson assured them that their lives should be spared, and that they
should be protected : " We only want to take you over the river and

let our people see what a d d fine looking set of fellows you are,*'

said this typical son of Jackson County. He also told them that one
of the reasons for bringing them along was to keep them out of the

hands of General Clark, "a G d d d old bigot," said he, "so

stuffed with lies and prejudice that he would shoot you down in a
moment."*

The Prophet, on the day of their arrival at Independence — Sun-
day, November 4th — was permitted to preach to the multitude that
thronged to gaze at him and his brethren. The feeling against them
diminished daily, until it was almost in their favor. After four days'
imprisonment at Independence, during which they were visited by
curious thousands, the prisoners, in response to repeated demands
from General Clark, were sent to Richmond for trial.

Clark, at the head of two thousand troops, had arrived at Far
West on the 4th of November. He approved of all that Lucas had
done, except the taking away of the Mormon leaders, whose persons
he evidently desired as trophies of his own triumph. He solaced
himself, however, by putting Bishop Partridge and fifty-five other
prominent Mormons in chains and carrying them captive to Rich-
mond.

Prior to departing, he sent a brigade of troops in the wake of
Gilliam and his guerillas, to demand the surrender of Diahman, on
the same terms as those enforced at Far West. He also delivered,
before leaving, an address to the citizens of that place, of which the
following was the substance :

*Wilson admitted, according to Parley P. Pratt, that in the reigning troubles, as well
as those in Jackson County, the Mormons bad not been tin- aggressors, lull had been pur-
posely goaded to resistance by the Missourians in order to furnish an excuse for their

expulsion.

162 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Gentlemen :

You whose names are not attached to this list of names, will now have the
privilege of going to your fields, and of providing corn, wood, etc., for your families.
Those who are now taken will go from this to prison, to be tried and receive the due
demerit of their crimes ; but you (except such as charges may hereafter be preferred
against), are at liberty as soon as the troops are removed that now guard the place, which
I shall cause to be done immediately.

It now devolves upon you to fulfill a treaty that you have entered into, the leading-
items of which I shall now lay before you. The first requires that your leading men be
given up to be tried according to law ; this you already have complied with. The second
is, that you deliver up your arms ; this has been attended to. The third stipulation is that
you sign over your properties to defray the expenses of the war. This you have also
done. Another article yet remains for you to comply with, — and that is, that you leave
the state forthwith. And whatever may be your feelings concerning this, or whatever
your innocence, it is nothing to me. General Lucas (whose military rank is equal with
mine), has made this treaty with you ; I approve of it, I should have done the same
had I been here. I am therefore determined to see it executed.

The character of this state has suffered almost beyond redemption, from the
character, conduct and influence that you have exerted ; and we deem it an act of justice
to restore her character to its former standing among the states by every proper means.
The orders of the Governor to me were, that you should be exterminated, and not
allowed to remain in the state. And had not your leaders been given up, and the terms
of the treaty complied with, before this time you and your families would have been des-
troyed, and your houses in ashes.

There is a discretionary power vested in my hands, which, considering your circum-
stances, 1 shall exercise for a season. You are indebted to me for this clemency. I do
not say that you shall go now, but you must not think of staying here another season or of
putting in crops ; for the moment you do this the citizens will be upon you ; and if I am
called here again in case of a non-compliance of a treaty made, do not think that I shall
do as I have done now. You need not expect any mercy, but extermination, for I am
determined the Governor's order shall be executed.

As for your leaders, do not think, do not imagine for a moment, do not let it enter
into your minds, that they will be delivered and restored to you again, for their fate is
fixed, their die is cast, their doom is sealed.

I am sorry, gentlemen, to see so many apparently intelligent men found in the situa-
tion that they are; and oh! if I could invoke that Great Spirit, the Unknown God
to rest upon and deliver you from that awful chain of superstition, and liberate you from
those fetters of fanaticism with which you are bound — that you no longer do homage to a man.

I would advise you to scatter abroad and never again organize yourselves with
Bishops, Presidents, etc., lest you excite the jealousies of the people and subject your-
selves In the same calamities that have now come upon you. You have always been the
aggressors- you have brought upon yourselves these difficulties by being disaffected, and
not being subject to rule. And my advice is, that you become as other citizens, lest by a
recurrence of these events you bring upon yourselves irretrievable ruin.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 163

General Clark then proceeded with his captives to Richmond,
where the Prophet and his fellow prisoners soon arrived. A pro-
tracted examination before Judge Austin A. King. — who. with the
public prosecutor. Thomas Burch, had sat in the court-martial at Far
West and sentenced these same men to be shot, — failed to fasten
guilt upon any of them. Finally, all save Joseph Smith, Sidney Rig-
don, Hyrum Smith, Lyman Wight, Parley P. Pratt, Caleb Baldwin,
Alexander McBae, Morris Phelps, Luman Gibbs, Darwin Chase and
Norman Shearer, were discharged. These were held for murder,
arson, treason, — in fact nearly all the crimes in the calendar.

One evidence of their treason, as cited in open court, was their
avowed belief in the prophecy of Daniel — Chapters II. and VII. —
relative to the setting up of the latter-day kingdom of God. Their
taking up arms in the late troubles was also construed as treason.
Their murders were the battles and skirmishes they had had with
the mob. The depredations and deeds of blood committed by the
Missourians against the Mormons apparently cut no figure in the
case. The Haun's Mill massacre was as completely ignored as if it
had never occurred. Said General Doniphan to the defendants,
whose attorney he was : " Offer no defense; for if a cohort of angels
should declare your innocence it would be all the same. The judge
is determined to throw you into prison."

Colonel Sterling Price had charge of the captives at this time.
The yet to be noted Confederate general seems to have done all in
his power to render their situation as miserable as possible. One
method employed by their guards to entertain them was the recital
in their hearing of the murders and rapes that they — the soldiers —
boasted of having committed at and in the vicinity of Far West.
Finally the Prophet, arising in his chains, in a voice of thunder
rebuked the crime-stained wretches and commanded them to be still.
So overpowering was his indignation, his metaphysical force, that the
armed guards quailed before him and begged bis pardon.*

* Says Parley P. Pratt of the Prophet on that occasion : " He ceased to speak. He
stood erect ill terrible majesty, chained and without a weapon. * * * *

164 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Alex-
ander MePtae and Caleb Baldwin were now removed to Clay County,
and immured in Liberty jail. The remainder of the prisoners were
still held at Richmond. The Clay County captives were treated with
great barbarity. Several times their food was poisoned, nearly caus-
ing their death, and they even declared that cooked human flesh,
called by their guards " Mormon beef," was repeatedly served up to
them.

Months passed. Various efforts were made by legal process to
free the prisoners. Among those actively engaged in their behalf
were Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, who, being comparatively
unknown by the Missourians, had escaped arrest and incarceration.
Stephen Markham was another faithful friend. Generals Atchison
and Doniphan lent their aid, and Judge Hughes, of the Supreme
Court of Missouri, also favored the release of the captives. It was
conceded by many that they were illegally held, but owing to the
prevailing prejudice, their friends were powerless to do much for
them. Again and again they were put upon trial and nothing was
proven against them, even after their own witnesses had all been
driven from the State. Finally by proceedings in habeas corpus Sid-
ney Rigdon was let out on bail. Threatened by the mob after his
liberation he was compelled to flee for his life. His companions were
remanded to prison, where they passed the winter of 1838-9.

Meantime such of the leading Mormons as had retained or
regained their liberty addressed a memorial to the Missouri Legisla-
ture, reciting the wrongs and sufferings of the Saints in that State
and praying for redress of grievances. The total loss of property
sustained by the Mormons in Missouri was estimated at about two
million dollars. The Legislature, after much delay, appropriated

I have seen the ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial robes and criminals arraigned
before them, while life was suspended on a breath in the courts of England; I have wit-
nessed a congress in solemn session to give laws to nations ; * * * but
dignity and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains at midnight, in a dungeon.
in an obscure village of Missouri."

HISTORY OF UTAH. 165

some thousands of dollars to be distributed among the people of
Daviess and Caldwell counties, " the Mormons not excepted." Some
say that only two thousand dollars were thus appropriated ; others
that two hundred thousand was the amount. The latter seems the
more reasonable, and the Missourians should be given the benefit of
the doubt.*

In the absence of the First Presidency — in prison — the authority
to direct the Church devolved upon the Twelve Apostles. Their
some time president, Thomas B. Marsh, had apostatized during the
Far West troubles^ which event, with the death of David W. Pat-
ten, left Brigham Young the senior Apostle and consequently the
President of the Twelve. Being sustained as such by his brethren
Brigham now took charge of the Church and planned and directed
the exodus of the Saints to Illinois.

Late in January and early in February, meetings were held at
Far West, and the following committee appointed to arrange for the
exodus: John Taylor, Alanson Ripley, Brigham Young, Theodore
Turley, Heber C. Kimball, John Smith, Don C. Smith, Elias Smith,
Erastus Bingham, Stephen Markham and James Newberry. A sub-
committee was also appointed. They were William Huntington,
Charles Bird, Alanson Ripley, Theodore Turley, Daniel Shearer,
Shadrach Pioundy and Jonathan H. Hale. "On motion of President
Brigham Young," says the record, "it was resolved that we this day
enter into a covenant to stand by and assist each other to the utmost
of our abilities in removing from this State, and that we will never
desert the poor, who are worthy, till they shall be out of the reach of
the exterminating order of General Clark, acting for and in the name

* Heber G. Kimball thus describes the manner in which was distributed to the
Mormons their share of the appropriation: "Judge Cameron." — who with one MeHenry
had charge of the distribution, — '-drove in the hogs belonging to the brethren (many of
which were identified) shot them down in the streets, and without further bleeding they
were half dressed, cut up and distributed by MeHenry to the poor, charging four or live
cents per pound, which, together with a few pieces of refuse calicoes, at double and treble
price, soon consumed the appropriation."

166 HISTORY OF UTAH.

of the State." This covenant, signed hy several hundred persons,
was faithfully kept.

That winter from ten to twelve thousand Latter-day Saints, men,
women and children, still hounded and pursued by their merciless
oppressors, fled from Missouri, leaving in places their bloody foot-
prints on the suow of their -frozen path-way. Crossing the icy
Mississippi they cast themselves, homeless, plundered and penniless,
upon the hospitable shores of Illinois. There their pitiable condition
and the tragic story of their wrongs awoke wide-spread sympathy
and compassion, with corresponding sentiments of indignation and
abhorrence toward their persecutors.

The main body of the Mormons were now beyond the reach of
the Missourians. But spme of the Committee on Exodus and a few
scattered families yet remained. These were now the objects of mobo-
cratic malice. About the middle of April a lawless band, encouraged
by Judge — once Captain — Bogart. assaulted and drove away the
committee, threatened the lives of the remaining Mormons, and
plundered and destroyed thousands of dollars* worth of property
with which the committee were assisting the poor to remove. *

At Quincy, Adams County, Illinois, where most of the exiled
Saints found refuge and a kindly welcome, they were joined late in
April or early in May by the Prophet and his brother Hyruni. who
had recently escaped with others of their captive companions from
their imprisonment in Missouri.

* Says Heber G. Kimball : " One mobber rode up, and finding no convenient place to
fasten his horse, shot a cow that was standing near while a girl was milking her, and as
the poor animal was struggling in death he cut a strip of her hide from the nose to the
tail to which he fastened his halter."

HISTORY OF UTAH. 16/

CHAPTER XI.

1839-1842.

NAUVOO THE SAINTS IN ILLINOIS AND IOWA DANIEL H. WELLS THE APOSTLES DEPART FOR

EUROPE THE PROPHET LAYS THE GRIEVANCES OP HIS PEOPLE REFORE THE GENERAL

GOVERNMENT PRESIDENT VAN BUREN's REPLY " YOUR CAUSE IS JUST, RUT I CAN DO

NOTHING FOR YOU " ILLINOIS POLITICS WHIGS AND DEMOCRATS THE MORMONS HOLD

THE RALANCE OF POWER A CLOUD ON THE HORIZON MISSOURI DEMANDS OF ILLINOIS

THE MORMON LEADERS AS FUGITIVES FROM JUSTICE THE REQUISITION RETURNED UNSERVED

THE NAUVOO CHARTER THE APOSTLES IN GREAT RRITAIN THE BEGINNING OF MORMON

IMMIGRATION FROM ABROAD THE SAINTS CONCENTRATE AT NAUVOO THE POLITICIANS

ALARMED RISE OF THE ANTI-MORMON PARTY THE MISSOURI WRIT RE-ISSUED AND THE

PROPHET ARRESTED HABEAS CORPUS JUDGE DOUGLAS LIBERATION— JOHN C. BENNETT—

THE SHADOW OF A COMING EVENT THE PROPHET PREDICTS THE FLIGHT OF HIS PEOPLE

TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

1S\ AUVOO, the Beautiful. Such was the name of the fair city
* b- founded by Joseph Smith and his followers on the eastern
shore of the Mississippi, after their flight and expulsion from
Missouri. It was in Hancock County, Illinois, fifty miles above the
town of Quincy.

Situated in a graceful bend of the majestic Father of Waters, on
an eminence commanding a noble view of the broad and rolling
river, here sweeping round it in a semi-circle, Nauvoo, even as the
site of the lovely city it soon became, well merited the surname of
Beautiful. The site of the city, prior to May. 1839, when the
Mormons made their first purchase of lands in that locality, was the
little town or village of Commerce, which title it continued to bear
until about a year later, when it was rechristened by the Saints
Nauvoo.

Among the landed proprietors from whom they made extensive
purchases in and around Commerce was Daniel H. Wells, famous in

168 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Utah history as General and as "Squire" Wells. He was a native of
Trenton, Oneida County, New York, and was descended from Thomas
Wells, the fourth Governor of Connecticut. He was now in his
twenty-fifth year, and had resided in Illinois since he was eighteen.
At first he had engaged in clearing land and farming, but before
coming of age had entered upon his official career, being first elected
constable and then justice of the peace. He also held an office in
the first military organization of Hancock County. He was noted for
courage and wisdom, and was a man of strict integrity and of broad
and generous soul. He was not then connected with any religious
society. In politics he was a staunch Whig, but was much esteemed
by men of all creeds and parties.

A foe to oppression in all its forms, and a fearless champion of
universal freedom, Squire Wells at once befriended the outcast
Mormons upon their arrival in his neighborhood, and extended to
them a cordial welcome. He might have speculated out of their
necessities at that time, but would not. Platting his land into city
lots he let them have it almost on their own terms — low rates and
long-time payments. Though not a Mormon until after the
Prophet's death, Daniel H. Wells was always his staunch and faithful
friend.

Another land-owner from whom the Saints purchased largely in
that locality was Dr. Isaac Galland, who also joined the Church.
With him the Prophet had corresponded upon the subject while in
Liberty jail.

Lands were likewise secured on the Iowa side of the river;
about one hundred families settling in Lee County, opposite Nauvoo,
in 1839. Brigham Young dwelt there, at a place called Montrose.
The Iowa purchase included the town of Nashville, with twenty
thousand acres of land adjoining, upon which was projected and
partly built the Mormon town of Zarahemla.

Nauvoo was not altogether "a city set upon a hill." Some of it
lay in the low lands, where the surface sloped down to the river.
Here the soil was naturally moist and miry, superinducing malaria;

HISTORY OF UTAH. 169

in consequence of which the locality was at first very unhealthy.
Within a short time, however, under the energetic labors of the
thrifty and industrious Saints, — whose mission seems to have been
from the beginning to make the wilderness blossom, — the climate
underwent a salutary change, regarded by the devout people as
miraculous, and thenceforth it became a wholesome as well as a
charming place of abode. But this was not until after some painful
and protracted sieges of sickness, which at one time prostrated nearly
all the inhabitants of Commerce, and many people in the neighboring
towns.

It was during the reign of such an epidemic, in the latter part of
1839, that the Twelve Apostles of the Church — or a majority of them
— started upon their first mission to foreign lands. They had been
appointed to this mission in July, 1838, while the Saints were in
Missouri. It had then been declared by the Prophet that they should
meet upon the Temple grounds at Far West on the 26th of the
ensuing April, and take formal leave of the city, prior to crossing the
"great waters." What special significance was attached to this event
we know not, but the Apostles and the Prophet seemed to regard it
ns very important and were determined to see the prophecy fulfilled.

The Missourians, however, who had been informed by their
apostate allies of the prediction concerning the 26th of April, were
just as firmly resolved to thwart it. Probably this was one reason
why Bogart and his mob. as related, expelled the few remaining
Mormons from Far West about the middle of April. It was their
boast that if all others of "Joe Smith's prophecies" should be fulfilled,
this one, now that he was in prison and his people driven from the
Shite, should fail.

Before day-break, however, on the morning of April 26th, L839,
Apostles Brigham Young. Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt. John
Taylor. John E. Page and others rode into Far West. Holding a
meeting on the temple grounds, they ordained Wilford Woodruff and
George A. Smith to the Apostleship. and having severed thirty-one
persons from the Church, hade adieu hi the halt-deserted, half-ruined

12-VOL. 1.

170 HISTORY OF UTAH.

city and departed, ere their enemies had arisen to renew their oath
that the words of the Mormon Prophet relating to this event should
never be realized. Subsequently, the founding of Nauvoo and the
labor of settling their people in that vicinity, with the terrible
epidemic that swept over them that summer, unavoidably delayed the
departure of the Apostles from America.

During August and September, however, seven of the Twelve,
namely : Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, * Orson
Pratt, John Taylor. Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith, with
Elders Theodore Turley, Reuben Hedlock and Hiram Clark, left Com-
merce for Europe. Most of them were weak and ailing, and some
even arose from sick beds, burning with fever or shaking with ague
to begin the journey. Their families, whom they were forced to leave
behind, were also sick and well-nigh helpless. Penniless, as usual,
and with swelling hearts, these devoted men went forth to perform
their duty, trusting in Him who feedeth the sparrows and heareth the
young ravens when they cry, to minister to their own needs, and to
care for and'comfort their wives and little ones.

Of such undaunted mettle and quenchless zeal Avere the men
whom the Mormon Prophet had gathered round him as his Apostles,
in whose destiny it was written that they should not only war with
'•principalities and powers," contending for their faith with the
learned polemists of Christendom, but battle in the same strength
and sturdiness of purpose with Nature's sterile elements, and
conquering redeem a desert.

Reference has been made to the widespread sympathy and com-
passion for the Saints, coupled with abhorrence and detestation for
their oppressors, felt by the generous people of Illinois when the
homeless refugees first came among them. Indignation was rife that
in a free land and in an enlightened age a community should thus be
persecuted for their opinions; that a sovereign state of the American
Union, instead of shielding its citizens from mobocracy, should

1 'alley had but recently escaped from Richmond jaJ

HISTORY OF UTAH. 171

actually join hands with the lawless element and assist in the work
of wholesale plunder and expatriation. Upon Governor Boggs and
his coadjutors censure was heaped unsparingly. Upon the hapless
victilns of their tyranny favors were abundantly bestowed. Said the
Quincy Argus of March 16th, 1839 :

We have no language sufficiently strong for the expression of our indignation and
shame at the recent transaction in a sister State, and that State Missouri, a State of which
we had long been proud, alike for her men and history, but now so fallen that we could
wisli her star stricken out from the bright constellation of the Union. We say we know
of no language sufficiently strong for the expression of our shame and abhorrence of her
recent conduct. She has written her own character in letters of blood, and stained it by
acts of merciless cruelty and brutality that the waters of ages cannot efface. It will be
observed that an organized mob, aided by many of the civil and military officers of
Missouri, with Governor Boggs at their head, have been the prominent actors in this
business, incited, too, it appears, against the Mormons by political hatred, and by the
additional motives of plunder and revenge. They have but too well put in execution their
threats of extermination and expulsion, and fully wreaked their vengeance on a body of
industrious and enterprising men who had never wronged nor wished to wrong them,
but on the contrary had ever comported themselves as good and honest citizens, living
under the same laws, and having the same right with themselves to the sacred immunities
of life, liberty, and property.*

Professor Turner, of Illinois College, wrote :

Who began the quarrel? Was it the Mormons'? Is it not notorious, on the con-
trary, that they were hunted like wild beasts, from county to county, before they made any
desperate resistance '? Did they ever, as a body, refuse obedience to the laws, when called
upon to do so. until driven to desperation by repeated threats and assaults from the mob?
Did the State ever make one decent effort to defend them as fellow-citizens in their rights,
or to redress their wrongs? Let the conduct of its governors, attorneys, and the fate of
their final petitions answer. Have any who plundered and openly massacred the
Mormons ever been brought to the punishment due to their crimes? Let the boasting
murderers of begging and helpless infancy answer. Has the State ever remunerated even
those known to be innocent, for the loss of either their property or their arms? Did
either the pulpit or the press through the State raise a note of remonstrance or alarm ?
Let the clergymen who abetted anil the editors who encouraged the mob answer.

To be sure, not all the people of Illinois shared these sentiments.
The Mormons had enemies there as well as friends. These, it is

Some of the Missouri papers of thai period contained similar articles, denouncing
treatment of the Mormons and censuring the Legislature for avoiding an investiga-

the crimes committed against them.

172 HISTORY OF UTAH.

almost needless to say, were largely of the religious element, who
could neither forget nor forgive that Joseph Smith, whatever his
innocence of crime, had been guilty of founding a new Church,
which opposed theirs, and in spite of all that had been said and done
against it, was fast becoming a power in the land.

Of course there were exceptions even here; but this was the
general feeling among earnest Christians concerning Mormonism.
They sincerely and heartily hated the system, and their hatred
extended in most instances to all connected with it. It was this
class, in conjunction with two others, its traditional allies — politi-
cians and apostates— that finally encompassed the murder of the
Mormon Prophet, and the driving of his people into the western
wilderness.

As yet, however, there were no signs of such an issue. Illinois
had opened her arms to the exiles. Her governor, Thomas Carlin,
and other State officials, with editors, professors and prominent
citizens in general had taken the lead in extending aid and sympathy
to the outcast community. Thousands of dollars in money, clothing
and provisions had been contributed for their relief by the citizens
of Quincy and other places, and every effort made of which a
humane and benevolent people seemed capable, to cause the Saints to
forget their former sufferings in the assurance of present protection
and promised peace.

Nor were the people of Iowa at all behind in friendly feeling for
the Mormons. Robert Lucas, Governor of that Territory — a former
governor of Ohio — treated them kindly, pledged to them the protec-
tion of the Constitution and the laws, and testified to their general
repute as •'industrious, inoffensive and worthy citizens."

One of the first steps taken by the Prophet, after planting the
feet of his people in these places of refuge, was to lay their grievances
before the general government. A committee, consisting of himself.
Sidney Rigdon and Elias Higbee, was appointed at a conference held
at Commerce, October 5th, 1839, to proceed to Washington for that
purpose. They started on the 29th of October. Elder Rigdon.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 173

owing to ill health, did not go any farther than Columbus, Ohio.
His companions reached the capital late in November.

On the way thither the Prophet met with an exciting adventure,
in which the part he played doubtless saved the limbs if not the lives
of several persons. The coach upon which they were traveling was
descending a mountain pass of the Alleghanies. The driver having
laid down his lines and got off at a wayside tavern, the horses,
becoming frightened, ran away. Climbing from the inside of the
vehicle to the driver's seat, while the horses were in furious motion,
the Prophet secured the reins and skillfully guided the foaming
steeds until they were brought to a stand-still. On the coach were
several ladies and some members of Congress. The daring feat of
their fellow-traveler, whose identity they were unaware of, was
greatly admired and gratefully mentioned by all. Later they
learned with much surprise that the one to whom they were so
deeply indebted was no other than Joseph Smith, the Mormon
Prophet.

He remained several months at the capital, forming- many
acquaintances among leading statesmen and politicians of the period,
and pleading earnestly the cause of his plundered and exiled
people. But beyond the personal interest that he excited his mission
was apparently fruitless. The authority of the general government
to interfere in the affairs of a State, — even when that State had
acted as Missouri had done, — where not denied, was seriously
doubted, especially by Democrats, and it was a Democratic adminis-
tration that held the reins of power. Others, though holding-
different views, were unwilling, for political reasons, to champion the
cause of the unpopular Mormons. Policy, the Prophet discovered,
rather than principle, swayed the hearts and minds of the majority
of his country's statesmen. The Committee on Judiciary, to whom
the memorial of the Saints was referred, with claims against Missouri
for about one-and-a-half million dollars, finally reported adversely
upon the petition. This, however, was after the Prophet left
Washington.

174 HISTORY OF UTAH.

While there he had interviews with the President, Martin Van
Buren, who said, after listening to his story: "Your cause is just,
but I can do nothing for you." This frank democratic statement
the Mormon leader might have excused, — though himself a Whig,
and differing from the President on the " State Rights" question
involved. But Van Buren unwisely added: '■ If I take up for you I
shall lose the votes of Missouri," — referring to the approaching
presidential election. Personal ambition, quite as much as loyalty to
his political principles, was thus shown to be his ruling motive. For
such an admission Joseph Smith's fearless, uncalculating spirit
was hardly prepared. Heartsick and disgusted at what he deemed a
display of pusillanimity in high places, he now left Washington
for home.

Passing through Chester County, Pennsylvania, he formed the
acquaintance of Edward Hunter, a prosperous farmer and an
influential man in that vicinity, who was already favorably impressed
with Mormonism. He soon afterwards embraced the faith and
removed to Illinois. Edward Hunter became Bishop of the Fifth
Ward of Nauvoo, and in Utah the Presiding Bishop of the Church.

From Chester County the Prophet proceeded to Philadelphia,
where a flourishing branch of the Church existed, and then returned
to Illinois, arriving at Commerce on the 4th of March, 1840.

Hyrum Smith, in the absence of his associates, had had presi-
dential charge of the Churh. Stakes of Zion had been organized at
Commerce and in Iowa. William Marks became President of the
Commerce Stake, with Charles C. Rich and Austin Cowles as his
counselors. The members of the High Council were G. W. Harris,
Samuel Bent. Henry G. Sherwood. David Fullmer, Alpheus Cutler.
William Huntington, Thomas Grover. Newel Knight, Charles C. Bich,
David Dort, Seymour Brunson and Lewis D. Wilson. On the Iowa
side John Smith was President of the Stake, and Reynolds Cahoon
and Lyman Wight were his counselors. Members of the High Coun-
cil: Asahel Smith, John M. Burk, A. 0. Smoot, Richard Howard,
Willard Snow, Erastus Snow. David Pettigrew, Elijah Fordham.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 17-5

Edward Fisher, Elias Smith, John Patten and Stephen Chase. Alan-
son Ripley was Bishop in Iowa. Other stakes were in early contem-
plation.

At Commerce in November, 1839, Don Carlos Smith and
Ebenezer Robinson had established a semi-monthly paper called
the Times and Seasons. This was the organ of the Church. In its
columns Hyrum Smith had published an account of the Missouri
persecutions. The Prophet became the editor of this paper. The
Nauvoo Wasp, edited by William Smith, and afterwards renamed the
Nauvoo Neighbor, was a later publication.

On April 6th, 1840 — the tenth anniversary of the Church — the
Saints convened, according to custom, in general conference. Dur-
ing its session Apostles Orson Hyde and John E. Page were appointed
to take a mission to Palestine. Orson Hyde accepted the call, and
subsequently departed for the Holy Land. Elder Page failed to fulfill
his mission. It was the beginning of his defection from Mormonism.
President Joseph Smith detailed to the conference his recent visit to
Washington, including his interview with Van Buren, of whom he
expressed his opinion in plain terms. Resolutions were passed
thanking the people of Illinois, their representatives in Congress,
their governor, Thomas Carlin, and Governor Lucas, of Iowa, for aid,
sympathy and protection.

Commerce now changed its name to Nauvoo. During their first
year of occupancy, hundreds of houses had been erected by the Saints,
Avho were fast flocking to their new gathering place, and the insignifi-
cant hamlet of a few months before was rapidly assuming the
dimensions of a city. The bend in the Mississippi at this point gave
the place three river fronts, with some of the streets terminating at
the water's edge. The thoroughfares were wide, crossing each other
at right angles; a model of healthfulness and beauty many times
copied by the city-building Saints in laying out their settlements in
the Rocky Mountains. The houses, embowered i«^groves and gar-
dens, tastefully and securely fenced, ranged all the way from the
neatly white-washed log-cabin, through buildings of brick and frame

176 HISTORY OF UTAH.

to the stately mansion of stone. When the Temple came to crown
the noble hill upon which the city had already climbed, and the busy
hum of industry from forge, mill and factory arose as incense from a
hundred altars, Nauvoo, the home of twice ten thousand people, was
not only the City Beautiful of the Saints, but bid fair to become, in
the not far distant future, the pride and glory of Illinois."

At the time of which we write, May, 1840, the town had from
two to three thousand inhabitants, and was divided ecclesiastically
into three wards — Upper, Middle and Lower — presided over severally
by Bishops Edward Partridge,! Newel K. Whitney and Vinson
Knight. As the place grew, these three wards became four, then ten,
while in the farming districts, outside the city, three additional wards
were created.

Thus were affairs at Nauvoo prospering. Thus, with that won-
derful recuperative power which has ever characterized them as a
people, were these whilom exiles of Missouri already recovering
from the effects of the persecution which had robbed them of well-
nigh their earthly all.

The Mormons now began to take part in Illinois politics. Per-
haps it would have been well for them in a worldly sense, though
not so well in a sense far wider and higher, had they refrained from
exercising this right. Though not immediately apparent, it was the
beginning for them of untold sorrow. Next to the rancor of religious
hatred is the bitterness of political animosity. The Mormons ere
this had experienced both. They were fated ere long to again exper-
ience them.

A great presidential election was approaching. The celebrated
"log-cabin and hard cider'* campaign was in progress, and Whigs and
Democrats throughout the entire land were working arduously in the
interests of their respective parties. William Henry Harrison was
the Whig candidate for the Presidency, while Martin Van Buren had

■■- Nauvoo in 1844-5 was said to lie the mosl
t Bishop Partridge died on May l>7Hi of thai

HISTORY OF UTAH. 177

again been put forward by the Democrats. In Hancock County,
Illinois, the two great parties were almost equally divided. A hand-
ful of votes, thrown either way, would suffice to turn a local election.
This balance of power was held by the Mormons. To secure and
retain their favor, therefore, became an object with politicians of
both sides.

Most of the Mormons were traditionally Democrats. In Ohio,
in February, 1835, they had started a paper called the Northern
Times, supporting democracy. But now, it seems, they mostly voted
with the Whigs, casting their ballots for the Harrison electors. The
reason probably Avas, not that Joseph Smith was a Whig, but that
Martin Van Buren was a Democrat. At subsequent elections in
Illinois the majority of the Mormons generally voted the democratic
ticket.

They were quite naturally averse, however, to supporting their
enemies on any ticket, or men whom they believed incompetent,
corrupt and immoral. They insisted, not only upon representation
for themselves, but that men of character and ability be put forward,
if their vote was wanted to elect them. The politicians, not always
able to furnish what was required, no doubt deemed this fastidi-
ous. Many thought it dictatorial. Misunderstandings occurred, and
much ill-feeling was at times created. Men whom the Mormons thus
rejected as nominees, — for at times they carried their point in
caucus, — as well as those whom they defeated at elections, generally
became their enemies.

Among their friends in political circles were Hon. Sidney H.
Little and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, the former a Whig and the latter
a Democrat. Mr. Little, who was a State senator, died before the
Mormon troubles in Illinois had fairly begun. Judge Douglas, who
was Secretary of the State, though he eventually proclaimed against
the Saints, was their friend for several years after the Prophet's death.
Stephen A. Douglas and Joseph Smith each regarded the other as a
masterspirit. It was by means of the Mormon vote, during the
Prophet's lifetime, that "the little giant" finally attained t«> the

178 HISTORY OF UTAH.

United States Senate. His opponents styled him "the Mormon-made
Senator."

In 1840, as said, the Saints supported the Whig party in the
contest which resulted in the defeat of Martin Van Buren, and the
election of General Harrison as President of the United States. The
anxiety of the rival parties to attach the Mormons to their interests,
was doubtless an important element in the peace and prosperity
enjoyed by the Saints during this period.

But now a cloud, "a cloud no bigger than a man's hand," but
that hand an inveterate foe to the Prophet and his people, appeal's
upon their horizon. It is the forerunner of a storm, a storm which,
though not bursting forth instanter, shall know no lull when once its
fury breaks, till the blood of that Prophet has been shed, and another
and a crowning exodus of that people — from the confines of civiliza-
tion to the wilds of the savage west — shall have startled by its
strangeness and awakened by its unparalleled achievement, a world's
wonder.

On the 15th of September, 1840, the Governor of Missouri,
Lilburn W. Boggs, made a demand upon Thomas Carlin, Governor of
Illinois, for Joseph Smith, junior, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight,
Parley P. Pratt, Caleb Baldwin and Alanson Brown, as fugitives from
justice. The demand, it seems, was retaliative in its character. On the
7th of July, preceding, a party of Missourians had kidnapped four
Mormons, namely : James Allred, Noah Bogers, Alanson Brown and
Benjamin Boyce, whom they carried over the river to Tully, Lewis
County, Missouri, tied them to trees and whipped them unmercifully.

Their excuse for their lawlessness and barbarity was that the
Mormons had stolen from them. The valley of the Mississippi, at
that time, was infested with thieves and rogues of every description ;
preying upon all classes, the Saints included. Some of these thieves
were probably Mormons, weak and wicked enough to thus retaliate
upon those who had robbed them of their all. But the Mormon
people were not given to thievery, nor was there any proof that the
four men abducted and abused by the Missourians were guilty. They

HISTORY OF UTAH. 179

were in the river-bottom hunting horses, it is said, when the men of
Tully, after recovering some stolen goods near Warsaw, twenty miles
below Nauvoo, came upon and captured them.

The affair created considerable excitement at Nauvoo and
throughout Hancock County; the general feeling of all classes, Mor-
mon and non-Mormon, being against the Missourians. Governor
Carlin, in response to popular demand, called upon Missouri to
deliver up the kidnappers. It was then that Governor Boggs issued
his requisition for Joseph Smith and his brethren, most of whom
had escaped from captivity in that State nearly eighteen months
before.

Possibly there was more than retaliation in this act of Governor
Boggs. The conduct of Missouri in the bloody crusade inaugurated
by her Executive against her Mormon citizens, had been widely con-
demned, and the charges alleged against the Saints in justification of
that conduct were generally disbelieved. The fact that many
months had passed since the escape of the Mormon leaders, during
which no effort had been made to retake them, was being cited in
proof of the falsity of those charges. Governor Boggs, therefore,
after a Rip Van Winkle sleep of seventeen months, suddenly wakes
up and returns to the assault, hoping perhaps to vindicate, or at
least render consistent his former course, and rescue by a cowp
d'etat what remains of his besmirched and shattered reputation.

Besides, the state election is approaching, and it may be that
he hopes for another term of office. What more brilliant a bribe,
what more tempting a bait for ballots, in Mormon-hating Missouri,
than Joseph Smith the Mormon leader in chains?

Many non-Mormon citizens of Illinois stoutly opposed the
delivery of the persons named, even if guilty, to be dealt with by
officials who had sanctioned and even assisted in the butchery,
wholesale robbery and expulsion of their innocent co-religionists.
But many did not believe them guilty. Said the Quincy Whig, a
prominent journal of that period: "We repeat, Smith and Bigdon
should not be given up. * * The law is made to secure the

180 HISTORY OF UTAH.

punishment of the guilty, and not to sacrifice the innocent. * *
Compliance on the part of Governor Carlin would be to deliver them,
not to be tried for crime, but to be punished without crime."

Other papers justified the Governor in observing the forms of
law usual in such cases, and issuing his requisition for the arrest
and delivery of the Mormon leaders to the officers of Missouri.

Carlin's writ was returned to him unserved; the sheriff of Han-
cock County, entrusted with its service, not being able to find the
persons wanted. Having no faith in Missouri justice, like the wise'
man in the proverb they had probably "foreseen the evil" and "hid
themselves."

Despite this unpleasant episode, fortune continued to rain favors
upon the Mormons in Illinois. During the winter of 1840-41 the
Legislature granted the Charter of the City of Nauvoo, one of the
most liberal charters ever bestowed upon a municipality. It was
planned by the Prophet and devised, as he said, "on principles so
broad that any honest man might dwell secure under its protective
influence without distinction of sect or party."

A few sections of the Charter are here inserted:

Sec. 4. There shall be a City Council tit consist of Mayor, four Aldermen 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. 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 absent members, under such penalties as may be prescribed by ordinance.

Sec. 5. The Mayor, Aldermen and Councilors, before entering upon the duties of
their offices, shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation, that they will supporl the
Constitution of the United States and of this State, and that they will well and truly per-
form tin' duties of their offices to the best of their skill and abilities.

Sec. 11. The City Council shall have power and authority to make, ordain, estab-
lish and execute all such ordinances, not repugnant to the Constitution of the United Slates
in' of this State, as they may deem necessary tor the benefit, peace, good order, regulation,
convenience ami cleanliness of said city; for the protection of property therein from
destruction by fire or otherwise, and I'm- the health and happiness thereof; they shall have
power lii lill all vacancies that may happen by death, resignation or removal, ill any of the
offices herein made elective; to fix and establish all the lees of the officers of said corpor-

HISTORY OF UTAH. LSI

each offense, as they may deem just, for refusing to accept any office in or under the cor-
poration, or for misconduct therein; to divide the city into wards; to add to the number of
Aldermen and Councilors, and apportion them among the several wants as may be must
just and conducive to the interests of the city.

Sec. 13. The City Council shall have exclusive power within the city, by ordinance
to license, regulate and restrain the keeping of ferries; to regulate the police ot the city;
to impose lines, forfeitures and penalties for the breach of any ordinance, and provide for
the recovery of such lines and forfeitures, and the enforcement of such penalties, and to
pass such ordinances as may he necessary and proper for carrying into execution the
powers specified in this act: Provided, Such ordinances are not repugnant In the Constitu-
tion of the I'niled Stales or of this State; and in fine, to exercise such other legislative
powers as are conferred on the City Council of the city of Springfield, by an act entitled
'■An act to incorporate the city of Springfield," approved February third, one thousand
eight hundred and forty.

Sec. Hi. The Mayor and Aldermen shall be conservators of the peace within the
limits of said city, and shall have all 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 the limits nf said city, perform the same duties, be governed by the same
laws, give the same bonds and security as other Justices of the Peace, ami he commis-
sioned as Justices of the Peace in and for said city by the Governor.

Sec. 17. The Mayer shall have exclusive jurisdiction in all cases arising under the
ordinances of the corporation, and shall issue such process as may be necessary to carry
said ordinances into execution and effect; appeals may be had from any decision or judg-
ment nf said Mayor or Aldermen, arising under the city ordinances, to the Municipal
Court, under such regulations as may be presented by ordinance, which Court shall lie
composed of the Mayor, or Chief Justice, and the Aldermen as Associate Justices, and
from the final judgment nf the Municipal Court to the Circuit Court of Hancock County,
in the same manner as appeals are taken from Ihe judgments of Justices of the Peace :
Provided. That the parties litigant shall have a right to a trial by a jury of twelve men in
all cases before the Municipal Court. The Municipal Court shall have power to
grant writs of habeas rorpti.-i in all cases arising under the ordinances nf Ihe City

Sec. lit. All processes issued by the Mayor, Aldermen or Municipal Court shall he
directed In the Marshal, and in the execution thereof he shall he governed by Ihe same
laws ;i> are or nia\ he prescribed for ihe direction anil compensation of constables in simi-
lar cases. The Marshal shall also perform such other duties as may he required of him
ler the ordinances of said city, and shall he the principal ministerial officer.

Sec. 24. The City Council may establish and organize an institution <A' learning

within ihe limits of the city for the leaching nf ihe arts, sciences ami tear I professions,

I., he called the "University nf the City nf Nauvoo;" which institution shall he under the
control ami managemenl nf a Board nf Trustees, consisting nf ;i Chancellor, Registrar,
and twenty-three Regents, which Board shall thereafter he a body corporate and politic,

will, perpetual succession, by the nan f the "Chancellor and Regents nf the University

nf ihe City of Nauvoo," and shall have full power In pass, ordain, establish ami execute

182 HISTORY OF UTAH.

all such laws and ordinances as they may consider for the welfare and prosperity of said
University, its officers and students ; Provided, That the said laws and ordinances shall
not be repugnant to the Constitution of the United States or of this State ; and, Provided,
also, That the Trustees shall at all times be appointed by the City Council, and shall
have all the powers and privileges for the advancement of the cause of education which
appertain to the trustees of any other college or university of this State.

Sec. 25. The City Council may organize the inhabitants of said city subject to mili-
tary duty into a body of independent military men, to be called the " Nauvoo Legion." the
court-martial of which shall be composed of the commissioned officers of said Legion, and
constitute the law-making department, with full powers and authority to make, ordain,
establish and execute, all such laws and ordinances, as may be considered necessary for
the benefit, government and regulation of said Legion ; Provided, Said court-martial shall
pass no law or act repugnant to or inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States
or of this State ; and Provided, also, That the officers of the Legion shall be commissioned
by the Governor of the State. The said Legion shall perform the same amount of mili-
tary duty as is now or may be hereafter required of the regular militia of the State, and
shall be at the disposal of the Mayor in executing the laws and ordinances of the City
Corporation, and the laws of the State, and at the disposal of the Governor for the public
defense and the execution of the laws of the State, or of the United States, and shall be
entitled to their proportion of the public arms ; and, Provided, also, That said Legion
shall be exempt from all other military duty.

Having passed both houses of the Legislative Assembly, the
Charter of Nauvoo was signed by Governor Carlin and certified by
Secretary Douglas on the 16th of December. It went into effect
February 1st, 1841.

On that day occurred the first city election of Nauvoo, resulting
in the choice of the following named officers : Mayor, John C. Ben-
nett : Aldermen, William Marks, Samuel H. Smith, Daniel H. Wells
and Newel K. Whitney ; Councilors, Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith,
Sidney Rigdon, Charles C. Rich, John T. Barnett, Wilson Law, Don
Carlos Smith, John P. Greene and Vinson Knight.

Among the first bills for ordinances presented to the city coun-
cil, was one to prohibit the sale of liquor at retail within the corpor-
ate limits, and others providing for the freedom of all religious sects
and of all peaceable public meetings within the city. These bills
were presented by the Prophet, and ordinances passed accordingly.
It was the purpose of the Saints, who greatly predominated at
Nauvoo. to make of it a strictly moral and free city, as free from vice

HISTORY OF UTAH. 183

as from tyranny, a delight at once to its inhabitants and to the
stranger within its gates.

The municipal election was followed by the organization of the
University and of the Nauvoo Legion, as provided for in the Charter.
At the military election, held on the 4th of February, Joseph Smith
was chosen Lieutenant-General, John C. Bennett, Major-General, and
Wilson Law and Don Carlos Smith, Brigadier-Generals of the Legion.
It was modeled after the Roman legion, and consisted originally of
six companies, divided into two brigades or cohorts. Subsequently
other citizens of Hancock County joined the Legion, and it finally
aggregated several thousand troops.

The Nauvoo University, for which a suitable edifice was to be
erected, was officered as follows : Chancellor, John C. Bennett; Reg-
istrar/William Law; Regents, Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Hyrum
Smith, William Marks, Samuel H. Smith, Daniel H. Wells, Newel K.
Whitney, Charles C. Rich, John T. Barnett, Wilson Law, John P.
Greene, Vinson Knight, Isaac Galland, Elias Higbee, Robert D. Foster,
James Adams, Samuel Bennett, Ebenezer Robinson, John Snider,
George Miller, Lenos M. Knight, John Taylor and Heber C. Kimball.
Its faculty included the names of Sidney Rigdon, Orson Pratt, Orson
Spencer and James Kelly ; the latter two college graduates. Four
common school wards, with three wardens to each, were connected
with the University.

On January 24th of that year, a change had taken place in the
personnel of the Church Presidency. Hyrum Smith, second coun-
selor to the Prophet, having been called to succeed his deceased sire
as Patriarch of the Church, William Law was chosen to fill the
vacancy thus created in the Presidency. A few days later, Joseph
Smith was chosen Trustee-in-Trust for the Church, to hold the legal
title to its property agreeable to the laws of Illinois. The succession
to this office was vested in the First Presidency. It was perpetuated
for many years after the Mormons removed to Utah.

April 6th, 1841. A general conference convened this day at the
chief city of the Saints. During the morning hours the corner stones

184 HISTORY OF UTAH.

of the Nauvoo Temple were laid and dedicated. On the third day of the
conference, Lyman Wight was ordained an Apostle to fill a vacancy
which had for some time existed in the council of the Twelve.

Apropos of the Apostles, let us now briefly advert to them and
their mission abroad. After leaving Illinois, in the fall of 1839, the
majority of the Twelve made their way to Kirtland, where a few
families of Saints yet resided. Thence they journeyed to New York,
preaching by the way and laboring for some time in that city and its
vicinity. In the latter part of December, John Taylor, Wilford Wood-
ruff, Hiram Clark and Theodore Turley sailed for Liverpool on board
the Oxford. Three months later, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball,
Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, George A. Smith and Reuben Hedlock
followed in their wake on the Patrick Henry.

Landing at Liverpool on the 6th of April, 1840, President Young
and his party there found Apostle Taylor, with about thirty converts.
He and his party had arrived at that port on the 11th of January.
They were there welcomed by Mr. George Cannon, Apostle Taylor's
brother-in-law, who resided at Liverpool. He was the father of
George Q. Cannon, then a mere lad, and not yet connected with the
cause in which he was destined to play, in after years, so prominent
a part. Visiting Preston, Apostle Taylor had returned with Joseph
Fielding to Liverpool, while Elders Woodruff and Turley had gone
into Staffordshire, and Hiram Clark to Manchester. In that great
town a branch of the Church had previously been built up by Elder
William Clayton.

Immediately upon the arrival of President Young, a conference
of the British Saints was called to convene at Preston on the 14th of
April. That clay Willard Richards was ordained to the Apostleship.
It was decided to send for a score or more of the Seventies, to assist
the Apostles in their ministry: to publish a hymn book for the use of
the Saints, and to establish at Manchester a monthly periodical to be
called The Latter-day Saints Millennial Starr1'

*The first number of the Star, edited by Parley P. Pratt, appeared in Ma
is now a weekly issue and is published at Liverpool.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 185

The Apostles and Elders then separated and went preaching into
various parts of Great Britain. Their experience was a repetition of
the success of Heber C. Kimball and his confreres in that land a few
years before. The fruits of Apostle Woodruff's labors in Stafford-
shire and Herefordshire were especially abundant. He baptized hun-
dreds, including over forty preachers of the sect known as United
Brethren. Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and parts of
England yet unvisited by the Elders, were all penetrated and many
converts made of each nationality. The foundations for future mis-
sionary success, in the organization of conferences, the establish-
ment of a publishing house and a shipping agency were now laid
broad and permanently.

On June 6th, 1840, a company of forty-one Latter-day Saints —
the first to emigrate from a foreign land, sailed from Liverpool on the
ship Britannia, bound for Nauvoo, via New York. John Moon had
charge of this company. About three months later two hundred
more, in charge of Theodore Turley and William Clayton, were carried
over in the North America. Several other companies sailed in 1841, the
last one for that year going to Nauvoo by way of New Orleans, which
then became the regular route. Each succeeding year added its
quota ; the work of proselyting more than keeping pace with the con-
tinuous drain of emigration. It is estimated that prior to the settle-
ment of Utah nearly five thousand British converts to Mormonism
had landed in America.

Thus was set in motion that great tide of immigration which,
swelling the numbers of the Saints in the Mississippi Valley, peopled
in later years with the skilled mechanics and hardy yeomanry of
Britain, Scandinavia and other European countries, the mountain
valleys of Utah ; mingling their brave blood — brave to forsake native
land, sunder all earthly ties and endure the scorn and odium heaped
ever upon the adherents of an unpopular faith — with the life-stream
of a race equally heroic, cradled in the lap of liberty. The result,
the bone and sinew, character and intelligence of Utah to-day. — the
promise of the present to the future.

186 HISTORY OF UTAH.

When the Apostles landed at Liverpool, in April, 1840, the
Church in Great Britain numbered less than two thousand souls.
Twelve months later, when most of them returned to America, that
figure had been more than trebled. Said Brigham Young : " It truly
seems a miracle to look upon the contrast between our landing and
departing at Liverpool. We landed in the spring of 1840. as
strangers in a strange land, and penniless ; but through the mercy of
God we have gained many friends, established churches in almost
every noted town and city of Great Britain ; baptized between seven
and eight thousand souls, printed five thousand Books of Mormon,
three thousand hymn books, twenty-five hundred volumes of the
Millennial Star and fifty thousand tracts ; emigrated to Zion one thou-
sand souls, established a permanent shipping agency, which will be a
great blessing to the Saints, and have left sown in the hearts of
thousands the seed of eternal life. And yet we have lacked nothing
to eat, drink or wear."

Parley P. Pratt was left by his brethren to preside over the
British Mission. Orson Hyde was in Palestine. The remainder of
the Apostles who had gone abroad now returned home, some of them
reaching Nauvoo early in July, 1841.

Anticipating their arrival by several weeks, our story now
returns to the latter part of May. As already shown, it was a part of
the plan of the Mormon leader, besides building up a central Stake of
Zion at Nauvoo, to establish other stakes in that vicinity. Among
these, which had now been organized for several months, were those
of Ramus and Lima in Hancock County, Quincy and Mount Hope in
Adams County, Geneva in Morgan County, and -Zarahemla in Lee
County, Iowa. One of the stake presidency at Quincy was Ezra T.
Benson, afterwards an Apostle and a prominent Utah pioneer.

The stake at Kirtland, Ohio, had lately been reorganized, with
Almon W. Babbitt, Lester Brooks and Zebedee Coltrin as its presi-
dency. All or most of the stakes were being built up rapidly by the
gathering of the Saints from various parts, including those from
abroad.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 187

On the 24th of May, 1841, President Smith announced through
the Times and Seasons the discontinuance of all the stakes outside of
Hancock County, Illinois, and Lee County, Iowa, and called upon the
Saints residing in other parts " to make preparations to come in with-
out delay." Said he: "This is important, and should he attended to
by all who feel an interest in the prosperity of this, the corner stone
of Zion. Here the temple must be raised, the university be built,
and other edifices erected which are necessary for the great work of
the last days; and which can only be done by a concentration of
energy and enterprise." To this call the Saints responded with
alacrity, and came pouring in from all parts outside the two counties
mentioned, to engage in the work of building up and beautifying
" the corner stone of Zion."

To the followers of the Prophet, as well as to the Prophet him-
self, this was all that the call really meant. Temple-building, with
the Saints, we need scarcely inform the reader, amounts to what
might be termed a divine passion ; a work done by Time for Eternity.
The sacred edifices they rear, with their solemn ceremonies and
ordinances, represent to them so many links literally binding earth
to heaven. No work in their estimation is so important, — not even
their proselyting labors among the nations. Next to their religious
mission of preaching, proselyting, and administering in their temples
for the salvation of the living and the dead, is their penchant for
founding institutions of learning. This fact Mormon history
abundantly verifies, in spite of all that has been said and thought to
the contrary. This explains in part that ready obedience, — wrong-
fully supposed to be a mere servile yielding to the dictum of a
despot, — manifested by the Saints to the word and will of their
leader. He was simply inviting them to engage in the work most
congenial to their souls; and this, as we have said, was all that the
call really meant.

But to the politicians it meant more, — or rather, meant some-
thing entirely different. It was construed by them as a shrewd
political maneuver, foreshadowing the ultimate domination of Han-

188 HISTORY OF UTAH.

cock County by the Mormons, and the relegation to the rear, as a
hopeless minority, of the combined forces of Whigs, Democrats and
whatever else, in spite of all that could be done to hinder. It was
believed, in short, to be a "colonizing" scheme, a trick to increase
and render supreme the local Mormon vote. Already jealous of the
power wielded by the Saints at the polls, and professing to " view
with alarm" the prospective increase of that power by means of the
proposed concentration, some of the politicians now set about
organizing in Hancock County a new party, the avowed object of
which was to oppose and counteract the political influence of the
Mormons in county and in state.

Public meetings to discuss the question were held at various
points, and resolutions expressive of the anti-Mormon feeling passed
by those assembled. The result was the rise of the Anti-Mormon
Party, and the origin of the term "anti-Mormon," thenceforth in
vogue in Illinois politics. Much bitterness was engendered by this
party, not only against the Mormons, whom they finally compelled to
leave the State, but against all who affiliated with or in any way
befriended them. Such were denominated Jack-Mormons. The
hatred of the Anti-Mormons for the Mormons, despite their
resolutions and protestations to the contrary, expressed itself not
only in politics, but in everything else, social, commercial and
religious.

Of course there were exceptions to this rule ; Joseph Smith him-
self styled some of the Anti-Mormons " good fellows." But they
were mixed in politics, — which like adversity " makes strange bed-
fellows,**— with many characters that were positively disreputable.
The party as a whole probably answered, far better than did
Bacon, Pope's caustic description of England's great Lord Chan-
cellor.— " the wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind."

The Anti-Mormon Party of Illinois was made up of all parties.
Anyone with a grievance against the Saints, — from the apostate,
expelled from the Church for adultery, to the common thief and
counterfeiter, convicted and punished at Nauvoo for breaking the city

HISTORY OF UTAH. 189

ordinances, — forthwith became an anti-Mormon. Whigs and Demo-
crats then, as Republicans and Democrats since, united to oppose
and destroy the political power of the Mormons.

Whether or not the anti-Mormons conspired about this time
with the Executive of Illinois, to effect a speedier solution of the
problem than seemed possible by means of ordinary methods, — even
to remove the Mormon leader from the midst of his people, thus
paralyzing the gathering movement in progress, — may never be
known. But the arrest of the Prophet, a few weeks after his procla-
mation had gone forth, on the identical writ first issued by Governor
Boggs in September, 1840, with the part played by Governor Carlin
in bringing about that arrest, almost warrants the suspicion. It
occurred as follows: About the 4th of June, 1841, Joseph Smith,
having accompanied as far as Quincy his brother Hyrum and William
Law, who were starting east upon a mission, called upon Governor
Carlin at his residence in that place. He was received with marked
kindness and respect. In the extended interview which followed
between the Governor and his visitor, nothing whatever was said
of the writ formerly issued by Missouri, concerning which all
excitement had long since abated. Taking leave of his Excellency,
the Prophet set out for Nauvoo. He had not gone far when he was
overtaken and arrested by Sheriff King of Adams County, and a
posse, whom he believed the Governor had sent after him. Among
them was an officer from Missouri, the bearer of the writ, who
gloated exultingly over the prisoner and the prospect of carrying him
back to his former captivity.

But Joseph Smith had studied law as well as theology, and knew
how to defend his rights under the circumstances. Obtaining a writ
of haheas corpus from C. A. Warren, Esq., master in chancery at
Quincy, he had the hearing in the case set for the 8th of June, at
Monmouth, Warren County, before Judge Stephen A. Douglas.
Judge Douglas had arrived at Quincy on the night of the arrest.
Next morning the Prophet, accompanied by Sheriff King and the
Missouri officer, started for Nauvoo. On the way the Sheriff, who was

190 HISTORY OF UTAH.

in poor health, was taken seriously ill. The Prophet conveyed him
to his own home and nursed him with the kindliest care.

The hearing at Monmouth came off in clue order on the day
appointed. Considerable excitement reigned, and an effort was made
by the rabble to mob the Mormon leader as he entered the town.
Sheriff King, however, faithfully stood by his prisoner and protected
him from assault. A formidable array of attorneys assisted in the
prosecution. The Prophet's counsel were C. A. Warren, Sidney H.
Little, 0. H. Browning, James H. Ralston, Cyrus Walker and Archi-
bald Williams. Mr. Browning, in the course of an earnest and elo-
quent plea, pictured so vividly the sufferings of the Prophet and his
people in Missouri, and the hopeless case of the prisoner if delivered
over to his former persecutors, that nearly all present, including
Judge Douglas himself, shed tears.*

The defense rested upon two propositions : (1) that the Missouri
writ, having once been returned to the Executive unserved, was void;
(2) that the entire proceeding on the part of Missouri was illegal.
Judge Douglas, without going into the merits of the second proposi-
tion, decided that the writ was void and that the prisoner must be
liberated. - Amid the rejoicings of his friends, and to the chagrin of
his enemies, the Prophet returned to Nauvoo.

But press and pulpit now took up the controversy, the tone of
the former, once so favorable to the Saints, being now much modi-
fied. Some papers were openly hostile. Beneath the burning rays
of political jealousy and religious hatred the flowers of friendship
were fast fading. Even Judge Douglas was censured for his decision

* Said Browning: "Great God! have I not seen it ? Yes, mine eyes have beheld
the blood-stained traces of innocent women and children, in the drear winter, who had
traveled hundreds of miles bare-foot through frost and snow, to seek a refuge from their
savage pursuers. It was a scene of horror, sufficient to enlist sympathy from an adaman-
tine heart. And shall this unfortunate man. whom their fury has seen proper to select
for sacrifice, be driven into such a savage land, and none dare to enlist in the cause of
justice? If there was no other voice under heaven ever to be heard in this cause, gladly
would I stand alone, and proudly spend my latest breath in defence of an oppressed
American citizen."

HISTORY OF UTAH. 191

which had set the Mormon leader free. The Prophet's personal foes,
the more radical anti-Mormons, sought in every way to prejudice the
public mind against him. That they succeeded the tragic issue
amply showed.

One charge preferred against the Mormons in Illinois was that of
"spoiling the Philistines." — in other words stealing from the Gentiles;
a practice which it was said their leaders sanctioned. This accusa-
tion, being noised abroad and believed by many, was an effective
weapon for the anti-Mormons. It was particularly gratifying to the
thieving bands that continued plying their nefarious trade up and
down the Mississippi. Screening them from suspicion, by placing the
onus of their misdeeds upon others, it enabled them to pursue their
dangerous vocation with greater security.

That some Mormons practiced thievery was doubtless true, — as
true as that some anti-Mormons did, — but the allegation that the
Mormon leaders sanctioned such a practice was totally false. On the
contrary they denounced it, in public and in private, publishing, in
December, 1841, their emphatic denial of the charge of teaching their
followers that it was right and proper for them to prey upon "the
Philistines." They made examples, too, of such of their community
as were convicted of stealing. Two subordinate officers of the Nauvoo
Legion, being found guilty of theft, were promptly cashiered and their
names stricken from the rank roll.

With the return of the Apostles from Europe, the work of build-
ing up Nauvoo and the surrounding stakes was much accelerated.
The Nauvoo Temple and the Nauvoo House— the latter designed for
the entertainment of strangers — were now progressing favorably :
also other edifices and public improvements. What gave the Temple
a special impetus about this time was the enunciation by the Prophet
of the tenet of baptism for the dead. A Masonic Temple was like-
wise projected at Nauvoo, and Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Brigham
Young and many other leading Mormons became Free Masons.

Joseph Smith's fame was now the property of two hemispheres.
He was styled, from his rank as Lieutenant General of the Nauvoo

192 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Legion, "a military prophet," and referred to both in Europe and
America as "the Western Mohamet." All sorts of rumors as to
his alleged intended conquests, with the sword in one hand and his
Koran — the Book of Mormon — in the other, began to fill the air.

Early in 1842 the great journals of the land, which had hith-
erto ignored or treated lightly the subject of Mormonism, began to
send representatives to Nauvoo to write up the question, or solicit
from the Prophet contributions to their columns touching that topic,
which had become one of the most interesting of the hour. The
first of these journals to give the Mormons a fair and full presenta-
tion to the public was the New York Herald, in which a series of
letters appeared over the signature of James Arlington Bennett, of
Long Island, who visited Nauvoo to see for himself, and as the repre-
sentative of James Gordon Bennett, this Mecca and its Mohamet of
the West. So pleased were the authorities at Nauvoo with the fair
and impartial letters published in the Herald that the City Council
passed resolutions thanking the editor for his courtesy and liberality,
while upon the author of the articles was gratefully conferred the
honoraiw title of Inspector-General of the Nauvoo Legion.

John Wentworth, Esq., proprietor of the Chicago Democrat — an
influential journal — solicited from the Prophet's pen a concise sketch
of his personal history with that of the Church from its inception to
the year 1842. The sketch was furnished and published. It con-
tained what are known as the Articles of Faith of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It stated, among other things,
that the Prophet's followers at Nauvoo, were from six to eight
thousand souls, with "vast numbers in the county around and in
almost every county of the State." Other pens and tongues, of
tourists and visitors, praised the hospitality, enterprise, industry,
good order and morality of the City Beautiful and its inhabitants.

We have stated that Stephen A. Douglas regarded Joseph Smith
as a master spirit. He was not alone in that opinion of the founder
of Mormonism. James Arlington Bennett styled him " one of the
greatest characters of the age." Josiah Quincy, who. in company

HISTORY OF UTAH. 193

with Charles Francis Adams, senior, was at Nauvoo shortly before
the Prophet's death, said of him :

It is by no means improbable tbat some future textbook, for the use of generations
yet unborn, will contain a question something like this : What historical American of the
nineteenth century has exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his
countrymen ? And it is by no means impossible that the answer to that interrogatory may
be thus written : Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet. And the reply, absurd as it
doubtless seems to most men now living, may be an obvious common-place to then-
descendants. History deals in surprises and paradoxes quite as startling as this. The
man who established a religion in this age of free debate, who was and is today accepted
by hundreds of thousands as a direct emissary from the Most High. — such a rare human
being is not to be disposed of by pelting his memory with unsavory epithets. Fanatic,
imposter, charlatan, he may have been ; but these hard names furnish no solution to the
problem he presents to us. Fanatics and impostors are living and dying every day, and
their memory is buried with them; but the wonderful influence which this founder of a
religion exerted and still exerts throws him into relief before us, not as a rogue to be
criminated, but as a phenomenon to be explained. * * * * *

" A fine looking man," continues Mr. Quincy, " is what the
passer-by would instinctively have murmured. But Smith was more
than this, and one could not resist the impression that capacity and
resource were natural in his stalwart person."

In May, 1842, the treachery and rascality of a man whom the
Mormon leader had befriended and loaded with honors, became
known to his benefactor. That man was Dr. John C. Bennett,
Mayor of Nauvoo, Chancellor of its University, and Major-General of
its Legion. He had become associated with the Saints soon after
their exodus from Missouri. Though a great egotist, he was a man
of education, address and ability. That he had little or no principle
was not immediately apparent. Considerable of a diplomat and
possessing some influence in political circles, he rendered valuable
aid in securing the passage by the Illinois Legislature of the act
incorporating the city of Nauvoo. * Hence the honors bestowed upon

* It was to such men as Senator Little and Judge Douglas thai the Mormons were
most indebted for the passage of the act. Abraham Lincoln, the future martyr President,

then a member of the Illinois Legislature, voted, it is said, for the Nauvoo Charter and
congratulated the Mormons on its passage. Lincoln was never an enemy to the Saints,
and they much esteemed him.

194 HISTORY OF UTAH.

him by the Mormon people. Prior to that, and subsequently, he was
Quartermaster-General of Illinois. Bennett professed great sympathy
for the Saints. He joined the Church and apparently was a sincere
convert to the faith.

Governor Thomas Ford, in his history of Illinois, styles Bennett
" probably the greatest scamp in the western country.'" But this
was not until long after the Mormons, thrice victimized, had become
aware of his villainy.

On the 7th of May the Nauvoo Legion, now consisting of
twenty-six companies, aggregating two thousand troops, assembled
for a grand parade and sham battle, which was witnessed by
thousands of spectators. Among the visitors present, as guests of
General Joseph Smith, were Judge Stephen A. Douglas and other
legal lights, who had adjourned the circuit court at Carthage in order
to attend the Mormon military review. Wilson Law and Charles C.
Bich. — the latter successor to Don Carlos Smith, deceased, — were the
Brigadier-Generals of the Legion. As such, it devolved upon them
to lead the two cohorts in the battle. For some reason, however,
Major-General Bennett tried hard to induce the Prophet to take part
in the fight and lead one of the cohorts. Suspecting Bennett's
motive, General Smith declined, and subsequently recorded his
impression that the purpose was to have him treacherously slain, in
such a way that none but the guilty might know who did the deed.

Bennett's after course gave color to the Prophet's suspicion.
The same month he was convicted of seduction, — a crime which
seems to have been common with him, — and expelled from the
Mormon Church. He was also deprived of the various offices given
him by the people of Nauvoo. Joseph Smith succeeded him as
Mayor, Orson Spencer as Chancellor of the University, and Wilson
Law as Major-General of the Legion.

Bennett, to subserve his licentious practices, had secretly taught
that the Prophet sanctioned illicit relations between the sexes. Pro-
fessing deep contrition after his exposure, he voluntarily went before
Alderman Daniel H. Wells and made oath to the effect that Joseph

HISTORY OF UTAH. 195

Smith had never taught him anything contrary to virtue and
morality, and that so far as he knew the Prophet's private life was
above reproach. These statements he repeated in public meetings.
Finding, however, that he had become morally bankrupt in the eyes
of the community, and could not, even if forgiven, regain their con-
fidence, he withdrew from Nauvoo and joined the anti-Mormons.

He now repeated his former tale of Joseph Smith's licentious
teachings and practices, claiming that his denial of the charge had
been forced from him by threats of violence. He revived the
story of the Danites, originated by Dr. Avard at Far West. Bennett
declared that these "Avenging Angels," were following him to take his
life, as they had previously taken other lives at the Prophet's com-
mand. He also wrote and published a book against Mormonism, and
devoted himself assiduously to the task of bringing trouble upon his
former friends. The more intelligent and reputable anti-Mormons
despised Bennett and distrusted his story, but others believed and
made use of it, and prejudice against the Saints increased correspond-
ingly* During August the Prophet sent out the Apostles and a large
number of Elders to preach in the country round and refute the vile
slanders of this vengeful apostate.

Coming events now cast their solemn shadows before. The
Prophet foresaw the inevitable. He more than once had hinted at his
own death, and, as seen, had singled out intuitively his successor.
To him a mighty destiny was opening for his people, but the far
West, and not the East, nor even the intermediary region was the
fated arena of Mormonism's immediate future. On Saturday, August
6th, 18-A2, at Montrose, Lee County, Iowa, he uttered in the presence
of several friends a prediction, recorded in his own words as follows:

"I prophesied that the Saints would continue to suffer much
affliction, and would be driven to the Bocky Mountains. Many would

* Governor Carlin being informed by Joseph Smith of Bennett's conduct a< Nauvoo,
replied, '-Bennett's meanness is in accordance with representations of his character made
to me more than two years since, and which 1 fell constrained to believe were true, since
which time I have desired to have as little intercourse with him as possible."

196 HISTORY OF UTAH.

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 mighty people in the midst of the Rocky
Mountains."

HISTORY OF UTAH. 197

CHAPTER XII.

1842-1843.

Again in the toils — Joseph smith and porter Rockwell arrested, charged with

attempted murder ex-governor boggs of missouri the alleged victim how the

deed was done the prisoners released by habeas corpus they evade re-arrest

rockwell kidnapped and carried to missouri governor ford succeeds governor

carlin the prophet submits to a judicial investigation judge pope the mormon

leader again liberated another requisition joseph smith kidnapped his rescue

and release anti-mormon depredations around nauvoo.

/L'WO days after the delivery of the foregoing prediction the
>K Prophet was again arrested. He was charged this time with
being an accessory to an attempt to murder. The alleged vic-
tim was no other than Lilburn W. Boggs, ex-Governor of Missouri,
who, on the night of May 6th, 1842, at his home in Independence,
Jackson County, in that State, had indeed been shot and dangerously
wounded by some person or persons unknown.

Lying near an open window in a pool of blood, with a ghastly
wound in his head, the ex-Governor had been found by his little son,
soon after the shooting. Footprints and a smoking pistol on the
ground outside afforded the only clue to the perpetrator of the deed.
Suspicion, however, at once rested upon the Mormons, whom Boggs
had so persistently persecuted wvhile in power, and without further
ado the crime was laid at their door. It was said that Joseph Smith
had predicted a violent death for Governor Boggs, and lo ! here was
an attempt at fulfillment. Could anything be plainer? The proof
was positive — positive enough to suit the Missourians, eager for any
excuse to get the Mormon leader back into their power — that he was
in some way connected with the commission of the crime.

It was not contended that he had committed the assault in person.

198 HISTORY OF UTAH.

The Missourians soon learned that Joseph Smith, if so accused, could
prove an alibi. The date of the assault was just one day prior to the
grand parade and sham battle at Nauvoo, already mentioned, and the
distance between that place and Independence was at least two hun-
dred miles ; in those days a full week's journey. Besides it was
pretty generally known that the Prophet had not been in Missouri
since his escape from captivity in that State in the spring of 1839.
But then he might have sent a " Danite" — say Porter Rockwell, or
some " avenging angel," — to do the deed of blood, after which the
assassin had made good his escape. So reasoned among themselves
the Missourians.

It was useless after that for Joseph Smith to deny — as he did —
having ever made such a prediction about ex-Governor Boggs. Use-
less, also, that he denied sending Porter Rockwell, or anyone else
into Missouri for such a purpose ; or that Rockwell had been in that
State during the year 1842. Such denials availed nothing. Sus-
picion had already decided his guilt. Neither would evidence the
most conclusive now clear him. Were not the Mormons all falsifiers?
Had they not slandered Missouri and rendered her name odious by
declaring that she had persecuted them for their religious opinions?
Here was a rare chance for revenge. The hated Prophet had lain
himself liable, or had been laid liable to fall back into their power.
Let them once but "get him on the hip,'' and they would "feed fat
the ancient grudge " they bore him.

Boggs himself shared, or professed to share, in the general opin-
ion regarding the Mormon leader's complicity in the crime. As soon,
therefore, as he had recovered from his well-nigh fatal wound, and
he and his friends had had time to mature their plans, he went
before a justice of the peace — Samuel Weston — and swore out a com-
plaint charging "Joseph Smith, commonly called the Mormon
Prophet," with being "an accessory before the fact of the intended
murder." The affidavit stated that "the said Joseph Smith" was "a
citizen or resident of the State of Illinois."

Upon this complaint, application was made to the Governor of

HISTORY OF UTAH. 199

Missouri, Thomas Reynolds, for the issuance of a writ demanding
Joseph Smith of the authorities of Illinois. Governor Reynolds
promptly responded, issuing the desired requisition. The writ, how-
ever, instead of following the language of the affidavit, described
Joseph Smith, not as "a citizen or resident of the State of Illinois,"
but as a "fugitive from justice" who had "fled to the State of
Illinois." It also went beyond the affidavit in stating that the assault
was " made by one 0. P. Rockwell," whose name, it appears, had been
left out of the original complaint.

Governor Carlin, on receiving the requisition from Missouri,
issued a warrant for Joseph Smith's arrest, stating therein — if Gov-
ernor Ford's duplicate warrant upon which the case finally came up
for trial was an exact copy of the original — that it had been "made
known" to him " by the Executive authority of the State of Mis-
souri, that one Joseph Smith stands charged by the affidavit of one
Lilburn W. Boggs * * with being accessory before the fact
to an assault with intent to kill, made by one 0. P. Rockwell," etc.,
"and that the said Joseph Smith had fled from the justice of said
State and taken refuge in the State of Illinois." Thus Carlin not
only repeated the mis-statements of Governor Reynolds, but added
one of his own, in saying that the Executive of Missouri had
informed him that "Joseph Smith had tied from the justice of said
State." It was these discrepancies between the Boggs affidavit and
the writs of the two governors ostensibly based thereon, together
with the insufficiency of the affidavit, that proved the mouse to gnaw
the net and set the lion free.

The glaring illegality of the whole proceeding is further shown
in the fact that an attempt was here made to transport to Missouri
for trial a citizen of the State of Illinois, for an offense committed — if
committed at all— in Illinois. Joseph Smith was not charged with
assaulting ex-Governor Boggs. but with sending 0. P. Rockwell from
Illinois to Missouri for that purpose. Rockwell, on a proper show-
ing, might indeed have been lawfully tried in Missouri : but not
Joseph Smith, whose alleged offense was against the laws of Illinois.

200 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Whether the two governors erred blindly or wilfully in the parts
played by them in this legal burlesque, we know not. The proba-
bility is that Reynolds, perceiving the weakness of the affidavit, pur-
posely overstated its contents in order to insure the success of the
undertaking. Carlin, on his part, was either a co-conspirator with
Reynolds, or, to give him the benefit of the doubt, ignorant or careless
as to the outcome.

Anyway, Joseph Smith and Orrin Porter Rockwell were both
arrested by the deputy sheriff of Adams County, at Nauvoo, on the
8th of August. Immediately after their arrest they obtained a writ
of habeas corpus, and were discharged after a hearing before the
Municipal Court of Nauvoo. The deputy sheriff and his assistants
denied the jurisdiction of the Nauvoo Court, but leaving the prisoners,
they returned to Governor Carlin for further instructions. Two days
later they reappeared, having been instructed to "re-arrest at all
hazards." But the persons wanted were nowhere to be found.

The authority under which the Municipal Court acted in dis-
charging the prisoners was the following ordinance passed by the
City Council on the day of the arrest :

An Ordinance regulating the mode of proceeding in cases of habeas corpus before the
Municipal Court:

Sec. 1. Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Nauvoo, That in all
cases where any person or persons shall at any time hereafter be arrested or under arrest,
in this city, under any writ or process, and shall be brought before the Municipal Court of
this city, by virtue of a writ of habeas corpus, the Court shall in every case have power
and authority, and are hereby required to examine into the origin, validity and legality of
the writ or process, under which such arrest was made ; and if it shall appear to the
Court upon sufficient testimony, that said writ or process was illegal, or not legally issued,
or did not proceed from the proper authority, then the Court shall discharge the prisoner
from under said arrest ; but if it shall appear to the Court that said writ or process had
issued from proper authority, and was a legal process, the Court shall then proceed and
fully hear the merits of the case upon which said arrest was made, upon such evidence as
may be produced and sworn before said Court ; and shall have power to adjourn the hear-
ing, and also issue process from time to time, in their discretion, in order to procure the
attendance of witnesses, so that a fair and impartial trial and derision may be obtained in
every case.

Sec. 2. And be it further ordained. That if upon investigation it shall be proven before
the Municipal Court that the writ or process has been issued either through private pique,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 201

malicious intent, religious or other persecution, falsehood or misrepresentation, contrary to
the Constitution of the United States or of this State, the said writ or process shall be
quashed, and considered of no force or effect, and the prisoner or prisoners shall be
released and discharged therefrom.

Sec. 3. And be it also further ordained, That in the absence, sickness, debility or
other circumstances disqualifying or preventing the Mayor from officiating in his office, as
Chief Justice of the Municipal Court, the Aldermen present shall appoint one from amongst
them to act as Chief Justice or President pro tempore.

Sec. 4. This ordinance to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Hyrum Smith,
Vice-Mayor and President pro tempore.
Passed August 8, 1842.

James Sloan, Recorder.

The Prophet, who was determined not to be taken back to Mis-
souri, now retired for several weeks, concealing himself in the homes
of trusted friends at and near Nauvoo. Rockwell, equally averse to
being taken, absented himself for some months, during which he
traveled to the eastern states. Returning thence and visiting St.
Louis, he was captured and carried in chains to Jackson County.
Nothing being proven against him, he was eventually set free and
made his way back to Illinois.

The most strenuous efforts were put forth for the capture of the
Prophet, but without avail. Besides the regular officers, John C. Ben-
nett and others were in the field, seeking to kidnap and carry him to
Missouri. Such an event, however, was not destined to be. The
fates had not decreed his return to his former captivity.

From his secret retreat he sent forth epistles from time to time
relative to the administration of the affairs of his various offices. In
one of these, addressed to the Major-General of the Nauvoo Legion,
he expressed his desires for peace and the supremacy of the law, but
declared his determination to submit no more to mob violence and
tyranny. Appeals were successively made to Governor Carlin by
the Prophet, his wife Emma, and the ladies of the Nauvoo Relief
Society, a benevolent institution that Joseph Smith had founded*
But all to no purpose. The Governor apparently was hand -a i id -

* The forerunner <>f the ureal lielief Sorirlv syslein now flourishing:' in I'

202 HISTORY OF UTAH.

glove with the anti-Mormons, who were doing all in their power to
foment trouble and bring affairs to a bloody crisis. Carlin insisted
that Joseph give himself up to the officers. This the Prophet
refused to do, as his friends feared his assassination or kidnapping.

Joseph Smith, as repeatedly averred, was no coward ; but neither
did he court death, nor a repetition of his experience in a Missouri
dungeon. It would have been eminently characteristic of him, — for
his was truly a martial spirit, — to have taken the field with his
legion and fought like a lion to the death rather than tamely submit
to what he had endured, or was now enduring. But other considera-
tions restrained him. Because he declined to surrender himself, he
was represented as being with his people in an attitude of defiance
to the laws. Public feeling ran high against him, and men were
daily offering their services to Governor Carlin to arm and march
upon Nauvoo.

Meantime, the State election had come round. Joseph Duncan,
an ex-Governor of Illinois, was put forward by the Whigs for re-elec-
tion. The Democrats nominated Adam W. Snyder for Governor, but
he dying, Judge Thomas Ford became a candidate in his stead.
Duncan was regarded as a brave and able man, and under ordinary
conditions might have been elected. But he was an anti-Mormon,
and took the stump against the Saints, expecting, it is said, to be
elected on that issue. This solidified the Mormon vote against him,
and in favor of his opponent. The result was the election of
Thomas Ford as Governor of Illinois. At the same time William
Smith, the Prophet's brother, was chosen a representative from Han-
cock County to the Legislature. Jacob C. Davis — of whom more
anon — was elected a state senator.

The Whigs were very angry at the outcome, and the papers of
that party now teemed with accounts of the alleged iniquities of the
Mormons at Nauvoo, and severely took to task the Democrats for
deigning to accept support from the Prophet and his followers.

About the 1st of October Governor Carlin made public procla-
mation offering a reward of four hundred dollars for the persons of

HISTORY OF UTAH. 203

Joseph Smith and Orrin Porter Rockwell. At the same time Gov-
ernor Reynolds of Missouri increased his standing offer of a much
larger sum for their capture.

In December, 1842, Carlin's term of office expired, and he was
succeeded by Governor Ford. The new executive was reputed as a
well-meaning man, though not a strong official ; possessing some
ability, but liable to be swayed from his convictions by the opinions
of others. In his inaugural address to the Legislature, Ford recom-
mended that the Charter of Nauvoo, as it was objectionable to other
citizens of the State, be modified and restricted. This caused the
Whigs to exult over the Mormons and ask them ironically what they
thought of their democratic Governor.

Immediately after Governor Ford's installation, the Mormon
leader, still in exile, appealed to him to recall the writs and proclama-
tion of his predecessor. The case was fully presented to Ford by
Justin Butterfield, Esq., the United States District Attorney. He, in
common with several of the Judges of the Supreme Court, held that
Carlin's writs were illegal. Ford, though sharing the same opinion,
deemed it impolitic to interfere with the acts of his predecessor. He
therefore advised the Prophet to submit his case to a judicial investi-
gation.

This the latter finally concluded to do. Accordingly, on the
26th of December, he allowed himself to be arrested by General
Wilson Law, and on the day following, in company with Hyrum
Smith, John Taylor, Willard Richards and others, he set out for
Springfield, the State capital. There, on the 4th of January, 1843,
occurred his celebrated trial before Judge Pope, which resulted in his
again being set at liberty.

The original warrant issued by Governor Carlin not being
at hand, it was duplicated for the purpose of this trial by his
successor. Judge Pope granted a writ of habeas corpus, and the case
was argued by Josiah Lamborn, Attorney-General of Illinois, for the
prosecution, and by Justin Butterfield, Esq., for the defense. The
Judge gave as the grounds for his decision in the prisoner's favor the

204 HISTORY OF UTAH.

insufficiency of the Boggs affidavit and the mis-recitals and overstate-
ments in the documents of the two Governors. This decision
rendered void the proclamation as well as the writs issued against
the Prophet, and he was once more a free man.

He now enjoyed a brief season of peace. On the 6th of
February, 1843, recurred the city election of Nauvoo. The officers
chosen for the ensuing two years were: Joseph Smith, Mayor;
Orson Spencer, Daniel H. Wells, George A. Smith and Stephen Mark-
ham, Aldermen; Hyrum Smith, John Taylor, Orson Hyde, Orson
Pratt, Sylvester Emmons, Heber C. Kimball, Benjamin Warrington,
Daniel Spencer and Brigham Young, Councilors. Liberality without
extravagance in public officials, the establishment of markets, and the
regulation of prices to protect the poor against avarice and monopoly,
were among the measures proposed by Mayor Smith to the new
council.

On the 25th of March the Mayor issued the following proclama-
tion :

Whereas it is reported that there now exists a band of desperadoes, hound by oaths
of secrecy, under severe penalties in case any number of the combination divulges their
plans of stealing and conveying properties from station to station up and down the
Mississippi and other routes : And

Whereas it is reported that the fear of the execution of the pains and penalties of
their secret oaths on their persons prevents some members of said secret association (who
have, through falsehood and deceit, been drawn into their snares,) from divulging the
same to the legally-constituted authorities of the land :

Know ye, therefore, that I, Joseph Smith, Mayor of the city of Nauvoo, will grant
and insure protection against all personal mob violence to each and every citizen of this
city who will come before me and truly make known the names of all such abominable
characters as are engaged in said secret combination for stealing, or are accessory thereto
in any manner. And 1 respectfully solicit the co-operation of all ministers of justice
in this and the neighboring states to ferret out a band of thievish outlaws from our
midst.

Immigration continued pouring in at Nauvoo. On the 12th of
April two large companies, led by Parley P. Pratt, Lorenzo Snow and
Levi Richards, landed there. Among these arrivals were the Cannon
family from Liverpool. They had crossed the sea in the fall of 1842,
but were ice-bound at St Louis, and had there spent the winter.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 205

Mrs. Cannon, the mother, had died and been buried at sea. The
father, George Cannon, with his sons, George Q., Angus M., David
H. and three daughters, reached their destination in safety.

Another attempt, the final one, was now made to drag the Mor-
mon leader back to Missouri. The charge this time was treason —
treason against that State — a reiteration of the old charge upon
which the Prophet had once suffered imprisonment. John C. Ben-
nett was at the bottom of this new attempt upon the liberty and life
of his former friend, and Samuel C. Owens and others in Jackson
County assisted in the scheme. Governor Reynolds issued his writ,
Governor Ford his warrant, and the ball was thus set rolling.
Sheriff J. H. Reynolds of Jackson County was Missouri's officer to
receive the prisoner, and Harmon T. Wilson of Carthage, Hancock
County, the person authorized to make the arrest.

Late in June, 1843, they set out upon their errand. Learning
that the Prophet was visiting with his wife at a Mrs. Wasson's —
Emma Smith's sister — near Dixon, Lee County, Illinois, the two
officers proceeded thither, passing themselves off as Mormon Elders.
Arriving at Mrs. Wasson's, they inquired for "Brother Joseph." On
his appearing, they covered him with cocked pistols, threatened him
with death if he resisted, hurried him into a vehicle and were about
to drive away. Stephen Markham. who was present, protested
against this lawlessness, — Reynolds and Wilson having shown no
warrant for their act, — but they threatened his life also and drove
away with their prisoner toward Dixon. They compelled him to sit
between them, and all along continued to threaten him, punching
his sides with their pistols. The pain from these assaults was so
excruciating that the Prophet finally begged them to cease torturing
and kill him outright, whereupon they modified their abusive
treatment.

Meanwhile Stephen Markham, mounting a horse, preceded the
party to Dixon, where he secured legal counsel for his friend. Rey-
nolds and Wilson, on their arrival, at first refused to allow the
prisoner to confer with his attorneys, but finding the citizens of

206 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Dixon opposed to them, demanding that their brutality cease, they
finally consented.*

A writ of habeas corpus was obtained for the Prophet, returnable
before Judge Caton, at Ottawa, but he being absent another writ was
secured, returnable before the nearest tribunal in the fifth judicial
district authorized to hear and determine writs of habeas corpus.
This district included Quincy and Nauvoo. Reynolds and Wilson,
who were now themselves under arrest for abuse, threatening and
false imprisonment, obtained a writ of habeas corpus, made returnable
before Judge Young at Quincy. Toward that place the whole party
now proceeded, in charge of Sheriff Campbell, of Lee County.

Meeting a party of his friends from Nauvoo, — for the city had
been alarmed and the whole surrounding region was being scoured
by the Mormons in quest of their leader, — the Prophet asked per-
mission of the sheriff to go to Nauvoo, instead of to Quincy, where he
feared treachery. The attorneys present, one of whom was Cyrus
Walker, Esq., giving it as their opinion that the hearing might legally
be held there, the sheriff consented and to Nauvoo they went accord-
ingly. Reynolds and Wilson fiercely protested against this change
in the program, probably fearing violence at the hands of the Mor-
mon citizens. The Prophet, however, took them to his own home
and seated them at the head of his own table, thus heaping upon
them, in a scriptural sense, "coals of fire." They were not in the
least molested, but treated kindly by all.

A hearing before the Municipal Court followed, — the Prophet's
case coming up on its merits, — and the defendant was again dis-
charged. Reynolds and Wilson, denying the court's jurisdiction,
applied to Governor Ford for the use of the militia to re-take their
prisoner, but His Excellency, being fully informed of the matter,
refused the request, and Sheriff Reynolds returned, crest-fallen to
Missouri.

* It is said that the Prophet, on being taken to the Dixon hotel, found a Masonic
friend in the landlord, who rendered him timely succor.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 207

Why he and his confrere Wilson, — against whom the prosecu-
tion for false imprisonment, etc., seems to have deen dropped, —
failed to show their warrant at the time of the Prophet's arrest, and
acted, instead of as officers, in the role of kidnappers, has never been
satisfactorily explained. Possibly kidnapping was their purpose, and
not anticipating the intervention of officers and courts, they deemed
the warrant superfluous and unnecessary.

Another election occurred. Cyrus Walker was the Whig candidate,
and Joseph P. Hoge the Democratic candidate for Congress, frpm the
district of which Hancock County was a part. The Whigs, it seems,
had been counting upon, and fully expected to receive the Mormon
vote ; notwithstanding their former criticism of the Democrats for
condescending to accept it. What gave the Whigs hope of securing
it at this election was the fact that Mr. Walker, their candidate, had
defended the Mormon leader in his latest legal difficulty and rescued
him from the clutches of the would-be kidnappers, Reynolds and
Wilson. Judge Pope, whose decision in January had liberated the
Prophet, was also a Whig, as was Mr. Browning, the eloquent
champion of the prisoner's cause on that occasion. These con-
siderations, it was thought, would be of sufficient weight to turn the
majority of the Saints in favor of Mr. Walker.

The Mormons, however, or the majority of them, stood by their
democratic principles, and cast their ballots for Mr. Hoge ; while a
minority, including the Prophet, being Whigs, voted for Mr. Walker.*
Hoge was elected by a majority in the district of 455 votes.

The Whigs were now angry again ; not only at the Mormons, for
failing to solidify in favor of Mr. Walker, but also at the Democrats,
for again accepting Mormon assistance.

It is not at all clear, however, that the Mormons were respon-
sible for the defeat of Mr. Walker at this election. Many of the
Whigs, being sincere anti-Mormons, were "highly indignant" at

* The Mormons in Adams County, being Whigs, voted at this election for Mr. 0. H.
Browning, the party candidate in that district.

208 HISTORY OF UTAH.

their candidate for defending the Prophet in the Reynolds and
Wilson affair.* It is not improbable, therefore, that the dissatisfied
ones repudiated him at the polls. Still it cannot be doubted that this
exhibition of anti-Mormon animus on the part of the Whigs was
not likely to attract Mormon votes, and it may have accounted in
part for the large majority rolled up at Nauvoo for the democratic
candidate.

Naturally the Whigs were angry, but they ought not to have
been surprised. After denouncing the Democrats for receiving on a
former occasion Mormon support, and filling their journals with
accounts of alleged Mormon atrocities at Nauvoo, they should have
been prepared for what awaited them. A little queer, too, that the
fox, having once pronounced the grapes sour, should make another
desperate attempt to taste them, and be angry because they were still
out of reach. It beats the original fable. But such is politics.

Jealousy of the political power of the Mormons was now much
enhanced. In August, several of them, chosen for county offices at
the late election, proceeded to Carthage, the county seat of Hancock,
to qualify. They were there threatened by an armed mob, led by
Constable Harmon T. Wilson, who swore that they should not be
installed. The Mormons, however, filed their bonds and took the
required oaths of office, while their opponents were deliberating
upon how best to prevent them.

The anti-Mormon party, which for some time had been discon-
tinued, was now reorganized, with " war to the knife " — figuratively
speaking — as its motto. Not altogether figurative, either, was that
motto, if what followed may be taken as a criterion. The party
pledged itself to assist Missouri in any future attempt that she might
make against the Mormon leader.

Nor was this all. Mobs began attacking and burning Mormon
houses outside Nauvoo, and even threatened to come against the city.
Governor Ford being appealed to for protection, answered much in

Gregg's History of Hancock County, page 295.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 209

the same vein as President Van Buren when visited by the Prophet
on a former occasion. "You must defend yourselves," was the
inference drawn from Ford's reply. The Nauvoo Legion was there-
fore held in constant readiness to repel any mobocratic assault that
might be made upon the city or the surrounding settlements.

210 HISTORY OF UTAH.

CHAPTER XIII.

1843-1844.

Celestial marriage — -why the mormons practiced polygamy — the prophet and the

politicians joseph smith a candidate for president of the united states his

platform of principles planning the western exodus the laws, fosters, and

higbees excommunicated the " expositor " abatement arrest of the mayor and

city council of nauvoo a gathering storm nauvoo under martial law

governor ford demands the surrender of the mormon leaders the prophet and

his friends start for the rocky mountains the return the surrender

carthage jail murder of the prophet and patriarch.

•L"HE question has probably occurred to the reader, was there
>r really any ground for the charges of immorality and licen-
tiousness hurled against the Mormon leaders by their
enemies, personal, political and ecclesiastical. What of John C.
Bennett's story to the effect that Joseph Smith sanctioned illicit rela-
tions between the sexes ? Was the tale true or false 1 We propose
to answer these queries.

First let us ask if it seems consistent, — except upon the theory
that the Mormon leaders were double-dyed hypocrites, arrant knaves,
who were wont to sacrifice on occasion one of their own number in
order to throw a halo of virtue around the rest, — that such men as
John C. Bennett, D. P. Hurlburt and others, expelled from the Mormon
Church for unchastity, would have been so expelled if unchastity had
been sanctioned by that Church or those leaders ? Again, where was
their cunning, that shrewdness for which their enemies gave them
credit, to have thus alienated from their cause for such a purpose —
their own preservation — men fully cognizant of their crimes ?

Reader, the Latter-day Saints, with all their faults — for they have
never pretended to be perfect — are a chaste and virtuous people. We
speak of course of the generality of them. There are black sheep in

HISTORY OF UTAH. 211

every fold. No community on earth values virtue more highly. They
require chastity in man, as well as in woman, and next in enormity
to murder, in their minds and according to their doctrines, are the
sins of seduction and adultery. Had they their way the adulterer
and the seducer, no less than the murderer, should answer for his
crime with his life. Those who do not know this, do not know the
Latter-day Saints, and they who state to the contrary simply state
what is not true.

Then why so much talk about Mormon immorality ? It springs,
aside from sheer falsehood, from this fact. The Mormons believed
in a doctrine called by them Celestial Marriage, but by others named
polygamy. Whatever may be thought of the propriety of the former
term, the latter, strictly speaking, is a misnomer. Polygamy means
"many marriages," and may imply a plurality of husbands as well
as wives. That a woman should have more than one husband,
living and undivorced at the same time, the Mormons have never
believed, but that a man, upright and moral, might under proper
regulations, and in conformity with religious principle, have more
than one wife, they have believed and in times past have practiced
according to that belief. Polygeny, meaning "many wives," and
not polygamy, which may mean "many husbands," is a more
correct term to use in this connection.

With the Mormons this was a religious principle, — a tenet of
their faith. They ceased its practice after nearly half a century's
observance, because of a manifesto issued by the President of their
Church, indicating as the will of the Lord that it should be dis-
continued. Congress had previously passed laws against plural
marriage, making it a crime, and the Supreme Court of the United
States had declared those laws constitutional. Not immediately,
however, did the Mormons cease the practice of polygamy. They
thought that Congress was wrong in thus legislating against their
religion ; that the Supreme Court was wrong, and might yet see its
error, as it did in the Dred Scott case, and reversing its former ruling
declare the anti-polygamy laws unconstitutional. But finally, after

212 HISTORY OF UTAH.

much suffering, resulting from prosecutions, fines, imprisonments
and some deaths, the manifesto was issued and the practice of Mor-
mon polygamy was at an end.

Many, perhaps most of the Latter-day Saints, still believe in the
plural-wife doctrine, — there being no law against their belief, — and
consider that the former practice of the principle was eminently
right and proper. Some, however, disbelieve the doctrine, while
crediting those who accepted and practiced it with perfect sincerity.
Only a small percentage of the Mormon people were ever practical
polygamists, for the observance of the principle was not compulsory.
But those who engaged in it — most of them at least — were actuated
by high moral and religious motives. This, however difficult for
some to believe, is nevertheless true. Their honesty of purpose was
not questioned by those who knew them best, in or out of the
Church. They proved their sincerity in many ways, suffering
much as individuals and as a community rather than relinquish,
even at the behest of the parent government, this tenet of their
faith.

They were wont to give various reasons for the practice of this
principle, among them the following: the right and privilege of
every honorable woman to be a wife and mother, which in monog-
amy, under existing conditions, preponderance of women over men,
disinclination of men to marry, etc., was virtually denied : the extir-
pation of the social evil; the production of a healthier posterity, and
the physical, mental and moral improvement of the race. These
were among the temporal or tangible reasons put forth. But they
also believed, and this was the spiritual phase of the question, that
those who faithfully obeyed this principle here would be exalted to the
highest glory hereafter, as the ancient patriarchs, Abraham, Jacob,
et al, and their plural wives had been. It was to the Latter-day
Saints the key to the Celestial Kingdom, where, according to their
faith, family relationships formed on earth according to divine law
will be perpetuated. Hence the revelation enjoining Celestial Mar-
riage was entitled : " Revelation on the Eternity of the Marriage

HISTORY OF UTAH. 213

Covenant including Plurality of Wives." The more pertinent parts
of it are here given :

Verily, thus saitb the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have
inquired of my hand, to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ; as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching
the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines:

Behold ! and lo, 1 am the Lord thy God, and will answer thee as touching this
matter :

Therefore, prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to
give unto you ; for all those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same ;

For behold ! I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant ; and if ye abide
not that covenant, then are ye damned ; for no one can reject this covenant, and be per-
mitted to enter into my glory ;

For all who will have a blessing at my hands, shall abide the law which was appointed
for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation
of the world :

And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the full-
ness of my glory ; and he that receiveth a fullness thereof, must and shall abide the law,
or he shall be damned, saitb the Lord God.

And verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these : — All covenants,
contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or
expectations, that are not made, and entered into, and sealed, by the Holy Spirit of
promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too
most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom
I have appointed on the earth to hold this power, (and I have appointed unto my servant
Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a
time, on whom this power and the keys of this Priesthood are conferred), are of no
efficacy, virtue or force, in and after the resurrection from the dead ; for all contracts that
are not made unto this end, have an end when men are dead.

Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me,
nor by my word; and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world, and she with
him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are
out of the world ; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the
world ;

Therefore, When they are out of the world, they neither many, nor are given ill
marriage : but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to
minister fur those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding and an eternal weighl
of glory ;

For these angels did mil abide my law. therefore they Cannot be enlarged, but remain
separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity, ami from
henceforth are not Gods, but are angels of God, lor ever ami ever.

And again, verily 1 say unto you. if a man marry a wife, and make a covenant With

214 HISTORY OF UTAH.

her for time and for all eternity, if that covenant is not by me, or by my word, which is my
law, and is not sealed by the holy spirit of promise, through him whom I have anointed
and appointed unto this power — then it is not valid, neither of force when they are out of
the world, because they are not joined by me, saith the Lord, neither by my word : when
they are out of the world, it cannot be received there, because the angels and the Gods
are appointed there ; by whom they cannot pass ; they cannot, therefore, inherit my glory,
for my house is a house of order, saith the Lord God.

And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my
law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy
Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power, and
the keys of this Priesthood ; and it shall be said unto them, ye shall come forth in the
first resurrection ; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection ;
and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all
heights and depths — then shall it be written in the Lamb's Book of Life, that he
shall commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, and if ye abide in my covenant,
and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all
things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity, and
shall be of full force when they are out of the world ; and they shall pass by the angels,
and the Gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been
sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fullness and a continuation of the seeds
for ever and ever.

Then shall they be Gods, because they have no end ; therefore shall they be from
everlasting to everlasting, because they continue ; then shall they be above all, because all
things are subject unto them. Then shall they be Gods, because they have all power, and
the angels are subject unto them.

*********

I am the Lord thy God, and will give unto thee the law of my Holy Priesthood, as
was ordained by me, and my Father, before the world was.

Abraham received all things, whatsoever he received, by revelation and command-
ment, by my word, saith the Lord, and hath entered into his exaltation, and sitteth upon
his throne.

Abraham received promises concerning his seed, and of the fruit of his loins — from
whose loins ye are, namely, my servant Joseph, — -which were to continue so long as they
were in the world ; and as touching Abraham and his seed, out of the world they should
continue ; both in the world and out of the world should they continue as innumerable as
the stars ; or, if ye were to count the sand upon the sea shore, ye could not number them.

This promise is yours, also, because ye are of Abraham, and the promise was made
mild Abraham ; and by this law are the continuation of the works of my Father, wherein
he glorifieth himself.

Go ye, therefore and do the works of Abraham ; enter ye into my law, and ye shall
be saved.

But if ye enter not into my law ye cannot receive the promise of my Father, which he
made unto Abraham.

God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife. Ami why

HISTORY OF UTAH. 215

did she do it ? Because this was the law, and from Hagar sprang many people. This,
therefore, was fulfilling, among other things, the promises.

Was Abraham, therefore, under condemnation ? Verily, I say unto you, Nay ; for I,
the Lord, commanded it.

Abraham was commanded to offer his son Isaac ; nevertheless, it was written, thou
shalt not kill. Abraham, however, did not refuse, and it was accounted unto him for
righteousness.

Abraham received concubines, and they bear him children, and it was accounted unto
him for righteousness, because they were given unto him, and he abode in my law, as
Isaac also, and Jacob did none other things than that which they were commanded ; and
because they did none other things than that which they were commanded, they have
entered into their exaltation, according to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not
angels, but are Gods.

David also received many wives and concubines, as also Solomon and Moses my
servants ; as also many others of my servants, from the beginning of creation until this
time ; and in nothing did they sin save in those things which they received not of me.

David's wives and concubines were given unto him, of me, by the hand of Nathan,
my servant, and others of the prophets who had the keys of this power ; and in none of
these things did he sin against me, save in the case of Uriah and his wife ; and, therefore
he hath fallen from his exaltation, and received his portion ; and he shall not inherit them
out of the world ; for I gave them unto another, saith the Lord.

I am the Lord thy God, and I gave unto thee, my servant Joseph, an appointment, and
restore all things ; ask what ye will, and it shall be given unto you according to my word:

And as ye have asked concerning adultery — verily, verily I say unto you, if a man
receiveth a wife in the new and everlasting covenant, and if she be with another man, and
I have not appointed unto her by the holy anointing, she hath committed adultery, and
shall be destroyed.

If she be not in the new and everlasting covenant, and she be with another man, she
has committed adultery ;

And if her husband be with another woman, and he was under a vow, he hath
broken his vow, and hath committed adultery.

And again, as pertaining to the law of the Priesthood: If any man espouse a virgin,
and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent ; and if he espouse the
second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man. then is he justified ; he
cannot commit adultery, for they are given unto him ; for he cannot commit adultery with
that that belongeth unto him and to no one else ;

And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for
they belong to him, and they are given unto him, therefore is he justified.

But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be witli another
man ; she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to
multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfill the promise
which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world; and for their exalta-
tion in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls ot men ; for herein is the work of
my Father continued, that he may be glorified.

216 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Prior to the recording of this revelation the Prophet had taught
the doctrine, privately, and he and other prominent Elders had
practiced it. But this also was in secret, owing to the great prejudice
it was foreseen it would evoke. It was not avowed, even to the
masses of the Saints, until after their removal from Illinois.

Such a doctrine as plurality of wives — the patriarchal marriage
system of the ancients — though practiced by an Abraham, a Jacob,
a Moses, a Gideon, could not well be mooted, much less established
in this monogamic age, without meeting opposition, even among the
Saints, prepared in a measure by their peculiar religious training for
startling innovations on the prescribed boundaries of tradition.
Hence, as said, the secrecy with which it. was at first carried on. It
would have proved a terrible weapon in anti-Mormon hands, had it
been openly proclaimed at Nauvoo in those dangerous days.

As it was, it became known to some extent on the outside
through apostasy, and of course was deemed and denounced as
immoral. John C. Bennett obtained an inkling of it before leaving
Nauvoo. and it doubtless formed the basis of his vengeful assault
upon those who had severed him from the Church for adultery,
which to the Latter-day Saint differs as much from plural marriage
as darkness differs from light. Other seceders from Mormonism.
who fell away later, revamped the tales told by Bennett, until they
became with other things a casus belli against the Prophet and his
people, and no doubt helped to hasten his tragic end.

The first record of the revelation on Celestial Marriage was
made by William Clayton, at the Prophet's dictation. It was on the
12th of July, 1843. A month later it was read by Hyrum Smith to
the Stake Presidency and the High Council at Nauvoo. The majority
of them accepted it. Emma Smith, the Prophet's wife, though at
first averse to the doctrine, finally received it and gave other wives to
her husband. Subsequently she is said to have destroyed the
original document of the revelation. She positively denied, after the
Prophet's death, that he had ever practiced polygamy. The revela-
tion, as published, is from an exact copy of the original, taken by

HISTORY OF UTAH. 217

Joseph G. Kingsbury for Bishop Newel K. Whitney, the day after it
was recorded by William Clayton, the Prophet's secretary.

Joseph Smith's mind was largely the mind of a statesman. He
had meditated much upon the political problems of his period, and
sincerely sorrowed over the corruptions and degeneracy of the times.
He thought, moreover, that he saw a way of escape from many of
the evils then threatening his country. One of these was the
slavery question, his plan for the solution of which, had it been
adopted, would have saved the nation a million lives, millions of
treasure and the terrible hatreds and heart-burnings that have ever
since divided, far more effectually than Mason and Dixon's line, the
North from the South. Joseph Smith's plan for the settlement of
slavery was for the general government to purchase from the South
their negroes and then liberate them.

During the winter of 1S43-4, the Prophet corresponded with
several eminent statesmen, such as Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun,
Lewis Cass, Richard M. Johnson and Martin Van Buren, who were
all known to be aspirants for the Presidency. Each was asked this
question: ''What will be your rule of action relative to us as a
people, should fortune favor your ascension to the Chief Magistracy?"
Clay and Calhoun were the only ones who replied. Their answers
being politic and evasive, the Prophet administered to each a stinging
reproof for what he deemed cowardice and lack of candor.

He also took to task, about this time, James Arlington Bennett,
of New York, who in a rather bombastic letter to the " American
Mohamet," had intimated his desire to become his " right-hand
man;" at the same time making known his desire to run for high
office in Illinois, and use the Mormon vote to lift himself into
power. Said the Prophet to Bennett : " Shall I who have
witnessed the visions of eternity, * * * who have
heard the voice of God, and communed with angels, * * *
shall I worm myself into a political hypocrite ? Shall I who hold
the keys of the last Kingdom * * * stoop from the
sublime authority of Almighty God to be handled as a monkey's

218 HISTORY OF UTAH.

catspaw, and pettify myself into a clown to act the farce of political
demagoguery ? No, verily no. * * * I combat the
errors of ages, I meet the violence of mobs, I cope with illegal pro-
ceedings from executive authority, I cut the Gordian knot of powers ;
and I solve mathematical problems of universities with truth —
diamond truth ; and God-is my ' right-hand man.' "

The next announcement from Nauvoo was to the political world
somewhat startling. It was the nomination of Joseph Smith, the
Mormon Prophet, as a candidate for the Presidency of the United
States. The nomination was made January 29th, 1844, and was
duly sustained at a State convention held at Nauvoo on the 17th of
May. This was followed by the public enunciation of Joseph Smith's
views upon the powers and policy of the Federal Government.
Therein he announced himself as favoring :

(1) The abolition of slavery, but upon the basis of a just
remuneration of all slave-holders by the general government.

(2) The reduction of the numbers and pay of Congressmen ;
the money thus saved, together with the proceeds from the sale of
public lands, to be used in reimbursing slave-holders for the negroes
freed.

(3) The abolition of imprisonment for debt, and of imprison-
ment for every crime excepting murder; work upon public
improvements to be made the penalty for larceny, burglary and like
felonies. "Let the penitentiaries.** said he. "be turned into
seminaries of learning."

(4) The abolition of the practice, in army or navy, of court-
martialing men for desertion. " If a soldier or marine runs away.
send him his wages, with this instruction, that his country will
never trust him again. * * * Make honor the standard
with all men."

(5) The investment of power in the President to send armies
to suppress mobs.

(6) The extension of the Union, with the consent of the red
man, from sea to sea.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 219

(7) The annexation of Texas, if she petitioned for it, and of
Canada and Mexico, whenever they should desire to enter the
Union.

Said the Prophet: "We have had Democratic presidents, Whig
presidents, a pseudo-Democratic-Whig president, and now it is time
to have a President of the United States." Such were the principal
planks of the platform upon which Joseph Smith as a candidate for
the Chief Magistracy went into the campaign of 1844. Henry Clay
was the Whig candidate, and James K. Polk the Democratic candi-
date for President at the same time.

To promulgate these views through the eastern states and act as
the Prophet's electioneered in the campaign, went forth from
Nauvoo, in April and May of that memorable year, Apostles Brigham
Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt,
Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Lyman Wight and many other
Elders. Joseph kept with him his brother Hyrum and Apostles
John Taylor and Willard Richards ; Elder Taylor having succeeded
the Prophet as editor of the Times and Seasons, and Willard Richards
being Church historian. Sidney Rigdon. at this time, was living at
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, having lost faith in Mormonism, or at least
in Joseph Smith, and retired from the troubles and turmoils of
Nauvoo. William and Wilson Law with several other Elders had
lately been severed from the Church and were now at the head of a
local opposition movement designed for the Prophet's overthrow.

It may well be doubted that Joseph Smith, on entering the polit-
ical arena as a presidential candidate, anticipated a successful issue of
the campaign. Though his views in some places became very popu-
lar,— which we presume was his main object in running for the
Presidency, — his thoughts at that time, judging from his acts and
expressions, were dwelling upon another subject entirely. That sub-
ject was the exodus of the Saints to the west, — an event he had
predicted in August, 1842, and a project which various notable
personages, friendly to him and his people, had since advised him to
carry into effect. Undoubtedly he would have done so had he lived,

220 HISTORY OF UTAH.

in which event Joseph Smith, in lieu of Brigham Young, would
have been the founder of Utah.

In February, 1844, soon after his nomination for President, the
Prophet had directed the organization of an exploring expedition to
seek out a home for the Saints beyond the Rocky Mountains, — in
California or Oregon. Among the men selected for this enterprise
were Jonathan Dunham, Phineas H. Young, David D. Yearsley,
David Fullmer, Alphonso Young, James Emmett, George D. Watt
and Daniel Spencer. These formed the nucleus of the proposed
expedition, to which volunteers were subsequently added. Says
Samuel W. Richards, one of these volunteers : " The outfit for
each man was to consist of a rifle and ammunition, a saddle-horse, a
pack-horse, with a few provisions and cooking utensils, and for the
rest of our support we were to kill game on the way. Each man
was to have in his pocket five hundred dollars, to purchase lands for
our people a home whenever we should find a place suitable. Our
party was thoroughly organized, but never started from Nauvoo."

In March, Joseph Smith memorialized Congress and the President
— John Tyler — relative to the passage of an act, drafted by himself,
providing for the protection of American citizens " wishing to settle
Oregon and other portions of the territory of the United States;
also for the protection of the people of Texas against Mexico. He
asked for the privilege of raising one hundred thousand men for
these purposes.

Oregon at that time, it must be remembered, though rightfully
possessed by the United States, was also claimed by Great Britain,
and was jointly occupied by American settlers and British fur
traders, pending final diplomatic settlement between the two
countries. Oregon then included Washington, Idaho and portions of
Montana and Wyoming. To the south were the Mexican provinces
of California and New Mexico; California comprising Utah. Nevada
and portions of Wyoming and Colorado, while Xew Mexico took in
Arizona. Texas, formerly a part of Mexico, but now independent,
was soon to be annexed to the United States, — the Democrats, who

HISTORY OF UTAH. 221

were about returning to power, having made that the issue of the
presidential campaign. The annexation was much against Mexico's
wish, and she threatened to regard it as equivalent .to a declaration
of war.

Such was the situation at the time that Joseph Smith sent his
memorials to Washington : Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt being the
bearers of the same to the nation's capital. From Apostle Hyde's
reports to the Prophet in April, we excerpt the following:

"Judge Douglas has been quite ill, but is just recovered. He
will help all he can ; Mr. Hardin likewise. But Major Semple says
he does not believe anything will be done about Texas or Oregon this
session. * * * Congress * * is afraid of England,
afraid of Mexico, afraid the Presidential election will be twisted by
it. * * * The most of the settlers in Oregon and Texas
are our old enemies, the mobocrats of Missouri. * * *
Your superior wisdom must determine whether to go to Oregon, to
Texas, or to remain in these United States."

Later: "We have this day (April 26th) had a long conversation
with Judge Douglas. 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.' "

Thus we see that while the campaign for the Presidency gave the
Prophet an excellent opportunity to present his political views to the
nation, it was the contemplated exodus of his people to the Rocky
Mountains that mostly occupied his thoughts. Said he, soon after
the departure of the Apostles on their political mission : " 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."

That Legion he doubtless designed as the nucleus of his army
of one hundred thousand. At its head Joseph Smith, had he lived,

222 HISTORY OF UTAH.

would have moved westward to maintain the rights of his country
against Great Britain and Mexico, and found another State for the
Union in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. Fate, however, inter-
posed at this juncture, not to defeat the design, which was eventually
executed, but to change, as in the case of Moses and Joshua, the
personality of the executor.

We come now to the last act in the drama, preceding the fulfill-
ment of the Prophet's design. The winter of 1843-4 had witnessed
the defection from Mormonism of several persons who for some years
had been more or less prominent in its history. Among these, were
William and Wilson Law, already mentioned. This twain were
brothers. They were of Irish descent and natives of Mercer County,
Pennsylvania. Francis M. and Chauncey L. Higbee, sons of Judge
Elias Higbee, were numbered with the seceders, as were also
Robert D. and Charles A. Foster. All or most of these had been
excommunicated from the Church for dishonesty and immorality.
They set up a church of their own, with William Law as its
head, denounced Joseph Smith as " a fallen prophet," and proceeded
to inaugurate another crusade against him. In secret sympathy with
these men were Sidney Rigdon, William Marks and Austin A. Cowles.

Upon the testimony of William Law and others, Joseph Smith
was indicted at Carthage for polygamy, in the latter part of May.
He surrendered himself for trial, but the prosecution not being ready
to proceed, the case was continued for the term. Charles Foster,
temporarily friendly, disclosed to Joseph a plot of the seceders to
murder him while at Carthage, which kindly service enabled him to
baffle the conspirators and return to Nauvoo in safety.

But the design of the opposition was not merely to assail the
Prophet. Nauvoo and its citizens generally were to be the objects of
attack. To this end a paper was established there called the Naitcoo
Expositor, of which the Laws, Fosters and Higbees with one Charles
Ivins were the publishers, and Sylvester Emmons the editor.
Emmons was a non-Mormon member of the City Council. One of
the purposes of the Expositor, as announced in its prospectus issued

HISTORY OF UTAH. 223

May 10th, 1844, was to advocate " the unconditional repeal of
the Nauvoo City charter," efforts to which end had already been
made in the Illinois Legislature. Its further design, as appeared
later, was to libel and defame the leading Mormon citizens of
Nauvoo, — possibly to incite mobocratic assaults upon the city. At
all events such was the view taken by many citizens as to its purpose
and policy.

The first and final number of the Nauvoo Expositor, reeking
with filthy scandals, was issued on the 7th of June. Public indigna-
tion was at once aroused. Decency was shocked. Modesty had
been made to blush. Potent to the people of Nauvoo as were such
considerations, they were but secondary compared with the deep
and deadly injury that was sought to be done the city. Mobs,
incited by anti-Mormon politicians, — more than ever incensed at
what they deemed the towering presumption of the Mormon leader
in running for the Presidency, — were already threatening Nauvoo,
and such scandalous reports, if accepted as true, might precipitate at
any hour an attack upon the town. Such a fear was far from
groundless to men and women upon whose minds were indelibly
stamped the terrible memories of Far West and Haun's Mill. Besides,
the charter of the city, the bulwark of their rights and liberties, was
assailed. That swept away, and what evils might not follow, what
vices flourish unchecked, in the midst of their peaceable, temperate
and, for all that was said to the contrary, moral and virtuous com-
munity.

Such was the Mormon view of the situation. Yet not the
Saints alone, but respectable people of all parties felt outraged.
There were those who longed to take the law into their own hands,
and raze the Expositor building to the ground.

The Mormon leaders, however, would not sanction mobocracy.
They had suffered too much from it themselves to countenance it in
their followers. Legal measures, in lieu of lawless force, were
therefore employed against the Expositor. The City Council of
Nauvoo convened in regular session on Saturday the 8th of June,

224 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Mayor Joseph Smith presiding, and an adjourned session was held on
Monday, the 10th. The character, aims and objects of the libelous
sheet and its publishers were fully ventilated. Among those who
spoke to the question were the Mayor, Aldermen George W. Harris,
Samuel Bennett, Elias Smith, Stephen Markham, Orson Spencer,
and Councilors Hyrum Smith, John Taylor, William W. Phelps,
Edward Hunter, Levi and Phinehas Richards and Benjamin Warring-
ton. Willard Richards was clerk of the Council. By an almost
unanimous vote, — Councilor Warrington, a non-Mormon, alone
dissenting, — the Nauvoo Expositor was declared a public nuisance,
and the Mayor instructed to have it abated without delay. Councilor
Warrington, it should be added, only opposed summary action. He
considered the paper libelous, and was in favor of heavily fining its
publishers. On the night of June 10th, by order of the Mayor, City
Marshal John P. Greene and a force of police destroyed the printing
press, pied the type, and burned the published sheets of the Expositor
found upon its premises, in the streets of Nauvoo. The leaders of
the opposition party immediately left the city.

On the 12th of June Constable David Bettisworth came from
Carthage to Nauvoo and arrested on a charge of riot the following
named persons : Joseph Smith, Samuel Bennett, John Taylor, William
W. Phelps, Hyrum Smith, John P. Greene, Stephen Perry, Dimick B.
Huntington, Jonathan Dunham, Stephen Markham, William Edwards,
Jonathan Harmon, Jesse P. Harmon, John Lytle, Joseph W. Coolidge,
Harvey D. Bedfield, 0. P. Rockwell and Levi Richards. The com-
plaint was sworn to by Francis M. Higbee, and referred to the
abatement of the Nauvoo Expositor.

The warrant required that the accused be brought before Justice
Thomas Morrison, at Carthage, "or some other justice of the peace"
in Hancock County. Taking advantage of this wording of the
warrant they requested the privilege of going before one of the
justices of Nauvoo. The constable, however, insisted on taking them
to Carthage. They thereupon sued out writs of habeas corpus and
were discharged, after a hearing, by the Municipal Court of Nauvoo.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 225

Subsequently, at the advice of Judge Jesse B. Thomas, who was
visiting the city, Mayor Smith and his friends went before Justice
Daniel H. Wells, who was still a non-Mormon, and were again
examined and discharged ; it appearing that their course in relation
to the Expositor, while summary, was strictly legal under the
charter and ordinances of Nauvoo.

The same day — June 16th — Mayor Smith issued a proclamation,
stating why the act of abatement had been deemed necessary and de-
claring that the city authorities were willing to appear, whenever the
Governor should require it, before any high .court in the State and
answer for the correctness of their conduct. He also warned the
lawless element, now reported to be gathering against Nauvoo, not to
be precipitate in interfering with the affairs of that city. Governor
Ford had previously been informed of the situation in detail, but no
reply had been received from him.

The excitement caused by the abatement of the Expositor and
the unwillingness of the Mormon leaders to be tried at Carthage, was
intense. Armed men were now taking the field in deadly earnest.
Carthage and Warsaw, the neighboring towns to Nauvoo, wore the
aspect of military camps. Troops were training daily for the pending
conflict. Fifteen hundred Missourians were reported to have joined
the Warsaw forces, and five pieces of cannon and a supply of small
arms had been forwarded to that point from Quincy and other places.
The Warsaw Signal, edited by Thomas C. Sharp, was active in stirring
up the spirit of mobocracy. It even advocated the massacre of the
whole Mormon community. * The following is a sample of the
mobocratic resolutions passed at Warsaw, published in the Signal.
and afterwards adopted at Carthage by acclamation :

* Says Gregg's History of Hancock County : "There were at this time and even after-
ward while the Mormons remained, four classes of citizens in the county: 1. The
Mormons themselves. 2. A class called Jack-Mormons. * * * 3. Old citizens
who were anti-Mormons at heart, but who refused to countenance any but lawful
measures for redress of grievances ; and 4. Anti-Mormons who, now that the crisis had
come, advocated : war and extermination.' "

226 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Resolved that the time, in our opinion, has arrived, when the adherents of Smith, as
a body, should be driven from the surrounding settlements into Nauvoo. That the Prophet
and his miscreant adherents should then be demanded at their hands, and if not surren-
dered a war of extermination should be waged to their entire destruction, if necessary for
our protection.

The situation at Nauvoo was fast becoming serious. It was now
the 18th of June, and no word had yet come from the Governor.
Mobocratic threats were daily growing louder. Seeing no alternative,
unless it were to quietly submit to the threatened assault and
massacre, the Prophet, in his capacity of Mayor, now called out the
Legion to defend the city, and proclaimed Nauvoo under martial
law.*

" Will you stand by me,*' said he, as clothed in full uniform of
Lieutenant-General of the Legion, he addressed his soldiers and
fellow-citizens for the last time, — " Will you stand by me to the
death, and sustain at the peril of your lives the laws of our country,
and the liberties and privileges which our fathers have transmitted to
us, sealed with their sacred blood ? (" Aye," shouted thousands.)
It is well. If you had not done it. I would have gone out there
(pointing to the West) and would have raised up a mightier people.
* * * (Drawing his sword and presenting it to heaven) " I call
God and angels to witness that I have unsheathed my sword with a
firm and unalterable determination that this people shall have their
legal rights, and be protected from mob violence, or my blood shall be
spilt upon the ground like water, and my body consigned to the silent
tomb. While I live I will never tamely submit to the dominion of
cursed mobocracy. * * * I do not regard my own life. I am
ready to be offered a sacrifice for this people. * * * God has

* Governor Ford, in after years, wrote as follows regarding the designs of the mob
upon Nauvoo : " I gradually learned, to my entire satisfaction, that there was a plan to
get the troops into Nauvoo and then begin the war, probably by some of our own party,
or some of the seceding Mormons, taking advantage of the night to fire on our own force
and then laying it on the Mormons. 1 was satisfied there were those among us fully
capable of such an act, hoping that in the alarm, bustle and confusion of a militia camp
the truth could aoi be discovered, and that it might lead to the desired collision."

HISTORY OF UTAH. 227

tried you. You are a good people ; therefore I love you with all my
heart. * * * You have stood by me in the hour of trouble,
and I am willing to sacrifice my life for your preservation.''

This was not the first time that the Prophet had predicted his
own death. He felt that his enemies were thirsting for his blood,
and that if once he fell into their power his days on earth were
numbered. Neither, as seen, was it the first time that he had
indicated the great West as the future home of his people. On the
20th of June he wrote for the immediate return of the absent
Apostles.

Next day Governor Ford arrived at Carthage. Placing himself
at the head of the troops there concentrated, — hitherto an armed
mob, but now, by his act, transformed into regular militia, the
Governor demanded that martial law at Nauvoo be abolished, and
that the Mayor, the City Council and all persons concerned in the
destruction of the Expositor press come to Carthage to be tried for
riot.

The Governor's orders were obeyed. For a few hours only
the Prophet hesitated. Life was still dear to him ; if not for himself
for the sake of his friends and family. On the night of the 22nd he
crossed the Mississippi, and in company with his brother Hyrum,
Apostles Richards, Taylor and a few other friends, started for the
Rocky Mountains. Messages from home intercepted him, inducing
him to reconsider his design, and he returned to meet his doom.
"We are going back to be butchered," said he, and resigned himself
to his fate.

Having delivered up, at the Governor's demand, the arms of the
Nauvoo Legion, the Prophet and his friends, seventeen in number, on
the evening of the 24th set out for Carthage.

It was about midnight when they arrived there. Though so
late, the town was alive and stirring, in anticipation of their arrival.
They were immediately surrounded with troops, who yelled their
exultation at having them in their power. Some of the soldiers —
notably the Carthage Greys — were very abusive and threatened to

228 HISTORY OF UTAH.

shoot the Prophet and his party, who were thus voluntarily surren-
dering themselves. Governor Ford pacified the would-be murderers
and the threatened massacre was postponed.

Next day the Governor paraded the prisoners before the troops
upon the public square, where the two principals were introduced as
" Generals Joseph and Hyrum Smith." At this the Carthage Greys
again became angry and violent, deeming too much honor was being

done " the d d Mormons" by bestowing upon them such titles.

Soon afterward the Greys revolted against their commander, General
Miner R. Deming, who, fearing his own assassination, left Carthage.*
Again the Governor placated the hostiles by assuring them that they
should have " full satisfaction," while to the prisoners he pledged his
honor and the faith of the State of Illinois that they should be pro-
tected from violence and given a fair trial.

Before Justice Robert F. Smith, a captain in the Carthage
Greys, the Prophet and his party were brought that afternoon and
admitted to bail. Meanwhile Joseph and Hyrum Smith had been
arrested for treason. This charge was based upon the calling out of
the Legion and the placing of Nauvoo under martial law, proceedings
construed into armed resistance to legal process. Nothing was done
in this case until nightfall, when the accused, without a hearing,
were thrust into Carthage jail by Justice Smith, now acting arbi-
trarily in his capacity of Captain of the Greys. Governor Ford sanc-
tioned this illegal act, claiming afterwards that it was necessary
for the safety of the prisoners, though the latter at the time
protested against the incarceration. John Taylor, Willard Richards
and a few other friends accompanied Joseph and Hyrum to prison.

It was the beginning of the end. The plot was fast consummat-
ing. Once more, and only once, did the two brothers emerge from
that jail alive. Their doom was sealed. "The law cannot reach
them." said their plotting murderers, "but powder and ball shall."

* General Deming is said to have suspected the murderous plot against the Mormon
leaders, and being powerless to prevent its execution, determined to have nothing to do
with I he blood; deed.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 229

Governor Ford, next morning, granted an interview to the
Prophet, coming to the prison for that purpose. Colonel Geddes and
others accompanied him. During their conversation the Prophet
charged the Governor with knowing positively that he and his
brother were innocent of treason, and that their enemies had begun
the troubles which had culminated in the present situation. * He also
claimed that Ford had advised him to use the Legion in the way that
he had, in the event of a threatened mobocratic assault uponNauvoo.
As to the Expositor affair, the Prophet said that he was willing to be
tried again, and if found guilty to make suitable reparation. That
was a matter, he maintained, for courts to decide, and not for mobs
to settle. Such was the main substance of the interview. The Gov-
ernor, at parting, renewed his promise that the prisoners should be
protected, and pledged his word that if he went to Nauvoo — as he
contemplated doing — he would take Joseph with him. Both promises
were unkept.f

In the afternoon the two brothers were arraigned before Justice
Smith at the Court House on the charge of treason. They asked
for time to obtain witnesses. The request was reluctantly granted,
and the court was adjourned until noon next day, to enable the pris-
oners to send to Nauvoo — eighteen miles distant — for their witnesses.
Subsequently the military justice, without notifying the prisoners,
postponed the trial until the 29th of June.

The last night of the brothers Joseph and Hyrum on earth was

* Ford in his history thus disposes of this question of the alleged treason of the Mor-
mon leaders : " Their actual guiltiness of the charge would depend upon circumstances.
If their opponents had been seeking to put the law in force in good faith, and nothing more,
then in array of military force in open resistance to the posse comitates and the militia of
the state, mosl probably would have amounted to treason. But if those opponents merely
intended to Use the powers of the law. the militia of the state, and the posse comitatus as
cats"-paws to compass the possession of their persons for the purpose of murdering them
afterwards, as the sequel demonstrated the fact to he. it might well he doubted whether
they were guilty of. treason."

f Governor Ford, who seems to have deferred utterly to his subordinates and tlie anti-
Mormons at thai time, tailed in lake tin- Prophet in Nauvoo because a council of his offi-
cers convinced him that il "would lie highly inexpedient and dangerous."

230 HISTORY OF UTAH.

shared with their friends John Taylor, Willard Richards, John S.
Fullmer, Stephen Markham and Dan Jones. They occupied an
up-stair room in the prison. Next day — the fatal 27th — Fullmer,
Markham and Jones were excluded from the jail, and the four vic-
tims selected for the sacrifice were left alone. They cheered each
other with sacred songs and by preaching in turn to their guards.
Some of these were "pricked in their hearts," being convinced that
the prisoners were innocent. Their feelings becoming known to
their superiors, they were promptly relieved and men of sterner stuff
put in their place. During the day Cyrus H. Wheelock was permitted
to visit the prisoners. Before he left he managed secretly to slip a
small pepper-box revolver into Joseph's pocket. This weapon, which
belonged to John Taylor, and a single-barreled pistol left by John S.
Fullmer, with two stout canes, were their sole means of defense
against the horde of armed assassins that soon afterward descended
upon the jail.

Governor Ford, that morning, regardless of his pledge, had
gone to Nauvoo, leaving the Prophet, whom he had promised to take
with him, in prison. He had done more. Disbanding most of the
militia, he had taken with him the McDonough County troops. — of
all the militia the best ordered and least vindictive against the Mor-
mons,— and left the unruly and turbulent Carthage Greys, who had
revolted against their own commander, and repeatedly threatened
the lives of the prisoners, to guard the jail. Colonel Buckmaster,
one of the officers who accompanied the Governor to Nauvoo,
informed his Excellency of the threats that had been made against
the prisoners, and expressed a suspicion that the jail might be
attacked in their absence. But Ford seemed to have implicit confi-
dence in the Carthage troops, and refused to believe that they would
betray their trust. He had previously ignored similar warnings from
the Prophet's friends at Carthage. " I could not believe," said he,
"that anyone would attack the jail whilst we were in Nauvoo. and
thereby expose my life and the lives of my companions to the sudden
vengeance of the Mormons, upon hearing of the death of their

232 HISTORY OF UTAH.

was attempted. Vengeance was left to heaven, — to heaven indeed :
for of that band of murderers who committed the crime, and that
other band, equally guilty, who set them on, not one was ever
brought to justice.

The clay after the tragedy the bodies of the murdered brothers,
accompanied by Willard Richards and Samuel H. Smith, were taken
to Nauvoo for burial. John Taylor remained several days at Carthage,
— too seriously wounded to admit of his immediate removal.

Of the absent Apostles, Parley P. Pratt was the first to return to
Nauvoo. George A. Smith came next. Sidney Rigdon arrived a
little later from Pittsburg. Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball,
Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff and Lyman Wight, who
were in the Eastern States when the terrible tidings reached them,
returned to Nauvoo on the 6th of August, forty days after the
massacre.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 233

CHAPTER XIV.

18-44-1845.

Srigham Young succeeds Joseph smith — the max for the hour — Sidney rigdon rejected

and excommunicated factions and f0ll0wings the prophet's murder proves an

impetus to mormonism the crusade renewed the apostles driven into retire-
ment the " bogus brigham*' arrest — repeal of the nauvoo charter josiah

lamborn's opinion of the repeal governor ford advises a mormon exodus

the prophet's murderers acquitted the anti-mormons change their tactics—

the torch of the incendiary in lieu of the writ of arrest sheriff backenstos

the mobocrats worsted and put to flight governor ford interposes to restore

order general hardin and the commissioners the mormons agree to leave

illinois.

iRIGHAM YOUNG succeeded Joseph Smith as leader of the
Latter-day Saints. Sidney Rigdon claimed the leadership. It
was to secure it that he came from Pittsburg on learning of the
Prophet's death. Being his first counselor in the Presidency, —
though Joseph, distrusting his fidelity, had long since virtually cast
him off, — Elder Rigdon believed, or affected to believe, that this
entitled him to the succession. A small faction of the Saints felt
likewise.

But the hearts of the people, as a rule, were not with Sidney.
Though an eloquent orator, he was not a leader. — at least not such a
leader as the Saints now required; a man to grapple with great emer-
gencies. He had shown too plainly of late years the white feather,
to insure him the full confidence of his people at this critical point
in their history. Besides, Sidney's claim, though plausible, was not
valid according to Church polity. The First Presidency to which ho
had belonged was no more. Death had dissolved that council. The
Prophet in life had taught that "where he was not there was no First
Presidency over the Twelve.'" Next in order stood the Twelve — the

234 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Apostles — with Brigham Young as their President. Instinctively the
people turned to Brigham, for they loved and trusted him, and by
that "right divine," no less than of seniority and succession in the
Priesthood, he became their President and spiritual guide.

Sidney Rigdon, after his rejection by the Saints, returned to
Pittsburg. Soon afterward he was excommunicated. William
Marks, William Smith, James J. Strang and others followed, being
severed from the Church, some for immorality, others for refusing
like Elder Rigdon to recognize the authority of the Apostles. Each
prominent seceder had a limited following. There were Rigdonites,
Smithites, Strangites, and later, Cutlerites, Millerites and Josephites.
The last-named were followers of the Prophet's son "young Joseph."
This sect, which still exists, and calls itself the "Reorganized Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," did not spring into existence
until many years later, and was then organized out of the remnants
of the earlier factions. But the main body of the Nauvoo Saints
adhered to Brigham and the Twelve.

The chief Apostle was now in his forty-fourth year, — in the full,
ripe vigor of his mental and physical powers. Though his life, like
those of most of his brethren, had been one of toil and trial, and
sickness, resulting from hardship and exposure, had more than once
preyed upon his matured and well-knit frame, still he was a man of
iron mould, and of no less iron will, whose practical wisdom and
temperate habits had perpetuated in him the strength and vitality
of youth, and carried forward a reserve fund of energy into his
prime. His mind, a master mind, far-sighted, keen, profound, born
to direct, to counsel and command, was therefore fittingly enshrined.
Nature had made him great. Experience had educated that great-
ness. Trials and afflictions to which weaker men had succumbed,
had but developed this son of destiny and brought him to his plane
and place.

He was unquestionably the man for the hour, — an hour big with
events, whose birth would yet astonish the world. His colleagues,
the Apostles, and the Saints in general regarded him as their divinely

HISTORY OF UTAH. 235

appointed leader, — quite as much so as the martyred Joseph before
him. The exodus from Missouri, which he personally directed, and
his subsequent management of the affairs of the British Mission, had
shown something of his capacity and executive ability, but it
remained for the exodus of his people to the Rocky Mountains, and
the colonization of the great interior Basin, to fully demonstrate his
rare genius as a leader and an organizer. A notable character in
life's grand tragedy, one bloody scene of which had so lately closed,
waiting at the wing he had caught his cue, and the stirring stage of
Time was now ready for his advent.

The special meeting of the Saints, at which the claim of the
Apostles to lead the Church had been recognized, and that of Elder
Rigdon rejected, was held on the 8th of August, 1844. The same
month witnessed the election of Brigham Young as Lieutenant-
General of the Nauvoo Legion. Charles C. Rich was chosen Major-
General. Amasa M. Lyman, previously ordained an Apostle, was
admitted into the council of the Twelve, and that body then addressed
an epistle to the Latter-day Saints in all the world, giving such advice
and instruction as their situation and the times demanded. Wilford
Woodruff was sent to Great Britain to preside over that important
mission. With him went Elder Dan Jones, destined to head a very
successful missionary movement in Wales. Parley P. Pratt was
given charge of Church affairs in the Eastern States, and other
Elders, besides many already in the field, were going forth to various
parts of the Union. Among those now rising to prominence was
Franklin D. Richards, the present Apostle and Church Historian.

Mormonism, its opponents discovered, was not dead, though the
Church had sustained a heavy shock in the death of its Prophet and
Patriarch. " The blood of the martyrs" is proverbially "the seed of
the Church." The present case proved no exception. The murder
of Joseph and Hyrum Smith undoubtedly gave a strong impetus to
Mormonism. Short-sighted indeed the wisdom (?) which thought it
would do otherwise.

Immigration continued arriving at Nauvoo, where the Saints,

236 HISTORY OF UTAH.

under the direction of the Apostles, now hurried on the completion of
the Temple. The exodus predicted and in a measure prepared for by
their Prophet, was foreseen to be imminent, and it was their desire
to finish this edifice, — another monument of religious zeal and self-
sacrificing industry, — before taking up the cross of another painful
pilgrimage and journeying toward the setting sun.

The anti-Mormons, their ranks now augmented by apostates,
seemed bent upon compelling an early exodus. To this end they
continued their former policy of trumping up charges against the
chiefs of the Church. A murder, a theft, or any other crime, — and
such things were frequent in that all but frontier region, — committed
at or in the vicinity of Nauvoo, was at once laid to the Mormon
leaders as principals or accessories, and forthwith the town would be
inundated with sheriffs, constables and their posses, armed with writs
of arrest, searching for the suspects. That some of these crimes
were committed by citizens of Nauvoo is cmite probable. But that all
the stealing and killing in that region, or even the greater part of it
was done by them, cannot be reasonably supposed, in spite of the
aAvful examples set them.

Brigham and his brethren, with the memory of the murdered
Joseph and Hyrum ever before them, — their Prophet and Patriarch,
butchered in cold blood while in prison under the pledged protection
of the State of Illinois, — determined not to be similarly ensnared.
Instead of surrendering to the officers, therefore, they secreted them-
selves whenever apprised of their approach, only to reappear when
they had departed and all danger was over. The celebrated "bogus
Brigham" arrest occurred during this period. The Apostles and
other Elders were at the Temple, then nearing completion, when
some officers came to the door with a warrant for the arrest of
Brigham Young. William Miller, who resembled the President,
throwing on Heber C. Kimball's cloak — similar in size and color to
Brigham's — crossed the threshold and mutely surrendered to the
officers, who, thinking they had secured their man, drove away with
him to Carthage. The ruse was not discovered until they reached

*

238 HISTORY OF UTAH.

his position the Senate would afford no protection, but he would be
dragged forth to gaol or the gallows, or be shot down by a cowardly
and brutal mob.'"

In April following, the Saints in general conference, attended by
many thousands of people, voted to change the name Nauvoo to the
City of Joseph, in honor of their martyred Prophet. A small portion
of the city was afterwards incorporated as the town of Nauvoo.

Governor Ford, on the 8th of April, wrote to President Young,
advising him to migrate with his people to California. In this letter
the following passages occur:

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 will-
ing 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 lias been undertaken in modern times. It is but sparsely inhabited, and
by none but the Indians 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 that vacant country, and
establish an independent Government of your own, subject only to the laws of nations ?
You would remain there a long time before you would be disturbed by the proximity of
other settlements. 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 emigration. If
once you cross the line of the United States Territories, you would be in no danger of
being interfered with."

Brigham Young, however, had already decided upon his course.
It was in this, as in all else pertaining to the general conduct of
Mormonism, to follow in the footsteps and build upon the foundation
of his predecessor. Never, it is believed, during his entire adminis-
tration did the President knowingly deviate from this fixed rule. It
was one of the secrets of his great influence with the Saints. Let
not lack of originality be imputed to him, however, because of this
deference to the designs of the Prophet. Brigham believed Joseph to

HISTORY OF UTAH. 239

be inspired. He recognized the worth and wisdom of his plans, and
his own genius and originality found ample play in their execution.
As a designer Joseph Smith was without a peer among his fellows ;
as an executor Brigham Young without a parallel. Each was the
other's complement, and neither career alone, in the eternal fitness
of things would have been complete.

The Rocky Mountains was the place of refuge that Joseph had fore-
told. California, Texas, Oregon were but after-thoughts, vague and
undetermined. To the Piocky Mountains, therefore, the Saints would
go, — possibly pass beyond, — but precisely how far into that terra
incognita, that unknown wilderness they might penetrate, they knew
not, not even their leaders knew. [It is a fact, however, that the
region of the Great Basin, of which they had read in Colonel
Fremont's reports, was in their thoughts, though not as a definite
destination, when contemplating a removal from Illinois.*

It was not their destiny to colonize and people the Pacific coast;
though undoubtedly they did much to hasten that great achievement.
If not the first American settlers of California, they were the first to
establish there a newspaper, among the first to turn up gold with their
shovels at Sutter's Mill, and set agog the excitement which rolled, a
mighty billow, over the civilized world, and staid not nor subsided
till it had revolutionized the commerce of two hemispheres. If not
the very point, therefore, they certainly were, as we shall see, a very
important part of the entering wedge of western civilization.

Nor was it their design, in moving westward, to set up an
independent government, — at least not in the sense that Governor
Ford and Senator Douglas had suggested. Not knowing where they
were going or what awaited them, whether the Union spreading

* The following is an extract from Heber C. Kimball's journal : " Nauvoo Temple,
December 31st, 1845. Prest. Young and myself are superintending the operations of the
day, examining maps with reference to selecting a location for the Saints west of the Rocky
Mountains, and reading the various works which have been written and published by
travelers in those regions."

Vancouver's Island was suggested to the Mormons about this time as a suitable place
for them to settle.

240 HISTORY OF UTAH.

westward would overtake them, or Mexican or British rule be their
portion, how could they have formed any such definite design? It
was certainly not their purpose to alienate themselves from that
government which their forefathers had fought and bled to establish,
whose starry standard they revered, whose glorious Constitution
they believed to have been God-inspired. No ; they were Mormons,
hated, despised, defamed, but still Americans, loyal to their country
and her cause: though that country now, they could not help but feel,
was acting the part of a cold step-mother rather than of a tender
parent to them. Some day, perchance, their countrymen would
know them better, and for past contempt and cruelty would make
amends. Perhaps they felt, as felt the poet, — "pilgrim of eternity."*

;' But I have lived, and have not lived in vain :
My mind may lose its force, my blood its fire,

And my frame perish even in conquering pain ;
But there is that within me which shall tire
Torture and time, and breathe when I expire ;

Something unearthly, which they deem not of,
Like the remembered tone of a mute lyre,

Shall on their softened spirits sink, and move

In hearts all rocky now the late remorse of love."

Till then, as pilgrims too — pilgrims of time and of eternity —
they would retire into the wilderness, taking with them the starry
flag, the traditions of Bunker Hill and Yorktown, and seeking some
isolated spot behind the rocky ramparts of the Everlasting Hills,
found a new state for the Union, foreseen to be spreading from sea to
sea, and patiently wait the fulfillment of what had been predicted, —
that the Saints should become a mighty people in the midst of the
Rocky Mountains.

Before expatriating themselves, they resolved to make a last
appeal to the country which they felt was casting them forth. To
this end they addressed a memorial to the President of the United
States — James K. Polk — and sent copies of the same to the Governors

* The poet Shelley so styled Lord Byron.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 241

of all the States, excepting Missouri and Illinois. This memorial ran
as follows :

Nauvoo, April, 24th, 1845.
His Excellency James K. Polk, President of the United States.

Hon. Sir: Suffer us, in behalf of a disfranchised and long afflicted people, to prefer a
few suggestions for your serious consideration, in hope of a friendly and unequivocal
response, at as early a period as may suit your convenience, 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 pre-
side, 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 authori-
ties 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 expulsion 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 perpetual succession, under whose provision private
rights have become invested, and the largest city in the State has grown up, numbering
about twenty thousand inhabitants.

But, sir, the startling attitude recently assumed by the State of Illinois, forbids 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 pro-
tection and safety. As a salve for such unearthly perfidy and guilt, she told us, through
her highest executive officers, 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 sheriff 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.

To crown the climax of those bloody deeds, the State has repealed those chartered
rights, by which we 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 In 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 criminal offences, bul

242 HISTORY OF UTAH.

was acquitted every lime by his country ; his enemies, or rather his religious opponents,
almost invariably being his judges. And we further testify that, as a people, we are law-
abiding, peaceable and without crime ; and we challenge the world to prove to tbe 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 a
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 constitu-
tion dearly.

In the name of Israel's God, and by virtue of multiplied ties of 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, when convened, recommend a remonstrance against such unhallowed acts of oppres-
sion and expatriation as this people have 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 express your views concerning what is called the "Great Western Measure"
of colonizing the Latter-day Saints in Oregon, the north-western Territory, or some loca-
tion remote from tbe States, where the hand of oppression shall not crush every noble
principle and extinguish every patriotic feeling ?

And now, honored 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 blood 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 waitings 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 combinations, 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 circumstances will permit.

We sincerely hope that your future prompt measures toward us will be dictated 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,

W. W. Phelps,

A. W. Babbitt,

J. M. Bernhisel,
In behalf of Hie Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Nauvoo,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 243

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 messenger.

The appeals were unanswered save in a single instance, that of
the Governor of Arkansas, who replied in a respectful and sympa-
thetic epistle.

On the 19th of May, 1845, began the trial, at Carthage, of certain
men who had been indicted for the murder of Joseph and Hyrum
Smith. Sixty names had been presented to the Grand Jury of the
Hancock Circuit Court in October, 1844, as being implicated in the
assassination. Only nine, however, had been indicted. They were
Levi Williams, Jacob C. Davis, Mark Aldrich, Thomas C. Sharp,

William Voras. John Wills, William N. Grover, Gallagher, and

Allen.

Of these, Levi Williams, as stated, was a Baptist preacher ;
Jacob C. Davis a State Senator, and Thomas C. Sharp the editor of
the Warsaw Signal. Judge Richard M. Young presided at the trial,
and James H. Ralston and Josiah Lamborn conducted the prosecu-
tion. The defense was represented by William A. Richardson, 0. H.
Browning, Calvin A. Warren, Archibald Williams, 0. C. Skinner and
Thomas Morrison. The panel of the trial jury was as follows : Jesse
Griffits, Joseph Jones, William Robertson, William Smith, Joseph
Massey, Silas Grifltts, Jonathan Foy, Solomon J. Hill, James Gittings,
F. M. Walton, Jabez A. Beebe and Gilmore Callison.

The trial lasted until May 30th.* During its progress, Calvin
A. Warren, Esq, of counsel for the defense, in the course of his plea
is said to have argued that if the prisoners were guilty of murder,
then he himself was guilty ; that it was the public opinion that the
Smiths ought to be killed, and public opinion made the laws, conse-
quently it was not murder to kill them. Evidently this logic had

* •■ The Judge," snys Governor Ford, -'was compelled to admit the presence oi
armed bands to browbeat and overawe the administration of justice. * * *
The Judge himself was in duress, and informed me that he did not consider his life secure
any part of the time. The consequence was thai tin' cmwd had everything theirown way."

244 HISTORY OF UTAH.

its weight with the jury, for they promptly returned a verdict of
not guilty.*

Emboldened by the outcome of the trial, the tactics of the anti-
Mormons now underwent a radical range. Trumping up charges
against the Mormon leaders it was found would not effect the desired
purpose. Extreme measures only would avail, and these the uncon-
scionable crusaders were now prepared to execute, regardless of every
consideration of right. Their own writers admit as much. Thomas
Gregg, the historian of Hancock County, Illinois, whom none familiar
with his work- will accuse of partiality to the Mormons, is constrained
to allow that the acts of their opponents now in question were
absolutely unjustifiable. "Acts," says he, "which had no warrant
in law or order, and which cannot be reconciled with any correct
principles of reasoning, and which we then thought, and still think,
were condemned by every consideration looking to good government;
acts which had for their object, and which finally resulted in the
forcible expulsion of the Mormon people from the county.*'

At a Mormon settlement called Morley, a few miles from Nauvoo,
a band of incendiaries, on the night of September 10th, began opera-
tions. Deliberately setting fire to the house of Edmund Durfee they
turned the inmates out of doors and threatened them with death if
they did not at once leave the settlement. Durfee they subsequently
killed. The mob continued its nefarious work until Morley was in
ashes, and its people homeless. Green Plains and Bear Creek,
localities also settled by the Saints, were next visited by the house-
burners, and in like manner devastated.! Such scenes continued for

* Colonel John Hay, of the State Department at Washington, in the Atlantic
Monthly for December, 18(59, in an article reminiscent of the Prophet's murder and the
trial of his assassins, says; "The case was closed. There was not a man on the jury, in
the court, in the county, that did not know the defendants had done the murder. But it
was not proven, and the verdict of Not Guilty was right in law."

f "At Lima and Green Plains," says Governor Ford, "the anti-Mormons appointed
persons to fire a few harmless shots at their own meeting-house where services were in
progress, whereupon the conspirators and their dupes rode all over the country and spread

HISTORY OF UTAH. 245

a week, during which nearly two hundred houses, shops and sheds
were destroyed and the people driven away. A hundred and thirty-
five teams went out from Nauvoo to bring in the homeless refugees,
with what grain had been saved from the flames.

Intense excitement now reigned, not only at Nauvoo, and the
out-lying Mormon settlements that nightly anticipated attack, but
throughout Hancock County. Non-Mormons not of the radical class
disapproved of these deeds of vandalism,* and Sheriff Backenstos,
of Carthage — to his honor be it said — did everything in his power to
quell the riots and punish the guilty parties. He first issued a
proclamation, demanding that they desist. This order they ignored.
He then called upon the posse comitatus — the power of the County —
to assist him in dispersing the rioters. But there was no response.
Finally he applied to the Mormons for a posse, which was furnished
him, and he proceeded at once against the house-burners.

In the encounters that ensued two mobocrats were killed. One
of these was Frank A. Worrell, the same who, as sergeant of the
Carthage Greys, had charge of the Jail when Joseph and Hyrum
Smith were murdered. Worrell was shot by Porter Rockwell at the
order of Sheriff Backenstos. Worrell at the time was approaching
the Sheriff who, fearing for his own life, ordered B.ockwell to fire.
The two were tried for murder in this case, but were acquitted. The
other man killed was Samuel McBratney, who was among the house-
burners on Bear Creek. The Sheriff and his posse, after scattering
the mob, surrounded Carthage and made several arrests. But most of

dire alarm. As a result a mob arose and burnt one hundred and seventy-five houses and
huts belonging to Mormons, who fled for their lives in utter destitution, in the middle of
the sickly season."

* The Quincy Whig, edited by a Mr. Bartlett, said: " Seriously, these outrages

should be put a stop to at once; if the Mormons have been guilty of crime, why punish
them, but do not visit their sins upon defenseless women and children. This is as bad as
the savages. * * * It is feared thai this rising against the Mormons is not
confined to the Morley settlement, but that there is an understanding among the :mti<-s in
the northern part of this and Hancock counties to make a general sweep, burning and
destroying the property of the Mormons wherever il can be found."

2-46 HISTORY OF UTAH.

the rioters had fled. The Mormon settlements around Nauvoo were
now evacuated, the people, fearing pillage and massacre, gathering
into the city for protection.

At this juncture Governor Ford put forth his hand to restore
order. General John J. Hardin, with troops, was sent into Hancock
County for that purpose. Accompanying him were J. A. McDougal,
Attorney-General of Illinois-; Senator Stephen A. Douglas, and Major
W. B. Warren. Having issued a proclamation to the people of the
county, enjoining peace, good order, and obedience to law and
authority, General Hardin and his associates next held a consultation
with the Mormon leaders at Nauvoo. The result was an agreement
by the Latter-day Saints to leave Illinois; the exodus to begin in the
spring. This demand came from a meeting of representatives of
nine counties of the State, assembled at Carthage. The following
correspondence, in relation to the proposed exodus, passed between
General Hardin and his friends — representing Governor Ford and the
anti-Mormons — and the Church leaders at Nauvoo :

Nauvoo, Oct. 1, 1845.
To the First President and Council of the Church at Nauvoo :

Having had a free and full conversation with you this day, in reference to your pro-
posed removal from this county, together with the members of your Church, we have to
request you to submit the facts and intentions stated to us in said conversation to writing,
in order that we may lay them before the Governor 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, etc.,

John J. Hardin,
S. A. Douglas,
W. B. Warren,
J. A. McDougal.

Nauvoo, October 1, 1845.
To Gen. John J. Hardin, W. B. Warren, S. A. Douglas, and J. A. McDougal :

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

In addition to this, we would say, that we had commenced making arrangements to

HISTORY OF UTAH. 247

remove from this county previous to the recent disturbances ; that we now have four com-
panies organized, of one hundred families each, and .six more companies now
organizing of the same number each, preparatory lo removal. That one thou-
sand families, including the Twelve, the High Council, the Trustees and general
authorities of the Church, are fully determined to remove in the spring, independent of the
contingency of selling our property, and that this company will comprise from five to six
thousand souls.

That the Church, as a body, desires to remove with us, and will, if sales can he
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 distant 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 or more houses for
sale in this city and county, and we request all good citizens to assist in the disposal 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 purchasers for
our property, we will not sacrifice or 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 Greek, 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 — vie will leave them !

In behalf of the Council, respectfully yours, etc.,

Brigham Young, President.

WlLLARD BlCHARDS, Clerk.

248 HISTORY OF UTAH.

CHAPTER XV.

1845-1847.

The exodus — brigham young leads his people WESTWARD SUGAR CREEK SAMUEL bran-
nan AND THE SHIP " BROOKLYN " GARDEN GROVE AND MOUNT PISGAH THE SAINTS

REACH THE MISSOURI RIVER THE MEXICAN WAR AND THE MORMON BATTALION ELDER

LITTLE AND PRESIDENT POLK COLONEL KANE MORE ANTI-MORMON DEMONSTRATIONS

THE BATTLE OK NAUVOO — EXPULSION OF THE MORMON REMNANT FROM THE CITY

COLONEL kane's DESCRIPTION OF NAUVOO THE church in THE WILDERNESS WINTER

QUARTERS.

PURSUANT to the terms of the agreement, which satisfied
General Hardin and his associate commissioners, and appeased
for a time the anti-Mormons, preparations went forward all
during the fall and winter for the spring exodus. Houses and lands
in and around Nauvoo were sold, leased or abandoned. Wagons by
hundreds were purchased or manufactured, and horses, mules, oxen,
riding, draft and pack animals in general, procured in large numbers.
Clothing, bedding, provisions, tents, tools, household goods, family
relics and camp equipage composed the lading, wherewith animals
and vehicles were packed and loaded until little or no room
remained.

At length, all being ready for a start, on the 4th of February,
1846, the exodus of the Mormons from Illinois began. Charles
Shumway, afterwards one of the original Utah pioneers, was the first
to cross the Mississippi. Colonel Hosea Stout with a strong force of
police had charge of the ferries, which were kept busy night and
day until the river froze over. The companies then crossed on the
ice. By the middle of February a thousand souls, with their wagons,
teams and effects had been landed on the Iowa shore.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 249

Sugar Creek, nine miles westward, was made the rendezvous
and starting-point of the great overland pilgrimage. Here the
advance companies pitched their tents, and awaited the coming of
their leaders. The weather was bitter cold, the ground snow-covered
and frozen, and the general prospect before the pilgrims so cheerless
and desolate as to have dismayed souls less trustful in Providence,
less inured to hardship and suffering than they. It was February
5th that the first camp formed on Sugar Creek. That night — a bitter
night — nine wives became mothers ; nine children were born in tents
and wagons in that wintry camp. How these tender babes, these
sick and delicate women were cared for under such conditions, is left
to the imagination of the sensitive reader. How these Mormon
exiles, outcasts of civilization, carrying their aged, infirm and help-
less across the desolate plains and prairies, were tracked and trailed
thereafter by the nameless graves of their dead, is a tale which,
though often attempted, has never been and never will be fully told.*

On the 15th of February, Brigham Young, the leading spirit of
the exodus, arrived at the camps on Sugar Creek. He was accom-
panied by Willard Richards and George A. Smith, with their families.
Two days later Heber C. Kimball and Bishop Whitney joined them.
Parley P. Pratt, who had returned from the east, was already there,
but encamped at some distance from the main body. Other leading
men, such as had not preceded these, soon followed. After the final
departure of the Apostles from Nauvoo, Church affairs at that place

* " There is no parallel in the world's history to this migration from Nauvoo. The
exodus from Egypt was from a heathen land, a land of idolaters, to a fertile region desig-
nated by the Lord for His chosen people, the land of Canaan. The pilgrim fathers in
fleeing to America came from a bigoted and despotic people — a people making few preten-
sions to civil or religious liberty. It was from these same people who had lied from old-
world persecutions that they might enjoy liberty of conscience in the wilds of America,
from their descendants and associates, that other of their descendants, who claimed the
right to differ from them in opinion and practice, were now fleeing. * * *

Before this the Mormons had been driven to the outskirts of civilization, where they had
built themselves a city ; this they must now abandon, ami throw themselves upon the
mercy of savages." — Bancroft's History of Utah, page 217.

250 HISTORY OF UTAH.

were left in charge of a committee consisting of Almon W. Babbitt,
Joseph L. Heywood and John S. Fullmer.

Two days after Brigham's arrival on Sugar Creek, — during
which interim he was busy with his brethren in organizing the
camps for traveling, — he called together the Apostles who were with
him and held a council. There were present Brigham Young, Heber
C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, George A. Smith
and Willard Richards. The subject considered by these leaders was
as follows: It seems that about the time of the beginning of the
exodus from Nauvoo, there had sailed from New York on the ship
Brooklyn a company of Latter-day Saints bound for the Bay of San
Francisco. They numbered two hundred and thirty-five souls, and
were in charge of Elder Samuel Brannan. The company were well
supplied with farming implements, and all tools necessary for the
formation of a new settlement, which they proposed founding some-
where on the Californian coast. Elder Brannan believed that that
would be the ultimate destination of the main body of his people.
These Mormon colonists, who were probably the first American
emigrants to land on the coast of California, carried with them a
printing press, type, paper and other materials, with which was after-
wards published the California Star, the pioneer newspaper of the
Golden State. Elder Brannan, in New York, had edited a paper
called The Prophet, published in the interests of the Latter-day
Saints. He was a man of considerable energy and ability, but of
speculative tendencies, and bent more to worldly ends than to
spiritual aims.

Prior to sailing for San Francisco — then Yerba Buena — Brannan
had entered into a peculiar compact with one A. G. Benson, repre-
senting certain politicians and financial sharpers at Washington,
who, being aware of the contemplated Mormon exodus, proposed if
possible to profit by it. This compact, which Brannan had sent to
Nauvoo for the Church leaders to sign and then return to Mr.
Benson, required that the Mormons transfer to A. G. Benson and
Company, and to their heirs and assigns, the odd numbers of all the

i;,:„ii

'CM

252 HISTORY OF UTAH.

ilies were supplied with provisions for several months, but some
were quite destitute, or had only sufficient to last for a few days.
None, however, were permitted to lack food. The " share and share
alike" principle and practice of the Mormon community prevented
this. But the weather continuing very cold, some suffering was
experienced on that score.

The "Camp of Israel" being organized, and the Governor of
Iowa having been petitioned by the Saints for protection while pass-
ing through that Territory, President Young, on Sunday, March 1st,
gave the order for a general advance. It was not the design, nor the
subsequent practice of the Mormons to travel on Sundays. In all
their migrations, except when necessity compelled, they were careful
to keep the Sabbath day holy. But to get farther away from Nauvoo,
which parties from the camps were frequently visiting, thus causing
the anti-Mormons to suspect, or at least assert, that the exodus was
not genuine, the President, on the opening day of spring, ordered
the companies to move forward. Bishop George Miller's wagons had
already departed. By noon all tents had been struck and the Camp
began to move. In the van went Colonel Stephen Markham, with a
hundred pioneers, to prepare the road before the main body. Colonel
Hosea Stout with a company of riflemen — mounted police — guarded
the wagons, and Colonel John Scott, with another hundred men,
accompanied the artillery. William Clayton had been appointed
clerk of the Camp, and Willard Richards, a graphic and ready writer,
its historian.

Traveling five miles in a north-westerly direction, the Camp
halted for the night, — still on Sugar Creek. Scraping away the
snow, pitching their tents and corralling their wagons, quite a primi-
tive little city soon sprang up, as if by magic, from the frozen earth.
Large fires were built to dispel the gathering darkness, thaw out
cold-benumbed fingers and features, and cook the evening meal.
Despite the dreary situation and forbidding surroundings, a spirit of
remarkable cheerfulness reigned throughout the Camp. Everybody
seemed happy and determined to "make the best of it." In so

HISTORY OF UTAH. 253

doing, no people, under such circumstances, ever succeed better than
the Mormons. Were it not the Sabbath, the merriest of songs would
be sung, the jolliest of jokes cracked, the funniest of stories told,
ad infinitum. Captain Pitts' Brass Band would tune their instru-
ments, and awaken with soul-stirring, heart-cheering strains the
prairie solitudes. At all events such was their custom during that
long and dreary journey to the Missouri River and beyond. But at a
seasonable hour all merriment would be hushed ; heads and hearts
bowed in reverent prayer, thanks returned to heaven for mercies
already bestowed, and God's blessing invoked upon Israel, — these
whose habitation was to be for many months the houseless plain and
prairie, and the remnant left behind in the doomed city of Nauvoo.

Thus, from day to day, slowly and wearily traveling, went the
exiled Saints across the undulating surface of snow-covered Iowa.
The roads were very bad, the weather cold and stormy, and the
streams, now frozen, now swollen by spring freshets, almost and at
times quite impassable. Again and again they were obliged to double
teams on the heavily loaded wagons, to drag them through deep
streams and miry marshes on their line of travel. Some days three
or four miles would be the extent of their journey. Many a halt
was made, at times for weeks. Their able-bodied men often found
employment at the nearest settlements, even crossing over the line
into Missouri to obtain work, exchanging their labor with their old
enemies for needed provisions and supplies.

On the 27th of March, on Shoal Creek, in the Chariton Biver
region, where for three weeks they were delayed by the freshets, the
Camp was more thoroughly organized. Companies of "hundreds,"
"fifties," and "tens" were formed, and captains appointed over them.
Each company had its commissary, and there was a Commissary
General. Henry G. Sherwood was that officer. David D. Yearsley,
W. H. Edwards, Peter Haws, Samuel Gulley and Joseph Warburton
were contracting commissaries. There were still others whose duty
it was to distribute equitably among the various companies, grain,
provisions and other commodities furnished for their use. The

254 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Apostles, who had hitherto been acting as captains of companies
were relieved of those commands and made presidents of divisions.
The Camp consisted of two grand divisions, presided over by
Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball; the former as President and
General-in-chief, directing the whole.

The laws of the Camp were strict without being oppressive.
The President had said, while on Sugar Creek : "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." Honesty and morality were strictly enjoined; decency
and decorum likewise. Thieving was not tolerated, either by Mor-
mons or non-Mormons. In one or two instances where stolen
property was found in camp, — some wayside trapper or farmer being
the victim, — the thief was compelled to return it in person, and
make clue reparation. Profanity and irreverence were forbidden.
Amusement and recreation, to a proper extent, were encouraged, as
tending to divert the minds of the people from their past troubles
and lighten their present toils, but excess of mirth and loud laughter
were discountenanced.

At various points between the Mississippi and the Missouri the
Mormons founded temporary settlements, or, as they called them,
" traveling stakes of Zion," fencing the land, building log cabins,
and putting in crops for their own use or for the benefit of their
people who came after them. Two of these " stakes" were named
Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah ; the former on the east fork of
Grand River, one hundred and forty-five miles from Nauvoo, and the
latter near the middle fork of the Grand, twenty-seven miles farther
west. Mount Pisgah was on the Pottawatomie Indian lands.

A thousand west-bound wagons of the Saints were now rolling
over the prairies of Iowa. Amos Fielding, traveling back to Nauvoo,
counted over nine hundred of their vehicles in three days. Many
more were preparing to follow. Winter was past ; the snow had dis-
appeared, the icy streams had melted, the grass was growing, flowers
blooming and birds singing. Summer had come, and all nature

HISTORY OF UTAH. * 255

smiled in welcome. The vanguard of the migrating trains, under
Brigham Young, reached the Missouri River about the middle of
June. They were cordially welcomed by the Pottawatomie and
Omaha Indians, upon whose lands the Saints temporarily settled.

Before reaching the Missouri the Mormon leaders had planned
to leave the main body of their people there, and at the various
settlements founded along the way, and while the remnants in the
rear were gathering to those places, to push on that season,
with a picked band of pioneers, and explore the Rocky Moun-
tains. Apostle Woodruff, who was back from Europe, and had
arrived at Mount Pisgah, received word from the President at Council
Bluffs * to furnish one hundred mounted men for the expedition.
Sixty had volunteered, and the muster was still in progress, when an
event occurred to materially change the program, and delay the
departure of the pioneers until the following spring. It was the call
for the Mormon Battalion.'

In April, 1846, war had broken out between the United States
and Mexico. The original cause was the annexation of Texas in
1845, but the immediate casus belli was the occupation by United
States troops, in March, 1846, of disputed territory on the Texan
frontier, an act regarded by Mexico as a virtual declaration of war.
She resented it as such, and in April began hostilities. The victories
of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, won by General Zachary
Taylor on the 8th and 9th of May, drove the Mexicans across the Rio
Grande, and here the war, in the opinion of many Americans, should
have ended. But the majority of the nation, especially the South —
bent upon extending slavery and preserving her balance of power —
wished the strife continued, having set their hearts upon more.
Nothing now would suffice but the extension of the boundaries of the
Union to the Pacific Coast of California. This meant, in plain terms.
the wresting from Mexico of her two provinces of New Mexico and

* So called from the fad (hat the Indian tribes of thai region wore in the habit of

inldiii" 1 1 1 < • i I- rulllii-ils thi'iv.

256 HISTORY OF UTAH.

California, lying directly in the path of the Republic in its proposed
march to the sea. Great Britain, still claiming Oregon, also coveted
California, and it was to checkmate that power in her ambitious
designs, as well as to acquire more territory for future states, that the
war with Mexico was continued.

President Polk, having announced to Congress that war with
Mexico existed by her own act, was authorized to issue a call for fifty
thousand volunteers. At the same time ten million dollars were voted
for war purposes. The plan was to strike Mexico in three places.
General Stephen F. Kearney was to invade New Mexico and Cali-
fornia, General Taylor to continue operations along the Rio Grande,
and General Winfield Scott, commander-in-chief, to invade Mexico
from the Gulf coast, carrying the war into the heart of the enemy's
country. So much for the subject in general. The call for the
Mormon Battalion was a portion of the plan matured at Washington
for the invasion by General Kearney of the northern provinces of
Mexico.

Let us now go back a little further. Shortly before the war
broke out, and soon after the beginning of the exodus from Nauvoo,
Elder Jesse C. Little, at the suggestion of President Young, visited
Washington for the purpose of soliciting governmental aid for his
people in their exodus. No gift of money or of other means was
asked, but it was thought that the national authorities might wish to
employ the Saints in freighting provisions and naval stores to Oregon
or other points on the Pacific coast. Elder Little, who was in the
east when he received his instructions from Nauvoo, carried with
him to the capital letters of introduction from Governor Steele, of
New Hampshire, and Colonel Thomas L. Kane, of Philadelphia; the
former an old acquaintance of Elder Little's, and the latter — Colonel
Kane — one of those brave and chivalric souls, too rarely met with in
this world, ever ready to espouse, from a pure sense of justice and
knightly valor, the cause of the oppressed. Such a class he
believed the Mormons to be. Colonel Kane was brother to Dr. Kane,
the famous Arctic explorer. Governor Steele's letter was addressed to

HISTORY OF UTAH. 257

Secretary Bancroft, of the U. S. Navy ; that of Colonel Kane to Vice-
President George M. Dallas.

Through ex-Postmaster-General Amos Kendall, Elder Little
obtained an introduction to President Polk and other distinguished
personages, with whom he had several interviews, laying before them
the situation and prospects of his people and their application for
governmental aid. He- was kindly received by the President, who
referred to the Saints in favorable terms. He stated that he had no
prejudice against them, but believed them to be good citizens and
loyal Americans; as such he was "willing to do them all the good in
his power, consistently." Elder Little, after his first interview with
the President, addressed to him a petition which closed as follows :

From twelve to fifteen thousand Mormons have already left Nauvoo for California,
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 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 outstretched wings of the
American Eagle ; we would disdain to receive assistance from a foreign power, although it
should be proffered, unless our Government shall 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 representative 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 invaded, 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.

Just at this juncture the news reached Washington that the con-
flict for some time pending between the United States and Mexico had
begun, General Taylor having fought his first two battles with the
Mexicans. This news, which set all Washington aflame, determined
President Polk upon the project of taking immediate possession of
California, and of using the migrating Mormons for that purpose.
His plan, as laid before his cabinet, was to send Elder Little direct to
the Mormon camps in Iowa, to raise a thousand picked men "to make

258 HISTORY OF UTAH.

a dash into California and take possession of it in the name of the
United States." This battalion was to be officered by its own men.
with the exception of the commander, who was to be appointed by
the President. They were to be armed and equipped by the govern-
ment, and furnished with cannon and everything necessary to defend
the country they conquered. A thousand more Mormons from the
eastern states were to be sent via Cape Horn in a U. S. transport for
the same purpose. The plan was fully matured, and about to be
executed, when it was changed through the influence of Senator
Thomas Benton, of Missouri. Then came the adoption of the
general plan of operations, involving a call for five hundred Mormon
volunteers to form ;a portion of General Kearney's force to invade
New Mexico and California.

About the middle of June Elder Little left Washington for the
west. He was accompanied by Colonel Thomas L. Kane, who had
been commissioned by the President to carry special dispatches to
-General Kearney, at Fort Leavenworth, relative to tbe Mormon

rattalion.
The commander of the Army of the West, who was about to
start for Santa Fe, on receiving these dispatches, at once detailed
Captain James Allen to proceed to the camps of the Saints, muster
the battalion, and march them to Fort Leavenworth, where they
would be armed and prepared for the field. Thence he was to lead
them to Santa Fe, in the trail of General Kearney and the main
army. Captain Allen, accompanied by three dragoons, reached Mount
Pisgah on the 26th of June. Elder Little and Colonel Kane, who
were on the way thither, had not yet arrived. Here we touch the
point in our narrative from which digression was made in order to
explain more fully the call for the Mormon Battalion.

At sight of the recruiting officer and his men, the Mormons at
Mount Pisgah were at first somewhat alarmed, supposing them to be
the vanguard of a United States army sent to intercept them. The
threat of Messrs. Benson and Company, conveyed in Elder Brannan's
letter, relative to disarming and dispersing the Saints if their leaders

HISTORY OF UTAH. 259

refused to sign away their rights, was probably known at Mount
Pisgah, and its fulfillment now seemed imminent. But Captain Allen
soon explained his errand to Apostle Woodruff and the High Council
of the Stake,* and the first thrill of excitement subsided. The fol-
lowing "Circular to the Mormoms" set forth more in detail the
import of the officer's visit :

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 he
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 into 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 Mor
mon people now. This year an opportunity of sending a portion of their young
intelligent men to the ultimate destination of their whole people, and entirely at
expense of the United States, and this advanced party can thus pave the way and look 01
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 jmeet me without delay at their principal camp al the
Council Bluffs, whither I am going to consult with their principal men, and to receive and
organize the force contemplated to be raised.

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

J. Allen, Captain 1st Dragoons.

Camp of the Mormons, at Mount Pisgah, one hundred and thirty-eight miles east of
Council Bluffs, 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.

Carrying letters of introduction from the authorities at Mount
Pisgah to the leaders at Council Bluffs. Captain Allen hurried on to
the Missouri, whither he was preceded by a special messenger, sent by
Apostle Woodruff to inform the President of his coming.

J

* These "traveling Stakes of Zion," like oilier slakes, had their High Councils and
all needful equipment, spiritual and temporal.

260 HISTORY OF UTAH.

The surprise, almost dismay, with which the main body of the
Mormons received the startling news — startling indeed to them —
that the United States government had demanded five hundred
of their best men, to march to California and take part in the war
against Mexico, may well be imagined. What ! the nation which,
according to their view, had virtually thrust them from its borders,
permitted mobs to plunder them, rob them of their homes, murder
their prophets, and drive them into the wilderness, now calling upon
them for aid ? Had that nation ever helped them in their extremity ?
Had not their appeals for succor and protection, addressed to Gover-
nors, Judges and Presidents invariably been ignored or denied? Five
hundred able-bodied men, the pick and flower of the camp, wanted.
And that, too, in an Indian country, in the midst of an exodus
unparalleled for dangers and hardships, when every active man was
needed as a bulwark of defense and a staff for the aged and feeble.
Even delicate women, thus far, in some instances had been driving
teams and tending stock, owing to the limited number of men avail-
able. And had they not already buried, in lonely prairie graves,
many of their sick and helpless ones, who had perished from sheer
lack of needed care impossible to bestow? Such was the subject as
it presented itself to them. Such were among their thoughts and
reflections at that hour.

And yet it was their country calling; that country to which their
pilgrim ancestors had fled; for which their patriot sires had fought
and suffered, whose deeds of heroism were among their highest and
holiest traditions. America, land of liberty, land of Zion, the place
for the Holy City which they or their children must yet uprear upon
her chosen and consecrated soil! Such also were among their
reflections.

What was to be done? What would their leaders decide to do?
Queries, these, that flew like lightning, as the news of the coming of
the government's agent sped from place to place, and from tent to
tent, through all the "Camps of Israel.*' Not long were they left
unanswered.

tA/%, '/uc/i a ^fCJ

HISTORY OF UTAH. 263

After a farewell ball in Father Taylor's "bowery,"* where to the
music of violin, horn, triangle, bells and tamborine, the glowing
hours of a midsummer afternoon were cheerily, merrily chased and
consumed, the advance companies of the Battalion set out for Fort
Leavenworth. The date of the enlistment was the 16th of July. In
all, the Battalion numbered five hundred and forty-nine souls. As
many of these volunteers had much to do with the early settlement
of Utah and were virtually among the pioneers of the Territory, we
deem it but proper to here preserve the record of their names. The
various companies and the personnel of each were as follows :

LIST OF NAMES IN THE MORMON BATTALION.

COMPANY A.

Jefferson Hunt, Captain. Alexander McCord, 4th Sergeant.

George W. Oman, 1st Lieutenant. Gilbert Hunt, 1st Corporal.

Lorenzo Clark, 2nd Lieutenant. Lafayette N. Frost, 2nd Corporal.

William W. Willis, 3rd Lieutenant, (1st Thomas Weir, 3rd Corporal (Private at M.

Sergeant at Muster In.) 0.)

James Ferguson, Sergeant Major. William S. Muir, 4th Corporal (Private at

Phinehas R. Wright, 1st Sergeant (Private M. I., 1st Sergeant at Muster Out.)

at Muster Out.) Elisha Everett, Musician.

Ebenezer Brown, 2nd Sergeant. Joseph W. Richards. Musician, (Died at

Reddick X. Allred, 3rd Sergeant. Pueblo.)

* Says Colonel Kane: "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, * * was gathered now the mirth and beauty of the Mormon

Israel.

" If anything told that the Mormons had been bred to other lives, il was the appear-
ance of the women as they assembled here. Before their lliglil 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 rejected pendants, were without earrings,
chains or broaches. Except such ornaments, however, they lacked nothing most becom-
ing the attire of decorus maidens. The neatly darned white stockings, and clean white
petticoal. Hie clear-starched collar and cheiuiselle. Hie soinclhing laded, <>nl\ because too-
well washed lawn or gingham gown, thai fitted modishly to the waist of its prettj wears
— these, if any of them spoke of poverty, spoke of a poverty thai had known better .lays."

264

HISTORY OF UTAH.

Privates.

1 Allen, Rufus C.

2 Allred, James R.

3 Allred, James T. S.

4 Allred, Reuben W.

5 Allen, Albern

6 Brown, John

7 Butterfield, Jacob K.

8 Bailey, James

9 Brunson, Clinton D.

10 Brass, Benjamin

11 Blanchard, Mervin S.

12 Beckstead, Gordon S.

13 Beckstead, Orin M.

14 Bickmore, Gilbert

15 Brown, William W.

16 Beran, James

17 Bryant, John S.

18 Curtis, Josiah

19 Cox, Henderson

20 Chase, Hiram B.

21 Calkins, Alva C.

22 Casper, William W.

23 Calkins, James W.

24 Calkins, Sylvanus

25 Calkins, Edwin R.

26 Colman, George

27 Clark, Joseph

28 Clark, Riley G.

29 Decker, Zechariah B.

30 Dobson, Joseph

31 Dodson, Eli

32 Earl. James C.

33 Egbert, Robert C.

34 Fairbanks, Henry

35 Frederick, David

36 Glines. James H. (Q. M.

Sergeant at M. I., Pri-
vate at M. 0.)

37 Garner, David

38 Gordon, Gilman

39 Goodwin, Andrew

40 Hulett, Schuyler

41 Holden, Elijah E.

42 Hampton, James (died at

camp on Bio Grande.)

43 Hawkins, Benjamin

44 Hiekenlooper, William F.

45 Hunt. Martial

46 Hewett, Eli B.

47 Hudson, Wilford

48 Hoyt, Timothy S.

49 Hoyt. Henry P.

50 Ivy, Richard A.

51 Jackson, Charles A.

52 Johnson, Henry

53 Kelly, William

54 Kelley, Nicholas

55 Kibley, James

56 Lemon, James W.

57 Lake, Barnabas

58 Moss, David

59 Maxwell, Maxie

60 May field, Benjamin F.

61 Naile, Conrad

62 Oyler, Melcher

63 Packard, Henry, (M. C.

as Corporal.)

64 Persons, Ebenezer

65 Roe, Cariatat C.

66 Riter, John

67 Steele, George E.

68 Steele, Isaiah C.

69 Sessions, Richard

70 Shepherd, Lafayette, (M.

O. as Corporal.)

71 Swartout Hamilton

72 Sexton, George

73 Sessions, John

74 Sessions, William B.

75 Taylor, Joseph

76 Thompson, John

77 Vrandenburg Adna

78 Weaver, Miles

79 Wriston, John P.

80 Wriston, Isaac N.

81 Weaver, Franklin

82 Wilson, Alfred G.

83 Wheeler, Merrill W.

84 White. Samuel S. (Sam-

uel F. in original)

85 Webb, Charles Y.

86 Winn, Dennis

87 Woodworth, Lysander

88 White, Joseph

89 Willey, Jeremiah

Jesse D. Hunter, Captain.
Elam Luddington, 1st Lieutenant.
Ruel Barrus, 2nd Lieutenant.
Philemon C. Merrill, 3rd Lieutenant.
William Coray, 1st Orderly Sergeant.
William Hyde, 2nd Orderly Sergeant.

David P. Bainey, 1st Corporal.
Thomas Dunn, 2nd Corporal.
John D. Chase, 3rd Corporal.
William Hunter, Musician.
George W. Taggart, Musician.
Albert Smith, 3rd Orderly Sergeant.

HISTORY OF UTAH.

265

1 Allen, George

31

Evans, William

61 Noler, Christian

2 Allen, Elijah

32

Eastman, Marcus N.

62 Owens, Robert

3 Alexander, Horace M.

33

Freeman, Elijah N.

63 Pearson, Ephraim

4 Allen, Franklin

34 Follett, William A.

64 Persons, Harmon D.

5 Bush, Richard

35

Fife, Peter

65 Prouse, William

6 Bird, William

36

Green, Ephraim

66 Park, James 1st

7 Bingham, Thomas

37

Garner, William A.

67 Park, James 2nd

8 Bingham, Erastus

38

Garner, Phillip

68 Richards, Peter F.

9 Billings, Orson

39

Hawk, Nathan

69 Rogers, Samuel H.

10 Bigler, Henry W.

40

Huntsman, Isaiah

70 Study, David

11 Boley, Samuel (died

on 41

Hoffheins, Jacob

71 Smith, Azariah

Missouri River)

42

Hanks, Ephraim R.

72 Stevens, Lyman

12 Barrowman, John

43

Hawk, William

73 Stoddard, Rufus

13 Brackenberry, Benj. B

44

Hinkley, Arza E. (Ezra 74 Simmons, William A

14 Brown, Francis

on original)

75 Sly, James C.

15 Bliss, Robert S.

45

Hunter, Edward

76 Steers, Andrew J.

16 Bybee, John

46

Haskell, George

77 Stillman, Dexter

17 Clark, George S.

47

Harris, Silas

78 Workman, Andrew J.

18 Colton, Philander

48 Jones, David H.

79 Walker, William

19 Cheney, Zacheus

49

Keyser, Guy M.

80 Willis, Ira

20 Callahan, Thomas W.

50 King, John M.

81 Workman, Oliver G.

21 Church, Haden W.

51

Kirk, Thomas

82 Willis, W. S. S.

22 Camp, J. G.

52

Lawson, John

83 Watts, John

23 Carter, P. J.

53

Morris, Thomas

84 Whitney, Francis T.

24 Curtis, Dorr P.

54

McCarty, Nelson

85 Wright, Charles

25 Carter, B.

55

Mount, Hiram B.

86 Wilcox, Edward

26 Dayton, William J.

56

Martin, Jesse B.

87 Wilcox. Henry

27 Dutcher, Thomas P.

57

Murdock, John R.

88 Wheeler, John L.

28 Dolton, Henry S.

58 Murdock, Price

89 Winters, Jacob

29 Dunham, Albert

59 Myers, Samuel

90 Zabriskie. Jerome

30 Evans, Israel

60

Miles, Samuel

James Brown, Captain.
George W. Rosecrans, 1st Lieutenai
Samuel Thompson, 2nd Lieutenant,
Robert CM, (Promoted limn Ordei

geant to 3rd Lieutenant.)
Orson B. Adams, 1st Sergeant at M.

Sergeant at M. O.
Elijah Elmer, 2ml Sergeant al M.

Sergeant at M. O.

company c.
Officers.

Joel J.Terrill, 3rd Sergeant,) I 'rivate at M.O.)
David Wilken, 4th Sergeant; (PrivateatM. 0.)
Jabez Nowlin, 1st Corporal : (Private at M. O.)

ier- Alexander Brown, 2nd Corporal.

Edward Martin, 3rd Corporal; (2nd Ser-

2 ml geant at M. O.

Daniel Tyler,4th Corporal; (3rd Sergt. at M.O.)

lsl Richard ll. Sprague, Musician.

Russell G.Brownell, Musician; (Corp'l at M.O.)

266

HISTORY OF UTAH.

1 Adair, Wesley

31

Gould, Samuel

62 Peck, Thorit, (Corporal

2 Boyle, Henry G. (Henry 32

Gibson, Thomas

at M. O.)

B. Miller on original)

33

Green, John

63 Peck, Isaac

3 Burt, William

34

Hatch, Meltliah

64 Pulsipher, David

4 Barney, Walter

35

Hatch, Orin

65 Persons, Judson

5 Babcock, Lorenzo

36

Holt, William

66 Richie, Benjamin

6 Brown, Jesse J.

37

Harmon, Ebenezer

67 Bust, William W.

7 Bailey, Addison

38

Harmon, Lorenzo F.

68 Richmond, Benjamin

8 Bailey, Jefferson

39

Holdaway, Shadrach

69 Reynolds, William

9 Beckstead, William E.

40

Hendrickson, James

70 Riser, John J.

10 Brimhall, John

41

Hancock, Charles

71 Smith, Milton

11 Blackburn, Abner

42

Hancock, George W.

72 Smith, Richard

12 Bybee, Henry G.

43

Tvie, Thomas C.

73 Shupe, James

13 Glit't, James

44 Johnston, William J.

74 Shupe, Andrew J.

14 Covil, John Q. A.

45

Johnston, Jesse W.

75 Shipley, Joseph

15 Condit, Jeptha

46 Johnson, Jarvis

76 Squires, William, (Cor-

16 Carpenter, Isaac

47

Lay ton, Christopher

poral at M. O.)

17 Carpenter, William H.

48

Larson, Thurston

77 Shumway, Aurora

18 Calvert, John

49

Landers, Ebenezer

78 Thompson, James L.

19 Catlin, George W.

50

Lewis, Samuel

79 Thomas, Nathan T.

20 Donald, Neal

51

Myler, James

80 Thomas, Elijah

21 Dunn, James

52

McCullough, Levi H.

81 Tuttle, Elanson

22 Dalton, Harry

53

Morey, Harley

82 Truman, Jacob M.

23 Dalton, Edward

54

Maggard, Benjamin

83 Tindell, Solomon

24 Durphy, Francillo

55

Mowrey, John T.

84 Wade, Edward W.

25 Dodge, Augustus E.

56

Mead, Orlando F.

85 Wade, Moses

26 Forbush, Lorin

57

More, Calvin W. .

86 Wood, William

27 Fellows, Hiram W.

58

Olmstead, Hiram

87 White, John J.

28 Fife, John

59

Perkins, David

88 Wilcox, Matthew

29 Fifield, Levi

60

Perkins, John

89 Welsh, Madison

30 Gould, John C.

61

Pickup, George

COMPANY D.

Officers.

90 Wheeler, Henry

Nelson Higgins, Captain.
George P. Dykes, 1st Lieutenant.
Sylvester Hulett, 2nd Lieutenant.
Cyrus G. Canfield, 3rd Lieutenant.
Nathaniel V. Jones, 1st Sergeant : (Pr

at M. O.)
Thomas Williams, 2nd Sergeant.
Luther T. Tuttle, 3rd Sergeant.

Alpheus P. Haws, 4th Sergeant.
Arnold Stephens, 1st Corporal.
John Buchanan, 2nd Corporal.
William Goon, 3rd Corporal.
Lewis Lane, 4th Corporal; (Private at M. O.)
Willard Smith. Musician.
Henry W. Jackson. (Henry J. on original.)
Musician.

HISTORY OF UTAH.

267

Privates.

1 Abbott, Joshua

2 Averett, Juthan

3 Brown, James 1st

4 Brown, James S

5 Badlam, Samuel

6 Button, Montgomery

7 Brizzee, Henry W.

8 Boyd, George W.

9 Boyd, William

10 Barger, William W.

11 Compton, Allen

12 Cole, James B.

13 Casto, William

14 Casto, James

15 Curtis Foster

16 Clawson, John R.

17 Cox, Amos

18 Collins, Robert H.

19 Chase, Abner

20 Davis, Sterling

21 Davis, Eleazer

22 Davis, James

23 Douglas. Ralph

24 Douglas, James

25 Flecther, Philander

26 Frazier, Thomas

27 Fatoute, Ezra

28 Forsgreen John

29 Finlay, Thomas

30 Gilbert, John

31 Gifford, William W.

32 Gribble, William

33 Hoagland, Lucas

34 Henry, Daniel

35 Hirons James

36 Huntington, Dimick B.

37 Hendricks, Wm. D.

38 Holmes, Jonathan

39 Higgins, Alfred

40 Hunsaker, Abraham, (1st

Sergt. at M. 0.)

41 Jacobs, Sanford, (Corporal

at M. O.)

42 Kenny, Loren E.

43 Lamb, Lisbon

44 Laughlin, David S.

45 Maxwell, William

46 Meeseck, Peter J.

47 Meacham, Erastus

48 Bingham, Erastus

49 Merrill, Ferdinand

50 McArthur, Henry

51 Oakley, James

52 Owen, James

53 Peck, Edwin M.

54 Perrin, Charles

55 Pettegrew, James P.

56 Rollins, John

57 Rawson, Daniel B.

58 Roberts, Benjamin

59 Runyan. Levi

60 Rowe, William

61 Richmond, William

62 Robinson, William

63 Raymond, Almon P.

64 Smith. John G.

65 Stephens, Alexander

66 Spencer, William W.

67 Stewart, Benjamin

68 Stewart, James

69 Stewart, Robert B.

70 Sargent, Abel M.

71 Savage, Levi

72 Stillman, Clark

73 Swarthout, Nathan

74 Sharp, Albert

75 Sharp, Norman

76 Shelton, Sebert C.

77 Sanderson. Henry W,

78 Steele, John

79 Thompson, Henry

80 Thompson, Miles

81 Tanner, Myron

82 Twitchel, Anciel

83 Tubbs, William

84 Treat, Thomas

85 Hayward, Thomas

86 Tippets, John

87 Walker, Edwin

88 Woodward, Francis

89 Whiting. Almon

90 Whiting, Edmond

COMPANY E.

Officers.

Daniel C. Davis. Captain.
lames Pace, 1st. Lieut.
Andrew Lytle, 2d. Lieut.
Samuel L. Gully, 3rd. Lieut.
Samuel L. Brown. 1st. Sergt.
Richard Brazier, 2nd. Sergt.

Ebenezer Hanks. 3rd. Sergt.
Daniel Browett, 4th. Sergt.
James A. Sell, Corp. (died al Purl
Levi W. Hancock, Musician.
Jesse Earl.

HISTORY OF UTAH.

Privates.

1 Allen John, (drummed

28 Harmon, Oliver N.

56 Pugmire, Jonathan, jun.

out of service, non-

29 Harris, Robert

57 Rollins

" Mormon")

30 Harrison, Isaac

58 Richardson, Thomas

2 Allen, George

31 Hart, James S.

59 Richards, L.

3 Bentley, John

32 Harrison, Israel

60 Roberts, L.

4 Beers, William

33 Hess, John W.

61 Sanders, Richard T.

5 Brown, Daniel

34 Hickmot, John

62 Scott, Leonard M.

6 Buckley, Newman

35 Hopkins, Charles

63 Scott, James R.

7 Bunker, Edward

36 Hoskins, Henry

64 Skein, Joseph

8 Caldwell, Matthew

37 Howell, T. C. D.

65 Spidle, John

9 Campbell, Samuel

38 Howell, William

66 Slater, Richard

10 Campbell, Jonathan

39 Jacobs, Bailey

67 Snyder, John

11 Cazier, James

40 Judd, Hiram

68 Smith, Lot

12 Cazier, John

41 Judd, Zadock K.

69 Smith, David

13 Clark, Samuel

42 Jimmerson, Charles

70 Smith, Elisha

14 Clark, Albert

43 Knapp, Albert

71 Smith, John

15 Chapin, Samuel

44 Kelley, George

72 St. John, Stephen M.

16 Cox, John

45 Karren, Thomas

73 Stephens, Roswell

17 Cummings, George

46 Lance, William

74 Standage, Henry

18 Day, Abraham

47 McLelland, Wm. C.

75 Strong, William

19 Dyke, Simon

48 Miller, Daniel

76 Tanner, Albert

20 Dennett, Daniel Q.

49 McBride. Haslam

77 West, Benj.

21 Earl, Jacob

50 Miller, Miles

78 Wilson, George

22 Ewell, Wm.

51 Park, Wm. A.

79 Woolsey, Thomas

23 Ewell, Martin F.

52 Pettegrew, David

80 Williams, James V.

24 Earl, Justice C.

53 Pixton, Robert

81 Whitworth,Wm.

25 Findlay, John

54 Phelps, Alva, (died

on

26 Follett, William T.

the Arkansas)

27 Glazier, Luther W.

55 Porter, Sanford

Several families of women and children accompanied their hus-
bands and fathers in the Battalion, and these, with the officers'
servants, brought the full number up to five hundred and forty-nine.

Captain James Allen, whose brave and generous spirit had from
the first endeared him to every soul in the Battalion, to the great
grief of all fell sick and died at Fort Leavenworth on the 23rd of
August. Lieutenant A. J. Smith, an officer not so highly esteemed
by them, then took command of the Battalion and marched them to
Santa Fe, which town had already been captured by General
Kearney.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 269

On October 13th, by order of the General, Colonel Philip St.
George Cooke, a brusque and eccentric though brave and manly
officer, assumed command of the Mormon Battalion. Then began
their arduous and heroic march across the burning plains and
rugged mountains of New Mexico to southern California. In all, the
Battalion marched, from the Missouri to the Pacific, a distance of
over two thousand miles, pioneering much of the way through an
untrodden wilderness, braving dangers and enduring hardships com-
pared with which fighting would have been mere sport. Said Col-
onel Cooke, their commander : " History may be searched in vain for
an equal march of infantry."

Short rations, lack of water, excessive toil in road-making, well-
digging and over-marching, caused much suffering, sickness and some
deaths among the Battalion. Even before reaching Santa Fe their
sufferings were severe, and many were disabled and prevented from
proceeding farther. These disabled detachments, with most of the
women of the Battalion, were placed in charge of Captain James
Brown and ordered to Pueblo on the head-waters of the Arkansas
River, while their comrades, the main body, including four women*
who accompanied their husbands, pushed on to the Pacific coast.
They arrived near San Diego late in January, 1847.

General Kearney had reached California some time before, but
with only a few men, having disbanded most of his force on being
informed en route that California was already in the possession of
the United States. Colonel John C. Fremont, who with sixty men
was exploring west of the Sierras when the war broke out, had ral-
lied the American settlers of Sacramento Valley — a few hundred
strong — and with the co-operation of Commodores Sloat and Stock-
ton, all but subdued the country before Kearney came. A few
skirmishes then took place, and the conquest was complete. The
war in California being virtually over before Colonel Cooke's command

* These four women were Mrs. Melissa Burton Coray, wife of Sergeant Goray ;
Mrs. Captain Davis, Mrs. Captain Hunter (who died in California) and Mrs. Ebenezer Brown.

270 HISTORY OF UTAH.

could reach the coast, the Mormon Battalion did not take part in any
engagement. Fort-building and garrison service were about all that
was required of them. Nevertheless they did much work as
mechanics and laborers. They performed their duties in such a man-
ner as to elicit the commendation of their military superiors, and win
the sincere esteem of the native Californians.* Fremont and some
of his men were their foes.f But General Kearney, Governor Mason
and others in authority spoke in high praise of the patience, subor-
dination and general good conduct of the Mormon soldiers.! "

Prior to Kearney's arrival Colonel Fremont — authorized, it is
said, by Commodore Stockton — had made himself military governor
of California. As such he refused to recognize Kearney's author-
ity. Thereupon the latter, backed by Colonel Cooke and the Mormon
Battalion — the principal force then at his command — had Fremont
arrested for insubordination and taken to Washington, where he
was court-martialed.

While some of these events were taking place on the Pacific
coast, other scenes of a military character were being enacted on the
distant shores of the Mississippi. After the departure of the Mormon
leaders from Nauvoo in February, 1846, the. exodus of their people

* Says Henry G. Boyle, one of the Battalion: " I think I whitewashed all San Diego.
We did their blacksmithing, put up a bakery, made and repaired carts, and, in fine, did all
we could to benefit ourselves as well as the citizens. We never had any trouble with the
Californians or Indians, nor they with us. The citizens became so attached to us that
before our term of service expired they got up a petition to the Governor to use his influ-
ence to keep us in the service. The petition was signed by every citizen in the town."

f Fremont was son-in-law to Senator Benton of Missouri.

J Governor R. B. Mason, General Kearney's successor as military commandant of
California, in his report to the Adjutant-General September 18th, 1847, wrote : " Of the
services of the Battalion, of their patience, subordination and general good conduct you
have already heard, and I take great pleasure in adding that as a body of men they have
religiously respected the rights and feelings of this conquered people, and not a syllable of
complaint has reached my ear of a single insult offered or outrage done by a Mormon
volunteer. So high an opinion did I entertain of the Battalion and of their special fitness
for the duties now performed by the garrisons in this country, that I made strenuous efforts
to engage their services for another year."

HISTORY OF UTAH. 271

continued without cessation. The Saints were anxious that their
enemies should have no ground upon which to base an accusation of
bad faith, and no excuse for committing further outrages upon them.
Major W. B. Warren, who with a small force of militia remained in
Hancock County to preserve order, and doubtless to help on the
exodus, thus reported to the Quincy Whiff on May 20th: " The Mor-
mons are leaving the city with all possible dispatch. During the
week four hundred teams have crossed at three points, or about 1,350
souls. The demonstrations made by the Mormon population are
unequivocal. They are leaving the State, and preparing to leave, with
every means God and nature have placed in their hands. This ought
to be satisfactory." The Warsaw Sic/nal, the anti-Mormon organ,
published similar reports from Major Warren.

As the Major says, this ought to have been satisfactory, but it
was not. Men who were not sated at having imbrued their hands in
blood to gratify political and religious animosities, are hard to satisfy.
There was too good plundering at Nauvoo to permit the Mormons to
dispose of their property and depart in peace, as they desired. Major
Warren's reports, confirmed by events that were taking place daily,
should have convinced reasonable men that the Mormons were in
earnest in their exodus. But if convinced, the anti-Mormons failed
to act upon their convictions. On the contrary, they continued to
assert the falsehood that the Mormons did not intend to leave the
State, and even raised troops at Carthage to march against Nauvoo.
Governor Ford in his writings refers to these early settlers of Han-
cock County as " hard cases.'** No fair-minded person, cognizant of
the facts, will dispute the correctness of his estimate. A meeting
between the leaders of the military mob and a committee of "new
citizens" of Nauvoo — persons who had purchased Mormon properties
and moved into the city — averted, but only for a little season, the
threatened assault.

*The Governor's comment is as follows : "I had a good opportunity to know the
early settlers of Hancock County, and to my certain knowledge the early settlers, with
some honorable exceptions, were, in popular language, hard cases."

272 HISTORY OF UTAH.

In July a party of Mormons from Nauvoo, ignoring a mobocratic
edict ordering all of their faith to remain in the city except when leav-
ing for the west, went into the country near a place called Pontoosuc,
to help some of their brethren harvest a field of grain. While there
they were set upon by a larger party of anti-Mormons, severely
whipped and driven away. The last act in the drama of Mormonism
in Illinois was thus begun. Several persons were arrested for this
assault and taken to Nauvoo. The anti-Mormons retaliated by
taking several of the Saints prisoners and holding them as hostages.
The men held at Nauvoo, regaining their liberty, sued out writs
against their captors for false imprisonment, which writs were placed
in the hands of a deputy sheriff, one John Carlin of Carthage, to
serve. Meeting some difficulty in executing these processes, he called
out the posse comitatus, and having raised two regiments of troops
started for Nauvoo.

Governor Ford, being apprised of this movement, ordered Major
John R. Parker to muster a force of volunteers and defend the city.
Parker and Carlin were thus placed in direct antagonism. Each
styled the other's force "a mob." A treaty of peace between Major
Parker and Colonel Singleton — in immediate command of the posse —
being rejected by the Colonel's men as too favorable to the Mormons,
Singleton in disgust resigned, and Carlin appointed Colonel Brock-
man in his stead. Governor Ford describes Brockman as "a Camp-
bellite preacher, nominally belonging to the Democratic party, a
large, awkward, uncouth, ignorant, semi-barbarian, ambitious of
officer, and bent upon acquiring notoriety." On assuming command,
Brockman and his "regulators" — as the posse was styled — advanced
upon Nauvoo, and on the 10th of September began to bombard the
town.

The citizens, though such as bore arms were greatly outnum-
bered by the attacking force, banded together for defense, and
hastily fortifying the approaches to the city, returned the enemy's
fire with spirit. Having no artillery, while Brockman's force was
well supplied with cannon, they converted some old steam-boat

HISTORY OF UTAH. 273

shafts into guns, and placing them in position compelled the enemy
to retire.

Major Parker for some reason had left Nauvoo, and Colonel
Johnson was now in command of the citizen force, which numbered
about four hundred men. Brockman is conceded by anti-Mormon
estimates to have had twice that many. The main stay of the
defense was a select body of riflemen called the "Spartan Band," of
which William Anderson and Alexander McRae were first and
second captains.

On the 12th of September occurred the battle of Nauvoo, a
spirited action of an hour and a quarter's duration, between
Brockman's force, which now renewed the attack with fury, and the
overmatched but gallant defenders of the city. Colonel Johnson
having fallen sick, Lieutenant-Colonel William E. Cutler directed the
defense, with Daniel H. Wells as his aide. During the fight, which
resulted in another repulse for the "regulators," Captain Anderson,
his son Augustus and Isaac Morris were killed, and several others of
the defenders wounded. On his side Brockman reported none killed,
but twelve wounded. The siege lasted for several days. Finally,
through the mediation of a citizen's committee from Quincy, a
treaty was agreed upon between the forces militant. This treaty
was as follows :

1. The City of Nauvoo will surrender. The force of Colonel Brockman to enter
and take possession of the city tomorrow, the 17th of September, at 3 o'clock p. m.

2. The arms to be delivered to the Quincy Committee, to be returned on the cross-
ing of the river.

3. The Quincy Committee pledge themselves to use their influence for the protection
of persons and property from all violence ; and the officers of the camp and the men
pledge themselves to protect all persons and property from violence.

4. The sick and helpless to be protected and treated with humanity.

5. The Mormon population of the city to leave the State, or disperse, as soon as
they can cross the river.

6. Five men, including the trustees of the Church, and five clerks, with their fam-
ilies (William Pickett* not one of the number) to be permitted to remain in the city for
the disposition of property, free from all molestation and personal violence,

Pickett's offense consisted in taking from one of the mob party— - Major McCalla
n stolen from one of the Mormons who had been whipped and robbed at 1'imloc.suc.

274 HISTORY OF UTAH

7. Hostilities to cease immediately, and ten men of the Quincy Committee to enter
the city in the execution of their duty as soon as they think proper.

We, the undersigned, subscribe to, ratify and confirm the foregoing articles of accom-
modation, treaty and agreement, the day and year first above written.

Signed by : Almon W. Babbitt, Joseph L. Heywood, John S. Fullmer, Trustees in
Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ; Andrew Johnson, Chairman of
the Committee of Quincy ; Thomas S. Brockman, commanding posse ; John Carlin,
Special Constable.

The terms of the treaty were outrageously violated by Brock-
man and his regulators, as soon as they found themselves in full
possession of the city. "A grim and unawed tyrant," says Ford of
the mob leader; "a self-constituted and irresponsible power," he
styles the so-called posse, who, now that Nauvoo was prostrate at
their feet, proceeded to work their will upon the helpless inhab-
itants. Mormons and non-Mormons, all who had defended the city
or otherwise incurred the- displeasure of the lawless horde, were
treated with every indignity. Some of the "new citizens" were
mockingly baptized in the river in the name of Brockman and other
leaders of the mob, and then driven out of town. Houses were
plundered, and the aged and infirm abused and threatened. Finally,
all the Mormons, such as had not already fled, were forced from
their homes at the point of the bayonet, and thrown, men, women
and children, sick, dying and shelterless, upon the western shore of
the Mississippi. And this — shades of the patriots! — while their
brethren of the Mormon Battalion were marching to fight their
country's battles on the plains of Mexico.

Colonel Thomas L. Kane, who was now returning east from his
visit to the Mormon camps on the Missouri, touched at Nauvoo just
after this final expulsion. What he saw there he graphically and
eloquently told in a lecture delivered a few years later before the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania. An extract from his lecture is
here inserted :

A few years ago, ascending the Upper Mississippi, in the autumn, when its waters
were low, I was compelled to travel by land past the region of the rapids. My road lay
through the half-breed tract, a fine section of Iowa which the unsettled state of its land-
titles had appropriated as a sanctuary for coiners, horse thieves, and other outlaws. I had

HISTORY OF UTAH. 275

left my steamer at Keokuk, at the foot of the lower fall, to hire a carriage, and to contend
for some fragment of a dirty meal with the swarming flies, the only scavengers of the
locality. From this place to where the deep waters of the river return, my eye wearied
to see everywhere sordid vagabonds and idle settlers ; and a country marred, without
being improved, by their careless hands.

I was descending the last hill-side upon my journey, when a landscape in delightful
contrast broke upon my view. Half-encircled by the bend of the river, a beautiful city
lay glittering in the fresh morning sun ; its bright new dwellings, set in cool, green
gardens, ranging up around a stately dome-shaped hill which was crowned by a noble
marble edifice whose high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. The city
appeared to cover several miles ; and beyond it, in the back-ground, there rolled off a fail-
country, checjuered by the careful lines of fruitful husbandry. The unmistakeahle marks
of industry, enterprise and educated wealth everywhere, made the scene one of singular
and most striking beauty.

It was a natural impulse to visit this inviting region. I procured a skiff, and rowing
across the river, landed at the chief wharf of the city. No one met me there. I looked
and saw no one. I could hear no one move, though the quiet everywhere was such that
I heard the flies buzz, and the water-ripples break against the shallow of the beach. I
walked through the solitary streets. The town lay as in a dream, under some deadening
spell of loneliness, from which I almost feared to wake it ; for plainly it had not slept
long. There was no grass growing up in the paved ways ; rains had not entirely washed
away the prints of dusty footsteps.

Yet I went about unchecked. I went into empty workshops, ropewalks and smithies.
The spinner's wheel was idle ; the carpenter had gone from his work-bench and shav-
ings, his unfinished sash and casing. Fresh bark was in the tanner's vat, and the fresh-
chopped lightwood stood piled against the baker's oven. The blacksmith's shop was
cold ; but his coal heap, and ladling pool, and crooked water-horn were all there as if he
had just gone off for a holiday. No work people anywhere looked to know my errand.
If I went into the gardens, clinking the wicket-latch after me, to pull the marigolds,
heart's-ease and lady slippers, and draw a drink with the water-sodden water bucket and
its noisy chain, or knocking off with my stick the tall, heavy-headed dahlias and sun-
flowers, hunting over the beds for cucumbers and love-apples ; no one called out to me
from any open window, or dog sprang forward to bark an alarm. I could bave supposed
the people hidden in their houses, but the doors were unfastened ; and when at last I
timidly entered them, I found dead ashes white upon the hearths, and had to tread a-tip-
toe, as if walking down the aisle of a country church, to avoid rousing irreverent echoes
from the naked floors.

On the outskirts of the town was the city graveyard : but there was no record of
plague there; nor did it in anywise differ touch from other Protestant American cemeter-
ies. Some of the mounds were not long sodded; some of the st.mrs were newly set,
their dates recent, and their black inscriptions glossy in the mason's hardly dried letter-
ink. Beyond the graveyards, out in the fields, I saw on a spot hard by Where the fruited
boughs of a young orchard had been roughly lorn down, the still smouldering remains of
a barbecue fire, that had been constructed of rails from the fencing round it. It was the

276 HISTORY OF UTAH.

latest sign of life there. Fields upon fields of heavy headed yellow grain lay rotting
ungathered upon the ground. No one was at hand to take in their rich harvest. As far
as the eye could reach, they stretched away — they sleeping, too, in the hazy air of
autumn.

Only two portions of the city seemed to suggest the import of this mysterious soli-
tude. On the southern suburb, the houses looking out upon the country showed, by their
splintered woodwork, and walls battered to the foundation, that they had lately been the
mark of a destructive cannonade. And in and around the splendid temple which had
been the chief object of my admiration, armed men were barracked, surrounded by their
stacks of musketry and pieces of heavy ordnance. These challenged me to render an
account of myself, and why I had had the temerity to cross the water without a written
permit from a leader of their band.

Though these men were generally more or less under the influence of ardent spirits,
after 1 had explained myself as a passing stranger, they seemed anxious to gain my good
opinion. They told the story of the dead city; that it had been a notable manufacturing
and commercial mart, sheltering over 20,000 persons ; that they had waged war with its
inhabitants for several years, and been finally successful only a few days before my visit,
in an action brought in front of the ruined suburb, after which they had driven them
forth at the point of the sword. The defence, they said, was obstinate, but gave way on
the third day's bombardment. They boasted greatly of their prowess, especially in this
battle as they called it ; but I discovered that they were not of one mind as to certain of
the exploits that had distinguished it ; one of which, as I remember, was, that they had
slain a father and his son, a boy of fifteen, not long residents of the fated city, whom they
admitted had borne a character without reproach.

They also conducted me inside the massive sculptured walls of the curious temple,
in which they said the banished inhabitants were accustomed to celebrate the mystic rites
of an unhallowed worship. They particularly pointed out to me certain features of the
building, which having been the peculiar objects of a former superstitious regard, thay had,
as a matter of duty, sedulously defiled and defaced. The reputed sites of certain shrines
they had thus particularly noticed ; and various sheltered chambers, in one of which was
a deep well, constructed, they believed, with a dreadful design. Besides these, they led
me to see a large and deep chiseled marble vase or basin, supported by twelve oxen, also
of marble, and of the size of life, of which they told some romantic stories. They said
the deluded persons, most of whom were emigrants from a great distance, believed their
deity countenanced their reception here of a baptism of regeneration, as proxies for
whomsoever they held in warm affection in the countries from which they had come.
That here parents went into the water for their spouses, and young persons for their lov-
ers. That thus the great vase came to be for them associated with all dear and distant
memories, and was, therefore, the object of all others in the building to which they
attached the greatest degree of idolatrous affection. On this account the victors had so
diligently desecrated it, as to render the apartment in which it was contained too noisome
to abide in.

They permitted me also to ascend into the steeple to see where it had been lightning-
struck on the Sabbath before, and to look out east and south, on wasted farms like those I

HISTORY OF UTAH. 277

had seen near the city, extending till they were lost in the distance. There, in the face of
the pure day, close by the scar of divine wrath left by the thunderbolt, were fragments of
food, cruises of liquor, and broken drinking vessels, with a brass drum and a steamboat
signal-bell, of which I afterwards learned with pain.

It was after nightfall when I was ready to cross the river on my return. The wind
had freshened since the sunset, and the water beating roughly into my little boat, I hedged
higher up the stream than the point I had left in the morning, and landed where a faint
glimmering light invited me to steer.

There, among the dock and rushes, sheltered only by the darkness, without roof
between them and sky, I came upon a crowd of several hundred human creatures, whom
my movements roused from uneasy slumber upon the ground.

Passing these on my way to the light, I found it came from a tallow candle in a
paper funnel shade, such as is used by street venders of apples and peanuts, and which,
flaming and guttering away in the bleak air off the water, shone flickeringly on the
emaciated features of a man in the last stage of a bilious remittent fever. They had done
their best for him. Over his head was something like a tent, made of a sheet or two,
and he rested on a partially ripped open old straw mattress, with a hair sofa cushion
under his head for a pillow. His gaping jaw and glaring eye told how short a time he
would monopolize these luxuries ; though a seemingly bewildered and excited person, who
might have been his wife, seemed to find hope in occasionally forcing him to swallow
awkwardly sips of the tepid river water, from a burned and battered, bitter-smelling tin
coffee-pot. Those who knew better had furnished the apothecary he needed ; a toothless
old bald-head, whose manner had the repulsive dullness of a man familiar with death
scenes. He, so long as I remained, mumbled in his patient's ear a monotonous and mel-
ancholy prayer, between the pauses of which I heard the hiccup and sobbing of two little
girls who were sitting upon a piece of driftwood outside.

Dreadful, indeed, was the suffering of these forsaken beings, bowed and cramped by
cold and sunburn, alternating as each weary day and night dragged on. They were,
almost all of them, the crippled victims of disease. They were there because they had
no homes, nor hospital, nor poor house, nor friends to offer them any. They could not
satisfy the feeble cravings of their sick; they had not bread to quiet the fractious hunger-
cries of their children. Mothers and babes, daughters and grandparents, all of them
alike, were bivouacked in tatters, wanting even covering to comfort those whom the sick
shiver of fever was searching to the marrow.

These were Mormons in Lee County, Iowa, in the fourth week of the month of Sep-
tember, in the year of our Lord 1846. The city— it was Nauvoo, Illinois. The Mormons
were the owners of that city, and the smiling country around. And those who had
stopped their plows, who had silenced their hammers, their axes, their shuttles, and their
workshop wheels ; those who had put out their fires, who had eaten their food, spoiled
their orchards, and trampled under foot their thousands of acres of unharvested bread —
these were the keepers of their dwellings, the carousers in their temple, whose drunken
riot insulted the ears of the dying.

I think it was as I turned from the wretched night watch of which 1 have spoken,
that I first listened to the sounds of revel of a party of the guard within the city. Above

278 HISTORY OF UTAH.

the distant hum of the voices of many, occasionally rose distinct the loud oath-tainted
exclamation, and the falsely intonated scrap of vulgar song; but lest this requiem should
go unheeded, every now and then, when their boisterous orgies strove to attain a sort of
ecstatic climax, a cruel spirit of insulting frolic carried some of them up into the high
belfry of the Temple steeple, and there, with the wicked childishness of inebriates, they
whooped, and shrieked, and beat the drum that I had seen, and rang, in charivaric
unison, their loud-tongued steamboat bell.

There were, all told, not more than six hundred and forty persons who were thus
lying upon the river flats. But the Mormons in Nauvoo and its dependencies had been
numbered the year before at over twenty thousand. Where were they ? They had last
been seen, carrying in mournful train their sick and wounded, halt and blind, to disappear
behind the western horizon, pursuing the phantom of another home. Hardly anything
else was known of them ; and people asked with curiosity, what had been their fate —
what their fortune.

Returning now to the Mormons on the Missouri. With the
departure of the Battalion in the summer of 1846, went every pros-
pect, for that season, of the pioneer journey to the Rocky Mountains.
The "Gamp of Israel" now prepared to go into winter quarters.
Apostles Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt-, John Taylor, Elder Franklin
D. Richards and others had been sent to England, the first three to
set in order the affairs of the British Mission, now greatly demor-
alized through certain financial operations of Elder Reuben Hedlock
and others. They had inaugurated a Joint Stock Company, the chief
object of which was to assist in emigrating the Saints to America.
Through mismanagement the scheme, originally a good one, had
become a sad failure.* The residue of the Twelve — Ezra T. Benson
now being one of their number — remained with their people in the
wilderness. During the sojourn upon the Missouri, Alpheus Cutler
and Bishop George Miller fell away from the Church, each being fol-
lowed by a small faction, thenceforth known as Cutlerites and
Millerites.

Some of the Mormons had early crossed to the west side of the
river, constructing a ferry-boat for that purpose, and settled, by
permission of the Indians — Omahas — upon the lands set apart for

The original project was devised by Joseph Smith, in conjunction with
and Newel K. Whitney, at Nauvoo, early in 1842.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 279

their use by the Federal Government. These lands, which are now
included in the State of Nebraska, were a portion of the vast tract
once known as the Province of Louisiana, ceded by France to the
United States in 1803. A very friendly feeling existed between the
Pottawatomie and Omaha Indians and their Mormon "brothers"* —
probably from the fact that both felt aggrieved at the treatment they
had received from their white neighbors farther east. The Indians
complained bitterly of being removed from their pleasant lands
beyond the Mississippi to the damp and unhealthy bottoms of the
Missouri. In return for permission from the Omahas — who were west,
while the Pottawatomies were east of the river— to temporarily settle
upon their lands and use what timber they required, the Mormons
assisted the Indians to harvest and build, besides trading with them
to mutual advantage. Major Harvey, the Indian Superintendent,
did not approve of this arrangement, and tried to have the Mormons
ejected; but President Polk, being appealed to through Colonel Kane,
gave full permission for them to remain. Out of gratitude to Colonel
Kane, the Saints afterwards named a settlement which they estab-
lished on the east side of the river, Kanesville.

As the season advanced the settlers on the west side were
instructed to congregate in one place, and a site being chosen for that
purpose they there founded their celebrated Winter Quarters. This
place is now Florence, Nebraska, live miles above the city of Omaha.
It then consisted of seven hundred houses of log, turf, and other
primitive materials, neatly arranged and laid out with streets and
byways, with workshops, mills, etc., and a tabernacle of worship in
the midst; the whole arising from a pretty plateau overlooking the
river, and well fortified with breast-work, stockade and block-houses,
after the fashion of the frontier. Such was Winter Quarters. The
settlement was divided into twenty-two wards, with a Bishop over
each. There was also a High Council. The population of the place
was about four thousand. Award east of the river contained a little

* Several Pottawatomie chiefe, and delegations from the Sacs and Foxes had visited
Joseph Smith at Nauvoo.

280 HISTORY OF UTAH.

over two hundred souls. Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah were also
still inhabited; their numbers now swelled by the refugees from
Nauvoo. Here in these humble prairie settlements, surrounded by
Indians, hopeful and even happy, though enduring much sickness
and privation, which resulted in many deaths, the pilgrim Mormons
passed the winter of 1846-7.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 281

CHAPTER XVI.

1640-1847.

The beginning of utah history — why the mormons did not colonize the pacific

coast the great basin utah's physical features daniel webster on the

"worthless west" early spanish explorations escalante in utah valley la

hontan's hearsays american trappers on the shores of the great salt lake

colonel bridger captain bonneville colonel fremont early emigrations from

the missouri to the pacific the donner disaster.

TjYE HAVE now traced the history of the Mormon people from the
VA/ birth of their Prophet and the inception of their religious
organization down to that point where their record as founders of
Utah is about to begin. These preliminary chapters, dealing with early
Mormonism, have been deemed indispensable to the proper under-
standing of a subject at once so unique and complex, so interesting
and important as the history of our Territory. As premised at the
opening, one cannot completely describe a lake or large body of water
without giving some account of the origin, course and character of
the streams flowing into and forming it ; nor fully and faithfully nar-
rate the history of a country and its inhabitants, if ignoring utterly
their antecedents.

This is the author's explanation, — and he feels assured that
the thoughtful reader will appreciate his motive and labors in this
connection, — for entering more or less into detail with early
Mormon annals. From this point begins the history of Utah proper;
the narrative of early explorations in this region, and the settle-
ment and formation of the Territory.

The opening of the year 1847 at the camps of the Saints east
and west of the Missouri, saw preparations in progress for the con-
templated pioneer journey to the mountains. And not only for this,

282 HISTORY OF UTAH.

but for the continued exodus of the entire Church, so soon as a
place of refuge suitable for their reception could be found.

It was pretty well decided in the minds of the Mormon leaders,
by this time, that the Pacific coast, — to which it was generally sup-
posed they were migrating, — in spite of its many natural advantages,
was no place for the main body of their people to settle. It might do
for a colony, such as that of the ship Brooklyn, to make its way to
California and there found a settlement, — as Elder Brannan and his
company were now doing, — and other Mormon towns might spring
up on the Pacific slope. But for the headquarters of the Church,
and a permanent abiding place for the majority of the Saints, Califor-
nia proper or any part of the coast was exceedingly undesirable.

The reasons were these : that toward that favored land, that M
Dorado, — though gold in California had not yet been discovered, —
large numbers of emigrants, from Missouri and other border states,
were now wending their way. Many had gone and were still going
to Oregon, which Great Britain had finally relinquished, while others,
as early as 1841, had bent their course to the future land of gold.
Colonel Fremont, as seen, at the out-break of the Mexican war, had
found enough American settlers in the Sacramento Valley to form, with
his exploring party, a small army. And now that California, like
Oregon and Texas, was a part of the American domain, — only await-
ing the formality of its cession to the great Republic, — emigration
thither was bound to increase manifold.

For the Mormons to have mingled with or settled any where
near their old enemies, the Missourians, or people holding similar
prejudices against their religious views and social customs,
would simply have been io invite a repetition, sooner or later, of the
very evils which had caused them so much suffering, and from which
they were then fleeing. So thought Brigham Young. So thought
his fellow chiefs of the migrating Church. Who, from their stand-
point, can question the wisdom of their decision? — a decision to halt
midway, if possible, between the Missouri and the Pacific, in some
spot undesired, uncoveted by others, where they might be free to

HISTORY OF UTAH. 283

worship God in their own way, and work out their religious and
social problems unmolested.

It was not for gold and silver, broad acres and teeming fields that
these Latter-day Saints had left their homes, in this or in foreign
lands. "After such things do the Gentiles seek," and the Saints,
according to their faith, were no longer Gentiles, but of Israel. The
children of Japheth perhaps had a mission in temporal things. If
so, let them work it out, as best they might, before Him to whom all
men are accountable. But as for Israel — for Ephraim — his mission
was in spiritual things; comprehending indeed the temporal, but not
to be absorbed and swallowed up by it. Religious liberty, freedom
to worship God and prepare themselves for their future work of
building up Zion, — these were the prime objects the migrating Mor-
mons had in view. Gold and silver, houses and lands, flocks, herds,
orchards, vineyards — though to all mortals more or less desirable —
were but as dust beneath their feet by comparison.

Nor is this an exaggeration. The Mormons were essentially a
religious people, deeply, earnestly religious, as much so as were the
Albegois of France, the Covenanters of Scotland or the Pilgrims of
New England. Unquestionably such were the motives and feelings
of the vast majority of the Saints in their exodus. They had proved
it by that exodus, in which many had forsaken, not for the first, but
for the fourth and fifth times, for conscience' sake, their earthly
possessions.

Zion, not Babylon, was in their thoughts. They had not
relinquished their hopes concerning Jackson County. Many, perhaps
most of those who had lived upon that land had sacredly kept the
deeds to the homes from which they had been driven; while the few
who had disposed of their possessions "in Zion," were believed by
the others to have practically denied the faith.*

They were but going into the wilderness for a season, where,
free from contact with those who understood them not, or persisted

* See remarks of Lyman Wight at a conference in Far West, February 5th, 1838,

in relation to selling lands in Jackson County.

284 HISTORY OF UTAH.

in misinterpreting their motives, they might peaceably prepare them-
selves for the time when, unless Joseph Smith was a false prophet and
Brigham Young a blind leader of the blind, they or their children must
needs return and build up Zion. Isolation, therefore, was what they
sought, was what they must have, if they were to have peace, and fit
and prepare themselves for what they believed was in their destiny.

True, there was the alternative, ever open, of relinquishing
their religious faith, and becoming in every respect homogeneous
with the Gentiles. But this was utterly out of the question.
Friendly with the Gentiles they would gladly have been, mingling
with them, so far as need be, in society, in business and in politics.
But to relinquish their religion for the sake of peace, — the very
thought were treason. It would have made of their high professions
a mockery, of their past experience, written in blood and tears, a
farce. The life-stream of their martyred Prophet would have
smoked to heaven in vain. No; come what would, they must cling
to their principles, however unpopular, and stand or fall with them.

Such were their thoughts and feelings. Such were the motives
that impelled them westward. Such were their reasons for not
settling, as a people, on the Pacific coast, and for isolating them-
selves, instead, in the tops of the Rocky Mountains, a thousand miles
from civilization.

While the Saints are preparing to prosecute their journey, and
their vanguard is making ready for its memorable march across the
vast prairies and desolate plains lying west of the Missouri River,
will be an appropriate time to pioneer the way before them into the
region they are about to enter.

Beyond the Rocky Mountains, the so-called "back-bone of the
American continent," — the great water-shed dividing the streams
flowing toward the Pacific from those which seek the Atlantic through
the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, — lies the region known in
topographical parlance as the "Great Basin." It is a vast inter-
mountain plateau, extending four or five hundred miles from east to
west, and about the same distance from north to south. Its eastern

HISTORY OF UTAH. 285

edge does not touch the Rocky Mountains proper, but is rimmed by a
smaller and almost parallel range called the Wasatch, between which
and the great spinal column — the Rockies — is the region through
which flow the Green and Grand Rivers. These, uniting with other
streams, form the Colorado. The western rim of the Basin is the
Sierra Nevada range, nearly parallel with, but much longer than the
Wasatch, and separating the great plateau from the Pacific coast.

The Basin on the north converges toward the Blue Mountains
of Oregon, and on the south in the direction of the Colorado plateau.
It is traversed north and south by numerous mountain ranges, some
of which are as high as those composing the rim. For this reason
the term "Basin," bestowed by the famous explorer, Colonel Fre-
mont, on a partial acquaintance with the region, is now deemed a
misnomer. Instead of being one basin it is many, a group of basins,
each containing a "sink," or lake, whose waters have no visible out-
let to the sea. The more prominent of these are the basin of the
Great Salt Lake, whose lowest point of altitude is 4,170 feet above
the sea level; Sevier Lake basin, with an altitude of 4,690 feet;
Humboldt River basin, 4,147 feet; Carson River basin, at Carson
Lake, 3,840 feet ; and the Walker River basin, the lowest point of
which is 4,072 feet above the ocean.

It is supposed by many, and the supposition is confirmed by
geological signs, such as ripple-marks on the mountain sides, shells
on the slopes and summits, etc., that this great elevated plateau was
once a broad inland sea communicating with the Pacific. At that
time these mountain tops were so many islands, laved or lashed by
its briny waves. These sinks, or some of them, are believed to be
the remains of that pre-historic sea, which for some reason disap-
peared centuries before the foot of the European pressed the soil of
the new world.

The great drawbacks to this otherwise rich and valuable region
are scarcity of timber and fresh water. The former is only to be
found in the mountains or along the water courses, and these, in this
arid region, are few and far between. Though artesian wells and

286 HISTORY OF UTAH.

irrigation have done much of late years to redeem the desert land,
vast tracts of country still remain in statu quo, bare and unproduc-
tive. But the mountains are full of minerals, from the precious
metals down, and the term " treasure house of the nation" has not
been inaptly bestowed upon this portion of the public domain.

Among the remarkable features of the Great Basin, which com-
prises the western part of what is now Utah Territory, and nearly
the entire State of Nevada, are the Great Salt Lake and its neighbor-
ing desert. The lake is wholly in Utah, and the desert lies along its
western shore, stretching away to the south and west a hundred
miles or more. This lake — the famous "Dead Sea of America" — is
one of the most wonderful natural objects in all the West. Laving
the base of the Wasatch range in northern Utah, it extends north
and south for seventy-five miles, having a mean breadth of about
thirty. Its extreme depth is sixty or seventy feet. Jutting up from
its briny bosom are no less than eight mountain islands, lifting their
craggy crests almost level with the rugged ranges surrounding them.
Though constantly augmented by fresh rivers and streams, the
waters of the lake remain ever intensely salt, As said, it has no
outlet — at least none visible — its waters, far brinier than those of the
ocean, and wonderfully buoyant withal, either evaporating to the
clouds, sinking mysteriously in subterranean depths, or solidifying
under the sun's rays and banking up in bright crystals and glittering
incrustations along its shores. These waters were once supposed to
be absolutely lifeless, but of late years some species of animalculce
have been discovered therein. Fish cannot live in the Great Salt
Lake, but several varieties abound in the fresh lakes and streams of
this region. One of the main affluents of the Salt Lake is the river
Jordan, the outlet of Lake Utah, forty miles southward.

As stated, the Wasatch Mountains are the eastern rim of the
Great Basin,:!: — at least they form the main portion of that rim.

* Specifically the Coal Range, a portion of the Wasatch system twenty or thirty
miles east of Salt Lake Valley, is the eastern rim.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 287

Traversing Utah from north-east to south-west, they divide the Ter-
ritory into two unequal parts. Through the eastern section, which
is not included in the Great Basin, run the Green and Grand Rivers
and their tributaries. Eastward from and forming a spur of the
Wasatch, near the Wyoming line, extends the Uintah range. West
of the Wasatch, and running parallel therewith, are the Oquirrh
hills, and west of them the Onaquis. To the south-east and through
southern Utah generally are other ranges and broken ridges, diversi-
fied with valleys and plateaus.

Utah's lakes are mostly in the north, the principal one being the
Great Salt Lake, previously mentioned. Of the fresh water lakes the
Utah and the Bear — the last-named partly in Idaho — are the
more notable. Sevier Lake is a shallow, brackish body fifty or sixty
miles south of Lake Utab. Parowan Lake, formerly known as Little
Salt Lake, is a small salt water sheet still farther south. The rivers
feeding these lakes are formed principally of smaller streams, owing
their origin to the snows of winter packed in the mountain tops and
gradually melted by the rays of summer.

Along the bases of the mountains, wherever these streams
descend, — often spilling from the brims of little lakes among the
summits, tumbling over high cliffs, forming beautiful cascades,
and emerging into the valleys through deep gorges called canyons, —
the soil as a rule is fertile, and if irrigated, susceptible of high culti-
vation. In other parts, where not pure desert, hopelessly barren, it
is so devoid of moisture and so strongly impregnated with salt and
alkali, as to be all but irredeemable. Hot and warm sulphur springs,
the waters of which are highly curative, also gush forth from the
bases of these mighty hills.

The rainfall of Utah averages twenty inches for the year, four-
tenths coming in the spring, one-tenth in summer, three-tenths in
autumn, and the rest during the winter. Owing to its scarcity in
summer, irrigation is resorted to for crop-raising. The ground, dur-
ing the heated term, is fairly parched and blistered by the sun, and
the climate, though ordinarily temperate and delightful — the atmos-

288 HISTORY OF UTAH.

pheric rarity counteracting to a great extent the heat — is at times
almost tropical. The climate of south-western Utah — the Santa
Clara region — is well nigh tropical the whole year round.

In the canyons along the water-courses spring groves of quak-
ing-asp, maple and pine, and in spring and early summer rich grasses
and wild flowers cover the sides of the ravines. But the valleys,
when Utah was first settled, save for the slight symptoms of verdure
following the trail of winding streams in their weary pilgrimage
across barren plains, had neither groves nor grass to hide their
nakedness. Like the brown and sun-burnt hill-sides above them,
they were either utterly bare, or clothed with sagebrush, sun-flowers
and other wild and worthless growths springing prolifically on every
hand.

Such is or was Utah, in the year 1847, a land of mountains, val-
leys, lakes, rivers and sandy wastes; directly in the path of early
overland emigration from the Missouri to the Pacific, but shunned by
all passers because of its sterile and forbidding aspect. The "Great
American Desert," — such was its name upon the maps and in the
school books of that period.

Its only human dwellers at that time, — save here and there a
few trappers or mountaineers, exiles of civilization, consorting with
savages, and dwelling in some isolated fort or cave or hut among the
hills, — were roving bands of Indians, some of them the most
degraded of their race. These savages, who subsisted by fishing,
hunting, root-digging and insect-eating, shared with wild beasts and
venomous reptiles the then barren and desolate, but now fruitful and
lovely land of Utah.

The popular estimate of this whole western region, including the
Pacific Coast, at that early day, is expressed in the following words
of a speech by Daniel Webster on the floor of the United States
Senate. He was denouncing a proposition to establish a mail route
from Independence, Missouri, to the mouth of the Columbia River.
Says the great orator and statesman : "What do we want with this
vast, worthless area? This region of savages and wild beasts, of

HISTORY OF UTAH. 289

deserts, of shifting sands and whirlwinds of dust, of cactus and
prairie dogs? To what use could we ever hope to put these great
deserts, or those endless mountain ranges, impenetrable, and covered
to their very base with eternal snow? What can we ever hope to do
with the western coast, a coast of 3,000 miles, rock-bound, cheerless,
uninviting, and not a harbor on it? Mr. President, I will never vote
one cent from the public treasury to place the Pacific Coast one inch
nearer to Boston than it now is."

Yet it was to the very heart of this inhospitable region, "a thou-
sand miles from anywhere," that Brigham Young, America's greatest
colonizer, led his exiled people ; and by his genius and energy, and
their united industry, under the blessing of divine providence, sub-
dued the desert, made the wilderness to blossom, and became the
founder of a hundred cities.

So far as known, the first white men, moderns, to approach and
partly penetrate the Utah region, were a small band of Spaniards,
a detachment of the army of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, the
famous explorer of New Mexico. Being at Zuni — then Cibola — in
1540, and having heard of a great river to the north-west, Coronado
despatched Captain Garcia Lopez de Cardenas with twelve men to
explore it. This party is supposed to have proceeded by way of the
Moquis villages — previously captured by the Spaniards — to the banks
of the Colorado, just within Utah's southern boundary. They did
not cross the river, but returned soon to report to Coronado at
Cibola.

In July, 1776, — that immortal month of an immortal year, — two
Franciscan friars, Francisco Antanasio Dominguez and Silvester
Velez de Escalante, Spanish officials of New Mexico, with seven men
set out from Santa Fe in quest of a direct route to Monterey on the
Californian sea-coast. Pursuing a devious, north-westerly course, Esca-
lante and his comrades traversed what is now western Colorado and
crossed White River, flowing west, near the Utah line. White River
was called by them San Clemente. They then passed Green River —
San Buenaventura — and following up the Uintah and crossing the

290 HISTORY OF UTAH

mountains came to a stream which they at first named Purisima,
probably from the purity of its waters. This was no other than the
Timpanogos or Provo River, which they followed down to Utah
Lake.

The Spaniards were kindly received by the native Utahs —
dwelling in willow huts in the valley — from whom they derived
considerable information regarding that and adjacent parts. But
they could learn nothing of a route to the sea, nor of Spanish
settlers in all that region. Among other things they were told of a
valley to the northward, in which there was a large salt lake,
covering many leagues, with which their own fresh lake — Timpanogos
— communicated. The waters of the larger lake were described as
extremely salt and injurious, — a fact many times since proven by the
hapless bather unfortunate enough to swallow much of the saline
liquid. The Utahs, or, as Escalante styles them, "Timpanois"
further said that he who wet any part of his body with this water
immediately felt an itching in the wet part. Near this lake dwelt the
Puaguampe, or Sorcerers, "a numerous and quiet nation," speaking
the language of, but not otherwise emulating the hostile Comanches,
whom the Utahs greatly dreaded. The Puaguampe dwelt in "little
houses of grass and earth" and drank from "various fountains or
springs of good water" which were "about the lake."

Escalante describes Utah Valley — north of which his party did
not go — as extending from north-east to south-west sixteen Spanish
leagues, and having a width of ten or twelve leagues. It was quite
level, and, excepting the marshes on the lake-shore, arable. Provo
River they renamed San Antonio. To the Jordan they gave the
name of Santa Ana, and christened other streams in the vicinity.
The Indians subsisted then, as later, by fishing and hunting. Bear,
deer and buffalo ranged the region freely, and the bounding jack-
rabbit, still so plentiful, was not lacking. The streams were filled
with fish, and the marshes with wild fowl.

Late in September the Spaniards, accompanied by two native
guides, resumed their journey, turning now to the south-west in the

HISTORY OF UTAH. 291

direction of Monterey. Passing down the Sevier, which river they
named Santa Isabel, they skirted the eastern shore of the lake and
crossed Beaver River. They then visited the valley now bearing the
name of Escalante. There, owing to the exhaustion of their food
supplies, and the prospect of a long and arduous journey to the sea-
coast — for still they could learn of no open route to the Pacific — they
reluctantly abandoned the expedition. Turning eastward they
traveled toward the Colorado, purchasing from the natives, as they
went, seeds with which to make bread. Reaching the river, they
found, after much difficulty, a ford in latitude 37°, — near where Utah
and Arizona now divide. Passing thence by way of the Moquis
villages they reached Zuni and in due time Santa Fe. They arrived
there January 2nd, 1777.

To establish beyond dispute the identity of the discoverer of
the Great Salt Lake would prove a difficult if not an impossible task.
The first to hear of it — if credence may be given to his very fanciful
narrative — was Baron La Hontan, lord-lieutenant of the French
colony at Placentia, Newfoundland. La Hontan, whose narrative
was first published in English in 1735, tells how in 1689 he sailed
for six weeks up a certain affluent of the Mississippi called Long
River, passing through various savage tribes till he came near the
nation of the Gnacsitares. There he met four Mozeemlek slaves,
captives of the Gnacsitares, who gave him a description of the
country from which they originally hailed. Their villages, they said,
stood upon a river springing out of a ridge of mountains, whence
Long River likewise derived its source. The Mozeemleks were
numerous and powerful. The slaves informed La Hontan that at a
distance of a hundred and fifty leagues from where he then stood
their principal river emptied itself into a salt lake, three hundred
leagues in circumference by thirty in breadth, the mouth of the river
being two leagues broad. The lower part of the stream was adorned
with "six noble cities," and there were above a hundred towns, great
and small, "round that sort of sea." The lake was navigated with
boats. The government of the land was despotic, and was "lodged

292 HISTORY OF UTAH.

in the hands of one great head'' to whom the rest paid "trembling
submission," etc. So much for La Hontan and his hearsays.

Now, as to the actual discovery of the Great Salt Lake. Many
are the rival claims and accounts concerning it. Some of these are
easily disposed of in the negative. Others must stand for what
they are worth until disproved or more thoroughly established. Col-
onel John G. Fremont claimed the honor of discovery as late as 1843;
he having that year passed the Rocky Mountains on his second
exploring expedition to the West. The year before he had gone only
as far as South Pass, that great gateway of overland travel, which he
elaborately described in his report to Congress. He now penetrated
to the Great Basin, accompanied by the noted scout Kit Carson and
other daring spirits, and on the 6th of September, from the crest of
an elevated peninsula* a little north of Weber River, caught his first
glimpse of America's Dead Sea.

Launching his rubber boat upon the briny waters, he explored
the island now known as Fremont Island — so named by Captain
Stansbury in 1849 — but which Fremont himself called Disappoint-
ment Island, from failing to find there the fertile fields and abundant
game he had anticipated. Fremont supposed himself to be the first
white man, not only to embark upon, but to see the Great Salt
Lake. In both conjectures he was in error. The lake had been
discovered, and boats launched upon it by American trappers nearly
twenty years before the advent of the "Pathfinder" into the Great
Basin. As early as the "twenties," if not before, this whole region
was overrun by American and British fur-hunters, trapping, explor-
ing, building forts, trading and fighting with the Indians, from
British America to Mexico. The celebrated Hudson's Bay Company
and the scarcely less famous North American Fur Company, were
among the earliest, if not the very earliest organizations to engage in
these lucrative though perilous pursuits.

Bancroft, the Pacific States historian, is disposed to accord the

* This peninsula is known in Weber County as Little or Low Mountain.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 293

honor of discovering the Lake to Colonel James Bridger, founder
of the once celebrated fort, bearing his name, situated on Black's
Fork of Green River. Bridger, it is said, who in 1825 was
trapping in the Bear River region, in Cache or Willow Valley, in
order to decide a wager among his men as to the probable course
of the Bear, followed that stream through the mountains till
he stood upon the shores and tasted of the briny waters of the great
inland sea. In the spring of 1826 four men, it is said, explored the
lake in skin boats, and reported that it had no outlet. So little was
known of the great West at that time, even by the adventurous
spirits who traversed it, that they thought it quite probable this lake
was an arm of the Pacific ocean.

Other claims, not so well authenticated as Bridger's, place the
time of probable discovery at about 1820. A trapper named Provost —
for whom Provo River presumably was named — is said to have been
in this vicinity during that year. By some, William N. Ashley is
thought to have preceded Bridger. Mr. Ashley, in 1825-6, led a large
company from St Louis through South Pass and founded on Utah
Lake, Fort Ashley*. He is said to have named the Sweetwater and
Green rivers, — the latter after one of his party. His own name
still clings to Ashley's Fork.

Among the notable characters traversing the Great Basin about
this time was Peter Skeen Ogden, of the Hudson's Bay Company,
who gave his name to the Ogden or Humboldt river.f Another was
Jedediah S. Smith, of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, who, in
1826-7 penetrated with a party from the shores of the Great Salt
Lake to California; thence recrossing the Sierras and returning to
this region. Smith and his associates, William L. Sublette and
David E. Jackson, are reputed to have taken the first wagons from
the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains. Their wagons, however,
were left at Wind River, and did not pass the Rockies.

In 1832-3, came the renowned Captain Bonneville, whose

* Utah Lake was formerly called Lake Ashley.

f Weber River was also named for a trapper in that region.

294 HISTORY OF UTAH.

adventures in this region were afterwards immortalized by Washing-
ton Irving. His name has been given to the great fossil lake or
prehistoric sea supposed to have once existed in the Great Basin.
Bonneville was by birth a Frenchman, but at that time a United
States army officer on leave.* His wagons, twenty in number, laden
with Indian goods, provisions and ammunition, are believed to have
been the first to roll down the western slope of the Rockies. He is
thought to have been the first also to use ox-teams upon this line of
travel.

From 1834 to 1839 parties of missionaries, men and women,
crossed the Rocky Mountains to the shores of the Pacific. Mrs.
Narcissa Whiteman and a Mrs. Spalding are reputed to have been
the first white women to perform this long and perilous pilgrimage.

And all this and more before Colonel Fremont stood upon these
desolate, brine-washed shores, and imagined himself a second
Balboa discovering another Pacific, in this already many times dis-
covered inland sea.

Overland emigration from the Missouri to the Pacific began
about the year 1841. It was small at first, but increased yearly,
until at the close of 1844 two or three thousand men, women and
children had settled on the Pacific coast. Most of these were in
Oregon, but California from the first had her share. Among those
who reached "the land of gold" via the Utah region in 1841, were
John Bidwell and Josiah Belden. Some of Mr. Bidwell's pioneer
reminiscences have recently appeared in the Century Magazine.

The usual route of travel from the Missouri at that time was
up the Platte River, along the Sweetwater and through South
Pass. Beyond that point, those going to Oregon would bend their
course northward to Soda Springs and Fort Hall, one of the Hudson
Bay Company's stations; while those for California would follow
Bear River to within a few miles of the Great Salt Lake, and then
turn westward, crossing the country to the Sierras. Later, a new

* Bonneville, promoted to the rank of Colonel, was in 1849 the commanding officer
at Fort Kearney.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 295

route to California, called the " Hastings Gut-Off," was planned. Of
this, more anon.

Dr. Marcus Whitman, in 1842, made his celebrated ride from
Oregon back to the States, passing through Utah by way of Uintah,
and proceeding on to Santa Fe and St. Louis. He returned the fol-
lowing summer to Oregon, with a large body of emigrants.

Among the companies for Oregon in 1844 was one led by
Cornelius Gilliam, of Clay County, Missouri, prominently connected
with the Mormon troubles of 1838. Ex-Governor Boggs, the
"exterminator,'' crossed over to California some time later.

In 1845, Colonel Fremont again visited the shores of the Great
Salt Lake, passing thence into California, to be next heard from in
connection with the Mexican war. That year the emigration westward
was heavier than that of any previous season ; five companies with
two hundred and fifty wagons going to Oregon alone. In 1846 the
emigration was not quite so large, though it was estimated at two
thousand five hundred souls, mostly men; one thousand and seven
hundred of whom went to Oregon and the remainder to California.
The last company of the season was the ill-starred Donner party,
whose tragic story, being virtually a portion of Utah's early history,
we will briefly relate.

The Donner party consisted of George Donner, James F. Reed,
and about eighty-five others, men, women and children. In com-
pany with others they left the frontier at Independence, Missouri,
late in April or early in May, 1846. Separating west of South Pass,
on the stream known as Little Sandy, from their friends who were
going to Oregon, the Donner party, in the latter part of July set
out for Fort Bridger.* There they tarried four clays, prior to taking
the "Hastings Cut-off" for California. This route, which was just
beginning to be traveled, was by way of Bear River, Echo and Weber
Canyons, around the south shore of Great Salt Lake, and across the

* Mr. Reed was the original leader of the party, but the day after separating from the
<iivlm.ii emigrants G ■ge Donner was elected captain of the company, which was thence-
forth known as the Donner party.

296 HISTORY OF UTAH.

desert to the Humboldt and the Sierras. Its projector was Lansford
W. Hastings, a mountaineer and guide, who, with the proprietors of
Fort Bridger, being interested in the new route, were doing all in
their power to induce emigration that way. Mr. Reed states that
some friends of his, who had preceded him to California with pack
animals, had left letters for him with Mr. Vasquez, Bridgets part-
ner, advising the company to go by way of Fort Hall, and by no
means to take the Hastings Cut-off; but that Vasquez, as he learned
later, had kept these letters, thus preventing the party from being
warned.

Near the mouth of Echo Canyon they found a letter sticking in
a sage-brush. It proved to be from Hastings, who was then piloting
a company through Weber Canyon. It stated that if the Donner
party would send a messenger after him, he would return and guide
them along a better way than the Weber, which was represented as
being very difficult. Accordingly, Mr. Reed and two others — Messrs.
McCutchen and Stanton — followed and overtook Hastings near Black
Rock, at the south end of the Lake. He could not then return, but
gave Mr. Reed some information concerning a "cut-off" — still
another — from the mouth of Echo Canyon across the mountains into
Salt Lake Valley. The latter then returned to camp.

The route now taken by his party was the one followed, next
season, by the Mormon Pioneers, — up East Canyon, over the Big and
Little Mountains and down Emigration Canyon into the Valley. The
way was extremely difficult, and sixteen days were consumed by the
Donner party in cutting a road through the canyons. Then came the
crossing of the western desert, where many of their cattle gave out for
want of grass and water, while others were lost or stolen by Indians,
compelling them to abandon some of their wagons in the midst
of the sandy waste. Delayed by these and other misfortunes, the
ill-fated company did not strike the main trail on the Humboldt until
late in September. By that time the last companies of the season
had passed. Another month brought them to the foot of the Truckee
Pass of the Sierras.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 207

Early snows now came, completely blocking up the way. Some
of the company killed their cattle and went into winter quarters near
Truckee Lake, but others, hoping still to thread the pass, delayed
building their cabins until heavier snows fell, burying cattle, cabins
and all. It was now December, their provisions were well-nigh
exhausted, and starvation stared the hapless emigrants in the face.
An advance party on snow-shoes pushed ahead over the mountains,
braving snow and ice and wintry blasts, to obtain relief for their
suffering companions. Before reaching New Helvetia — now Sacra-
mento— several of the party died from cold, hunger and exhaustion,
and the others, freezing and starving, were compelled to eat their
flesh.

Captain Sutter, of Sutter's Fort, near Sacramento, and others
nearer the coast, on learning of the terrible fate impending over the
snow-bound travelers, fitted out relief parties and sent them to the
rescue. This timely action saved most of the sufferers, but out of
the original eighty-seven, persuaded into taking this death-trail
across the Basin, thirty-nine perished from cold and starvation.
The survivors, when found, had been subsisting for weeks — horrible
extremity! — upon the bodies of their dead companions. Such was
the sad fate of the Donner Party. The last one rescued, a German,
who had become a ferocious cannibal, was picked up in April, 1847.

298 HISTORY OF UTAH.

CHAPTER XVII.

1847.

The mormon pioneers — their journey across the great plains — pawnees and sioux —

the pioneer buffalo hunt fort laramie the mississippi mormons south pass

major harris colonel bridger " a thousand dollars for the first ear of

corn raised in salt lake valley" a discouraging prospect elder brannan

again— some of the battalion boys fort bridger— miles goodyear echo canyon

— the valley of the great salt lake.

|j*)ET us now bring forward into the Great Basin the vanguard of
^ the migrating Mormons encamped upon the Missouri. "The
word and will of the Lord concerning the Camp of Israel in their
journeyings to the West," was issued by President Young at Winter
Quarters on the 14th of January, 1847. A few paragraphs of this
manifesto — the first of its kind penned by the Prophet's successor —
will convey some idea of the nature of the preparations for the con-
tinued exodus :

Let all the people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and those who
journey with them, be organized into companies, with a covenant and promise to keep all
the commandments and statutes of the Lord our Cod.

Let the companies be organized with captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, and
captains of tens, with a president and his two counselors at their bead, under tin- direction
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 themselves with all the teams, wagons, provisions, cloth-
ing, and other necessaries for the journey that they can.

When the companies are organized, let them go to with their might, to prepare for
those wbn are to tarry.

Let each company with their captains and presidents decide bow many can go next
spring; and then choose out a sufficient number of able-bodied and expert men, to take
teams, seeds, and farming utensils, to go as pioneers to prepare for putting in spring crops.

Let each company bear an equal proportion, according to the dividend of their prop-
erly, in taking the poor, the widows, the fatherless, and the families of those who have

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HISTORY OF UTAH. 305

General Young instructed the camp as follows : The men were
to travel in a compact body, each with his loaded gun in hand,
or, if a teamster, in his wagon, ready for instant use. If the gun
were a cap-lock, he was to take off the cap and put on a piece of
leather to exclude moisture and dirt; if a flint-lock he must take out
the filling and fill the pan with tow or cotton. Each man was to
keep beside his wagon, and not leave it except by permission. The
vehicles were to travel two abreast wherever practicable, and in case
of hostile demonstrations by savages, four or five abreast. At five
o'clock in the morning the bugle would sound the call to rise, assem-
ble for prayers, feed teams, and get breakfast, and at seven give the
signal for starting. At 8:30 p. m., at the sound of the bugle, each
was to retire for prayers in his own wagon, and at 9 o'clock all but
the sentries to bed.

The sentries were selected from a body of fifty men, with Stephen
Markham as their captain ; twelve guards were on duty at a time, and
the night was divided into two watches. These guards were not to
leave the vicinity of the wagons. Whenever it became necessary to
stake out the horses and cattle to graze at a distance from the camp,
an extra guard was provided. The stock, however, were generally
kept inside the enclosure formed by corralling the wagons, according
to the custom of the plains. In forming the corral, the tongues of the
wagons were placed outside, with a fore-wheel of each vehicle locked
in a hind wheel of the one ahead. At one or both ends of the cir-
cular or oblong enclosure thus formed, an opening would be left.
These gateways were carefully guarded. Sometimes, near a lake or
river, the camp would form a semi-circle, resting on the bank.

■ The pioneers sacredly observed the Sabbath ; no unnecessary
toil or travel being done on that day. Divine services were held reg-
ularly. As formerly, excessive levity was frowned upon by the
leaders.

Thus organized, equipped and instructed, the pioneers proceeded
on their way, slowly traveling up the north bank of the Platte. The
regular route at that time was along the south bank, where grass was

306 HISTORY OF UTAH

more plentiful and the Indians less troublesome. Few if any trav-
elers chose the north side, which was regarded as more difficult and
dangerous. The pioneers preferred it for one reason: that their people
who followed them would thus escape contact with the migrating Mis-
sourians, who sought every occasion to quarrel with the Mormons
whenever they met them. For several hundred miles, therefore, they
virtually broke a new road over the plains ; a road subsequently trav-
eled by tens of thousands of their people with ox-teams and hand-
carts. It was known for many years as "the old Mormon trail."
Much of it is now covered by the track of the Union Pacific Railway.

Pursuing their journey from the Elk Horn, the pioneers, in the
latter part of April, found themselves in the heart of the Pawnee
Indian country. These savages were still quite numerous, though
their ranks had lately been decimated by the warlike Sioux, their
implacable enemies. Thus far they had been very troublesome to
the pioneers, stampeding and stealing their stock, and burning the
prairie grass before and around them, destroying the feed upon
which they mainly depended for their teams. But the Indians had
offered no violence.

It was about one o'clock in the afternoon of April 21st that the
pioneers halted on the bank of a long, narrow lake close by the river.
They had scarcely formed their wagons in a semi-circle and placed
their guards, when they were surrounded by swarms of savages, male
and female, coming from all directions. Many had forded the river
some distance below and followed the pioneers to their camp-ground.
Among them was Shefmolun, chief of the Pawnee nation. Their
manner was not hostile, and their motive, as soon appeared, purely
mercenary. Presenting certificates, signed by various travelers, to
the effect that the Pawnees were friendly and that it was the custom
to make them small presents for the privilege of passing through
their country, they intimated by a young Indian interpreter that
similar gifts would be acceptable from the pioneers. The latter read-
ily responded, imparting of their limited stores a few articles, such as
powder, lead, salt, tobacco and flour, in quantities proportionate to the

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HISTORY OF UTAH. 309

menon of rebounding balls.* The proceeds of this buffao hunt, —
one bull, three cows and six calves, — were carried to camp in live
wagons, temporarily unloaded for the purpose. The meat was
equally distributed among the tens, each company receiving about
one quarter.

After this day's sport the President instructed his men not to
kill game wantonly, as was the custom with many who crossed the
plains, — a custom which has done much to render the buffalo race
extinct. " If we slay when we have no need/' said he, "we will need
when we cannot slay." Game continued more or less plentiful, the
hunters supplying the camp with buffalo, deer, antelope, geese,
ducks, etc., as often as necessary, and as they approached the moun-
tains fine trout began to be taken from the streams. A grizzly bear
and her cubs also became trophies of their skill.

Early in May a French trader named Charles Beaumont, returning
with furs from Fort Laramie to the frontier, visited the pioneer camp,
fording the Platte for that purpose, but leaving his wagons on the
southern shore. Many embraced the opportunity thus afforded of
sending letters back to Winter Quarters. Hitherto they had been
content to improvise post-offices by the way, using the skull of a dead
buffalo, or some other conspicuous and sheltering object, in which to
deposit the missives left for their friends who were to follow. Fifty or
sixty letters were now written, all of which Mr. Beaumont courteously
undertook to deliver. The pioneers at this point were strongly
tempted to cross the river and continue their journey along the regu-
lar route. There grass and game were abundant, and travelers were
not so much molested, while on the north side the Indians kept up
their prairie-burning' tactics, and horses and cattle were at times
almost famished for feed. The temptation, however, was resisted,
for reasons already given, and up the north bank they proceeded.

: \ kvorite method of the Indians for killing buffalo was to chase the lil the]

were " winded." and then, riding up alongside, strike one with an arrow in the lower pari
ofthespine. The beast, falling paralyzed, could then be hamstrung, and the cl

tinned ad libitum.

310 HISTORY OF UTAH.

On May 21st they put up a guide-board, reading: "From Win-
ter Quarters 409 miles; from the junction of the north and south
forks (of the Platte) 91 miles. * * * According to Fremont, this
place is 132 miles from Laramie." Similar guide-boards they had
placed, and continued to place, at various points for the benefit of
future emigration. Their method of measuring distances was by
means of an ingenious machine invented by William Clayton and
constructed by Appleton M. Harmon, a skillful mechanic. The
machinery of the "roadometer" was so arranged that the revolutions
of a wagon wheel, acting by screws and cogs upon smaller wheels,
the whole attached to an axle-tree of one of the wagons, indicated
from day to day the miles and parts of miles traveled.*

Near Chimney Rock, on the 24th of May, the pioneers encoun-
tered a band of mounted Sioux, about thirty-five in number, who
forded the river and made friendly advances. These Indians were
much better accoutred than the Pawnees and other tribes nearer the
frontier. Many of them wore broadcloth, with fur caps, profusely
decorated with beads and other ornaments, and were armed with
bows, steel-pointed arrows and fire-arms. The chief sent his men to
lodge some distance from the camp, but requested for himself the
privilege of remaining with the pioneers over night. They granted
his request, spreading a tent for his accommodation, and feeding
him and his band that night and the next morning. These Sioux
carried with them the American flag, and bore a recommendation

* The machine is thus described by its inventor :

•• The whole machinery consists of a shaft about eighteen inches long, placed on gudg-
eons, one in the axle-tree of the wagon, near which are six arms placed at equal distances
around it, and in which a cog works which is fastened on the hub of the wagon wheel,
turning the shaft once around at every revolution of the wagon wheel. The upper gudg-
eon plays in a piece of wood nailed to the wagon box. and near this gudgeon, on the shaft,
a screw is cut. The shaft lays at an angle of 45 degrees. In this screw a wheel works
on an axle (fixed in the side of the wagon) of 60 cogs, and which makes one revolution
for each mile traveled. In the shaft on which this wheel runs four cogs are cut on the
forepart, which plays in another wheel of 40 cogs, which shows the miles and quarters of
miles up to ten miles. The box incasing the whole is 18 inches long, 15 inches high and
3 inches thick."

■

:

u~&<

HISTORY OF UTAH. 313

mountains in the trail of the pioneers. It was supposed that
Captain Brown's detachment would come also. Indeed the Battalion
men had already started, and were now marching toward Fort
Laramie.

Friday, June 4th, the pioneers resumed their journey. Deducting
Apostle Lyman's party, and adding the Mississippians who had already
arrived, the company was now increased to one hundred and sixty-
one. They started about noon, taking the regular emigrant trail
toward the mountains. On the 5th, while resting to let their cattle
graze, a small company of eleven wagons, bound for Oregon, rolled
ahead of them. Next day — the Sabbath — another company, number-
ing twenty-one wagons, passed. A third company, with thirteen
wagons, went ahead during the noon halt of the 7th. On the 8th
a small company from the west was encountered. These wagons
were from Fort Bridger, the first trading post beyond the mountains,
and were laden with furs and peltries for Fort Laramie. The day
following, three men with fifteen horses, mostly pack animals, over-
took and passed the pioneers. They were from Santa Fe, and bound
for the Bay of San Francisco, via the Great Salt Lake.

In the Black Hills region the pioneers consumed a week, recross-
ing the Platte. Here the river was usually fordable, but it was now
the high water season and fording was impracticable. The stream
was fifteen feet deep and a hundred yards wide. To this point the
President had previously sent a detachment of men with their boat,
the Revenue Cutter, to ferry over the Oregon companies. When the
main body of the pioneers reached the river this work was in
progress. The little skiff carried the loads and the empty wagons
were floated. Some of them were whirled over several times by the
swift current. For each wagon and load the ferrymen received $1.50,
and were glad to take their pay in flour, meal and bacon at Missouri
prices. A little money was also realized. Other companies that soon
arrived were carried over at the same rates. The proceeds of this
labor, excepting a few extra dollars for the ferrymen, were equally
divided among the members of the camp.

314 HISTORY OF UTAH.

These supplies were as timely as they were totally unexpected
Their provisions were well-nigh exhausted, and to have their flour
and meal bags replenished in this far-off region, and at the hands of
their old enemies, the Missourians, was regarded by them as little less
than a miracle. Apostle Woodruff compared it to the feeding of
Israel with manna in the wilderness.

Besides their boat, two or three light rafts, constructed on the
spot, were used by the pioneers at this ferry. It being demonstrated
that "swimming" the wagons injured them, a heavier raft was built,
strong enough to bear a loaded vehicle, and by means of this the rest
of the wagons were taken over. This raft consisted of two large cot-
tonwood canoes, placed parallel to each other, a few feet apart, firmly
pinned with cross-pieces, and with nailed slabs running lengthwise.
A rudder and oars were attached, with a little iron work, and the
"boat" was complete. The only loss sustained during this crossing
was one horse belonging to the Crow company, drowned while swing-
ing the river.

It occurred to President Young that this was an eligible place
to establish a ferry for the benefit of the companies that were to
follow. Accordingly, nine men were detailed for that purpose. They
were Thomas Grover, Captain; John S. Higbee, Luke S. Johnson,
Appleton M. Harmon, Edmund Ellsworth, Francis M. Pomeroy, Wil-
liam Empey, James Davenport and Benjamin F. Stewart. They were
instructed to remain at the ferry for about six weeks, or until the
next company from Winter Quarters came along, by which time it was
thought they would have earned enough to supply the needy with
provisions. They were then to join that company and come on to the
mountains. Eric Glines, against the President's wish, insisted on
remaining at the ferry, but a few days later reconsidered his design
and following, rejoined the main body.

On the 19th of June the camp continued its journey. The order
of traveling was as follows: Each company of ten took its regu-
lar turn in the lead; the first ten one day, the second ten next day.
and so on ; every ten taking its turn in van and rear.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 315

They reached Independence Rock* on the 21st of June. A mile
or two beyond they forded the Sweetwater, and, contrary to report
found plenty of good grass along that river. But they had to beware
of the poisonous alkaline waters of the vicinity, which proved so
fatal to the cattle and horses of succeeding companies. Five days
later they arrived at South Pass, the celebrated dividing ridge sepa-
rating the waters here flowing east and west toward the Atlantic
and the Pacific oceans. Now began the western descent of the
Rockies.

At Pacific Springs, two miles west of the Pass, the pioneer van-
guard met Major Moses Harris, a noted scout and trapper, who had
accompanied to that point a party of travelers from Oregon, going
east. He intended now to return, as guide to some of the emigrant
companies bound for the north-west. From him the pioneers derived
some information regarding the region of their destination, — the
valley of the Great Salt Lake. His report, like Fremont's, was rather
discouraging. He spoke of the country as sandy and destitute of
timber and vegetation, excepting sagebrush. He gave a more favor-
able account of "a small region under the Bear River mountains,
called Cache Valley," where trappers and traders were in the habit
of "caching" their furs and other effects to hide them from the
Indians. Cache Valley, Major Harris said, was "a fine place for
wintering cattle." He presented for the perusal of the pioneers a
file of Oregon papers beginning with the date of February 11th,
1847 ; also a number of the California Star, published by Samuel
Brannan at Verba Buena, and edited by E. P. Jones.

In this neighborhood also, according to Erastus Snow, they
encountered another veteran mountaineer, Thomas L. Smith — sur-
named "Peg-leg" — who lived in the Bear River mountains, near
Soda Springs. He advised them to direct their course toward Cache
Valley, and plant their colony in that region.

In the forenoon of June 28th. the pioneers arrived at the point

* So named from the feci thai a passing party had thei

316 HISTORY OF UTAH.

where the Oregon and California roads diverged. Taking the latter
or left-hand route, they crossed the Little Sandy, and that evening
met Colonel James Bridger, of Bridger's Fort, accompanied by two of
his men. They were on their way to Fort Laramie. In conversation
with President Young and the other leaders, with whom he encamped
that night, Bridger gave them in his peculiar way additional informa-
tion regarding the route ahead, and the region toward which they
were traveling. His report was synopsized by historian Clayton as
follows :

We will find better grass as we proceed ; there is no blacksmith shop at his fort at
present ; there was one but it was destroyed. Nearly a hundred wagons have gone over
the Hastings route through Weber's Fork. They crossed the Black's Fork, and went a
little south of west from his place. It is impossible for wagons to follow down Green
River. Neither can it be followed in boats. * * * From Bridger's Fort
to the Great Salt Lake, Hastings said, was about one hundred miles. Bridger himself
had been through fifty times, but could form no correct idea of the distance. Mr. Hast-
ings' route leaves the Oregon road at Bridger's. We could pass over the mountains
further south but in some places we would meet with heavy bodies of timber and would
have to cut our way through. In the Bear River Valley there is oak timber, sugar trees,
cottonwood and pines. There is not an abundance of sugar maple, but plenty of beautiful
pines. There is no timber on the Utah Lake, but some on the streams emptying into it.
Into the outlet of the Utah Lake three well timbered streams empty. In the valleys
southeast of the Salt Lake there is an abundance of blue grass and white clover. The
outlet of the Utah Lake does not form a large river, neither a rapid current, but the water
is muddy and the banks of the river low. Some of his men have been around the Salt
Lake in canoes. But while they went out hunting, their horses were stolen by the Indians.
They then spent three months going round the lake in canoes hunting beavers, the dis-
tance being five hundred and fifty (?) miles. The Utah tribe of Indians live around the
lake and are a bad people , if they catch a man alone they are sure to rob and abuse him,
if they don't kill him, but parties of men are in no danger. These Indians are mostly
armed with guns. * * * There was a man who had opened a farm in

Bear River Valley, where the soil is good and likely to produce grain, were it not for the
excessive cold nights. There is a good country south of the Utah Lake or southeast of
the Great Basin. Three rivers unknown to travelers enter into the Sevier Lake. There
is also a splendid country north of the California mountains, calculated to produce every
kind of grain and fruit, and there are several places where a man might pass from it over
the mountains to the California settlements in a day. * * * The great
desert extends from the Salt Lake to the Gulf of California, which is perfectly barren.
Mr. Bridger supposes it to have been an arm of the sea. There is a tribe of Indians in
that country who are unknown to either travelers or geographers. They make farms and
raise an abundance of grain of various kinds. He can buy any quantity of the very best

HISTORY OF UTAH. 317

wheat from them. * * * This country lies south of Salt Lake, distant

about twenty clays' travel, but the country through which one would have to go to reach it
is bad, and there would be no grass for animals to subsist on. He supposes there might
be access to it from Texas. * * * He never saw any grapes on the Utah

Lake, but there are plenty of cherries and berries of several kinds. He thinks the region
around the Utah Lake is the best country in the vicinity of the Salt Lake, and the country
is still better the farther south one goes until the desert is reached, which is upwards of
two hundred miles south of the Utah Lake. There is plenty of timber on all the streams
and mountains and an abundance of fish in the streams. * * * He passed
through the country a year ago last summer in the month of July ; there is generally one
or two showers of rain every day, sometimes very heavy thunder storms but not accom-
panied by strong winds. * * * He said we would find plenty of water
from here to Bridger's Fort, except after crossing Green River, when we have to travel
about twenty miles without water, but there is plenty of grass. * * * We
need not fear the Utah Indians, for we could drive the whole of them in twenty-four
hours. Mr. Bridger's theory was not to kill them, but make slaves of them. The
Indians south of the Utah Lake raise as good corn, wheat and pumpkins as were ever
raised in old Kentucky.

In conclusion, the erratic Colonel expressed the opinion, — simi-
lar to that of Major Harris, — that it would be unwise to bring a large
colony into the Great Basin until it had been proven that grain could
be raised there. He said that he would give a thousand dollars for
the first ear of corn that ripened in Great Salt Lake Valley.

Crossing and journeying down the right bank of the Big Sandy,
the pioneers on the last day of June came to Green River. Several
of them there fell sick with mountain fever, causing delirium; though
none of the cases were considered dangerous, or threatened to be of
long duration. The river was high and rapid, — about eighteen rods
wide, with from twelve to fifteen feet of water in the channel. Ford-
ing was therefore out of the question. Two rafts were construe led
from the cottonwood trees lining the banks of the river, and prepar-
ations for crossing the stream at once begun.

Just at this juncture, who should ride into camp but Elder
Samuel Brannan, the same who, in February, 1846, had sailed from
New York for California on the ship Brooklyn. He was just from the
Bay of San Francisco, having left there with two companions on the
4th of April, one day before the pioneer vanguard started from Win-

318 HISTORY OF UTAH.

ter Quarters. Ider Brannan and his companions had crossed the
Sierras over the deep snows which had buried the Donner party, —
whose ghastly relics in skulls and scattered bones they had beheld in
passing, — and come by way of Fort Hall to meet the pioneers.
Brannan informed the President that his colony, which had reached
the Bay of San Francisco on the 31st of the previous July, were
settling on the San Joaquin river. He had brought with him from
the coast sixteen copies of the California Star, the paper he had there
established. Brannan's main purpose in coming to meet the Presi-
dent was to induce him to settle with his people on the Pacific coast.
In this he was unsuccessful.

Green River was now crossed and before noon on the 3rd of
July all the wagons were safe over. A camp was formed three miles
below the point of crossing. The President now gave such of the
pioneers as had families in the next company the privilege of return-
ing to meet them. Five only decided to return, namely : Phinehas
H. Young, George Woodward, Aaron F. Farr, Eric Glines and Rodney
Badger. Taking the Cutter wagon they started eastward on the
morning of the 4th. They were accompanied to the ferry by President
Young, Heber C. Kimball and a few others. They there met thirteen
of Captain Brown's Battalion men, out in pursuit of horse-thieves,
who had stolen from them at Pueblo and were now supposed to be
at Fort Bridger. One of the soldiers — William Walker — decided to
return with the five pioneers. The others, escorted by the President
and his party, joined the pioneer camp. The "glorious 4th," it
being the Sabbath, was sacredly observed by the pioneers on Green
River.

Resuming their journey, they continued a few miles down the
right bank of the river, then leaving it and ascending some bluffs,
crossed a gently undulating sandy plain, and descended upon Black's
Fork. Following up that stream they forded Ham's Fork, crossed and
recrossed the Black, and finally xm July 7th arrived at Fort Bridger-
This celebrated post — the second permanent one established on
the great overland route — consisted of two adjoining log houses,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 319

with dirt roofs, surrounded by a stockade of logs eight feet high.
It was built upon one of several small islands formed by as many
branches of Black's Fork. These islands were covered with excellent
grass, and had considerable timber; mostly cottonwood and willow.
The fort, still owned by Bridger and Vasquez, was the abode of a
score or more of human beings, white men, Indian women, and half-
breed children. In the vicinity were nine Indian lodges, where
dwelt the families of other trappers and hunters who had also taken
squaws for wives.

Here the pioneers again set up their forges, shoeing horses and
repairing wagons, prior to undertaking the rough mountainous
journey now before them. Despite all adverse reports, President
Young had decided to penetrate to and colonize, if possible, the desert
shores of the Great Salt Lake. The route thither lay to the south-
west, along the ragged spurs of the towering Uintahs, snow-capped
and glistening in the July sun.

On the 9th they set out from Fort Bridger, by way of the Hast-
ings Cut-off. Samuel Brannan and a few others returned toward
South Pass to meet Captain Brown and his detachment. Near Bear
River the pioneers encountered Miles' M. Goodyear, another moun-
taineer, who was also somewhat acquainted with Great Salt Lake
Valley. He owned a place on Weber River, where he had built a
stockade similar to Fort Bridger, and was engaged in trading, trapping
and stock-raising. He gave them little or no encouragement, but
spoke of hard frosts, cold climate and the difficulty of raising grain
and vegetables in that region. Still they pressed on undaunted.
Fording Bear River, which stream yielded them some fine trout, they
continued following the dim wagon trail of previous emigration, as it
rose over steep hills or plunged into deep and rocky ravines now in
their path.

At noon on the 12th President Young, who was stricken with
mountain fever, fell behind with a few wagons, but requested the
main body to move on. They did so, and that night camped uear a
large and curious cave, which they named for one of their number

320

HISTORY OF UTAH.

Redding's Cave, — Jackson Redding being one of the first to visit it.
This was at the head of Echo Canyon.

Next morning messengers were sent back to meet the President.
Returning with Heber C. Kimball, they reported that the President
was better, but would not travel ■ that day. Orson Pratt was
requested to take wagons and men, and preceding the main body
down the canyon, endeavor to find near its mouth the Reed and
Donner trail across the mountains to the Great Salt Lake. Weber
Canyon, the route generally followed from the mouth of Echo, had
been reported impassable owing to high water.

At about 3 p. m. Orson Pratt's vanguard, consisting of forty-two
men with twenty-three wagons, started down Echo Canyon. This
company was composed as follows :

Orson Pratt, (commanding),

Stephen Markham, (aide),

John Brown,

C. D. Barnum.

Charles Burk,

Francis Boggs,

A. P. Ghessley,

Oscar Crosby,

Lyman Curtis,

James Chessney,

Walter Crow,

John Crow,

Bobert Crow,

Walter H. Crow,

Benjamin B. Crow,
John S. Eldredge,
Joseph Egbert,
Nathaniel Fairbanks,
John S. Freeman,
Green Flake,
John S. Gleason,
David Grant,
Hans G. Hansen,
Levi Jackman,
Stephen Kelsey,
Levi N. Kendall,
Hark Lay.
Joseph Matthews,

Lewis B. Myers,
Elijah Newman,
David Power,
0. P. Rockwell,
Jackson Redding,
Shadrach Roundy,
James W. Stewart,
Gilbroid Summe,
Horace Thornton,
Marcus B. Thorpe,
George W. Therlki:
Norman Taylor,
Seth Taft,
Robert Thomas.

The women and children of the Crow family accompanied them, and
were thus among the first to enter Salt Lake Valley, a

Echo Canyon, — which was destined to become more historic still
in Utah annals, — was described by Orson Pratt as a narrow valley
from ten to twelve rods wide, upon each side of which the hills rose
abruptly to a height of from eight to twelve hundred feet, with ver-
tical and overhanging precipices of red pudding-stone and red sand-
stone, dipping to the north-west in an angle of about twenty degrees.
The canyon ran south-west. The rocks were worked into many

HISTORY OF UTAH. 321

curious shapes, probably by the rains, and the country was very
mountainous in every direction. The road down the canyon was
quite rough, crossing and recrossing the stream — Red Fork or Echo
Creek — many times. Willow and aspen grew in the valley and upon
the slopes, and there were some scrub cedars clinging to the rocks
and upon the hills. Echo Creek, toward the mouth, was a small
stream eight feet across, putting into the Weber from its right bank.
Weber River at this point was about seventy feet wide and two or
three feet deep, with a rapid but clear current rolling over a bottom
of boulders. Its course was west-north-west. The height above the
sea at the junction of the two streams was found to be 5,301 feet.

Such was Echo Canyon in July, 1847. Ten years and a few
months later that narrow valley, walled in by vertical and overhang-
ing cliffs, blocked with ice and snow — a veritable bulwark of Nature —
wore a somewhat different aspect, and became the scene of one act
of an intensely interesting drama, in which the nation whence the
pioneers had fled, and the mountain-girt state which they and their
compatriots here framed, played principal and opposing parts. What-
ever the merits of that controversy — and the full truth of it has
never yet been told — Echo Canyon and its warlike episode are
immortal. The bridge that Horatius kept, the storied pass of Ther-
mopylae, are not more securely niched in History's golden temple of
the past, than Echo Canyon in her pantheon of the present and the
future.

The most difficult part of the pioneer journey was still before
them. Level plains and rolling prairies were long since past. Their
path now lay wholly among the mountains. High hills, deep
ravines, rugged canyons, rock-obstructed and clinked with brush and
timber, — over and through these they must cut and dig their way.

Passing clown the Weber about four miles, crossing that stream
and striking the Donner trail — now so dim as to be hardly discernible
— the Pratt vanguard proceeded toward East Canyon.* A dozen men

* The statement sometimes made thai the Mormon Pioneers, on their way from Echo
Canyon in July. 1x47. entered Parley's Park, is an error.

322 HISTORY OF UTAH.

with spades and axes went before the wagons. Six miles up a
ravine, through which flowed a small, clear stream, brought them to
a dividing ridge, whence they descended slowly another ravine so
choked and obstructed as to be all but impassable. Four hours were
consumed in going about two miles.

At length they reached East Canyon. Up that difficult gorge
they toiled for eight weary miles, crossing and recrossing its crooked
willow-fringed torrent thirteen times. Large grey wolves, startled
out of their lairs, glared fiercely at them as they passed, and reluc-
tantly retired up neighboring glens and ravines. The deadly rattle-
snake— the policeman among reptiles — sounded his warning as if
summoning assistance to arrest the further progress of these daring
and dangerous human intruders. Here and there the fresh track of
a buffalo, some wanderer of his race, appeared; the brush at the
roadside, against which the brute had rubbed in passing, still retain-
ing some of its hair.

Leaving East Canyon the trail turned up a ravine to the west,
and finally crossed over another ridge or summit, — Big Mountain.

Hitherto naught but a seemingly endless succession of Alps on
Alps, hills piled on hills, had greeted the tired vision of the struggling
vanguard, pushing through these mountain fastnesses. But now, from
the summit of this pass, a broader and grander view was obtained.
Glimpses of the open country appeared. To the south-west, through
a vista of sloping mountains, — the V of the canyon prospect changed
to a W by the intervention of a massive peak towering in the distance
— two small sections of Salt Lake Valley were visible. The lake was
yet unseen, but beyond loomed the blue and snow-tipped Oquirrhs,
and peering above them aw shadowy summit of the far-off Onaqui
range, dimly outlined against the western sky. It was from this
summit — Big Mountain — that Orson Pratt and John Brown, riding
horseback .ahead of their company, on Monday, July. 19th, 1847,
caught the first glimpse had by any of the pioneers of the Valley of
the Great Salt Lake.

Having descended Big Mountain, — a steep and dangerous slide,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 325

CHAPTER XVIII.

1847.

Pen picture of salt lake valley HOW it looked to the pioneers CONTRASTED impres-
sions ORSON PRATT AND ERASTUS SNOW THE FIRST EXPLORERS THE CAMP ON CITY CREEK

PLOWING AND PLANTING ARRIVAL OF THE PRESIDENT THE FIRST SABBATH SERVICE IN

THE VALLEY — ORSON PRATT'S SERMON TO THE PIONEERS BRIGHAM YOUNG LAYS DOWN THE

LAW APOSTLE LYMAN AND ELDER BRANNAN ARRIVE EXPLORING AND COLONIZING ENSIGN

PEAK NAMED THE GREAT SALT LAKE VISITED BLACK ROCK CHRISTENED TOOELE VALLEY

UTAH LAKE SEEN SALT LAKE CITY PLANNED AND LOCATED.

XT WAS no Garden of the Hesperides upon which the Pioneers
«!• gazed that memorable July morning. Aside from its scenic

splendor, which was indeed glorious, magnificent, there was little
to invite and much to repel in the prospect presented to their view.
A broad and barren plain hemmed in by mountains, blistering in the
burning rays of the midsummer sun. No waving fields, no swaying
forests, no verdant meadows to rest and refresh the weary eye, but
on all sides a seemingly interminable waste of sagebrush bespangled
with sunflowers, — the paradise of the lizard, the cricket and the rat-
tlesnake. Less than half way across the baked and burning valley,
dividing it in twain — as if the vast bowl, in the intense heat of the
Master Potter's fires, in process of formation had cracked asunder — a
narrow river, turbid and shallow, from south to north in many a
serpentine curve, sweeps on its sinuous way. Beyond, a broad lake,
the river's goal, dotted with mountain islands; its briny waters
shimmering in the sunlight like a silver shield.

From mountains snow-capped, seamed and craggy, lifting their
kingly heads to be crowned by the golden sun, How limpid, laughing
streams, cold and crystal clear, leaping, dashing, foaming, Hashing,
from rock to glen, from peak to plain. But the fresh canyon streams

326 HISTORY OF UTAH.

are far and few, and the arid waste they water, glistening with beds
of salt and soda and pools of deadly alkali, scarcely allows them to
reach the river, but midway well nigh swallows and absorbs them in
its thirsty sands. Above the line of gray and gold, of sage and sun-
flower, the sloping hillsides and precipitous steeps clothed with pur-
ple and dark-green patches. These, the, oak-bush, the squaw-berry,
and other scant growths, with here and there a tree casting its lone
shadow on hill or in valley ; a wire-grass swamp, a few acres of with-
ered bunch-grass, and the lazily waving willows and wild-rose bushes
fringing the distant streams, the only green things visible.

Silence and desolation reign. A silence unbroken, save by the
cricket's ceaseless chirp, the roar of the mountain torrent, or the
whir and twitter of the passing bird. A desolation of centuries,
where earth seems heaven-forsaken, where hermit Nature, watching,
waiting, weeps, and worships God amid eternal solitudes.

A voice breaks the stillness. It is the voice of Brigham Young.
Pale and wasted from his recent illness, and still reclining wearily in
the light vehicle which has borne him through the mountains, the
pioneer chieftain sweeps with a prescient glance the gorgeous pano-
rama spread out before him, — the contrasted splendors of mountain,
valley, lake and stream, glorious and glittering in the summer sun-
light. Far over and beyond all these extends that inspired gaze. It
sees not merely the present, but the future; not only that which is,
but that which is to be, when from these barren sands shall rise, as
rose proud Venice from the sea, a city fair as Adriatic's island queen,
and no less wealthy, famed and powerful. It sees the burning plains
to blooming gardens turn; the desert change to an oasis; the sterile
valley, the reproach of Nature, which naught before had borne,
teeming with varied life and yielding rich fruits and rare flowers for
the sustenance and delight of man. An inanimate Sarah, a barren
Rachel, transformed by the touch of God to a joyful mother of chil-
dren. The curse of centuries is lifted, the fetters of ages are stricken
off, and the redeemed earth, like a freed captive, looks up to heaven
and smiles. Cities, towns and hamlets multiply; farms, fields,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 329

Continuing, Apostle Woodruff says: "After gazing awhile upon
this scenery, we moved four miles across the table-land into the val-
ley, 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 pota-
toes in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake."

Orson Pratt had been the first of the pioneers to tread the site
of Salt Lake City. We left him and Erastus Snow on the afternoon
of the 21st of July, descending the hills near Emigration Canyon,
after drinking in with rapture the inspiring scene which had burst
some moments before upon their view. As said, they had but one
horse between them, and Erastus was now riding. The day being
warm, — the temperature about 96° Fahr., — he had taken off his coat
and flung it loosely over the saddle. When about three miles from
the canyon he missed his coat, and returned to look for it. Orson
Pratt meanwhile walked on alone, descending from plateau to plain.
After traversing a circuit of about twelve miles, the two returned to
their camp in the canyon.

Erastus Snow states that after entering the valley they first
directed their course toward the stream now called Mill Creek, where
the tall canes along its banks "looked like inviting grain." Disap-
pointed by the delusion, and remembering the President's injunction
to "bear to the northward," they turned in that direction and came
to the banks of City Creek. This creek then divided in twain a little
above Temple Block ; one branch running westward and the other
southward. It was 9 or 10 o'clock p. m. when they rejoined their
companions. Pratt's company, after their leader left them, had only
advanced three miles clown the canyon and were now encamped one-
and-a-half miles above the mouth.

Next morning, the main company having arrived, Orson Pratt,
George A. Smith and seven others rode into the valley to explore,
leaving the others to follow them and make practicable the "nar-
rows" at the mouth of the canyon. Descending into the valley aboul

330 HISTORY OF UTAH.

five miles, the explorers turned northward toward the Lake. "For
three or four miles," says Orson Pratt, "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 bot-
toms. 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, the grass had nearly dried
up for 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 by mountains, except 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. * * * We found, as we pro-
ceeded 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 boil-
ing point. We traveled for about fifteen miles after coming down into
the valley; the latter parts of the distance the soil being unfit for
agricultural purposes."

Returning from this jaunt, which evidently took in the neigh-
borhood of the Warm and Hot Springs, they found their wagons
encamped in the valley, four or five miles below Emigration Canyon.

On the morning of the 23rd, after despatching messengers to
meet the President and inform him of what had been seen and done,
the camp removed to the south branch of City Creek, near the Eighth
Ward or Washington Square, not far from where the Methodist
Church and its palatial neighbor the Hotel Knutsford now stand.
A meeting was there called. Orson Pratt prayed and dedicated the
land and camp to the Lord, and he and Willard Richards addressed
those assembled. Various committees were then appointed, and
preparations at once made for putting in crops. The planting
season being virtually past, no time was to be lost if they hoped to

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HISTORY OF UTAH. 333

where it was "exalted above the hills," and "all nations*' would
yet "flow unto it."

Whether or not the Apostle's literal view be taken, there
is no denying that in the light of those prophecies the situation
of the pioneers was particularly striking, and that these descendants
of the Pilgrims and Puritans, as ready as their New England ances-
tors to recognize God's hand in their westward flight, had ample rea-
son, from their standpoint, to accept, as they undoubtedly did, their
Apostle's interpretation as true and genuine. Would not their feet
be indeed "beautiful upon the mountains" to those who were even
now awaiting the "glad tidings," soon to be sent back to them, of a
home of peace and safety unto which the Lord was about to "bring
Zion?"

The President, though his feeble condition would not permit
him to preach a sermon that day, added a few practical words from
his arm chair, where he sat while he addressed them. "He told the
brethren," says Apostle 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 that no man who came here should buy any land : 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."

While there exists no proof that it was the purpose of the Mor-
mon leader to set up anew at that time the system of the United
Order, the character of his instructions on this occasion were strik-
ingly reminiscent of the past history and operations of the Saints
under the great social plan introduced and partly established by their
Prophet. The proposed measuring out to each member of the com-
munity of that portion of land which he was required to industri-

None of them had any title to Hie land at thai lime li was >ti]| Mexican soil.

334 HISTORY OF UTAH.

ously cultivate, was in perfect keeping with the plan of the United
Order, and strongly suggestive of the mission once given to Bishop
Edward Partridge in Jackson County, Missouri. "He might till it as
he pleased," but he must not sell it, nor work it on the Sabbath.
Though each man was to have an "inheritance" as an individual
possession, he was expected to hold and use it in a way not incon-
sistent with the public weal; "every man seeking the interest of
his neighbor and doing all things with an eye single to the glory
of God."

The Israelitish, or at all events ancient genius of the United Order
is apparent. Nothing is plainer than that Joseph Smith's concept of
a community, while subsequent in enunciation and practice to the
theories of the French socialists and Robert Owen, was not inspired
by modern socialism and its methods. If he had ideals, they were
ancient and biblical, not modern and secular. They were Moses and
Joshua, rather than Owen and Saint-Simon. Joseph and Brigham in
their time were each compared to Moses, and that, too, by Gentile
writers; Brigham, no doubt, because he was not only, like Joseph, a
law-giver, but actually led a people, as Moses led Israel, through a
wilderness to their "land of promise." But he was not one whit less
a Joshua in dividing to an Israel their "inheritance." And yet, be it
remembered, it was the order of Enoch, "the seventh from Adam,"
and not an order of Moses and Joshua, that Joseph Smith had sought
to establish. The patriarchal or plural marriage system of the
Saints, — now known to the Church in general, and about to be
openly avowed to the world, — was also Israelitish in theory and in
practice, as were their patriarchal family organizations, formed at
Nauvoo and Winter Quarters, according to "the law of adoption."

Before proceeding with our narrative, let us here touch upon
another point.

Brigham Young, soon after his arrival in Salt Lake Valley, is
said to have remarked : "Now if they" — the Gentiles — "will let us
alone for ten years, I'll ask no odds of them." Some have construed
this as a covert threat against the Federal Government, signifying a

tfleA

HISTORY OF UTAH. 337

fifteen miles. The soil west of the river they found to be of inferior
quality to that upon the east side. No fresh water was discovered
after leaving the "Utah Outlet,''* which was about two miles from
camp. They had brought back a stray horse, found near the moun-
tains, and supposed to have been lost by the Donner party, or some
other company that had passed that way.

Other explorers returning reported that the canyons in the
vicinity contained plenty of timber, such as sugar-maple, ash, oak,
fir and pine.

While the explorers had been absent, the farmers had planted
three more acres with potatoes, and several acres with corn, peas and
beans. These crops, planted so late, were not destined to mature ;
though a few small potatoes "from the size of a pea upward to that
of half an inch in diameter" were obtained as excellent seed for
another year's planting.

Early on the morning of the 26th, before the President's explor-
ing party had set out, Lorenzo D. Young obtained permission to
remove his wagons from the south branch of City Creek to a more
elevated, and as he believed, healthier site on the branch running
westward, near what was afterwards known as the Whitney Corner,
opposite the north-east corner of Temple Block. There stood a soli-
tary scrub-oak, one of the few trees at first visible in the valley.
Beneath the scant shade of this exile of the forest, — for it was
neither monarch nor resident of the wood, — he placed his cov-
ered wagon-box, lifting it from the wheels for that purpose, and did
all in his power to make a comfortable and cozy little nook for his
dejected wife, so sadly dispirited over the treeless and desolate aspect
of their new home. The President and his party, passing by on
their way to the mountains, decided that tins was a better camp-
ground than the one then occupied. Other wagons were therefore
directed to remove to that vicinity, which, being done, it was thence-

* The name given to the river Jordan, the outlet of Lake I tah, by lie' trappei
guides of the Great Basin.

338 HISTORY OF UTAH.

forth known as the Upper Camp. In the neighborhood a spot for a
garden was selected, and its cultivation immediately begun.

Early on the morning of the 27th, a couple of Indians — Utes —
visited the camps and traded with the pioneers, exchanging two
ponies for a rifle and a musket. The red men were quite friendly,
and seemed very anxious to trade.

About half past eight Amasa M. Lyman, Rodney Badger and
Roswell Stevens, who had parted from the pioneers at Fort Laramie
to go to Pueblo, arrived at head-quarters on City Creek. They were
accompanied by Samuel Brannan. They reported Captain Brown's
command as being within two days' march of the Valley.

Half an hour later, the President's exploring party, including
the Apostles, Elder Brannan and several others, started for the Great
Salt Lake, taking with them a carriage, several riding and pack ani-
mals, with bedding and provisions for a two days' journey. The Utah
Outlet, which they forded, was described as being about six rods wide
and three feet deep, with a gravel bottom; the water, unlike that of
the mountain streams, being unclear, and the current not very rapid.
Thirteen miles over a level plain covered with sage-brush and grease-
wood, with here and there a stagnant alkaline pool, or dry bed of a
lake, baked and cracked by the sun, brought them to the -point of
the mountain," near the southern shore of the lake. Nooning at a
large spring in that vicinity, the waters of which were slightly brack-
ish, they rode on a few miles farther to where a large, black rock
stood upon the shore. The somber color of this lone basaltic cliff
readily suggested the name it should bear, and they called it Black
Rock, bestowing upon it the same title as that given it by the
Donner party, according to Mr. Reed, the season before. It was not
then, as now, separated from the shore by water. The pioneers
walked to it dry-shod. Brigham Young was the first to lave his hand
in the lake. After a bath in its briny and buoyant waters, the won-
derful properties of which much impressed them, they partly explored
Tooele Valley, west of the Oquirrh mountains. At dusk they set out to
return to the place of their noon halt, and there encamped for the night.

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HISTORY OF UTAH. 341

its charming and healthful thoroughfares, presented the appearance,
especially in summer when orchards were all abloom, of one vast,
variegated boucmet, radiant with beauty and redolent of mingled
perfumes. The transformation from sage-brush and sun-flower was
truly wonderful, and the fair and peaceful city, — as peaceful as it was
fair, — was a perpetual delight, not only to its builders and inhabi-
tants, but likewise to the stranger guest, the weary traveler and
passing pilgrim from abroad.

342 HISTORY OF UTAH.

CHAPTER XIX.

1847.

The pioneer settlers RE-INFORCED CAPTAIN JAMES brown and his COMPANY THE MIS- .

SISSIPPI MORMONS AN INDIAN AFFRAY UTES AND SHOSHONES THE " OLD FORT "

PROJECTED THE FIRST CITY SURVEY UTAH VALLEY EXPLORED "RENEWING COVENANTS"

AND "SELECTING INHERITANCES" CACHE VALLEY VISITED ASCENT OF TWIN PEAKS THE

FIRST HOUSE FINISHED IN SALT LAKE CITY THE FIRST WHITE CHILD BORN IN UTAH

FIRST DEATH IN THE PIONEER COLONY THE OX-TEAM COMPANIES RETURN TO WINTER

QUARTERS — GREAT SALT LAKE CITY NAMED — THE PIONEER LEADERS RECROSS THE PLAINS

— IMMIGRATION OF 1847 CAPTAINS OF HUNDREDS AND FIFTIES — -THE FIRST STAKE OF

ZION IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS ARRIVALS FROM THE WEST WINTER AT THE FORT

HARRIET YOUNG'S ADVENTURE INDIAN CAPTIVES AND CAPTORS CEDAR AND RUSH VALLEYS

EXPLORED CLOSE OF THE YEAR 1847.

•L HE pioneer settlers of Salt Lake Valley now began to receive
>K re-inforcements. The first to arrive was Captain James
Brown's detachment of the Mormon Battalion, accompanied by
the main portion of the Mississippi Saints who had joined the
soldiers at Pueblo. Being aware of their approach, President Young
and others on the 29th of July mounted their horses and went out
to meet them.

The advance columns were encountered about three miles
from camp; the main body, with Captains Brown and Higgins and
Lieutenant Willis, some distance behind them in Emigration Canyon.
A thunder-storm accompanied by a cloud-burst occurred while they
were yet in the canyon, swelling the mountain streams, causing them
to rush and roar tumultuously clown their rocky channels, over-flow
their banks in places and flood the surrounding soil. Simultane-
ously a shower spread over a large portion of the valley. Having
emerged from the gorge, Captain Brown's company, escorted by the
President and his party, marched to the inspiring strains of martial

HISTORY OF UTAH. 343

music to the camps on City Creek, arriving at the lower one about
4 p. m. They received a joyful welcome. The soldiers, some of
whom were mounted, numbered over one hundred; the Mississippians
about the same. They brought with them sixty wagons, one
carriage, one hundred horses and mules, and three hundred head of
cattle ; adding materially to the strength of the pioneer colony.

It had been the design of Captain Brown, on leaving Pueblo,
to push on without delay to the Bay of San Francisco. But the Bat-
talion's term of enlistment having expired, and his teams being jaded
and many of his wagons broken, he now decided to tarry in Salt
Lake Valley and await further orders from his military superiors.
The soldiers formed a separate camp on City Creek, about midway
between the two camps of the pioneers.

At a general meeting held next evening, the President, in behalf
of the whole people, publicly thanked the Battalion for the important
service they had rendered their country and their co-religionists.
He expressed the belief that the Church had been saved from
destruction by the enlistment of these troops on the frontier. Simi-
lar sentiments were voiced by him to the main body of the Battalion
after their arrival from California.

Captain Brown's men, at the request of the President, con-
structed, two days after their arrival, a bowery in which to hold pub-
lic meetings on Temple Block. This primitive structure — the first
building of any kind erected by the Mormons in the Rocky Moun-
tains— was similar to the boweries constructed by them at their various
settlements between the Mississippi and the Missouri. Posts were
set in the ground, and upon these rude pillars long poles were laid
and securely fastened with wooden pegs or strips of rawhide.
This framework, overlaid with timbers and brush, formed an umbra-
geous if not a very substantial roof; a good shelter from the sun and
a fair though insufficient one from wind and rain. Its dimensions
were forty by twenty-eight feet, — large enough to accommodate the
assembly of the entire camp.

At one end of these boweries it was customary to erect a plat-

344 HISTORY OF UTAH.

form and stand, well boarded in at the back, for the use of presid-
ing officers and speakers; a space in front being reserved for the
choir. At first seats would be improvised from whatever articles
came handy, but in due time rude benches would follow, resting
upon a floor or on the ground ; the character and extent of the
improvements would largely depend upon the permanency of the set-
tlement of which the bowery was the center of worship, social
amusement and gatherings in general. Though top and sides were
well covered and closed in, the meetings held in such buildings would
be virtually in the open air, and during bad weather would have to
be suspended and in winter time discontinued. Until the "Old Tab-
ernacle" was built — the forerunner of the present Tabernacle — these
boweries were the only regular places of public worship in Salt Lake
Valley.

The original bowery, erected by the Battalion boys, must not be
confounded with the " Old Bowery," subsequently built on Temple
Block, which, after several years' use as a house of worship, was
transformed into a theater, — the original Thespian temple of Utah.
Concerning this particular structure, in connection with the local
history of music and the drama, we shall have more to say here-
after.

July 31st — the day the first bowery was erected — witnessed an
exciting and bloody affray between two small bands of Indians, Utes
and Shoshones, who were trading at the camps on City Creek. Two
young men, one of either tribe, began disputing over a theft alleged
to have been committed by the Ute. He was accused of stealing a
horse belonging to the Shoshones and trading it to one of the set-
tlers for a rifle. Being detected, he refused to relinquish either horse
or rifle. Hence the quarrel, followed by a combat, between the two
young warriors. During the fight one broke his gun-stock over the
other's head. The affair was waxing warm, and matters began get-
ting serious, when an old man, father of one of the combatants,
strove to separate them. For this purpose he lashed with a heavy
thong of rawhide their heads and faces. The son's antagonist struck

HISTORY OF UTAH. 347

involved that of building and inhabiting houses during the coming
winter, instead of dwelling in tents and wagons. It was thought
that a log house, sixteen by eighteen feet, would cost about forty
dollars, and one of adobes — sun-burnt bricks — about half that sum.
Samuel Brannan favored adobe houses, one of which, he said, might
be built in a week. His printing office in California had been put up
and a copy of his paper issued in fourteen days. Samuel Gould and
James Dunn reported themselves as lime-burners, and -Sylvester H.
Earl, Joel J. Terrill, Ralph Douglas and Joseph Hancock as brick-
makers. It was decided by vote that a stockade of logs and adobes
be at once erected. Thus the famous "Old Fort" had its origin.

Next morning the three camps moved all their wagons to a spot
a little east of the upper camp-ground, and formed them into an
oblong corral between the two branches of City Creek. A dam was
put in the stream some distance above, and the waters so diverted
that pleasant little rivulets were soon running down outside as well
as inside the corral of wagons. The Indians, on account of their
stealing proclivities, were not now permitted inside the enclosure.

On the morning of August 2nd Orson Pratt and Henry G. Sher-
wood began the survey of Salt Lake City. Heber C. Kimball's teams
went into the canyon and brought the first loads of logs for the fort,
and other laborers began making adobes and preparing mounds for
the same purpose. The day was very warm and the camp exceed-
ingly busy.

Ezra T. Benson and Porter Rockwell were now sent back to meet
the next companies from Winter Quarters, supposed to be somewhere
on the plains between the Missouri River and the mountains. They
started about noon of the 2nd, going horseback, and taking with
them the following letter :

Pioneer Camp, Valley of the Great Salt Lake, Aug. 2, 1847.
To General Charles C. Rich and the Presidents and Officers of the Emigrating

Company.

Dear Brethren. — We have delegated our beloved brother, Ezra T. Benson, and
escort to communicate to you by express the cheering intelligence that we have arrived in
the most beautiful valley of the Great Salt Lake ; that every soul who lefl Winter Quarters

348 HISTORY OF UTAH.

with us is alive, and almost every one enjoying good health. That portion ot the Battalion
that was at Pueblo are here with us, together with the Mississippi company that accom-
panied them, and they are generally well. We number about four hundred souls, and
we know of no one but what is pleased with our situation. We have commenced the
survey of a city this morning. We feel that the time is fast approaching when those
teams that are going to Winter Quarters this fall should be on the way. Every individual
here would be glad to tarry if their friends were here, but as many of the Battalion as
well as the Pioneers have not their families here, and do not expect that they are in your
camp, we wish to learn by express from you the situation of your camp as speedily as
possible, that we may be prepared to counsel and act in the whole matter. We want
you to send us the name of every individual in your camp, or, in other words, a copy of
your whole camp roll, including the names, number of wagons, horses, mules, oxen,
cows, etc., and the health of your camp ; your location, prospects, etc. If your teams are
worn out, if your camp is sick and not able to take care of themselves, if you are short of
teamsters, or if any other circumstance impedes your progress, we want to know it im-
mediately, for we have help for you, and if your teams are in good plight, and will be
able to return to Winter Quarters this season, or any portion of them, we want to know
it. We also want the mail, which will include all letters and papers and packages be-
longing to our camp, general and particular. Would circumstances permit, we would
gladly meet you some distance from this, but our time is very much occupied, notwith-
standing we think you will see us before you see our valley. Let all the brethren and
sisters cheer up their hearts and know assuredly that God has heard and answered their
prayers and ours, and led us to a goodly land, and our souls are satisfied therewith.
Brother' Benson can give you many particulars that will be gratifying and cheering to you
which I have not time to write, and we feel to bless all the Saints.

In behalf of the council, Brigham Young, President,

Willard Bichards, Clerk.

Utah Valley was next explored. Jesse C. Little and a party,
returning on the 5th of August from a tour in that vicinity, reported
that there was a fine country east of Utah Lake, the soil being well
adapted for cultivation. They virtually confirmed the report of
Escalante, the Spaniard, who had discovered that lake and valley
seventy-one years before.

On the 6th of August the President and the Apostles who were
with him, namely: Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, Willard Richards,
Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith and Amasa M. Lyman, "renewed
their covenants" by baptism. President Young, entering the water
— City Creek — immersed each of the others according to the usual
mode, after which he laid hands upon and confirmed them, resealing
upon each his Apostleship. Heber C. Kimball— next to Rrigham

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HISTORY OF UTAH. 351

upon those well-nigh inaccessible summits, tipped with perpetual
snow. The ascent was made on the 21st of August.

Meantime work on the stockade had begun and was progressing
rapidly. The site selected for the fort was about three-quarters of a
mile south-west of the City Creek encampment. A portion of the
Sixth Ward of Salt Lake City still bears the familiar name of the
"Old Fort Block," though the fort itself, which once enclosed it,
has long since disappeared. There, on the 10th of August, 1847,
were laid the foundations of the first houses erected in Salt Lake
Valley, — the first built by the Mormons west of Winter Quar-
ters. Brigham Young started four of these houses, Heber C.
Kimball four, Stephen Markham one, Willard Richards one, and
Lorenzo D. Young one. This was the beginning of the Old Fort.
The first house finished and occupied was Lorenzo D. Young's.
These houses extended continuously along the east line of the stock-
ade, beginning at the nort-heast corner. Their order was as follows :
Brigham Young, four rooms; Lorenzo D. Young, two; Heber C. Kim-
ball, five; Willarcl Bichards, two; Wilford Woodruff, two; George A.
Smith, two; Amasa M. Lyman, two; and Erastus Snow, one. These
first dwellings were of logs. They had poles for rafters, willows for
roofs and in lieu of shingles earth ; an insufficient shelter, as was found
later, from autumn rains and winter's melting snows. Floors and
ceilings were rare, and of the rudest and most primitive kind, while
window glass was almost an unknown quantity.

Plowing and planting by this time had been suspended, thirty
additional acres having been put under cultivation, making eighty-
three in all. Most of the settlers were now busily occupied,
chopping and hauling logs, making adobes and preparing to build.

The first white child born in Utah opened its eyes to the light on
Monday, August 9th, 1847 — two weeks and two days after the arrival
of the Pioneers. This infantile re-info rcement was a girl, the
daughter of John and Catharine Campbell Steele, both of the
Mormon Battalion, who came into the Valley in Captain Brown's
company on the 29th of July. Their child was born at 4 o'clock

352 HISTORY OF UTAH.

a. m., in her father's tent on Temple Block. She was named Young
Elizabeth Steele, after President Young and Queen Elizabeth. The
father, John Steele, was a mason, and according to his account built
nearly one-third of the "Old Fort" with his own hands, using a
trowel made by Burr Frost out of a saw-blade. Mr. Steele also
claims to be the pioneer shoe-maker of Utah. He resides at
Tocpuerville, in the southern part of the Territory. His daughter
lives at Kanarra, in Kane County, and is now Mrs. James
Stapley.

The first death in the pioneer colony followed hard upon the
heels of the original birth. It occurred just two days later. The
victim was a little three-year-old child of George and Jane Therlkill,
— a grand-child of Robert Crow. Wandering away from camp a
little to the south, it had fallen into the creek, where it was dis-
covered, drowned, about five o'clock in the afternoon. Every
possible effort was made to restore it, but without avail. The
parents mourned bitterly their loss, and a shadow of sympathetic
gloom rested for a season upon the whole encampment.

On August 12th an observation was taken by Orson Pratt and
William Clayton to ascertain the height of Temple Block. It was
discovered to be 4,309 feet above the sea level, and sixty-five feet
above the Utah outlet. Ascending City Creek canyon one mile the
altitude above the Temple grounds was found to be 214 feet.

Surveyor Sherwood and his aids were still busy laying out the
city. Messrs. Tanner, Frost and their fellow sons of Vulcan were
engaged in shoeing oxen and re-setting wheel tires for the com-
panies that were about to return to Winter Quarters. Some of these
were Battalion men who had not seen their families since bidding
them adieu on the frontier thirteen months before. A party of men
who had been to the lake to boil down salt, returned, reporting that
they had found, lying between two sand-bars on the lake-shore, a
beautiful bed of salt all ready to load into wagons. Several loads
were brought to camp, and two of them taken east by the company
that set out a few days later for the Missouri River.

HISTORY OF UTAH.

353

August 16th was the day of their departure. Most of the
ox-teams started and traveled to the mouth of Emigration Canyon,
where they were joined next day by the residue of the company.
There were seventy-one men, with thirty-three wagons and ninety-
two yoke of oxen; also some horses and mules. Their organization
was similar to that of the Pioneers. There were two divisions, made
up of companies of tens. Tunis Rappleyee and Shadrach Roundy
were the two captains of divisions, and William Clayton was historian.
The personnel of the company was as follows:

FIRST DIVISION :

Tunis Rappleyee, Captain.

FIRST TEN (SIX WAGONS) :

Skein, Captain, George Cummings,

Artemas Johnson, Thomas Richardson,

James Cazier, captain of guard William Burt,

of first division, James Dunn,

Joseph Shipley,
Samuel Badlam,
Roswell Stevens.

Zebedee Goltrin, Captain,
Ghauncey Loveland,
Lorenzo Babcock,

SECOND TEN (FIVE WAGONS):

Samuel H. Marble,
George Scholes,
William Bird,

Joshua Curtis,
John S. Eldredge,
Horace Thornton.

Francis Boggs, Captain,
Sylvester H. Earl,

THIRD TEN (FIVE WAGONS):

Seeley Owen,
George Wardle,

Clark Stillman,
Ahnon M. Williams

R. Jackson Redding,
William Carpenter,
Henry W. Sanderson,
Bailey Jacobs,

SECOND DIVISION !

Shadrach Roundy, Gaptaii

FIRST TEN (five wagons):
John Pack,
Robert By aid,
Benjamin W. Rolfe,

Thomas Colward,
Lisbon Lamb,
William Clayton.

Jobn H. Tippitts. Captaii
Francis T. Whitney,
James Stewart,
Charles A. Burke,

second tex (five wagons):
William C. McLelland,
Norman Taylor,
Lyman Stevens,
Lyman Curtis,

John S. Gleason, captain of
guard of second division,
Myron Tanner,
Rufus Allen.

354

HISTORY OF UTAH.

Allen Compton, Captain,
John Bybee,
Jeduthan Averett,
John G. Smith,

Andrew J. Shupe, Captain,
Francillo Durfee,
Erastus Bingham,
Loren Kinney,

THIRD TEN (FOUR WAGONS):

Philip Garner,
Bamebas Lake,
Franklin Allen,
David Garner,

FOURTH TEN (THREE WAGONS):

Benjamin Roberts,
Jarris Johnson,
Albert Clark,
James Hendrickson,

Harmon D. Persons,
Solomon Tindell,
Charles Hopkins.

John Calvert,
Daniel Miller,
Luther W. Glazier,
Thomas Bingham.

The third and fourth tens of the second division were members
of the Mormon Battalion, returning to meet their families on the
plains or the frontier. For each man there had been provided eight
pounds of flour, nine pounds of meal, and a few pounds of
beans. For the rest of their subsistence they were to depend
upon game killed by the way. A new roadometer was constructed
for this company by William A. King; William Clayton having received
special instructions from President Young to carefully re-measure the
distance back to Winter Quarters, and collect such other information
as might be serviceable to future emigration.

Their journey back to the Missouri consumed a little over nine
weeks. It was prosperous and comparatively uneventful. Beyond
Green River, on Big Sandy, they met Ezra T. Benson and Porter
Rockwell, returning west with the mail, after delivering the Presi-
dent's letter to General Rich and the on-coming trains. The leading
one — Captain Daniel Spencer's first fifty — was encountered by
the east-bound wagons on the 31st of August, at the "first crossing"
of the Sweetwater. Here Shadrach Pioundy joined his family and
returned west, and John G. Smith took his place as captain of the
second division. The other companies were met at various points
within the next three days.'

Heavy rains, with snow, set in early in September. The pro-
visions— breadstuffs — of the returning company gave out, and for
several weeks dried buffalo meat was their sole subsistence. During
the latter part of the journey the Indians annoyed them considerably,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 355

burning the prairies before them and stealing their stock. At the
North Platte ferry they met Luke Johnson, William A. Empey and
Appleton M. Harmon, of the nine men left there by the pioneers in
June, and at Loup Fork Captain Hosea Stout and a party of mounted
police from Winter Quarters, going out to meet President Young, who
was now supposed to be on his way back to the Missouri

Captain Rappleyee's wagons rolled into Winter Quarters on the
21st of October. The distance from Salt Lake Valley, as re-measured
by William Clayton, was found to be 1032 miles — twenty-two miles
less than the former reckoning of the Pioneers.

In the Valley, after the departure of the "ox-teams," the work
of exploring, building and surveying went steadily on. The laying
out of the city was completed on August 20th; 135 blocks of ten
acres each being included in this original survey. The building of
the fort was pushed forward as rapidly as possible and by the last
of the month twenty-nine houses had been erected at the stockade.

In the latter part of August President Young and the Apostles
prepared to return to Winter Quarters. Though much remained to
be done before the feet of the infant colony would be firmly planted,
anxiety was felt by the leaders for the welfare of the Church on the
frontier, and the success of the next year's emigration. None could
so well organize and lead the main body of their people across the
plains to their mountain retreat, as these experienced guides and
colonizers of the Great Basin. That was doubtless the main
reason why they resolved to return to the Missouri that season,
instead of spending the winter with their friends in Salt Lake
Valley.

Prior to their departure a special conference was convened on
Sunday the 22nd of August, when the pioneer settlers assembled in
the Bowery to receive the parting instructions of their leaders. It
was emphatically a business conference, called to consider the tem-
poral affairs of the colony. It was decided by vote to fence in and
cultivate the city plat during the coming year, in preference to lands
lying outside, also to organize in Salt Lake Valley a Stake of Zion,

356 HISTORY OF UTAH.

with Father John Smith, the Prophet's uncle, as President. Father
Smith had not yet arrived, but was expected in the coming emi-
gration. Other nominations were deferred until it should be known
who were in the next trains.

The pioneer city then received its name. "I move,'" said
Brigham Young, "that we call this place the Great Salt Lake City of
the Great Basin of North America." The motion was seconded and
carried. On the President's motion the post office was called "The
Great Basin Post Office." Heber C. Kimball, by motion, named the
river running through the valley "The Western Jordan," and
Brigham Young christened City Creek, Mill Creek, Red Butte Creek,
Emigration Creek, and Canyon (now Parley's) Creek, in like manner.
It was many years before the city's title was abbreviated by legisla-
tive enactment to "Salt Lake City," but the "Western Jordan"
became plain "Jordan" almost immediately.

Colonel A. P. Rockwood, overseer of the stockade, was released
from that position to return with the President, and Tarlton Lewis was
appointed overseer in his stead. William Mclntyre was chosen clerk
to keep an account of public labor, and Edson Whipple was given
charge of the distribution of water over the plowed lands. The
President's parting injunction was as follows :

It is necessary that the adobe yard (the stockade) should be secured so that
Indians cannot get in. To accommodate those few who shall remain here after we
return, it would only be necessary to build one side of the fort, but common sense teaches
us to build it all round. By and by men of means will be coming on, and they will want
rooms, and the men who build them will then be entitled to their pay. Make your walls
4£ feet high, so that they can keep the cattle out. Build your houses so that you will
have plenty of fresh air in them, or some of you will get sick, after being used to sleeping
in your wagons so long. We propose to fence in a tract of land thirty rods square, so
that in case of necessity the cattle can be brought inside and the hay also be stacked
there. In the spring this fence can be removed and a trench be plowed about twenty
feet from the houses to enable the women to raise garden vegetables. I want to engage
50,000 bushels of wheat and the same amount of corn and other grain in proportion. I
will pay you 81.25 per bushel for wheal and 50 cents for corn. Why cannot I bring
glass for you and you raise corn for me? Baise all the grain you can, and with this you
can purchase sheep, cows, teams, etc., of those who come here later on. We desire you
to live in that stockade until we come back again, and raise grain next year.

HISTORY OF UTAH.

357

On the 26th of August the pioneer leaders bade farewell to their
friends who were to remain, and set out upon their return journey to
the Missouri. Such of the Pioneers and Battalion men present as
had families at Winter Quarters or on the way west, were selected to
accompany the President and his party.

The weather was now beautiful. The oppressive heat of summer
was pretty well past, and the cool, bright days of our delightful
mountain autumn were just about beginning. The roads, however,
were very dusty, and the way through the canyons, though more
passable than before, was still rough and difficult. Their noon halt
on the 29th was at the head of Echo Canyon. There Ezra T. Benson
joined them, bringing news of the approaching trains. Porter Rock-
well came up later. After crossing Bear Biver the company was called
together and organized. The full list of names was as here given :

Brigham Young,
John P. Greene,
Truman 0. Angell,
Joseph S. Schofield,
Albert P. Bockwood,
Stephen H. Goddard,
Millen Atwood,
Thomas Tanner,
Addison Everett,
Sidney A. Hanks,
George Clark,
J. G. Luce,
John G. Holnian.
George R. Grant,
Davis S. Laughlin.
William Dykes,
Jacob Weiler,
David Grant.
Thomas Woolsey,
Haywood Thomas,
Samuel W. Fox,
Willard Richards,
Thomas Bullock,
Benjamin Richmond,
Harvey Pierce,

William Wardswortb,
Datus Ensign,
John Dixon,
Simeon Howd,
Seth Taft,
John P. Wriston,
Stephen Kelsey,
Charles D. Barnum,
Wilford Woodruff,
Dexter Stillman,
William C. A. Smoot,
James W. Steward,
Robert T. Thomas,
Jabez Nowlin,
James Case,
James C. Earl,
Judson Persons,
Orson Pratt,
Joseph Egbert,
Marcus B. Thorpe,
George Wilson,
Jesse Johnson,
John Brimhall,
A. L. Huntley,
Rodney Badger,

Alex. P. Chessley,
Thomas C. Chessley,
John G. Gould,
Samuel Gould,
Amasa M. Lyman,
Albert Carrington,
John Brown,
George A. Smith,
Joel J. Ten-ill,
Solomon Chamberlain,
William Tenill,
Nathaniel Fairbanks,
Charles A. Harper,
Perry Fitzgerald,
Isaac N. Wriston,
Ozro Eastman,
Horace Monroe Frink,
Levi N. Kendall,
Stephen Markham,
George .Mills.
Conrad Klineman,
Horace K. Whitney,
Orson K. Whitney,
George P. Billings,
Ralph Douglas,

358

HISTORY OF UTAH.

Ezra T. Benson,
Matthew Ivory,
David Powell,
Erastus Snow,
William Melntyre,
George Brown,
Orrin P. Rockwell,
Charles Shumway,
Andrew P. Shumway,
Burr Frost,
William Carter,

William W. Rust,
Joseph Matthews,
Joseph G. Camp,
William Park.
Green Flake.
Benjamin F. Stewart,
John Crow,
Peter J. Meeseck,
C. Rowe,
William Rowe,
Barnabas L. Adams,

Elijah E. Holden,
William Gifford,
Albert Sharp,
Abel M. Sargent,
Andrew S. Gibbons,
Thurston Larson,
Heber C. Kimball.
Howard Egan,
Hosea Gushing,
William A. King,
Carlos Murray,

The camp comprised one hundred and eight men, with thirty-six
wagons and about three times that number of horses and mules.
Stephen Markham was chosen captain of hundred; Barnabas L.
Adams and Joseph Matthews, captains of fifties; Brigham Young,
John Brown, Howard Egan, George Clark, George Wilson, Erastus
Snow, Thomas Tanner and Charles A. Harper, captains of tens.
Thomas Bullock was again appointed Clerk. The President's ten
included six of his fellow Apostles, with Albert P. Rockwood, Stephen
H. Goddard and Joseph Schofield.

Fording Green River, which was now quite low, the company,
having crossed Big Sandy, came upon Daniel Spencer's first fifty
there encamped. It was now the 3rd of September.

At this point let us briefly sketch the experience of these west-
bound companies, the first to follow in the wake of the pioneers.
They had been organized on the Elk Horn in June, under the direc-
tion of Father Morley and Bishop Whitney, the committee previously
appointed for that purpose. Due deference had been paid by this
committee, however, to the Apostles, Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor,
who were present and took part in the organization. They were in-
vited by the committee, inasmuch as it was their purpose to accom-
pany the emigration, to exercise a general superintendency over all
the trains. These aggregated five hundred and sixty wagons, with
about fifteen hundred men, women and children, and five thousand
head of stock. Most of the wagons were drawn by oxen.

The companies were organized as follows : John Young, brother

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HISTORY OF UTAH. 371

It is said that the great Napoleon, at the very beginning of a
battle, as with the instinct of Mars himself, was able almost
invariably to foretell the outcome; and that on one occasion, at
least, before the battle had fairly joined, he scribbled upon his
saddle-bow a dispatch reading: "Victory is ours," and sent it off
post-haste to Paris and Josephine. Brigham Young's victories were
of peace, not of war, yet there was something Napoleonic in his
genius, — in his marvelous intuition and foresight.

The fact is, Brigham Young was a born colonizer, — as much so,
perhaps, as Napoleon was a born warrior; one of the greatest
colonizers that the world has seen; a builder of cities, a founder of
empire, second to none in the annals of the ages. This is not
flattery. The world, sometimes slow, but always sure at last to
open its eyes to the truth, will one day acknowledge it. The
broad-minded and intelligent, whose attention has been drawn to
the subject, recognize it already. Even bigotry will foliow suit some
day. Men may not credit, as Brigham Young did, as his people still
do, divine inspiration with his success; for he always maintained
that Mormonism made him, that it made Joseph Smith, and not they
Mormonism. But men will yet acknowledge, far more widely than
they now do, and impartial history, whose page is the past and
present, but whose pen is the future, will yet record that Brigham
Young was a great man, one of Time's greatest, and that genius, if
not divinity, was manifest in his methods and achievements.

A man may have faults, and yet be great, as water may be clear
though holding soil in solution; as the sun may have spots, and yet
supremely shine. Brigham Young had his faults, as Washington, as
Lincoln and Grant had theirs. But if greatness were denied to men
because of their defects,— those shadows that form the back-ground
of the most brilliant picture, — who of all men, save One, would be
great? The incident referred to, though a mere straw in the wind,
serving to show its direction, will illustrate in part the intuition and
foresight of which Brigham Young was undoubtedly the possessor.

Salt Lake Valley was indeed, as he declared, the best place for a

372 HISTORY OF UTAH.

city — a metropolis — in all this inter-mountain region. The whole
world knows it now. But there were other places in the vicinity, as
he also declared, possessing every facility of situation, soil, climate
and surroundings, for the formation of thriving settlements, and of
future flourishing towns and cities. True, most of them were then
barren and desolate, cheerless and forbidding in the extreme: but
the sagacious eye saw past all this, and the future became present to
its gaze. A few spots there were that were even then promising ;
where water was not so scarce, where verdure sprang spontaneously
and the soil was naturally fertile. Among these were some of the
lands now included in Davis County, and the Goodyear lands on the
Weber, where the next settlements of our Territory were formed.
Both these sections are comprised in a narrow alluvial strip lying
between the western base of the Wasatch Mountains and the
eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake. In fact those lands are a
portion, a mere extension northward of Salt Lake Valley.

Peregrine Sessions, the original pioneer of Davis County — next
to; Salt Lake County the first part of Utah occupied and settled, —
was, as we have seen, a captain of fifty in Daniel Spencer's hundred;
the very vanguard of the migrating trains that began arriving in
Salt Lake Valley in the latter part of September, 1847. On the 28th
of that month, a few days after reaching the valley, Mr. Sessions
moved northward about ten miles and camped that night about half
a mile from the spot where he now resides, and where sprang up
Sessions' Settlement, since called Bountiful. Hector C. Haight,
following Captain Sessions' example, camped six or seven miles north
of him, on what was afterwards known as Haight's Creek, a little
south-west of the present site of Kaysville. This was also in the
latter part of 1847. There may have been others who moved into
that section about the same time. Such was the beginning of
the settlement of Davis County.

The object of these men in separating themselves so early from
the society of their friends at the pioneer fort — the immediate object
at least — was to find pasturage for their stock, the range of the

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HISTORY OF UTAH. 379

punishable offense ? Rome once had her sacred geese. Utah would
henceforth have her sacred gulls. Ye statesmen and state-makers of
the future ! When Utah's sovereign star, dawning above the dark
horizon of factional strife, shall take its place in the blue, unclouded
zenith of freedom's empyrean, and it is asked by those who would
frame her escutcheon, What shall her emblem be? Name not at all
the carpet-bag. Place not first the beehive, nor the eagle; nor yet
the miner's pick, the farmer's plow, nor the smoke-stack of the
wealth-producing smelter. Give these their places, all, in dexter or
in middle, but whatever else the glittering shield contains, reserve
for the honor point, as worthy of all praise, the sacred bird that
saved the pioneers.

And barely saved them, too, for even as it was, there was
famine in Utah before another year. This was largely owing to the
crickets, but was due also to drought and frost. These mishaps,
with the coming of the fall immigration, depending upon the settlers
for much of their support, rendered the harvest wholly inadequate,
and caused much inconvenience and some suffering before another
crop could be raised. During the days, or rather months of scarcity,
such as had food put themselves and their families upon rations,
while those who were without or had but little, dug sego and thistle
roots, and cooked and ate raw-hides to eke out their scanty store.
Wild vegetation of various kinds was used for "greens" by the
half-famished people, many of whom went for weeks without tasting
bread. The raw-hides were boiled and converted into a gelatinous
soup, which was drank with eager relish. The straitness began to
be felt even before the crickets came, and after that event, owing to
the prevailing scarcity, the arrival of the fall immigration was looked
forward to with positive apprehension. *

*'• During this spring and summer," says Parley P. Pratt, "my family and myself, in
common with many of the camp, suffered much for want of food. * * * We had
lost nearly all our cows, and the few which were spared to us were dry. * * * 1
had ploughed and subdued land to the amount of near forty acres. * * * ] nthis
labor every woman and child in my family, so far as they were of sufficient age and

380 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Before the worst of those days arrived, however, on August
10th, 1848, the glad settlers celebrated with a feast their first harvest
home. It was quite a grand affair with them. In the center of the
fort a bowery had been erected, and underneath its shade, tables
were spread richly and bounteously laden. Bread and beef, butter
and cheese, cakes and pastry, green corn, water-melons and
vegetables of nearly every variety composed the feast. For once at
least, that season, the hungry people had enough to eat. Says
Parley P. Pratt: "Large sheaves of wheat, rye, barley, oats and
other productions were hoisted on poles for public exhibition, and
there was prayer and thanksgiving, congratulations, songs, speeches,
music, dancing, smiling faces and merry hearts. In short it was a
great day with the people of these valleys, and long to be
remembered by those who had suffered and waited anxiously for the
results of a first effort to redeem the interior deserts of America."

The fort now contained eighteen hundred inhabitants; the
increase since March being due to the arrival from the west of
several parties of the disbanded Mormon volunteers. They returned
laden with gold-dust from the California mines.* The discovery of
the precious metal west of the Sierras being due to the labor of Utah
men, it is but proper to give here a brief account of that very
important event.

It has already been related that in September, 1847, a party of
the discharged Battalion men, on their way to Salt Lake Valley, met,
east of the Sierras, Captain James Brown and Samuel Brannan, and
that a portion of the soldiers, pursuant to advice sent them by
President Young, turned back to obtain work for the winter in
California. These men, about forty in number, secured employment

strength, had joined to help me, and had toiled incessantly in the field, suffering every
hardship which human nature could well endure. Myself and some of them were
compelled lo go with bare feet for several months, reserving our Indian moccasins for
extra occasions. We toiled hard and lived on a lew greens, and on the thistle and other
roots."

* One company brought with them two brass cannon purchased lor £512 and used
as a means of protection against hostile Indians.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 381

at Sutter's Fort, the proprietor of which, Captain John A. Sutter,
was just then in need of help for the erection of a flour-mill and a
saw-mill. A site for the flour-mill was selected near the fort, and
most of the men were put to work thereon. But the saw-mill had
to be built among the mountains, in the little valley of Coloma,
forty-five miles away. To that place Sutter sent ten men, one of
whom was his partner, James W. Marshall, who superintended the
erection of the mill. The other nine worked under him. Of these,
six were Mormons and late members of the Battalion. Their names
were Alexander Stephens, James S. Brown, James Barger, William
Johnston, Azariah Smith and Henry W. Bigler. The other three
were non-Mormons, who had been more or less associated with the
Saints since the days of Nauvoo. They were Peter Wimmer,
William Scott and Charles Bennett. Sutter also employed about a
dozen Indians. For four months these men labored at Coloma, and
the saw-mill was approaching completion. Late in January, 1848, the
water was turned into the race to carry away some loose dirt and
gravel. It was then turned off, and the superintendent, Mr. Marshall,
walked along the tail-race to ascertain the extent of some slight
damage that had been done by the water near the base of the
building. While pursuing his investigation, his eye caught sight of
some yellow metallic particles on the rotten granite bed-rock of the
race. He picked up several of them, the largest of which were about
the size of wheat grains. He believed — but did not know — that they
were gold. Subsequently they were assayed, and the fact of the
great discovery was verified.

The first record of the finding of the gold was made by Henry
W. Bigler, a Mormon, — now a citizen of St. George, Utah. To him,
among the first, Marshall announced his discovery. A diary note in
Bigler*s journal, made on the same day, runs as follows:

"Monday, 24th. This day some kind of metal was found in the
tail-race that looks like gold."

Another note of January 30th, which was Sunday, reads:
"Clear, and has been all the last week. Our metal has been tried

382 HISTORY OF UTAH.

and proves to be gold. It is thought to be rich. We have picked up
more than a hundred dollars' worth last week.*'

Thus was originally chronicled the world-renowned discovery at
Coloma. Henry W. Bigler, of St George, Azariah Smith, of Manti,
in Utah; and Peter L. Wimmer, of San Diego, California, are today
the three survivors of the party of workmen whose picks and
shovels first brought to light the auriferous wealth of California.

Meantime on the far-off frontier, President Young and his
associates, early in 1848, had set about organizing the main body of
their people prior to leading them to the Rocky Mountains. On the
27th of the previous December, at a conference of the Saints held in
a new log tabernacle on the east side of the Missouri, the First
Presidency — vacant since the death of Joseph Smith — had been re-
organized. Brigham Young was now President of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints- in all the world, and Heber C. Kimball
and' Willard Richards were his Counselors.* This event was sup-
plemented by preparations for a general emigration in the spring.
Still it was desirable to maintain, for the benefit of future emigration,
an out-fitting post on the frontier. Winter Quarters was soon to be
vacated, but the Legislature of Iowa granted a petition for the
organization of Pottowatomie County — east of the river — and there,
on the site where stood their historic Log Tabernacle, the Mormons
built the town of Kanesville, a few miles above the present city of
Council Bluffs. Kanesville became for several years a point of out-
fit and departure for Mormon emigration. Their companies from
Europe by way of New Orleans would now steam up the Mississippi
and the Missouri to Kanesville. The first company to follow this
river route was one led by Franklin D. Richards. It sailed from
Liverpool in February, 1848, and reached Winter Quarters some time
before the early summer emigration started across the plains.

It was about the beginning of June that the First Presidency

* This action was pursuant to a decision of the Council of the Apostles made on

the 5th of December.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 383

broke up their camp on the Elk Horn, and again set out for the
Valley of the Great Salt Lake. First went Brigham Young, with a
company of 1229 souls and 397 wagons; next, Heber C. Kimball,
whose trains numbered 662 souls and 226 wagons. Willard
Richards brought up the rear, with 526 souls and 169 wagons. The
last wagon left Winter Quarters on the 3rd of July. That place was
now nearly deserted.

Along with this large emigration went such notables as Daniel
H. Wells, who, having joined the Church at Nauvoo in August,
1846, had left the city with the expelled remnant of his people and
joined the main body in their prairie homes; Lorenzo Snow, who
had figured in the British Mission before the Prophet's death, and
was now fast rising to prominence; Franklin D. Richards, of whom
that mission had also heard and was destined to hear much more;
Joseph F. Smith, who, however, was only a lad of nine years, in the
care of his heroic mother, Mary Fielding Smith, who, with other
Mormon women of that period, drove her own ox-team wagon across
the plains. Bishop Newel K. Whitney also accompanied this
emigration, which carried with it such notable women as his wife,
Elizabeth Ann Whitney, Vilate Kimball and Mary Ann Angell Young.
Robert T. Burton, George D. Grant, William Kay, Phineas Richards,
Horace S. Eldredge, Hosea Stout and others who became prominent
or well known in Utah history were also included.

Brigham Young had general command of all the companies, and
Daniel H. Wells was his aide-de-camp. Horace S. Eldredge was
marshal, and Hosea Stout captain of the night-guard. Amasa M.
Lyman, Erastus Snow and other prominent men who had returned
with the President from the Valley, now went back with him, having
charge of various sub-divisions of the emigration. Several of the
Apostles remained at Kanesville; some to go upon missions, and
some to superintend Mormon affairs on the frontier. One of these
was Orson Hyde, who had not yet been to the Valley, and still
tarried behind to transact important business for the Church. A
few months after the President's departure, Apostle Hyde began the

384 HISTORY OF UTAH.

publication, at Kanesville, of a semi-monthly paper called the
Frontier Guardian*

On went the emigration, crossing the plains and the Rocky
Mountains along the same route formerly traveled by the Pioneers.
President Young, with a portion of his division, reached Salt Lake
Valley on the 20th of September. Heber C. Kimball came a few
days later, and within another month the trains had all arrived.

President Richards' companies lost many of their cattle
through the alkali on the Sweetwater. This so hindered his
progress that teams from the Valley had to be sent out to help in
the rear trains.

Immediately after the President's arrival a conference was
called to convene on the 8th of October. This conference, which was
held in the Fort Rowery, ratified the action of the Apostles and the
main body of the Saints on the frontier, relative to the reorganiza-
tion of the First Presidency. Newel K. Whitney was sustained as
Presiding Bishop of the Church, and John Smith was appointed its
Patriarch. This caused a vacancy in the Stake Presidency, which
Charles C. Rich was chosen to fill; John Young and Erastus Snow
were his counselors.

These spiritual matters attended to, the temporal needs of the
colony came in for their share of thought and labor. The recent
immigration, which aggregated nearly 2500 souls, had swelled the
population in the valley to between four and five thousand. These
people must be housed and fed through the winter. How. was
the problem facing the Mormon leaders that fall, as the signs of a
long and unusually severe winter began to show themselves. More
houses might be built, for the materials were at hand, and before the
heavy snows fell the number of huts might be materially increased.
Some of the families could make shift with their wagons until spring.
But where was the food to come from, — the loaves and fishes to feed
these five thousand ! The immigrants had not all brought sufficient,

The first number of this paper was issued February 7th. 1*49.

*

Mtf&

d

i*

^Jl^L^

HISTORY OF UTAH. 389

CHAPTER XXI.

1849.

Beginning of Utah's political history — the provisional government of deseret — utah

valley settled the ute indians sowiette and walkara the gold-hunters

''winter mormons" deseret applies for statehood first celebration of pioneer

hay the stansbur? expedition the perpetual emigrating fund the first

missionaries sent from the rocky mountains why brigham young discouraged

mining the great salt lake valley carrying company sanpete and tooele

valleys settled.

"7 UTAH'S political history begins with the opening of the spring of
^-* 1849. Up to that time the mode of government in Salt Lake
Valley was purely an ecclesiastical regime. True, the community
had its secular officials, authorized to levy and collect taxes and
perform various functions of a civil character. It also had its peace
officers,* and its primitive methods of administering justice.

But these officers, as a rule, were chosen by the people at their
conferences or other religious meetings, presided over by Apostles or
Elders, and were virtually Church appointments. The nominations
were usually made from the "stand," by some dignitary of the
Priesthood, and sustained by the congregation, if acceptable, with
uplifted hands.f Such appointments, therefore, though secular in
character, could not be called political. J In fact there were no
politics in the community, except as they existed in the breasts of
those who had retained their former principles and predilections, and
brought them into the wilderness, as they had brought their
country's flag and their love for American institutions.

* John Van Cott was Marshal, and John Nebeker Assistant Marshal.

"|" The right hand is used for voting in Mormon religious meetings.

J In those days culprits were tried by the Bishops' Courts and the High Council.

390 HISTORY OF UTAH.

But the Mormons knew that this condition of affairs must soon
change ; that their isolation in these mountain-tops could not long
continue. They had foreseen, or their Prophet had, at Nauvoo, the
"manifest destiny" of the American Republic to possess the Pacific
slope. They knew, with all the world, how the war with Mexico
must end. They had even helped their country to conquer the
region which they now inhabited. Their main purpose in moving
west, — next to getting beyond the reach of their enemies and
securing religious freedom, — was evidently to found an American
State. Isolation they sought and desired, but only a temporary
isolation. More than that they could not reasonably expect.
Leaving out the question of their Americanism, — their love of
native land and their loyalty to the Constitution, — the mission of
the Latter-day Saints is and has ever been to the Gentiles, and not
from them. They wished to found a State for the Union. They
wished to govern that State, — at least so long as they remained in
the majority. And certainly it was their right to do so, according to
the genius of American institutions.

There were some, no doubt, who thought, in the beginning of
the exodus and afterwards, that it was not the destiny of the Mormon
people to be again identified with the American nation. But these
were individual views, and not the views of authority. Such men
as Senator Douglas, James Arlington Bennett and Governor Ford,
who had virtually advised the Mormon leaders to set up an
independent government in the west, were largely responsible for
such notions. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young had both declared,
— the former in the very face of a contemplated exodus to the
Rocky Mountains, the latter after that exodus had begun, — that it
was the destiny of the Latter-day Saints to preserve the Constitution
and rescue the starry flag at a time when traitors and tyrants would
be tearing them to tatters and trampling them in the mire. The
Saints, it may be added, are not yet converted from this view. That
time, they believe, is at hand, — approaching on the wings of the
wind.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 391

Then why, if this be true, did the Mormons not found their
State forthwith, and set up a political, in lieu of an ecclesiastical
government in these mountains? Why did eighteen months elapse,
after they entered Salt Lake Valley, before they took steps to align
themselves as a commonwealth with the other parts of the Federal
Union? In their failure to more promptly act in this matter, many
have professed to see, some perhaps sincerely, a sign of Mormon
disloyalty, — a reluctance on the part of the Saints to return to the
sheltering aegis of Columbia and the Constitution. To such as
have honestly taken this view, — but not. to those who have merely
used it as a catch-phrase and political cudgel against the Mormons,
— some explanation is probably due. That explanation is easily
given.

The Mormon pioneers entered Salt Lake Valley late in July,
1847. Their first care, though the planting season was virtually
past, and it had not been demonstrated that the soil in this locality
would bring forth cereals and vegetables, was to put in crops, trust-
ing in Providence for a harvest, lest famine with fierce maw should
overtake them. Their next duty, almost as pressing, was to place
roofs above their heads, lest the frosts of the coming winter might
prove to them perpetual. What time had they for politics ? They
hardly had time to pray, — to kneel upon the desert as their pilgrim
ancestors had knelt on Plymouth Rock, and thank God for bringing
them to another home. What time had they for political conven-
tions, even had it been proper at that stage to have held them ? But
would it have been proper? Up to February, 1848, when the treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, Utah was still Mexican soil, con-
quered by but not yet ceded to the United States. Political action at
such a time, on the part of the pioneers, would certainly have been
premature.

But, it may be argued, the Mormons did not organize politically
until over a year after the signing of the treaty which made Utah a
part of the Federal domain. True, but it should be remembered that
in those days news did not travel, as now, by railway and electric

392 HISTORY OF UTAH.

wire. Ox and mule teams carried the mail between the Missouri
River and the Great Basin. Indeed, in 1849 there was no overland
mail service at all, excepting such as might be furnished, at irregular
intervals, by emigrants and other travelers crossing and re-crossing
the great plains. Sometimes — usually during the winter — six months
would elapse and no tidings of the outside world would reach the
settlers of these mountain solitudes. Probably this was the case
when the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed. Besides, at that
time and for several months afterward, the majority of the Mormon
leaders, including their master spirit, Brigham Young, were away,
preparing on the far-off frontier to bring the main body of their
homeless people to the mountains. In the absence of their leaders,
whom they looked to for advice, and expected to take the initiative in
all important movements of a public character, the settlers of Salt
Lake Valley were busy fighting crickets, building houses, exploring
and colonizing, — determining, in short, the question of actual sub-
sistence.

The absent leaders returned in the autumn of 1848, with
between two and three thousand souls to be fed and sheltered
through that famine winter. Preparations for its approach having
been made, and the Church "set in order'* for the better care of the
people temporally and spiritually, those leaders were ready for polit-
ical work, and that winter the project of Utah's statehood was born.

The Mormons did not call their proposed state Utah, however.
There was nothing particularly attractive in that title — the name of
a nation of savages, some of them, though not all, among the most
degraded of the red-skinned race* They styled it, instead, Deseret,

* Lieutenant J. W. Gunnison, in his work entitled " The Mormons," says of the Utah
Indians: "This tribe consists of several bands under different chieftains, united by a com-
mon language and affinities, as well as by numerous inter-marriages. They range over a
large region of country, extending from California to New Mexico. They are a supersti-
tious race and have many cruel customs. Some tribes are reputed good warriors. * *

" The different tribes of the U talis arc frequently at war with each other, and they
have an eternal national war with the Shoshones. The Mormon settlements partially

HISTORY OF UTAH. 393

meaning the honey bee,* — an appropriate emblem of their own
untiring industry.

A call for a convention to consider the political needs of the
community was issued early in 1849. It was addressed to "all the
citizens of that portion of Upper California lying east of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains." The convention assembled at Salt Lake City
early in March. It was then and there decided to petition Congress
for a Territorial form of government, and to organize, pending Con-
gressional action upon the petition, a provisional government.! A
committee was appointed to draft and report a constitution for the
temporary State of Deseret. This committee consisted of Albert
Carrington, Joseph L. Heywood, William W. Phelps, David Fullmer,
John S. Fullmer, Charles C. Rich, John Taylor, Parley P. Pratt, John
M. Bernhisel and Erastus Snow. The convention continued its
deliberations on the 8th, 9th and 10th of March, and adopted the
constitution reported by the committee. Its caption and preamble
were as follows :

CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF DESERET.

Preamble. — Whereas a large number of the citizens of the United States, before and
since the treaty of peace with the Republic of Mexico, emigrated to, and settled in that por-
tion of the territory of the United States lying west of the Rocky Mountains, and in the
great interior Basin of Upper California ; and

Whereas, by reason of said treaty, all civil organization originating from the Republic
of Mexico became abrogated ; and

Whereas the Congress of the United States has failed to provide a form of civil gov-
ernment for the territory so acquired, or any portion thereof; and

Whereas civil government and laws are necessary for the security, peace, and pros-
perity of society ; and

interpose between the two great tribes, exerting an influence upon both and ensuring them
a controlling power ultimately. *#**:;: #

" The Snakes or Shoshones, estimated at several thousands, are on the north. The
Crows are to the north-east. * * * * * *

"The Sioux tribe is on the east of the basin : the Oglallahs or Cheyennes, to the
south-east, and the universal Utahs to the south."

* Book of Mormon — Ether, chapter II, par. 3.

t The application of Deseret for admission into the Union as a State was made sev-
eral months later.

26-VOL 1.

394 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Whereas it is a fundamental principle in all republican governments that all political
power is inherent in the people, and governments instituted for their protection, security,
and benefit should emanate from the same ;

Therefore your committee beg leave to recommend the adoption of the following
Constitution until the Congress of the United States shall otherwise provide for the gov-
ernment of the territory hereinafter named and described by admitting us into the Union.
We, the people, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feel-
ing our dependence on Him for a continuation of those blessings, 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 33° of north latitude, where it crosses the 108° of longitude west of 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 line of Mexico), and on the northern
boundary of Lower California to the Pacific Ocean ; thence along the coast north-westerly
to the 118° 30' of west longitude ; thence north to where said line intersects the dividing
ridge of the Sierra Nevada mountains ; thence north along the summit of the Sierra
Nevada mountains to the dividing range of mountains that separate the waters flowing
into the Columbia from the waters running into the Great Basin; thence easterly along the
dividing range of mountains that separate said waters flowing into the Columbia River on
the north, from the waters flowing into the Great Basin on the south, to the summit of the
Wind River chain of mountains ; thence southeast and south by the dividing range of
mountains that separate the waters flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from the waters flow-
ing 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 Constitution provided that the seat of government should
be at Salt Lake City, and that its powers should be divided into three
branches — the legislative, the executive and the judicial. The Leg-
islature was to consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives,
both elected by the people. It was to hold annual sessions, the
initial one on the first Monday in July, 1849, and thereafter on the
first Monday in December. Special sessions were also provided for.
Elections for members of the House of Representatives were to be
held biennially. These members were to be at least twenty-five
years of age, free white male citizens of the United States, residents
of the State for one year preceding their election, and of the district
or county thirty days preceding. Senators were to be elected for four
years. Except as to age — they must be at least thirty years old — the
qualifications required of them were the same as those of the Repre-
sentatives. Each house was to elect its own officers, and each officer

HISTORY OF UTAH. 395

and member of the Legislative Assembly must take oath or affirmation
to support the Constitution of the United States, and that of the State
of Deseret, prior to entering upon the discharge of his official duties.

The executive power was vested in a Governor, a Lieutenant-
Governor, a Secretary of State, an Auditor and a Treasurer. The
Governor was to be elected for four years, his qualifications, powers
and duties being similar to those of the Governors of other States.
He had authority to call special sessions of the Legislative Assembly,
and possessed the usual power of veto over its acts. The Lieutenant-
Governor, who was also elected for four years, was ex officio president
of the Senate.

The judiciary consisted of a Supreme Court, with such other
inferior tribunals as might be established by the Legislature. That
body, by a joint vote, was to elect a chief justice and two associate
justices, to hold office for four years. It was afterwards decided to
have these judges elected by the people. The qualifications of voters
at the first election were that they should be free, white male resi-
dents of the State, over the age of twenty-one.

A State militia comprising all males between the ages of eighteen
and forty-five, not exempt from military duty, was to be forthwith
organized, armed, equipped and trained. The age regulation was
subsequently changed; for when the militia was organized there was
a company of juvenile rifles, composed of youths under eighteen, and
another company called " Silver Greys," made up of men over fifty
years of age.

The election of officers for the Provisional Government of the
State of Deseret took place at Salt Lake City on Monday, March 12th,
1849. The following ticket was elected: Brigham Young, Governor :
Willard Richards, Secretary; Newel 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 Carrington, Assessor and Collector; Joseph L. Hey-
wood, Surveyor of Highways. At the same time the Bishops of the
several wards were elected magistrates.

396 HISTORY OF UTAH.

The militia was next organized, under the direction of General
Charles C. Rich and Daniel H. Wells, a committee on military affairs.
They began to organize it in March, and in May reported the com-
pletion of their labors. This did not mean that the full organization
was at once perfected. The old name of "Nauvoo Legion," endeared
to so many of those who were now re-enrolled, was retained as the
title of the militia of the State of Deseret.

Its chief officers were, Daniel H. Wells, Major- General, and Jede-
diah M. Grant and Horace S. Eldreclge, Brigadier-Generals. In Gen-
eral Grant's cohort, which was composed of cavalry, John S. Fullmer
was Colonel of the first regiment, Willard Snow, Major of the first
battalion, and George D. Grant, Captain of the first company, first
battalion. In the second cohort, — the infantry, — commanded by
Brigadier-General Eldredge, John Scott was Colonel of the first
regiment, Andrew Lytle Major of the first battalion, and Jesse P.
Harmon captain of the first company, first battalion. Two companies
comprised the artillery. The first company organized was Captain
George D. Grant's. These were picked men, termed "life-guards,"'
or "minute men." It was their duty to protect Salt Lake City and its
environs from Indian depredations. Captain Harmon's company
were the "Silver Greys," before mentioned.

The militia also had the following general officers: James Fer-
guson, Adjutant-General; Hiram B. Clawson, Aide-de-camp; Lewis
Robison, Quarter-master-General ; Albert P. Rockwood, Commissary-
General ; Ezra G. Williams, Surgeon-General ; Ezra T. Benson and
Wilford Woodruff, Chaplains; Edward P. Duzette. Chief of Music;
and Ephraim Hanks and Lot Smith, Color-bearers-General. These
officers, from the Adjutant-General to the Chief of Music, held the
rank of Colonel, but the last two ranked as captains. Subsequently
military districts were organized in the several counties created by
the Legislature.*

* Among the earliest commanders of military districts were Colonel George A.
Smith, Iron County; Peter W. Conover. Utah County; Cyrus C. Cantield, Weber County,

and Nelson Higgins, Saficeie County.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 397

Thus was established the Provisional Government of the State
of Deseret, with its mailed arm of power, the Nauvoo Legion. It
was not long before a portion of the troops were called into the field
to resist hostile encroachments by the savages.

The same month that the State government was organized, the
settlement of Utah Valley was begun. This was the first permanent
movement of the Mormon colonists toward southern Utah.

In the summer of 1848 the settlers in Salt Lake Valley had been
visited by several hundred Indians, men, women and children. They
were Utahs and were accompanied by their noted chiefs Sowiette and
Walkara, — anglicised Walker. According to Parley P. Pratt these
Indians were " good-looking, brave and intelligent,*' superior to any
other savages he had seen west of the Pvocky Mountains. They
came to trade horses, of which they had a numerous band, and to
cultivate friendly relations with the settlers.* They expressed the
wish to amalgamate with them, to learn the arts of peace and
become civilized. They wanted some of the colonists to go with
them and teach them to farm in their valleys to the southward.
This the settlers could not then do. but promised that in the future
they would come among them and teach them as they desired. This
promise was duly kept, not only because it had been made, but
because the Latter-day Saints, as shown, believe it a portion of their
mission to reclaim and civilize the red men. They advised Sowiette
and his people to cease their warfare and live at peace with all men.

Sowiette, who was king of the Utah nation, scarcely needed this
good advice, if local tradition may be relied upon. He was peaceably
disposed, it is said, and though no coward, naturally averse to war
and blood-shed. Walker, his subordinate, was of another stamp

* A late chief (of the Utahs) acting on the plurality law, left about thirty sons, most
of whom have small clans under them. His true successor is a fine, brave Indian with
the largest band immediately around him, and he exercises control over all whom he
chooses. He is a friend of the Mormons. A half-brother of his named Walker has
become rich and celebrated for his success in stealing horses from the Mexicans. He lias
a large drove of cattle, with many followers." — Lieutenant (iunnfcon.

398 HISTORY OF UTAH.

entirely. He was quarrelsome and blood-thirsty. Stealing was his
ordinary vocation, and he would kill whenever it suited his purpose.
He and his bands would penetrate at times to west of the Sierras,
and raid and rob the California settlements, returning in triumph
with their booty to the mountains of Utah. His name was a terror
to the whites, and he was also feared and hated by other tribes of
Indians.

It is related that at the time the Pioneers entered Salt Lake
Valley a large number of the Utah nation were encamped in Spanish
Fork canyon ; Sowiette and Walker both being present. * A council
was held to consider what policy should be pursued toward the new-
comers, of whose arrival these chiefs had heard from some of their
scouts and runners. Sowiette counseled peace and friendship for the
strangers, with whose past he was somewhat acquainted, and
evidently felt for the exiles a noble savage's generous compassion.
But Walker, who was nothing if not violent, raised his voice for war,
and the extermination of the settlers. The younger warriors mostly
sided with Walker, but the older and wiser ones stood with Sowiette.
Finally Walker intimated that Sowiette was a. coward. The old king
could stand no more. Seizing a riding-whip he advanced upon the
turbulent chief and gave him a sound flogging. After that there
was no more talk of Sowiette's cowardice, and his peace counsel
prevailed.^ Then followed the visit of the Utes to Salt Lake Valley,
as related.

Walker, however, notwithstanding his professions of friendship
for the Mormons, — which were probably made out of deference to
Sowiette, — was soon again on the war-path, stirring up the Indians

* Tullidge'a Quarterly Magazine, Vol. 3, page 241.

f A similar encounter, though no flogging was administered, is related as having
occurred between Walker and Washakie, the latter a noted and noble chief of the
Shoshones. Walker having angered Washakie, the Shoshone chieftain strode up to him
and dared him to mortal combat. The Ute chief not responding, Washakie called him a
dog, and snatching the tomahawk from his belt hurled it away in scorn and contempt,
Walker still declining to fight.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 399

against the settlers. President Young was so informed by Colonel
Bridger and his partner Vasquez, soon after the formation of the
first settlement in Utah Valley. Yet the founding of that settlement,
it appears, was not only in pursuance of the general colonizing plan
of the Mormon President, but in response to the invitation of the
savages themselves, for their "white brothers" to come among them
and teach them how to become civilized.

The man chosen to lead the colony into Utah Valley was John
S. Higbee, one of the original Mormon Pioneers. At the head of
about thirty families, with wagons, horses, cattle, cows, farming and
building implements, seed and provisions, he set out from Salt Lake
City early in March, 1849, to found a settlement on Provo River.*
Three days they rolled and trudged along, their progress much
impeded by the muddy soil, soaked with spring rains and melting-
snows. Within a few miles of the spot where they subsequently
built their fort and broke the first ground for farming, their progress
was barred by a band of Indians, who were at first unwilling that
they should proceed. Finally they were permitted to do so. First,
however, as the story goes, they were required to solemnly swear
that if they were allowed to settle in Utah Valley they would not
seek to drive the Indians from their lands, nor deprive them of their
rights. Dimick B. Huntington, acting as interpreter for the others,
in behalf of his brethren took the required oath, with his right hand
lifted to heaven.

Arriving at Provo River, they forded it and camped on the south
side, near the spot now known as the "old fort field." Farming and
building immediately began, and by the middle of May the settlers
had built a fort and plowed, fenced and planted with wheat, rye and
corn the greater portion of a field of two hundred and twenty-five

* Provo River, once Timpanogas, is said to have been called after a trapper named
Provost, believed by some to be the original discoverer of the Great Salt Lake. Others
say that Colonel Fremont named it " Proveau " for a valuable horse of his which died
there; Proveau being the name of a Frenchman from whom Fremont had purchased the
steed.

400 HISTORY OF UTAH.

acres. By this time ten additional families had joined them, and the
field was divided into forty lots, and one given to each family. The
fort was the usual cluster of log houses surrounded by a stockade.
This stockade was" fourteen feet high, with a gate at either end.
From the centre arose a log bastion, overlooking all, upon which was
mounted one or more cannon, for protection against possible Indian
assaults. The savages frequently visited the fort, and for several
months were as peaceable and friendly as their white neighbors could
desire. On the 18th of March the Provo Branch was organized,
with John S. Higbee as President, and Isaac Higbee and Dimick B.
Huntington as his counselors.

As early as June of this year there began to pass through Utah
— or Deseret — parties of gold-hunters en route for California.
Everybody remembers or has heard of the "gold-fever" in

" The days of old,
The days of gold,
The days of "49."

The discovery of the precious metal in that land had seemingly
set on fire the civilized world. Ocean's broad expanse was dotted
with sails bearing from every nation under heaven eager souls to the
Californian coast. Across the great plains came pouring hundreds
of richly laden trains on their way to the new El Dorado. Salt Lake
Valley was no longer shunned and avoided. Being directly in the
path to the Pacific, both to shorten the route and obtain fresh
supplies to enable them to more speedily proceed, it became to many
the immediate, and to some the ultimate goal of the journey. The
gold-seekers were actuated by but one desire, — to reach the
auriferous land beyond the Sierras; the thirst for wealth having
absorbed for the time being all other thoughts and emotions. Many
who in the east had loaded their wagons with merchandise for the
mining camps, impatient at their slow progress, and hearing that
other merchants had arrived by sea before them, in order to lighten
their loads literally threw away or "sold for a song" the goods
they had freighted over a thousand miles. Dry goods, groceries,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 401

provisions, clothing, implements, etc., — just what were needed by the
half-starved, half-clad famine-stricken community in the mountains,
— were bartered off to them at almost any sacrifice. Some of the
emigrants brought with them choice blooded stock, which, being
jaded, they gladly exchanged for the fresh horses and mules of the
Mormon settlers. The most primitive outfits sufficed the on-goers,
with barely enough provisions to last to their journey's end. Thus,
as Heber C. Kimball had declared, at a time, too, when such a thing
seemed most improbable, "States goods" were actually sold in Salt
Lake City, within a year after the prediction was uttered, cheaper
than they could have been purchased in St. Louis or New York.*

Some of these emigrants, on reaching the Mormon settlements,
decided to remain and cast in their lot with the Saints. Most of
those who thus tarried joined the Church and became Mormons.
Others who came later did likewise. The majority of these
conversions were genuine. There were some, however, who
remained merely long enough to marry a Mormon girl, be cared
for by her parents during the winter, then off in the spring for
California, forsaking wife and child, and perhaps never again to be
heard from. This class were styled "Winter Mormons." Better
men who followed in their wake, naturally fell under suspicion till
their honor had been fully proven, owing to the misdeeds of these
rascals.

* Says the Frontier Guardian of those times in the Valley : " When they (the
emigrants) saw a few bags and kegs of gold dust brought in by our boys, it made them
completely enthusiastic. Pack mules and horses that were worth twenty-live 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 leu cents per yard by the bolt. The best of spades and shovels for lifly
cents each. Vests that cost in Si. Louis one dollar and fifty cents each, were sold at
Salt Lake City for thirty-seven and one-half cents. Full chests of joiner's tools that
would cost one hundred and filly 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 Hie eastern States."

402 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Though on their guard against such, the Mormons continued to
treat with kindness the passing companies, and as a rule were by
them respected and esteemed. In their disagreements with each
other, the Gentiles would often submit for arbitrament their cases to
the Mormon Bishops, acting as magistrates, and generally seemed
well satisfied with their decisions. When a Mormon and a Gentile
were the parties litigant, and the decision went against the latter, it
was of course more difficult for him to believe that he had been
fairly dealt by.

Touching these and other matters relating to the Mormons,
Lieutenant John W. Gunnison, who, in 1849-50 assisted Captain
Howard Stansbury of the U. S. Army Corps of Topographical
Engineers, in a government survey of the Great Salt Lake and its
vicinity, has this to say:*

We found them, in 1849, organized into a state with all the order oi legislative,
judicial, and executive offices regularly filled, under a constitution eminently republican in
sentiment, and tolerant in religion ; and though the authority of Congress has not yet
sanctioned this form of government, presented and petitioned for, they proceed quietly
with all the routine of an organized self-governing people, under the title of a Territory; —
being satisfied to abide their time, in accession of strength by numbers, when they may be
deemed fit to take a sovereign position ; being contented, as long as allowed to enjoy the
substance, under the shadow of a name. They lay and collect taxes, raise and equip
troops for protection, in full sovereignty, on the soil they helped to conquer first, and
subdue to use afterward.

A large branch of the great emigration overland to California passed through the
Mormon settlements, which is the best route across the country.

Of the parties organized in the States to cross the plains, there was hardly one that
did not break into several fragments, and the division of property caused a great deal of
difficulty. Many of these litigants applied to the courts of Deseret for redress of griev-
ances, and there was every appearance of impartiality and strict justice done to all parties.
Of course there would be dissatisfaction when the right was declared to belong to the one
side alone; and the losers circulated letters far and near, of the oppression of the Mormons.
These would sometimes rebel against the equity decisions, and then they were made to
feel the full majesty of the civil power. For contempt of court they were most severely
fined, and in the end found it a losing game to indulge in vituperation of the court, or
make remarks derogatory to the high functionaries.

* Gunnison's "The Mormons," pages 23, 64, 65.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 403

Again, the fields in the valley are imperfectly fenced, and the emigrants' cattle often
trespassed upon the crops. For this, a good remuneration was demanded, and the value
being so enormously greater than in the States, it looked to the stranger as an imposition
and injustice to ask so large a price. A protest would usually be made, the case then
taken before the bishop, and the costs be added to the original demand. Such as these
were the instances of terrible oppression that have been industriously circulated as unjust
acts of heartless Mormons, upon the gold emigration.

But provisions were sold at very reasonable prices, and their many deeds of charity
to the sick and broken-down gold-seekers, all speak loudly in their favor, and must
eventually redound to their praise. Such kindness, and apparently brotherly good-will
among themselves, had its effect in converting more than one to their faith, and the
proselytes deserted the search for golden ore, supposing they had found there pearls of
greater price.

Says Captain Stansbury :*

The jurisdiction of the " State of Deseret " had been extended over and was
vigorously enforced upon all who came within its borders, and justice was equitably
administered alike to "saint" and "gentile" — as they term all who are not of their per-
suasion. Of the truth of this, as far at least as the gentiles were concerned, I soon had
convincing proof, by finding, one fine morning, some twenty of our mules safely secured
in the public pound, for trespass upon the cornfield of some pious saint ; possession was
recovered only by paying the fine imposed by the magistrate and amply remunerating the
owner for the damage done to his crops. Their courts were constantly appealed to by
companies of passing emigrants, who, having fallen out by the way, could not agree upon
the division of their property. The decisions were remarkable for fairness and impartiality,
and if not submitted to, were sternly enforced by the whole power of the community.
Appeals for protection from oppression, by those passing through their midst, were not
made in vain ; and I know of at least one instance in which the marshal of the State was
despatched, with an adequate force, nearly two hundred miles into the western desert, in
pursuit of some miscreants who had stolen oil' with nearly the whole outfit of a party of
emigrants. He pursued and brought them back to the city, and the plundered property
was restored to its rightful owner.

In their dealings, with the crowds of emigrants that passed throught their city, the
Mormons were ever fair and upright, taking no advantage of the necessitous conditions 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 in 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 extortion 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 either from interested misrepresentation or erroneous information. I
certainly never experienced anything like it in my own case, nor did I witness or hear of
any instance of it in the case of others, while I resided among them. Too many that

'Stansbury's Expedition," pages 130, 131, 134. 135.

404 HISTORY OF UTAH.

passed through their settlements were disposed to disregard their claim to the land they
occupied, to ridicule the municipal regulations of their city, and to trespass wantonly
upon their rights. Such offenders were promptly arrested by the authorities, made to pay
a severe tine, and in some instances were imprisoned 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 '
religiously respected as with ourselves ; nothing being farther from their faith or practice
than the spirit of communism, which has been most erroneously supposed to prevail
among them. The main peculiarity of the people consists in their religious tenets, the
form and extent of their church government, (which is a theocracy,) and in the nature
especially of their domestic relations.

In the light of such testimony, from men who surveyed the
situation for themselves, and recorded in extenso, after a year's
sojourn among the Saints, their observations and impressions
concerning them, how manifestly unjust is the following statement in
a popular school history of the present period, from which Mormon
and Gentile children in Utah and elsewhere are being taught the
story of the past: "The Mormon rulers did all they could to
interfere with the passage of emigrant trains, and with settlements
in the neighborhood; they even made use of the Indians, and
encouraged them to attack emigrants!"*

What "settlements in the neighborhood" there were, to be thus
interfered with by the Mormon rulers, except the settlements of the
Saints themselves, the sagacious writer of the history does not say.
Plainly he knew little or nothing about the subject of which he was
writing. How the Mormon leaders "interfered with the emigrants"
who passed through their country is further shown by the following
extract from a discourse delivered by President Young during that
period. Said this "Mormon ruler" to the assembled Saints: "Let
no man go hungry from your doors. Divide with them and trust in
God for more. * * * Emigrants, don't let your spirits
be worn down; and shame be to the door where a man has to go

•Scudder's History of the United States, page 353.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 405

hungry away." Similar passages might be multiplied were it
needful.

The General Assembly of Deseret held its first session on July
2nd, 1849, at Salt Lake City. As stated, it had been decided in
March to petition Congress for the organization of a Territorial
government for the settlers of the Great Basin. In fact, a memorial
to that effect had since been numerously signed and sent to
Washington. Dr. John M. Bernhisel was the bearer of this
document to the nation's capital. He carried with him a letter of
introduction to Senator Stephen A. Douglas, from Brigham Young,
Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards.

The memorial, after reciting in its preamble that the petitioners
were residents of that portion of North America "commonly called
Eastern California," and that they were so far removed and
effectually separated from all civilized society and organized
government, by trackless deserts, snowy mountains and blood-thirsty
savages, that they could never be united with any other portion of
the country in Territorial or State Legislature to mutual advantage,
closed as follows :

"Therefore, we respectfully petition your honorable body to
charter for your memorialists a Territorial Government of the most
liberal construction authorized by our excellent Federal Constitution,
with the least possible delay, to be known by the name of Deseret;
including and covering all lands and waters, with all privileges,
immunities and advantages thereunto belonging, lying between
Oregon and Mexico, and between the Sierra Nevada and the 27° W.
L., or more particularly bounded and described as follows, to wit:
Commencing at the Rio Grande del Norte, at its crossing of the 32°
N. L., (or the northern line of Mexico) to the Pacific Ocean; thence
along the coast northward to the 42° W. L., thence on said 42° to
the Sierra Nevada, thence continuing along the summit of the Sierra
Nevada, or Snowy Mountains, to the 42° N. L., thence running east
by the southern boundary of Oregon to Green River; thence
northerly up the main channel of Green River to the 43° N. L.;

406 HISTORY OF UTAH.

thence east on said degree to the 27° longitude west of Washington;
thence south along said degree to 38° N. L.; thence west on said
degree to the Rio Grande del Norte; thence southerly down the main
channel of said river, to the place of beginning.
"And your memorialists will ever pray."
It was now resolved, however, to go a step further, and ask
Congress to admit Deseret into the Union as a State. Accordingly a
new memorial, praying for statehood, having been prepared and
adopted by the Legislature, was signed by many citizens. Early in
July, by a joint vote of the Assembly, Almon W. Babbitt was elected
a delegate to Congress to convey the memorial to Washington. He
also took with him a copy of the Constitution of the proposed State,
which Congress was requested to ratify.

The full text of the memorial was as follows :

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives, in Congress assembled:

Your memorialists, members of the General Assembly of the State of Deseret. would
respectfully lay before your honorable body the wishes and interests of our constituents,
together with the reasons and design of our early organization as a civil government, to
which the consideration of your honorable body is most earnestly solicited.

Whereas, The history of all ages proves that civil governments, combining in their
administration the protection of person, property, character, and religion, encouraging the
science of agriculture, manufactures, and literature, are productive of the highest, happiest
and purest state of society : and

Whereas, All political power is inherent in the people, and governments to be
permanent and satisfactory, should emanate from the same : and

Whereas, The inhabitants of all newly settled countries and territories, who have
become acquainted with their climate, cultivated their soil, tested their mineral productions
and investigated their commercial advantages, are the besl judges of the kinds of government
and laws necessary for their growth and prosperity : and

Whereas, Congress has failed to provide, by law. a form of civil government for this
or any other portion of territory ceded to the United States by the republic of Mexico in
the late treaty of peace : and

Whereas, Since the expiration of the Mexican civil authority, however weak and
imbecile, anarchy to an alarming extent has prevailed— the revolver and howie knife have
been the highest law of the land — the strong have prevailed against the weak — while
person, property, character and religion have been unaided, and virtue unprotected ; and

Whereas, From the discovery of the valuable gold mines west of the Sierra Nevada
Mountains, many thousands of able-bodied men arc emigrating to that section, armed with
all the implements and munitions of war: and

HISTORY OF UTAH. 407

Whereas, Strong fears have been, and still are entertained from the failure of
Congress to provide legal civil authorities, that political aspirants may subject the
government of the United States to the sacrifice of much blood and treasure in extending
jurisdiction over that valuable country ; and

Whereas, The inhabitants of the State of Deseret, in view of their own security,
and for the preservation of the constitutional right of the United States to hold jurisdiction
there, have organized a provisional State government under which the civil policy of the
nation is duly maintained : and

Whereas, There are so many natural barriers to prevent communication with any
other State or Territory belonging to the Uuited States, during a great portion of the year,
such as snow-capped mountains, sandy deserts, sedge plains, saleratus lakes and swamps,
over which it is very difficult to effect a passage ; and

Whereas, It is important in meting out the boundaries of the States and Territories
so to establish them that the heads of departments may be able to communicate with all
branches of their goverement with the least possible delay ; and

Whereas, There are comparatively no navigable rivers, lakes, or other natural
channels of commerce ; and

Whereas, No valuable mines of gold, silver, iron, copper or lead have as yet been
discovered within the boundaries of this State, commerce must necessarily be limited to a
few branches of trade and manufacture ; and

Whereas, The laws of all States and Territories should lie adapted to their
geographical location, protecting and regulating those branches of trade only which the
country is capable of sustaining ; thereby relieving the government from the expense of
those complicated and voluminous statutes which a more commercial State requires : and

Whereas, There is now a sufficient number of individuals residing within the Stale
of Deseret to support a State government, thereby relieving the general government from
the expense of a Territorial government in that section ; and in evidence of which the
inhabitants have already erected a legislative hall, equal to most and surpassed by few in
the older Slates, —

Your memorialists, therefore, ask your honorable body to favorably consider their
interests : and, consistent with the institution and usages of the Federal government, that
the constitution accompanying this memorial be ratified, and that the State of Deseret be
admitted into the Union on an equal footing with other States, or such other form of
civil government as your wisdom and magnanimity may award to the people of Deseret.
And, upon the adoption of any form of government here, that their delegates be received
and their interests properly and faithfully represented in the Congress of the United
States. And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

A little later another plan was proposed, to secure the admission
into the Union of Deseret and California as one State, with the
understanding that they were subsequently to separate and form two
distinct commonwealths. The following letter from Governor Young,
Lieutenant-Governor Kimball and Secretary Richards, to Amasa

408 HISTORY OF UTAH.

M. Lyman, who was then in California, will fully explain this
project: .

Great Salt Lake City, September 6th, 1849.
Brother Amasa Lyman :

Dear Sir — On the 20th of August, General Wilson arrived here, on his way to
California, as general Indian agent, etc. We had an interview with him, and gathered
from him the following particulars : that the President and council of the United States
are friendly disposed towards us, and that he (General Wilson) is commissioned by
General Taylor to inform us that'he fully appreciates our situation, that he considers we
have been unjustly dealt with, and that so far as his power constitutionally extends, he
will do us all the good he can.

The main point of the matter, however, is this: the President has his ends to sub-
serve, and as he knows that we have been favorable to his election, he wishes further to
appeal to our patriotism (so says General Wilson) to help him to carry out another
measure, which will deliver him, the cabinet and the nation from a difficulty in which he
thinks they are likely to be involved.

The subject of slavery has become more embarrassing than it ever has been before.
The addition of the extensive territories of New Mexico and Upper California increases
that difficulty. The gold emigration, etc., have tended to fan the flame. This subject
will be the first, probably, broached in Congress, and if some active measures are not
adopted, they fear it will be the last and only question. If it should lie made into
Territories, it will be under the direction of the United States, and the question of
slavery will distract and annoy all parties, and General Wilson says they fear will have a
tendency to break up the Union.

To prevent this, they have proposed a plan of making the whole territory into
one State, leaving it to the power of the people to say whether it shall be a slave or a
free State, and thus taking the bone from the Congress of the United States, and leaving
them to pursue their course, 'peaceably, if they can,' undisturbed by this exciting ques-
tion. They think it ought to be made into two States, but that the sparseness of the
population at the present time would preclude the possibility of an act of that kind
passing.

The cabinet think that all parties would agree to a measure of this kind if it should
become a free State, and even General Wilson, the President, and other slaveholders are
anxious that it should take this turn and are willing to make a sacrifice for the public
good. He supposes that even the Southern members would go in for it, but without our
help they I li ink it could not be accomplished. They think that there would be a strong
Southern influence used on the coast, calculated to place the matter in an embarrassing
situation to them and the eastern population on the coast combined, but that by our
influence we should be enabled to counterbalance that of the slaveholders, and thus settle
the troublesome question. It is therefore their policy to seek our influence, and we need
not add it is our policy to use theirs.

In our communications with General Wilson, we at first rejected altogether the idea
of ;in\ amalgamation whatever with the government on the coast, but on the subject
being presented in another form, we have agreed to the following :

HISTORY OF UTAH. 409

We are to have a general constitution for two States. The boundaries of the one
mentioned by us, before referred to, is our State, the other boundaries to be defined by
the people on the coast, to be agreed upon in a general convention ; the two States to be
consolidated in one and named as the convention shall think proper, but to be dissolved at
the commencement of the year 1851, each one having its own constitution, and each
becoming a free, sovereign, independent State, without any further action of Congress.

You will act as our delegate, in conjunction with General Wilson. Brother Pickett
is also a delegate.

We need not say that it will be advisable for you to get Samuel Bran nan, with the
press, and all the influence you can collect around you to carry out your designs.

Should the convention object to sanction the few propositions that we have made,
you can bring your influence to bear against them, and enter a protest against any
amalgamation on any other terms. And it would be advisable for you to sign a remon-
strance against their incorporating any of this country, and send it to Washington, directed
to John M. Bernhisel and Almon W. Babbitt, Esquires.

The present is a favorable moment for us to secure a State charter. Should the Wilmot
proviso, or slave question, by any means, become settled before our admission into the
Union, politicians might feel themselves more independent, and our interests might not lie
so near their hearts.

Our minus population is the only serious objection to our admission into the Union,
independent of western California, but notwithstanding this, we shall continue to press
our suit at Washington for independence, hoping to obtain the same before the joint
petition from your western convention arrives there. Should such an event occur, it can
do neither party any harm, for the west will then come in alone.

Much has been, may be, and will be said concerning the comparative population of
this valley and Western California, but what were they, previous to the opening of the
gold mines ? and what are they now, independent of gold diggers ?

According to the best information we have been able to obtain, we outnumber I hem
two to one, or five to three, and yet politicians will pretend that we are not more in num-
ber than one to five, or six, or ten of those on the coast.

Fabulous as this pretension is you will have to meet it, and must stave oil' foreigners
and transient miners as best you can, in making up the computation of joint ballot for a
convention. Probably nine-tenths of the squatters of Western California have no legal or
just claim to vote with the actual settlers of this valley.

There has been a great influx here this season, and a multitude of the brethren are
still on the way, probably about the Pass, where our teams have gone to meet them ; and
you may safely compute our strength in numbers at 15,000, and if there is not more than
75,000 here before the 1st of January, 1851. it will be because they cannot gel here.
***** * * *

Don't get too much in a constitution, lest it tie your own hands. This has been the
grand difficulty with almost all constitution makers. The grand desideratum of a
constitution is to be unalterable by the power that granted it, i. e., perpetual, and that the
people under that constitution can alter or amend the same at their election. But in case

27-VOL. 1.

410 HISTORY OF UTAH.

of a consolidated State, the constitution must bona fide remain unalterable during the
consolidation. These are the great essentials and will do well, if there is not too much
of other things. But even the Wilmot proviso, and many other things may be admitted,
if necessity require, for they will find their remedy in future amendments.

Brigham Young,
Heber G. Kimball.
Willard Richards.

Nothing resulted from this movement; for though the citizens
of Deseret were willing to amalgamate according to the suggestion of
President Taylor, the people of California were not willing, and so
the matter ended.

July 24th, 1849, the Mormon people celebrated in grand style
and for the first time Pioneer Day; it being the second anniversary
of their advent into the Great Basin. Martial music and the firing
of cannon awoke the inhabitants of "the Valley " at an early hour.
A large, new national flag, sixty-five feet long, the materials for which
had been procured from the east and put together by Mormon
women, was unfurled to the breeze from the truck of a lofty liberty
pole, and saluted with six guns and spirited patriotic airs. At
8 a. m. the multitude assembled at the Bowery, — a building of brush
and timber one hundred feet long by sixty feet wide, enlarged for the
occasion by a vast awning, — and awaited the arrival of Governor
Young and the grand procession.. It started at nine o'clock from his
residence under the direction of Lorenzo Snow, Jedediah M. Grant
and Franklin D. Richards. The pageant was as follows:

" (1) 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 Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution of the United States, and each
carrying 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 wreathes of white roses on their heads,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 411

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) Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, 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.*

At the Bowery and along the way the Governor and his escort
were greeted with shouts, songs, martial music and the roar of
musketry and artillery. Jedediah M. Grant was master of cere-
monies. He called the assembly to order and Erastus Snow offered
prayer. The report of the ensuing exercises says :

"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 Constitution 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 in 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. Phineas Richards came forward in behalf of
the twenty-four aged sires in Israel, and read their congratulatory
address on the anniversary of the day. At the conclusion of the
reading, the assembly rose and shouted three times, 'Hosanna!
hosanna! hosanna! to God and the Lamb, forever 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.'

412 HISTORY OF UTAH.

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

A feast had been prepared, and several thousand people now
sat down to it. Among the guests were hundreds of emigrants who
were passing through to California, and three-score Indians.

The Mormons have been criticized — hypercritically they think —
for celebrating thus grandly their glorious 24th, and letting July 4th,
of that year, pass by without public commemoration. The truth is
their intent was to blend the two days in one, a fact virtually
proven by the patriotic character of the proceedings. Orson Hyde,
in the Frontier Guardian, gave another reason for the amalgamation.
Said he: "They had little or no bread, or flour to make cakes, etc.,
and not wishing to celebrate on empty stomachs, they postponed it
until their harvest came in." A moment's reflection will show that
this reason is a cogent one. Since the spring of 1848 the community
had been living on rations, in a half-starved condition. But the
harvest of 1849 was abundant, and for several years thereafter the
cry of famine was unheard in the land.

The Bowery in which the celebration took place stood near the
south-east corner of Temple Block. It was used for religious
worship, and public gatherings in general, until other buildings more
suitable supplied its place. It was then converted into a theatre,
the original temple of the drama in Utah, where performances were
given by the Musical and Dramatic Company and its successor the
Deseret Dramatic Association, both of which sprang into existence
about the year 1851. This building was the celebrated "Old
Bowery," referred to in a former chapter.

It was on the 28th of August, 1849, a little over a month after
the pioneer celebration, that Captain Howard Stansbury arrived at
Salt Lake City at the head of an expedition having as its object an
exploration and survey of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Captain
Stansbury. as stated, was accompanied by Lieutenant J. W. Gunnison,
like himself a member of the topographical corps of the U. S. Army;
also by Lieutenant G. W. Howland, of the mounted rifles. These,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 413

with fifteen others, comprised the surveying party. A few emi-
grants for California had traveled with them from the frontier.
Rumors of the coming of the expedition, but not of its real purpose,
had previously reached the. Valley, and considerable anxiety was felt
and much speculation indulged in by the Mormon people as to the
design of the Government in sending it. The impression prevailed
that the object was to survey and take possession of the lands upon
which the Saints had settled, with a view to breaking up and destroy-
ing their colony. This fear had been enhanced by the arrival in the
Valley a few days before, of General Wilson, the newly-appointed
Indian Agent for California, previously named in the political letter
of the Mormon leaders to their confrere Amasa M. Lyman. One of
Wilson's men had boasted that the General held authority from the
President of the United States — Zachary Taylor — to drive the
Mormons from their lauds, and that he would do so if he thought
proper. Evidently General Wilson did not think it proper, or his
boastful attache spoke, as officious underlings often will, without
authority ; for nothing came of it. It was supposed, however, until
Stansbury explained, that his coming was in some way connected
with the malicious boast of General Wilson's subordinate.

This fact, which was known to the Captain, should have made
clear to him, though it does not seem to have done so, why he met
at Captain Brown's settlement on the Weber, by which he passed on
his way to Salt Lake City, what he complains of as an ungracious
and inhospitable reception, "strongly contrasted," says he, "with the
frank and generous hospitality we ever received at the hands of the
whole Mormon community." Captain Brown's record for generosity,
save perhaps where he dealt with those whom he deemed his people's
enemies, pursuing them into the wilderness to again deprive them of
their possessions, was second to none in the community. His
liberality to the poor around him during the famine — a proverb to
this day in Weber County — sufficiently attests this fact.

Stansbury states that before reaching Salt Lake City he had
heard of the uneasiness felt by the Mormon community over his

414 HISTORY OF UTAH.

coming, and had been told that they would not permit a survey of
the lake to be made, and that his life would scarcely be safe if he
attempted it. "Giving not the least credence to these insinuations,"
says he, "I at once called upon Brigham Young, the president of the
Mormon church and the governor of the commonwealth, stated to
him what I had heard, explained to him the views of the
Government 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 hesitate to say that both he and the people
over whom he presided had been very much disturbed and surprised
that the Government should send out a party into their country, so
soon after they had made their settlement. * * * 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 it 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.f * * * So soon, however, as the true

object of the expedition was fully understood, the president laid the

f Regarding the land titles of the Mormons, Lieutenant Gunnison says: ''They
issue a right of occupancy from the State Registrar's Office. This is contingent on the
grant of the general government, of course, and forms one of the subjects upon which
they may come into collision with the supreme authority. They will not, without
protest, buy the land, and hope that grants will be made to actual settlers or the State,
sufficient to cover their improvements. If not, the State will be obliged to buy and then
confer the titles already given."

The noted traveler and writer, Richard F. Burton, ten years later wrote upon the
same subject as follows : " The Mormons have another complaint touching the tenure of
their land. The United States have determined that the Indian title has not been
extinguished. The Saints declare that no tribe of aborigines could prove a claim to the
country, otherwise they were ready to purchase it in perpetuity by pay, presents and pro-
visions, besides establishing the usual reservations. Moreover the Federal Government
has departed from the usual course. The law directs that the land, when set off into
townships, six miles square with subdivisions, must be sold at auction to the highest
bidder. The Mormons represent that although a survey of considerable tracts has been
completed by a Federal official, they are left to be mere squatters that can be ejected
like an Irish tenantry."

HISTORY OF UTAH. 415

subject matter before the council called for the purpose, and I was
informed, as the result of their deliberations, that the authorities
were much pleased that the exploration 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."

Captain Stansbury was assisted, in his survey of Great Salt Lake,
by Albert Carrington, a prominent Mormon, afterwards an Apostle of
the Church. Mr. Carrington was a college graduate, well qualified to
assist in this scientific labor. Stansbury's party also surveyed Utah
Lake and its vicinity, and explored a new route from Salt Lake Valley
to Fort Hall. As stated, they remained a whole year in this region,
spending the winter of 1849-50 in Salt Lake City.

Still poured in from the frontier the Mormon emigration from
the States and from Europe. The first company to arrive in the fall
of 1849 was Captain Orson Spencer's. It had sailed from Liverpool
in January, and reached Kanesville in May. This company had
suffered severely from cholera while ascending the Missouri River.
It arrived in Salt Lake Valley in the latter part of September. Orson
Spencer had not before been to the mountains, having had charge of
the British Mission since January, 1847. That mission, at this
period, contained nearly thirty thousand Mormon converts, about ten
thousand having joined the Church during the past fifteen months.
Three companies following Captain Spencer's, not only suffered much
from cholera on the Missouri,*' but nearly perished in a fearful
snow-storm at South Pass early in October. Seventy of their cattle
were frozen, but no human lives were lost. These companies were

* Captain Dan Jones' company lost sixty lives from cholera that season, between St.
Louis and Kanesville. It was such fatalities as this that caused the Mormon leaders to
contemplate about this time a change in the route of their European emigration. Instead

of ascending the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, it was proposed that the companies cross
the Isthmus of Panama and land at San Diego, California, thence going overland to Utah.

416 HISTORY OF UTAH.

commanded by George A. Smith, in general charge of the Church
emigration that season. Some weeks later a small party of travelers
left their wagons in the snow forty miles east of Salt Lake City, and
pushed on to the valley, arriving there in a destitute condition.

A movement was now set afoot by the Mormon leaders for the
benefit of the poor among their proselytes in the Eastern States and
in foreign lands. Hitherto the Church emigration had consisted
almost entirely of persons able to pay their own way over sea and
land to their new gathering place. There were many, however, too
poor to pay, and who had no friends to pay for them. Some of
these were scattered through Iowa, Missouri, and up and down the
frontier, while othere were to be found among the thirty thousand
Saints in the British Isles. t

Thus far those who had emigrated from Great Britain, as well as
many yet to come from that land, were mostly of the class of whom
Charles Dickens, some years later, on visiting a Mormon emigrant
ship in the Thames, wrote: "I should have said they were in their
degree the pick and flower of England." Dickens meant by this, not
only that they were handsome and healthy, but measurably thrifty
and prosperous. They were made up of the material generally
composing the Mormon emigrant companies, namely: farmers,
laborers, mechanics and tradespeople, with a liberal sprinkling of
artists, musicians, writers and other professionals, representing the
lower and middle classes. But there were many British proselytes
who, having little or nothing of this world's wealth, were utterly
unable to pay their passage across the Atlantic. It was for the
benefit of such that the Mormon leaders, in the fall of 1849,
established the since famous Perpetual Emigrating Fund, to which so
many in this land owe their deliverance from a state bordering upon
pauperism, and their subsequent rise in the financial and social
scale.

Those aided by this fund were expected to reimburse it, — paying
back into its treasury, as soon as they were able, the amounts
expended in their behalf; to be used for the benefit of other poor

*^-*^_^)-^ V

HISTORY OF UTAH. 419

passengers to Sutter's Fort was $300; while goods were carried at the
rate of $250 per ton. In either case two-thirds of the money was
payable in advance, and the remainder on reaching Salt Lake City.

In November of this year Sanpete Valley was settled by a com-
pany from Salt Lake City, led by Isaac Morley, Charles Shumway
and Seth Taft. Phinehas Richards was also one of the company.
They formed a settlement near the present site of Manti, the location
of which town was selected some time later. Manti is a name taken
from the Book of Mormon. Sanpete is a variation of Sanpitch, a
noted Indian chief of the Utah nation.

The first steps toward the settling of Tooele Valley were taken
about the same time, though not, as in the case of Sanpete, by an
organized company. John Rowberry is popularly regarded as the
pioneer of Tooele County, and his name will always be the most
prominent one in the early history of that locality. He went there
from Salt Lake Valley in December, 1849, his object being the same
as that which had taken Captain Sessions and others into Davis
County two years before, namely : to find grazing lands for stock.
Mr. Rowberry had charge of a herd belonging to Ezra T. Benson.
Several weeks before him, however, a party of men, also in the
employ of Apostle Benson, arrived on Settlement Creek, a little south
of where Tooele City now stands. One of these men was Phinehas
R. Wright, a mill-wright. Their purpose was to build a mill near
the mouth of Settlement Creek Canyon.* It was there that John
Rowberry joined them. Tooele Valley was named after the Tule, a
variety of bulrush abounding in that locality. Mis-spelled Tooele by
Thomas Bullock, the pioneer clerk, in a public document of that
period, the orthography has since remained unchanged. Tule is a
word from the Mexican.

* Francis H. Lougy, of Tooele, who was but a little boy when he went there in
18-RI with his step-father Phinehas R. Wright, states that live families went together
immediately on the adjournment of the October Conference. The names of the heads of
these families he gives as follows: Phinehas R. Wright. Gyrus Call, Cyrus Tolman, Sam
Meeham, Orson Rrafett and the mother of Eli R. Kelsey. Mrs. Kelscy had no family with
her at the time.

420 HISTORY OF UTAH.

CHAPTER XXII.

1849-1851.

Salt lake, weber, utah, sanpete, juab and tooele counties created — parley p. pratt
explores southern utah the first indian war a skirmish at battle creek

THE TWO DAYS' FIGHT AT PROVO TABLE MOUNJAImA TREATY OF PEACE THE PIONEER

NEWSPAPER OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS DEATH OF PRESIDING BISHOP WHITNEY THE

FIRST P. E. FUND IMMIGRATION GEORGE A. ^*IITH PIONEERS IRON COUNTY— EDUCATIONAL

BEGINNINGS THE UNIVERSITY OF DESERET THE CITIES OF SALT LAKE, OGDEN, PROVO,

MANTI AND PAROWAN RECEIVE THEIR CHARTERS THE FIRST MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT IN

THE GREAT BASIN.

•L HE General Assembly of Deseret convened again in December,
>K 1849, and held brief sessions at intervals through the winter.
It created the counties of Salt Lake, Weber, Utah, Sanpete,
Juab and Tooele. Juab County at that time was unsettled. The
Assembly appointed a Supreme Court to hold annual sessions at Salt
Lake City, chartered the University of Deseret, and enacted other
laws to which reference will be made later. It also commissioned
Parley P. Pratt to raise a company of fifty men, with the necessary
teams and equipment, and explore southern Utah.*
The personnel of this expedition was as follows :

FIRST TEN.

Isaac C. Haight, Captain, Chauneey West, George B. Mabson,

Parley P. Pratt, Dan. Jones, Samuel Gould,

William Wadsworth, Hial K. Gay, Wm. P. Vance.

Rufus Allen, •

* Parley had previously explored the canyon now called by his name : also Parley's
Park, to which it leads. It was due to his personal exertions that Parley's Canyon was
opened as a route for emigration soon after his return from the south. It was then called
the "Golden Pass."

HISTORY OF UTAH.

421

Joseph Matthews, Captain,
John Brown,
Nathan Tanner,
Starling G. Driggs,

Joseph Home, Captain,
Wm. Brown,
George Nebeker,
Benjamin F. Stewart,

SECOND TEN.

Homer Duncan,
Wm. Matthews,
Schuyler Jenning

THIRD TEN.

Alexander Wrig
James Farrer,
Henry Heath,

FOURTH TEN.

Ephraim Green, Captain, '^^ndrew Blodgett,

Wm. W. Phelps, nfcv'ni. Henry,

Charles Hopkins, Peter Dustin,
Sidney Willis,

John H. Bankhead,

John D. Holiday,
Robert M. Smith.

Seth B. Tanner,
Alexander Lemon,
David Fullmer.

Thomas Ricks,
Bobert Campbell,
Isaac H. Brown.

Joseph Arnold, Captain,
Jonathan Packer,
Christopher Williams,

Stephen Taylor,
Isaac B. Hatch,

John C. Armstrong,
Dimick B. Huntington.

Parley P. Pratt was president of the company and William W.
Phelps and David Fullmer were his counselors. John Brown was
captain of the fifty, W. W. Phelps, ^topographical engineer, and
Ephraim Green, chief gunner. Besides small arms, one brass field
piece went with the expedition, which was equipped with twelve
wagons, one carriage, twenty-four yoke of oxen and thirty-eight
horses and mules. A few beeves, with flour, meal, bread and
crackers supplied the commissariat. The company was organized at
Captain Brown's residence on Cottonwood, about the only house then
intervening between Salt Lake City and the Provo settlement.

Pratt's expedition penetrated as far south as the confluence of
the Santa Clara River and the Rio Virgen, the latter a tributary of
the Colorado. Among other places explored was the valley now
known as Mountain Meadows, the scene of the horrible tragedy of
several years later. They also indicated a place for a settlement in
Little Salt Lake Valley, nearly three hundred miles south of Salt

422 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Lake City. There, on a stream called Centre Creek, afterwards
sprang up the town of Parowan, the first settlement of Iron County.

Returning northward in January, 1850, half the party, under
David Fullmer, went into winter quarters on Chalk Creek, near the
present site of Fillmore, in Millard County; while Parley P.Pratt,
with the remainder, pushed on toward Provo — Fort Utah — over a
hundred miles distant. Parley's record of January 26th relates the
following incident: "In the morning we found ourselves so com-
pletely buried in snow that no one could distinguish the place where
we lay. Some one rising, began shoveling the others out. This
being found too tedious a business, I raisedrmy voice like a trumpet,
and commanded them to arise; when allj^once there was a shaking
among the snow piles, the graves w^re opened, and all came forth.
We called this Resurrection Camp." *

Aptly named, poetic Parley ! ' Sixty miles farther, through frost
and snow, brought them to the Provo settlement, and the beginning
of January found President Pratt at home in Salt Lake City. The
rear portion of his party returned in March.

Meantime had broken out those Indian troubles which afflicted
at intervals for severaf "years the outlying settlements of Utah,
particularly those south of Salt Lake Valley. Utah County was the
original seat of war, and it was there that some of the hardest
fights between the settlers and the savages occurred.

It will be remembered with what reluctance the Timpanogas
Indians who met the Higbee colony in March, 1849, permitted the first
white settlement on Provo River, and that, too, in spite of the invi-
tation previously extended to the colonists by the chiefs, Sowiette and
Walker, to settle among their tribes and teach them how to become
civilized. It has also been stated that soon after Fort Utah was
founded, Walker, according to Colonel Bridger and Mr. Vasquez,
began stirring up the Indians against the Mormon settlers. In this
movement Walker was aided by another chief named Elk, — variously
styled Big Elk, Old Elk, etc., — like himself a hater of the whites, and
apparently quite as fond of fighting. It was with Big Elk and his

HISTORY OF UTAH. 423

band that the Provo settlers, in their first regular battle with the
savages, had immediately to deal.

It was believed by Governor Young that Colonel Bridger and
other mountaineers were at the bottom of much of the ill-feeling
manifested by the red men, and that they were incited to attack the
Mormon settlements. The Governor, however, seemed to have
confidence in Mr. Vasquez, who had opened a small store in Salt
Lake City, and whose interests to that extent were identified with
those of the settlers.

The Indians, at first so friendly with the Utah Valley colonists,
began their depredations^in that vicinity in the summer or fall of

is m
n frc

1849. Grain was stolen*[fom the fields, cattle and horses from the
herds, and now and thin an arrow from an Indian bow would fall
uncomfortably near feme sett% as he was out gathering fuel in the
river bottoms.

The first fight with thWlndians took place on Battle Creek, near
the site of Pleasant Grov«. It occurred in the autumn. There,
Colonel John Scott, wtth thirty or forty men, after a sharp skirmish
defeated the savages under Chief Kone — also called Roman Nose —
and drove them up Battle Creek Canyon. Five Indians were killed,
but none of Colonel Scott's men were hurt. He had been sent south
to recover some stolen horses taken from Orr's herd in Utah Valley,
and several cattle stolen from Ezra T. Benson's herd in Tooele.
Battle Creek derived its name from this initial encounter between
the Indians and the Deseret militia.

For some reason the authorities at Salt Lake City did not
altogether approve of the conduct of this campaign. No doubt
they regretted the necessity for a military expedition against the
savages, and deplored the fatalities attending it, not only from
humanitarian considerations, but fearing probably that it would
precipitate a general war, and unify all the savage bands of the
vicinity against the handful of settlers at Fort Utah. "Shed no
blood" was a standing general order to the Mormon militia in those
days, and the troops were expected to adhere to it wherever possible.

424 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Yet blood had now been shed, and the Indians were doubtless
exasperated. This may or may not have been the reason that
Colonel Scott was found fault with. That would materially depend
upon the nature of the orders he had received from his superiors,
and his ability under subsequent circumstances to carry out those
orders. It is a fact, however, that the Colonel fell under some
censure at the time, and because of it declined to take part in
succeeding Indian campaigns.

It is said that the Utah Indians never sought revenge for any
of their number killed while stealing or making an attack.* But the
Battle Creek skirmish, which was not strkfily an affair of that kind,
could not but have the effect of straining the relations between the
settlers and their savage neighborsj|and extinguishing in the hearts
of the latter what sparks of friendship yet remained. They
continued their petty depredatpns, and became bolder and more
insolent daily. The settlers at Fort Utah would occasionally fire
their cannon to warn the redskins that they were not unmindful of
their misdeeds, and were nrepared to maintain xheir rights. But the
Indians were not to be awed by sound and smoke. Their nefarious
practices went on. They were evidently provoking a conflict. Stock
continued to be taken from the herds, and all efforts to recover stolen
property were stoutly resisted. Finally the Indians began firing on
the settlers as they issued from their fort, and at last the stockade
was virtually in a state of siege.

No longer was it arrows alone that fell around them. Bullets
whizzed past their ears. The Indians were now well supplied with
fire-arms and ammunition, obtained in exchange for horses, mostly
from California emigrants who had passed through the country.

Captain Stansbury*s .party, during the fall, had been surveying
around Utah Lake, where they also were much annoyed by the
savages. As winter came on, they suspended their labors and
returned to Salt Lake City, feeling satisfied that in the existing state

* Colonel George A. Smith is authority for this statement.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 425

of affairs in Utah Valley, it would be both difficult and dangerous for
them to continue operations in the spring, exposed as they would be
to attacks from the savages, either in open field or deadly ambush.
The subsequent sad fate of Lieutenant Gunnison and his party on
the Sevier showed that these apprehensions were well grounded.

As for the inhabitants of Fort Utah, they patiently bore their
annoyances and losses until nearly spring, when affairs became so
serious that they felt compelled to appeal for aid to Governor Young
and the Legislature, still in session at Salt Lake City. Captain Peter
W. Conover, in charge of military affairs at the fort, and Miles
Weaver carried the message of their anxious fellow settlers to
head-quarters.

Governor Young, 'on receiving the message, found himself in a
somewhat peculiar position. That the beleaguered settlers must be
relieved, and at once, was evident?; not only for their own sakes, but
for that of other settlements already forming or in prospect in the
south. But how best to relieve them was the question. The thought
of more fighting and bloodshed was most repugnant to him. Not for
worlds would the Mormon leader have the sons of Laman think
that he and his people came among them for that purpose. "Feed
them and not fight them," was his life-long motto and policy
toward the red men. Besides, how would the authorities at Wash-
ington, by whom the petition of Deseret for statehood was then
being considered, regard the opening of a warfare by the Mor-
mons upon these dusky "wards of the Government?" Deem not
this a trifling consideration, reader. A people like the Mormons,
whose every act, owing to the prejudice existing against them, was
liable to be misinterpreted, had to be cautious and circumspect in
their public acts and policies, where other communities, whose
loyalty and good intents were unquestioned, might have risked all
with impunity.

Fortunately there was a government officer on the ground, a
brave and honorable man,— Captain Howard Stansbury. It being
evident — all conciliatory efforts having failed — that force must be

426 HISTORY OF UTAH.

employed to put an end to the aggressions of the savages, the
Captain was asked by Governor Young and other officials for an
expression of opinion as to what view the Government would
probably take of it. "I did not hesitate to say to them," says
Stansbury, "that in my judgment the contemplated expedition
against these savage marauders, was a measure not only of good
policy, but one of absolute necessity and self-preservation."

He therefore warmly approved it, and not only that, but at
Governor Young's request permitted Lieutenant Howland to
accompany the expedition as its adjutant, and contributed arms,
ammunition, tents and camp equipage for the soldiers. Dr. Blake,
of the Stansbury party, acted as surgeon for the expedition.

A company of fifty minute men under Captain George D. Grant
started first, and were followed by fifty others, commanded by Major
Andrew Lytle. Colonel Scott had been ordered to go, but declined,
for which he was afterwards court-martialed. Major Lytle went
in his stead.

The expedition set out early in February, 1850. The weather
was extremely cold, and the snow, frozen and hard-crusted, was over
a foot deep in the valleys. Progress was therefore rendered very
difficult. Captain Grant's cavalry, after marching all night, on the
morning of the 8th arrived at Provo River. Such a march was
deemed necessary in order to take the Indians unaware and secure
an advantageous position. The militia found the settlers in their
fort on the south side of the stream, and the Indians strongly
entrenched in the willows and timber of the river-bottom, a mile or
two above. They were protected not only by the river-bank, but by
a breast-work of cotton-wood trees which they had felled. Near by
their strong-hold stood a double log house facing the river. This
house, which at one time became the center of action in the fight that
ensued, was immediately opposite the Indian fortification. It had
been deserted by one of the settlers who had taken refuge with his
family at the fort. The house was now held by the savages who,
during the battle, kept up a continuous fire from its windows

HISTORY OF UTAH. 427

and crevices, as well as from their redoubt, upon the attacking
party.

Captain Conover, commander at the fort, united his men with
Captain Grant's, and the main forces then proceeded to occupy a
position near a deserted building about half a mile south-west of the
log-house mentioned. The Indians were led by Chiefs Elk and Ope-
carry — surnamed " Stick-on-the-Head" — the latter, like Sowiette,
rather friendly with the whites, while Elk, as has been stated, was
more like the warlike Walker. Ope-carry, it seems, desired peace,
and had come out of the redoubt to talk with Dimick B. Huntington,
the interpreter, when Elk and his warriors opened fire, and the battle
was thus begun.

The engagement lasted two days, during which an almost
incessant fusilade was kept up between the white assailants and the
dusky defenders of the river redoubt. Artillery was also employed
against the savages, but with little effect, as they were right under
the bank, and most of the balls passed harmlessly over. A squaw
was killed by a chain shot, however, during the progress of the
fight. The Indians would make frequent sorties, and after delivering
their fire, return to cover. Again, they would thrust their gun
barrels through the snow lying deep upon the banks above them,
and momentarily raising their heads high enough to take aim,
discharge their broad-sides at the besiegers. They fought so
stubbornly that all efforts to dislodge them for a time proved futile.
They killed Joseph Higbee, son of Isaac Higbee — then President
of the settlement — and wounded several others of the attacking
force.

Finally, in the afternoon of the second day, Captain Grant,
whose care had been to expose his men as little as possible,
determined to capture the log-house at all hazards. He therefore
ordered Lieutenant William H. Kimball, with fifteen picked men, to
charge upon the house and take it. Among those who participated
in this charge — the one daring exploit of the campaign — were Robert
T. Burton, Lot Smith, James Ferguson, John R. Murdock, Ephraim

428 HISTORY OF UTAH.

K. Hanks, A. J. Pendleton, Orson K. Whitney, Barney Ward, Henry
Johnson and Isham Flyn. Kimball and his men proceeded up the
river until directly opposited the log-house, which now intervened
between them and the stream. They then turned to the left, facing
the rear of the house, and the leader gave the word to charge.
Dashing forward through a ravine that for some moments hid them
from view, the horsemen emerged upon the flat and were within a
few rods of the house, in the act of crossing a small slough, when a
roaring volley from the log citadel met them. Isham Flynn was
wounded and the charge was momentarily checked. Several swept
on, however, and the Indians, hastily vacating the house, fled to their
entrenchments.* The first two troopers to gain the house were Lot
Smith and Robert T. Burton, who, riding around to the front of the
building, entered the passage between the two compartments.
Bullets whizzed past them, splintering the wood-work all around,
but both they and their horses were soon under shelter. Their
companions, a moment later, gathered to the rear of the house, and
none too soon, for the Indians, recovering from their surprise,
began pouring their volleys into the ranks of the cavalry and upon
the captured building. Half the horses were instantly killed, and
their riders escaped by miracle. Between the volleys, Lieutenant
Kimball, Ephraim Hanks and others, darting around the corner of
the house, gained the inside, while others waited until an opening
had been made in the rear.

To support the cavalry charge, Captain Grant ordered forward a
small detachment of infantry. These men. ten in number, were
a portion of Captain Conover's command, and were led by Jabez B.
Nowlin. On reaching the log-house, with saw and ax they effected
an entrance at the rear. Some, however, went around the corner
into the passage, and were fired upon by the savages; Nowlin being
wounded in the nose.

The services of a surgeon were now in demand. Seeing that

* Lieutenant Howland complimented the charge made by Kimball's men in warm
terms. He said it was as fine as could have been done by regular cavalry.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 429

something was wrong, Captain Grant requested Hiram B. Clawson,
General Wells' aide, who had accompanied the expedition, to ride to
the house and ascertain what was needed. He did so, performing
the hazardous feat successfully, though the bullets sung past him as
he rode. His friends at the house, seeing him coming, redoubled
their volleys and drew most of the Indian fire in their direction.
Returning, Colonel Clawson reported that surgical aid was at once
required for the wounded. He and his cousin, Stephen Kinsey, a
surgeon, then rode back to the log building. Returning, the two
were again fired upon, one bullet just missing Clawson's head and
piercing Kinsey 's hat. Later, another ball came nigh hitting
Clawson and went through Kinsey's trousers. Both, however,
escaped unhurt.

Meantime, Lieutenant Howland, with something of the ingenuity
of a Cortez, had conceived the idea of a movable battery, to operate
against the Indian redoubt. His idea was at once acted upon. A
barricade of planks, in the shape of a V, was constructed and placed
upon runners, blankets being hung loosely on the inside to stop the
force of balls that penetrated the timber. The outside was covered'
with brush and boughs to conceal the true character of the improvised
battery. This pointed barricade, behind which quite a number of
men could take shelter and deliver their fire without being much
exposed, was pushed toward the Indian stronghold. Like Macbeth,
when Birnam wood, or what he took to be that forest, came toward
Dunsinane, the Indians were thoroughly alarmed at the approach of
this strange object, and divining its purpose made up their minds to
retreat. Accordingly, that evening, they opened a furious fire upon
the position held by the troops, and under cover of the darkness
withdrew. The log-house had previously been vacated by Kimball's
men, a circumstance which enabled the Indians to depart unobserved,
after helping themselves to a supply of horse-beef from the dead
cavalry animals lying near.

General Wells, who had been sent for to take charge of further
operations, arrived next morning, but on preparing to attack the

430 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Indians, it was discovered that they had gone. One party, the
smaller band, had retreated in the direction of Rock Canyon, a rough
and difficult gorge a little north-east of Provo, while the main party
had fled southward in the direction of Spanish Fork. A dead squaw
— the one killed by a cannon shot — was found in the Indian
encampment; also two or three warriors, dead or dying. Elk, the
chief, subsequently died of wounds received during the siege. His
being wounded had probably disheartened the savages and caused
the retreat quite as much as Lieutenant Howland's battery. The
Lieutenant had returned to Salt Lake City after the second day's skir-
mish. Some of the Indians, more friendly than their fellows, had
deserted their ranks before the fighting began, taking refuge with the
white families in the fort.

Detailing certain men to garrison the stockade, and others to
pursue the Rock Canyon refugees, General Wells, with the main
body of the cavalry, set out upon the trail of the Indians who had
gone southward. At Spanish Fork and Pe-teet.-neet — now Payson —
short skirmishes occurred, and eventually the Indians were overtaken
near Table Mountain, at the south end of Utah Lake. Another battle
ensued, and the Indians were practically annihilated. Most of the
fighting took place on the ice, which was very slippery, making it
extremely difficult for the horses to keep on their feet. The Indians,
being shot at, would fall, as if dead, and then, as their pursuers drew
near, rise up and fire. They killed several horses in this manner,
but none of the cavalrymen were hurt.

Night came down, and a bitter night it was. The soldiers were
forced to take refuge in the wickiups vacated by the Indians on the
bleak mountain side. As these primitive shelters swarmed with
vermin, the result may readily be imagined.

On returning to Fort Utah, General Wells found that Major Lytle
and Captain Lamereux, joining their forces, had pursued the other
band of Indians up Rock Canyon. The fate of these savages was
similar to that of their fellows at Table Mountain. The total Indian
loss was about forty; more than half the number of warriors

HISTORY OF UTAH. 431

engaged. Efforts were made to civilize the squaws and papooses,
who were captured, but as a rule without avail. They lived with the
settlers during the winter, but in the spring again sought their native
mountains.

A treaty of peace was entered into between the settlers and the
Indians, and the latter now agreed to be friendly and molest their
white neighbors no more.

In the summer of 1850, Walker, it is said, laid a plan to
massacre the people at Fort Utah. It was in revenge for a slight
that he imagined he had received from Governor Young. The Ute
chief had visited the Mormon leader to obtain his permission to
engage in a campaign against the Shoshones, in which Walker wished
some of the young men of Provo to join. Governor Young would
not listen to such a thing, and again advised the warlike chief to
cease fighting and bloodshed. Walker returned to Utah Valley in a
rage. Gathering his band, he was about to fall upon the fort, when
Sowiette, the white man's friend, again interposed to thwart him.
He not only warned the inmates, who flew to arms, but told Walker
that he with his band would help defend the fort against him.
Walker again gave way, and for several years warred elsewhere, not
molesting the Mormon settlements.

The following summer a successful expedition was undertaken
by a company of volunteer cavalry under Captain George D. Grant,
against the Goshute Indians, a band of renegades who for some time
had been stealing stock and committing murders in Tooele Valley
and the surrounding region. Their headquarters were in Skull
Valley. Captain William McBride with a company of infantry had
preceded the cavalry to that point, but finding it impossible to operate
successfully against the Indians with his troops, had requested that a
force of mounted men be sent to his assistance. The Indian camp
was among the Cedar Mountains, on the western edge of a desert,
twenty miles wide and very difficult to cross, owing to an utter lack
of water. A first effort to surprise and chastise the savages proved
futile, as they had learned of the coming of the troops and laughed

432 HISTORY OF UTAH.

and jeered at them from the rocky heights where they were
entrenched. A second march of the cavalry across the desert,
during the night, when the Indians supposed the pursuit had been
abandoned, was completely successful. The savages were surprised
in their wickiups just at day-break, and the males almost annihilated.
Tons of "jerked beef," manufactured from the stolen cattle of the
settlers, were found stored in the Indian stronghold. Among those
who participated in this expedition, which gave many years of peace
to the western settlements, were George D. Grant, William McBride,
William H. Kimball, Robert T. Burton, Nathaniel V. Jones, Rodney
Badger, James M. Barlow, John Wakely, Charles Westover and Jesse
Turpin.

An important local event of the summer of 1850 was the
establishment at Salt Lake City of the pioneer newspaper of the
Rocky Mountains. The first number of the Deseret News — then a
small quarto issued weekly — was published on the 15th of June.
Willard Richards was its editor. Among the little force of
compositors who set the type for this and subsequent issues of the
News were Brigham H. Young and Horace K. Whitney, the latter one
of the original Utah pioneers. The press — a small wrought-iron
Ramage hand-press — stood in the building now occupied by the
Woman s Exponent, immediately east of the present News buildings*
This pioneer press is still in existence, stored away on those premises
among other relics of the past.

On the 23rd of September, at his residence in Salt Lake City,
died Newel K. Whitney, the Presiding Bishop of the Mormon
Church ; a man much esteemed for honesty and integrity, and valued
also for his superior business ability. He was succeeded in office by
Edward Hunter, a man equally worthy and well regarded.

Bishop Hunter, it will be remembered, had been sent to the
frontier in the fall of 1849 to put in operation the provisions of the
Perpetual Emigrating Fund. The first company brought across the

* The Deseret Mint occupied a portion of the same buildi

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HISTORY OF UTAH. 433

plains by this fund arrived in Salt Lake Valley on the 13th of
October, 1850.

During that fall the settlements of Springville, Payson, Lehi,
American Fork, Pleasant Grove and Alpine, in Utah Valley were
formed. In Davis County, besides Sessions' Settlement, Centerville,
Farmington and Kaysville now existed; while in Weber the
settlements of Lynne, Slaterville, North Ogden, Easton, Harrisville
and Mound Fort were either formed or forming. The city of Ogden
had been located that summer.

In December of this year George A. Smith raised a company of
over a hundred volunteers, accompanied by about thirty families,
and started southward to plant a colony in the valley of the Little
Salt Lake. This place had been visited by Parley P. Pratt about a
year before and reported by him as an eligible spot for the location
of a settlement. Smith's company was organized on Peteetneet
Creek, in Utah County. It consisted of twenty-five cavalry, thirty-
two infantry, and thirteen men with a cannon. There were others
who acted as a camp-guard. Arriving on the stream known as
Centre Creek, they located the town of Parowan, now in Iron County.
As usual with the Mormon colonists, — those who followed the advice
of their leaders, — they at once built a fort for protection against hostile
Indians. Walker, the Ute chief, was now in that neighborhood, and
he at once paid a visit to the Parowan settlers, accompanied by a
large band of warriors. " Their visit," says Apostle Smith,
"demonstrated that our policy of settling in a fort was the only safe
one. It was absolutely necessary for our preservation."

The early settlers of Utah, in the midst of their colonizing
labors, found time to establish schools and provide for the education
of their young. As early as October, 1847, three months after the
advent of the pioneers, a school was taught in the "Old Fort," by
Miss Mary, Jane Dilworth, aged seventeen. This young lady, who
was undoubtedly the pioneer school-teacher of Utah, afterwards
became the wife of Hon. F. A. Hammond, now President of the San
Juan Stake of Zion. She opened her little school to teach the

434 HISTORY OF UTAH.

children of the pioneers about the last of October, in a small round
tent on the west side of the south extension of the old stockade.
Pieces of logs were used for seats, and a small camp-table for a desk.
In January following, Julian Moses, as soon as he had finished his
little log house covered with willows and earth, began teaching a
school therein, having benches made of puncheons. Similar schools
sprang up in other settlements as fast as they were formed. Our
first Sabbath school, — the forerunner of the colossal Deseret Sunday
School Union of today — was opened in the Fourteenth Ward, Salt
Lake City, in December, 1849. Its founder was Richard Ballantyne,
now Superintendent of Sabbath Schools in the Weber Stake of Zion.
These were Utah's educational beginnings.

Two months later, on the 28th of February, 1850, the
Legislature chartered the University of the State of Deseret,
designating Great Salt Lake City as the location of the institution,
and vesting its control and conduct in a chancellor and a board of
twelve regents, to be elected annually by the joint vote of both
branches of the General Assembly. The first Chancellor of the
University was Orson Spencer. The original board of regents were :
Daniel Spencer, Orson Pratt. John M. Bernhisel, Samuel W.
Richards, William W. Phelps, Albert Carrington, William I. Appleby,
Daniel H. Wells, Robert L. Campbell, Hosea Stout, Elias Smith and
another whose name we have been unable to obtain. David Fullmer
was Treasurer, and James Lewis, Secretary. The chancellor, regents
and secretary, besides taking the usual oath of office, were each
required to give bonds in the sum of $10,000. The treasurer's bond
was $100,000. At the initial meeting of the board of regents, on
March 13th, 1850, three of its members were appointed a committee
to act with Governor Young in selecting a site for the University
building, as well as locations for primary school buildings. Section
11 of the original charter of the institution provided that $5,000 be
annually appropriated by the Legislature for the support of the
University. Another section made it the duty of the Chancellor and
board of regents, as soon as the financial condition of the institution

4/

4 :ji^-

HISTORY OF UTAH. 439

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 com-
bustible 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 other building
materials, and for the measurement of all kinds of mechanical 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. To 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 ordinances.

Sec 33. The City Council shall have exclusive power within the city by ordinance,
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 forfeitures, 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 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 of the corporation :
and when printed or published in book or pamphlel form, purporting to be printed or
published by the authority of the corporation, the same shall be receive.] in evidence in all
courts, or places, withoul further proof.

Sec. 37. The Mayor and Aldermen shall be conservators of the pence within the
limits of the city, and shall have all the powers of justices of the peace therein, both in
civil and criminal cases, arising under the laws iif the Stale. They shall, as justices of

the peace, within the limits of said city, perform Hie same duties, be governed by the

440 HISTORY OF UTAH.

same laws, give the same bonds and securities, as other justices of the peace, and be com-
missioned 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 process as may be
necessary to carry said ordinances, into execution and effect. Appeals 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 justices
of the peace ; provided the parties litigant shall have a right to a trial by jury of twelve
men, in all cases before the Municipal Court. The Municipal 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 governed by the same laws,
as are or may be prescribed for the direction and compensation 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 inspection 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 cause the same to be ascer-
tained by a jury of six disinterested men, who shall be inhabitants of the city.

Sec. 43. All jurors empanelled 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 and corruptly be guilty of oppression, mal conduct, or partiality, in
the discharge of the duties of his office, he shall be liable to indictment in the Probate
Court of Great Salt Lake County, and on conviction, he shall be liable to fine and im-
prisonment ; 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 punishment 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

HISTORY OF UTAH. 441

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 devoted 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 Jan. 9th, 1851.

Meantime, though the people of Deseret were yet unaware of it.
Congress had finally acted upon their petition for a civil government,
forwarded to Washington more than a year before. It had denied
their prayer for statehood, but had passed an act to organize out of
a portion of the provisional State of Deseret the Territory of Utah.

442 HISTORY OF UTAH.

CHAPTER XXIII.

1850-1852.

Utah territory created — brigham young governor — how the news reached deseret —

dissolution of the provisional government its acts recapitulated the first

utah census the first territorial election john m. bernhisel delegate to con-
gress arrival of the federal officials brandebury, rrocchus and harris a

discontented trio judge brocchus insults the mormon people at their confer-
ence brigham young's reply the three officials leave the territory- — gov-
ernor young's letter to president fillmore report of the ''runaway" judges

and secretary a case of moral and official hari-kari the grant letters

Utah's first legislative assembly — its initial acts — the first murder trial in

utah fillmore, millard county, the chosen capital of the territory box elder

and juab counties settled the san bernardino colony a territorial library

probate judges and their jurisdiction.

HE act of Congress creating the Territory of Utah was signed

by the President of the United States — Millard Fillmore — on

the 9th of September, 1850. The news of it, however, owing

to the great distance and the almost utter absence of mail facilities

between the frontier and the Great Basin, did not reach Deseret until

January, 1851.*

Before proceeding further, let us return to Delegate Babbitt
and his political errand to the nation's capital, upon which he set
out in the latter part of 1849. Arriving at Washington, Colonel
Babbitt sought the earliest opportunity to present to Congress the
public documents of which he was the bearer, as well as his own
credentials as delegate from the Provisional State of Deseret.

The memorial and the constitution with which he had been
entrusted were presented to the United States Senate by Hon.

* A rumor of the fact had preceded this as early as November, 1850, but had not
been deemed authentic.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 443

Stephen A. Douglas on the 27th of December, and a month later
were referred to the Committee on Territories. About the same time
an anti-Mormon or anti-Deseret memorial was presented to the same
body by Senator Joseph R. Underwood, of Kentucky. This mem-
orial, which was signed by William Smith, Isaac Sheen and twelve
others, represented that the persons named were the legitimate presi-
dents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It also
asserted that fifteen hundred Mormons, prior to the exodus from
Nauvoo, had sworn a secret oath of eternal hostility to the United
States government, and to avenge the blood of Joseph Smith upon
this nation. William Smith was the Prophet's brother, who, as seen,
had been severed from the Mormon Church at Nauvoo. The sending
of such a document to Congress at this particular time may reasona-
bly be regarded as an act of retaliation against the Church which
had excommunicated him.

To what extent Congress was influenced by the Smith-Sheen
memorial does not appear. It probably was not the sole nor even
the main reason why the House of Representatives declined, as it
did, to admit Delegate Babbitt to a seat in that body. The Committee
on Elections, in its report upon his petition asking to be admitted,
said :

'"The admission of Mr. Babbitt would be a quasi recognition of
the legal existence of the State of Deseret; and no act should be done
by this house, which, even by implication, may give force and vitality
to a political organization extra constitutional, and independent of the
laws of the United States.*' The committee therefore recommended
the adoption of a resolution stating that it was inexpedient to admit
Mr. Babbitt to a seat in the House as a delegate from " the alleged
State of Deseret." By a majority vote the resolution was passed and
Colonel Babbitt was accordingly denied admission.

The Senate, however, after a delay of nearly nine months, on
September 7th, 1850, passed a bill providing for the organization of
the Territory of Utah. Two days later the bill passed the House and
was approved by the President. It read as follows :

444 HISTORY OF UTAH.

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT FOR UTAH.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
Slates of America in Congress assembled : That all that part of the territory of the
United States included within the following limits, to wit: hounded on the west by the
State of California, on the north by the Territory of Oregon, and on the east by the sum-
mit of the Rocky Mountains, and on the south by the thirty-seventh parallel of north lati-
tude, be, and the same is hereby created into a temporary government by the name of the
Territory of Utah ; and, when admitted as a State, the said Territory, or any portion of
the same, shall be received into the Union, with or without slavery, as their Constitution
may prescribe at the time of their admission : Provided, That nothing in this act con-
tained shall be construed to inhibit the Government of the United States from dividing
said Territory into two or more Territories, in such manner and at such times as Congress
shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any portion of said Territory to any
other State or Territory of the United States.

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 shall reside within the said Terri-
tory, shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Militia thereof, shall perform the duties and
receive the emoluments of Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and shall approve all laws
passed by the Legislative Assembly before they shall take effect ; he may grant pardons for
offences against the laws of said Territory, and reprieves for offences against the laws of
the United States until the decision of the President can be made known thereon ; he
shall commission all officers who shall be appointed to office under the laws of the said
Territory, and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

Sec 3. And be it further enacted: That there shall be a Secretary of said Territory,
who shall reside therein, and hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed by the
President of the United States ; he shall record and preserve all the laws and proceedings
of the Legislative Assembly hereinafter constituted, and all the acts and proceedings of the
governor in his executive department; he shall transmit one copy of the laws and one copy
of the executive proceedings, on or before the first day of December in each year, to the
President of the United States, and at the same time two copies of the laws to the Speaker
of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate, for the use of Congress.
And in case of the death, removal, resignation, or other necessary absence of the governor
from the Territory, the secretary shall have, and he is hereby authorized and required to
execute and perform all the powers and duties of the governor during such vacancy or
necessary absence, or until another governor shall be duly appointed to fill such vacancy.

Sec 4. And be it further enacted : That the legislative power and authority of said
Territory shall be vested in the governor and a Legislative Assembly. The Legislative
Assembly shall consist of a Council and House of Representatives. The Council shall
consist of thirteen members, having the qualifications of voters as hereinafter prescribed,
whose term of service shall continue two years. The House of Representatives shall con-
sist of twenty-six members, possessing the same qualifications as prescribed for members
of the Council, and whose term of service shall continue one year. An apportionment

HISTORY OF UTAH. 445

shall be made, as nearly equal as practicable, among the several counties or districts, for
the election of the Council and House of Representatives, giving to each section of the
Territory representation in the ratio of its population, Indians excepted, as nearly as may
be. And the members of the Council and of the House of Representatives shall reside
in and be inhabitants of the district for which they may be elected respectively. Previous
to the first election, the governor shall cause a census or enumeration of the inhabitants
of the several counties and districts of the Territory to be taken, and the first election shall
be held at such time and place, and be conducted in such manner, as the governor shall
appoint and direct ; and he shall, at the same time, declare the number of members of
the Council and House of Representatives to which each of the counties or districts shall
be entitled under this act. The number of persons authorized to be elected having the
highest number of votes in each said Council districts, for members of the Council, shall
be declared by the governor to be duly elected to the Council ; and the person or persons
authorized to be elected having the highest number of votes for the House of Representa-
tives, equal to the number to which each county or district shall be entitled, shall be
declared by the governor to be duly elected members of the House of Representatives :
Provided, that in case of a tie between two or more persons voted for, the governor shall
order a new election to supply the vacancy made by such a tie. And the persons thus
elected to the Legislative Assembly shall meet at such place and on such day as the gov-
ernor shall appoint ; but thereafter, the time, place and manner of holding and conducting
all elections by the people, and the apportioning the representation in the several counties
or districts to the Council and House of Representatives, according to the population, shall
be prescribed by law, as well as the day of the commencement of the regular sessions of
the Legislative Assembly : Provided, that no one session shall exceed the tern! of forty
days.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted : That every free white male inhabitant above the
age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of said Territory at the time of
the passage of this act, shall be entitled to vote at the first election, and shall be eligible to
any office within the said Territory ; but the qualifications of voters and of holding office
at all subsequent elections shall be such as shall be prescribed by the Legislative Assembly:
Provided, that the right of suffrage and of holding office shall be exercised only by citi-
zens of the United States, including those recognized as citizens by the treaty with the
Republic of Mexico, concluded February second, eighteen hundred and forty-eight.

Sec. (3. And lie it further enacted : That the legislative power of said Territory shall
extend to all rightful subjects of legislation, consistent with the Constitution of (lie United
States and the provisions of this act ; but no law shall be passed interfering with tin' pri-
mary disposal of the soil ; no tax shall be imposed upon the property of the United States;
nor shall the lands or other property of non-residents be taxed higher than the lands or
other property of residents. All the laws passed by the Legislative Assembly and governor
shall be submitted to the Congress of the United States, and if disapproved shall be null
and of no effect,

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted : That all township, district, 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 by the governor and Legislative Issembly of thfi Terri-

446 HISTORY OF UTAH.

tory of Utah. The governor shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and .consent of
the Legislative Council, appoint all officers not herein otherwise provided for ; and in the
first instance the governor alone may appoint all said officers, who shall hold their offices
until the end of the first session of the Legislative Assembly, and shall lay off the neces-
sary districts for members of the Council and House of Representatives, and all other
offices.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted ; That no member of the Legislative Assembly
shall hold or be appointed to any office which shall have been created, or the salary or
emoluments of which shall have been increased while he was a member, during the term
for which he was elected, and for one year after the expiration of such term ; and no
person holding a commission or appointment under the United States, except postmasters,
shall be a member of the Legislative Assembly, or shall hold any office under the govern-
ment of said Territory.

Sec. 9. And be it further enacted : That the judicial power of said Territory shall
be vested in a Supreme Court, District Courts, Probate Courts, and in Justices of the
Peace. The supreme court shall consist of a Chief Judge and two Associate Justices, any
two of whom shall constitute a quorum, and who shall hold a term at the seat of govern-
ment of said Territory annually, and they shall hold their offices during the period of four
years. The said Territory shall be divided into three judicial districts, and a district court
shall be held in each of said districts by one of the justices of the supreme court, at such
time and place as may be prescribed by law ; and the judges shall, after their appoint-
ments, respectively reside in the districts which shall be assigned them. The jurisdiction
of the several courts herein provided for, both appellate and original, and that of the pro-
bate coirVts, and of justices of the peace, shall be as limited by law : Provided, that jus-
tices of the peace shall not have jurisdiction of any matter in controversy when the titles
or boundaries of land may be in dispute, or where the debt or sum claimed shall exceed
one hundred dollars ; and the said supreme and district courts respectively shall possess
chancery as well as common law jurisdiction. Each district court, or the judge thereof,
shall appoint its clei'k, who shall also be the registrar in chancery, and shall keep his office
at the place where the court may be held. Writs of error, bills of exception, and appeals
shall be allowed in all cases from the final decisions of said district courts to the supreme
court, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law ; but in no case removed to the
supreme court shall trial by jury be allowed in said court. The supreme court, or the
justices thereof, shall appoint its own clerk, and every clerk shall hold his office at the
pleasure of the court for which he shall have been appointed. Writs of error and appeals
from the final decision of said supreme court shall be allowed, and may be taken to the
Supreme Court of the United States, in the same manner and under the same regulations
as from the circuit courts of the United States, where the value of the property or the
amount in controversy, to be ascertained by the oath or affirmation of either party, or
other competent witness, shall exceed one thousand dollars, except only, that in all cases
involving title to slaves, the said writs of error or appeals shall be allowed and decided by
the said supreme court, without regard to the value of the matter, property, or title in
controversy ; and except, also, that a writ of error or appeal, shall also be allowed to the
Supreme Court of the United States, from the decisions of the said supreme court created

HISTORY OF UTAH. 447

by this act, or of any judge thereof, upon any writ of habeas corpus involving the question
of personal freedom ; and each of the said district courts shall have and exercise the same
jurisdiction in all cases arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States as is
vested in the circuit and district courts of the United States ; and the said supreme and
district courts of the said Territory, and the respective judges thereof, shall and may grant
writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the same are granted by the judges of the
United States in the District of Columbia ; and the first six days of every term of said
courts, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, shall be appropriated to the trial of
causes arising under the said Constitution and laws ; and writs of error and appeal, in all
such cases, shall be made to the supreme court of said Territory, the same as in other
cases. The said clerk shall receive in all such cases the same fees which the clerks of the
district courts of Oregon Territory now receive for similar services.

Sec 10. And be it further enacted : That there shall be appointed an Attorney for
said Territory, who shall continue in office for four years, unless sooner removed by the
President, and who shall receive the same fees and salary as the attorney of the United
States for the present Territory of Oregon. There shall also be a Marshal for the Terri-
tory appointed, who shall hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed by the Pres-
ident, and who shall execute all processes issuing from the said courts when exercising
their jurisdiction as circuit and district courts of the United States ; he shall perform the
duties, be subject to the same regulations and penalties, and be entitled to the same fees as
the marshal of the district court of the United States for the present Territory of Oregon,
and shall, in addition, be paid two hundred dollars annually as a compensation for extra
services.

Sec. 11. And be it further enacted : That the governor, secretary, chief justice and
associate justices, attorney, and marshal, shall be nominated, and, by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate, appointed by the President of the United States. The governor
and secretary to be appointed as aforesaid shall, before they act as such, respectively take
an oath or affirmation before the district judge, or some justice of the peace in the limits
of said Territory, duly authorized to administer oaths and affirmations by the laws now in
force therein, or before the Chief Justice or some Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
of the United States, to support the Constitution of the United States, and faithfully to
discharge the duties of their respective offices ; which said oaths, when so taken, shall be
certified by the person by whom the same shall have been taken, and such certificates shall
be received and recorded by the said secretary among the executive proceedings ; and the
chief justice and associate justices, and all other civil officers in said Territory, before they
act as such, shall take a like oath or affirmation before the said governor or secretary, or
some judge or justice of the peace of the Territory who may be duly commissioned or
qualified, which said oath or affirmation shall be certified and transmitted by the person
taking the same to the secretary, to be by him recorded as aforesaid ; and afterwards, the
like oath or affirmation shall be taken, certified and recorded in such manner and form as

may be prescribed by law. The governor shall receive an annual salary of fifteen h Ired

dollars as governor, and one thousand dollars as superintendent of Indian affairs. The
chief justice and associate justices shall each receive an annual salary .if eighteen hundred
dollars. The secretary shall receive an annual salary of eighteen hundred dollars. The

448 HISTORY OF UTAH.

said salaries shall be paid quarter-yearly, at the Treasury of the United States. The
members of the Legislative Assembly shall be entitled to receive three dollars each per
day during their attendance at the sessions thereof, and three dollars each for twenty
miles' travel, in going to and returning from the said sessions, estimated according to the
nearest usually traveled route. There shall be appropriated annually the sum of one
thousand dollars, to be expended by the governor to defray the contingent expenses of the
Territory. There shall also be appropriated annually a sufficient sum to be expended by
the secretary of the Territory, and upon an estimate to be made by the Secretary of the
Treasury of the United States, to defray the expenses of the Legislative Assembly, the
printing of the laws, and other incidental expenses ; and the secretary of the Territory
shall annually account to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States for the man-
ner in which the aforesaid sum shall have been expended.

Sec. 12. And be it further enacted : That the Legislative Assembly of the Territory
of Utah shall hold its first session at such time and place in said Territory as the governor
thereof shall appoint and direct ; and at said first session, or as soon thereafter as they
shall deem expedient, the governor and Legislative Assembly shall proceed to locate and
establish the seat of government for said Territory, at such place as they may deem eligi-
ble ; which place, however, shall thereafter be subject to be changed by the said governor
and Legislative Assembly. And the sum of twenty thousand dollars, out of any money
in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, is hereby appropriated and granted to said
Territory of Utah to be applied by the governor and Legislative Assembly to the erection of
suitable public buildings at the seat of government.

Sec. 13. And be it further enacted : That a Delegate to the House of Representa-
tives of the United States to serve during each Congress of the United States, may be
elected by the voters qualified to elect members of the Legislative Assembly, who shall be
entitled to the same rights and privileges as are exercised and enjoyed by the delegates
from the several other Territories of the United States to the said House of Representa-
tives. The first election shall be held at such time and place, and be conducted in such
manner as the governor shall appoint and direct ; and at all subsequent elections, the times,
places, and manner of holding the elections shall be prescribed by law. The person hav-
ing the greatest number of votes shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected, and
a certificate thereof shall be given accordingly : Provided, That said delegate shall receive
no higher sum for mileage than is allowed by law to the delegate from Oregon.

Sec. 14. And be it further enacted : That the sum of five thousand dollars be, and
the same is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appro-
priated, to be expended by and under the direction of the said governor of the Territory
of Utah, in the purchase of a library, to be kept at the seat of government for the use of
the governor, Legislative Assembly, judges of the supreme court, secretary, marshal and
attorney of said Territory, and guch other persons and under such regulations as shall be
prescribed by law.

Sec 15. And be it further enacted : That when the lands in said Territory shall be
surveyed under the direction of the Government of the United States, preparatory to
bringing the same into market, sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in each township
in said Territory shall be, and the same are hereby reserved for the purpose of being

HISTORY OF UTAH. 449

applied to schools in said Territory, and in the States and Territories hereafter to he
erected out of the same.

Sec. 16. And be it further enacted : That temporarily, and until otherwise provided
by law, the governor of said Territory may define the judicial districts of said Territory,
and assign the judges who may be appointed for said Territory to the several districts, and
also appoint the times and places for holding courts in the several counties or subdivisions
in each of said judicial districts, by proclamation to be issued by him ; but the Legislative
Assembly, at \heir first or any subsequent session, may organize, alter or modify such
judicial districts, and assign the judges, and alter the times and places of holding the
courts, as to them shall seem proper and convenient.

Sec. 17. And be it further enacted : That the Constitution and laws of the United
States are hereby extended over and declared to be in force in said Territory of Utah, so
far as the same, or any provision thereof, may be applicable.

Approved September 9, 1850.

In explanation of the reference to slavery in the opening section
of the Organic Act, the reader is reminded that during the period
which witnessed its passage the great question of slavery, — for
which in part the war with Mexico had heen undertaken and the
provinces of California and New Mexico acquired, — was the reigning
one in the halls of Congress. The people of California, in September,
1849, following the example of their trans-Sierran neighbors, had
framed a state constitution and applied for admission into the Union.
The constitution of California excluded slavery, but in that of
Deseret the question was left open. During the debates in Congress
over these applications for statehood, excitement ran high. The
Union itself seemed imperilled; the pro-slavery party threatening
that if California were admitted free, the south would secede. Just
at this juncture Henry. Clay's celebrated "Omnibus Bill" was
introduced as a measure of compromise. It proposed the admission
of California as a free state, and the abolition of slavery in the
District of Columbia. So much it gave the north. To the south it
conceded the enactment of a stringent fugitive slave law, and the
organization of Utah and New Mexico as territories, with the tacit
understanding that they would eventually be admitted as slave
states. The bill, becoming law, satisfied, or seemed to satisfy, for a
time, both parties.

Btit only for a time. Ten years later the inevitable conflict

450 HISTORY OF UTAH.

came. It was written in the great book of destiny that slavery must
perish ; that Utah, no less than California, should be free. Utah's
freedom has long been deferred, but it is none the less inevitable; as
inevitable as was the death of slavery, as is the abolition, in this free
land, of Territorial serfdom, and the full triumph of the patriotic
prediction: "All men are equal."

The Organic Act of Utah materially reduced the size of the
Territory from the original scope of the State of Deseret. We were
now bounded on the north, — as before, — by Oregon, which then
included Idaho; on the east by the Rocky Mountains, and on the
west by California. But on the south the thirty-seventh parallel shut
us in, the portion of Deseret lying south of that line of latitude being
given to California and New Mexico, the latter including Arizona.

The most serious loss sustained by the settlers of the Great
Basin through this change in boundary lines, was that of the strip
of sea-coast lying between Lower California and 118° 30v of west
longitude. This took in the port of San Diego, and would have
given the people of Utah open communication with the Pacific;
thereby greatly facilitating their commerce and immigration. They
were now hemmed in between two great mountainous walls — the
Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas — in that portion of the desert
basin which, as Senator Seddon of Virginia remarked, during the
Congressional debates mentioned, "had been abandoned to the
Mormons for its worthlessness."

Though somewhat chagrined at this event, and by what they
deemed the partiality of Congress toward the people of California,
the inhabitants of Deseret were still grateful for even a Territorial
government, especially as President Fillmore, in appointing the
Federal officers of the new dependency, did not forget the right to
recognition of the founders of the commonwealth,^ but selected
four of the seven officials from among the Mormon people. This
act of courtesy, and it may be added of justice and wisdom, was
very much appreciated, and won for the President the sincere and
lasting gratitude of the citizens of Utah. It was for this that they

HISTORY OF UTAH. 451

gave his name to Fillmore, the first capital of the Territory, and his
surname, Millard, to the county in which that town is situated.

The President's appointments for Utah were made in September,
the same month that witnessed the passage of the Organic Act.
They were as follows: Brigham Young, Governor; B. D. Harris,
Secretary; Joseph Buffington, Chief Justice; Perry C. Brocchus and
Zerubbabel Snow, Associate Justices; Seth M. Blair. United States
Attorney, and Joseph L. Heywood, United States Marshal.

Of these officials, Brigham Young, Seth M. Blair and Joseph L.
Heywood — Mormons — were residents of Deseret. Judge Snow, also
a Mormon, was a resident of Ohio, but was about to make Utah his
permanent home. He was a brother to Erastus Snow, the
Apostle. Secretary Harris was from Vermont, Judge Buffington of
Pennsylvania, and Judge Brocchus of Alabama. Buffington
declining his appointment, the President named in his stead
Lemuel G. Brandebury, of Pennsylvania, as chief justice of Utah.
These nominations were duly confirmed by the Senate of the
United States.

Here is a copy of Governor Young's official appointment: .

Millard Fillmore, President of the United States of America, to all who shall see
these Presents, Greeting:

Know Ye, That reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity and ability of
Brigham Young of Utah, I have nominated and by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, do appoint him, to be Governor of the Territory of Utah, and do authorize and
empower him to execute and fulfill the duties of that office according to law. And to
have and to hold the said office with all the powers, privileges, and emoluments thereunto
of right appertaining, unto him, (lie said Brigham Young, for the term of four years from
the day of the date hereof, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States
for the time being.

In testimony whereof. I have caused these letters to be made patent and the seal
of the United States to be hereunto affixed.
. — "— > Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, the twenty-

\ seal [ eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand

' ^~r i eight hundred and fifty, and of the Independence of the United

States of America, the seventy-fifth.

By the President. Millard Fillmore.
Dan'l Webster,

Secretary of State.

452 HISTORY OF UTAH.

As stated, the news of the creation of Utah Territory did not
reach Deseret until January, 1851. Even then it did not come
directly, or officially, but having been published in eastern
newspapers and carried in the mails to California, along with the
announcement of the admission of that state into the Union, it
came to the ears of certain Mormons who were then west of the
Sierras, and they brought the glad tidings to the shores of the Great
Salt Lake. The first to reach Salt Lake City with the news was
Henry E. Gibson, one of the party of Elders who, under Apostle
Charles C. Rich, went to California in the fall of 1849. Mr. Gibson,
who is now a resident of Ogden, in a courteous reply to a letter of
encpiiry addressed to him by the author, says :

"In company with C. C. Rich, George Q. Cannon and otbers,
in all twenty-five men, I left Salt Lake City October 12th, 1849, by
way of a southern route — which had not yet been located — for
Sacramento. On my return from California, in the fall of 1850, in
company with Captain Jefferson Hunt, Marsh Hunt, Mr. Fifield
and son, John Berry, James Brooks and John Mackey, we laid over
for one month to recruit, our animals in the vicinity of Los Angeles.
While there I obtained New York papers — I think the Tribune —
which came by the Panama route and contained the information
that Utah Territory had been organized, and Brigham Young
appointed Governor. We left Los Angeles about the 20th of
December and I arrived in Salt Lake City on the 27th of January,
1851. My traveling companions had all stopped in the settlements
south of Salt Lake, I think, all except John Mackey. The same day
of my arrival Thomas Bullock, a clerk of Brigham Young's, called
on me at Horace Gibbs' residence in the Seventeenth Ward, and I
gave him the newspapers containing the account of the appointment
of Governor Young and the organization of the Territory, with the
understanding that it was to be published in the Deseret News."

President Young, at the time of Mr. Gibson's arrival, was absent
from the city. In company with Heber C. Kimball, Jedediah M.
Grant, Amasa M. Lyman and others he had started ten days before

1 did not 1

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X^^y. S^-

HISTORY OF UTAH. 455

Among the more notable acts of the General Assembly under
the old regime were the following:

An ordinance incorporating the University of the State of
Deseret. Approved February 28th, 1850.

An ordinance prohibiting the sale of arms, ammunition, or
spirituous liquors to the Indians. Approved March 28th, 1850.

An ordinance to control the waters of the Twin Springs and
Rock Springs in Tooele Valley and County, for mills and irrigating
purposes. Approved December 9th, 1850. This grant was to Ezra
T. Benson, who, by his employes— herdsmen and mill-builders — had
pioneered Tooele Valley the year before.

An ordinance concerning City Creek and Canyon. This ordinance
was worded thus: "Be it ordained by the General Assembly of the
State of Deseret: That Brigham Young have the sole control of City
Creek and Kanyon; and that he pay into the public treasury the
sum of five hundred dollars therefor." Approved December 9th, 1850.

An ordinance granting the waters of North Mill Creek Canyon
and the water of the next canyon north, to Heber C. Kimball.
Approved January 9th, 1851. This appropriation of waters was for
running "a saw mill, grist mill and other machinery." It was
provided that the grant should not interfere with the use of said
water for irrigation whenever and wherever necessary.

An ordinance in relation to the timber in the mountains west of
Jordan. Approved January 9th, 1851. The grantee in this case was
George A. Smith.

An ordinance in relation to the timber in the canyons and
mountains between Salt Lake Valley and Tooele. This grant,
approved January 9th, 1851, was to Ezra T. Benson.

An ordinance pertaining to North Cottonwood Canyon. Approved
January 18th, 1851. The control of said canyon was given to
Willard Bichards.*

* These grants, it should he understood, were not permanent, but temporary. Hon.
George Q. Cannon, on retiring from Congress alter the passage of the Edmunds haw in
1882, says upon this subject : " At no time and under no circumstances was any action of

456 HISTORY OF UTAH.

An ordinance to incorporate Great Salt Lake City. Approved
January 9th, 1851.

An ordinance to incorporate Ogden City. Approved February
6, 1851.

An ordinance to incorporate the City of Manti. Approved
February 6, 1851.

An ordinance to incorporate Provo City. Approved February 6,
1851.

An ordinance to incorporate Parowan City. Approved February
6, 1851.

An ordinance to incorporate the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. Approved February 8th, 1851.

An ordinance regulating the manufacturing and vending of
ardent spirits. Approved February 12, 1851. By this act the
establishment of distilleries and the vending of ardent spirits were
prohibited, except at such time in the future as the Governor might
deem it expedient to grant a license for such purposes under proper
restrictions.

A resolution concerning the Washington Monument. Approved
February 12, 1851. Therein the Governor was authorized and
requested to procure a block of marble from the best specimens of
stone to be found in the State, for a contribution to the Washington
Monument, then in course of erection at the nation's capital. The
stone was to be suitably sculptured at the State's expense and

this kind taken with a view to bestow the ownership or title upon any person who might
occupy the land, or to whom any grant might be given. But our canyon roads had to be
made, and it required some action on the part of the Legislature to induce men to build
costly roads into our mountains, and to build bridges over our canyon streams. I have
known canyon roads there costing over $12,000 to be swept away in a single storm.
Grants of this kind were given in the early days of this Territory for such purposes, and
also for herd grounds and other purposes that local rights might be preserved. * *

We lived in Utah Territory twenty years before the land laws were extended over us ; we
had to do the best we could. As soon as these laws were extended over our Territory we
then obtained title to our lands."

HISTORY OF UTAH.

457

forwarded to the Washington Monument Committee as soon as
practicable.*

The Provisional Government being dissolved, Governor Young,
on the 1st of July, 1851, issued a proclamation calling for the
election of the Territorial Legislature. The choosing of a delegate
to Congress was set to take place simultaneously. An enumera-
tion of the inhabitants of the Territory had previously been made,
at the Governor's order, by Thomas Bullock and his assistants.
This enumeration, which excluded Indians, but included twelve
colored free males and an equal number of colored free females, who
were passing through the Territory at the time, was tabulated as
follows :

RETURN OF THE NUMBER OF INHABITANTS IN UTAH TERRITORY ON
1st APRIL, 1851.

RECAPITULATION.

MALES.

FEMALES.

TOTAL.

1st. Great Salt Lake County

3119

3036

6155

2nd. Davis County

596

532

1128

3rd. Weber County

691

452

1143

4th. Utah County

1125

880

2005

5th. Sanpete County

197

168

365

6th. Iron County

191

169

360

7th. Tooele County

85

67

152

8th. Green River Precinct

22

24

46

6026 5328 11354

Great Salt Lake City,
Utah Territory,

June 26, 1851.

* Among other enactments of the Provisional Government in 1850-51, were the
following : " To encourage the establishment of stage lines," " Granting Little Cottonwood
Canyon to Benjamin L. Clapp and Charles Down," " In relation to County Courts," "For
establishing Probate Courts and defining the duties thereof," " A criminal code," " In
relation to the militia of the State of Deseret," " Authorizing the judges of the several
counties of the State to grant mill and other water privileges, and to control the timber in
their respective counties," " Granting block No. 102 (Union Square) in Great Salt Lake
City, to the State of Deseret, for the purpose of erecting a state house upon it," " In
reference to gambling."

30-VOL. 1 .

458 HISTORY OF UTAH.

This of course was not a complete census, but merely an
enumeration of inhabitants. Fuller returns were not made owing to
the lack of regular census blanks, which had not arrived from
Washington.*

Upon the basis of this enumeration the Governor on June 30th
made the following apportionment for the Council and House of
Representatives of the Legislative Assembly:

Salt Lake County

Utah

Weber „

6
2
2

Councilors and

13
3
3

Representatives

Davis „

1

„

3

„

Iron „

1

„

2

„

Sanpete „
Tooele

1

"

1

1

»

13 26

He then directed that the election be held on the first Monday
of the following August.f

On that day — August 4th — Dr. John M. Bernhisel was unani-
mously elected Utah's delegate to Congress, being the first person
privileged to represent this Territory in the legislative councils of the
nation. Dr. Bernhisel was a native of Sandy Hill, Pennsylvania,
and was now in his fifty-third year. He was a gentleman of culture,
and traditionally a Whig in politics. At this time, however, he
represented no political party. The returns from the various
precincts showed the number of votes polled at this election to be
1259. The names of those comprising the first Legislative Assembly
of the Territory — all of whom, save one, were unanimously elected —
will be given later.

July 4th — Independence Day — was commemorated in 1851 by

* Returns obtained later showed, in addition to the above, the following : No. dwell-
ings, 2,322 ; No. families, 2,322 ; No. farms, 926 ; No. deaths during 1849-50, 239.

f This was in accordance with a law regulating elections, enacted by the Ceneral
Assembly of Deseret, Nov. 12, 1849.

k

J^Ux- ^EL^-^

HISTORY OF UTAH. 461

permanently in the Territory, could be persuaded to accept such an
office. There were those who thought that this was Judge
Buffington's reason for declining the appointment which Judge
Brandebury subsequently accepted. Be this as it may, it was not
long after the arrival of Judge Brocchus, — who seemed to possess
great influence over the Chief Justice and Secretary, — that all three
began to show signs of discontent, complaining among other things
of the smallness of their salaries, which had been fixed by Congress
in the organic act.

But the disappointment of Judge Brocchus, who was supposed
to be the author of most of the discontent, was believed to be in the
fact that he had aspired to be Utah's delegate to Congress, and had
been much chagrined at learning, just before reaching Salt Lake City,
that the election for delegate had taken place, and the honor he
coveted had been bestowed upon another. Brocchus is said to have
remarked at Kanesville, before starting across the plains, that his
only purpose in going to Utah was to run for Congress. He hinted to
the Mormons whom he met there, and with whom he traveled west,
that certain dangers impended over them at Washington, and that
he was anxious to be a political savior to their people. It is stated
that in his electioneering he even went so far as to threaten that if
the people of Utah did not send him to Congress he would use all
his influence at the capital against them. Thus he went on until
met by the intelligence that so saddened him, — the news of Dr.
Bernhisel's election.

Certain it is that within a very short time after his arrival in
Utah, and before even visiting the district to which he had been
assigned by the Governor, Judge Brocchus announced his intention
of returning east. He succeeded in planting the same desire in the
breasts of the Chief Justice and Secretary. As stated, one com-
plaint made by the trio was of the smallness of their salaries.
An effort was made by prominent Mormons to have this cause of
discontent removed. A petition to Congress having been prepared,
asking .that the salaries of the three judges be increased, down went

462 HISTORY OF UTAH.

the name of Brigham Young, heading the list of its signers. This
petition was sent east early in September, Delegate Bernhisel
conveying it to Washington.

Still the three officials were not satisfied ; at least Brocchus was
not, for he soon afterward called upon Governor Young, and
reminding him that he was about to leave the Territory, requested the
privilege of addressing a large audience of the people in relation to
the Washington Monument fund, whose interests he claimed to
represent. The Mormon President cheerfully acquiesced. Said he
to the Judge: "I will invite you to speak at our approaching
conference. It is a religious meeting, I suppose you are aware; but
I wish well to your cause." The matter was thus arranged that
Judge Brocchus should be one of the speakers at the semi-annual
conference of the Mormon Church, there to present to the people the
subject of the Washington Monument, which had already received
some attention from the Provisional Government of Deseret.

The fall conference convened that year early in September, the
meetings being held, as usual, in the "Old Bowery." On the stand,
besides the First Presidency, the Apostles and other Church digni-
taries, were Judge Brocchus, Chief Justice Brandebury, and Secretary
Harris, who had been invited to occupy seats of honor on the
occasion.

Judge Brocchus being, as he himself admitted, " respectfully and
honorably introduced" by President Young, arose and addressed the
large assembly. His discourse, which was a rambling dissertation
on a variety of topics, occupied, according to his own statement, over
two hours. He began by expressing his sorrow for the past sufferings
of the Mormon people, and referred tearfully to his kind reception
and treatment by the citizens of Utah. He then enlarged upon
himself, remarking that certain calumnies had pursued him from the
east, but that the proof of his virtue lay in the fact that so virtuous
a man as President Fillmore had appointed him to office. Next he
indulged in a eulogy of George Washington and other Revolutionary
heroes, and of Zachary Taylor, whom he regarded as " a second

HISTORY OF UTAH. 463

Washington," and a greater man than Andrew Jackson. He then
referred to Brigham Young, and changing his tone, began a covert
attack upon the Mormon leader and the power and influence that the
people permitted him to wield. He advocated party divisions, and
pleaded with the ladies — "the sweet ladies" — of the congregation to
transfer their smiles from such men as Brigham Young to men like
George Washington and Zachary Taylor — men who could "handle
the sword."

By this time the patience of his audience, unused to such
pointless drivel, was pretty well exhausted, and the orator, continuing
in the same strain, was finally groaned. This incensed him, and he
forthwith began assailing the congregation and the people generally.
He accused them of a want of patriotism, and of prejudice against
the Constitution and the laws, referring now to some remarks by
General Wells on the 24th of July — a report of which he had
obtained — in which the General had criticised the past course of the
Federal Government toward the Mormons.* He then quoted a
remark of Governor Young's on Zachary Taylor, in which the
former had expressed the opinion that Brocchus' patron saint and
ideal hero was in Hades, and put this down also to the score of

* The following is a selection from the speech of General Wells, referred to by Judge
Brocchus: "It has been thought by some that this people, abused, maltreated insulted,
robbed, plundered, murdered, and finally disfranchised and expatriated, would naturally
feel reluctant to again unite their destiny with the American republic." * * *
"No wonder that it was thought by some that we would not again submit ourselves (even
while we were yet scorned and ridiculed) to return to our allegiance to our native country.
Remember, that it was by the act of our country, not ours, that we were expatriated ; and
then consideF the opportunity we had of forming other ties. Let this pass, while we lift
the veil and show the policy which dictated us. That country, that constitution, those
institutions, were all ours ; they are still ours. Our fathers were heroes of the Revolution.
Under the masterspirits of an Adams, a Jefferson, and a Washington, they declared and
maintained their independence ; and, under the guidance of the Spirit of truth, they
fulfilled their mission whereunto they were sent from the presence of the Father. Because
demagogues have arisen and seized the reins of power, should we relinquish our interest
in that country made dear to us by every tie of association and consanguinity." * *
"Those who have indulged such sentiments concerning us, have not read Mormonism
aright ; for never, no never, will we desert our country's cause ; never will we be found

464 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Mormon disloyalty.* He then intimated that it was his purpose, on
reaching Washington, to use his influence against Governor Young
and effect his removal from office.

At this point the ladies in the congregation began to hiss the
speaker. Still continuing, he now touched for the first time the
subject upon which he had requested permission to speak. Address-
ing the ladies he said : "This reminds me that I have a commission
from the Washington Monument Association to ask of you a block of
marble as the test of your loyalty to the government of the United
States. But in order for you to do it acceptably, you must become
virtuous, and teach your daughters to become virtuous, or your
offering had better remain in the bosom of your native mountains."

The speaker's voice was here drowned in a spontaneous outburst
of public indignation. The meeting arose en masse, and the orator,
unable to make himself heard above the din which his gross insult
had created, now took his seat. It was thought that Brandebury or
Harris would reply to Judge Brocchus and apologize for his conduct,
but as they remained silent, and were apparently in full sympathy
with what he had said, President Young, in response to a general call
from the congregation, arose and answered. The gist of the
President's reply to Brocchus, as remembered and reproduced by

arrayed by the side of her enemies, although she herself may cherish them in her own
bosom. Although she may launch forth the thunderbolts of war, which may return and
spend their fury upon her own head, never, no never, will we permit the weakness of
human nature to triumph over our love of country, our devotion to her institutions,
handed down to us by our honored sires, made dear by a thousand tender recollections."
Captain Stansbury, on Mormon loyalty, says: '-Whether in the pulpit, in public
addresses, in official documents, or in private intercourse, the same spirit of lofty patriotism
seemed to pervade the whole community. At the same time, it should not be concealed
that a stern determination exists among- them to submit to no repetition of the outrages to
which they were subjected in Illinois and Missouri." — Stansbury' s Expedition, page 14fi.

* Evidently it was treasonable, according to Judge Brocchus, to have any but a good
opinion of General Taylor, whom he so admired. Daniel Webster was " treasonable"
enough to style the hero of the Mexican War " an ignorant frontier colonel," and there
were many other Americans, besides Daniel Webster and Brigham Young, who failed to
see eye to eye with Judge Brocchus regarding his " second Washington."

HISTORY OF UTAH. 465

Jedediah M. Grant, in his pungent letters to the public a few months
later, was as follows :

But for this man's personalities, I would be ashamed not to leave him to lie answered
by some of our small spouters — sticks of his own timber. Such an orator, 1 should
suppose, might be made by down -east patent, with Comstock's phonetics and elocution
primers ; but, I ask you all, have we ever before listened to such trash and nonsense from
this stand ? "Are you a judge," he said, turning to him, "and can't even talk like a
lawyer, or a politician, and haven't read an American school history ? Be ashamed, you
illiterate ranter," said he, " not to know your Washington better than to praise him for
being a mere brutal warrior. George Washington was called first in war ; but he was first
in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. He had a big head and a great heart.
Of course he could fight. But, Lord ! what man can't. What man here will dare to say,
with women standing by, that he is a bit more a coward than Washington was ? Handle
the sword ! I can handle a sword as well as George Washington. I'd be ashamed to say
I couldn't. But you, standing there, white and shaking now, at the hornet's nest you
have stirred up yourself — you are a coward, and that is why you have cause to praise men
that are not, and why you praise Zachary Taylor. President Taylor you can't praise —
you find nothing in him. Old General Taylor ! what was he ? A mere soldier, with
regular army buttons on ; no better to go at the head of brave troops than a dozen I could
pick up between Leavenworth and Laramie. And, for one, I'll not have Washington
insulted by having him compared to Taylor, for a single breath of speech. No, nor what
is more, President and General Andrew Jackson crowed down and forgotten, while I am
with this people — even if I did not know that one is in one place (of punishment) and the
other in another (of reward). What you have not been afraid to intimate about our
morals, I will not stoop to notice, except to make my particular personal request of every
brother and husband present, not to give your back what such impudence deserves. You
talk of things ' you have on hearsay,' since your coming among us. I'll talk of hearsay,
then — the hearsay that you are discontented, and will go home, because we cannot make
it worth your while to stay. What it would satisfy you to get out of us I think it would be
hard to tell ; but I am sure it is more than you'll get. If you or anyone else is such a
baby-calf, we must sugar your soap to coax you to wash yourself of Saturday nights. Go
home to mammy, straightway, and the sooner the better !

Then ensued the following correspondence between Governor
Young and Judge Brocchus :

B. YOUNG TO P. E. BBOCCHUS.

Great Salt Lake City, Sept. 19, 1851.

Dear Sir : Ever wishing to promote the peace, love and harmony of the people, and

to cultivate the spirit of 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 Sunday morning next, at 10 a.m., and address the same people that you addressed on

466 HISTORY OF UTAH.

the 8th inst., at our General Conference ; 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 satisfaction for
my observations which you as a gentleman can claim or desire at my hands.

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

Brigham Young.
Hon. P. E. Brocchus, Ass'te. 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, 1851.

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 tomorrow morning.

If, at the proper time, the privilege of explaining had been allowed me, I should,
promptly and gladly, have relieved myself from any erroneons 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 maddened impulse,
as seems to have been a general impression. I intended to say what I did say ; but, in so
doing, I did not design to offer indignity and insult to my audience.

My sole design, in the branch of my remarks which seems to be the source of
offense, was to vindicate the Government of the United States from those feelings of prej-
udice 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 citi-
zen, 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 dis-
charge with the fidelity that belongs 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 intention 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 respectful attention on the
occasion.

In conclusion, I will remark that, at the time of the delivery of my speech, I did

HISTORY OF UTAH. 467

not conceive that it contained anything deserving the censure of a just-minded person. My
subsequent reflections have fully confirmed me in that impression.

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

Perry Brocchus.
To his Excellency Brigham Young.

Two more letters were written by the Governor to the Judge,
who did not reply in writing to either. A few excerpts from these
will suffice :

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 statements 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 anyone (of which there
were many present wishing the opportunity) and everyone from accepting your challenge,
and thereby bringing down upon your head the indignation of an outraged people, in the
midst of a conference convened for religious 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 cannot be controlled.
*********

Charity would have induced me to 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, not 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
wilfully 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, willing, 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 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 inMuenrc against
them, and will crush them. I have the influence and the power to do it, and 1 will accom-
plish it if they do not make me their delegate."

468 HISTORY OF UTAH.

One item more from your note reads thus : " My sole design in the branch of my
remarks which seems to be the source of my offense, 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, etc." 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 general gov-
ernment, or that they harbored 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 ignorance 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 enlightened 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 refined 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 represented.
" prejudice and defection" towards a constitution which 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 community, 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 apology ? I wonder not that
you should excuse yourself from the attempt, "or decline appearing again in public on the
subject."

Another important item in the course of your remarks, on the 8th instant, in connec-
tion with the expose of your own exalted virtue — you expressed a hope that the ladies you
were addressing would "become virtuous." Let me ask you, most sincerely, 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 from your eves 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

HISTORY OF UTAH. 469

faint hope of their reformation. But, if you had not proved them unvirtuous, what testi-
mony had you of their lack of virtue '? And if they were unvirtuous, how could they
" become virtuous ?" Sir, your hope was of the most damning dye, and your very
expression tended to convey the assertion that those ladies you then and there addressed
were prostitutes — unvirtuous — to that extent you could only hope, but the probability 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 mid outrage on the feelings 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 remain silent. Shall such insults remain unrequited, unatoned for ?

Brocchus, though he did not answer these final letters, admitted
that it was because he could not successfully do so, and personally
requested Governor Young to apologise for him to the people.

He still adhered, however, to his intention of leaving the Terri-
tory, an intention now shared by his colleagues, the Chief Justice
and Secretary. Accordingly, toward the last of September they set
out for Washington. Mr. Day, one of the Indian sub-agents, went
also.

Their departure did not cause much sorrow among the people of
Utah, with whom they had rendered themselves so unpopular ;
though many regretted, and none more sincerely than Governor
Young, the unpleasant episode which preceded their going. For
that, however, he felt that the officials themselves, and not he nor
the people were responsible. That the speech of Judge Brocchus at
the conference was not only premeditated bj himself, as he admitted,
but was the result of a conspiracy on the part of him and his
associates, to subserve a plot yet to follow, the Mormon leader felt
pretty well assured.

The general sentiment regarding the "runaways" — for such
was now their familiar appellation — was expressed in the following
skit from the poetic pen of Eliza R. Snow :

" Though Brocchus, Day and Brandebury,
And Harris, too, the Secretary,
Have gone — they went ! But when they left us.
They only of themselves bereft us."

470 HISTORY OF UTAH.

This was not strictly the case, however, for Harris, the Secretary,
had taken with him the $24,000 appropriated by Congress for the
Utah Legislature, which had been called and was then in session ;*
also the Territorial seal, and various records and documents, which
he purposed delivering to the authorities at Washington. An effort
had been made by the Governor and Legislature, on learning of the
Secretary's design, to prevent what they deemed an illegal removal of
the public funds and property. By resolution the United States
Marshal was instructed to take into his custody all government funds
and property in charge of the Secretary, and was also directed to
present to him for payment an order for $500, to cover the
incidental expenses of the Legislature. Harris, however, refused to
surrender or pay anything. He claimed that the election of the
Legislature was illegal, owing to the incomplete census, and other
things preceding and attending the election, and that he had "private
instructions, designed for no eye but his own, to watch every move-
ment and not pay out any funds unless the same should be strictly
legal according to his own judgment."

The Governor had then appealed to the three Federal Judges,
asking for a legal opinion as to the funds and property in possession
of the Secretary, and respecting his design of leaving the Territory,
in which, according to the organic act, he was required to reside
during tenure of office. The Judges replied that the Secretary, being
an agent, of the United States, was amenable to that government only,
and could not be interfered with by any branch of the Territorial
government regarding the manner in which he discharged his duty.
They also stated that the Supreme Court of the Territory had already
foreshadowed an opinion upon the right of the Secretary to the con-
trol and disposal of the funds and property in question, by granting
an injunction " to prevent Horace S. Eldredge, Esq., and all others
acting by or under the authority of the assembly purporting to be

* The first Legislative Assembly of Utah Territory convened at the Council House, in
Salt Lake City, on Monday, September 22, 1851.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 471

the Legislative Assembly of the Territory," from taking or interfer-
ing with said funds and property.

This was indeed the case. Judges Brandebury and Brocchus
had organized and held a session of the Supreme Court at Salt Lake
City, before the Governor or the Legislature had fixed the time and
place for holding said court, and had rendered a decision, from
which their associate, Judge Snow, had dissented, on the ground of
the illegality of the session.

Governor Young, the day after the departure of the two Judges
and the Secretary, addressed a communication to the President of the
United States, setting forth the facts in controversy. We deem this
document worthy of reproduction :

Great Salt Lake City, September 29, 1851.
To His Excellency the President of the United States:

Sir. — It is now over one year since " an act to establish a Territorial Government
for Utah " became a law of Congress. Information of this fact reached this place in
November following, and about the first of January authentic information was received of
the appointments of the Territorial officers by the President ; this news being confirmed,
on the 3rd day of February, I took the oath of office as Governor of the Territory, in
accordance with the provisions of the Organic Act. Owing to the great distance from this
place to the seat of the General Government, I considered it of the first importance that
the preliminary arrangements for the organization of the Territory should be accom-
plished as soon as possible, in order that a delegate might be legally returned to the
Congress of the United States before the lateness of the season should render the (at
any time) long and arduous journey dangerous, if not impracticable ; hence my anxiety
to proceed with as little delay as possible in obtaining the enumeration of the inhabitants.
preparatory to appointing the election districts, and apportioning the members of Council
and House of Representatives to be elected from each.

Having been appointed Census Agent, to take the census ofDeseret, and owing to the
total miscarriage of instructions and blanks, which had not. — neither, indeed, have yet
arrived, the taking of that census had been delayed for a season, but now having been
required to cause the enumeration to be taken for the use of the Territory, and despairing
of the blanks coming on, I proceeded to take the census, and appointed my assistants to
make out two sets of returns, one for the United States, as census agent for Deseret, and
one for Utah, which required not the full census, but merely the enumeration of the
inhabitants; this was sufficiently accomplished to enable me to make out an apportionment
about the first of July, which I did, and issued my proclamation declaring the same.
This being previous to the arrival of the Secretary, of course his seal and signature was
not attached. (See Proclamation No. 1.) The reason inducing this order has been recited
above, that the election might come off in time, that whoever should be elected as delegate

472 HISTORY OF UTAH.

to Congress mignt be enabled to go before the inclement season should set in. Although
the appointments were made early in the fall, yet no non-resident officer made his
appearance until the ensuing summer, and some of them not until about the first of August.

Upon the arrival of a majority of the Supreme Court, I again issued my proclamation
districting the Territory into three judicial districts, and assigning the judges to their
several districts. This proclamation bears the impress of the seal of the Territory and
signature of Mr. Harris. See Proclamation No. 3.

Learning to my very great regret that the Secretary, Mr. Harris, and Judge Brande-
bury and Associate Judge Brocchus intended to return to the States this fall, 1 called upon
them personally to ascertain the fact and if possible induce them to remain. They how-
ever assured me that it was their intention to leave, and Mr. Harris also declaring that he
should carry with him all the funds in his hands for the payment of the Legislative
expenses of the Territory as also the seal, records, documents, etc., pertaining to his office,
plainly indicating that it was his intention to essentially vacate said office, so far as Utah
was concerned, and anticipate by leaving with the funds the non-payment of the Legislative
Assembly. I considered this course illegal, wholly unauthorized and uncalled for, by any
pretext whatever.

I therefore concluded, that I would use all legal efforts, that should seem practicable
for the retention of the property and money belonging to the United States in the Secre-
tary's hands, designed for the use of this Territory. I therefore issued my Proclamation
declaring the result of the election, and convening the Legislative Assembly on the 22nd
of the present month.

This proclamation was dated on the 18th inst., thus showing but a hurried notice ;
but notices had been sent previously to the members elect, and when the day arrived all of
the council were present, and only one member of the house absent. It is but due to
myself to say that this proclamation was delayed from the fact of a misunderstanding with
the Secretary, that he would make out the proclamation of the members elect, and prepare
the proclamation, which, failing to do, I caused it to be done, and sent it to him for his
signature and impress of the seal of the Territory, intending for him to keep the manu-
script thus furnished, and return a copy suitable for publication. Much to my astonish-
ment he placed the seal and signature to the manuscript thus furnished, not even filing a
copy for record. It was published however. See Proclamation, No. 4.

The Legislature convened in accordance therewith, with the exception of one member
of the house from Iron County. The Secretary did not attend to furnish a roll of members.
I therefore had this duty to perform, and they were called and qualified by his honor Judge
Snow.

My message is the next document in order. See No. 5.

On the 24th inst., the Legislative Assembly passed a joint resolution making it the
duty of the United States Marshal to proceed forthwith and take into his custody all of the
aforesaid funds, property, etc. See No. 6. This resolution was presented to Mr. Harris,
as also an order for $500.00 to defray the incidental expenses of the Legislative Assem-
bly. See No. 7. He refused to comply with the requirements of each as per No. 8.
At this time September 26th, I addressed a note to the Supreme Court, who, I understood
were then in session, asking their opinion in regard to my duty — having reference to the

HISTORY OF UTAH. 473

organic act which requires the Governor to see that the laws are faithfully executed and
requiring the said Secretary to reside in said Territory, etc. See No. 9. After awaiting a
reply to this note until the day fixed for their departure had far advanced, I directed the
United States district attorney to file a petition which would cause them to give their opin-
ion. See No. 10 for copy of petition and No. 11 for the opinion and answer., Having
determined to abide the decision of the Judges, I accordingly stayed all further proceed-
ings, and on yesterday, the 28th, I understand the Secretary, Mr. Harris, and the two
Judges, Mr. Brandebury and Mr. Brocchus, left this city on their return to the United
States.

For a reply to Mr. Harris' decision, No. 8, I refer you to file No. 12. Thus, sir, 1
have given you a plain and unvarnished tale of all our proceedings pertaining to Govern-
mental affairs, with the exception of report upon Indian affairs, which will be made to the
proper department.

If your Excellency will indulge me in a few remarks, I will proceed and make them.
Mr. Harris informed me in a conversation which I had with him. that he had private
instructions designed for no eye but his oiun to watch every movement and not pay out
any funds unless the same should be strictly legcd according to his own judgment. The
Supreme Court organized and held a session, as will appear by reference to a certified copy
of proceedings No. 13, without wailing for the Legislative authority fixing the time, and
apparently having no other object than to shield and protect Mr. Harris in leaving with
the funds and property designed for the use and benefit of this Territory. It has been
and is said of myself and of the people over whom I have the honor to preside, that they
frequently indulge in strictures upon the acts of men who are entrusted with Gov-
ernmental affairs and that the Government itself does not wholly escape. Now, sir, I will
simply state what 1 know to be true: that no people exist who are more friendly to the
government of the United States than the people of this Territory. The Constitution they
revere, the laws they seek to honor. But the non-execution of those laws, in times past,
for our protection, and the abuse of power in the hands of those entrusted therewith, even
in the hands of those whom we have supported for office, even betraying us in the hour
of our greatest peril and extremity, by withholding the due execution of laws designed for
the protection of all the citizens of the United States. It is for this we have cause of com-
plaint, not the want of good and wholesome laws, but the execution of the same in the
true meaning and spirit of the Constitution. The foregoing is a case in point. What good
and substantial reason can be given that the people of this Territory should be deprived,
for probably near a year to come, of a Supreme Court, of the official seal, of a Secretary
of State, of the official publication of the laws, and other matters pertaining to the office of
Secretary? Is it true that officers coming here by virtue of an appointment by the Presi-
dent, have private instruct ioiis, that so far control their actions as to induce the belief that
their main object is not the strict and legal performance of their respective duties, but
rather to watch for iniquity, to catch at shadows and make a man an "offender for a
word ; to spy out our liberties and by manifold misrepresentations seek to prejudice the
minds of the people against us? If such is the case, better, far better, would it be for us
to live under the organization of our Provisional Government, and entirely depend upon
our own resources as we have hitherto done until such time as we can be admitted as a

474 HISTORY OF UTAH.

State, than thus to be tantalized with the expectation of having a legal government which
will extend her fostering care over all her offspring. In infancy, if ever, it is necessary to
assist the rising state.

If it be true that no legal authority can be exercised over a co-ordinate and even a
subordinate branch of the Government by the Legislature thereof, then indeed we may expect
the harmony of Government to be interrupted, to hear the discordant sounds of irresponsi-
ble and law-defying agents, desecrating by their acts the very name of American Liberty.

In the appointment of new officers, if you will pardon me for making a suggestion, I
would propose that such men be selected as will reside within the Territory, or have a
general and extended knowledge of men and things, as well as of the elementary and fun-
damental principles of law and legislation. Men who have lived and practiced outside as
well as indoors, and whose information extends to the duties of a Justice of the Peace, as
well as the well-known passages and aisles of the court room.

In relation to our present unfortunate position pertaining to the Supreme Court, I can
only hope that early the ensuing season we may be favored with a quorum. As regards
the funds, if an arrangement could be made authorizing Mr. Livingston, a merchant in this
place, to receive the money appropriated to meet the Legislative expenses, he would most
probably make such advances as might be necessary after being advised of the privilege of
so doing.

The Legislative Assembly are yet in session, of their acts and doings I shall take
the liberty of making report, the same as would have been the duty of the Secretary, had
he remained. I cannot conceive that it can, or ought to be, in the power of any
subordinate officer, to subvert, or even retard, for any length of time, the ordinary
motion of the wheels of Government ; although I am equally satisfied that it was and is
the intention of a portion of these aforesaid officers to entirely subvert and overthrow this
government of Utah. But of this I have no fears, as I know they can have no good and
sufficient apology for the course they have, and are pursuing.

The money that was appropriated for the year ending June 30th, 1851, should have
been used to defray the expenses of the legislation of 1850 and 1851, and the government
might have been organized had the officers been as efficient in coming here as they are now
in going away. The Legislature can now, as heretofore, do without their compensation and
mileage, and find themselves ; they were all unanimously elected (with one exception) as
was also our Delegate to Congress, the Hon. Dr. John M. Bernhisel. We have sought to
obtain an authorized Government, and the people have been well satisfied with the
Government in regard to all their acts in relation thereto, so far as I am acquainted ; and
if the men appointed had endeavored to be active in the discharge of their duties, all
would have been well. Mr. Harris takes exceptions to everything that has been done.
Did he take hold, upon his arrival at this place, and endeavor to assist in the organization
of this Government, as a Secretary should do? Not at all ; never was he the man to do
the first thing, either by suggestion or otherwise, unless, perhaps, it was occasionally to set
his hand and Seal of the Territory to some document that had been prepared for him.
Have either of the Judges who are returning ever done anything towards the organization
of the Territory? They organized the Supreme Court, as I think, chiefly to assist Mr.
Harris in leaving with the funds, and I believe Judge Brandebury appointed a clerk of

HISTORY OF UTAH. 475.

the district. Judge Brocchus had determined on returning this fall previous to his arrival,
as I am credibly informed, and their both leaving at this time, just when the time has
arrived for them to act, postpones indefinitely all courts in their respective districts.
Judge Brocchus has never been in his district that I know of. Thus, so far as the public
interests are concerned, it would have been quite as well if neither of these gentlemen or
Mr. Harris had ever troubled themselves to cross the plains.

Whatever may be your decision upon all of these matters, be assured that it is. and
has been my intention to discharge faithfully every duty pertaining to my office, and that I
shall receive very gratefully any instructions that you will please to give.

Awaiting most anxiously to hear from you, I have the honor to be very respectfully
and truly yours,

Brigham Young.

On reaching Washington Judge Brocchus and his colleagues
rendered a report to the Government in which they alleged that they
had been compelled to leave Utah on account of the lawless acts and
seditious tendencies of Brigham Young and the majority of the
residents; that the Mormon Church overshadowed and controlled
the opinions, actions, property and lives of its members, — disposing
of the public lands on its own terms, coining and issuing money at
will, openly sanctioning polygamy, exacting tithes from members and
onerous taxes from non-members, penetrating and supervising
social and business circles, and requiring implicit obedience to the
council of the Church as a duty paramount to all the obligations of
morality, society, allegiance and law.

So far, their report was of a tenor well calculated to win for its
authors, from the masses, applause, and for the Mormons reproba-
tion. But they very unwisely added — either verbally or in writing
— that in Utah "polygamy monopolized all the women, which made
it very inconvenient for the Federal officials to reside there."

This unhappy statement was the dead fly in the ointment,
causing the whole to emit an odor extremely offensive in the nostrils
of authority. Even Congressmen not particularly noted as paragons
of chastity were disgusted at this open confession of libidinous
desires on the part of the three officials. They soon found
themselves utterly without influence at Washington, and were
ordered by Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, to forthwith return

476 HISTORY OF UTAH.

to the posts they had deserted, or else resign. They chose the latter
course and retired from office, realizing, no doubt, as did everyone
else, that they had committed moral and official felo de se.
Brandebury was succeeded as Chief Justice of Utah by Lazarus H.
Reed, of New York; Brocchus as Associate Justice by Leonidas
Shaver, and Harris as Secretary by Benjamin G. Ferris, who received
their appointments in August, 1852. Judge Snow served out his full
term and was succeeded by Associate Justice George P. Stiles.

One potent factor in the discomfiture and defeat of Judge
Brocchus and his coadjutors was a series of letters that appeared, —
one in the New York Herald, and all in a pamphlet circulated
throughout the east, — over the signature of Jedediah M. Grant.
Mayor of Salt Lake City. Mayor Grant, who was a member of the
Utah Legislature, had been authorized by Governor Young and the
General Assembly on the 1st of October to repair to the City of
Washington, as an agent of the citizens of Utah, to confer and
co-operate with Delegate Bernhisel in his official duties at the capital.
In other words he was sent east for the especial purpose of spiking
the guns which the Mormon leader foresaw would be turned against
him and his people by the absconding Judges and Secretary.
Mayor Grant did his work most effectively ; not in the way that the
gentlemanly and diplomatic Delegate, Dr. Bernhisel, would have
done it, but in a manner peculiar to brave, brusque Jedediah M.
Grant; a man as devoid of fear as he was of policy or scholastic
culture. Quick-witted, vigorous and incisive, he in conjunction
with Colonel Thomas L. Kane, whom he visited at Philadelphia,
produced the letters referred to, in which the runaway officials were
roundly scored and ridiculed, and their anti-Utah efforts pretty well
counteracted. It was the polygamy clause of their own report,
however, which dug their official graves and erected the tomb-stone
over their political remains.

Colonel Kane, it seems, had previously done the Mormon leader
a good turn — which was but one of many such — both before and
after his appointment as Governor of Utah. The appended

HISTORY OF UTAH. 477

correspondence between President Fillmore and Colonel Kane will
show in what way the service to which we refer was rendered :

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 democrat, but I doubt not will truly state whether these charges against the
moral character of Governor 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 11th, 1851.

My Dear Sir : — I have no 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 excellent capacity, energy and integrity,
which I made you prior to his appointment. I am willing to say I volunteered to com-
municate 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 charges of
your anonymous assailant, the next mail from Utah sliall [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 contradiction from any respectable authority.

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

Thomas L. Kane.
The President.

Utah's first Legislative Assembly convened, as stated, on the
22nd of September, 1851. Its members were as follows:

COUNCIL.

Salt Lake County. — Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Dainel
H. Wells, Jedediah M. Grant, Ezra T. Benson, Orson Spencer.
Davis County.— John S. Fullmer.
Weber County.— Lorin Farr, Charles R. Dana.
Utah County. — Alexander Williams, Aaron Johnson.

478 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Sanpete County. — Isaac Morley.
Iron County. — George A. Smith.

Salt Lake County. — Wilford Woodruff, David Fullmer, Daniel
Spencer, Willard Snow, William W. Phelps, Albert P. Rockwood,
Nathaniel H. Felt, Edwin D. Woolley, Phinehas Richards, Joseph
Young, Henry G. Sherwood, Benjamin F. Johnson, Hosea Stout.

Davis County. — Andrew L. Lamereaux, John Stoker, William
Kay.

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

Tooele County. — John Rowberry.

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

Sanpete County. — Charles Shumway.

Iron County. — Elisha H. Groves.*

The Legislature organized by electing Willard Richards Presi-
dent of the Council, and William W. Phelps, Speaker of the House
of Representatives. Howard Coray was Secretary of the Council,
and James Cragan Sergeant-at-arms. In the House, Albert Carring-
ton was Clerk, and William H. Kimball Sergeant-at-arms. Brigham
H. Young was public printer.

One of the first acts of the Assembly, after the departure of the
runaway Judges and Secretary, was to memorialize the Government
at Washington in relation to appointments to fill the places thus
deserted. The memorial asked that the new appointees be residents
of the Territory, and that they be selected as soon as possible.
Pending the action of the President and Senate in this matter

* Of the Councilors, Ezra T. Benson and Jedediah M. Grant resigned late in Septem-
ber to go east, and Orson Pratt and Edward Hunter were elected November 15th to fill
their places. Of the Representatives Willard Snow also resigned about the same time as
Councilors Benson and Grant, and John Brown succeeded him on November 15th. The
same day George Brimhall was elected a member of the House, from Iron County, making
the number of Representatives twenty-six, as required by the Organic Act.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 479

Willard Richards on the 15th of October was appointed by Governor
Young Secretary of Utah pro tern.

A joint resolution was passed by the Legislature on the 4th of
October, declaring of full force and effect the laws made by the
Provisional Assembly of Deseret, such as did not conflict with the
act of Congress creating the Territory. This measure preserved the
several [city charters, and the charter of the Deseret University,
previously granted by the Provisional Government. It also
confirmed the act incorporating the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.

To meet, in a measure, the emergency which had arisen through
the unceremonious departure of the two Federal Judges, their
associate, Judge Snow, was authorized by the Legislature to hold
courts in all the judicial districts. The First District was made to
comprise Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Tooele and Utah counties, and
those parts of the Territory lying north, east and west of said counties.
The Second District consisted of Millard and Sanpete counties, with
all parts lying south of the south line of latitude of Utah County,
and north of the south line of latitude of Millard County, within
Utah, and the Third District of Iron County and all districts [of
country lying south of the south line of latitude of Millard County,
within the Territory.*

The law authorizing Judge Snow to serve in all the judicial
districts, required him to reside in the first, and hold court therein
as follows: On the first Monday in January and July |at Salt Lake
City; on the first Monday of April at Ogden, and the first Monday of
October — excepting in 1851, when the October court should be held
at Salt Lake City — at Provo. Manti and Fillmore, in the Second
District, were to have their courts respectively on the first Monday in
November and May, and Parowan, in the Third District, on the first
Monday in June. Each session was to be kept open at least one

* Millard County had just been created by the Legislature, being named, as stated, for
President Millard Fillmore.

480 HISTORY OF UTAH.

week, and might adjourn to any other place in the district, if the
business of the court should so require. These provisions were to
remain in force until the President and Senate of the United States,
who were duly informed of all that was done, should supply a full
bench of the Supreme Court of Utah, after which Judge Snow was
to serve only in the First District.

Judge Snow held the first United States District Court at Salt
Lake City. He examined and passed upon the proceedings of the
Governor in calling the Legislative Assembly ; holding them to be
legal though somewhat informal. His decision was duly reported to
the Department of State, and sustained by the Secretary, Daniel
Webster. Webster also sanctioned Governor Young's appointment of
a temporary Secretary for the Territory, and the bills signed by Mr.
Richards, as well as his salary for services in that capacity, were
allowed and paid.

At the October Term of the District Court occurred the trial of
Howard Egan for the killing of James Monroe, the seducer of Egan's
wife. This was the first murder trial in Utah.* The homicide
occurred on or near Silver Creek, eastern Utah, in September, 1851.
Monroe, after his crime, had gone to the frontier and was returning
w?st with a train of merchandise for John and Enoch Reese, when he
met his death. Egan, who had been absent in California, returning
and receiving his wife's penitent confession, resolved to kill the
destroyer of his household peace. Accordingly, he went out to meet
Monroe, confronted him, and shot him dead.

Judge Brocchus and his colleagues, in their report to the
Government, after leaving the Territory, charged that James Monroe,
a citizen of Utica, New York, while on his way to Salt Lake City, was
murdered by a Mormon, and that the murderer was not arrested.
This of course had reference to the Egan-Monroe homicide, the trial
in which case took place during the month following the tragedy.

* The first criminal trial by jury occurred in January, 1851. Several persons en route
for California were convicted of stealing and imprisoned, but after partly serving out
their terms they were pardoned by the Governor and went on their way.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 481

Howard Egan was one of the original Utah pioneers. James Monroe,
though formerly of Utica, New York, was at this time a resident of
Utah, and had been a Mormon.

The prosecution of the case, before Associate Justice Snow, was
conducted by the United States Attorney, Seth M. Blair. The
defendant was represented by Hon. George A. Smith and William W.
Phelps, Esq. The following selections from Apostle Smith's address
to the jury are valuable as showing the view taken by the Mormons
of the crime of seduction and its proper punishment :

I am not prepared to refer to authorities on legal points, as I would have been had
not the trial been so hasty ; but as it is, I shall present my arguments upon a plain, simple
principle of reasoning. Not being acquainted with the dead languages, I shall simply
talk the common mountain English, without references to anything that may be technical.
All I want is simply truth and justice. This defendant asks not his life, if he deserves to
die ; but if he has done nothing but an act of justice, he wishes that justice awarded
to him.
*********

It was admitted on the part of the prosecution, that James Monroe, who is alleged in
this indictment to have been killed by Howard Egan, had seduced Egan's wife; that he
had come into this place in the absence of her husband, and had seduced his family, in
consequence of which, an illegitimate child had been brought into the world ; and the
disgrace which must arise from such a transaction in his family, had fallen on the head of
the defendant. This was admitted by the prosecution.
*********

In England, when a man seduces the wife or relative of another, the injured enters a
civil suit for damages, which may perhaps cost him five hundred pounds, to get his case
through ; and, as a matter of course, if he unfortunately belongs to the toiling million, he
may get twenty pounds as damages. In this case, character is not estimated, neither
reputation, but the number of pounds, shillings, and pence alone bear the sway, which is
common in courts of all old and rotten governments.

In hiking this point into consideration, I argue that in this Territory it is a principle
of mountain common law, that no man can seduce the wife of another without endanger-
ing his own life. * * * "What is natural justice with this people? Does
a civil suit for damages answer the purpose, not with an isolated individual, but with this
whole community ? No ! it does not ! The principle, the only one that beats and throbs
through the heart of the entire inhabitants of this Territory, is simply this: The man
who seduces his neighbor's wife must die, and her nearest relative must kill him !
*********

If Howard Egan did kill James Monroe, it was in accordance with the established
principles of justice known in these mountains. Thai the people of this Territory would
have regarded him as accessory to the crime of that creature, had he not done it, is also

482 HISTORY OF UTAH.

a plain case. Every man knew the style of old Israel, that the nearest relation would be
at his heels to fulfill the requirements of justice.

I come before you, not for the pence of that gentleman, the defendant, but to plead
for the honor and rights of this whole people, and the defendant in particular; and,
gentlemen of the jury, with the limited knowledge I have of law, were I a juryman, I
would lie in the jury-room until the worms should draw me through the key-hole, before
I would give in my verdict to hang a man for doing an act of justice, for the neglect of
which he would have been damned in the eyes of this whole community.

At the conclusion of the addresses Judge Snow charged the jury
and after due deliberation they returned a verdict of "not guilty."

It was about this time that a board of commissioners, appointed
by Governor Young under authority of the Legislature, left Salt Lake
City for Pauvan Valley — Millard County — to select a site for the
proposed capital of the Territory. The Legislature, by resolution,
had previously located the seat of government within that county,
but the exact spot had not yet been determined. The commissioners
were Orson Pratt, Albert Carrington, Jesse W. Fox, William C.
Staines and Joseph L. Robinson. Governor Young, Hon. Heber C.
Kimball, Hon. George A. Smith and others went also, to assist in the
selection. They directed their course to Chalk Creek, in Pauvan
Valley, to which place Anson Call, of Davis County, and later one of
the founders of Parowan, had been directed by President Young to
lead a colony. Chalk Creek was about one hundred and fifty miles
south of Salt Lake City. There, on the 29th of October, a site was
selected for the capital and a city laid out. . That city, as previously
ordered by the Legislature, was named Fillmore.*

Box Elder County had been settled in March of this year by
Simeon Carter and others, and in September Joseph L. Heywood and
a few families had begun a settlement on the present site of Nephi,
Juab County.

A colony organized at Payson, Utah County, and led by Amasa

* Millard County was chosen' as the place for the capital owing to its central geo-
graphic location, but was afterwards abandoned for that purpose as the bulk of the pop-
ulation was contained in the northern counties.

OU^L^£-^i

>

I

HISTORY OF UTAH. 483

M. Lyman and Charles C. Rich, had started late in March for
southern California, and had reached their destination in June.
This colony numbered about five hundred souls. Their purpose was
to found an outfitting post, similar to Kanesville, to facilitate Mormon
emigration from the west. In September they purchased the ranch
of San Bernardino, containing one hundred thousand acres of land,
situated about fifty miles east of Los Angeles, and seventy miles from
the Bay of San Pedro. They there founded a settlement and named
it San Bernardino.

By this time Colonel John Reese and others were at Genoa, the
nucleus of Carson County, then in this Territory, but now in the
State of Nevada. The late Hampden S. Beatie, a well known citizen
of Utah, was one of the pioneers of Carson County.

During the winter of 1851-2 preparations were made for the
opening of a Territorial Library, Congress having appropriated five
thousand dollars for that purpose, and a judicious selection of books
having been made in the east and forwarded to Utah by Delegate
Bernhisel. In February the library was opened in the Council House
at Salt Lake City, William C. Staines being the Territorial Librarian.

Acts were now passed by the Legislature, — which, but for
brief periods of adjournment, had been in session since the previous
September, — providing for the complete organization of the various
counties and relating to the judiciary in general. Probate Judges
were elected by the Legislature and commissioned by the Governor,
as follows:

Salt Lake County,— Elias Smith.

Weber County, — Isaac Clark.

Davis County, — Joseph Holbrook.

Utah County,— Preston Thomas.

Tooele County, — Alfred Lee.

Juab County,— George H. Bradley.

Sanpete County, — George Peacock.

Millard County, — Anson Call.

Iron County,— Chapman Duncan.

484 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Besides the powers usually possessed by probate courts, — the
settlement of estates of decedents, the guardianship of minors, etc.,
— these courts were invested with general civil, criminal and chancery
jurisdiction; a measure deemed expedient by the Legislature at the
time, but out of which grew a controversy between the district and
probate courts, which was finally settled by Congressional enactment*
The act giving general jurisdiction to the probate courts received
the Governor's signature on the 4th of February, three days prior to
the appointment of the probate judges named.

Another bone of contention, which Congress removed at the
same time that it did the other, was an act approved March 3rd, 1852,
creating the offices of Territorial Marshal, Attorney-General and
District Attorneys. By this law it was made the duty of the
Territorial Marshal or his deputies to execute all orders or processes
of the Supreme or District courts in all cases arising under the laws
of the Territory, and the duty of the Attorney-General or District
Attorneys to attend to all legal business on the part of the Territory,
before the courts, where the Territory was interested. The original
incumbents of these offices were: James Ferguson, Territorial
Attorney; Horace S. Eldredge, Marshal; Andrew S. Siler, District
Attorney, Second District; James Lewis, District Attorney, Third
District. The United States having already appointed a Marshal and
a District Attorney for Utah, it may readily be seen how further
conflict of authority might and did result.

The action of the Legislature in bestowing such unusual
powers upon the probate courts, — virtually giving them concurrent
jurisdiction with the district courts, — was deemed imperative at the
time owing to the absence of two of the three Federal Judges from the
Territory; thus throwing too great a burden upon Judge Snow, who,
since October, 1851, had been serving, according to direction, in all
the districts. It was also clearly within the powers granted to the
Legislature by the organic act, a fact admitted by Congress when it

The Poland Law, passed June 23, 1874.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 487

threatened massacre that they passed reluctantly over the borders of
the Union into Mexico. It was temporary, not permanent isolation
that they sought, when, instead of being allured by the brighter
worldly prospects that beaconed from the Pacific Coast, they decided
to settle in a desert land and colonize the shores of America's dead sea.
The chagrin they felt was when they found themselves, by act of
Congress, more completely isolated than they desired, — hemmed in
between two mighty Avails, two great mountain ranges, — having no
open communication with the Pacific or with the world at large.

It has also been shown that the Mormon Pioneers, while
crossing the plains in the spring of 1847, traversed for hundreds of
miles a route subsequently selected as a portion of the roadbed of
the Union Pacific Railway. But they did more. They actually
marked out, or their leader did, the route over which it was foreseen
that a great national railroad from the Missouri River to the Pacific
Coast would some day most likely pass. Says George A. Smith, in a
letter written many years later to the New York Evening Post: "I
crossed the plains with Brigham Young on his pioneer journey in
1847. We were looking for a railroad route as well as a wagon road,
and in company with him I made many a detour from the wagon
road to find passes where a railroad could be constructed through
the mountains. We then expected that ten or fifteen years would be
sufficient to complete the road."

This portion of Apostle Smith's letter was in answer to a
statement contained in a certain book sent him by the editor of the
Post to review. That statement was as follows: "The former policy
of this people (the Mormons) was seclusive, and consequently
strongly opposed to all railroad enterprises ; but when inevitable
fate pushed the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines across the
continent, directly through their Territory, they wisely concluded
to make the innovation profitable, as it was unavoidable."

Having partly answered this statement, as above, Apostle Smith
next referred to an event which took place in Utah in the spring of
1852. Of that event we will now speak.

488 HISTORY OF UTAH.

On the 3rd of March of that year, nearly seventeen years before
"inevitable fate" succeeded in pushing the Union Pacific and Central
Pacific railway lines across the continent to their welding-point at
Promontory, the following memorial was addressed to Congress by
the Governor and Legislature of Utah :

MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NATIONAL

CENTRAL RAILROAD TO THE PACIFIC COAST.

APPROVED MARCH 3, 1852.

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States,

in Congress assembled:

Your memorialists, the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah,
respectfully pray your honorable body to provide for the establishment of a national
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 face of 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 this road with materials 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 and these
mountains can never be fully developed to the benefit of the people of the United States
without the construction of such a road ; and upon its completion the entire trade of China
and the East Indies will pass through the heart of the Union, thereby giving 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 therein proposed would be a perpetual chain or
iron band which would effectually hold 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 memorialists, who in duty bound will ever pray.

At the same session of the Legislature, Congress was petitioned
for the establishment of a trans-continental telegraph line.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 489

Like George Stephenson, when bringing before the British
Parliament his locomotive railway innovations, Dr. Bernhisel, when
submitting the above memorial to the American Congress, was
smiled at and told that he was a hundred years ahead of the
age. Nothing daunted, the Utah delegate humorously invited the
nation's legislators to ride over the road on its completion and come
and visit him at Salt Lake City. Twenty years later some of them
actually did so, but it is questionable if they would have had the
privilege that early, had not the people of Utah, by their Legislature,
— then overwhelmingly Mormon — repeatedly petitioned Congress for
the construction of the great railway, until finally it was authorized.
As another proof that the Mormons were in earnest in this matter, —
that they really wanted a railway to pass through Utah, and were
disappointed because its advent was so long delayed, we present the
following excerpt from Governor Young's message to the Legislature,
dated December 12th, 1853 :

Since my last communication to your Honorable Body, nothing of serious importance
has occurred, except the hostilities of the Utah Indians, to disturb the usual peace and
quiet routine of the business affairs pertaining to our Mountain Government. The annual
pilgrim host have come, and passed on to the land of gold, unobtrusively, and with
unprecedented harmony, leaving occasional representatives here and there, who, either
through choice or necessity, tarry awhile in the valleys of the mountains, awaiting the
moving trains of another season, to escort them to rejoin their brethren at the shrine of
their worship, the shining dust of the new-born star.

The immigration to this Territory has been considerable, amounting, it is estimated,
to about ten thousand souls ; of these, a portion are from the Northern European States,
and (he British Isles, a very fair division to Utah, of the annual foreign immigration to the
Slalcs, when we consider her far inland position.

Utah ! fair Utah ! behold her in the midst of the snow-capped mountains, narrow
vales or extended plains ; no navigable river penetrates her surface, nor proceeds from
her mountain fastnesses, on which to bear to her bosom the commerce of the nations.

The iron horse lias qoI yet found his way along her narrow vales nor yet have the
lightning wires conveyed to her citizens the latest news. In silent grandeur she reposes.
content in her internal resources, unaccpiainted with the hurried excitement of the day or
the passing wonder of the fleeting moment. For weeks, aye months, the ox trains drag
their heavy weights along with whatever mail matter might have been entrusted in ;i day
long since past and forgotten. Perhaps there are no people in this age of rapid communi-
cation, so isolated as ourselves.

490 HISTORY OF UTAH.

In our internal intercourse, we have frequent exchanges with each other, but outside
of this narrow compass, from two to seven months frequently intervene without a word
from any source beyond the limit of the Great Basin.

It would seem probable that if the authorities at Washington could only realize
themselves in our position in this respect they would exercise a little clemency and use a
little exertion to let us hear from them as often as twice a month, if not weekly. We
are not very nomadical in our pursuits and may usually be found somewhere in the
vicinity of the Great Salt Lake, although it is said that we have wandered to the
Gallipagos. Having no intention of straying so far, just at present, I propose that Congress
be advised of the fact that we are still hereabouts, and may easily be found on enquiry.
It might also be well to suggest to the department, that it would be as well, that is, if they
wish to accommodate us with the mails, to let their contracts to such persons as make bids
with the expectation of fulfilling them, and who will provide suitably to do it with some
prospect of success.

The contracts heretofore would never justify extra expense, consequently the
contractor's feeble attempts of course prove fruitless, and we have been left without a
solitary mail, for over a half a year at a time.

We recognize in the Pacific Railway a work worthy the attention of a great and
enterprising people : and pass where it will we cannot fail to be benefitted by it. The
present overflowing coffers of the public treasury, seem a propitious omen for its speedy
accomplishment, if Congress exercises that wisdom for the benefit of the nation, which
will secure to herself the greatest political, as well as pecuniary advantages possessed in
the century in which we live. It is of incalculable convenience and profit in times of
peace, and indispensable in war. In addition to throwing into the lap of the nation the
treasures and commerce of the Eastern Continent, and the Pacific isles, its accomplish-
ment cannot fail by reason of furnishing so rapid a conveyance, to carry influence and.
power from one extremity of the Union to the other, and make her the arbiter of the
world. It will greatly increase the commerce on the seas and afford it the most powerful
protection.

Owing to the death of the deeply lamented Captain Gunnison and a portion of his
party, who were engaged in exploring a route for this road, through this region of country,
it is possible that its advantages may measurably be lost sight of, or remain unknown
until a location of some route is made. I have therefore thought proper to call your
attention to this subject, hoping that the interest which is known to exist in favor of this
route, will not permit it to suffer for the want of proper representation to Congress.

Pursuant to the Governor's suggestion, during the month
following the delivery of the message in question, a mammoth mass
meeting convened at Salt Lake City and took steps toward
memorializing Congress for the construction of a railway from the
Missouri River via South Pass and Salt Lake Valley to the Pacific.

In the summer of 1852 the tenet of celestial or plural marriage
— commonly called polygamy — which was destined to become in after

HISTORY OF UTAH. 491

years the leading question of the so-called "Utah Problem,'" was
for the first time publicly proclaimed by the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. It had been practiced, as seen, at Nauvoo, and
subsequently at Winter Quarters and in Utah ; but up to this time
the Church had never enunciated it. The practice, however, had
long been evident, even to strangers visiting Utah; little or no effort
being made by the Saints to conceal it. It had also been much
commented upon, not only by such critics as Judge Brocchus and
his colleagues, and others equally inimical to the Mormons, but by
friendly visitors as well. Many had recorded and published their
observations and impressions regarding the Latter-day Saints and
their peculiar marital institution. Among the fairest writers may be
mentioned Captain Stansbury and Lieutenant Gunnison, of whom
we have before spoken. It will be well to give here a few extracts
from Stansbury's fair and unprejudiced view of this feature of the
Mormon faith. Says he:

But it is in their private and domestic relations that this singular people exhibit the
widest departure from the habits and practice of all others denominating themselves
Christian. I refer to what has been generally termed the " spiritual wife system," the
practice of which was charged against them in Illinois, and served greatly to prejudice the
public mind in that State. It was then, I believe, most strenuously denied by them that
any such practice prevailed, nor is it now openly avowed, either as a matter sanctioned
by their doctrine or discipline. But that polygamy does actually exist among them cannot
be concealed from any-one of the most ordinary observation, who has spent even a short
time in this community. I heard it proclaimed from the stand, by the President of the
Church himself, that he had the right to take a thousand wives, if he thought proper:
and he defied anyone to prove from the Bible that he had not. At the same time, I have
never known any member of the community to avow thai he himself had more than one.
altl lib that such was Hie lad was as well known and understood as any fact could be.

If a man, once married, desires to take him a second helpmate, be must first, as
with US, obtain the consent of the lady intended, and thai of her parents or guardians,
111,1 afterward the approval of the seer or president, without which the mailer cannot pro-
ceed. The woman is then " sealed " to him under the solemn sanction of (he Church,
and stands, in all respects, in the same relation to the man. as the wife thai was first

married. The union thus formed is considered a perfectly virtl S and honorable one.

and the ladj maintains, without blemish, the same position in society to which she would

be entitled were she the sole wife of her husl d. indeed, the <■< jction being under

the sanction of ti ly true priesthood, is deemed infinitely more sacred and binding

than anj marriage among the gentile world, not only on account of its higher and more

492 HISTORY OF UTAH.

sacred authority, but inasmuch as it bears directly upon the future state of existence of
both the man and the woman ; for it is the doctrine of the Church, that no woman can
attain to celestial glory without the husband, nor can he arrive at full perfection in the
next world without at least one wife ; and the greater the number he is able to take with
him, the higher will be his seat in the celestial paradise.

AH idea of sensuality, as the motive of such unions, is most indignantly repudiated ;
the avowed object being to raise up, as rapidly as possible, " a holy generation to the
Lord," who shall build up His kingdom on the earth. Purity of life, in all the domestic
relations, is strenuously inculcated ; and they do not hesitate to declare, that when they
shall obtain the uncontrolled power of making their own civil laws, (which will be when
they are admitted as one of the States of the Union,) they will punish the departure from
chastity in the severest manner, even by death.

As the seer or president alone possesses the power to approve of these unions, so also,
he alone can absolve the parties from their bonds, should circumstances in his judgment
render it at any time either expedient or necessary. It may easily be perceived, then,
what a tremendous influence the possession of such a power must give to him who holds
it, and how great must be the prudence, firmness, sagacity, and wisdom required in one
who thus stands in the relation of confidential adviser, as well as of civil and ecclesiastical
ruler, over this singularly constituted community.

Upon the practical working of this system of plurality of wives, I can hardly be
expected to express more than a mere opinion. Being myself an " out-sider " and a
" gentile," it is not to be supposed that I should have been permitted to view more than
the surface of what is in fact as yet but an experiment, the details of which are sedulously
veiled from public view. So far, however, as my intercourse with the inhabitants afforded
me an opportunity of judging, its practical operation was quite different from what I had
anticipated. Peace, harmony, and cheerfulness seemed to prevail, where my preconceived
notions led me to look for nothing but the exhibition of petty jealousies, envy, bickerings,
and strife. Confidence and sisterly affection among the different members of the family
seemed pre-eminently conspicuous, and friendly intercourse among neighbors, with balls,
parties, and merry-makings at each others' houses, formed a prominent and agreeable
feature of the society. In these friendly reunions, the president, with his numerous fam-
ily, mingled freely, and was ever an honored and welcome guest, tempering by his pres-
ence the exuberant hilarity of the young, and not unfrequently closing with devotional
exercises the gayety of a happy evening.

To this irreconcilable difference, not in speculative opinions only, but in habits, man-
ners, and customs necessarily growing out of them, may, I think, in a great measure, be
attributed the bitter hostility of the people among whom they formerly dwelt, and which
resulted in their forcible expulsion.

Lieutenant Gunnison, upon the same subject, writes:

Thus guarded in motive and denounced as sin for other considerations than divine, the
practical working of the system, so far as now extended, has every appearance of decorum.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 493

The romantic notion of a single love is derided, and met by calling attention to the case
of parental affection ; where the father's good will is bestowed alike on each of his many
children ; and they pretend to see a more rational application of a generous soul in loving
more than one wife, than in the bigotry of a partial adhesion.

It was during a special conference of the Church, held at Salt
Lake City on the 28th and 29th of August, that the public avowal of
plural marriage was made. The conference convened in the building
which afterwards became known as the "Old Tabernacle," though it
was then quite new, having been completed for dedication on the 6th
of the preceding April. It stood upon the south-west corner of
Temple Block, on the site now occupied by the handsome and stately
Assembly Hall. It was built chiefly of adobes. Its dimensions were
126 by 64 feet, the interior being arched without a pillar. It was
capable of seating between two and three thousand people. The
" Old Bowery * was now no more, having been unroofed and taken
apart and much of its material used in constructing the new place of
worship.

There on the 29th of August, 1852, the revelation on Celestial
Marriage, first recorded from the lips of the Prophet Joseph Smith
on July 12th, 1843, was read to the assembled Saints and sustained
by the uplifted hands of the large congregation as a doctrine of
their faith and a revelation from the Almighty. The same day
Apostle Orson Pratt preached to the conference the first authorized
public discourse on the subject of plural "marriage. Thousands of
copies of the revelation were published and circulated throughout
the Union and carried by missionaries to various parts of the world.
One of these is preserved in the Deseret Museum. It is the proof
revised by Editor Willard Richards, and authenticated by James
McKnight, at that time foreman of the Deseret News.

At this conference Orson Pratt received an appointment to
preside over the branches of the Church in the Eastern [States and
Canada; his headquarters to be at the city of Washington, where he
was directed to establish a paper advocating the cause of the Saints.
In that paper — The Seer — was duly set forth, among other tenets, the

494 HISTORY. OF UTAH.

polygamic principle of the Mormon faith. Thus was plural marriage
proclaimed to the world.

The year 1852 was notable not only for the continued extension
and growth of the Utah settlements, but also for improvements of
different kinds projected and forwarded at various points. A chain
of Mormon towns and villages now extended from the neighborhood
of Bear River on the north, to within twenty-five miles of the
southern rim of the Great Basin. The Santa Clara region was about
being occupied. Settlements were also forming east and west
of Salt Lake Valley, though not so rapidly as in other directions. In
the west, on Mary's River — now in Nevada — the Indians were very
troublesome, robbing and killing travelers, stealing cattle and
committing various other depredations. A settlement in that
vicinity was contemplated, in order to bring the savages under
civilizing influences and preserve peaceful relations with them.

Mountains of coal and iron had previously been discovered in
southern Utah, but now furnaces were erected and pig iron
manufactured in Iron County. This led to the formation of the
Deseret Iron Company, which was chartered by the Legislature
during the following winter.

Near Manti, in Sanpete County, a fine quality of beautiful white
building stone — oolite — had been found and was now being quarried.
The present temple at Manti is composed of this stone, which at one
time was thought to be more suitable for building purposes than
any other rock in Utah. The granite quarries in Little Cottonwood
Canyon, which furnished the stone for the Salt Lake Temple, were
just being developed.

During 1852 William Ward, a young architect and sculptor, a
native of Leicester, England, but then a resident of Utah, carved out
of the Manti rock several handsome specimens of his handiwork.
One of these was a block for the Washington Monument, a
contribution from the Territory previously authorized by the
Legislature. The stone was three feet long, two feet wide and
six-and-a-half inches thick. In the centre was the emblematic bee-

HISTORY OF UTAH. 495

hive and under it the word "Deseret."' Over the hive was the
All-seeing Eye. The whole was surmounted and flanked with foliage
and other symbols, beautifully wrought by the sculptor's chisel.
This stone, when completed, was forwarded to Washington, and in
due time found its place, among similar offerings from the various
States and Territories, in the grand and lofty structure reared to the
memory of the Father of his Country. Ward the sculptor also
carved the stone lion still to be seen on the front portico of the
famous Lion House in Salt Lake City.*

Public buildings were erected this year at Salt Lake, Fillmore,
Parowan and other places. The principal improvement at Fillmore
was the construction of one wing of the State House. Among the
new buildings at Salt Lake City was the Social Hall, which
superseded the Old Bowery as the local temple of the drama. The
building of a wall around Temple Block, begun sometime before, was
continued, and a woolen mill and a sugar factory were projected.
Grist and saw mills had long since been in operation all over the
Territory. Cutlery establishments, potteries and various other
industries were also running successfully.

Governor Young and other leaders of the community were very
strenuous at this period upon the subjects of manual training and
home manufacture. Said the Governor, in his message to the
Legislature in January of that year: "Deplorable indeed must be
the situation of that people whose sons are not trained in the
practice of every useful avocation, and whose daughters mingle not
in the hive of industry. * * * Produce what you

consume; draw from the native elements the necessaries of life;
permit no vitiated taste to lead you into indulgence of expensive
luxuries, which can only be obtained by involving yourselves in debt.
Let home industry produce every article of home consumption. "

At the Governor's suggestion, appropriations were made by the

*Mr. Ward, after many years absence from Utah, has lately returned to the Territory,
and now resides in Salt Lake City.

496 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Legislature to encourage the local manufacturing interests. He also
asked for protective legislation to foster the infant industries. The
total revenue of the Territory for the past year, from an assessed
valuation of taxable property fixed at $1,160,883.80, was $26,670.58 ;
over ten thousand dollars of which was still out. Of the amount
collected, not more than one-tenth was paid in cash, wheat being the
chief article substituted. Nearly ten thousand dollars were expended
for printing, surveys, roads, bridges, and the manufacturing and edu-
cational interests of the Territory.

Governor Young's views upon the question of slavery cannot
fail to be interesting to the general reader. Said he in his message
to the Legislature from which we last quoted :

The practice of purchasing Indian children for slaves is a trade carried on by the
Mexican population of New Mexico and California. These traders of late years have
extended their traffic into the limits of this Territory. This trade I have endeavored to
prevent, and this fall, happening to encounter a few of them in my travels as Superinten-
dent of Indian Affairs, strictly prohibited their further traffic. The majority of them
appeared satisfied, and after making an exchange of property in the settlements,
returned to their own country ; unfortunately, however, a few of them still determined
to carry on their nefarious traffic; they have been arrested and are now on their trial in
this city.

It is unnecessary for me to indicate the true policy for Utah in regard to slavery.
Restrictions of law and government make all servants ; but human flesh to be dealt in as
property is not consistent or compatible with the true principles of government. My own
feelings are that no property can or should be recognized as existing in slaves, either
Indian or African. No person can purchase them without their becoming as free, so far as
natural rights are concerned, as persons of any other color ; under the present law and
degraded situation of the Indian race, so long as the practice of gambling away, selling
and otherwise disposing of their children, as also sacrificing prisoners, obtains among
them, it seems indeed that any transfer would be to them a relief and a benefit. Many a
life by this means is saved ; many a child i-edeemed from the thralldom of savage barbarity
and placed upon an equal footing with the more favored portions of the human race. If
in return for favors and expenses which may have been incurred on their account, service
should be considered due, it would become necessary that some law should provide the
suitable regulations under which all such indebtedness should be defrayed. This may be
said to present a new feature in the traffic of human beings, it is essentially purchasing
them into freedom instead of slavery ; but it is not the low, servile drudgery of Mexican
slavery, to which I would doom them, not to be raised among^ beings scarcely superior to
themselves, but where they could find that consideration pertaining not only to civilized,
but humane and benevolent society.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 497

So shall the benevolence of the human heart be called into action, to promote the
improvement of the down -trodden race whose fathers long swayed the destiny of empires;
so shall the condition of the poor, forlorn, destitute, ignorant savage, or African, as the
case may be, become ameliorated and a foundation laid for their advancement in the scale
of useful, exalting existence; useful to themselves, to their nation, and all who shall come
within the purview of their influence.

Thus will a people be redeemed from servile bondage, both mental and physical, and
placed upon a platform upon which they can build, and extend forth as far as their capa-
bility and natural rights will permit ; their thralldom will no longer exist, although the seed
of Canaan will inevitably carry the curse which was placed upon them until the same
authority which placed it there shall see proper to have it removed. Service is necessary;
it is honorable ; it exists in all countries, and has existed in all ages ; it probably will exist
in some form in all time to come.

It has long since ceased to become a query with me who were the most amenable to
the laws of righteousness, those who through the instrumentality of human power brought
into servitude human beings, who naturally were their own equals, or those acting upon
the principle of nature's law, brought into this position or situation those who were natur-
ally designed for that purpose, and whose capacities are more befitting that than any other
station in society. Thus, while servitude may and should exist, and that, too, upon those
who are naturally designed to occupy the position of "servants of servants," yet we should
not fall into the other extreme and make them as beasts of the field, regarding not the
humanity which attaches to the colored race ; nor elevate them, as some seem disposed, to
an equality with those whom Nature and Nature's God has indicated to be their masters,
their superiors, nor yet again drag into servitude through the circumstance of penury or
misfortune those who are our equals, peradventure of a common parentage with our-
selves ; but rather let us build upon a foundation which the God of Nature has furnished,
observing the law of natural affection for our kind, and subserve the interests of our fel-
lows by extending the principles of true liberty to all the children of men, in accordance
with the designs of their Creator.

Most of the settlements of the Territory were now supplied with
post offices. Hon. Willard Richards was post-master of Salt Lake
City. Between that point and Independence, Missouri, a monthly
mail service— or the contract for one — had been established in July,
1850. Colonel Samuel H. Woodson, of Independence, was the con-
tractor with the United States Post Office Department for this service,
probably the first one between the Missouri River and Salt Lake
Valley performed under contract with the general government. It was
to run for four years. That it was poorly conducted is evident from
the fact, previously mentioned, that the news of the creation of
Utah Territory, in September, 1850, did not reach Salt Lake City

498 HISTORY OF UTAH.

until January, 1851, and then came via California by private
messenger.

Since the summer of 1851, however, a sub-contract had been in
operation between Colonel Woodson and Feramorz Little, the latter a
Mormon and a citizen of Utah. By the terms of this contract, Mr.
Little — who associated with him his two brothers-in-law, Charles F.
Decker and Ephraim K. Hanks — was to carry the mail between Salt
Lake City and Fort Laramie for two years and eleven months, the
balance of the term for which Colonel Woodson had contracted. The
carriers from east and west, between the Missouri and the Rocky
Mountains, were to meet at Laramie on the 15th of each month. From
this on, though the enterprise was both difficult and dangerous,
the arrival and departure of the mails from Salt Lake City were
more regular. At first the entire distance between Forts Laramie
and Bridger — four hundred miles — was run without a change of
animals, but a trading post having been established at Devil's Gate,
on the Sweetwater, Mr. Little kept relays of animals at that point.
On their initial eastern trip, early in August, 1851, Messrs. Little and
Hanks had encountered Judge Brocchus and his party on their way
to Salt Lake City.

Other improvements at the Mormon metropolis in 1852 were
the erection of several merchants' stores on East Temple or Main
Street, which was already becoming the business centre of the city.
The first store of any consequence had been opened by Messrs. Liv-
ingston and Kinkead in 1849. They were non-Mormons. Their stock
of goods was valued at $20,000. The most convenient building to be
obtained for their purpose was a long, low adobe house, belonging to
the pioneer John Pack, which stood until several years ago on
the north-east corner of the block where the Seventeenth Ward
meeting-house now stands. That old adobe house was then one of
the largest buildings in the city. Following this pioneer firm,
Holliday and Warner, in 1850, opened a store in a small adobe
school-house, east of the Eagle Gate, and subsequently in a
building that for many years stood opposite the south gate of Temple

HISTORY OF UTAH. 499

Block, and which was used successively as a store, as soldiers'
barracks, a department of the University, and finally as the Deseret
Museum. William H. Hooper, who married a Mormon girl and
joined the Church, had charge of Holliday and Warner's mercantile
business in Salt Lake City. Then came John and Enoch Reese, who
had a store near the Council House, which has also since disappeared.
J. M. Horner and Company opened for a short time in the Deseret
News building, where Hooper and Williams soon succeeded them.
Livingston and Bell, successors to Livingston and Kinkead, Gilbert
and Gerrish, and others were later firms. William Nixon, called
'"the father of Utah merchants," from the fact that so many of the
future commercial men of the Territory were in his employ, also
conducted a flourishing business in Salt Lake City in 1852. Nixon
was a Mormon and a native of England. The Walker Brothers and
Henry W. Lawrence, then Mormons, George E. Bourne, John and
James Needham, John Chislett, David Candland and other well
known mercantile men were also in the field, either as employers or
employed. William Jennings, the future merchant prince, was also
in Utah at this time, beginning at the very bottom round of the
ladder, up which he rapidly climbed to commercial eminence.

Among the advertisements of those days preserved in the early
files of the Deseret News or some old way-bill to the mines, are
many that now read very quaintly. For instance, John and Enoch
Reese in 1851 announce that "We have constantly on hand all
necessary articles of comfort for the wayfarer; such as flour, hard
bread, butter, eggs and vinegar. Clothing — buckskin pants, whip
lashes, as well as a good assortment of store goods, at our store near
the Council House."

Marsena Cannon, the pioneer photographer, father to Deputy-
Marshal Bowman Cannon, expresses the ".opinion that he can satisfy
any taste as to the matter of a likeness." The price of photographs
was then from four to five dollars apiece, but a year later fell to
two-and-a-half dollars each, or "two persons taken on the same
plate four dollars."

500 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Alexander Neibaur, surgeon-dentist from Berlin and Liverpool,
informs the public that he examines and extracts teeth, besides
keeping constantly on hand a supply of the best matches,
manufactured by himself.

William Hennefer caps the climax by announcing that in
connection with his barber shop he has just opened an eating
house, where his patrons will be accommodated with every edible
luxury that the Valley affords.

William Nixon is particular to point out the exact locality of
his "shop;" it being "at Jacob Houtz' house, on the south-east
corner of Council House Street and Emigration Street, opposite to
Mr. Orson Spencer's." He states that the goods he carries will be
sold cheap for cash, wheat or flour. This indicates in part the
mixed character of the currency of that period. Those humorists
who assert that theatre and ball tickets were paid for in those days
with pumpkins and potatoes, were not far wide of the truth.

What was then called "cheap" may be gathered from the
following partial list of prices:

An inferior cooking stove cost from $75 to $150.

Glass sold for $15 to $18 per half box.

Foolscap and letter paper, $10 to $12 per ream.

Brown shirting and sheeting, 20 to 30 cts. per yard.

Hickory shirting, 25 to 30 cts.

Kentucky jeans, 75 cts. to $1.25.

Cotton flannel, 30 to 40 cts.

Prints, 25 to 50 cts.

All kinds of manufactured steel and iron goods commanded
high prices.

Wheat brought from 75 cts. to $1.00 per bushel.

On New Year's day, 1853, the Social Hall, recently erected, was
dedicated and formally opened; not with a dramatic performance,
but with a sociable and a ball; speeches, picnic and vocal and
instrumental music being interspersed. A distinguished company
was present. President Heber C. Kimball called the assembly to

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HISTORY OF UTAH. 509

August 14th, 1851. It authorized Leon to trade with the Utah Indians
without reference to locality. But there was another, a blank license,
in the possession of the party, dated July 30th, of that year, signed
by the same official, authorizing its holder, whose name was not
given, to "proceed to Salt Lake country, in the Territory of Utah,
for the purpose of trading with the Utah Indians in said region."
Editor Richards commented on these facts as follows :

We have not seen or heard His Excellency, Governor Young, upon the subject, he
being confined to his house by sickness, but we shall speak our own sentiments on this
matter ; and first, the license given to Pedro Leon to trade with the Utah Indians, was
designed, as we believe, to be confined to the Utah Indians in New Mexico, and that said
Pedro has exceeded his license in coming within the limits of Utah Territory ; and if we
are mistaken in these premises, the next most reasonable conclusion is, that some other
person than James S. Calhoon, as Governor and Superintendent of Indian affairs in New
Mexico, has issued such license, and if this be a wrong conclusion and said Calhoon is
Governor and Superintendent in said Territory, that he ought to try and watch his boys
a little closer and keep them out of other dominions.

And again, if the said J. S. Calhoon is Governor and Superintendent of Indian
affairs of New Mexico, and has issued a blank license to any honest man, or scoundrel,
who may please to put his name to it and by the authority of that license, go to " Salt
Lake country, in the Territory of Utah, and trade in said country, and in no other place,
and with no other than Utah Indians," he has transcended the limits and authority of his
office, he has violated his oath, trampled upon the Constitution and laws of the United
States, and set at defiance every righteous principle that binds together the states and
territories of our Union. But if said blank be a forgery, and there be any such man as
J. S. Calhoon, it belongs to him or his friends to ferret out and expose the forger.

Again, the purchase and removal of Indian children from Utah Territory to any-
other state or territory, or the removal of Indian children without purchase to any other
territory by any such means or process, as appears to have been contemplated by said men,
is kidnapping in the eyes of the U. S. laws, and ought to be treated so in any United
States court.

It is well understood that the Navahoe Indians are at war with the United States,
and it is strongly presumed that those traders are endeavoring to purchase arms and
ammunition for the purpose of supplying the Navahoe Indians, in exchange tor horses,
mules, blankets, etc. Now if we are correct in our supposition, tor any one to furnish
arms and ammunition to said Indians to fight against the United States, would be treason,
according to the letter of the Constitution ; and for any one to sell arms or ammunition to
said traders, having reasonable proof of their designs, would be giving aid and comfort to
the enemies of the nation, and equally entitle them to a traitor's halter.

We have no objections to the Spaniards, Mexicans, or any other nation coming
to our midst, buying tea, sugar, coffee, or molasses, buying, selling or swapping horses.

510 HISTORY OF UTAH.

mules, or any other animals or property, which will tend to the public good ; but from
what we have heard of the affair before us, we feel to raise our warning voice to all men
within our limits, and especially to the citizens of Utah Territory, to beware how they
furnish arms or ammunition to any tribe of Indians whatsoever, and especially to any
tribe at war with the United States, or to any man or set of men of whom it can be
reasonably supposed they have any disposition to furnish munitions of war to hostile tribes.
And we further counsel that no person whatsoever be guilty of trafficking in human blood,
or of selling Indians or Indian children to be transported out of the Territory or from one
part of the Territory to another.

This vigorous setting forth of the case, with the warning con-
tained therein, seems to have had little effect upon the haughty spirits
of the Mexican slave-traders, who continued their traffic in Indian
children and firearms, and declared that they would ask no odds of
the authorities of the Territory. One fellow, clothed from head to
heel in buckskin, and with enough knives and pistols on his person
to furnish a small arsenal, asserted that he would do just as he
thought proper in the matter, and that he had a band of four hun-
dred Mexicans on the Sevier, who would back him up and do his
bidding. When expostulated with upon his unlawful course and
warned of the consequences, he flippantly remarked, "Catching is
before hanging," and paid no further attention to the remonstrances
of the settlers. His " four hundred Mexicans'' subsequently proved
' to be a band of one hundred and fifty Yampa Utes, a portion of the
savage horde that two years later followed the chief Walker in his
destructive raids upon the southern settlements.

Pedro Leon and some of his associates were arrested and tried
before a Justice of the Peace at Manti during the winter of 1851-52,
and subsequently their case came up before Judge Zerubbabel Snow
in the First District Court. His Honor in summing up the case stated
the following as the material facts:

"In September last, twenty-eight Spaniards left New Mexico on a
trading expedition with the Utah Indians, in their various localities
in New Mexico and Utah. Twenty-one of the twenty-eight were
severally interested in the expedition. The residue were servants.
Among this company were the Spaniards against whom these suits

HISTORY OF UTAH. " 511

were brought. Before they left, Pedro Leon obtained a license from
the Governor of New Mexico to trade on his. own account with the
Utah Indians, in all their various localities. Another member of the
company also had a license given to blank persons by the Governor
of New Mexico. The residue were without license. They proceeded
on their route until they arrived near the Rio Grande, where they
exchanged with the Indians some goods for horses and mules. With
these horses and mules, being something more than one hundred,
they proceeded to Green River, in this Territory, where they sent
some five or six of their leading men to see Governor Young, and
exhibit to him their license; and as the Spanish witness said, if that
was not good here, then to get from him another license. Governor
Young not being at home, but gone south, they proceeded after and
found him November 3rd at Sanpete Valley. Here they exhibited to
the Governor their license, and informed him they wished to sell
their horses and mules to the Utah Indians, and buy Indian children
to be taken to New Mexico. Governor Young then informed them
that their license did not authorize them to trade with the Indians in
Utah. They then sought one from him, but he refused to give it, for
the reason that they wanted to buy Indian children for slaves. The
Spaniards then promised him they would not trade with the Indians
but go immediately home. Twenty of the number, with about three-
fourths of the horses and mules, left pursuant to this promise and
have not been heard from since. The eight who were left behind are
the men who are parties to these proceedings."

Judge Snow decided against the eight defendants, who were
shown to have violated the law, and the Indian slaves in their pos-
session, a squaw and eight children, were liberated, and the Mexicans
sent away.

It was thought that this would end the trouble, but it did not.
Some of the slave-traders felt revengeful, and forthwith went to work
stirring up the savages against the Utah settlers. These tactics
called forth, early in 1853, the following proclamation from Governor
Young:

512 HISTORY OF UTAH.

PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR.

Whereas it is made known to me by reliable information, from affidavits, and various
other sources, that there is in this Territory a horde of Mexicans, or outlandish men, who
are infesting the settlements, stirring up the Indians to make aggressions upon the inhabit-
ants, and who are also furnishing the Indians with guns, ammunition, etc., contrary to the
laws of this Territory and the laws of the United States :

And Whereas it is evident that it is the intention of these Mexicans or foreigners to
break the laws of this Territory and the United States, utterly regardless of every restric-
tion, furnishing Indians with guns and powder, whenever and wherever it suits their
designs, convenience, or purposes :

Therefore, I, Brigham Young, Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the
Territory of Utah, in order to preserve peace, quell the Indians and secure the lives and
property of the citizens of the Territory, hereby order and direct as follows :

1st. That a small detachment consisting of thirty men, under the charge of Captain
Wall, proceed south through the entire extent of the settlements reconnoitering the country
and directing the inhabitants to be on their guard against any sudden surprise.

2nd. That said reconnoitering officer communicate with the expedition now travel-
ing south, as often as any information of importance is obtained, that I may be kept advised
of every transaction.

3rd. The officer and party hereby sent upon this service are hereby authorized and
directed to arrest and keep in close custody every strolling Mexican party, and those asso-
ciating with them, and other suspicious persons or parties that they may encounter, and
leave them safely guarded at the different points of settlement to await further orders, as
circumstances shall transpire and the laws direct.

4th. The Militia of the Territory are hereby instructed to be in readiness to march
to any point to which they may be directed at a moment's notice.

5th. All Mexicans now in the Territory are required to remain quiet in the settle-
ments and not attempt to leave under any consideration, until further advised ; and the
officers of the Territory are hereby directed to keep them in safe custody, treating them
with kindness and supplying their necessary wants.

6th. While all the people should be on their constant guard, they are also requested
to remain quiet and orderly, pursuing their various avocations until such times as they may
be called upon to act in their own defense.

7th. The officer in command of the reconnoitering detachment is hereby directed to
move with caution, that he may not be taken in ambush or surprise ; to preserve his men
and animals, and still be as expeditious in his movements as possible ; and the people at
the various settlements are hereby requested to furnish him such aid and assistance as shall
be necessary.

, — "-— , Done at the City of Provo, in the County of Utah, this 23rd day of

j l. s. 1 April, A. D. 1853.

\^^^_,- By the Governor, Brigham Young.

Ben.i. G. Ferris, Secretary.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 513

The presence of the Governor in Provo at this time is explained
by the fact that his Excellency with a small party had just set out
upon a tour through some of the southern settlements, and had
reached Provo when it became expedient to issue the proclamation.

Governor Young strongly suspected that Colonel Bridger was
much opposed to the formation of settlements in this region, and
that he had a hand in inciting the Indians against the colonists in
1850. Probably this was one reason why the Governor, early in
1853, negotiated with the proprietors of Fort Bridger for the purchase
of that property, which transfer being made, Colonel Bridger left
the Territory never to return. He died some years later at St.
Louis.

For about a year before the beginning of the Walker war, that
chief, it is said, who at times could be pleasant and gracious, had
worn a surly air, and was believed to be looking for a pretext to
declare war upon the settlers. Possibly he burned to avenge the
disasters of that portion of his tribe who had participated in the
fights at Fort Utah and Table Mountain. At all events he was now
"spoiling for a fight," and if a good excuse were not soon forth-,
coming his fertile fancy was quite capable of producing one to his
liking. But the excuse came; the desired provocation was given,
and Walker at once took to the war-path, as naturally and doubtless
with the same sense of delight as a caged bird feels on regaining its
freedom, or as a speckled denizen of the waters, which some disciple
of Walton has landed high and dry, experiences when it succeeds in
slipping through the hands of its captor and bounding back into its
native brook where alone it can live and thrive.

The Walker war began about in this way. A resident of Spring-
ville, in Utah County, seeing an Indian whipping his squaw, took her
part and inflicted upon the wife-beater a severe castigation. From
the effects of this, it is said, the Indian died. This was about the
middle of July, 1853. At that time Walker, with his brother Arapeen
and their bands, were encamped on Pe-teet-neet Creek, at the mouth
of the canyon just above Payson. The savage who had been

514 HISTORY OF UTAH.

whipped was one of their tribe. Walker, highly incensed, at first
threatened Springville, but finding the people of that place on the
alert, as they anticipated trouble, he turned his attention elsewhere.
Arapeen undertook to strike the first blow in revenge. On the 18th
of July, with a number of warriors, he rode down to Fort Payson,
whose inhabitants, thinking no evil, received the red men kindly,
and as usual gave them food. The Indians made no hostile move-
ment until they started back to camp in the evening, when they shot
and killed Alexander Keel, who was standing guard near the fort.
Knowing well what would follow, Arapeen hastened back to his
brother and told him what had been done. Walker immediately
ordered his followers to pack their wigwams and retreat up Payson
Canyon, which they did. Several families of settlers were then
living in the canyon. Upon these the savages fired as they passed,
but were evidently in too great a hurry, fearing pursuit, to do serious
execution.

The people of Payson on their part, expecting a general attack
from the Indians, at once flew to arms. They also sent messengers
to Provo to apprise the military authorities there of what had
occurred, and request immediate reinforcement. Colonel P. W.
Conover, who still commanded the militia in Utah County, hastily
gathered about a hundred and fifty men, and proceeded at once to
Payson. He arrived there July 20th. Troops from Spanish Fork
and Springville were already on the ground.

A council of war convened, consisting of Colonel Conover and
his associate officers, and it was decided to follow in the track of the
savages, who, it was feared, intended to attack the Sanpete settle-
ments. Leaving the infantry to garrison the Payson fort, the cavalry,
under Colonel Conover and Lieutenant Markham, at once set out for
Manti. These movements were doubtless in accordance with orders
from headquarters. General Wells, at Salt Lake City, having been
apprised of the situation, had despatched Lieutenant-Colonel William
H. Kimball with a hundred mounted men to join Colonel Conover at
Payson.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 515

Meantime, simultaneous attacks had been made by Indians at
various points. At Springville, in a second assault upon that settle-
ment, William Jolley was shot and wounded in the arm. At Nephi,
in Juab County, cattle were stolen and the guard fired upon, while
similar depredations were committed at Pleasant Creek and Manti, in
Sanpete County.

Colonel Conover, on reaching Sanpete, left some of his men at
each settlement to protect it against the Indians, who were now
raiding and running off stock in all directions. Arriving at Manti
and securing that place against attack, Conover's command divided
and companies were sent out to scour the surrounding country in
quest of the redskins. One of these detachments, under Lieutenant-
Colonel Jabez Nowlin, — who it will be remembered was wounded in
the two days' fight at Provo, — came upon a band of twenty or thirty
Indians near Pleasant Creek, on the 23rd of July. Being hailed by
an interpreter and asked if they were friends or foes, the savages
admitted that they were enemies, and without waiting to be attacked
fired upon the troopers. Nowlin then ordered a charge, and the
Indians, after the first fire, broke and fled, leaving six or seven of
their number dead upon the field. Nowlin's company sustained no
loss.

Colonel Conover now despatched messengers to Salt Lake City
to request further orders from General Wells. The messengers sent
were Clark Roberts, of Provo, and John W. Berry, of Spanish Fork.
Leaving Manti in the afternoon of the 23rd, they reached Summit
Creek— Santaquin— in Utah County, next morning. They found the
place deserted, the settlers, fearing attack and massacre, having
sought safety at Payson. As the messengers rode through the town
they were fired upon by Indians concealed in some of the houses.
Berry was shot in the left wrist, and Roberts through the shoulder.
Putting spurs to their horses they rode at full speed toward Payson,
hotly pursued by the Indians, from whom, however, they succeeded
in escaping.

On the 25th of July, Colonel George A. Smith was given

516 HISTORY OF UTAH.

command of all the militia in the Territory south of Salt Lake City,
with instructions to take prompt and thorough measures for the
defense and safety of the various settlements. The policy he was
directed by Governor Young to pursue was to gather all the
inhabitants into forts, corralling their stock and surrounding it with
armed guards. No acts of retaliation or offensive warfare upon the
red men were to be permitted ; but on the contrary a conciliatory
course towards them was to be maintained. At the same time
vigilant watch was to be kept, and such Indians as were caught
attempting to steal or kill, were to be summarily punished. These
instructions Colonel Smith executed with his usual fidelity, and
though it entailed much labor upon the settlers to put themselves in
a proper state of defense, the wisdom of the policy, evident at the
outset, was speedily confirmed. Those who failed to follow the
instructions suffered heavily from the raids of the Indians.

A paragraph from Colonel Smith's orders to the settlers at that
time is here inserted :

IX. To all we wish to say, that it is evident that the Indians intend to prey and
subsist upon our stock and will shoot and kill whenever and wherever they can. It is
therefore expected that these orders will be rigidly enforced and complied with, and the
small settlements in Pe-teet-neet Canyon, and all such exposed places must be evacuated
and the inhabitants of all weak settlements and stronger ones upon their borders should
not be permitted to wander out any distance from the forts alone, or after dark, but keep
themselves secure, and not permit any sense of security to lull them into a spirit of
carelessness or indifference to their safety. * * * Let every enterprise be
guarded ; * * * and look out that you are not surprised in harvesting and

haying in the fields, or in hauling between the fields and the stack-yards ; and as soon as
may be thresh the wheat and safely store it, and be careful that you save hay sufficient for
the winter if you should have to keep up stosk, or in case any emergency should arise.
We do not expect that any person will complain or think it hard to comply with these
instructions, for it is for their good and salvation for them to do so. The safety of the
settlements depends upon it, and we expect them to be complied with, whether it suits
every individual circumstance or not, and the commandants of the various military
districts and authorities of the various settlements are required to carry them out.

On the same day that Colonel Smith was given command of the
southern military districts, Governor Young addressed the following
vigorous and characteristic letter to Walker, the Utah chief:

HISTORY OF UTAH. 517

Great Salt Lake City, July 25, 1853.
Capt. Walker:

I send you some tobacco for you to smoke in the mountains when you get lonesome.
You are a fool for fighting your best friends, for we are the best friends, and the only
friends that you have in the world. Everybody else would kill you if they could get a
chance. If you get hungry send- some friendly Indian down to the settlements and we
will give you some beef-cattle and flour. If you are afraid of the tobacco which I send
you, you can let some of your prisoners try it first and then you will know that it is good.
When you get good-natured again, I would like to see you. Don't you think you would
be ashamed? You know that I have always been your best friend.

Brigham Young.

On the 10th of August, Lieutenant R. Burns and a company of
ten men, encamped at a small settlement on Clover Creek — Mona — in
Juab County, were attacked by Indians, and during the fight that
followed, Isaac Duffm was slightly wounded in the knee. Two of
the soldiers had their horses killed, and one Indian was sent to "the
happy hunting grounds." About this time Colonel Conover was
ordered back from Sanpete to guard the settlements of Utah County
and assist in putting them in a better condition of defense.

The vicinity of "The Summit," in Parley's Canyon, was the
scene of the next Indian outrage. On the 17th of August, four men,
— John Dixon, John Quayle, John Hoagland and John Knight, — were
hauling lumber from Snyder's saw-mill in Parley's Park, when they
were fired upon by Indians in ambush and two of them instantly
killed. These were John Quayle and John Dixon. Hoagland was
wounded in the arm, but was able to help Knight detach two of
their horses, upon which they rode with all speed to Salt Lake City.
Barely escaping with their lives, they left their wagons, four horses,
two mules, and the dead bodies of their companions behind them.
Their savage assailants did not linger long in the neighborhood of
the massacre, not even long enough to scalp or otherwise mutilate
the dead, according to their custom. Taking the animals they hastily
decamped, and though followed by an armed party from Salt Lake
City, as soon as the news of the killing reached there, they were
nowhere to be found, though diligently sought for in all the
surrounding region. Another John Dickson, the spelling of whose

518 HISTORY OF UTAH.

name slightly differed from that of the man killed in Parley's Canyon,
had been shot by Indians near Snyder's Mill a short time before.

The situation now became so serious that traveling from
settlement to settlement, unless accompanied by a strong guard,
was extremely perilous. Though the Utah Indians had taken the
initiative, other tribes or parts of tribes were also beginning to engage
in the war, shooting and stealing stock in various sections of the
Territory. Governor Young, on the 19th of August, issued a
proclamation forbidding the sale of fire-arms and ammunition to
the Utah Indians and calling upon the officers of militia in the
several districts to hold their commands in readiness to march
at any moment against the murderous marauders.

Colonel George A. Smith returned to Salt Lake City from Iron
County on the 22nd of August. He reported that the southern
settlements generally were in an excellent state of defense, and that
the inhabitants were on the alert in relation to the savages. He had
been assisted in his labors by Apostle Franklin D. Richards, who was
traveling through southern Utah on public business, and returned
north with Colonel Smith. Two days later Lieutenant-Colonel
William H. Kimball, who had also rendered important service in
Iron County, came back from the south. He and his men had been
followed and closely watched by Indians for several days, but
heeding the Governor's instructions they had not taken the offensive,
and the savages, seeing that they were prepared, did not attack them.

As a means of defense and an example to other settlements
during the Indian troubles of 1853, the authorities at Salt Lake City
decided to build "a Spanish wall" around the town. The project
was first mentioned by President Young in a meeting of the Rishops
held at the Council House in the latter part of August. The City
Council then took up the matter and that same month a committee
consisting of Albert Carrington, Parley P. Pratt and Franklin D.
Richards submitted a report to the Council suggesting the line of the
proposed wall around the city. It was to stand twelve feet high and
be six feet through at the base, tapering to a thickness, half way up,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 519

of two-and-a-half feet, and preserving the same thickness to the
summit. Gates and bastions were to be placed at suitable intervals,
and the wall, which was to be built entirely of earth, was to be about
nine miles long. It was never completed, but fragments of the
portion finished may yet be seen on the northern outskirts of the
city, a reminder of the early days that witnessed its erection.
Subsequently many of the outlying settlements of the Territory built
similar walls for their protection.

Still the Indian war went on. At Fillmore, on the 13th of
September, William Hatton, while standing guard, was shot and
killed by the savages — Pauvants — who, catching from the Utes the
infection of the hour, had begun stealing and killing in that locality.

On September 26th, Colonel Stephen Markham and his men had
a brush with the redskins near Nephi, Juab County, in which C. B.
Hancock was wounded, and a number of Indians killed. Six days
later, in another skirmish at the same place, eight more savages were
slain and two or three captured.

A party of four men, — William Reed, James Nelson, William
Luke and Thomas Clark, — about the last of September, started from
Manti, Sanpete County, with a couple of teams loaded with wheat
for Salt Lake City. They had reached Uintah Springs, a little east
of Salt Creek Canyon, when, early on the morning of October 1st their
camp was attacked by Indians and all four were killed. The savages
had time in this instance to complete their fiendish work, mutilating
the bodies of their victims to such a degree that when found they
could scarcely be recognized.

At Manti, on October 4th, William Mills and John E. Warner
were killed near a grist-mill on the outskirts of town, and on the
14th the Indians got in more of their bloody work at Santaquin, in
Utah County, where a few men, engaged in harvesting, were tired
upon by about thirty savages and one of their number killed and
scalped. This was F. F. Tindrel. Stealing what stock they could the
assailants hastily tied.

Saw-mills, grist-mills, and other buildings temporarily aban-

520 HISTORY OF UTAH.

doned by the settlers were burned by the dusky marauders at different
points, and quite a number of small settlements during the summer
were entirely broken up, the inhabitants gathering into the larger
towns and forts for protection. At Allred's settlement, in Sanpete,
where the people had been somewhat slow in following the advice of
President Young in relation to building a fort and corralling their
stock, the Indians, in one raid, ran off two hundred head of cattle.
Said the President, of this event, which excited his anger, not only
against the Indians, but against the tardy settlers: "After the cattle
were stolen a messenger arrived here in about thirty hours to report
the affair and obtain advice. I told Brother Wells, you can write to
them and say : Inasmuch as you have no oxen and cows to trouble
you, you can go to harvesting and take care of yourselves."

On the 26th of October occurred the Gunnison massacre on the
Sevier. The facts of this lamentable tragedy are as follows :

It seems that Captain Stansbury, with whom Lieutenant
Gunnison visited Salt Lake Valley in 1849, after completing his
survey of the lake and its vicinity, decided to explore, on his return
east in the summer of 1850, a route for a transcontinental railway.
He had probably drawn some of the inspiration of his idea from
Governor Young, who, as before related, had marked out the future
path of the iron horse across the continent while coming west in the
spring of 1847. Stansbury, on completing his exploration, recom-
mended the following route- From a point near Independence,
Missouri, by way of Republican River and the south fork of the
Platte to Laramie Plains, thence tacross North Platte and through
South Pass to Fort>Bridger aiid Kamas Prairie. There the
road might fork, one branch passing through Parley's Park and
Canyon to Salt Lake City, and the other running down the Titn-
panogas Valley. This had nothing to do with the Gunnison massa-
cre, except that Lieutenant or Captain Gunnison — for meanwhile he
had become a captain— returned to Utah in 1853 for a similar pur-
pose to that effected by Stansbury three years before. Gunnison was
engaged in surveying a great railway route across this Territory,

HISTORY OF UTAH. 521

when he and a portion of his party were massacred by Indians on
the Sevier River.

Captain Gunnison came to Utah in charge of the "Central Pacific
Railroad Surveying Expedition.'' which, however, had no connection
with the Central Pacific Railway afterwards projected and pushed
through to this Territory from California. The route surveyed by
Gunnison was from the east and considerably to the south of the
one marked out by Captain Stansbury.* After leaving the Huerfano
River and threading the Pass of Coochetopa, it crossed the Green and
Grand River valleys to the Wasatch Pass, west of which it turned
northward to Lake Utah and beyond. But poor Gunnison, after
passing the Wasatch and turning north and west, following down the
Sevier, had proceeded no farther than the lake into which that river
empties, when his terrible fate overtook him.

Besides Captain Gunnison, the principal members of the expedi-
tion were Lieutenant E. Beckwith of the U. S. Topographical Engi-
neers; R. H. Kern, topographer; J. A. Snyder, his assistant; F.
Creutzfeldt, botanist ; S. Homans, astronomer; Dr. James Schiel, sur-
geon and geologist, and Captain R. M. Morris, who with a small com-
pany of mounted riflemen acted as escort and guard to the expedition.
There were also a number of employes. William Potter, a Mormon
and a resident of Manti, was Gunnison's guide.

Lieutenant Beckwith's account of the disaster that befell a portion
of the party was substantially as fc11'!*"r' ' On the 24th of October,
Captain Gunnison and his par* j encamp^ on the east bank of
Sevier River, about fifteen mik /above the! joint where it empties
into the lake. Next morning, Making a nMmber of his men, the
Captain crossed to the west bank of the sfream and followed down
toward the lake, for the purpose of making a reconnoisance of that
sheet of water. At the same time he requested Lieutenant Beckwith.
Captain Morris and the main portion of the expedition to explore the

* Gunnison, however, in " The Mormons," indicates the same railwi
described by Stansbury.

522 HISTORY OF UTAH.

country up the river towards Sevier Canyon. Two days later they
were to meet at some point near the canyon. The parties separated,
and on the 25th each traveled about fourteen miles, breaking their
way through sand and sage-brush. Thus they were about twenty-
eight miles apart that evening. The day had been cold and stormy,
and some snow fell, but the night was clear though still cold.
Gunnison camped in a bend of the river, under one of the banks,
where they were protected from the chilly winds by an enclosure of
willows almost surrounding them at nearly thirty yards distance — "a
sheltered nook from the storm, with inviting grass for their horses."
The spot was just at the head of Sevier Lake, where on the morrow
the reconnoisance was to begin. That morrow came ; but, alas ! it
witnessed work far different to what was contemplated.

The Indian war was still in progress, though the Utes were
beginning to tire of the strife, in which they had received more than
a Roland for an Oliver, and Walker, though ashamed to confess it,
having for the time being drunk his fill from the bloody beaker of
hatred and revenge, was becoming anxious for peace. But the
demon he had conjured up could not all at once be controlled.
As stated, other tribes besides the Utes were now on the Avar path,
and even if Walker could hold his own bands in check, the others
were beyond his influence and authority.

The Pauvantes, in the Sevier River region, had a grievance ; a
greater one than that which had precipitated the Walker war. Anson
Call, who then presided at Fillmore, stated that in the summer or fall
of 1853 a company of emigrants from Missouri, on their way to
California, stopped at that settlement. The whole Territory at the
time was in a state of alarm over the prevailing Indian troubles, and
these emigrants seemed anxious to take a hand in the strife. They
threatened to kill the first Indian who came into their camp. Mr.
Call remonstrated with them, arguing that some of the Indians were
friendly, and that it would not only be bad policy to make enemies of
them, but downright criminal to slay them except in self-defense. The
Missourians, however, seemed to consider it of no more conse-

p

HISTORY OF UTAH. 525

the first fire, these four mounted and rode away, leaving the camp,
the surveying instruments and the dead bodies of their companions
in the hands of the foe. Not far from camp one of the horses fell,
throwing its rider under some bushes, where he lay concealed for
several hours, the Indians passing within a few feet of him. At
noon, all being still, he ventured forth and made his way up the
river to rejoin his comrades.

Among the four who escaped was the Corporal. Riding with all
speed, and at first hotly pursued by the Indians, he reached the spot
where the whole party on the 25th had divided. There his horse
gave out, but being no longer pursued he continued afoot, running
most of the fourteen miles still intervening between him and
Lieutenant Beckwith's camp. He arrived there at half-past 11 a. m.,
exhausted and barely able to communicate the frightful news of the
massacre. Half an hour later Captain Morris, Lieutenant Baker, Dr.
Schiel, and a brother to the murdered Potter started with the riflemen
for the fatal spot. Lieutenant Beckwith and a few teamsters remained
to bring up the train. Late in the afternoon Captain Morris' party,
having picked up the remaining survivors, arrived at the scene of the
massacre. All was silent. A number of the bodies of the slain were
found, but not all. Some of the surveyors' instruments and notes
were also missing, as well as the arms and ammunition of the
slaughtered party. Two Indians were seen in the distance and
pursued by Lieutenant Baker and Mr. Potter, but nightfall being
near they escaped in the darkness. Next morning the search for the
bodies was renewed, and with eventual success. Captain Gunnison's
body was minus one arm, cut off at the elbow, and both of Mr.
Creutzfeldt's arms were missing. The wolves as well as the Indians
had been at the corpses, which in consequence were horribly
mutilated.

President Call, of Fillmore, at the recpiest of Lieutenant Beck-
with, furnished men to convey the tidings of the tragedy to Governor
Young and the authorities at Salt Lake City. Apostles Erastus Snow
and Franklin D. Richards, who were passing Fillmore at the time.

526 HISTORY OF UTAH.

going south, also lent their aid in behalf of the ill-starred expedition.
The express sent by President Call reached Salt Lake City on the 31st
of October.

The fate of Captain Gunnison, who, like Captain Stansbury, was
greatly esteemed by the Mormon people, was a shock to the whole
community. He had endeared himself to the Saints, not only by his
urbane and gentlemanly deportment, but by the fair and impartial
manner in which he had written up, in his valuable little book
entitled "The Mormons," their history and religion.* On the
arrival of the messengers from Fillmore, bearing dispatches to
Governor Young, and others for the authorities at Washington, in
relation to the massacre, the Mormon leader took immediate steps for
the recovery of the lost notes and instruments, and the proper dis-
posal of the murdered men's remains. He was particularly anxious
to recover the body of Captain Gunnison with a view to forwarding
it to his family. He accordingly sent Dimick B. Huntington, the
noted Indian interpreter, to the scene of the tragedy, with instructions
to report to Captain Morris and render him all possible aid. Mr.
Huntington was requested to hire Kanosh, the Pauvant chief, and
other friendly Indians, to go with him to the Pauvantes on the Sevier
for the especial purpose of recovering the lost Government property.
This was deemed a better service and a wiser course to pursue than
to send troops to punish the murderers, who might never be
found. Mr. Huntington started south on November 1st, and
on the 2nd met Captain Morris, Lieutenant Beckwith and their
party at Nephi, on their way to Salt Lake City. They gave him a
guide and he proceeded southward, and on the following day reached
Fillmore. He there met Kanosh and Parashont, two of the Pauvant
chiefs, who had already recovered the stolen notes and instruments —
excepting an odometer — from Gunnison's murderers, and brought

* Governor Young, in his message to the Legislature in December, 1853 — see pre-
ceding chapter— referred feelingly to the lamented death of Captain Gunnison. Later the
town of Gunnison, in Sanpete County, was named in honor of this friend of Utah and her
people.

I

y)tA^4 c/Ct /fiaJ^, ^fo^Z^^

^/^ Jz/JuS

....

HISTORY OF UTAH. 529

during the winter of 1853-4 was burned to the ground. Besides the
losses incurred by the settlers, which were estimated at $200,000, the
war had cost the Territorial treasury about $70,000. This and other
amounts due from Government to the people of the Territory on
account of Indian outbreaks, Congress was very tardy in appropriat-
ing, causing much dissatisfaction in Utah. In fact only a portion of
this money has ever been appropriated and paid by the general
government.

Among the notable events that took place in Utah during the
prevalence of the Indian troubles of 1853-4 may be mentioned in
the order of their occurrence the following :

August 1st, 1853. — The re-election of Hon. John M. Bernhisel
as delegate to Congress.

September 3rd. — A terrible flood in Iron County, which did
much damage to property.

October 6th-9th. — During the Mormon Conference at Salt Lake
City men and families were called to strengthen the settlements
north, south and east of Salt Lake Valley. Among those sent upon
these missions were George A. Smith and Erastus Snow, with fifty
families to Iron County; Wilford Woodruff and Ezra T. Benson with
fifty families to Tooele Valley, and Lyman Stevens and Reuben W.
Allred with fifty families for each of the Sanpete settlements.
Lorenzo Snow was directed to select another fifty and go with them
to Box Elder County, and Joseph L. Heywood was to lead an equal
number to Juab County. Orson Hyde was given a mission to raise a
company and found a new settlemeet on Green River. This
company started in November. It was composed of two parties
from Salt Lake and Utah valleys, John Nebeker and Isaac Bullock
being prominent members. It founded Fort Supply on Smith's fork
of Green River. Prior to this President Young, as stated, had
purchased the Fort Bridger ranch, which was the first property
owned by Mormons in the Green River country.

Early in 1853 Summit County was settled by Samuel Snyder,
who had previously built saw-mills in Parley's Park. It was in the

530 HISTORY OF UTAH.

vicinity of these mills, the reader will remember, that some of the
murders committed by Indians took place during that summer.

A list of the various settlements in Utah at the close of 1853 is
here given :

Salt Lake County : Salt Lake City, Butterfield (now Herriman),
West Jordan, Mill Creek, Big Cottonwood, South Cottonwood, Little
Cottonwood and Willow Creek (now Draper).

Davis County: North Canyon (Sessions' Settlement), Centerville,
North Cottonwood (Farmington) and Kay's Ward.

Weber County: Ogden, East Weber (Uintah), Willow Creek and
Box Elder (Brigham). The latter two are now in Box Elder County.

Utah County: Provo, Dry Creek (Lehi), American Fork,
Pleasant Grove, Mountainville (Alpine), Springville, Palmyra,
Pe-teet-neet (Payson), Summit Creek (Santaquin) and Cedar Valley.

Sanpete County: Manti and Pleasant Creek (Mt. Pleasant).

Juab County: Salt Creek (Nephi).

Tooele County: Tooele and Grantsville.

Millard County : Fillmore.

Iron County : Parowan and Cedar.

Utah's population at this time was about twenty thousand souls.

In January, 1854, the Utah Legislature created the counties of
Summit, Green River, and Carson.

On the 31st of that month a mass meeting was held at Salt
Lake City to again agitate the question of a great national railway
from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast. A memorial was
prepared and sent to Washington, asking Congress to authorize the
construction of such a railway, and that the line be made to run via
South Pass and Salt Lake City.

February 7th. This day John C. Fremont, the famous explorer,
passing through Utah from the east, arrived at Parowan in Iron
County. He was accompanied by nine white men and twelve
Delaware Indians. They were perishing with hunger and cold, and
were assisted over the mountains into the settlement by the people
of that county. One man had fallen from his horse, dead, before

HISTORY OF UTAH. 533

had first thought — Brutus perhaps excepted — of their victim's great-
ness and their own comparative littleness. Caesar may have been
tyrannical, — most powerful men are, or at times seem to be, — but it
was envy of his glory, more than hatred of his tyranny, that whetted
the daggers which pierced him.

"Patriotism,"' said bluff old Dr. Johnson, "is the last refuge of
a scoundrel." Those Roman Senators who, steeped in corruption,
leagued with the pirates of the Mediterranean against their own
country, could still protest patriotism and slay Caesar for his
"tyranny" in exposing and putting a stop to their crimes, were
mostly patriots of that class. Still, Ciesar had his faults; but so had
Cassius, so Casca, so Cicero the silver-tongued, and even the cynical
Cato. Yes, and so had Brutus, "the noblest Roman of them all."
If it was right to slay Ca?sar "because he was ambitious," it would
have been right to murder all the rest because they fell short of
perfection.

It is not the author's design to draw a parallel between Julius
Caesar and Brigham Young. Such an attempt would necessarily
prove futile. For though both were great men, they were too unlike,
their characters and careers too dissimilar, to furnish a perfect
comparison. This much, however, may be said: Brigham Young-
could no more help being the greatest and strongest man in Utah
than Julius Caesar could help being so in Rome. God and nature,
not man, were responsible in both cases. Brigham Young in his
time was perhaps hated as bitterly as Ca?sar, and like C;i?sar would
have been slain if some who hated him could have had their waj.
But Brigham, though brave, was more cautious than Caesar. He
shunned his "ides of March," listening betimes, not only to
friendly counsel, but to the warning whisperings of his own
prophetic soul. Hence he lived long, and died a peaceful death.
Had Joseph Smith been more like Brigham, and less like Caesar in
this respect, he might have lived and died like Brigham, instead of
being assassinated as was Ca?sar.

That all who hated Brigham Young and Joseph Smith were

534 HISTORY OF UTAH.

rogues and hypocrites, we do not believe ; no more than we believe
that Joseph and Brigham were perfect men, without fault, and not
liable, like all mortals, to make mistakes. We believe that many who
hated them were sincere in their hatred, and honestly supposed that
they had ample cause for it. But we also know that some of their
opponents were merely rogues, who opposed them, not on principle,
but for personal profit, as others bent to them and said "Rabbi," not
from a friendly motive, but from an impulse of sordid calculation,
"crooking the pregnant hinges of the knee that thrift might follow
fawning."

Brigham Young, we say, made a good Governor, and it was
largely due to the fact that he was a strong one. He could not have
been otherwise, and doubtless it was well for the time in which he
lived that such was the case. After all, it's your weak man in power
who is most dangerous; the man who is easily swayed by others ;
who, even if he have convictions, has not the courage to maintain
them; the man who, being under oath to faithfully fulfill the obliga-
tions of an office, surrenders his judgment and conscience to other
men who have taken no such oath, and who probably would not
keep it if they had. Of such beware. Trust rather the strong man.
the man of independent thought and action ; the man of iron rather
than the man of lead or tin.

The author remembers reading some years since, in the columns
of the Salt Lake Tribune, an editorial article on Bismarck, the great
chancellor of Germany. The editor commented upon a rumor that
Bismarck, then in power, bewailed the fact that he did not possess to
the degree that he desired the love of the German people. The
writer went on to give a reason for this absence of affection,
attributing it to the fact that Bismarck was a man of iron, and as
such could not expect to be beloved, in the same way at least, as a
gentler spirit would have been; the very sternness of his nature
precluding it. But, said the editor in substance, let Bismarck be
consoled by the reflection that had he not been a man of iron, stern
and strong, he could not have done the work ,he did; could never

HISTORY OF UTAH. " 535

have moulded out of the chaotic, or disunited fragments of the
Fatherland the solidified and mighty German empire, the fame of
which achievement would be to Bismarck an enduring monument
long after that empire itself should have crumbled and passed away.
We have taken some liberty with the editor's language; perhaps also
with his thought; but such was the substance and such the moral
conveyed, as it lingers in this writer's memory.

In the light of a truth so well and wisely uttered, let us survey,
not only Bismarck and his work, but other men and theirs. Had
Brigham Young been otherwise than as God and nature made him,
could he have done so well the work assigned him by destiny? Do
weak men conduct exoduses and conquer deserts? Do they hold in
check the merciless savage, build cities and temples and enthrone
civilization in the midst of solitude and sterility ? Utah's great
pioneer was a man of iron. He had to be, in order that his work
might not be poorly or but partly done. And yet he possessed —
what no tyrant ever did — the love of his people, to a marvelous
degree. No despot was ever loved like Brigham Young. No leader, at
his death was ever more sincerely mourned by his followers. It was
not "a trembling submission" that was paid to him in life; it was
not an affected sorrow that was manifested at his death. They
regarded him as a Prophet, it is true ; but they also knew him to be
a superior man, and loved and trusted him accordingly. But the
Gentiles did not love him; at least not all, nor even most of them.
There were many reasons for this; both from his standpoint and
theirs. No man can draw all men unto him. It is the work of a
greater than man to do that. And even He did not succeed, con-
sidering merely his own generation.

But Brigham Young's rule as Governor of Utah had evidently
been acceptable, not only to the Mormons, but to most of the
Gentiles as well. The best proof of this is in the fact that at the
expiration of his official term, the leading Gentiles of the Territory,
business men and officials, united to a man with the Mormons in
petitioning the President of the United States for his reappointment.

536 HISTORY OF UTAH.

One of the signers of this petition was Lieutenant-Colonel E. J.
Steptoe, of the United States Army, who, on the 31st of August,
1854, arrived at Salt Lake City at the head of a detachment of troops
on his way to California. Efforts had previously been made to
secure the reappointment of Governor Young, but the President —
Franklin Pierce — influenced no doubt by the adverse reports on
Utah sent out by Secretary Ferris and others, had declined to
reappoint him, and had named Colonel Steptoe as Governor in his
stead. The Colonel, however, having surveyed the situation, seems
to have felt much the same as did Captain Stansbury over Governor
Young's appointment in the first place. Said Stansbury at that
time :

Upon the action of the Executive in the appointment 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 head of the Mormon
community, in preference to any other person, to the high office of Governor of the Ter-
ritory, independent of its political 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 been indeed their Moses, leading them
through the wilderness to a remote and unknown land, where th'ey 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 enthusiastically devoted
to the honor and interests of his people, he had won their unlimited confidence, esteem,
and veneration, and held an unrivalled 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 adviser, temporal ruler, and prophet of God.
Intimately acquainted with their character, capacities, wants, and weaknesses; identified
now with their prosperity, as he had formerly shared to the full in their adversity and
sorrows ; honored, trusted, the whole wealth of the community placed in his hands, for
the advancement both of the spiritual and temporal interests of the infant settlement, he
was, surely, of all others, the man best fitted to preside, under the auspices 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 confidence of the people ; and
this 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

HISTORY OF UTAH. 537

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 pretentions to the character of an inspired prophet, or of his views
and practice on the subject of polygamy, his personal reputation I believe to be above
reproach. Certain it is that the most entire confidence is felt in (his integrity, 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 forming a just
and accurate judgment of his true character.

From all I saw and heard, I am firmly of 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 had 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.

As said, a similar feeling to that expressed by Captain Stansbury
seems to have animated Colonel Steptoe, when, toward the close of
1854, he signed with many others the following memorial, having
first respectfully declined his own appointment as Governor of Utah :

Jo His 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 repeatedly 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 as Governor and Superintendent of Indian affairs, and also the disposition 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 Territorial interest better than the appointment of
any other man, and would meet with the gratitude of the entire inhabitants of the Terri-
tory, and his removal would cause the deepest feelings of sorrow and regret ; and it being
our unqualified opinion, based upon the personal acquaintance which we have formed with
Governor Young, and from our observation of the results of his influence and administra-
tion in (his 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.

35-VOL. 1.

538 HISTORY OF UTAH.

We therefore take pleasure in recommending him to your favorable consideration, and
do earnestly request his re-appointment as Governor, and Superintendent of Indian affairs
for this Territory.

The first signer of this memorial was Judge John F. Kinney,
who had succeeded, on August 24th, Judge Lazarus H. Reed as Chief
Justice of Utah. Colonel Steptoe signed next, and then followed all
the Federal officials, United States Army officers, and leading Gentile
business men in the Territory. The memorial was sent to Washing-
ton in December, and resulted in the re-appointment of Brigham
Young as Governor of Utah.

On New Year's, 1855, a grand ball was given by the Utah Legis-
lature in honor of Chief Justice Kinney and other newly-appointed
Federal officials; also to Colonel Steptoe and the officers of his
command, who had decided to spend the winter in Salt Lake City.
Besides the Colonel, the principal officers were: Major Reynolds,
Captain Ingalls, Lieutenants Tyler, Mowry, Livingston, Chandler
and Allston. The soldiers numbered one hundred and seventy-five,
comprising two companies of artillery and one of infantry, and there
was an almost equal number of employes, in charge of the vehicles
and animals. Most of the officers and men were gentlemen, and
their relations with the citizens were of a pleasant character. Some
of the soldiers, however, became intoxicated on New Year's day, and
a fracas occurred between them and a party of civilians. Firearms
were used, and several persons wounded. Fortunately there were
no fatalities, and the affair, which was much regretted on both
sides, though creating considerable excitement, was amicably settled.*

A few of the officers became enamored of and married Mormon
girls. One of them — Sergeant John Tobin — joined the Mormon
Church and remained at Salt Lake City, where he taught a class in
sword exercise.

During Colonel Steptoe's sojourn in Utah an investigation of the
Gunnison massacre took place, and a number of Indians were

* Colonel Steptoe's officers helped to quell the riot, striking with their sabres
own men until thev desisted from the brawl.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 539

arrested and put upon trial for the crime. One of these was the
Pauvant chief, Kanosh, who was acquitted. Some of that tribe,
however, were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in the
penitentiary.

In January, 1855, Walker, the Utah chief, who had so long been
a terror to the whites, died at Meadow Creek, in Millard County, and
was succeeded by his brother Arapeen. Walker, prior to his death,
became convinced that the Mormons were his friends, and among his
final words was an injunction to his tribe to live at peace with the
settlers and not molest them.*

Here triumphed Brigham Young's Indian policy. Never did he
permit his people to make war upon the red men, save in self-defense,
and he always showed mercy and magnanimity toward them when
they sued for peace. The money appropriated by Congress for the
Indian tribes of Utah was not stolen, as in other places, but duly
applied by Superintendent Young to the purpose for which it was
intended. True, his enemies — some of the Indian sub-Agents —
stated to the contrary, but Brigham Young's character, acts, and
especially the admirable results flowing from his manipulation of
Indian affairs in the Territory, is a sufficient answer to such charges.

On the other hand, the Indians were shot down, often in a spirit
of pure wantonness, by passing travelers and emigrants, who thus
precipitated war after war upon the settlers, until the natives, ignoring
their former traditions, learned to discriminate between those who
murdered them, killed them for mere sport, and those who were
indeed their friends, feeding them when hungry, and only fighting
them when their own lives and property were imperilled by the
savages. Is it strange that in the minds of the untutored sons of
the wilderness there should grow up a distinction between the
Mormon settlers and the other white people who came among them?

* According to the cruel custom then in vogue among the savages, an Indian boy and
girl and thirteen horses were buried alive with Walker, being secured near the corpse of
the chid' at the bottom of a deep pit or walled enclosure, and left to suffer until death
brought relief.

540 HISTORY OF UTAH.

One class they called "Mericats"' — Americans — and the other class
Mormons. The latter were found fault with by some of the local
Federal officials because of the distinction thus made by the Indians.
But it would have been far more reasonable to have censured those
who were mainly responsible in the premises — the " Mericats,"
who wantonly murdered the red men, and were really more account-
able than the ignorant natives themselves for such lamentable and
soul-harrowing tragedies as the Gunnison massacre.

In February, 1855, Dr. Garland Hurt, who had recently been
appointed Indian Agent for Utah, arrived in the Territory. He
appears to have been one of those who criticized the Saints for the
distinction drawn by the savages, virtually blaming the Mormons for
not being disliked by the Indians as much as were white people
generally.

Judge Lazarus H. Reed, who, as stated, had been succeeded in
office by Chief Justice Kinney, died in March of this year, at his
home in Bath, New York. He had not spent more than half his
time in Utah since his appointment as Chief Justice. In fact it does
not seem to have been the custom for our Federal officials to do more
in those days. Their salaries being so small, they were compelled to
engage in other than their official pursuits, here or elsewhere, in
order to gain a livelihood. Most of the Mormon officials, including
the Legislators, served without pay. Judge Reed had won the
respect and esteem of the citizens of Utah, and they sincerely
deplored his death. Judge Kinney succeeded not only to the office of
Chief Justice Reed but to the good-will felt for him by the people of
the Territory.

The work of colonization still went on. In the spring of 1855
Morgan County was settled by Jedediah M. Grant,* Thomas Thurston
and others ; and about the same time a colony led by A. N. Billings
left Sanpete County for the Elk Mountains, where they began, in
June, a settlement on the left bank of Grand Biver. In May two

* The county was named for its pioneer settler, J. M. Grant, whose middle name
Morgan.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 541

more colonies set out, one under Thomas S. Smith and Francillo
Durfee, for Salmon River, now in Idaho, where they founded Fort
Limhi; and the other, under Orson Hyde, going to Carson Valley, on
the main overland route to California. Each of these companies
arrived at its destination about the middle of June.*

Orson Hyde was accompanied to Carson by United States Marshal
Heywood and Judge George P. Stiles, the latter having succeeded
Associate Justice Snow, whose term of office expired in 1854.
Messrs. Hyde, Heywood and Stiles were empowered by the Utah
Legislature to meet with a similar commission from California, and
establish in the Carson Valley region the boundary line between that
State and this Territory. Having done this, they organized Carson
County. Orson Hyde became its Probate Judge and Hon. Enoch
Reese its representative to the Legislature. Colonel John Reese,
brother and business partner of Enoch, had settled at Genoa, in
Carson Valley, in 1850 or 1851. He is credited with building the first
house at Genoa, then known as Reese's Station. Others say that
H. S. Beatie erected the first house at Genoa, and that Colonel Reese
bought him out. Several companies from central and northern Utah
went to Carson Valley in the "fifties," and a number of small settle-
ments were there formed. Among those who accompanied Orson Hyde
were Christopher Merkley, Chester Loveland, George Hancock, Seth
Dustin, William Hutchings, and Reuben and Jesse Perkins. Some of
those who followed, next season, were William Jennings, Christopher
Layton, William Nixon, Peregrine Sessions, Albert P. Dewey,
William Kay and George Nebeker. At the time of the Buchanan war
— 1857 — most of the settlements in Carson Valley were broken up,
the Mormons returning to the region of the Great Salt Lake. Carson

* It is the ultimate object of the Mormons, by means of stations, wherever the nature
of the country will admit of their settling in numbers sufficient for self-defense, to establish
a line of communication with the Pacific, so as to afford aid to their brethren coming from
abroad, while on their pilgrimage to the land of promise. These stations will gradually
become connected by farms and smaller settlements, wherever practicable, until the greater
part of the way will exhibit one long line of cultivated fields from the Mormon capital to
San Diego. — Stansbury's Expedition, page 142.

542 HISTORY OF UTAH.

County, however, and nearly the whole State of Nevada belonged to
Utah when the great Comstock mine was discovered in 1857-9.

On May 10th, 1855, Charles C. Rich, George Q. Cannon, Joseph
Bull, and M. F. Wilkie, left Salt Lake City for San Francisco. Elder
Cannon there established a weekly journal called the Western
Standard, representing the views, doctrines, and general progress of
the people of Utah. The first number of this paper, edited by hjm,
was issued at San Francisco on the 23rd of February, 1856. About
the same time Elder Cannon published his Hawaiian translation of
the Book of Mormon.

On June 29th, 1855, at his residence in Salt Lake City, died Hon.
Leonidas Shaver, Associate Justice of Utah. The circumstances
attending his death were these : Judge Shaver, who had held office
in Utah for about three years, had long been troubled with a disease
in the head, which gave him so much pain that he was in the habit
of using opiates and stimulants to obtain relief from suffering. He
was also troubled with an old wound in the hip. Finally his system
succumbed, and he died on the date given. Precisely at what hour
he passed away is unknown, as he was found dead in his bed, by
those who attended him, about one o'clock in the afternoon. He had
retired, according to his custom, about midnight. His death being
sudden, an inquest was held over the remains, Mayor J. M. Grant
presiding and the following named citizens acting as jurors : William
Bell, a Gentile merchant, William C. Staines, Daniel Cam, C. C.
Branham, Andrew Cunningham and Bryant Stringam. Among the
witnesses examined were Dr. Garland Hurt, Judge Shaver's medical
attendant ; Dr. France, Edward Barr and a Mrs. Dotson, landlady of
the house where the deceased had dwelt. The evidence showed that
Judge Shaver for some time had been unwell, that he had com-
plained of a violent pain in his ear, which had become worse
through a cold, the night before his decease. The physicians testi-
fied that an abscess had formed and broken inside his head, the
effects of which had penetrated to the brain, causing death. The
verdict of the jurors was in accordance with these facts.

»

HISTORY OF UTAH. 545

AVe have been thus particular in setting forth the details
surrounding the death of Judge Shaver because of a rumor which
afterwards obtained wide circulation, that he had been poisoned by
the Mormons on account of an alleged difficulty between him and
Governor Young. How much consistency there was in such a story
the reader, with the facts before him, can determine. The same may
be said of the Gunnison massacre, previously narrated, which was
also attributed to the Mormons ; it being asserted that the murder of
Captain Gunnison and his party was not only committed under the
orders, advice and direction of the Saints, but that some of them,
disguised as Indians, participated in the butchery. Relatives of
Captain Gunnison, though doubtless aware of the warm friendship
existing between him and the Mormon people, at first gave credence
to this tale. But the Captain's brother, on visiting Utah and
thoroughly sifting the matter, cmickly changed his mind and
expressed himself as perfectly satisfied that the Mormons had
nothing to do with the massacre.

The originator of these base slanders — for slanders they were —
appears to have been Judge William W. Drummond, who, on the 9th
of July, following Judge Shaver's death, succeeded him as Associate
Justice of Utah. Possibly the first suggestion may not have come
from him, but he was the first to father the falsehoods, and put
himself upon record as their author, thereby securing the copy-right,
which no one that we are aware of has ever disputed. But of this
and other acts of Judge Drummond, more anon.

On the 10th of December, 1855, the Utah Legislature in its fifth
annual session convened at Fillmore, the new capital of the
Territory, and organized by electing Heber C. Kimball President of
the Council, and Jedediah M. Grant Speaker of the House. This
was the first and last session of the Legislature held at Fillmore.
Though it afterwards convened there, more than once, it immediately
adjourned to Salt Lake City to hold its sessions.

Among the acts passed by the Assembly that winter was one
authorizing an election of delegates to a Territorial Convention, the

546 HISTORY OF UTAH.

purpose of which was to prepare a State constitution and memorialize
Congress for the admission of Utah into the Union. This
convention assembled at Salt Lake City on March 17th, 1856. Ten
days later the constitution and memorial were adopted, and Hon.
George A. Smith and Hon. John Taylor — the latter then editing a
paper in New York called The Mormon — were elected delegates to
present the same to Congress.

During the same session of the Legislature, acts were passed
creating the counties of Cache and Box Elder. Cache Valley, which
now contains one of the four Temple cities of the Territory, was
then unsettled, and mainly used for haying and pasturing cattle.
Among those who had visited the valley for that purpose were
Samuel Roskelley, Andrew Moffatt, Brigham Young, junior, Bryant
Stringam, Stephen Taylor, Seymour B. Young, and Simon and Joseph
Baker. Peter Maughan, the pioneer of Cache County — then living
at Tooele — was just about to lead a colony northward and found
Maughan's Fort on the site of the present town of Wellsville. Box
Elder County, which had belonged to Weber, was, as seen, partly
settled, and had recently been strengthened by fifty additional
families led by Lorenzo Snow. Other counties, most of them now
defunct, or beyond the present boundaries of Utah, created by the
Legislature during the winter of 1855-6, were those of Greasewood,
Humboldt, St. Mary's, Shambip, Cedar and Malad.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 547

CHAPTER XXVII.

1856.

A YEAR OF CALAMITIES— ANOTHER FAMINE IN UTAH MORE INDIAN OUTBREAKS DEATH OF

COLONEL BABBITT MASSACRE OF THE MARGETTS PARTY THE HAND-CART DISASTER

NARRATIVES OF MESSRS. CHISLETT AND JAQUES — THE REFORMATION DEATH OF .IEDEDIAH

M. GRANT.

•L HE year 1856 was a calamitous year in Utah. The crops of the
>r past two seasons had failed, and the gaunt specter of famine,
unseen by the settlers since the period of scarcity following
the cricket plague of 1848, was again abroad in the land.

The crop failure in 1854 had been due to a visitation of grass-
hoppers, pests almost if not quite as destructive as the crickets, and
having this advantage over those voracious marauders, that when
pursued they could "take to themselves wings," and fly beyond the
reach of their pursuers. Resides, no gulls came this time to the
rescue, and the ravages of the "iron-clads" were wide-spread and
far-reaching.

The following year the grass-hoppers returned, and during the
summer in many parts of Utah devoured every green thing visible.
Added to this was a terrible drouth, which completed the work of
devastation. Then came the winter — one of the severest ever
known in Utah — burying under heavy snows the cattle ranges and
causing the death from cold and starvation of thousands of animals.
Many of these were beef cattle which would have supplied the next
year's market. The loss in sheep was also heavy. In short, all
things conspired to create and usher in the famine that followed.

During the early months of 1856 the sufferings of the settlers
were severe. Many, as formerly, were driven to the necessity of
digging roots in order to eke out an existence until harvest time.

548 HISTORY OF UTAH.

All were not alike destitute. In every community the provident
and the improvident are found. Some of the former, sensing
intuitively the approach of the famine, and dreading a repetition of
their previous experience, had taken time by the forelock and
provided for the emergency. The result was that their bins and
barns were full, while others were empty. Not long, however, did
they remain replete. True to the spirit and genius of the Mormon
system, with its patriarchal theories and practices, those who had
gave unto those who had not ; the share-and-share-alike principle
again prevailed, and the full bins and larders were drawn upon to
supply the needy and prevent as far as possible any soul from
suffering. Unity and equality — those watch-words of the United
Order — were once more emphasized in the dealings of the Mormon
people with one another and with the needy of all classes and creeds
among them.

Foremost among the philanthropists were the Mormon leaders,
a number of whom had for several years predicted a famine, and
urged the people to save their grain and lay up stores of provisions
for a time of scarcity. Some had followed this advice, while others
had ignored it; but of the former class were the leaders themselves,
who had provided abundantly for the issue. Now that the famine
had come, and their words were verified, these men stood like so
many Josephs in Egypt to the hungry multitude who looked to them
for succor. To their lasting credit be it recorded that that succor
was not withheld. Nor did they take any advantage of their needy
neighbors, but where they did not give outright, as was generally the
case, they sold at moderate prices their beef and bread-stuffs to
those who were able to re-imburse them.*

The following letter, borrowed from the author's "Life of Heber
C. Kimball," is here inserted in proof of the last statement:

* A conspicuous example of fairness and philanthropy during that period was
John Neff, the pioneer mill-builder on Mill Creek. When flour commanded as high as a
dollar a pound, he would not accept more than six cents, the standard Tithing Office price.
Nor would he sell it at all except to the needy, utterly refusing to speculate, himself, or
encourage others to do so, out of the necessities of the poor.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 551

died. Old Jim, Elk, Kit and Kurley remained in Cache Valley, and they were with
about forty head of other horses when last seen, but they have not been heard of for a
considerable time, and whether living or dead we know not. The snow is about waist
deep in that valley. Week before last, Heber and some other boys started to go there, but
when they got to the divide between that valley and Box Elder, the snow was about twelve
feet deep, and they were obliged to return. Heber found the Lize mare and your two
mules on the Weber, and brought them home. They were so poor that they almost
staggered. The Carr boys have lost most of their cattle, as they were in Cache Valley.
Daddy Stump went there also, and most of his died. Brother Shurtliff had some
ninety cows of Brother Brigham's, and he says that they are all dead except ten or a
dozen. Brothers Hooper and Williams told me that they had lost about seven hundred
head. Mr. Kerr, a Gentile, told me that he had six or seven hundred head, and they
were all dead. Messrs. Gilbert and Gerrish had about as many, and they are all dead, as
are also Livingston and Bell's, and, from the accounts from all the brethren north of this
place, we learn that they have lost half of their stock, and this destruction seems to be
more or less throughout the Territory, and many cattle and horses are dying in the city.
There may be more or less of these cattle living, but they are scattered from Malad to this
place. There are some forty head of cattle on the Island, probably living.

********

Brother Smoot has made a selection of one hundred men, principally young men, to
go back with ox teams to fetch on the Church goods that lie in Missouri and St. Louis, if
there are cattle enough left alive to do so. Your brother David, Brigham Young, Jr.,
and George Grant's son George, will go with them.

The times are said to be more close this season than they have ever been in the
valleys ; and this is universal through all the settlements. There are not more than
one-half of the people that have bread, and they have not more than one-half or
one-quarter of a pound a day to a person. A great portion of the people are digging roots,
and hundreds and thousands, their teams being dead, are under the necessity of spading
their ground to put in their grain. There is a pretty universal break with our merchants.
as there is no one to buy their goods, and their stock are mostly dead. My family, with
yours, have only one-half a pound of bread-stuff to a person, a day. We have vegetables
and a little meat. We are doing first-rate, and have no cause but to be very thankful ;
still 1 feed hundreds of others, a little, or they mi'st sutler. Brother Brigham, myself and
others have been crying unto this people for more than three years, to lay up their grain
for a time when they would have much need of it.

At our April conference there were about three hundred missionaries selected for
different missions ; some thirty or forty to go to Europe and the United States, and about
one hundred to Carson Valley, to try to sustain that place ; a large company to Green
Biver, another to Los Vegas and another to Salmon River. All business is given up for
the present on the public works. Not much of any building is going on in the city, as all
mechanics are advised to go to tilling the earth.

To add to the troubles of the people two Indian outbreaks occurred
about this time, during which ten or twelve citizens lost their lives.

552 HISTORY OF UTAH.

The first emeute was in eastern Utah, at the Elk Mountain Mission,
recently founded on Grand River. In the latter part of September,
1855, the Yampah Utes in that locality attacked the settlers, killing-
James W. Hunt, William Behunin, and Edward Edwards, and
wounding A. N. Billings, the president of the mission ; besides
burning property and stealing stock. Soon afterward the colonists
vacated their fort and returned to their former homes in Sanpete
Valley.

The other outbreak occurred in February, 185(3. It was known
as the "Tintic war." A sub-chief of the Utes named Tintic was the
ring-leader of the hostiles, some of whom dwelt in a valley called
Tintic, and others in Cedar Valley, both west of Utah Lake. The
provocation came from the Indians, who, lacking food, began stealing-
cattle from the herds in that vicinity. They also shot and killed two
herdsmen, — Henry Moran and Washington Carson.

On February 22nd a posse of ten men, armed with writs of
arrest, issued by Judge Drummond, in Utah County, set out for
Cedar Valley to apprehend the murderers. Arriving at the Indian
encampment, and attempting to serve the writs, the posse met with
determined resistance. An Indian named Battest aimed his rifle at
George Parish and fired, but the gun-barrel being knocked aside the
bullet missed its mark. One of Parish*s friends then drew his
revolver and shot Battest through the head, killing him instantly.
A general fight followed, in which one of the posse, George Carson,
was mortally wounded. On the other side the chief Tintic was
wounded and one squaw killed.

A few days later the savages killed three more men near
Kimball's Creek, south-west of Utah Lake. They were John Catlin,
John Winn and a man named Cousins. Colonel Conover, with a
force of militia, was now ordered out by Governor Young. Crossing
the lake on the ice, they went in pursuit of the Indians, who fled at
their approach, leaving behind them the stolen cattle. So ended the
"Tintic war." During this trouble, in addition to the fatalities
mentioned, a young man named Hunsaker was capture^ and put to

HISTORY OF UTAH. 553

death by the redskins. He was a son of Abram Hunsaker, who had
charge of stock belonging to Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards
and others. This was the most serious difficulty the settlers had had
with the Indians since the close of the Walker war. It is but fair to
state that while these hostiles were Utes, they were renegades from
their tribe, for whose actions the main body was not responsible.

Rut while no more Indian outbreaks occurred in Utah that year,
the savages on the plains became hostile, attacking and robbing
trains and killing travelers. Among the slain were several citizens
of Utah, namely : Colonel Almon W. Rabbitt, Secretary of the
Territory, Thomas Margetts, James Cowdy and others.

In April Secretary Rabbitt had left Salt Lake City for Washing-
ton, on business connected with his office. He was accompanied
across the plains by United States Marshal Hey wood, Chief Justice
Kinney and wife, Apostles Orson Pratt, George A. Smith, Ezra T.
Renson, Erastus Snow and others. Orson Pratt and Ezra T. Renson
were on their way to Europe, the former to succeed Apostle Franklin
D. Richards in the presidency of the Rritish mission. George A.
Smith was en route to Washington to discharge, in conjunction with
Hon. John Taylor, the duty lately assigned them as delegates from
the Territorial Convention. Erastus Snow was destined to St. Louis
to re-assume the presidency of the flourishing branch of the Mormon
Church in that city, previously presided over by Elder Orson
Spencer, who had recently died.* The others were upon various
errands to different parts of the Union. The Margetts-Cowdy party
left Utah some time later. They were on their way back to England.

In August Secretary Babbitt's train, loaded with government
property for Utah, was attacked and plundered by Cheyenne Indians
near Wood River, now in Nebraska. Of the four teamsters in
charge, two were killed and one wounded. A Mrs. Wilson was
wounded and carried away by the savages, who also killed her child.

* A Mormon paper called The Luminary had been established by Apostle Snow in
St. Louis.

554 HISTORY OF UTAH.

This was an act of retaliation for an attack make by Government
troops upon a Cheyenne village some time before. Ten warriors had
been killed, and the survivors had sought revenge, as usual, upon
the next white persons who fell into their power. Colonel Babbitt
was not with his train at the time, but was killed by the Cheyennes
east of Fort Laramie, a few weeks later. For some time his fate was
enshrouded in mystery, but it finally transpired that after leaving
the frontier for the west, he and his party were attacked and slain
by some of the same tribe that had plundered his train and killed
his teamsters.*

About the time of the attack on Babbitt's train, Apostle Franklin
D. Richards, Elders Daniel Spencer, Cyrus H. Wheelock, Joseph A.
Young, William H. Kimball, James Ferguson and others, just from
Europe, were crossing the plains on their return to Utah. Arriving
at Fort Kearney they learned from Captain Wharton, the officer in
command, full particulars of the killing of Colonel Babbitt's men by
the Cheyennes. As they were about leaving the fort to rejoin their
camp on the north bank of the Platte, a discharged soldier from Fort
Laramie — one Henry Bauichter — arrived with the news of another
massacre by the Cheyennes; that of Thomas Margetts and party,
about a hundred and twenty-five miles west of Fort Kearney. The
substance of the statement made by the ex-soldier to Millen Atwood
and James G. Willie, the latter captain of one of the Mormon
emigrant trains then moving westward, was as follows: Bauichter
had left Fort Laramie on the 29th of August, and having overtaken
Mr. Margetts had traveled with him and his companions as far as the
scene of the massacre. The party consisted of Thomas Margetts and
wife, James Cowdy, wife and child. They had a covered wagon
drawn by two mules; also two riding horses, which were used at
intervals by Mr. and Mrs. Margetts. On the 6th of September.
Bauichter and Margetts went on a buffalo hunt and between one and
two o"clock in the afternoon succeeded in killing a bison about a mile

* William H. Hooper succeeded Colonel Babbitt as Secretary of Utah, being appointed
by Governor Young to act temporarily in that capacity.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 555

and a half from camp. A bluff intervened between them and the
wagon. Margetts took a portion of the buffalo to camp, and half an
hour later his companion, having secured more of the meat,
followed. As he came in sight of the wagon he noticed that the
cover was gone, and on approaching nearer beheld to his horror the
bodies of Mr. Margetts, Mr. and Mrs. Cowdy and their child
lying upon the ground. All save the child were dead, and it was
wounded and dying. Mrs. Margetts was missing. The mules and
horses had been taken, and the wagon plundered. None of the
bodies were scalped. No shots had been heard, but an arrow was
sticking in Cowdy's thigh. In the distance, riding rapidly away, were
a band of about a dozen Indians. Bauichter had lost a gold watch,
three hundred dollars in money and some papers that he had left in
the wagon. Thomas Margetts was brother to Philip, Henry, and the
late Richard B. Margetts, all well known and respected citizens
of Utah.

Following these disasters came another, more terrible still,
which for a season filled all Utah with grief and gloom. It had been
decided by the Mormon leaders that a cheaper and more expeditious
method of bringing their emigration across the great plains would be
by hand-carts in lieu of ox-teams and wagons. The carts, manu-
factured on the frontier, were to carry the baggage and provisions,
and the stronger men were to pull them. The idea was novel,
but, save in the case of two companies, which started too late in the
season and were caught in the early snows near the Rocky
Mountains, proved eminently successful.

The hand-cart project was very popular in England , and created
considerable enthusiasm, especially among those who had hitherto
been unable to raise enough means to emigrate, and who did not
wish to become indebted to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company.
Many of these, carried away with the idea of "•gathering to Zion"
that season, left their various employments before arrangements had
been completed for their transportation. The result was that they
were left to choose between the alternatives of remaining in that

556 HISTORY OF UTAH.

land during the winter, to starve or go to the poor-house, or else run
the risk of a late journey across the plains. They chose the latter
course, in which the presidency of the mission, seeing no better way
out of the difficulty, acquiesced, and directed matters to that end.
Accordingly, across the Atlantic went the ill-starred emigrants of
1856. On reaching the Missouri River the date of departure for the
west depended entirely upon the readiness of the hand-carts that
were there being manufactured for their use. Many of these not
being finished when needed, some delay occurred on the frontier.

The first of the hand-cart companies to arrive in Salt Lake
Valley were two led by Edmund Ellsworth and Daniel D. McArthur.
Captain Ellsworth had left Iowa City, — then the Mormon outfitting
post, — on the 9th of June, and Captain McArthur on the 11th. Each
at starting had in his company nearly five hundred souls, with one
hundred hand-carts, five wagons, twenty-four oxen, four mules and
twenty-five tents. Most of the emigrants were from Europe, and
comprised men, women and children, including some who were
aged and infirm. Yet they heroically walked the entire distance
from the point of starting to Salt Lake City, wading rivers, crossing
deserts and climbing mountains, a distance of thirteen hundred miles.
Some deaths occurred among the aged and sickly, but the great body
of the emigrants arrived safe and in excellent condition at their
journey's end. They were met in Emigration Canyon on the 26th of
September, by Presidents Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball,
General Wells, and many other prominent citizens, — Captain William
Pitfs brass band and a company of lancers under Colonel H. B.
Clawson, forming a portion of the welcoming pageant, — and escorted
to the city with flying colors. Their journey from Iowa City had
occupied a little over three months, and could have been accom-
plished in less time, but for the breaking down of some of the
hand-carts, which were made of green in lieu of well-seasoned timber,
and were consequently unable to bear the strain of the long journey
over the heated plains.

On the 2nd of October Captain Edward Bunker's hand-cart

HISTORY OF UTAH. 557

company — the third of the season — arrived in the Valley, along with
Captain John Bank's wagon company. They had left Iowa City on
the 23rcl of June.

Two other hand-cart companies were now on the plains. They
were in charge of James G. Willie and Edward Martin. The former
had left Iowa City on the 15th of July, and the latter passed the
Missouri River on the 22nd of August. Though these companies
had started late, there still remained time, making due allowance for
accidents and delays, for them to have reached their journey's end
in safety, or with little suffering, but for one thing, — the unusually
early advent of a terribly severe winter, similar to that which had
overtaken and engulfed the Donner Party at the foot of the Sierras
just ten years before.

The approach of a hard winter being evident in Utah, early in
October relief parties Avere organized by the Mormon Presidency and
sent out to meet the emigrants. Anticipating their needs, though no
report of suffering had yet reached the Valley, wagon-loads of
clothing, bedding and provisions were taken by the relief corps to
the on-coming trains. Among those who went out to help them in
were Joseph A. Young, eldest son of President Brigham Young;
William H., David P. and Heber P. Kimball, sons of President
Kimball; George D. Grant and his son George W., brother and
nephew of Jedediah M. Grant; Robert T. Burton, James Ferguson,
Abel Garr, Feramorz Little, Charles F. Decker, Hosea Stout, Ephraim
K. Hanks, Joseph M. Simmons, Isaac Bullock, Brigham Young,
junior, C. Allen Huntington, Daniel W. Jones, Stephen Taylor, and
John R. Murdock. Some of these, as shown, were missionaries who
had just returned from Europe, preceding only a few days the hand-
cart companies to the Valley. A portion of them started back on
October 7th ; the others some time later. At the risk of their own
lives, these brave men went forth to rescue the poor emigrants now
struggling through the snows and piercing winds along the Platte
and Sweetwater.

A very graphic recital of the sad story of the hand-cart disaster

558 HISTORY OF UTAH.

is contained in the writings of John Chislett, for many years a
prominent merchant of Salt Lake City. Mr. Chislett was then
a Mormon, and a member of Captain Willie's company. He says :

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.
* * * ******

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 condition, 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 entered 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 mastered 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 distributed 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

HISTORY OF UTAH. 559

gay, from sorrow to gladness, from mourning to rejoicing. With the cravings of hunger
satisfied, and with hearts filled with gratitude to God and our good brethren, we all
united in prayer, and then retired to rest.

Among 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 starting 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 to 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 fellows who came to our assistance invariably
received us joyfully, and did all in their power to alleviate our sufferings. 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 company did not
arrive until about the 1st of December. They numbered near six hundred on starting,
and lost over one-fourth of their number by death. The storm which overtook us
while making the sixteen-mile drive on the 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.

Mr. Chislett confines his narrative mainly to the experience of
Captain Willie's company, with which he was connected. Elder
John Jaques, who was in Martin's company, detailed the journey of
that detachment from Liverpool in a series of letters to the Salt
Lake Herald in 1878-9. From his equally thrilling account we
present the following paragraphs:

The company of emigrants, of which this hand-cart company constituted tin1 larger
part, embarked at Liverpool, May 22nd, 1856, on the packet ship Horizon, Captain Heed,

560 HISTORY OF UTAH.

a Scandinavian and a gentleman. Among the passengers were the persons who had given
the first sixpence to the Mormon Elders when they first went to England. The names of
those persons were Samuel Pucell and family. The passengers on board numbered 856'
of whom 635 were Perpetual Emigrating Fund emigrants, 212 ordinary, and seven cabin
passengers. I believe all were Mormons. On the 30th of June the steamer Huron
towed the Horizon to Constitution wharf [Boston], when the emigrants debarked. They
took cars for Iowa City, crossing the Hudson at Albany, and passing through Buffalo on
the 4th of July.

During their stay in the Iowa camp the emigrants employed themselves in making
carts and doing other preparatory work until July 28th, when the camp broke up, and the
hand-cart portion moved off nearly a mile for a start and then camped again. The
hand-cart emigrants were divided into two companies, one under Edward Martin and the
other under Jesse Haven, altogether numbering about 600 persons. Some of the emigrants
who came in the company to Iowa City were numbered in two wagon companies, under
John A. Hunt and Benjamin Hodgetts, which left the rendezvous camp about this time.
Many of the carts had wooden axles and leather boxes. Some of the axles broke in a
few days, and mechanics were busy in camp at nights repairing the accidents of the days.
One wagon with mule-team and two wagons with ox-teams were apportioned to each
hand-cart company to carry provisions, tents, etc.

The last hand-cart company arrived at Florence, on the west bank of the Missouri'
on the 22nd of August. This was the site of "Winter Quarters," of the great Mormon
camp from Nauvoo, in the winter of 1846. There, owing to the lateness of the season,
the important question was debated, whether the emigrants should winter in that vicinity
or continue the long and wearisome journey to Salt Lake. Unfortunately, it was
determined to finish the journey the same season. At Florence the two hand-cart
companies were consolidated in one and put in charge of Edward Martin, assisted by
Daniel Tyler (both Mormon Battalion men). August 25th the company moved from
Florence to Cutler's Park, two and a half miles, and camped, stayed there the next day
and night, and left the next morning. While there, A. W. Babbitt, dressed in corduroy
pants, woollen overshirt and felt hat, called as he was passing west.

On the 7th of September, west of Loup Fork, the company was overtaken by F. D.
Richards, C. H. Wheelock, J. Van Cott, G. D. Grant, W. H. Kimball, Joseph A. Young, C
G. Webb, W. C. Dunbar, James McGaw, Dan Jones, J. D. T. McAllister, N. H. Felt and
James Ferguson, all but one (McGaw) returning missionaries, who left Florence
September 3rd. On September 19lh, two or three teams from Green River, going east,
were met, and the men informed the emigrants that Indians had killed A. W. Babbitt and
burned his buggy thirty or forty miles west of Pawnee Springs.

The company arrived at Fort Laramie October 8th, and camped east of Laramie
Fork, about a mile from the fort. On the 9th many of the company went to the fort to
sell watches or other things they could spare and buy provisions. The commandant
kindly allowed them to buy from the military stores at reasonable prices — biscuit at 15i
cents, bacon at 15 cents, rice at 17 cents per pound, and so on. Up to this time the daily
pound of flour ration had been regularly served out, but it was never enough to stay the
stomachs of the emigrants, and the longer they were on the plains and in the mountains

HISTORY OF UTAH. 561

the hungrier they grew. Soon after Fort Laramie was passed, it was deemed advisable to
curtail the rations in order to make them hold out as long as possible. The pound of flour
fell to three-fourths of a pound, then to half a pound, and subsequently yet lower. Still
the company toiled on through the Black Hills, where the feed grew scarcer for the
cattle also.

In the Black Hills the roads were harder, more rocky and more hilly, and this told
upon the hand-carts, causing them to fail more rapidly, become rickety, and need more
frequent repairing. One man's hand-cart broke down one afternoon in the hills, and by
some mischance the company all went on, leaving him behind, alone with his broken cart
and his and his family's little stock of worldly goods thereon. He was drawing his little
child in his cart, as he had drawn her most of the journey, and as he subsequently drew
her to the last crossing of the Platte, but when his cart broke down he had to transfer her
to somebody else's cart and send her on with the company. So he remained behind with
his cart, anxiously expecting somebody to turn back and help him, but no one came.
Night drew on apace, and still he was all alone, save and excepting the presence of a
prowling wolf, which could be seen in the streak of light on the western horizon, a little
outside of ordinary rifle range. Happily, just as darkness was settling down, Captain
Hodgett's wagon company was observed coming down the opposite hill, from the east, at
the base of which it encamped, a quarter or half a mile distant from the benighted and
lonely hand-cart ; he eagerly went and told his tale of misfortune to the wagon people,
and they took him in for the night.

On the 19th of October the company crossed the Platte, for the last time, at Red
Buttes, about five miles above the bridge. That was a bitter cold day. Winter came on
all at once, and that was the first day of it. The river was wide, the current strong, the
water exceedingly cold and up to the wagon beds in the deepest parts, and the bed of the
river was covered with cobble stones. Some of the men carried some of the women over
on their backs or in their arms, but others of the women tied up their skirls ami waded
through, like heroines that they were, and as they had done through many other rivers
and creeks. The company was barely over when snow, hail and sleet began to fall, accom-
panied by a piercing north wind, and camp was made on this side of the river. That
was a nipping night, and it told its tale on the oxen as well as on the people. At Deer
Creek, on the 17th of October, owing to the growing weakness of emigrants and teams,
the baggage, including bedding and cooking utensils, was reduced to ten pounds per head)
children, under eight years, five pounds. Good blankets and other bedding and clothing
were burned, as they could not be carried further, though needed more than ever, lor
there was yet four hundred miles of winter to go through. The next day after crossing
the Platte the company moved on slowly, about ten miles, through the snow, and camped
again near the Platte and at the point where the road left it for the Sweetwater. It snowed
three days, and the teams and many of the people were so far given out that il was deemed
advisable not lo proceed further for a lew days, but rather to stay in camp and recruit. It
was hoped that the snow and cold would prove only a foretaste of winter and would soon
pass away and the weather would moderate, but thai hope proved delusive.

The '28th of October was the red letter day lo this hand-cart expedition. < in that
memorable day, Joseph A. Young, Daniel W. Jones and Abel Garr galloped unexpectedly

562 HISTORY OF UTAH.

into the camp amid the cheers and tears and smiles and laughter of the emigrants. These
three men, being an express from the most advanced relief company from Salt Lake,
brought the glad word that assistance, provisions and clothing were near, that ten wagons
were waiting at Devil's Gate for the emigrants. Early on the morning of the 29th the
hand-cart company left the Platte and struck across the country for the Sweetwater. In
the afternoon of the last day of October the company met G. H. Wheelock, Daniel W.
Jones and Abel Garr, who were going to meet the various companies. At Greasewood
creek were found George D. Grant, R. T. Burton, Charles Decker, G. G. Webb and others,
with six wagons laden with flour and other things from Salt Lake, who had come to the
assistance of the belated emigrants. This was another time of rejoicing. On the evening of
November 1st the hand-cart company camped at the Sweetwater bridge, on this side of the
river, about five miles on the other side of Devil's Gate, arriving there about dark. There
was a foot or eighteen inches of snow on the ground, which, as there were but one or two
spades in camp, the emigrants had to shovel away with their frying pans, or tin plates, or
anything they could use for that purpose, before they could pitch their tents, and then the
ground was frozen so hard that it was almost impossible to drive the tent pegs into it.
Some of the men were so weak that it took them an hour or two to clear the places for
their tents and set them up. On the 3rd Joseph A. Young and Abel Garr were sent as an
express to Salt Lake to convey information as to the situation of the emigrants. In pre-
paring for this express journey home, Joseph A. put on three or four pairs of woollen
socks, a pair of moccasins, and a pair of buffalo hide over-shoes with the wool on, and
then remarked, " There, if my feet freeze with those on, they must stay frozen till I get to
Salt Lake."

At Devil's Gate an earnest council was held to determine whether to endeavor to
winter the emigrants at that point or to push them on to Salt Lake as fast as possible. It
was decided to continue the march to Salt Lake the same season. Two or three days
after arriving at Devil's Gate, the hand-cart company was in part re-organized, and most of
the carts were left there.

The freight that could not be taken along was left at Devil's Gate, with twenty men
to guard it during the winter, in charge of Daniel W. Jones, assisted by Thomas M. Alex-
ander and Ben Hampton, of the relief party. The remaining seventeen men were chosen
from the emigrant companies. These twenty men had a hard time of it before they were
relieved the next summer.

The passage of the Sweetwater at this point was a severe operation to many of the
company. It was the last ford that the emigrants waded over. The water was not less
than two feet deep, perhaps a little more in the deepest parts, but it was intensely cold.
The ice was three or four inches thick, and the bottom of the river muddy or sandy. I
forget exactly how wide the stream was there, but I think thirty or forty yards. It seemed
a good deal wider than that to those who pulled their hand-carts through it. Before the
crossing was completed, the shades of evening were closing around, and, as everybody
knows, that is the coldest hour of the twenty-four, or at least it seems to be so, in a frosty
time. The teams and wagons and hand-carts and some of the men forded the river. David
P. Kimball, George W. Grant, Stephen Taylor and G. Allen Huntington waded the river,
helping the handcarts through and carrying the women and children and some of the

HISTORY OF UTAH. 563

weaker of the men over. In the rear part of the company two men were pulling one of
the hand-carts, assisted by one or two women, for the women pulled as well as the men
all the way, so long as the hand-carts lasted. When the cart arrived at the bank of the
river, one of these men, who was much worn down, asked, in a plaintive tone, "Have we
got to go across there ? " On being answered yes, he was so much affected that he was
completely overcome. That was the last strain. His fortitude and manhood gave way.
He exclaimed, "Oh dear ! I can't go through that," and burst into tears. His wife, who
was by his side, had the stouter heart of the two at that juncture, and she said soothingly,
"Don't cry, Jimmy. I'll pull the hand-cart for yoiu" * * While in the river
the sharp cakes of lloating ice below the surface of the water struck against the bare shins
of the emigrant, inflicting wounds, which never healed until he arrived at Salt Lake, and
the dark scars of which he bears to this day.

The hand-cart company rested in Martin's Ravine two or three or more days. Though
under the shelter of the northern mountains, it was a cold place. One night the gusty
wind blew over a number of the tents, and it was with difficulty some of the emigrants
could keep from freezing. One afternoon Captain Martin and two or three other men
started to go from the camp to Devil's Gate, but a snow storm came on and they mistook
their bearings and lost their way. After wandering about for several hours, they came near
perishing. In their exigency they endeavored to make a fire to warm themselves. They
gathered some cedar twigs and struck match after match to light them, but in vain. At
length, with their last match and the aid of portions of their body linen, they succeeded
in starting a fire. This was seen from the hand-cart camp, from which, after all their
anxious and weary wanderings, they were only about half a mile distant. Help soon
came to the benighted wanderers and the "boys" carried Captain Martin, who was nearly
exhausted, back to camp. By this time there was a sufficiency of wagons to take in most
if not all of the baggage of the company, and to carry some of the people. It was a trying
time that day in leaving the ravine. One perplexing difficulty was to determine who
should ride, for many must still walk, though, as far as I recollect, and certainly for most
of the company, the cart pulling occupation was gone. There was considerable crying of
women and children, and perhaps of a few of the men, whom the wagons could not
accommodate with a ride. One of the relief party remarked that in all the mobbings and
drivings of the Mormons he had seen nothing like it. C. H. Wheelock could scarcely
refrain from shedding tears, and he declared that he would willingly give his own life if
that would save the lives of the emigrants. After a time a start was effected and the
march was re-commenced along the valley of the Sweetwater toward the setting sun.

While on the Sweetwater, Eph. Hanks was met one day. He had left his wagon
behind him and come on alone on horseback, and had managed to kill a buffalo. Some
others of the relief parties, further this way, had come to the conclusion thai the rear
companies of the emigration had perished in the snow. But Eph. was determined to go
along, even though alone, and see for himself. William H. Kimball left Salt Lake again,
November 11th, with Hosea Stout, .lames Ferguson and Joseph Simmons, and met the
hand-carl company four miles beyond the first station on the Sweetwater. By this time
the shoes of many of the emigrants had "given out," and that was no journey for
shoeless men, women and children U> make al such a season of the year, and trudge it
on foot.

564 HISTORY OF UTAH.

As the emigrants proceeded on their terrible journey, there was no appreciable
mitigation of the piercing wintry cold, but its intensity rather increased. The Rocky
Ridge and the South Pass were crossed on the 18th of November, a bitterly cold day,
The snow fell fast and the wind blew piercingly from the north. For several days the
company had been meeting more relief teams, which had been urged on by the Joseph A.
Young express, and as the company was crossing the South Pass, there was a sufficiency
of wagons, for the first time, to carry all the people, and thenceforth the traveling was
more rapid.

On the 21st the company camped at Green River, on the 22nd near the junction of
Ham's and Black's forks, on the 23rd at Bridger, on the 24th in the cedars at the Muddy,
where good fires were had, and on the 25th at Bear River. The next camp, on the
26th, was in a small canyon running out of the north side of Echo Canyon, a few
miles above the mouth of the latter. Here a birth took place, and one of the relief party
generously contributed part of his under linen to clothe the little stranger. The mother
did quite as well as could have been expected, considering the unpropitious circumstances.
The little newcomer also did well, and was named Echo, in honor of the place of her
nativity.

On the 27th the company camped on the Weber, on the 28th on East Canyon Creek,
and on the 29th the Big Mountain was crossed. At a spring here, Feramorz Little,
Joseph A. Young, his brother Brigham and others, who had been busy in keeping the
roads broken in that vicinity, had their camp. About this time the relief wagons
numbered 104. On the same day the company crossed over the Little Mountain, or part
of it, and camped at the head of Emigration Canyon, and on Sunday the 30th passed
down the latter canyon and arrived in the city about noon.

Two wagon companies were still behind. Isaac Bullock and all the men at Fort
Supply, on Green Biver, went to the assistance of the wagon companies, taking all the
oxen, down to the 2-year-olds, in the settlement. On the 2nd of December, sixty horse
and mule teams, mostly two span, with provisions and forage, left this city to fetch in the
wagon companies, which arrived here by detachments. It has been stated that they
were all in, excepting a few persons who tarried at Fort Supply, by the 16th of
December. Perhaps most of them were, but individuals who were there affirm that some
of the wagons were arriving during most of the remainder of the month.

Many besides those who went to the rescue of these companies
would gladly have gone had it been their privilege. None were more
anxious in this respect, for none felt more keenly for the sufferings
of the unfortunate emigrants, than President Franklin D. Richards,
under whose administration in the British Isles the hand-cart pro-
ject had been inaugurated. He had arrived home only three days
before the relief parties set out. He desired to accompany them and
made all preparations to that end, but was called to assist President
Jedediah M. Grant and other Elders who were just then arduously

V

iflrz^y

&h>

p

HISTORY OF UTAH. 567

GHAPTER.XXVIII.

1856-1857.

THE UTAH EXPEDITION BUCHANAN^ BLUNDER SOME OF THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO IT AN

HISTORIC REVIEW THE MAGRAW LETTER JUDGE DRUMMOND's CHARGES CLERK BOL-

TON'S REPLY INDIAN AGENT TWISS AND HIS COMPLAINT THE B. Y. EXPRESS CARRYING

COMPANY THE REAL REASON WHY THE TROOPS WERE SENT TO UTAH SECRETARY FLOYD

AND HIS RECORD MORMONDOM SACRIFICED TO FAVOR SECESSION BLAINE ON BUCHANAN'S

CABINET GENERAL SCOTT'S INSTRUCTIONS TO THE ARMY FERAMORZ LITTLE AND THE NEW

YORK HERALD THE EXPEDITION STARTS WESTWARD — MAYOR SMOOT BRINGS THE NEWS

TO UTAH.

/*|\UP>. narrative now enters upon one of the most interesting and
7£-^ important periods of Utah history, — a period covering what
is popularly or locally known as the Echo Canyon war. It
also became famous as "Buchanan's blunder," and by that allitera-
tive and appropriate appellation will probably pass into history.

Referring to this event in a former chapter, it was stated that
the full truth concerning it had never yet been told. We apprehend
that it never will be until the time when all hidden things shall be
known, when the world's real history shall be revealed, as written
by the pen of the recording angel. Most of those who have
mentioned in their writings the Echo Canyon episode — we refer
particularly to national historians — have seemed afraid to tell the
truth, even in part, respecting an event generally deemed
discreditable to the United States government, or at least to the
administration then in power. A brief allusion to a rebellion in
Utah, the sending of troops to put down the alleged insurrection,
and the issuance of a pardon by the President to the "turbulent and
treasonable Mormons," is about all that such writers have cared to
say in relation to the matter. Their apparent desire has been, not

568 HISTORY OF UTAH.

to enlighten the reader, but to get over the ground and away from
the subject as rapidly as possible.

Some day, however, there will arise a historian, one of national,
perhaps world-wide repute, who will have the courage to dwell upon
this theme, and tell the truth, so far as it can be told, regardless of
consequences. The world will then learn — what has already been
written, though apparently in vain — that there was no rebellion in
Utah, that the sending of those troops was entirely unnecessary, and
the President's pardon not only superfluous, but a mere political
makeshift, to cover up a gross official blunder. Had such not been
the case, the Mormons would have been held to answer for their
"treason and rebellion," instead of receiving an unsolicited pardon
from the Chief Executive; especially after going so far as to burn,
as they undoubtedly did, government wagon trains loaded with
supplies for the troops then invading Utah.

We repeat that our national historians have seemed afraid to
tell the truth, even in part, concerning the Utah Expedition. And
yet it is only a part that could be told, owing to the fact that the
persons chiefly responsible in the premises have taken care to- cover
up the tracks which would probably lead to their deeper disgrace
and infamy. We use the comparative adjective "deeper,*" because,
as shall be shown, disgrace and infamy were positively their portion.

Suspicion, however, is a sleuth-hound, and aided by the slight
scent of the vanished fact remaining above ground, may yet unearth
the fox, and bring to light the whole matter, even before that
inevitable hour when all secrets shall be revealed and all hidden
things made known. Till then, history must be content with what
it has. including the half truth regarding that military fiasco best
known as •'Buchanan's blunder." To tell, so far as maybe told,
how and why that blunder was made, is now the author's aim. A
brief review of local annals will first be necessary.

The reader is aware that from the beginning of Utah's history,
even from before the organization of the Territory, there have
existed within her borders two distinct elements of society, namely:

HISTORY OF UTAH. 571

sufficient numbers to secure the ascendancy, seize the reins of
government, subvert good order and morality, bind heavy burdens of
taxation upon the people, bankrupt the community and bring it into
political and financial bondage. That class of Gentiles were never
welcome in Utah. They were not molested, however, when they
began to come, but were socially ostracized, "let severely alone."
unless they broke the laws of the community. How the better class
of Gentiles who passed through or took up their residence in Utah
were treated, such fair and truthful witnesses as Stansbury, Gun-
nison and many other non-Mormons have testified.

With the setting up of the Territorial government and the
coining of Judge Brocchus and his associates to hold office in Utah,
the long and bitter local feud between Mormons and Gentiles seems
to have begun. Sides were not taken immediately, neither has the
ill-feeling between the two classes been constant since that time. But
the seeds of dissension were probably then sown. Anti-Mormon
writers would have it appear that one of the original causes of ill-
feeling and division was a lack of respect on the part of the Mormons
for the Federal officials. But this ground is not tenable. Judge
Brocchus himself admitted that they were received and treated with
marked kindness and courtesy. Hateful to every true American as
is the Territorial system, — subverting as it does the great democratic
doctrine of local self-government, by sending officials from one part
of the Republic to sway power and authority over another part
whose citizens have had no voice in their selection,— the Saints,
grateful to get any form of civil government from Congress, and
thrice grateful that the Governor and several other officials had been
chosen from the ranks of actual residents of the Territory, were in no
mood, even if they had been unpatriotic enough, to show disrespect
to the President's Gentile appointees. The ill-feeling created so soon
after their arrival was caused by themselves; a fact conceded by most
non-Mormon writers whose pens have touched the subject. The
story of Judge Brocchus has already been told. Disappointed at not
being chosen by the citizens of Utah their delegate to Congress, and

572 HISTORY OF UTAH.

angry at not receiving from them the perquisites he seems to have
expected, he sought occasion to create a breach between himself and
the people to whom he had been sent as a dispenser of justice clothed
in the ermine of Federal authority. While having an undoubted
right to his opinion respecting the marital relations of the small per-
centage of Mormons who were practicing polygamy, and had there
been a law against the practice, the unquestionable right to have sat
in judgment upon transgressors brought before him, he had no right
to insult the Mormon people, by calling in question their morals,
which, as he virtually admitted, were so far superior to his own that
he had not found a lewd woman in all Utah to consort with, while
contemplating the alleged lack of virtue in his betters.

Just how many of the local Gentiles sided with Judge Brocchus,
we cannot say. Doubtless there were others than his colleagues,
Brandebury, Harris and Day, who sympathized with his course, but
we venture to say they were not numerous. Most of the resident
non-Mormons were probably as much disgusted at his conduct as the
heads of the Government to whom the runaway officials reported;
particularly with that portion of their complaint, giving as one reason
why they could not reside in Utah, that "polygamy monopolized all
the women." Still their charges of Mormon disloyalty, to which
credence had already been given, and of the dominating tyranny of
the Mormon Priesthood, which, with polygamy, have always been
popular war-cries against the Saints, doubtless found lodgment in
the hearts and minds of many, and served to increase throughout the
nation the already existing prejudice against the Mormons. Thus
was the way paved for events that were to follow.

The Federal officials and non-Mormons generally, who have
come to Utah since that time, have usually been of two classes, —
friends and enemies to the great majority of the people. Most of
them have been prejudiced against the Saints even before coming
among them. Some who at first were friendly have turned against
them after their arrival, and others, once thoroughly embittered,
have had their views much modified after surveying the local

HISTORY OF UTAH. 573

situation and sojourning for a short time in the Territory. Some of
these have embraced the Mormon faith. Why there should be this
diversity in conduct is left to the reader to surmise. It suffices us to
know that sincerity and disinterestedness, as well as selfishness and
hypocrisy have at times been manifested by individuals of all classes.
As a rule the Federal officials sent to Utah have not been a
superior class of men. Many of them have been broken down politic-
ians, unfit for honorable service, but rewarded for some half or wholly
dishonorable deed in the interests of men of influence, by an
appointment to office in this distant Territory. Others, not so bad,
have owed their appointments to kinship or friendship with persons
in power. Others still have been men of character and ability, in
every way worthy of the honors placed upon them and the positions
given them to fill. This is true of men of both classes, — those
whom the Saints have looked upon as enemies, and those whom
they have regarded as friends. Some, the most unrelenting in their
opposition to the Mormons have still been respected by them, and
thai very properly, as sincere and upright men, who, having adopted
the mistaken notion that Mormonism was a system of lust and
treason, a menace to the Christian or monogamic home, and to
American institutions in general, have deemed it a patriotic and even
a religious duty to do all in their power to extirpate it. This
class have been both official and unofficial. On the other hand, the
Mormons, with equal propriety, have considered some who have
fought them and their religion as men of no principle whatever, —
mere rogues and hypocrites, masking for personal ends as patriots
and reformers. This class have also been official and unofficial.
These sincere and pseudo patriots, these real and sham reformers
have at times united, with all the Gentiles, and made common cause
against Mormonism. Hand in hand with them have been found
many seceders from that faith, some moral and reputable men, others
immoral and disreputable, and most of them bitter and unforgiving,
as apostates generally are. Thus while some have opposed the
Saints on principle, from feelings of patriotism or religious zeal,

574 HISTORY OF UTAH.

others have fought them merely to get gain, — it being more popular
and profitable to fight than to befriend them. Others still have
made war upon them to gratify some private grudge or grievance
against certain members of the community. The masses, as usual,
have been largely governed in the local controversy by the opinions
and actions of their social, political and religious leaders.

As already seen, it has been the practice with both friends and
enemies of the Mormon people, to "write up" the local situation and
send their reports broad-cast over the country. Instance the
favorable books written by Stansbury, Gunnison and others, the
unfavorable reports of Brocchus, Brandebury et al, the friendly
letters of Judges Reed and Shaver, and the inimical publications of
Secretary Ferris and many more. These, believed or disbelieved,
according to the predilections and prejudices of the people, have
produced at different times and in divers places various results.
There is no doubt, however, that the adverse reports respecting Utah
and the Mormons have obtained the wider circulation, and that
voices raised in their defense have been measurably drowned by the
din and clamor of hostile rumor and prejudiced public opinion.

With one or two of these reports, both very much adverse to
Utah, and their effect upon the public mind and the policy of the
general government toward this Territory at the period of the "Echo
Canyon War,'* our narrative now has immediately to do.

On the 3rd of October, 1856, the following letter was written to
His Excellency, James Buchanan, President of the United States :

Independence, Mo.. October 3rd, 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 vestige of law and order, no
protection for life or property ; the civil laws of the Territory are overshadowed and
neutralized by a so-styled ecclesiastical organization, as despotic, dangerous and damnable
as has ever been known to exist in any country, and which is ruining not only those who
do m 4 subscribe to their religious code, but is driving the moderate and more orderly of
the Mormon community to desperation. Formerly, violence committed upon the rights

HISTORY OF UTAH. 575

of persons and property was attempted to be justified by some pretext manufactured for
the occasion, under color of law as it exists in the country. The victims were usually of
that class whose obscurity and want of information necessary to insure proper investiga-
tion 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 law-
lessness, no pretext or apology seems now to be deemed requisite, 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 com-
munity, known from the Atlantic to the Pacific, whose enterprise is stimulated by a
laudable desire to improve their fortunes by honorable exertions, are left helpless victims
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 protection 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 cases, 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 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 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 endured 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 endeavored 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 themselves 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 a 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 manhood, 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 apology, if not sufficient justification, for the violation on their pail of the
usages of civilized communities.

In addressing you, 1 have endeavored to discard all feelings arising from my personal
annoyances in the Mormon country, but have desired to lay before you the actual condi-

576 HISTORY OF UTAH.

tion of affairs, and to prevent, if possible, scenes of lawlessness 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 requests made of me when I last left Washing-
ton, on the subject of the affairs of Kansas, justified me in believing that you had confi-
dence in my integrity, and that what influence I could exert would not be wanting to
terminate the unfortunate 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 tri-
bunal 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 asser-
tions cannot be questioned ; as to the treatment of myself, I will leave that to the repre-
sentation of others ; at all events, the object I have in view and the end I wish to accom-
plish 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.

This sounds like the plea of an honest man and a patriot; one
who merely wished well to his country, and ill to those whom he
deemed her enemies. Before passing upon that point, however, the
reader should know that Mr. Magraw, the writer of the letter, was
an ex-mail contractor who, with his partner, J. M. Hockaday, had
been conducting a mail service from Independence, Missouri, to Salt
Lake City, under contract with the general government. The service
was very unsatisfactory, and a movement was made by many
prominent citizens — a movement of which we will soon speak more
fully — to inaugurate an improvement in the existing condition.
This movement began early in 1856, and in the fall of that year
when Hockaday and Magraw's contract had expired, a new contract
to carry the mail across the country was awarded by the Government
to Mr. Hiram Kimball, a Mormon, residing at Salt Lake City; he
having underbid all competitors, including the former contractors.
This was one of the ''personal annoyances" suffered by Mr.
Magraw "in the Mormon country."

Of course such a fact does not prove that that gentleman was
not the pure and disinterested patriot that he professed to be. It
may serve to explain, however, the spirit of anger which his letter

HISTORY OF UTAH. 577

breathes, and help the reader to arrive at a just conclusion as to the
value of its contents. Not one charge that it contained was ever
proven. Nothing but the bald, unsupported assertion as to Mormon
treason, tyranny, robbery, murder, etc., ever found its way from Mr.
Magraw to President Buchanan. Had it been otherwise the world
would have heard of it. There came a time when President
Buchanan was particularly desirous, for his own sake, to bring forth
his strong reasons for ordering an army to Utah in the spring of
1857. Being requested by Congress, a year later, to present the
data which had convinced him that a rebellion existed in this
Territory, and formed the basis of his action in sending troops
to suppress it, the most that could be adduced was this letter
of Mr. Magraw's, and another document, similar in tone, written
by Judge W. W. Drummond, of which and its author we will now
speak.

Judge Drummond, as the reader is aware, succeeded Judge
Shaver as Associate Justice of Utah. He was considerable of such
a character as Judge Brocchus, with the odds perhaps in favor of
the latter. Like him, Drummond, from the first, seemed bent upon
antagonizing the Mormon community. He declared in open court at
Fillmore that the laws of the Territory were founded in ignorance,
and not content with that, sought to abrogate some of the most
important of those laws. Like other Federal officials, he found
much fault with the Legislature for investing the probate courts with
an extended and unusual jurisdiction, — an act rendered necessary, it
will be remembered, by the unceremonious departure from Utah of
the Federal Judges in the fall of 1851 ; also for creating the offices of
Territorial Marshal, Attorney-General and District Attorneys. He
declared that he would set aside the findings of the probate courts
in all cases other than those which he considered lay strictly within
their jurisdiction, and denied the authority of the Legislature to
clothe the probate courts with powers in excess of those commonly
exercised by such tribunals. Associate Justice Stiles, who was an
apostate Mormon, sided with Drummond in this matter and became

578 HISTORY OF UTAH.

in consequence almost as unpopular. On the other hand Chief
Justice Kinney held that the Legislature had not exceeded its
authority under the organic act in giving the probate courts
extended jurisdiction, and emphasized it by confirming their decisions.
Judge Shaver was of the same opinion. Congress, also, to whom
this act and all other acts of the Legislature had been submitted,
had tacitly approved and confirmed it. Nevertheless, had Judge
Drummond been a gentleman as well as a critic, and gone about the
correction of what he deemed an error of the law-makers in a polite
and proper manner, little or no fault would have been found with
him in return. But unfortunately he was not a gentleman, and his
course, even had it been correct in principle, could not but result in
rendering him unpopular.

But his offensive conduct did not end there. Whether, like
Brocchus, he accused the Mormons of being unvirtuous, does not
appear. Doubtless he thought they were, for he condemned their
institution of polygamy. He could not, however, complain, like his
prototype, that "'polygamy monopolized all the women;*' for he had
taken care to bring a woman with him from the States — a woman
not his wife — with whom he traveled around the Territory, and of
whom he showed himself so fond that he would not forego her society
even while attending to business. He actually had her sit with him
upon the bench while he dispensed law to the "ignorant and un-
virtuous" Mormons, and lectured them upon the short-comings of
their legislators. This woman, a common courtezan, whom Judge
Drummond thus enthroned as a very goddess of justice, he had
introduced, on arriving in Utah, as his wife. Subsequently, a
relative of the real Mrs. Drummond. residing in Utah, seeing the
published notice of that lady's arrival, called to see her and dis-
covered the disgraceful truth. Judge Drummond, it was found, had left
his wife and family in Illinois, and on his way west had picked up a
common prostitute and brought her across the plains. The exposure
caused all Utah to ring with his shame. The Mormons thoroughly
despised him, and most of the local Gentiles looked upon him with

HISTORY OF UTAH. 579

contempt.* Drummond faced it all for a season, continuing to
consort with his paramour, and evidently quite unabashed at the
discovery of his moral degradation. But finally the social ostracism
it entailed proved too much for him, and he concluded to resign his
office and leave the Territory.

As desperadoes, hunted down, cornered and about to be captured
or killed, have been known to arrange their weapons so as to slay
or wound as many of their pursuers as possible, so Judge Drummond,
in collusion with others, planned that his resignation should injure
as much as possible the people of Utah in the eyes of the nation.
Perhaps, like blind Samson in the pillared temple of the Philistines,
he felt willing to sacrifice himself, if by so doing the Mormons
might perish also. It is more than probable, however, that he had
no thought of self-sacrifice at all, but hoped rather to forestall
further disgrace when the Government should learn of his conduct,
and build himself up on the ruins of the people whom he hated.

Accordingly, not long after the Magraw letter was written and
sent to Washington, — a letter promising in "glittering generalities'*
certain startling disclosures in detail regarding the iniquities of the
Latter-day Saints, — Judge Drummond, who was evidently Magraw's
co-conspirator, set about carrying into effect his part of the program
for bringing fire and sword against the peaceful valleys of Utah. Late
in 1856, or early in the year following, the Judge went to Carson
County to hold court. At least such was his pretense, though not,
as soon appeared, his true purpose. In reality he was bidding Utah
farewell. Crossing the Sierras and reaching the Pacific coast he was
next heard from through the California papers, whose columns he
filled with splenetic assaults upon the Mormon people. Proceeding

* Says T. B. H. Stenhouse, an apostate Mormon, in his " Rocky Mountain S;iinls : "
" Plurality of wives 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 excelled
reputation for the indulgence of a common prostitute, and the whole of his conducl was a
gross insult (o the Government which he represented, and the people among whom lie
was sent to administer law. For any contempt the Mormons exhibited towards such n
man, there is no need of apology.

580 HISTORY OF UTAH.

eastward by a southern route, early in the spring he reached New
Orleans, and from that point despatched the following letter, enclos-
ing his resignation, to the Attorney-General at Washington :

New Orleans, La., April 2, 1857.

Dear Sir: When I started for my home in Illinois, I designed reaching Washing-
ton 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 Territory ; Hon. Garland Hurt, Indian
Agent ; also G. L. Craig, Esq.; D. L. Thompson, 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.

My 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 adminis-
tration 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 acknow-
ledged 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 acknowledge no law save
the law of the " Holy Priesthood," which comes to the people through Brigham Young
direct from God ; he, Young, being the viceregent 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, (o 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.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 581

Fifthly. That the Federal officers of the Territory are constantly insulted, harassed,
and annoyed by the Mormons, and for these insults there is no redress.

Sixthly. That the Federal officers are daily, compelled to hear the forms of the
American Government traduced, the chief executives of the nation, both living and dead,
slandered and abused from the masses, as well as from all the leading 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 sen-
tenced 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 per-
son, 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 Missouri and Iowa, who are now in the peniten-
tiary 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 addi-
tion 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 to not ; and after the judges charge the grand juries
as to their duties, that this man Young invariably has some member of the grand jury
advised in advance as to his will in relation to their labors, and that his charge thus given
is the only charge Jcnown, obeyed, or received by all the grand juries of the Federal
Courts of Utah Territory.

Again, sir, after a careful and mature investigation, I have been compelled to come to
the conclusion, heart-rending and sickening as it maybe, that Captain 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 ban.! oi Mor-
mon marauders, under the particular and special order of Brigham Youug, Heber C. Kim-
ball and J. M. Grant, and not by the Indians, as reported by the Mormons themselves, and
thai 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 Hi"
church, or forfeit their own lives. These reasons, with many others thai 1 might give,
which would be too heart-rending to insert in this communication, have induced me to

582 HISTORY OF UTAH.

resign the office of justice of the Territory of Utah, and again return to my adopted State
of Illinois.

My reason, sir, for making this communication thus public is, that the Democratic
party, with which I have always strictly acted, is the party now in power, and, therefore,
is the party that should noiv be held responsible for the treasonable 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 1 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 1 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 infatuated 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 Territory, who
is not a member of the Church (Mormon), and he supported with a sufficient military 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 insulted, harassed, and murdered for doing their duty,
and not recognizing Brigham 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 appoint-
ment 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,

Justice Utah Territory.
Hon. Jeremiah S. Black,

Attorney -General of the United States, Washington, D. C.

The best answer to the only charges in this tirade that needed
answering, was the following official communication from Curtis E.
Bolton, Esq., deputy clerk of the United States Supreme Court of
Utah. Before this document was written, however. President
Buchanan had ordered an army to Utah :

HISTORY OF UTAH. 583

Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.

Sir: My attention having heen drawn to the letter of Justice W. W. Drummond,
under the date of March 30th, 1857, addressed to yourself, tendering his resignation as
Associate Justice for Utah, wherein my office is called in question, I feel it incumbent
upon me to make to you the following report :

Justice W. W. Drummond, in his " fourth" paragraph says: "The records, papers,
etc., of the supreme court have been destroyed byjorder of Governor 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, etc., of the supreme court in this Territory, together with all decisions
and documents of every kind belonging thereto, from Monday, September 22, 1851, 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 ivas 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-defense, 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 Sake City.

Again : in relation to the "incarceration 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," etc. This statement is also utterly false.

I presume he alludes to the incarceration, on the 22nd 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 lalmrinu 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, etc. 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 penitentiary 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 star) for
California, upon a petition setting forth mitigating circumstances, the governor pardoned
(hem. 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 commit-
ting further crime during the winter.

Since that time there have been but four persons sentenced to the penitentiary, 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

584 HISTORY OF UTAH.

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 penitentiary ; nor had there been for 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 records, 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 subscribed my
[l. s.] name and affixed the seal of the United States supreme court for Utah Territory,
at Great Salt Lake City, this the 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. I. Appleby, clerk.
Hon. Jeremiah S. Black,

Attorney General oi the United States, Washington, D. C.

Several other letters found their way to Washington before or
soon after Judge Drummond's resignation, and though some were of
too late a date to have influenced the original action of the Govern-
ment in sending troops to Utah, others arrived in ample time to con-
tribute to that end, and all serve to show the feeling of hostility that
inspired the movement, and shaped the policy of the adminis-
tration toward the people of this Territory at that interesting and
critical point in their history. Among them was the following epistle,
which also came before Congress at the time of the post-bellum inves-
tigation of the "Utah Rebellion: **

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 violation of law, although the pretext or
pretense under which these settlements are made is under cover of a contract of the Mor-
mon Church to carry the mail from Independence, Missouri, to Great Salt Lake City.

On the 25th of 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 23rd of 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

HISTORY OF UTAH. 585

houses sufficient for the accommodation of five hundred persons, and have a large herd of
cattle, horses and mules.

1 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 invasion, 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 enacted by Con-
gress. I would respectfully request that the President will be pleased to issue such orders
as, in his wisdom and judgment, may seem best in order to correct the evil complained of.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Thos. S. Twiss,

Indian Agent, Upper Platte.
Hon. J. TV. Denver,

Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

Along with the Magraw letter, which was merely the preface to
Judge Drummond's book of blood and horror, the foregoing docu-
ments were presented by President Buchanan to Congress in 1858.
Possibly it occurred to some of those astute lawyers and statesmen
to enquire, after reading the charges relating to the murder of
Captain Gunnison, Judge Shaver and Secretary Babbitt, what manner
of men these Mormons were, to be suspected (?) of killing their best
friends, and allowing their worst enemies, such as Judge Drummond,
ex-mail contractor Magraw, Indian Agent Hurt and others, to say
nothing of the Craigs and Kerrs, the Hockadays and Burrs, "Gentiles
of Salt Lake City," to be among them, still alive, or to slip through
the fingers of that awful " oath-bound organization," and escape
unmolested from the Territory.

Whether or not Indian agent Twiss was a party to the conspiracy
to bring about an invasion of Utah by United States troops, we
cannot say. But his statements concerning the alleged aggressive
occupation of the Deer Creek country by the Mormons, when com-
pared with the plain facts of the case, almost warrant the suspicion.
The reader must know that for some time prior to the awarding of
the Government mail contract to Mr. Hiram Kimball, — the act which
so displeased Mr. Magraw, — it had been the purpose of Governor

586 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Young, aided by his friends and associates, to establish a gigantic
carrying company between the Missouri River and the Pacific coast.
Such an enterprise, in the absence of an overland railway and tele-
graph line, — which the Mormons had repeatedly though vainly
besought Congress to construct, — and to supersede the miserable
mail service between the frontier and Salt Lake Valley, was calculated
to be of immense benefit, not only to Utah, but to California and the
whole Pacific slope. It meant the protection of life and property
along the wearisome and perilous overland route, and the consecpuent
increase of emigration and spread of civilization westward. It pro-
posed to carry not only passengers and freight, but a regular monthly
mail, winter and summer. Snow and ice and hostile Indians were to
be no barrier to the regular and systematic arrival and departure of
the carriers at either end of the route, and the round trips were to
be made in unprecedentedly short periods of time.* Brigham Young
was the very man to put into effect and render operative a scheme of
such magnitude ; of such difficulty and danger. It involved not
only an immense outlay at the start, since mail stations would have
to be established all along the way, but a continuous heavy expense
to keep such a vast line in successful operation. It meant also that
the hardy and heroic men who acted as mail carriers would
simply be taking their lives in their hands when they went forth,
especially in winter, upon their perilous and important errands.
The energy and resources of the Mormon leader were equal to the
undertaking. The same could scarcely be said of any other man
then in the whole wide west. Surrounded by men of strength and
courage, with very little wealth, but with the power of uniting and
calling to his aid an army of willing and intrepid souls, who at any
moment would lay their all upon the altar to promote any project

* Sixty miles a day was about the average speed of these carriers after the system
went into operation. One of them — John R. Murdock — in the summer of 1857 traveled
from Salt Lake City to Independence, Mo., in fifteen days. This was at the surprising
rate of eighty miles per day — the distance between those points being twelve hundred
miles. It was accomplished with but three changes of animals, grass-fed; four twenty
mile drives being made each day.

Wf^m

1

^^u^t (y(K ^y^t^^-c^yC^'

HISTORY OF UTAH. 589

The view has been taken, and it is undoubtedly a correct one,
that there were other motives actuating the Buchanan administration
in sending an army over the Rocky Mountains in 1857 than the
suppression of an alleged rebellion among the Mormons, and the
installation of a new set of Federal officials in this Territory. President
Buchanan was suspected — perhaps unjustly — of favoring the cause of
secession. We say unjustly, because he is on record as denying the
right of a State to secede, and for refusing to receive the South Caro-
lina commissioners after the withdrawal of that State from the Union.
Some of his cabinet, however, were manifestly in favor of secession,
and did all in their power to promote it. One of these was John
Buchanan Floyd, Secretary of War, whose efforts to disarm the north
and arm and fortify the south, in anticipation of the great civil con-
flict, are matters of history.* It was doubtless due to Floyd's advice
that Buchanan sent the troops to Utah, ostensibly to suppress a
rebellion in this distant Territory, but in reality to favor a rebellion

the organic act — blotting the Territorial Government out of existence, on the ground that
they are alien enemies and outlaws, denying their allegiance and defying the authorities of
the United States."

In reference to this portion of the Senator's speech, Harper's Weekly said editorially
at the time : " The facts as established on reliable evidence will bear no such construction,
justify no such assumption. For years the Mormons have undoubtedly been self-confined
and tolerably peaceful citizens. They have never pretended, nor has anyone ever charged
them with owing allegiance to any other authorities than those of their own Territory and
those of the United States. JUntil latterly they invariably spoke of the United States
Government as loyal citizens should. Brigham Young accepted a commission from the
President, which he has never resigned and under which he still holds over. Other United
States officers have for years exercised their functions in the Territory without disturbance.
Till the late riots no single occurrence in the history of Salt Lake settlement can be said to
have shaken the bond which united the Territory to the Union. Where then is the evi-
dence of alienage ? Where the ground for disfranchising the people ?

* "At the commencement of the rebellion he (Floyd) resigned. He had done his
utmost while Secretary to dispose of the regular army so as to favor the projected rebellion.
He scattered the forces to remotest stations, and transferred a great supply of arms from
the Northern to the Southern States. Besides this, he abstracted $870,000 in government
bonds, for which he was indicted. In the Confederate service he was a brigadier genera] |
was defeated at Ganley Bridge, losing his bargain.-, ammunition, and ramp ecjuipaue.'"—
Library of Universal Knowledge, vol. 6, page 73.

590 HISTORY OF UTAH.

in the Southern States. Buchanan, though weakly yielding to evil
counsel, was probably sincere in what he did, but Floyd, who
influenced him to commit the fearful mistake, is believed to have
been quite as much the factotum of Jefferson Davis and other con-
spiring secessionists, who may one day stand revealed as the parties
really responsible, with Secretary Floyd, for Buchanan's famous
blunder. Of course this is only conjecture. But "theory is the
father of fact," and conjecture may give birth to certainty.*

The following selection from Hon. James G. Blaine's valuable
work entitled " Twenty Years in Congress," reveals something of the
true inwardness of those times. Referring to the division and
reorganization of President Buchanan's cabinet at the outbreak of the
Rebellion, the great Republican leader says :

Judge Black entered upon his duties as Secretary of State on the 17th of December —
the day on which the disunion convention of South Carolina assembled. He found the
malign influence of Mr. Buchanan's message fully at work throughout the South. Under
its encouragement only three days were required by the convention at Charleston to pass
the ordinance of secession, and four days later Governor Pickens issued a proclamation
declaring " South Carolina a separate, sovereign, free and independent State, with the right
to levy war, conclude peace and negotiate treaties." From that moment Judge Black's
position towards the Southern leaders was radically changed. They were no longer
fellow-Democrats. They were the enemies of the Union to which he was devoted, they
were conspirators against the Government to which he had taken a solemn 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 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

* H. H. Bancroft, in summing up the causes of the Utah Expedition, says : " Thus
in part through the stubbornness of the Mormons, but in part also through the malice of
a dissolute and iniquitous judge, the spite of a disappointed mail contractor, the wire-
pulling of birds of prey at Washington, and possibly in accordance with the policy of the
President, who, until the Confederate flag had been unfurled at Fort Sumter, retained in
the valley of the Great Salt Lake nearly all the available forces in the Union Army and
a store of munitions of war sufficient to furnish an arsenal, was brought about the Utah

HISTORY OF UTAH. 591

an answer to their request, which was compromising to the honor of the Executive and
perilous 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. Buchan-
an'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 Administration as an instrumentality to destroy the
national life, the secession leaders in Congress turned upon the President with angry re-
proaches. 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 ar, " 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, 1860. 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 surrender the national forts in Charleston
Harbor to the secession government of South Carolina. This manifesto was not necessary
to establish Floyd's treasonable 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 in-
dicted 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.

Evidently it was the purpose of the Government to keep the
people of Utah uninformed, so far as possible, of the military
movement projected against them. Resistance was anticipated, and
preparations for carrying out the orders of the War Department, as
well as the issuance of those orders, were conducted with great
secrecy. The army was led to believe that a bona fide rebellion
existed, and that the Mormons were already in the field against them.

592 HISTORY OF UTAH.

The troops, of course, had no alternative but to obey. They were
simply doing their duty. The following circular issued by the
General-in-Chief was the cue of the soldiers for their action:

To the Adjutant General, Quartermaster General, Commissary General, Surgeon
General, Paymaster General, and Chief of Ordnance:

Headquarters of the Army,

May 28, 1857.
Orders having been despatched 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 instructions, to be
executed by the chiefs of the respective staff departments, in connection with the general
orders of this date :

1. The force — 2nd dragoons, 5th infantry, 10th infantry and Phelps' battery of the
4th artillery — to be provided with transportation and supplies, will be estimated at not less
than 2,500 men.

2. The Adjutant General will, in concert with the chiefs of the respective depart-
ments, issue the necessary orders for assigning to this force a full complement of
disbursing and medical officers, an officer of ordnance and an Assistant Adjutant General,
if the latter be required.

He will relieve Captain Phelps' 4th artillery and Hawes' 2nd 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 Quarter-
master 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 — desiccated
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 Bandall 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 pro-
cure 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 provided,
and requisition made for the means of transporting them with the expedition.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 593

6. The chief of ordnance will take measures immediately to put in position for the
use of this force, three traveling forges and a full supply of ammunition, and will make
requisition for the necessary transportation of the same.

Winfield Scott.

Along with this should go the letter of instructions to Brigadier-
General Harney, who was at first entrusted with the command of the
Utah Expedition:

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 instructions, pre-
pared in concert with the War Department, and sanctioned by its authority, 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 establishment 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 ordinary course of judicial proceedings
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 comitatus 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 performance 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, whatever, 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 marshals 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 jealous, harmonious .and thorough co-operation
with him, or frequent and full consultation, 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 enter-
tained 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 government.

594 HISTORY OF UTAH.

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 compensated by usual care in its
outfit, and great prudence in its conduct. All disposable 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 attainable. 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, interpreters 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 approaching 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 think would
too much encumber the march of the main body. The cattle may require to be
marched more slowly than the troops, so as to arrive in Salt Lake Valley in good con-
dition, 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 possible before the latter
passes it.

The general-in-chief suggests that feeble animals, of draught tand 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 material for hutting the troops. Should it be too late
for the latter purpose, or should such employment of the troops be unsafe or impracti-
cable, 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 inhabitants. The necessities of such an
occasion would furnish the law for your guidance.

Besides the stated reports required by regulations, special reports will be expected
from you, at the headquarters of the army, as opportunity may offer.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 595

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, etc., 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.

As said, these instructions were issued and the preparations for
carrying them out conducted with great secrecy. The Mormons,
however, though far from suspecting such an invasion — for they were
not conscious of having done anything to warrant it — were informed
of the military movement in time to prepare for the emergency.

On the 27th of February, 1857, while the excitement caused by
the incendiary reports of Judge Drummond and his clique was at its
height, two citizens of Utah. Feramorz Little and Ephraim K. Hanks,
arrived at Independence, Missouri, having left Salt Lake City on the
11th of the previous December. These men, braving the wintry
storms, had crossed the plains under special contract with the
postmaster of Salt Lake City, to carry the eastern mails, owing to
the failure of Messrs. Hockaday and Magraw to punctually and
properly close their contract. The new contract — Hiram Kimball's —
was just about going into effect; though that gentleman, on account
of the non-arrival of the mails in Utah, had not been officially
notified, when Hanks and Little started east, of the acceptance of his
bid by the Government. As soon as the notice came, prepara-
tions to begin were vigorously pushed forward, a fact which
furnished a pretext for the complaint made by Indian Agent Twiss.
Nevertheless, the delay in beginning — a delay caused by Hockaday
and Magraw — was subsequently taken advantage of by the Post
Office Department to justify the cancellation of the Kimball contract.

596 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Mr. Little, having delivered the mail at Independence, proceeded
on to Washington to collect his pay for the special service. He next
visited New York. The newspapers of the metropolis were then
teeming with hostile comments on Utah and her people, caused by
Judge Drummond's report, which had lately been published.
Incensed at these atrocious calumnies, and the unjust reflections
thereby inspired, Mr. Little addressed the following letter to the New
York Herald:

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 11th of December, 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 corrupt. Before I left for the States, I was five days every week in Great
Salt Lake City, and I witness to all the world that 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 massacre 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 could 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 against Utah. We left our homes in peace, dreaming 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.

Learning from Mr. James M. Livingston,* a Utah merchant
then in New York, that the Y. X. Company had begun operations

* Mr. Livingston was senior partner of the firm of Livingston and Bell, Gentile
merchants of Salt Lake City.

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HISTORY OF UTAH. 603

blessing the land which they inhabited. After he had concluded,
President Kimball offered prayer, in which all silently and reverently
joined. He prayed for "Israel and Israel's enemies," and dedicated
anew the spot upon which they had assembled to hold their celebra-
tion. The assembly then dispersed, some to retire for the night, but
the majority to while away the evening hours in the dance.

Next morning — the 24th — the stars and stripes were unfurled
from the summits of two of the loftiest peaks surrounding the
encampment; also from the tops of two of the tallest trees. Prayer
was offered, the choir sang, the cannon roared, the bands played and
the military performed their evolutions. A feature of the parade
was the drill of the juvenile rifle company, the "Hope of Israel,"
who acquitted themselves in an admirable manner, and to the
astonishment of all beholders. The people, having received brief
general instructions from their leaders to govern them in the day's
proceedings, now set about amusing themselves, each in the way
that best suited him. Dancing, boating, picnicing, playing games,
climbing the hills or strolling and resting under the trees, — these
and other innocent enjoyments were indulged in with the utmost
freedom. Every heart was happy and every face wreathed in joyous
smiles. There was no drunkenness, and no drinking, save from
nature's fountains, and sobriety, modesty and decorum heightened
every pleasure and shed a halo of happiness over all.

And these were the people who were charged with being in a
state of rebellion against the United States government; who,
having exalted the Stars and Stripes, their country's flag, to the top-
most pinnacles of freedom's mountains, were now celebrating
beneath its sacred folds the anniversary of their arrival behind
these ramparts of liberty ten years betore : all unaware of the fact,
soon to burst upon them like a thunder-clap from a clear sky, that
an army was even then marching against them to put down an
alleged insurrection.

About noon, while the festivity and enjoyment were at their height.
four men, three of them dusty and travel-stained, to a degree

604 HISTORY OF UTAH.

betokening more than a brief journey from the valley below, rode
into camp and immediately sought the presence of Governor Young.
These three were Abraham 0. Smoot, Judson Stoddard and Orrin
Porter Rockwell, whom we left at Fort Laramie on the evening of
the 18th of July, and who had reached Salt Lake City on the
evening of the 23rd, having traveled the distance between those
points — over five hundred miles — in five days and three hours.
Their companion was Judge Elias Smith, postmaster of Salt Lake
City, to whom they had reported on their arrival the refusal of
the postmaster at Independence to deliver to the agents of the Y. X.
Company the Utah mails.

Brigham Young, on receiving the news, startling though not
terrifying, that a United States army was approaching the Territory,
coolly called a council of the leading Elders present, and in a few-
words laid the subject before them. There was no excitement. The
mass of the people were not even informed of the matter until they
had assembled for evening prayers. General Wells, at the
Governor's request, then addressed them, detailing in brief the
tidings received from the States, and giving instructions as to the
order in which they should leave the camp-ground next morning.
They were dismissed with the General's benediction. Some retired
to their tents and wagons to solemnly meditate upon what they had
heard, while others, the major part, engaged in the dance and
concluding festivities of the celebration. Songs were sung — Messrs.
Poulter, Dunbar, McAllister and Maiben, being the principal
vocalists — and in spite of what would have been to most people
tidings of gloom, filling their hearts with fear and apprehension, not
a soul seemed daunted, and mirth and merriment reigned supreme.
At day-break on the 25th the camp-ground began to be vacated, and
before another sun had set the people had all returned to their
homes.

Great men are always greatest on great occasions. Such occa-
sions serve to demonstrate their greatness. But great occasions, like
all divine dispensations, must be waited for. They are not to be

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Lake Martha, Cottonwood Canyon.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 607

cotemporaries to have bethought 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 judgment, 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 regulation 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, munic-
ipal, or civil laws; the Federal Government has nothing to do with it, and Congress can
make no laws denning 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.

When Brigham Young expressed himself as quoted, however,
the reaction had not come ; the fickle weather vane of public opinion
had not yet turned. "Onto Utah " was the popular slogan, and
"war and extermination" the all but openly avowed purpose of the
expedition then moving westward. It was because he was aware of
this that Brigham Young spoke as he did. Though indignant at
having been misrepresented at Washington, tried, condemned and
officially executed without a hearing, and disgusted at the thought of
more men like Judge Drummond being "dragooned upon" him and
his people as officers, these considerations alone would never have
induced Brigham Young to take up arms and resist the installation
of his successor as Governor of Utah. He knew that if
deprived of his secular authority, he could still be the spiritual
governor of his people, President of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints; and that was more to him than a mere civil
office; yes, more than to have been President of the United States,
or to have sat clothed in purple, crowned and sceptred upon the
throne of the Caesars. It was the coming of the troops that
he objected to; it was the army, and the army alone that he
opposed, whatever construction may be put upon his heated words

608 HISTORY OF UTAH.

in relation to the civil officials. It was to prevent possible and even
probable spoliation and massacre, by a prejudiced and reckless
military force, some of whom, backed by press, pulpit and public
opinion, were boasting as they marched of their blood-thirsty and
libidinous designs, that Brigham Young opposed their entry into
Salt Lake Valley. It mattered not to him what claim was made in
relation to their coming. It was with stubborn facts that he had to
deal. He had seen what armies of anti-Mormon zealots, political
and religious crusaders, could and would do. He had had some
experience with military posses, and knew the acts of which they
were capable. He had no more confidence in General Harney and
his troops than he would have had in General Lucas and his militia,
or in Colonel Brockman and his regulators, had they again entered
the field against the Saints. He did not propose to witness, if he
could prevent it, a repetition of the horrors of Far West and Nauvoo.
He would not quietly submit, either to be treacherously murdered,
as was Joseph Smith after meekly surrendering himself, or to see an
armed force, steeped in prejudice and hatred, and sustained by the
sentiment of hostility then prevalent throughout the nation, turned
loose to work its will upon a disarmed and helpless community. He
determined to resist the army as long as possible, hoping meanwhile
that the Government would see its error, or at least order an
investigation, upon which the troops would be withdrawn before an
actual collision had taken place. If that failed he was resolved to
utterly'lay waste the land, to have his people set fire to their cities,
and retreating en masse into the mountains or the southern wilder-
ness, leave a second Moscow blazing before the eyes of a victorious
yet vanquished foe. As the Russians retreated before Napoleon, as
the Gauls burnt their country before Ceesar, the Saints were deter-
mined, if pushed to the extremity, to apply the torch to their houses,
farms and fields, the beautiful homes created by their industry, and
converting the oasis into a desert, for their enemies to divide
amongst them if they desired, to start upon another exodus — God
alone knew whither — in quest of the priceless boons of peace and

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HISTORY OF UTAH. 611

however, the Kansas troubles, which for some years had been vexing
the nation, revived, and Harney was relieved of the command of the
expedition and ordered to remain and operate for the restoration of
peace in that distracted Territory. Thus, instead of wintering
among the Mormons in Salt Lake Valley, General Harney spent that
season among the "border ruffians" of "bleeding Kansas." Per-
haps many will think that after all he made good his word, to "winter
in the Valley or" — elsewhere.

Harney's successor as commander of the Utah Expedition was
Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, of the Second Cavalry, then
stationed at Washington. He received his appointment on the 29th
of August, and forthwith repaired to Fort Leavenworth to assume
command. From that point he set out for the west on the 17th of
September, one day after Colonel Cooke's departure. He was
accompanied by his staff and a detachment of forty dragoons.
Colonel Johnston, staff and escort traveled in light spring wagons
in order to insure speedy transit. Thus started upon his last
campaign in the service of his country, the brave and brilliant
Albert Sidney Johnston. Returning from Utah, he accepted a
generalship in the Confederate army, confronted General Grant at
Shiloh, and fell at the very crisis of that terrible battle which, but
for his death, many have thought would probably have been won for
the South.

Meantime, at the suggestion of General Harney to the Command-
er-in-chief, Captain Stewart Van Vliet, Assistant Quarter-Master of
the United States Army, had preceded the expedition to Utah, to
ascertain whether forage and fuel could be purchased for the troops,
and to look out an eligible site for the establishment of a military
post within the Territory. Captain Van Vliet arrived at Salt Lake
City on the 8th of September. He was kindly received by Governor
Young and the Mormon leaders, but was given to understand that
the people of Utah regarded the coming army as an enemy; that
they would not supply it with forage and fuel, and that the troops
would not be permitted to enter Salt Lake Valley. After a reception

612 HISTORY OF UTAH.

at the Social Hall, where Captain Van Vliet was presented to many
prominent citizens, several interviews took place in Governor Young's
private office. The substance of these interviews is here given.

Governor Young. — "We do not want to fight the United States,
but if they drive us to it, we will do the best we can : and I will tell
you, as the Lord lives we shall come off conquerors. God 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 over-
throw 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 noth-
ing to do with it,' that is 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. The 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
supporters of the Constitution of the United States, and we love that
Constitution, and respect the laws of the United States; but it is by
the corrupt administration of those laws that we are made to suffer.
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."

Captain Van Vliet: — "That 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 senatorship ; but they have no interest in
common with the people. You have 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."

Governor 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. I have broken no law, and under the
present state of affairs I will not suffer myself to be taken by any
United States officer, to be killed as they killed Joseph."

many

•

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Mountain Torrent, Cottonwood Canyon.

t\

HISTORY OF UTAH. 615

they were in no way responsible, and which they have never ceased
to regard as a public calamity.

Hubert Howe Bancroft, in his history of Utah, speaking of this
event, says: "It may as well be understood at the outset that this
horrible crime, so often and so persistently charged upon the Mor-
mon Church and its leaders, was the crime of an individual, the
crime of a fanatic of the worst stamp, one who was a member of the
Mormon Church, but of whose intentions the Church knew nothing,
and whose bloody acts the members of the Church, high and low,
regard with as much abhorrence as any out of the Church. Indeed,
the blow fell upon the brotherhood with three-fold force and damage.
There was the cruelty of it, which wrung their hearts; there was the
odium attending its performance in their midst; and there was the
strength it lent their enemies further to malign and molest them.
The Mormons denounce the Mountain Meadows massacre, and every
act connected therewith, as earnestly and as honestly as any in the
outside world. This is abundantly proved and may be accepted as a
historical fact."

Leaving this subject for the present, let us return to Captain Van
Vliet, after his departure from Salt Lake City about the middle of
September. Here is the official report of his errand :

Ham's Fork, September 16, 1857.
Captain:

I have the honor to report, for the information of the commanding general, the result
of my trip to the Territory of Utah.

In obedience to special instructions, dated headquarters army for Utah, Fort Leaven-
worth, July 28, 1857, I left Fort Leavenworth, July 30, and reached Fort Kearney in nine
traveling days, Fort Laramie in ten, and Great Salt Lake City in thirty-three and a half.
At Fort Kearney 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 mount-
ain men at Green River, and all informed me thai I would not be allowed to enter Utah,
and if 1 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 escort at Ham's Fork, 143 miles this side

616 HISTORY OF UTAH.

of the city, and proceed alone. 1 reached Great Salt Lake City without molestation, and
immediately upon my arrival I informed Governor Brigham Young that I desired an inter-
view, which he appointed for the next day. On the evening of the day of my arrival,
Governor Young, with many of the leading men of the city, called upon me at my quar-
ters. The governor received me most cordially and treated me during my stay, which
continued some six days, with the greatest hospitality and kindness. In this interview the
governor made known to me his views with regard to the approach of the United States
troops, in plain and unmistakable language.

He stated that the Mormons had been 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 deter-
mined 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 entrance of the troops into the val-
ley was expressed by Governor Young and those about him.

The governor informed me that there was abundance of everything I required 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 opposi-
tion. 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 attended 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 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 toward their
Territory as the commencement of another religious persecution, and expressed a fixed
determination to sustain Governor Young in any measures lie might adopt. From all
these facts I am forced to the conclusion that Governor Young and the people of Utah
will prevent, if possible, the army for Utah from entering their Territory this season.

* The harvest of 1857 had been abundant, and the fear of famine by this time was
pretty well past.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 617

This, in my opinion, will not be a difficult task, owing to the lateness of the season, the
smallness of our force, and the defenses 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 ap-
proaching, and for over fifty miles it passes through narrow canyons and over nigged
mountains, which a small force could hold against great odds. I am inclined, however,
to the belief that the Mormons will not resort to actual hostilities until the last moment.
Their plan of operations will be to burn the grass, cut up the roads, and stampede the ani-
mals, so as to delay the troops until the snow commences to fall, which will render the
road impassable. Snow falls early in this region, 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 1 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
considered that I am advocating either the one course or the other. I simply wish to lay
the facts before the general, leaving >t to his better judgment to decide upon the proper
movements. Notwithstanding my inability to make the purchases I was ordered 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 opin-
ion, entirely unsuitable for a military station. It contains but little grass, and is very much
exposed to the cold winds of winter; its only advantage being the close proximity of fine
wood. It is too far from the city, being between thirty-live and forty 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 Tooele Valleyi
three miles north of Tooele City, and possesses wood, water and grass; but it is occupied
by the Mormons, who 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 inhabitants and under cultivation. On my return 1 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 two 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 my 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 Pleasanton,

A. A. Adj't Gen. Army for Utah, Fort Leavenworth.

P. S. — I shall start on my return tomorrow, with an escort of ten men.

618 HISTORY OF UTAH.

The reader will have noted that while Captain Van Vliet, in his
interview with Governor Young, maintained and was evidently sin-
cere in the belief that the design of the Federal Government in
sending an army to Utah was merely to install the new executive and
preserve peace and order in the Territory, that the Mormon leader
was quite as firmly convinced that it meant something far different.
Granting that the Captain was right, so far as he and other repre-
sentatives of the Government were concerned, and that the object
was not to make war upon the Saints, it is not surprising, after
his experience in Missouri and Illinois, that Brigham Young should
have felt and acted as he did. Let neither view, however, cause the
reader to lose sight of the fact that the sending of that army was a
part of the plot for secession concocted by Secretary Floyd and his
fellow conspirators at Washington. This was doubtless the real
reason why the troops were ordered west; the reason also why an
investigation, which would have defeated the purpose of the con-
spirators had it occurred before the expedition crossed the plains,
was delayed until that purpose had been partly effected, and the
flower of the United States army locked in the icy embrace of winter
beyond the Rocky Mountains*

* The fact that the Civil War did not immediately follow proves nothing to the con-
trary. It had been regarded as imminent for many years. As early as 1850 the south
had threatened to secede. The firing on Fort Sumter was but putting the match to a mine
which had long been laid.

f/Jimt Jf.Jk'tlj

HISTORY OF UTAH. 619

CHAPTER XXX.

1857-1858.

The echo canyon campaign — utah under martial law — colonel burton takes the

field the united states troops enter the territory general wells goes to

the front— echo canyon fortified lot smith burns the government trains

major taylor's capture — mormon cossacks — colonel Alexander's dilemma — he

starts for soda springs colonel burton intercepts him the project abandoned

correspondence between colonel alexander and governor young apostle

taylor's letter to captain marcy — arrival of general Johnston — a march of

MISERY FORTS BRIDGER AND SUPPLY BURNT COLONEL COOKe's EXPERIENCE CAMP SCOTT

— THE FEDERAL ARMY GOES INTO WINTER QUARTERS RETURN OF THE MILITIA PREPAR-
ING FOR THE SPRING CAMPAIGN.

•L HE Army for Utah was now approaching her borders. Its
>K route from the frontier lay by way of Forts Kearney and
Laramie, the former two hundred and ninety-five miles, and
the latter six hundred and twenty-five miles from Fort Leaven-
worth. Colonel Alexander's command reached Laramie early in
September. Two weeks later Colonel Smith's companies arrived there
and followed the main army toward the mountains. General
Johnston and his party were at Fort Laramie on October 5th, and
on or about the 20th Colonel Cooke and his dragoons passed that
point.

Hitherto the progress of the troops was quite satisfactory. The
weather as a rule had been pleasant, grass plentiful, and everything
seemed propitious for the expedition. True, the Cheyenne Indians,
on the 1st of August, about thirty miles west of Fort Kearney, had
made a raid on the army cattle herds, killing one of the nineteen
drovers, and running off over eight hundred head of beeves that
were being driven ahead of the troops, and had been designed for
their subsistence during the winter. But the army itself had met

620 HISTORY OF UTAH.

with no mishap. So far as the Indians were concerned, doubtless
the troops would have been only too glad to have encountered them,
after what had occurred, for the purpose of punishing the dusky
marauders.

From here on, however, there was destined to be a decided
change in the program. After passing the Rocky Mountains the
experience of the troops was simply disastrous. Frost and fire, — the
former by the agency of nature, the latter by that of man, — combined
to hedge up their way and render them powerless. In short,
Johnston's campaign in Utah, save that there was no fighting nor
blood-shed connected with it, was a repetition on a small scale of
Napoleon's campaign in Russia.

Preparations to resist the advance of the army, — to prevent it,
at least, from entering Salt Lake Valley, had promptly been begun by
the Mormon people under the direction of their leaders. Eight days
after the receipt of the news that the troops were on the way, the
following order was issued to the commanders of the various military
districts of the Territory :

Headquarters Nauvoo Legion,
Adjt.-General's Office, G. S. L. City, Aug. 1, 1857.

Sir: Reports, tolerably well authenticated, have reached this office that an army
from the Eastern States in 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 their 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 unceasing 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. 4

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 ammunition, 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

1

1

11 Mm .

*

'-3

m

HISTORY OF UTAH. 626

Henry W. Lawrence, Captain Heber P. Kimball and Lieutenants J.
Q. Knowlton and C. F. Decker.

Colonel Burton and his command reached Fort Bridger on the
21st of August. On the 26th they were at Pacific Springs, where
the first emigrant company was encountered. Next day they met
several large supply trains entirely unprotected by military escort,
and on the 29th, leaving his wagons with half the men and animals
on the Sweetwater, Colonel Burton proceeded with pack animals to
Devil's Gate, arriving there on the 30th. The rest of his command
soon joined him.

On September 1st Captain John R. Murdock, just from the
States, having carried to the frontier the last mail under the Hiram
Kimball contract, met Colonel Burton at Devil's Gate, and was
entrusted by him with dispatches for Salt Lake City. Captain
Murdock stated that in the east intense excitement reigned over the
Utah question, and that it was confidently expected and hoped by
many that the Government troops then moving westward would
solve the Mormon problem with the sword. About this time Messrs.
N. V. Jones and Bryant Stringam came along, bringing from Deer
Creek the residue of property belonging to the B. Y. Express
Company. They also proceeded on to the Valley.

Colonel Burton and his men remained in the vicinity of Devil's
Gate, caching provisions for future use and reconnoitering further in
that region. About the middle of September they began returning
westward, traveling slowly and taking observations. Dispatches from
Salt Lake City were next received and messengers were now kept
almost constantly in the saddle between Burton's camp and head-
quarters. Among those first from the city were Orson Spencer,
Joseph M. Simmons and Stephen Taylor. On September 21st,
Colonel Burton with three men— Heber P. Kimball, Henry W.
Lawrence and John Smith— returned eastward to the vicinity of
Devil's Gate and camped next day within half a mile of the troops
under Colonel E. B. Alexander,— the vanguard of the Utah Expedi-
tion. Burton and his command from this time hovered in close

626 HISTORY OF UTAH.

proximity to the advancing column until it arrived on Ham's Fork
and established Camp Winfield, about twenty miles north-east of
Fort Bridger. Alexander reached that point on the 28th of Septem-
ber, having made forced marches for several days in order to
overtake and protect the supply trains which had preceded the army
across the Piocky Mountains.

Throughout the Territory, since early in August, warlike
preparations had been going forward, and the militia were now
ready to take the field. Soon after Colonel Burton started on his
tour of observation, a similar errand had been undertaken by a
small company of the Weber County cavalry, under Marcellus
Monroe, aide-de-camp to Colonel West. This company numbered
but twelve men. They ascended Ogden Hole Canyon, and passed
over to Bear Lake, Bear River and across the mountains to Lost
Creek, which they descended to the Weber and followed that stream
home. The object of this expedition was to examine the mountain
passes in the north, with a view to their future defense should the
Government troops seek to force an entrance from that quarter.

On the 15th of September, one day after the departure of
Captain Van Vliet from Salt Lake City and just before the troops
entered Utah, Governor Young issued the following proclamation,
placing the Territory under martial law.

PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR.

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 Christianity and civilization. The constitution
of our common country guarantees unto us all that we do now, or have ever claimed.
If the constitutional rights which pertain to us, as American citizens, were extended to
Utah, according to the spirit and meaning thereof, and fairly and impartially administered,
it is all that we could ask ; all that we have ever asked.

I

HISTORY OF UTAH. 629

Jones. He was instructed to dig trenches and make dams across the
canyon, so that if necessary the road might be submerged; to
construct breastworks and pile boulders upon the heights, for use
against the enemy if he attempted to force a passage, and in short
do everything that could be done to render the gorge impassable.
Such a task was not very difficult, so much having been done by
nature beforehand.

At Fort Bridger General Wells met Colonel Burton, who
informed him of the latest movements of the Government troops,
the establishment of Camp Winfield, and the location of the supply
trains, to protect which Colonel Alexander had hurried forward. It
was thought that the army would now attempt a forced march
through the mountains to Salt Lake Valley.

From Fort Bridger, on September 30th, General Wells sent by
Lewis Robison and Lot Smith the following communication to
Colonel Alexander:

Fort Bridger, September 30, 1857.
Sir: I have the honor to forward you the accompanying letter from His Excellency
Governor Young, together with two copies of his proclamation and a copy of the laws of
Utah, 1856-57, containing the organic act of the Territory.

It may be proper to add that I am here to aid in carrying out the instructions of
Governor Young.

General Robison will deliver these papers to you, and receive such communication
as you may wish to make.

Trusting that your answer and actions will be dictated by a proper respect for the
rights and liberties of American citizens,

I remain, very respectfully, etc.,

Daniel H. Wells,
Lieutenant General Commanding, Nauvoo Legion.

The gist of Governor Young's letter, enclosed in that of General
Wells, was this : The Mormon leader called attention to Section 2
of the Organic Act, which states that the Governor of Utah 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, and that the Governor shall be commander-in-
chief of the militia of the Territory; that he, Brigham Young, was

630 HISTORY OF UTAH.

still Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Utah, no
successor having been appointed and qualified, and himself not
having been removed by the President.* After reminding Colonel
Alexander that he had disregarded the proclamation forbidding the
entry of armed forces into the Territory, he directed him to forthwith
retire therefrom, but gave him the alternative of remaining in the
vicinity of his present encampment until spring, on condition that
he would deposit his arms and ammunition with Lewis Robison,
Quartermaster General of the Territory. Governor Young also
stated that if the troops fell short of provisions they could be
furnished on proper application being made.

General Robison and Major Smith were given permission, if
they deemed it imprudent to enter the Federal lines, to send the
documents to Colonel Alexander by a Mexican. They chose the
latter course. The Colonel, though doubtless somewhat surprised
at what he deemed the cool audacity of the Mormon leader, answered
courteously as follows :

Headquarters 10th 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 commanding officer of the troops of the United States at
this point, and I will submit your letter to the general commanding as soon as he arrives
here.

In the meantime I have only to say that these troops are here by 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,
Brigham Young, Esq., Col. 10th U. S. Infantry, commanding.

Governor of Utah Territory.

Headquarters 10th Infantry, October 2, 1857.
Official.

Henry E. Maynadier,

Adjutant 10th Infantry.

* Governor Young at this time had not been officially notified of the appointment of
his successor.

! I

tyriifa^^i^fn^/-

HISTORY OF UTAH. 633

positive orders not to hurt anyone except in self-defense, we
remained in ambush until after midnight.

"On nearing the wagons, I found I had misunderstood the
scouts, for instead of one train of twenty-six wagons there were two,
doubling the number of men, and putting quite another phase on our
relative strength and situation. There was a large camp-fire burning,
and a number of teamsters were standing around it smoking. It was
expected by my boys 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 quick 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 scout
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. The weather was a little cool, but his jaws fairly
clattered. I took his mule and arms and told him where to stand, at
the same time placing a large Irish Gentile I had with me as guard

634 HISTORY OF UTAH.

over him, with instructions to shoot him if he moved. He plead
piteously for his life; but I indicated that soldiers' lives were not
worth much, it was only the bull-whackers who could expect to get
off easy.

"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 cavalry and two pieces of artillery
would come over in the morning to escort them to camp.

"While I was engaged with the first train a guard of the second
came down to see what was going on. I told him to go back and not
move and that I would be up soon and attend to them.

"Captain Dawson and I shortly after went up to the second
train. Dawson, shaking the wagon in which the wagon-master slept,
called loudly for Bill. ' Bill ' seemed considerably dazed, and grumbled
at being called up so early. Dawson exclaimed, with peculiar
emphasis: 'Damn it, man, get up, or you'll be burned to a cinder in
five minutes!' Bill suddenly displayed remarkable activity. I
introduced the same program to him that we had carried out with
the first train, having them come out man by man, stack their arms
and huddle together under guard.

" Having got them disposed of I inquired of Dawson what kind
of loading he had, as I was much in need of overcoats for my boys,
the season getting late and weather cold. I also asked if they had
much powder on board, for if so it would be convenient when I fired
the wagons, to take him with me. He was much frightened at that
proposition, and hastily produced his bills of lading. I told him to
hunt himself, as I had no time. He searched diligently for powder
and my boys for overcoats and clothing. Dawson announced that
there were large quantities of saltpetre and sulphur in the wagons
and said they were nearly as dangerous as powder. I told him we
would have to take the risk of injury from them. He begged me not
to make him fire the train, saying: 'For the good Lord's sake don't
take me, I've been sick and am not well yet, and don't want to be

HISTORY OF UTAH. 635

hurt.' There were many such laughable incidents connected with
the adventures of the night, if we had dared to laugh. One old
man, shaking with St. Anthony's dance or something else, came up to
me and wanted to know why we had driven up the oxen so early.
Learning that our business was of a different nature, he tremblingly
said he thought we would have come sooner and not waited until
they were in bed and some of them liable to be burned up. My big
Irishman told him we were so busy that we nearly left him without
calling him up at all, at all.

"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 shown, I released him from going with me when we
fired the trains, taking Big James instead, he not being afraid of
saltpetre, nor sulphur either.

"While riding from wagon to wagon, with torch in hand and the
wind blowing, 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.' By this time I had Dawson send in his men
to the wagons not yet fired to get 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 bad a force down there, were fond of it. On
completing this task, I told him that we were going just a little way
off, and that if he or his men molested the trains or undertook to put
the fire out, they would be instantly killed. We rode away, leaving
the wagons all ablaze."

Proceeding to the bluffs of Green River. Major Smith started an
express to General Wells, detailing what had been done, and then

636 HISTORY OF UTAH.

continued on to "the Sandy," in which locality, at a place which has
since been known as "Simpson's Hollow," another Government
train was encountered. "I asked for the Captain," says Smith, "and
being told that he was out after cattle, we disarmed the teamsters,
and I rode out and met him about half a mile away. I told him that
I came on business. He inquired the nature of it, when I demanded
his pistols. He replied: 'By G — d, sir, no man ever took them yet,
and if you think you can, without killing me, try it.' We were all
the time riding towards the train, with our noses about as close
together as two Scotch terriers would have held theirs — his eyes
flashing fire; I couldn't see mine. I told him that I admired a brave
man, but that I didn't like blood — you insist on my killing you,
which will take only a minute, but I don't want to do it. We had by
this time reached the train. He, seeing that his men were under
guard, surrendered, saying: 'I see you have me at a disadvantage,
my men being disarmed.' I replied that I didn't need the advantage,
and asked him what he would do if we should give them their arms.
'I'll fight you!' 'Then,' says I, 'we know something about that too
— take your arms!' His men exclaimed: 'Not by a d — d sight!
We came out here to whack bulls, not to fight.' 'What do you say
to that, Simpson?' I asked. 'Damnation,' he replied, grinding his
teeth in the most violent manner; 'if I had been here before, and
they had refused to fight, I would have killed every man of them.'
"Captain Simpson was the bravest man I met during the
campaign. He was son-in-law of Mr. Majors, a large contractor for
Government freighting. He was terribly exercised over the capture
of his train, and wanted to know what kind of a report he could
make to the commander, and what he could do with his crowd of
cowardly teamsters left on the plains to starve. I told him that I
would give him a wagon loaded with provisions. ' You will give me
two, I know it by your looks!' I told them to hurry up and get their
things out, and take their two wagons, for we wanted to go on-
Simpson begged me not to burn the train while he was in sight, and
said that it would ruin his reputation as a wagon-master. I told

HISTORY OF UTAH. 637

him not to be squeamish, that the trains burned very nicely, I had
seen them before, and that we hadn't time to be ceremonious. We
then supplied ourselves with provisions, set the wagons afire and
rode on about two miles from the stream to rest. I expected any
moment to be overtaken by troops from the camp, and fired my pistol
to call in our picket guard.

"They hurriedly came to the place where we were resting, a place
that will always be remembered as the scene of the most distressing
event which occurred on the expedition. While I was reloading my
pistol, and as the guards came in from picket duty, one of the guns —
a United States yauger — was discharged. The heavy ball passed
through Orson P. Arnold's thigh, breaking the bone in a fearful
manner, struck Philo Dibble in the side of the head, and went
through Samuel Bateman's hat, just missing his head and pulling his
hair. I sprang up and caught young Arnold, straightening him out,
for he fell with his leg under him, the jagged points of the broken
bone sticking out, while the blood streamed from the awful wound.
It looked as though he would bleed to death in five minutes.

" I immediately sent two men to the Sandy for poles with which
to make a litter. We calculated that the distance to a safe place on
Green River was not less than thirty miles, and that we must carry
our wounded comrade there as soon and as comfortably as possible.
While engaged setting the broken bone, a picket guard came
running into camp and reported two hundred cavalry close upon us.
Under the circumstances nothing could have produced greater
consternation. One of the men moved that we surrender. I told
them that I would say when to do that. He then proposed that we
run. I replied that I would kill the man that made that motion,
myself, if he dared to try it. * * * I was well repaid
for stiffening my knees, for poor Orson looked up and said he knew
I wouldn't run away and leave him to die.:i: Poor boy ! The first

* Orson Arnold states that he requested his comrades to leave him and make good
their escape. Major Smith's narrative was written mostly from memory, after a lapse of
twenty-five years. Hence the slight discrepancy.

638 HISTORY OF UTAH.

words he spoke were : ' I shall always be a cripple, and will never be
able to fight soldiers any more.'

"Then came the tug of war ! We took up our wounded man and
carried him on poles for thirty miles. Talk about mules with sore
shoulders! Ours equalled anything of that kind ever heard of.
Oar way lay across a trackless desert the whole distance, with no
water on the road but what we carried in our canteens, and a
wounded man, burning with fever and inflammation, constantly
wants water. * * * *****

"When we came upon the soldiers that our picket guard, who
was a good man, but with eyes that would magnify, had reported, we
found them to consist of Captain Haight and company, and were
very glad to meet friends again instead of enemies."

Thus it was that Lot Smith burnt the Government trains.* It
was a daring act in itself, but not more daring than the order which
directed it. If the Mormons were accused of treason before they

* List of subsistence stores in supply trains (Russell and Waddell's) Nos. 5, 9 and
10 burned by the Mormons on Green River, Utah, in the night of October 4th, 1857 :

No. of rations.
2,720 pounds ham.
92,700 pounds bacon, ------ 115,875

167,900 pounds flour, ..... 149,244

270 bushels beans, ------ 108,000

8,580 pounds Rio coffee, ----- 143,000

330 pounds Java coffee.
1,400 pounds crushed sugar.
2,970 gallons vinegar, ..... 297,000

800 pounds sperm candles, - - - - 80,000

13,333 pounds soap, ---... 333,325
84 gallons of molasses.
134 bushels dried peaches.
68,832 rations dessicated vegetables .

705 pounds tea, ...... 52,875

7,781 pounds hard bread, ----- 7,781

6 lanterns.

Made from bills of lading, October 10, 1857.

H. F. Clark,
Gapt. and C. S., U. S. A.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 639

had done anything affording the shadow of a basis for such a charge,
and an army had been sent against them to suppress a rebellion
which never existed, what would now be said and done in view of
events that had actually taken place 1 But Brigham Young and his
compeers were perfectly aware of the risk they were running. They
had entered upon the campaign with their eyes wide open. An
investigation, a hearing was what they desired. It had hitherto
been denied them. That hearing they were determined to have,
and a leaf from the book of Absalom versus Joab probably made
clear to them the most effective course to pursue.* Singularly
enough, the result in both cases was the same; for as Joab,
having previously ignored the son of David, came promptly when
his fields were all aflame, so President Buchanan, on finding
that the Mormons were in earnest, and that in their efforts to
maintain their rights they dared even burn Government property
and paralyze for the time being the arm lifted to strike them,
was finally constrained, after the first burst of indignation was over,
to order an investigation into the Utah situation. But of that
hereafter.

Lot Smith continued his operations against the Utah Expedition
until the latter part of November, when he retired to Echo Canyon.
He burned no more trains, but captured several herds of Govern-
ment cattle, which were driven by Porter Rockwell and William H.
Hickman into Salt Lake Valley .f

About the time that Lot Smith started upon his errand one
similar though not so successful, was undertaken by Major Joseph
Taylor, of Weber County, who had left Ogden on September 18th
with one hundred men and reported at Echo Canyon on the 3rd of
October. His instructions were contained in the following letter
from General Wells :

* II. Samuel xiv., 29-33.

f By order of President Young, these cattle were returned to General Johnston at
Camp Floyd alter peace had been declared.

640 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Headquarters Eastern Expedition,

Camp near Cache Cave, Oct. 4th, 1857.

You will proceed with all possible dispatch without injuring your animals, 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 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 roads by falling trees and
destroying river fords where 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 sur-
prise. Keep scouts out at all times, and communications open with Colonel Burton,
Major McAllister, and 0. P. Rockwell, who are operating the same way. Keep me
advised daily of your movements, and every step the troops take, and in what 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 that direction, follow 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. W*

Major Taylor, with forty or fifty men, at once set out to execute
these orders, but ■ after traveling a day and a half and .passing Fort
Bridger, he was obliged to separate from his command and return
to that post upon important business. His escort consisted of four
men, — William Stowell, Wells Chase, George Rose and Joseph Orton.
Coming unexpectedly upon a body of United States troops under

* This letter, found upon the person of Major Taylor when he was captured by United
States troops, was subsequently endorsed as follows :

" Headquarters Army of Utah, Black's Fork,
" Sixteen miles from Fort Bridger, en route to Salt Lake City,

"Nov. 7th, 1857.
" A true copy of instructions in the possession of Major Joseph Taylor when
captured.

" F. J. Porter,

"Assistant Adjutant General."

(it^tJy ytrz^sLJ

'#■

HISTORY OF UTAH. 643

The last proposition met with most favor. The distance to be
traversed was about a hundred and twenty miles. On the 11th the
troops and trains set forward. The snow was falling, there was no
grass along the route, and progress was slow and difficult. The
Mormon "guerillas" — or suppose we call them Cossacks — still hung
upon the flanks of the long and cumbersome column, keeping up their
dispiriting tactics, and running off the cattle of the weary, straggling
trains. This, having little cavalry, they were powerless to prevent.
General Wells, on learning of Colonel Alexander's move northward,
had despatched a heavy force of cavalry under Colonel Burton to
Bear River, on the Fort Hall route, to further harass and intercept
the troops on their march. Some of Burton's scouts, sent out to
reconnoiter, came too near Alexander's vanguard, and were almost
captured. They were pursued by a party of horsemen for about
twelve miles, and only escaped by taking to the rugged hills
of that vicinity. Others of Alexander's infantry were mounted
upon mules and started out in pursuit of the mercurial and dashing-
rangers, who, on their high-spirited steeds, eluded at will or
raided at pleasure what they laughingly termed "Uncle Sam's
jackass cavalry."

At a certain point in the detour Colonel Alexander expected to
be joined by Colonel Smith and his supply trains. But he did not
come. In fact he had not yet left the Ivicinity of South Pass, and
with Colonel Cooke and his dragoons, still farther behind, was having
a sad experience among the biting blasts and frost and snow of that
pitiless region. Disappointed and almost disheartened, though
refusing to admit it even to himself, Colonel Alexander called a
general halt and convened another council of his officers. That it
would be imprudent under the circumstances to proceed farther was
generally admitted, and matters now came to a stand-still. Some of
the officers, chagrined and exasperated, were in favor of a forward
movement to Salt Lake Valley. This of course involved the desperate
attempt to force a way through Ecbo Canyon, now blocked with ice
and snow, barricaded and defended by men as brave and determined

644 HISTORY OF UTAH.

as themselves. Prudence prevailed and the mad project was
abandoned.

It was about this time that Colonel Alexander addressed a com-
munication to Governor Young, which he sent by a young Mormon
named Hickman, previously captured by the troops and released for
the especial purpose of bearing this letter to its destination. It was
dated on Ham's Fork, October 12th. The following is an excerpt :

I desire now, sir, to set before you the following facts : The forces under my com-
mand are ordered by the President of the United States, to establish a military 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 belonging to the United States, and calling upon the
inhabitants to resist 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 civilized
warfare, and only resorted to by those who are conscious of inability to resist 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, apparently 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 your authority have destroyed trains containing public
stores, with a similar humane purpose of starving the army. I infer also from your com-
munications 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 your-
self, 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 rebellion and hostility to the general govern-
ment 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 hon-
orable means in my power, to obey literally and strictly the orders under which I am act-
ing. 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 con-
sider 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 pre-
pared to propose an arrangement with you. I have also the honor to inform you that all

HISTORY OF UTAH. 645

persons found lurking around or in any of our camps, will be put under guard and held
prisoners as long as circumstances may require.

To the Colonel's epistle Governor Young replied :

Governor's Office,
Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, October 16, 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 government,
as all candid, thinking men know full well. Were not such the fact, why did not the
government send an army 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 infor-
mal requisition for five hundred of our most efficient 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 preconcerted 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
protect 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 Mor-
mons."

You acknowledge the receipt of my official proclamation, forbidding your entrance
into the Territory of Utah, and upon that point 1 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 ene-
mies 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

646 HISTORY OF UTAH.

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-defense
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 Territory, con-
trary 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 scoundrels, 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 ungentle-
manly 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 the Post Office Department
in Washington ; they having, as you must have known, stopped our mail from Indepen-
dence, Missouri, by which it was but fair to presume that you, as well as we, were meas-
urably curtailed in mail facilities.

In regard to myself and certain others, having placed ourselves "in a position of rebel-
lion and hostility to the general government of the United States," I am perfectly aware
that we understand our true and most loyal position far better than our enemies can inform
us. We, of all people, are endeavoring to preserve and perpetuate the genius of the Con-
stitution 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 govern-
ment. 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 human rights. But the cost of so suicidal a course
to our enemies we have not wasted our time considering, rightly deeming it more particu-
larly their business to figure out and arrive at the amount of so immense a sum. It is now
the kingdom 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

HISTORY OF UTAH. 647

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, in a land of
professed constitutional 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 developing
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 unsatis-
factory to you, for doubtless you are not aware of 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 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 Senators 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 far 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 wish 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, wisli 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
proffered assurance that you will be safely escorted from our outposts to this city and
back, and that during your stay in our midst you will receive all that courtesy ami

648 HISTORY OF UTAH.

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 immediately 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 com-
manders. 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. T.
E. B. Alexander, Colonel 10th Infantry, U. S. A.

In a letter from the Governor to Colonel Alexander, written
two days prior to the foregoing, and before the receipt of the
Colonel's communication, the following passage occurs :

We have sought diligently for peace. We have sacrificed millions of dollars worth
of property to obtain it, and wandered a thousand miles from the confines 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 instiga-
tion 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 instru-
ments 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 unpleasantness of your position, you must be aware that circum-
stances compel the people of Utah to look upon you, in yovr 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.

A clear and forcible statement of the situation, as viewed by the
Mormon people, is contained in a letter written by Apostle John
Taylor to Captain Marcy, one of Colonel Alexander's officers. Marcy

• of *« people

"fes as I am

■asmflasyoa

•

•oriole,

fan,

1.0.T,

ider, written

capl of the

of doliars worth

s of civilization,

... ffe
>ed unmolested ;

a whose insliga-

i jou and your

■

odd kve beet

nts aid inslru-

aie lhat eircum-

erent attitude, as

; my most
Inly, asdoflie

aiancb tote

iewed by the

Iposlle Jota

-

■$-. Marcy

&

tycAjt^^L-

HISTORY OF UTAH. 651

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 hood-
winked by the cry of " treason." If it be treason to stand up for our constitutional rights ;
if it be treason to resist the unconstitutional 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 carefully considered all these matters,
and are prepared to meet the " terrible vengeance" 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
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 engraven on the hearts of
100,000 American citizens by a series of twenty-seven years' unmitigated 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 aggressors, 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 overlooked or forgotten." And here let me inform you that 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
despoiled 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 wilder-
ness, 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 Biver 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 inhabit, but are now determined that, if we are again robbed of our possessions,
our enemies shall also feel how pleasant it is to lie 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." * * * * * * * * .

652 HISTORY OF UTAH.

You may have learned already that it is anything but pleasant for a small army to
contend with the chilling blasts of this inhospitable climate. How a large army would
fare without resources 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 determined 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.
*********

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 wane. By this time there may be 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.

It was not until the first week of November that General
Johnston, commander of the Utah Expedition, joined Colonel
Alexander on Black's Fork. To that point Johnston, by dispatch
from South Pass, had previously directed the army to proceed. He
was accompanied by Colonel Smith and the supply trains. Colonel
Cooke was still in the rear. Johnston was a great general, and

HISTORY OF UTAH. 653

under the magic of his master hand the baffled and dispirited
troops were suddenly inspired with new life and energy. He at once
ordered a forward movement to Fort Bridger, repudiating Alexander's
project of a detour to the northward, and haughtily spurning the
idea of departing a single point from the direct route through Echo
Canyon to the Mormon metropolis. Later, however, his ardor
somewhat cooled — the climate and surroundings were extremely
favorable to such a change — and he even contemplated, it is said,
acting upon the idea previously abandoned by his subordinate and
which he himself had severely criticised.

If Alexander's advance up Ham's Fork had been a march of
suspense and discouragement, what shall be said of Johnston's
procession of misery from Black's Fork to Fort Bridger? The
distance was but thirty-five miles, fully one-sixth of which was
covered by the long though closely packed trains of this column of
misfortune. But the country they crossed was a frozen, snow-
covered desert swept by November's bitter blasts, with little or no
forage for the famishing cattle, and no fuel but sage-brush and
willows. The Mormons took care of many of the cattle, running off
five hundred head on the very evening betore the march began,
but many of the poor beasts dropped dead in their tracks as
they wearily trudged along, or were frozen stiff during the awful
nights succeeding the days of dreary toil. Some mornings the camp
was almost surrounded by dead carcasses of animals that had
succumbed to the icy breath of approaching winter. Even some of
the men were severely frost-bitten. Snow, alternating with sleet and
hail, fell almost continuously upon the retreating troops, the
thermometer sinking at times to 16° below zero. Fifteen days
were consumed in reaching the point — thirty-five miles distant
— where until recently had stood Fort Bridger. But the fort was
now no more. It had been burned, together with Fort Supply, ten
miles away, by the Mormons, who were now slowly retiring before
Johnston's advance, and concentrating their forces behind the icy
and rocky ramparts of Echo Canyon.

654 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Just before reaching Bridger, Johnston was joined on November
19th by Colonel Cooke's cavalry, five hundred strong. The dragoons
had almost perished in the storms at Devil's Gate and South Pass.
With Colonel Cooke came Governor dimming and other civil
officials. In Cooke's report to Colonel Johnston, the following
graphic passages, descriptive of his terrible experience, occur:

On the 6th of November, we found the ground once more white and the snow
falling; 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 Cross-
ings." was a happy relief; but the guide, who had lately passed there, was relentless in
pronouncing there was no grass. The idea of finding 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 fearful eddies from
above, before, behind, drove the falling and drifting snow.

The 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 mountain desert there was no retreat, nor
any shelter near ; but a time for action.

* $ * * * :■: * * *

November 8th. — The mercury this morning marked forty-four degrees below the
freezing point. The march was commenced before eight o'clock, and soon a high north-
west wind arose, which, with the drift, gave great suffering. Few could ride long; but,
of necessity, eighteen miles were marched to Bitter Greek. * * * *

November 10th — The north-west wind continued fiercely, enveloping us in a cloud
which froze and fell all day. Few could have faced that wind. The herders left to bring
up the rear with extra, but nearly all broken down mules, could not force them from the
dead bushes of the little valley; and they remained there all day and night, bringing in next
day the fourth part that had not frozen. Thirteen miles were marched, and the camp was
made lour miles from the top of the pass. A wagon that .day cut partly through the ice of
a branch and there froze so fast that eight mules could not move it empty. Nearly all
the tent pins were broken in the last camp ; a few of iron were here substituted. Nine
trooper horses were left freezing and dying in the road that day, and a number of
soldiers and teamsters had been frost-bitten. It was a desperately 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. * * *

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

HISTORY OF UTAH. 655

weather. It has been of starvation ; the earth has a no more lifeless,
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.

The ruins of Fort Bridger were utilized by General Johnston for
the storage of supplies, a sufficient garrison, with artillery, being left
to guard the improvised fortress, while the main army — the
General having abandoned the idea of pushing through the
mountains that season — went into winter quarters on Black's Fork.
There arose Camp Scott.* Near by, a primitive settlement called
Eckelsville sprang up. There dwelt in "dug-outs" Chief Justice
Eckels, for whom the place was named, also Governor Cumming
and other officials who had accompanied the army to Utah.

Governor Cumming, on the 21st of November, addressed a
communication to Governor Young, enclosing the following proc-
lamation :

Green River County, near Fort Bridger, Utah Territory,

21st November, 1857.
To the People of Utah Territory :

On the 11th July, 1857, the President appointed me to preside over the executive
department of the government of this Territory. I arrived at this point on the 19th of
this month, and shall probably be detained some time in consequence of the loss of
animals during the recent snow-storm. I will proceed at this point to make the pre-
liminary arrangements for the temporary organization of the Territorial Government.

Many treasonable acts of violence have recently been committed by lawless
individuals supposed to have been commanded by the late Executive. Such persons are
in a state of rebellion. Proceedings will be instituted against them in a court organized
by Chief Justice Eckels held in this County, which Court will supersede the necessity of
appointing military commissions for the trial of such offenders.

It is my duty to enforce unconditional obedience to the Constitution, to the Organic
law of this Territory, and to all the other laws of Congress, applicable to you. To
enable me to effect this object, I will in the event of resistance rely, first upon a posse
comitatus of the well disposed portion of the inhabitants of this Territory, and will only
resort to a military posse in case of necessity : I trust this necessity will not occur.

I come among you with no prejudices or enmities, and by the exercise of a just and

* Camps Winfield and Scott were of course named after the General-in-Chief of the
United States Army.

656 HISTORY OF UTAH.

firm administration, I hope to command your confidence. Freedom of conscience and
the use of your own peculiar mode of serving God, are sacred rights, the exercise of
which is guaranteed by the Constitution and with which it is not the province of the
Government or the disposition of its representatives in this Territory to interfere.

In virtue of my authority as commander in chief of the militia of this Territory, I
hereby command all armed bodies of individuals by whomsoever organized, to disband,
and return to their respective homes. The penalty of disobedience to this command will
subject the offenders to the punishment due to traitors.

A. Gumming,

Governor of Utah Territory.

Very little attention was paid to this proclamation, issued as it
was by an official who had not yet taken the oath of office, and con-
sequently was not duly installed in the gubernatorial chair. Perhaps
Governor Cumming saw the weakness of his position, after issuing
the pronunciamento. At any rate, eleven days later he took an
official oath as Governor of Utah before Chief Justice Eckels, at
Eckelsville. But even then he was not one whit better off than
before, since the Chief Justice himself had not qualified according to
law, and was not in a position to administer such an oath, or exer-
cise any other function of the office to which he had been appointed*
Nevertheless, as Governor Cumming had threatened, the Chief
Justice proceeded to organize a court, and amused himself all winter
piling up indictments against the Mormon leaders and the more con-
spicuous of their followers, whom he intended to try for treason "in
the spring."

Of disbanding at the bidding of Governor Cumming, or any
other man east of the Wasatch Mountains, the Utah militia had not
the remotest idea. They were defending their homes against the
despoiler — at least that was their view of the matter — and were
ready to die, if need be, rather than relinquish one iota of their
sacred rights as freemen. Brigham Young was still their Governor.
When he said "disband," so it would be, but not before. Thus, while
Governor Cumming proclaimed, Chief Justice Eckels and his court
indicted, Colonel Johnston threatened, and the whole country was

See Sec. 11, Organic Act of Utah, chapter xxiii of this volume.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 657

boiling with wrath and indignation, mostly at the Mormons, for what
they had clone and were doing, but many at President Buchanan and
his cabinet for compelling the Saints to assume the attitude they had
taken, the militia quietly settled down behind their breastworks in
Echo Canyon and prepared to dispute to the death any advance that
might be made by the invading army. Reinforcements from all parts
of Utah gathered to the common defense — young men, old men and
boys — until the forces confronting Johnston and his troops were
nearly twenty-five hundred strong; almost equal to the numbers of
the expedition. Everything in the shape of a weapon was brought
into requisition, in anticipation of the struggle supposed to be
impending.

But General Johnston, however determined he had been before
his arrival to push on to Salt Lake Valley that season, sweeping away
all opposition that might be offered by those whom he termed
"traitors and rebels," on surveying the situation concluded to post-
pone his threatened advance and see what could be done to save
his crippled army from destruction ; not by the Mormons, who
did not desire to destroy it, but by the merciless and inexorable
elements. Hence his decision — a wise one — to go into winter quarters
on Black's Fork and await the advent of milder weather. Such of
his cattle as frost had not killed or the mountaineers captured, after
being herded for a time on Henry's Fork, were brought to camp,
slaughtered and converted into "jerked beef" for the commissariat.
Captain Marcy was sent to New Mexico and another party to Oregon
to obtain cattle and fresh mounts for the cavalry, and the Army of
Utah settled down to pass away the winter and prepare for waging
vigorous warfare against the Mormons in the spring.

At Washington, meanwhile, great excitement reigned. The
Government, being informed of what had occurred in Utah, felt
humiliated at the disasters that had befallen the expedition, and was
beginning to wince beneath the goad of public criticism for having
inaugurated it. Since it could not recede without admitting itself in
error and suffering further humiliation, it was resolved to prosecute

658 HISTORY OF UTAH.

its policy to the extreme, and force a speedy settlement of the now
vexing question. Congress was asked to vote more troops and money
for the purpose, and after much discussion, during which the Utah
situation was pretty thoroughly ventilated, authorized the President
to call into service three thousand men to march to Utah and rein-
force the army on Black*s Fork. These troops were the Sixth and
Seventh regiments of Infantry, the First Cavalry and two batteries of
artillery. Forty-five hundred wagons were to transport their supplies
to the seat of war. Fifty thousand oxen and four thousand mules
were to be purchased, and about two thousand teamsters, wagon-
masters, etc., employed by the War Department for this supplementary
expedition, which it was estimated would cost the United States
Treasury about five million dollars. Contractors again rejoiced, and
everything for them looked promising.

At the head-quarters of the Utah militia, on November 21st,
the following infantry organizations were reported as present
by Colonel N. V. Jones, through his adjutant, Orson K. Whitney.
The Fifth Regiment, from the Weber Military District, under Colonel
C. W. West ; the Second Regiment, Second Brigade, under Colonel
Thomas Callister; the Davis County troops, under Colonel P. C.
Merrill; the Provo troops, under Colonel W. B. Pace; the Peteet-
neet District troops, under Major A. K. Thurber; the Lehi companies
under Major Hyde; the Extra Battalion under Major Rowberry; the
First Battalion, Third Regiment, First Brigade, Infantry, under
Major Sharp: the Second Battalion, same regiment, under Major
Blair, and the Silver Greys under Colonel Harmon. The Second
Battalion of Life Guards under Major J. D. T. McAllister and a com-
pany of light artillery under Adjutant Atwood were also present.
Colonel Jones* force aggregated nineteen hundred and fifty-eight
men. In addition to these there were cavalry commands under
Colonel Burton, Lot Smith, William Maxwell and others, still out
reconnoitering in the vicinity of Fort Bridger. Besides Lieutenant-
General Wells and his staff, other military notables in Echo Canyon
about this time were Major-General George D. Grant and Brigadier-

HISTORY OF UTAH. 659

General Franklin D. Richards. During the fall Apostle Charles C.
Rich and others had visited the camp from Salt Lake City.

As soon as it was ascertained that Johnston's army had gone
into winter quarters and did not design carrying on a winter
campaign, all further interference with the troops by the militia was
forbidden. Some of the Federal soldiers, captured by Colonel Callis-
ter, were released by order of Governor Young, who later took addi-
tional steps to convince the army then threatening the chief city of
the Saints, that it was purely a defensive warfare the people were
waging and that in their hearts they harbored no malice. Learning
that the soldiers at Camp Scott were suffering for want of salt to
season their. meat — which was but one of many privations by them
endured- — Governor Young ordered a wagon-load of the article
conveyed to General Johnston and presented to him with his compli-
ments.* But the proud commander refused to accept the proffered
gift, stating that he did not wish to hold any communication with the
Mormon rebel, Brigham Young. The salt, however, being purposely
left outside the camp, was taken back and gladly used by the
common soldiers, while Johnston and his officers, to preserve their
pride as well as their provisions, purchased a supply from the
Indians at the rate of five dollars per pound.

Apropos of this incident, the following paragraph of a letter
written by Adjutant-General Ferguson to Colonel Philip St. George
Cooke, during the winter of 1857-8, will be interesting. General
Ferguson had been informed that Colonel Cooke, who once highly
praised his Mormon soldiers, the Battalion, had written letters east
speaking in derogatory terms of the Utah militia and asserting that
their purpose was to starve and destroy the troops at Camp Scott.
With heart of fire and pen of flame Ferguson thus wrote to his
old commander :

* Messrs. Earl and Woodard were the Governor's messengers. The salt was carried
as far as possible by wagon, and then, the snow being too deep for further travel by team,
it was transferred to pack animals. Governor Young slated, in his loiter of gift to General
Johnston, that if he feared anything deleterious in the salt, the messengers, to reassure
him, would taste it in his presence.

660 HISTORY OF UTAH.

"We could ourselves have selected the spot for your destruction
and furnished you a winding sheet in the snows of the South Pass,
or in the ashes of your own trains on Green River. At whose
mercy were the unprotected trains that lay for weeks within our
reach and from which you have drawn your subsistence during the
winter? What act of ours bears testimony to your base insinua-
tions? Was it the order forbidding our men to fire at your shivering
pickets, or the recall of our detachments, that you might prepare
your winter quarters in peace? Was it the return of your people
after a short humane confinement, while you vented your spleen on
one poor fellow, by abusing him in cold chains, during the winter,
under the terrors of an illegal gallows? Was it the invitation to the
officers of your army to participate, during the winter, in the
hospitalities of our mountain home? Was it the offer of provisions
for the whole army, when your supplies should be exhausted? Was
it the supply of salt to season your fresh meat furnished by us, and
spurned with a petty peevishness by your commander? These, sir,
are your proofs; these, your arguments to sustain your accusa-
tions.''

Colonel Cooke in reply disclaimed the authorship of any letter
speaking disparagingly of his old comrades of the Mormon
Battalion.

About the 1st of December the militia began returning to their
homes, leaving but a small out-post to watch the enemy during the
winter and report all his movements to headquarters, at Salt Lake
City. The citizen soldiers had made good their resolve, — to prevent
the Federal army from passing the Wasatch Mountains, and to do it
without shedding a drop of the enemy's blood. But one fatality had
occurred, and that in the Mormon camp in Echo Canyon. A soldier
climbing up the rocky side of the ravine, dared a comrade to fire at
him, thinking himself out of range. The comrade thought so too,
and leveling his rifle in sport, shot his friend dead.

General Wells left Echo Canyon on the 4th of December, and
Colonel Burton followed next day. After their departure Captain

/!>Z*~-7t

HISTORY OF UTAH. 661

John R. Winder, with fifty men, was left to guard the canyon and its
approaches. Captain Winder's orders were as follows :

Headquarters Eastern Expedition,

Camp Weber, December 4th, 1857.
Capt. John R. Winder.

Dear Brother : 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 come 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.
If officers or others undertake to come in, keep them prisoners until you receive further
advices 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 line and then picket in the remainder. Keep a trail open
down the Weber to the citizens' 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.
*********

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 intothe city. Should the party be too
strong and you are compelled to retreat, do so after safely caching all supplies; in all
cases giving us prompt information by express, that we may be able to meet them between
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 I he 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 ener-

662 HISTORY OF UTAH.

getic 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 our enemies,

I remain, your brother in the gospel of Christ,

[Signed,] Daniel H. Wells,

Lieutenant-General Commanding.

P. S. Be careful to prevent fire being kindled in or near the commissary store-
house.

About Christmas time Captain Winder was relieved by Major H.
S. Beatie, and he in turn by Captain Brigham Young.* The com-
mands were changed at the same time. Deserters from Camp Scott,
both soldiers and teamsters, constantly passed down Echo Canyon
during the winter, some of them almost perishing before they could
reach the Mormon outposts, which they had supposed on setting out
to be much nearer the Federal lines. By this means Governor
Young, General Wells and their associates were kept fully informed
of affairs at Camp Scott and its vicinity, and the need of scouts and
pickets, except to rescue the poor wretches who continually fell into
their hands, was almost entirely obviated.

In the city that winter mirth and festivity reigned supreme.
Balls, theaters, sociables and other amusements served to dispel
every thought of gloom, every feeling of nervous apprehension as to
what might follow. Though all knew that the advent of spring
would witness a renewal of operations in the mountains, no lip quiv-
ered, no cheek blanched, no heart faltered at the prospect. Mingling
with the song of joy, the paean of praise, welling up from the hearts
of a people who felt as sensibly as did Israel of old after passing the
Red Sea, that Jehovah had delivered His people and engulfed their

Brigham Young Junior, son of the Governor.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 665

It was just at this juncture that Colonel Thomas L. Kane,
prompted no less by love of country than by his friendship for the
Mormon people, went to Washington from his home in Philadelphia,
and offered his services to President Buchanan to act as a mediator
in the pending controversy and effect if possible a peaceable
settlement of the difficulty. A word here of an event preceding
this visit of the Colonel to the capital will be appropriate.

In the summer of 1857, before the Federal troops had entered
Utah, and as soon as Governor Young had decided to place
the Territory under martial law, he resolved to acquaint the
national authorities with the real motive impelling him to such a
step, in the hope that they would recognize the propriety of his
course and that an amicable adjustment of differences might result.
He therefore sent a special messenger to Colonel Kane, requesting
him to see the President and lay the matter before him. Hon.
Samuel W. Richards, who had previously performed secret service of
a similar nature, was the courier entrusted with this important
message. Accompanied by George G. Snyder he successfully
executed his errand, taking observations as he went respecting the
approaching army, and sending the information to Salt Lake City.
After visiting Colonel Kane and delivering to him the dispatches
from Governor Young, Mr. Richards crossed the Atlantic, carrying
instructions to the Mormon missionaries in Europe to return to Utah
as soon as possible. Like directions were forwarded to the Elders
laboring in the United States and in Canada. Early in 1858, Elder
Richards led homeward a small company of missionaries who felt
willing to risk any difficulties that might be encountered on the way.
This party left the frontier in March and arrived at Salt Lake City in
May, having evaded the troops stationed at and in the vicinity of
Camp Scott, as well as others who followed them from Fort Laramie
and Green River.

One incident of their journey after leaving the last-named
locality is well worth recording. "Soon after leaving Green River,"
says Elder Richards, " we fell in with a band of several thousand

666 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Indians en route to Bridger, and with whom for a portion of the
distance we made ourselves traveling companions. While in
company with these Indians, we learned from them that they had
been sent for to come to Bridger and get blankets, guns and
ammunition to go and shoot the Mormons, and that they were going
there for that purpose. Information obtained from them, without
solicitation, disclosed the fact that they had been engaged by the
officers of that army to move upon the Mormon settlements for an
indiscriminate slaughter in retaliation for the opposition Governor
Young had shown to their entering the Valley before a proper
understanding could be had with the Government as to the object of
their presence as an armed force marching into the midst of a
peaceable community. It is not presumable," adds the Elder with
some warmth, "that any such cowardly and worse than savage
proposition can be accredited to the general government, but it
afforded proof of the character of some of the officers connected
with that army, and is a tell-tale evidence of what the people of Utah
might have expected at their hands, had they been permitted to
carry out their plans." * Mr. Richards states, moreover, that he
was credibly informed, by parties who had come in contact with the
troops, that on the march, as they encountered severe weather and
hardships, they were encouraged by their officers with promises of
"all the Mormon women they wanted" after they should reach their
destination.

Colonel Kane, agreeable to Governor Young's request, visited
President Buchanan and laid before him the views of the Mormon
leader, according to the latter's desire. Subsequently he offered his
services to the President as a mediator, and proceeded to Utah as a

* Dr. Garland Hurt, the United States Indian Agent, was accused of inciting
the savages during this period to attack the Utah settlements. He was the only
non-Mormon Federal official left in the Territory after Judge Drummond's departure.
After martial law was declared, he refused to avail himself of the Governor's passport,
which was offered him, but remained among the Indians for some time, and then joined
the army at Gamp Scott. The Indians who attacked the Salmon River settlement in
February, 1858, were believed to have been incited by anti-Mormons.

1

HISTORY OF UTAH. 669

" I suppose," said Governor Young, his tone slightly tinged
with satire, "that they are united in putting down Utah."

•• I think not," answered the Colonel. " I wish you knew how
much I feel at home," he continued. "I hope I shall have the
privilege of breaking bread with these, my friends.

" I want to take care of you, friend Thomas," warmly rejoined the
Governor. "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."

More conversation followed, after which the council dissolved,
and Colonel Kane, still under the soubriquet of " Dr. Osborne," was
conveyed to the hospitable home of Elder William C. Staines, where
he found comfortable quarters and tender nursing.* The Elder, who
had heard of but had never till then met the Colonel, having
discovered a few days later the identity of his guest, asked him why
he desired to be introduced to him as Dr. Osborne. The latter
replied: "My dear friend, 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 I have heard so many hard things about you
since, that I thought I would like to convince myself whether or not
the people possessed the same humane and hospitable spirit which I
once found in them. 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
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?" Elder Staines answer-
ing in the negative, the Colonel added: "And thus my friend I have

* This residence of Elder Staines' subsequently became the Devereux Hous
of the late Hon. William Jennings.

670 HISTORY OF UTAH.

proved that the Mormons will treat the stranger in Salt Lake City as
they once did Thomas L. Kane at Winter Quarters."*

After a few days of rest and recuperation, Colonel Kane set out
for Camp Scott, to confer with Governor Cumming upon the subject
previously presented by him to Governor Young. The position of
the Mormon leader and his associates was this : They were willing
to receive Governor Cumming and his fellow officials and give them
a loyal and whole-souled welcome, if they would come into the
Valley without the army. But they were not willing that the troops
should enter their capital, nor be quartered in any city or settlement
of the Territory. Such was the message that the mediator Colonel
Kane bore to the Federal officials on Black's Fork.

It was a severe journey, even for a well man, the distance being
a hundred and thirteen miles, with deep snow all the way. But the
gallant Colonel bore up bravely, and, having dismissed his Mormon
escort just outside the Federal lines, arrived at his destination on or
about the 10th of March. It is said that as he crossed the line he
was challenged and fired at simultaneously by an over-zealous
sentry, who in return received a ringing blow over the head from the
Colonel's gun-stock. Surrounded in a moment by soldiers, all greatly
excited, he coolly requested to be conducted to the presence of
Governor Cumming. This was done, and by that official the
President's messenger was cordially received and entertained.

Colonel Kane's reason for directly seeking Governor Cumming
and conferring with him in lieu of with General Johnston, is
probably apparent to the reader without explanation. To the
Colonel, Governor Cumming was the virtual head and front of
the Utah Expedition, and the army merely the posse comitatus of the
new Executive. The ambassador's business was therefore with the
civil official, and not with the military commander. Governor
Cumming was soon convinced of the wisdom and propriety of
Colonel Kane's mission, and agreed to place himself under his guid-

* Colonel Kane had special reference to the kind treatment he received from the
Saints during a severe illness that he suffered while at their camps on the Missouri.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 671

ance and proceed with him, unaccompanied by troops, to the
Mormon capital.

Such a movement General Johnston strenuously opposed.
Whatever Colonel Kane thought, or had succeeded in causing Gover-
nor Cumming to think, the proud commander, in his own eyes, was
the principal personage at Camp Scott. Already offended at being
ignored by the Colonel, he was affronted still more on learning of the
nature of his mission, the success of which meant the setting aside
of the military posse, which, according to the spirit of its instruc-
tions, could only act in response to the Governor's requisition, except
in sheer self-defense. Now to Albert Sidney Johnston had been
entrusted the duty of conducting the Federal officials to Utah, plant-
ing them in their places and maintaining them there with bayonets
and cannon. That duty he was determined to perform, and if further
opposed, to trample under heel and humiliate, as they had humiliated
him, these "Mormon rebels." Such was Johnston's program.
Already in fancy he saw it executed, and was reaping from the field
of success the favor and promotion that were sure to follow. But
here was an interloper, who wished to blight these budding laurels,
who had the temerity to propose peace, and who, if he succeeded in
winning the Governor to his views, would deprive the army of the
glorious opportunity which the coming spring would give to accom-
plish the purpose for which it was sent, retrieve the losses it had
sustained, and perhaps strike a telling blow in revenge. Such an
arrangement might suit President Buchanan and Governor Cumming,
but it did not please General Johnston one particle. He determined to
use all his influence to thwart and bring to naught Colonel Kane's
mission of peace and good-will. He warned Governor Cumming that
the Mormons only wanted to get him into their power to -poison him,
and tried in every way to induce him to stay with the troops and
accompany them on their triumphal march to the valley. But the
Governor remained firm, and Colonel Kane triumphed. Thus began
the breach between Governor Cumming and General Johnston, which
ended not during the period of their sojourn in Utah.

672 HISTORY OF UTAH.

A duel between General Johnston and Colonel Kane was
barely averted during the stay of the latter at Camp Scott. The
former, who at first affected to regard the President's envoy
as "a Mormon spy," sent an orderly to arrest him. Governor
Cumming — who was a chivalric Georgian — no less than Colonel
Kane was highly insulted at this act, and the haughty commander
condescended to explain. He claimed that the order of arrest
was in reality an invitation to dinner, which his messenger
had misdelivered. Colonel Kane, however, sent a challenge to
General Johnston, who doubtless would have accepted it had he
not feared dismissal from the service. Through the influence of
Chief Justice Eckels the "affair of honor" terminated without a
meeting.

On the 5th of April the Governor left Camp Scott in company
with Colonel Kane and two servants. Outside the Federal lines they
were met by a company of Utah cavalry under General William H.
Kimball and escorted through Echo and Weber canyons to Salt Lake
City. It was arranged to conduct the Governor through Echo
Canyon in the night time. Bonfires were kindled along the heights,
and the small militia force attending him was so distributed and
duplicated as to cause him to suppose' that he was passing through
the lines of a formidable and far-reaching host. He little knew
then, though he afterwards learned, that the men who first accosted
him, demanding the countersign, were a portion of his own escort,
who, a little later, having preceded the carriage containing His
Excellency, again stopped him for the same purpose, and so on
during most of the journey to the city. They arrived there on the
12th. The Mayor, Aldermen and other officials met them on the
way and conducted the new Executive to the residence of Elder
Staines. There Governor Cumming was introduced by Colonel Kane
to Governor Young, who immediately called to tender his respects to
his successor. Their meeting was a very cordial one. Three days
later Governor Cumming addressed the following communication to
General Johnston :

HISTORY OF UTAH. (373

Executive Office, Great Salt Lake City, U. T., April 15th, 1858.

Sir : I left camp on the 5th, en route to this city, in accordance with a determina-
tion communicated to you on the 3rd 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 over-
hanging the valley. We proceeded to the spring, and after disposing of the animals,
retired from the trail beyond 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 Creek " is infested by hostile renegades and
outlaws from various tribes.

I was escorted from Bear River Valley to the western end of Echo Canyon. 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 encountered insults or indignities, I am
gratified in being able to state to you that, in passing through the settlements, I have been
universally greeted with 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 gentlemen 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 carriage.

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 administrative 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 pro tern.

I have not yet examined the subject critically, but apprehend that the records of the
United States Courts, Territorial Library, and other public property, remain unimpaired.

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 considera-
tion. 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 memoranda (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 Hurt is charged with
having incited to acts of hostility the Indians in Uinta Valley. I hope that Agent Hurt
will be able to vindicate himself from the charges contained in the enclosed letter from
William H. Hooper, late Secretary pro tern., yet they demand a thorough investigation.

I shall probably be compelled to make a requisition upon you for a sufficient force to

674 HISTORY OF UTAH.

chastise the Indians alluded to, since I desire to avoid being compelled to call out the
militia for that purpose.

The gentlemen who are entrusted 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.

Colonel Kane, having accomplished his mission, and seen the
new Governor duly installed, returned to report the success of his
noble and disinterested labors to President Buchanan. He traveled
overland, and was accompanied as far as the Missouri River by a
mounted escort furnished by Governor Young and led by Howard
Egan. Some years later General Kane, — for he was then a General,
having been promoted for gallant services in defense of the Union
during the Civil War, — again visited Utah and for several months
was the guest of President Young. On more than one occasion, in
the east, he valiantly used pen and tongue in behalf of the Territory
and its people. His name is a household word in a multitude of
homes in the Rocky Mountains, and his pure example of friendship
and patriotism will ever burn brightly, a beacon and a guiding star,
before the eyes of Utah's sons and daughters.

Governor Cumming, on the 2nd of May, about three weeks after
his arrival at Salt Lake City, reported to Hon. Lewis M. Cass,
Secretary of State, the local situation. His report included the
foregoing epistle to Colonel Johnston, and gave additional items of
information. The most important of these may be summarized as
follows :

(1) The Governor stated that since his arrival he had
examined the records of the Supreme and District courts — which
Judge Drummond had accused the Mormons of destroying — and was
"now prepared to report"' that they were "perfect and unimpaired."

m/amtmmm

I

(gfinxu, X, <fta**>

HISTORY OF UTAH. 677

It is proper I should add that more than one speaker has since
expressed his regret at having been betrayed into intemperance of
language in my presence.*'

Governor Cumming's report to the Secretary of State closes as
follows: " The President and the American 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 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
wilderness. Their ultimate destination is not, I presume, definitely
fixed upon. 'Going 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
commodious mansions, without apparent regret, to lengthen the long
train of wanderers. The masses everywhere announce to me that
the torch will be applied to every house indiscriminately throughout
the country, so soon as the troops attempt 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 desperately 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 settle-
ments.

678 HISTORY OF UTAH.

"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 tomorrow. 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."

It was even as Governor Cumming stated. The people of Utah,
finding that the Government was bent upon quartering its troops
within the Territory, and having no faith in the assurance that their
rights would be respected by General Johnston and his army, — more
than ever embittered by their recent experience, and allied, as
the Saints supposed, to bands of merciless savages, — had resolved
upon another exodus, which they were now in the act of executing.
Thirty thousand people had abandoned their homes and were moving
southward, leaving behind them in Salt Lake City and the various
settlements of northern Utah only a sufficient number of men to set
fire to their houses, orchards and farms, in case a door latch should
be lifted or a gate swung open by hostile hand. Brigham Young had
said to Captain Van Vliet, when that officer spoke of the probability
of the Government sending sufficient reinforcement to the invading
army to overcome all opposition: "We are aware that such will be
the case, but when those troops arrive they will find Utah a desert."
The Mormon leader was preparing to keep his word. The troops
might push their way through the mountains, but when they reached
" Zion " they would find it a desolation, a city not inhabited; the

HISTORY OF UTAH. 679

fruitful field a desert, and the land of smiling orchards a burnt and
blackened waste.

But Brigham Young had another purpose in view. While
sternly resolved, if pushed to the extremity, upon carrying into effect
his design to "utterly lay waste the land," he also had in mind the
trial of a great moral experiment. A consummate strategist, he knew
full well that the movement he and his people were now making was
the best possible method of attracting to Utah the gaze of the civil-
ized world, and of turning the fickle tide of public opinion in their
favor. The burning of the Government trains had done something
in this direction; it had brought Colonel Kane and was about to
bring a Peace Commission to investigate the situation. The exodus
might do the rest, but if not, the worst was known and resolved upon.
At any rate the issues involved were well worth the experiment.
Such was the meaning of the exodus of 1858.

Note the result. The New York Times thus reflected the general
sentiment of the American press 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 sacrifices, 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 a posse comitates. It is no longer a social
excrescence 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 foemeu worthy of our steel. * *
* If the conduct of the recent operations has had the effect of strengthening their

fanaticism by the appearance of persecution, 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 (heir labor had reclaimed and cultivated, and around
which their affections were clustered, we have something serious to answer for. Were

680 HISTORY OF UTAH.

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 treatment 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 Johnston to address letters to Brigham
Young, and through him to his people, couched in the tone of an implacable conqueror
toward 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 behind a wall to pray or weep, without rendering their faith more
intense, 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 acknowledge 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 continent
to which our rule was never likely to extend."

The London Times, the journalistic " thunderer'" of Europe, gave
utterance to the following:

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 Cumming to induce the men to remain and limit themselves 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 unbacked
desert, to a home, the locality of 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 be 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 leader as the descendants of Jacob felt when they stepped between the
walls of water in the Bed Sea. The ancient world had individual Curiatii, Horatii. and
other examples of heroism and devotion ; 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.

*His manner, said the Times, was " worthy of Bajazet dealing with a rebellious
Pasha."

HISTORY OF UTAH. 681

Governor Gumming had indeed striven in vain to induce the
people to remain in their homes. Returning from a visit to Camp
Scott, whither he went about the middle of May to bring his wife to
Salt Lake City, he had found the place almost deserted ; only a few
men being left to guard the city and set fire to it if the troops
attempted to occupy the town, molest any person or seize upon a
piece of property. In the gardens were heaped bundles of straw
and other combustible materials, and every preparation had been
made for "the burning." Mrs. Cumming was so affected at the sight,
and by the tomb-like stillness everywhere prevailing, that she burst
into tears, expressing her deep sympathy for the migrating Saints.
She entreated her husband not to allow the army to stay in the city,
and begged him to do something to "bring the Mormons back.''

"Rest assured, madam," said the kind-hearted old Governor, —
his eyes glistening with compassion, and his lip quivering with
suppressed emotion, — "rest assured I shall do all that I can. I only
wish I could be in Washington for two hours. I am persuaded I
could convince the Government that we have no need for troops."

President Buchanan, on receiving from Secretary Cass the report
of Governor Cumming, setting forth the state of affairs in Utah,
addressed the following communication to Congress :

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I transmit the copy of a dispatch from Governor Cumming to the Secretary of State,
dated at Great Salt Lake City on the 2nd 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 event.

I lose 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
\|nil last, "for the purpose of quelling disturbances in the Territory of Utah, for the pro-
tection 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 char-

682 HISTORY OF UTAH.

acter 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 Congress to be
called into service for the defense of the frontier of Texas against Indian 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 regular troops, which have not yet been with-
drawn from its limits.

James Buchanan.

Washington City, June 10, 1858.

Meantime a Peace Commission had been sent by the President
to treat with the Mormon leaders, and offer a full and free pardon to
the people for all past treasons and seditions, if they would return
to their allegiance to the Federal Government. The Commissioners
were Governor L. W. Powell, of Kentucky, and Major Ben
McCullough, of Texas. On the 11th and 12th of June, they met
with the First Presidency, the Apostles and many other prominent
Mormons at the Council House in Salt Lake City; the Church leaders
having returned from the south for that purpose. President
Buchanan's proclamation of pardon was to this effect: After
reciting the various crimes alleged against the people of Utah by
Judge Drummond and others, virtually affirming the truth of those
tales, and giving that as his reason for ordering the army to Utah,
His Excellency detailed the events that had subsequently taken place
in the Territory, dwelling particularly upon the burning of the
Government trains and the opposition presented to the Federal
troops by the local militia. He reminded the citizens that this was
rebellion against the government to which they owed allegiance,
involving tbem in the guilt of treason, which if persisted in would
bring them to condign punishment. He disclaimed any intention of
interfering with their religion, which he admitted was a question
between God and themselves. But said the President: "This
rebellion is not merely a violation of your legal duty; it is without
just cause, without reason, without excuse. You never made a
complaint that was not listened to with patience. You never
exhibited a real grievance that was not redressed as promptly as it
could be. The laws and regulations enacted for your government

HISTORY OF UTAH. 683

by Congress have been equal and just. * * * Human
wisdom never devised a political system which bestowed more
blessings or imposed lighter burdens than the Government of the
United States in its operation upon the Territories." He then said:
"But being anxious to save the effusion of blood and to avoid the
indiscriminate punishment of a whole people for crimes of which it
is not probable that all are equally guilty, I offer now a free and full
pardon to all who will submit themselves to the authority of the
Federal Government."

Such was the substance of the document presented by the Peace
Commissioners to the Mormon council. After hearing from Governor
Powell, Major McCullough and others upon the subject, President
Young addressed the assembly. 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
thing, 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.
*********

'•What has the United States Government permitted mobs to do
to us ? Gentlemen, you cannot answer that question ! I can, however,
and so can thousands of my brethren. We have been whipped and
plundered; our houses burned, our fathers, mothers, brothers,
sisters and children butchered and murdered 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

684 HISTORY OF UTAH.

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.
*********

"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 program, 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."

Said the Commissioners in their report of the speeches: "They
(the Mormons) denied that they had ever driven any officials from
Utah, or prevented any civil officer from entering the Territory.
They admitted that they burned the army trains and drove off the
cattle from the army last fall, and for that act they accepted the
President's pardon."

At the close of the conference the Commissioners addressed the
following epistle to General Johnston :

Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory,

June 12th, 1858.
Dear Sir: We have the pleasure of informing you that after a full and free confer-
ence 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 Slates ; that they will not resist the

HISTORY OF UTAH. 685

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 destruc-
tion of property if the greatest care should not be observed in the march and the selection
of camps. The people of the Territory are somewhat 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 persons 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 subsistence 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 convenient 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. T.

General Johnston, who had already started for Salt Lake Valley,
on June 14th replied to the Commissioners from his camp on Bear
River. He expressed surprise at the uneasiness felt by the people at
the treatment they might receive from the army; stated that it had
duties to perform in execution of orders from the Department of
War which, from their nature, could not lead to interference with
the people in their varied pursuits, and that if no obstructions were
presented to the discharge of said duties, there need not be the
slightest apprehension that any person whatever would have any
cause for complaint. He complied with the suggestion relating to the

686 HISTORY OF UTAH.

issuance of a proclamation, in which he assured the people that no
one should be "molested in his person or rights or in the peaceful
pursuit of his avocations."

On the same day Governor Cumming issued the following pro-
clamation :

To the inhabitants of Utah and others whom it may concern:

Whereas, James Buchanan, President of the United States, at the City of Washington,
the sixth day of April, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, did, by his proclamation, offer to
the inhabitants of Utah who submit to the laws, a free and full pardon for all treasons and
seditions heretofore committed, and

Whereas, The proffered pardon was accepted with the prescribed terms of the
Proclamation by the citizens of Utah ;

Now, therefore, I, Alfred Cumming, Governor of Utah Territory, in the name of
James Buchanan, President of the United States, do proclaim, that all persons who submit
themselves to the laws, and to the authority of the Federal Government, are by him freely
and fully pardoned for all treasons and seditions heretofore committed. All criminal
offenses associated with or growing out of the overt acts of sedition and treason are
merged in them, and are embraced in the free and full pardon of the President, and I
exhort all persons to persevere in a faithful submission to the laws, and patriotic devotion
to the Constitution and Government of our common country. Peace is restored to our
Territory. All civil officers, both Federal and Territorial, will resume the performance of
the duties of their respective offices without delay, and be diligent and faithful in the
execution of the laws. All citizens of the United States in this Territory will aid and
assist the officers in the performance of their duties.

Fellow-citizens, I offer to you my congratulations for the peaceful and honorable
adjustment of recent difficulties. Those citizens who have left their homes I invite to
return as soon as they can do so with propriety and convenience. To all I announce
my determination to enforce obedience to the laws, both Federal and Territorial.
Trespasses upon property, whether real or personal, must be scrupulously avoided.
Gaming and other vices are punished by Territorial statutes with peculiar severity, and I
commend the perusal of these statutes to those persons who may not have had an
opportunity of doing so previously.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the

^_,_ Territory to be affixed at Great Salt Lake City, in the Territory

J ) of Utah, this fourteenth day of June, one thousand eight

I ) hundred and fifty-eight, and of the Independence of the United

States the Eighty-second.

John Hartnett. By the Governor,

Secretary. A. Cumming.

The migrating Saints were still in the south, though the bulk of
the people had gone no farther than Utah County. Thither Gov-

HISTORY OF UTAH. 687

ernor Gumming and the Peace Commissioners followed them,
advising them to return to their homes, and repeatedly pledging them
protection. The Governor pleaded with them as a father might
plead with his children. "There is no longer any danger,'' said he
"General Johnston and his army will keep faith with you. Everyone
concerned in this happy settlement will hold sacred the amnesty and
pardon of the President of the United States."

"We know all about it, Governor," replied Brigham Young.
" 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
Cumming." Evidently the Mormon leader was waiting to see how
General Johnston would conduct himself on entering Salt Lake
City, — how he would keep faith with the people as to the property
they had left behind, before entrusting his life and theirs to the
mercies of the troops.

On the 26th of June, Johnston's army, descending Emigration
Canyon, entered Salt Lake Valley,* passed through the all but
deserted city and crossing the Jordan camped upon the river bank
about two miles from the center of town. The troops marched in
the following order: Colonel C. F. Smith's battalion, constituting
the vanguard; Colonel Alexander and the Tenth Infantry, with
Phelps' battery ; Colonel Waite and the Fifth Infantry, with Reno's
battery; Colonel Loring's battalion of mounted rifles; Volunteers
under Lieutenant-Colonel Bee; Second Dragoons under Colonel
Cooke, constituting the rear guard. General Johnston' accompanied
the army. Some of the officers, it is said, were deeply moved by
what they witnessed. Colonel Cooke, as he rode through the silent
streets, bared his head in honor of the brave men, so recently his

* Mr. Stenhouse says that the troops were amused at beholding the Mormon breast-
works in Echo Canyon. We think he is mistaken. It was the Mormons who were
amused. The troops were mad that they had been kept out in the snow all winter, as
much by the reputation of those " impregnable breastworks " as by the valor of the men
defending them.

688 HISTORY OF UTAH.

foes, many of whom he had formerly led in their country's cause
against Mexico. The troops on the march preserved excellent order,
and true to the pledge given by their commander, molested neither
person nor property. Three days they remained on the Jordan, and
then marched to Cedar Valley, thirty-six miles southward, where a
site for an encampment had been selected. There they founded
Gamp Floyd, so named in honor of the Secretary of War.

Early in July the Mormon leaders returned to their homes.
Their people, who had followed them southward, and would willingly
have gone to the ends of the earth at their bidding, also came back
to re-inhabit and re-possess their homes and the fruits of their
industry, which they had offered, as virtually as Abraham offered
Isaac, a sacrifice at the shrine of religious duty.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 689

CHAPTER XXXII.

After "the war "—the federal courts in operation — judge Sinclair seeks to renew

THE STRIFE HE SENTENCES A MURDERER TO BE HUNG ON SUNDAY JUDGE CRADLEBAUGh's

ADMINISTRATION THE STORY OF THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE— CRADLE-

BAUGH'S VAIN ATTEMPT TO FASTEN THE AWFUL CRIME UPON THE MORMON LEADERS HE

SUMMONS THE MILITARY TO HIS AID THE COURT HOUSE AT PROVO SURROUNDED BY

FEDERAL BAYONETS THE CITIZENS PROTEST AND THE GOVERNOR PROCLAIMS AGAINST THE

MILITARY OCCUPATION A CONSPIRACY TO ARREST PRESIDENT YOUNG THWARTED BY

GOVERNOR CUMMING ATTORNEY-GENERAL BLACK REBUKES THE UTAH JUDGES THE ANTI-
MORMONS SEEK THE REMOVAL OF GOVERNOR CUMMING COLONEL KANE TO THE -RESCUE

HOW UTAH WAS AFFECTED BY JOHNSTON'S ARMY HORACE GREELEY AT SALT LAKE CITY

MORE NEWSPAPERS THE "VALLEY TAn" AND THE "MOUNTAINEER" — WILLIAM H. HOOPER

DELEGATE TO CONGRESS THE PONY EXPRESS THE CIVIL WAR CAMP FLOYD ABANDONED.

C^OON after the arrival of the Federal officials who accompanied
%* and immediately followed Johnston's army to Utah, the three
judges, David R. Eckels, Charles E. Sinclair, and John
Cradlebaugh, were assigned to their respective districts, and the
machinery of the United States courts was set in motion. Chief
Justice Eckels, preferring the military atmosphere to which for
several months he had been accustomed, took up his residence at
Camp Floyd ; Associate Justice Sinclair was assigned to the Third
Judicial District, which, as now, embraced Salt Lake City, while
Associate Justice Cradlebaugh, who was the last of the three to
arrive, was appointed to the Second District, comprising the southern
counties. The other officials were: John Hartnett, Secretary;
Alexander Wilson, United States Attorney; Peter K. Dotson,
Marshal, and Jacob Forney, Superintendent of Indian Affairs. It
had been deemed proper by the authorities at Washington to
separate the last-named office from that of Governor. All but one of
the new officials were non-residents of Utah. The exception was the
United States Marshal, Mr. Dotson.

690 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Judge Sinclair opened court at Salt Lake City in November,
1858. His first move was not a reassuring one to the people, who,
trusting in the pledge given by Governor Cumming and the Peace
Commissioners, that the Federal representatives would keep faith
with the citizens and hold sacred the amnesty extended by President
Buchanan, had abandoned their exodus and returned to their homes
and various avocations. It seemed to them an attempt to ignore or
override the President's decree ; to render null and void his offer of
pardon which the people had accepted. In short, Judge Sinclair, in
charging the grand jury of his court,, urged them to indict
ex-Governor Young, Lieutenant-General Wells and other prominent
Mormons for treason ; also for intimidation of court and for
polygamy. The Judge held that President Buchanan's pardon, while
it was " a public fact in the history of the country," "ought to be
brought judicially by plea, motion or otherwise." This meant that
the decree of the Chief Magistrate of the nation was not to have full
force and effect until he, Charles E. Sinclair, appointed by said Chief
Magistrate an Associate Justice of Utah, had sat upon it and
pronounced it valid; or, as Mr. Stenhouse puts it, "he wanted to
bring before his court Brigham Young and the leading Mormons to
make them admit that they had been guilty of treason, and make
them humbly accept from him the President's clemency."*

The vain-glorious attempt failed, as it deserved to do. A sensi-
ble man, one not so anxious to re-open the wound then healing, to
renew the strife which had just been brought to a close, was the
United States Attorney, Alexander Wilson. He refused to present
to the jury bills for indictments for treason, on the ground that the
President's pardon had been presented by the Peace Commissioners
and accepted by the people, whereupon peace had been proclaimed
by the Governor of the Territory. An indictment was secured
against James Ferguson for intimidation of court, the act of which
occurred in Judge Stiles' district at Salt Lake City in 1854, and grew

* •' The Rocky Mountain Saints," page 402.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 691

out of the rivalry existing between the Federal and Territorial officers
and tribunals referred to in a former chapter. The case against Mr.
Ferguson never came to judgment. As to polygamy, there being no
law against the practice, — for it was not until 1862 that Congress
legislated against polygamy as " bigamy," — the grand jury failed to
return any indictments on that score.

The only other act of Judge Sinclair's that causes his name to
be remembered in Utah — barring his collusion with other officials to
secure the arrest of Brigham Young on a trumped-up, baseless
charge of counterfeiting — was his sentencing a man who had com-
mitted murder to be executed on the Sabbath. This man was
Thomas H. Ferguson, a non-Mormon, who, while drunk, had shot
and killed his employer, Alexander Carpenter, another non-Mormon.
The homicide occurred September 17th, 1859, and the execution — the
day originally set having been changed — on Friday, the 28th of
October.* Judge Sinclair was quite a young man, which may partly
account for some of his idiosyncrasies.

Meantime Judge Cradlebaugh had begun operations in the
Second Judicial District. This court convened at Provo on the 8th
of March, 1859. The seat of the Second District was at Fillmore,
the former capital of the Territory, and it was there, on the first
Monday of November, 1858, that Judge Cradlebaugh should have
opened court. Such was the appointment made for him before his
arrival by Judges Eckels and Sinclair, constituting a majority of the
supreme bench of Utah, empowered by Congress to arrange those
matters. The appointment was made in August, 1858, but Judge
Cradlebaugh did not arrive upon the scene of his labors until the
first week in November. This was probably his reason for not

* Said the condemned man on the scaffold : " I was tried by the statutes of Utah
Territory, which give a man the privilege of being shot, beheaded or hanged. But was it
given to me? No, it was not. All Judge Sinclair wanted was to sentence some one to
be hanged, then he was willing to leave the Territory ; and he had too much whiskey in
his head to know the day he sentenced me to be executed on, and would not have known,
if it had not been for the people of Utah laughing at him. It would have been on Sunday.
A nice Judge to send to any country ! "

692 HISTORY OF UTAH.

beginning on time; but why he did not open court at the place
appointed, but arbitrarily changed it from Fillmore to Provo, in the
absence of an avowed reason must be surmised. We surmise, there-
fore, that it was in order to be nearer Camp Floyd; it being the
design of Judge Cradlebaugh, in inaugurating the extraordinary pro-
ceedings by him contemplated, to call to his aid the strong arm of
the military. That design, as we shall see, was strictly carried out.

Judge Cradlebaugh proposed to investigate, among other things,
the Mountain Meadows massacre, referred to previously. The facts
relating to this terrible tragedy, as gathered from the most reliable
sources, — some of which have never before been drawn upon, — will
now be laid before the reader.

The summer of 1857 furnished the bloodiest page in all the
history of Utah. The theme is approached by the chronicler with
shuddering, and its recital must fill the heart of every reader with
horror. There is a crime that is worse than murder — a massacre;
and massacre never assumes form so horrid as when its victims are
defenseless, — most dreadful of all when with the slain mingles the
blood of helpless women and innocent children.

About midsummer of the year mentioned a large body of
Missouri and Arkansas emigrants, en route to California, reached
Salt Lake City. They traveled in two separate parties, and were well
provided with stock, implements and the supplies constituting the
usual emigrant outfit. For some days after their arrival, during
which time they had repairs made in their vehicles and had their
animals shod, they were in doubt as to which route of the two then
commonly used to the Coast they should follow. At length the
Arkansas party decided, probably upon the advice of General
Charles C. Rich who was familiar with both, to take the northern
route, which, it will be remembered, crossed Bear River and
proceeded along the Humboldt. They started, but made only a few
days' journey, — it was afterwards learned that they went no farther
than Bear River — when for some reason, probably because southern
California was their destination, the majority concluded to return

HISTORY OF UTAH. 693

and take the southern route, leading through southwestern Utah.
Proceeding southward through the Utah settlements, the two com-
panies, one of which, the Arkansas party, was led by a man named
Fancher, and the other, the Missouri party, was under command of
a Mr. Dukes, became separated by several days' journey. It is
known that Dukes' company were delayed some time near Beaver.
Here they had trouble with the Indians, one of whom they had shot.
Being attacked, they corralled their wagons and sought protection in
a rifle pit. Two of them were wounded, but the Indians were soon
placated through the intervention of officers of the Utah militia,
who distributed to them liberal contributions of beef. Fancher's
party in the meantime kept moving ahead, and had penetrated the
Indian country and were beyond the line of settlements before the
Missouri company advanced from this camp.

It was a time of great anxiety if not of intense excitement in
Utah. News had just come that the troops sent by President
Buchanan were nearing the Territory, and every express brought
reports of the brutal and infamous threats with which the camps of
the soldiery resounded. In their wagons, they declared, were the
ropes with which the Mormon leaders were to be hanged. With
their recent experiences in Missouri and Illinois fresh in their minds,
the settlers were naturally in a state of the utmost anxiety as to the
developments of the future. Martial law was all but declared in
Utah, and the people were fully warned as to the exceeding gravity
of the situation. Under the circumstances it was their plain duty to
watch for signs of hostility on the part of emigrants or others who
sought to pass through the Territory.

Whatever may have been the conduct of these companies when
they encountered the Utah outposts on the east, there seems to be
no question that not long after their arrival in Salt Lake Valley
they gave abundant evidence of their hostility and vindictiveness.
During their entire journey through the Territory they appenr to
have conducted themselves in the most offensive manner. They
swaggered through the towns, declaring their intention, as soon

694 HISTORY OF UTAH.

as they should have conveyed their women and children to a place
of safety, to return with military force sufficient to complete such
destruction of the Mormons as the United States soldiery might
leave unfinished. They averred that the murdered leaders of the
Church had received but tardily their deserts, and gave the
impression, if they did not positively boast, that in their company
were hands that had been reddened with the Prophet's blood. Nor
were their offenses confined to harrowing and insulting words.
They acted like a band of marauders, preying upon the possessions
of those whose country they traversed, and committing all manner
of petty indignities upon person and property. Still graver crimes
were charged against them by the Indians. They were said not only
to have wantonly shot some of the braves, but were known to have
left poisoned beef where the savages would be likely to get it. Sev-
eral deaths, attributed to this cause, occurred among the Indians
near Fillmore, and numbers of their animals perished through
drinking water from springs poisoned by the emigrants when about
to break camp.

One result of this deliberate policy of exasperation was the
attack by Indians on the rear party, the Missouri contingent, at its
camp near Beaver. Dissuaded at that time from their design to take
summary revenge for the atrocities committed against them, the
Indians hung on the horizon of their foe, as the latter drove out past
the last settlements, and when in the very heart of the Indian
country the attack was renewed. Again the services of the
Mormons, two or three of whom had been detailed to overtake and
accompany the emigrants as guides and interpreters, stood the
besieged in good stead. The enraged savages were bought off with
the loose stock of the company, agreeing to leave unmolested the
teams and wagons and take no life. These emigrants resumed their
journey and reached their destination in safety.*

* Soon afterwards the Indians were persuaded by the president of the Southern Utah
Indian mission — Jacob Hamblin — to surrender the stock, and all that had not been killed
was delivered by him to an agent who came to receive it in response to his notilication
that it was held subject to his order.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 695

For the leading party, however, a horrible fate was reserved.
Though in the main composed of families that bore the appearance
of respectability, there was a rough and lawless element in their
ranks that lost no opportunity of exhibiting its bitterness and
destructiveness. Against this company, as stated, was laid the fear-
ful charge of injecting poison into the carcass of one of their oxen,*
first having learned that the Indians would be likely to eat the meat,
and of throwing packages of poison into the springs. In other ways
they contrived to render themselves obnoxious to the settlers and
hateful to the natives.

It is hinted, too, that coming from the state and some even from
the county in which one of the Apostles, Parley P. Pratt, had been
assassinated only a short time before, the blood-thirsty talk of the
emigrants had intensified the feeling their other conduct had aroused
among the people. In the spring of this same year Apostle Pratt had
stood trial in Arkansas on the charge of having married the wife and
abducted the children of Hector McLean, a Louisianian by birth but
then a resident of California. The charge was not sustained, and
the defendant was acquitted. But McLean's threat of vengeance and
the solicitation of friends impelled the Apostle to seek safety in
flight. Undertaking to make his way alone on horseback through a
wild and sparsely settled country, he was intercepted by accomplices
of McLean and held until the latter could come up and dispatch him.
The assassin in his fury not only plunged his knife repeatedly into
the body of his victim, but also shot him through the breast with a
pistol snatched from the hand of a comrade. Neither principal nor
accomplices in the tragedy were ever brought to justice, though the
testimony at the coroner's inquest substantiated the facts here
narrated .f

* This act was witnessed by men who camped near the emigrants at Corn Greek.

f Parley P. Pratt was murdered near Van Buren, Arkansas, May 13, 1857. George
Q. Gannon was chosen to succeed him as one of the Twelve Apostles. His name was
presented to the general conference of the Church by President Young, April 7. I860, and
he was ordained August 26th of that year.

696 HISTORY OF UTAH.

As the Arkansas emigrants drew farther away from the larger
and stronger towns and approached the isolated and straggling set-
tlements on the southern and western border, they grew more defiant
in language and actions. Cedar City was the last place of any conse-
quence on the route. Here their customary proceeding of burning
fences, whipping the heads off chickens or shooting them in the
streets or private dooryards, to the extreme danger of the inhabitants,
was continued. One of them, a blustering fellow riding a grey horse
flourished his pistol in the face of the wife of one of the citizens, all
the time making insulting proposals and uttering profane threats.
When the town marshal notified them that they were violating the
city ordinances they set his authority at defiance, declaring they
would fight before any of their party should be surrendered. They
seemed to think they had completely intimidated the people, and as a
parting threat told in some quarters that they were going to camp in
the Mountain Meadows until they should have fattened their beef
animals so that an invading auxiliary force, expected from the west,
would have plenty of supplies. It is probable that they had chosen
Mountain Meadows as the last point for a prolonged halt through
a suggestion given them by Jacob Hamblin, a member of George A.
Smith's party, whom they had met at Corn Creek, now Kanosh, fifteen
miles south of Fillmore, about the 23rd of August. Knowing of
Hamblin as a pioneer in the southern country, the emigrants asked
him about the road, and inquired as to a suitable place to rest and
recruit their teams before crossing the desert. He suggested to them
the south end of Mountain Meadows, a few miles from his ranch,
where there was plenty of good feed and water for the animals.

Apostle Smith was returning from a tour of the southern
settlements, during which he had at almost every opportunity given
pointed advice to the people on the crisis which seemed to be
impending. He had only just returned to Utah after a year's
absence, and as some of his family lived in Iron County, he had left
Salt Lake City about the end of July to visit them. On this journey,
both going and coming, he warned the people against wasting their

HISTORY OF UTAH. 697

grain or using it for horse-feed, as crops had been short for several
years. He advised against selling to emigrants for this purpose, but
distinctly urged the duty of furnishing strangers with what bread-
stuffs they needed for themselves and families. That these emigrants
and others were able to supply themselves with the necessaries of life
for their long journey was directly due to this humane counsel and
its general acceptance. The fact that he had never heard of the
Arkansas emigrants before he met them at Corn Creek, where he
camped near them one night on his way back to Salt Lake City, and
that he immediately started east and heard no more of them until he
reached Bridger, appears to have escaped the notice of those who
subsequently sought to associate him with the tragedy at Mountain
Meadows. He was as innocent of connection with that crime as a
babe unborn.

The ill-starred company, traveling slowly, reached Beaver,
Parowan and Cedar City in succession, passing the last-named place
about the 27th or 28th of August. Here, as at Parowan, they were
able to purchase grain, and though doubtless regarded with distrust,
were treated with humanity. Proceeding a few miles farther they
camped several days near some of the springs in the vicinity,
trading stock with the settlers and buying more grain. Their
insolent conduct continued, and yet they seemed loth to leave the
last signs of civilization, — the society of a people whom they hated.

Meantime the Indians were becoming aroused at the reports
which had reached them of this company's deeds at Corn Creek and
other places. The red men shared in no small degree the excitement
of the whole country over the prospects of early war. No doubt the
horses and herds of the emigrants were also something of a tempta-
tion to the savages.

Cedar -was the most distant town from Salt Lake City on the line
of travel to southern California, and for that reason the first point
in the Territory which an expedition from that direction would reach.
Their very remoteness made the settlers peculiarly alert and watchful
for the first manifestations of that era of sanguinary distress that

45-VOL. 1.

698 HISTORY OF UTAH.

was universally believed to be impending. It was accordingly the
custom for the more prominent citizens to meet together frequently to
discuss the situation and exchange ideas and suggestions as to what
course should be taken with reference to any emergency. In their
scattered condition, — many of them living on farms and ranches
several miles distant, — it was no easy task to secure attendance at
such a meeting except by previous appointment. Thus it happened
that Sunday, when the people were accustomed to assemble for relig-
ious worship, came to be chosen for these brief consultations, the
men folks meeting in council before the usual services began, or
remaining a short time after they were concluded. Such was the
case on Sunday, the 30th of August, the second or third day after the
Arkansas company had passed through. The conduct of that com-
pany in and near Cedar, and the knowledge of their lawlessness all
along the line of previous settlements, associated with the ferocious
threat that their early return as a mob of destroyers might be
expected, caused earnest and even indignant allusion to them at this
particular council. By some it was suggested that as they were about
to enter the Indian country the savages would be likely to harass and
plunder them to a degree that would prevent their promised return.
It is probable that others were in favor of bringing them back and
holding them as prisoners of war. What other suggestions, if any,
were offered at the time is not known ; but it is a fact that it was then
and there resolved that the Indians should be held in check, and the
emigrants permitted to pass in safety. A dispatch to that effect was
sent shortly afterward by Lieutenant-Colonel Haight to the presiding
official at Pinto [or Painter] Creek.

The messenger who delivered this order remembers that on his
return he met the emigrants just breaking camp for the last time
before entering the Mountain Meadows. He was accompanied on his
errand of peace by Philip Klingensmith, then Bishop of Cedar ; and
they had scarcely set out from that place before they met John D.
Lee, to whom they communicated the object of their journey. Lee
was a major in the militia; never a bishop in the Church — as so

HISTORY OF UTAH. 699

often asserted — but acting at this time as farmer among the Indians,
and doubtless possessing much influence with them. His response
indicated that he was displeased with the peaceful decision of the
council. But though the Indians were gathered in force and under
much excitement, near Pinto, the emigrants pursued their way in
safety past that point and went into camp at the south end of
Mountain Meadows, about forty miles from Cedar. These elevated
pastures were almost on the water-shed, or "rim of the Basin;" and
as they proved to be a pleasant, grassy spot, the emigrants planned
to remain there and recuperate before venturing upon the desert.
They had been unable to purchase wagon grease at the settlements —
the settlers had none for themselves — and after reaching camp,
which was probably about Thursday, September 3rd, they sent two
men into the pines to make tar to be used as a substitute.*

In the meantime two men were despatched from Cedar under
military orders to visit the camp at the Meadows and ascertain if
possible what the real program and intentions of the party were.
About the same time there was a general movement looking to- a
concentration of the Indians, though they do not seem to have
massed at one point in any considerable number until Sunday, the
6th. The two messengers proceeded to Hamblin's ranch, in the
north end of the Meadows, from which place they twice visited the
emigrants, on Saturday, the 5th, and Sunday, the 6th. They were
civilly treated and informed that as soon as the two men who were
making tar, and two others whom they intended sending back a
few miles for some strayed cattle, returned, the company would vacate
the Meadows. These latter men passed Hamblin's Sunday morning,
stopping there to water their horses.

The Sabbath passed in peace at the Meadows, but it was a day
of excitement among the Indians congregated near Pinto, by whom
it had been arranged that after the emigrants started and while they
were journeying along the Santa Clara in straggling order, they

* These men escaped the general massacre that followed, but are understood to have
been pursued by Indians to the iMuddy country, and there slain.

700 HISTORY OF UTAH.

should be attacked and plundered. Death was to be the portion of
the men if they resisted, but the women and children were to be
spared. The attack was precipitated, however, by the bloodthirsty
haste of one of the chiefs, who, dozing while the corn and potatoes
were roasting for the evening meal, dreamed that his double-hands
were filled with blood. Regarding this as a favorable omen, and
rousing his braves, whose sanguinary temper, long restrained, now
needed no whet, the hot and furious march for the emigrant camp
was forthwith begun, the untasted supper being left in the embers.
John D. Lee appears to have been the only white man then with
the savages.

It was just at dawn on Monday, the 7th, when from the heights
and ravines surrounding their camp a volley carried pain and death
into the ranks of the emigrants. Seven men were killed and sixteen
wounded. Rudely aroused to the fate threatening them, the men
rushed to the shelter of their wagons, and immediately began to
entrench themselves by throwing up a slight bank of earth against
their wagon wheels, and excavating a rifle pit in the center of their
corral. Their defense was so stubborn and their movements so
expeditious that the attacking party withdrew, and taking position
on the adjacent hills, instituted a state of siege, meantime pouring in
a deadly fire upon such of the hapless garrison as ventured outside
the barricade for water. All told, the emigrants numbered about
one hundred and thirty-seven; twenty-three were already killed or
wounded, four were away at the pines and after the cattle, and at
least seventeen were children under seven years of age, — this
number being spared the massacre that ensued. Of the remaining
ninety-two or ninety-three a goodly proportion were probably women
and maidens. The fighting strength of the company, including
young and old, could not, therefore, have been very great. But they
were nerved by desperation. The besiegers had driven off their
animals, so all thought of advance was idle. Equally futile was any
hope of retreat. If they left their entrenchments it was to expose
themselves to savage marksmanship, and they would have been

HISTORY OF UTAH. 701

speedily cut clown. No course was open save to remain and resist
until possibly relief might come. During Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday they kept up the unequal conflict, their
stock of ammunition running lower and lower, and their sufferings
from thirst during the day being intense.

Only a few hours before this first attack was made, while the
Indians were still believed to be under control at Pinto, the question
of dealing with the emigrants on account of their continued ill
behavior again came up for consideration at a council held in Cedar.
There were present as usual — it being Sunday — the leading officers
of the local militia and other prominent citizens. Up to that time
there had been no demonstration against the emigrants, though it
must have been known from the assembling and demeanor of the
savages that they were planning a raid upon them. Again there were
suggestions that the company be intercepted and brought back ;
having declared themselves as enemies, it was argued that they
should be treated as such. Some there were, notably the fiery Klin-
gensmith, who advocated an immediate attack upon the camp. Lee
was not present, but is said to have sent word that the Indians were
growing restless and vehement. From all reports the debate was
animated, if not heated. But at length the suggestion prevailed that
a courier be sent to Governor Young at Salt Lake City with dispatches
detailing the provocation to hostilities that had been given, noting
the Indian desire for revenge and asking his advice in regard to the
situation. Isaac C. Haight, in command of the Cedar militia, was to
write and forward the letter, and instructions were to be sent to Lee
to pacify the Indians and keep them from attacking the emigrants.
Both dispatches were written, and on Monday afternoon they were
put into the hands of riders who knew their contents, for delivery
at their respective destinations. Joseph Clewes carried the letter
addressed by Colonel Haight to a resident of Pinto Creek, enclosing
an order to Lee to keep the Indians off the emigrants and protect
them from all harm until further orders. Before this letter reached
Pinto Creek, Lee and the Indians had left for the Meadows: and

702 HISTORY OF UTAH.

before it was received by him there, as he afterwards acknowledged
it was received, the first attack had been made. The Indians had
tasted of blood, some of their own had been spilt, the emigrants
having killed several and mortally wounded others, and no human
power could now check their fury.

The dispatch to Governor Young was carried by James H.
Haslam, who, riding express and changing horses frequently, was
able to reach Salt Lake City on the morning of Thursday, the 10th.
Delivering his message, he was asked to come at 1 p. m. of the same
day for a reply. On making his appearance at the hour named, and
answering affirmatively the Governor's question whether he could
stand the journey back, injunction was laid upon him not to spare
horseflesh in returning with the reply, for "the Indians must be
kept from the emigrants at all cost, if it took all of Iron County to
protect them."* He reached Cedar City on Sunday, September 13th,
and delivered the letter to Colonel Haight, who, as he read it, cried
like a child, and exclaimed: "Too late, too late!" The massacre
had already taken place.

The messengers to Governor Young and John D. Lee could
have scarcely started upon their errands when word came to
Cedar that the Indians had attacked the emigrants at the Meadows.
From that time on, Indian and white runners came almost daily from
the scene of strife. The first reports were that the Indians, several
hundred in number, had attacked and slain some of the emigrants,
and that men were needed to guard the remnant and bury the dead.
It was upon this call to Colonel Haight that John M. Higbee, a major
of one of the battalions of militia, on Tuesday the 8th, set out with a
body of men and wagons for the Meadows. His force was not
numerous and the men were not all supplied with arms. Some were
teamsters and others took along picks and spades. They reached
their destination early Wednesday morning, only to find that there
had been no such bloodshed as that reported, and that the emigrants
were making good their defense. But they found an angry host of

* Haslam's affidavit.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 703

Indians bent on bloodshed, and outnumbering ten to one their own
forces. An attempt by the militia to assist the emigrants would
have transferred to themselves the Indian attack. Daring that day
and the next, awaiting further orders they lay in camp, near to but
out of sight of the entrenched emigrants, who were on the other side
of a small hill. Thursday brought slight reinforcements, but by this
time more Indians had arrived upon the scene. The whites, who
were from the Santa Clara country, believed, as did Higbee's men,
that they were summoned there on an errand of mercy, to bury the
dead and protect the survivers. But the fury of the Indians was
uncontrollable. Lee may have attempted, as he says, to restrain
them. It is not improbable, however, that after some of the Indians
had been wounded, and himself had had a narrow escape from the
riflemen in the corral, he made no further attempt to check the
assault. He exhibited bullet holes in his clothing and hat, where
Arkansas marksmanship had given evidence of its accuracy. But
the Indians for some reason were inclined to think that he and the
white men were planning to cheat them of their prey. About the
third day of the attack, two men from Hamblin's ranch approached
the scene of battle, and came upon some wounded savages.
Companions of the latter at once surrounded the two, upbraiding
them with Lee's supposed desertion of the Indians* cause, and
compelling them, probably in order to demonstrate whether a
friendly understanding existed between the whites on both sides, to
run the gauntlet of the emigrant fire. They were required to pass
in full view and close range of the camp, down the hill, across the
valley and up on the other side. To make the attempt seemed to
court certain death, but to refuse the Indians was to invite the
vengeance of a still more savage foe. They made the daring run and
escaped unharmed, though bullets whistled past them thick and
fast.*

* There is another statement to the effect that these two men, prior to making the
run, were compelled to don Indian attire. This furnishes the only foundation for the
story that the militia disguised themselves as Indians.

704 HISTORY OF UTAH.

This was probably on Wednesday, the 9th, and in explaining
how the emigrants came to fire upon the white men, we at once come
upon the probable cause and explanation of the horrid massacre that
ensued two days later. We have seen that among none of the men
at the Meadows was there any other understanding than that the
Indians had been engaged in bloody work, and were to be restrained
from further operations of like character. This was the decision of
every council that had been held. It was the substance of every
dispatch sent and command issued. But it is said that after Mon-
day's attack a couple of horsemen, coming upon the two emigrants
who had been sent back after lost cattle, shot one of them, a young
man named Aden, and pursued his companion with the same deadly
intent. The latter, however, escaped the bullets sent after him and
succeeded in making his way back to the corral. To his comrades
his story must have conveyed the dreadful impression that white
men were in league with the Indians. The slayers of Aden are sup-
posed to have continued on to Cedar, where they probably urged
upon some congenial spirits that since the emigrants now believed
the settlers were accessory to the Indian attack, the killing of all who
could tell the tale must be accomplished.

Prior to this tragic incident, two of the emigrants had endeav-
ored, under cover of darkness, to break through the Indian lines and
carry a call back to the settlement for assistance. These men were
met in the cedars during the night time by a small party commanded
by Klingensmith, who had left Cedar City the same evening. Both
the emigrants were killed, one of them falling, it is said, by Klingen-
smith's own hand.

Meantime another council had been held, this time at Parowan,
the regimental headquarters. At this council, over which William
H. Dame as Colonel presided, the whole matter was once more dis-
cussed. The men present, of whom there were quite a number,
listened to reports brought from Cedar to the effect that the emigrants
had been attacked and were then surrounded. The decision of this
council, like that of the preceding ones, was that the company should

HISTORY OF UTAH. 705

be protected, and assisted to pass on in safety. Colonel Haight and
his associates, after this conference, returned to Cedar, and he is
understood to have sent a message to Lee that if it took all the prop-
erty of the emigrants to appease the Indians, they were to have it: no
more blood should be shed.

But Klingensmith, who was doubtless among those who had
been informed of Aden's murder, and had divined its effect upon the
emigrants, was already at work collecting men to go to the Meadows.
He, and by this time some others, cannot have been guiltless of
bloody intentions. His act, on meeting the two emigrant messengers
in the cedars, is proof enough of his temper. There is no doubt
that until he reached the Meadows the fatal order for the massacre
had not been received. When he arrived he conferred with the
leaders, and then for the first time was there talk as to a plan of
attack. He brought encouragement and strength to those, if any
there were, who were bent upon destroying the company — which
had been his own plan in all the councils held at Cedar — and he
undoubtedly gave the impression that the superior officers of the
militia had given orders to that effect. Higbee, who as major of bat-
talion was in command of militia on the ground, was of equal rank
with Lee, though much younger in years. Lee was also major, but
at this time devoted himself more especially to the Indian forces. It
was Lee and Klingensmith, however, who seemed to have the direc-
tion of affairs, and it is not unlikely that Klingensmith by his ardor
and representations — he was the latest arrival from Cedar — had
more influence in the subsequent councils than any one else.

Finally, on Friday morning, the 11th, the details of the plan
were adopted. Shortly after noon two wagons were ordered up near
the emigrant corral; a flag of truce was sent forward, and the
besieged party answered it with one of their own. Lee advanced to
meet their representative; there was a long parley; and at length
Lee and his wagons entered the corral. His proposition was that the
company should give up their arms, loading them into these two
wagons, and, leaving their outfits on the ground, accept the escort of

706 HISTORY OF UTAH.

himself and associates back to places of safety. The terms were
acceded to; the wagons were quickly loaded, some of the children,
two or three women, and a couple of wounded men also finding-
places thereon. The march back toward Cedar City began, the
women walking behind the wagons, and the men behind the women,
the whole making a straggling procession, with the militiamen in
single file on the right hand and well toward the rear.* The Indians
were invisible, being in ambush ahead and to the right of the militia.
The precision that had been arranged for the scheme did not prevent
a hitch, and as the column kept moving on beyond the point where
the signal was to be given, the savages, impatient at the delay and
fearful that they were to be robbed of their revenge, advanced
stealthily, some creeping on all fours up to the line.f At last a gun-
shot was heard in front, and immediately a volley of death blazed
forth from the bushes, and from some parts of the militia line. At
the first fire nearly all the adults were killed. Those who survived
it were speedily dispatched. None but small children were spared.
The slaughter lasted but two or three minutes. It is not believed
that indignities were put upon the corpses, and it is denied that any
were scalped. The militia kept moving northward, and night soon
threw its black mantle over the horrible scene. A few men were
sent back to the emigrant corral to keep the Indians from plundering
the wagons, but the redskins had made quick work of stripping the
clothing off the bodies, and were already looting the camp. That
night the air was full of the wild bellowings of the cattle and the
triumphant shouts of the savages; and here and there along the

* It is said that one of the emigrants, after starting out with the rest, turned back,
saying that treachery was intended. His comrades persuaded him to rejoin the party,
which by this time was quite a distance in advance.

fThe signal was to be the word " Halt! " spoken when part of the procession had
crossed the slight ridge which should separate the men and militia at the rear from the
wagons and women in front. But the officer who was to give it delayed in the hope that
other orders might be received or other counsels prevail, until the point of attack had long
been passed and the Indians were threatening to break in indiscriminately and begin the
slaughter.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 707

trail the cold, white face of a murdered man or woman looked up into
the dark, dumb sky. It was an accursed, hated spot.

Scarcely had the dreadful work ended when two men from
Cedar, riding as if for their lives, met the advancing column. They
bore no dispatches, but had come on their own account to seek to
check any attempt to overturn the decision of the Cedar and Paro-
wan councils. They were fearful that danger was in store for the
emigrants, and this suspicion was confirmed when they met a runa-
way from the Meadows, who told them of the crime that was on foot.
Spurring their jaded horses to renewed speed, they reached the spot.
But it was too late. The deed was done. Next morning, Saturday,
the 12th, Colonel Dame, of Parowan, and Lieutenant-Colonel Haight,
of Cedar, arrived on the scene. They were horror-struck, and it is
said became involved in a heated quarrel.

In the meantime steps were taken to bury the bodies. The
ground was dry and hard, but during the day all were interred
where they lay, sometimes three or four in a grave.*

The orphaned children, seventeen in number, ranging in age
from three months to seven years, were taken to Cedar and
distributed among the families in the vicinity. They were well cared
for, and during the following summer were surrendered to Indian
Superintendent Forney who reported that "they were in better
condition than children generally in the settlements in which they
lived." In the year 1859 they were sent back to Arkansas, an
appropriation for the purpose having been made by Congress.

*The graves were in most cases shallow, but there is no truth in the story that the
fust rains washed away the soil and left the bodies exposed. The bones that were after-
wards collected had been dug from their resting place by wolves, and gnawed and scattered
by the ferocious beasts.

In the spring of 1859 a detachment of troops from Camp Floyd, sent out for the pur-
pose, gathered up the scattered bones and buried them in one spot, erecting over them a
rude cairn, against which leaned a slab bearing the inscription : " Here 120 men, women
and children were massacred in cold blood, early in September, 1857." Surmounting the
cairn was a cross bearing the words : " Vengeance is mine : I will repay, saith the Lord."
Nothing remains now to mark the place of sepulchre. Cairn and cross have yielded to
the action of the elements, and have crumbled and disappeared.

708 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Of the property of the murdered emigrants, the larger part,
including nearly all the stock, was taken by the Indians. The
remainder was conveyed to Cedar, arriving during the night of
Sunday, the 13th.* Soon afterwards the property, consisting of
some clothing, wagon covers, utensils, etc., was sold at auction at
Cedar City, the ubiquitous Klingensmith acting as chief salesman.
Not a dollar of it, and not a single hoof of stock belonging to the
ill-fated company ever came into the hands of President Young or
the Church, all assertions to the contrary notwithstanding.

Such are the facts relating to the most dreadful occurrence in
Utah's history. John D. Lee, one of the chief actors, told a
different story when on the 29th of September he brought to
Governor Young a verbal report of the affair. He said .that Indians
surrounded, massacred and stripped the bodies of the adults of the
party, and sold the children to the settlers; that no white men were
concerned in the massacre and that when he heard of it he took
some of his neighbors and went and buried the bodies.-]- Among all
save the actual participants there was the completest acceptance
of the story that the crime was committed solely by Indians.
Scarcely had the bodies been buried when the leaders in the bloody
work called their men together and under the most binding oaths
pledged them to secrecy. For years the unholy promise was kept,
and when at length the truth began to leak out, the names of men
entirely innocent were mingled in fatal proximity with those of the
guilty. Of the militia, ordered or lured to the scene of the
massacre by Lee and Klingensmith, nearly all were young men who

* Next day the Missouri party of emigrants passed through Cedar. ' They had heard
of the fate of their associates, but believed it to be the work of Indians.

f Wilford Woodruff's Diary.

Governor Young in his report as Superintendent of Indian Affairs to the Com-
missioner, January 6th, 1858, says : " I quote from a letter written to me by John D.
Lee, farmer to the Indians in Iron and Washington counties: 'About the 22nd of
September Captain Fancher & Co. fell victims to the Indians' wrath near Mountain
Meadows. Their cattle and horses were shot down in every direction : their wagons and
property mostly committed to the flames.' "

HISTORY OF UTAH. 709

acted in innocence of evil under military orders. In most instances
they took no part whatever in the actual killing. It was not until
1870 that Lee's complicity was established ; when upon investigation
and recommendation of Apostle Erastus Snow made to President
Young, it was moved and unanimously carried in a council of the
Apostles held at Salt Lake City that John D. Lee be expelled from
the Church, with a solemn ban against re-admission under any
circumstances, and that his superior officer, Isaac C. Haight, for
failing to restrain him and take prompt action against him, be also
excommunicated. Klingensmith, one of the most guilty throughout
the whole affair, left the Church soon after the massacre, and was
ever after burning with anxiety to turn states evidence.*

As said, it was this awful crime, the Mountain Meadows
massacre, that Judge Cradlebaugh, of the Second District Court,
sitting at Provo in March, 1859, sought to investigate. So interested
was he in the matter that he had paid a personal visit to the scene
of the massacre. Other criminal cases that came before him at the
same session of court, were the Potter and Parrish murders, which
occurred at Springville, six miles south of Provo, in March, 1857.
William R. Parrish, his son Beason and G. G. Potter were the
persons killed, — shot and stabbed to death on the night of the 14th of
March. The verdict of the coroner's jury was "that they came to
their deaths by the hands of an assassin or assassins to the jury
unknown." Judge Cradlebaugh, however, was determined to make
the Mormon Church responsible for the crime; and not only for
this, but for the Mountain Meadows massacre, and in fact for nearly
every other deed of blood or lesser depredation committed in his
district. His zeal and that of his coadjutors in this direction caused
Superintendent Forney to remark, in his report to the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs in August, 1859: "I fear, and I regret to say it,
that with certain parties here there is a greater anxiety to connect

* Though sometimes referred to as Bishop Smith, ami his name appearing to an
affidavit dated April 10th, 1871, as Philip Klingon Smith, he was usually known as
Klingensmith.

710 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Brigham Young and other church dignitaries with every criminal
offense, than diligent endeavor to punish the actual perpetrators of
crime.'' In charging the grand jury of his court on March 8th of
that year, Judge Cradlebaugh used the following language:

I will say to you, Gentlemen of the Grand Jury, that from what I learn, it has been
some time since a court, having judicial cognizance in your district, was held. No person
has been brought to punishment for some two years ; and from what I have learned I am
satisfied that crime after crime has been committed.

In consequence of the Legislature not having provided proper means, there is not
that aid given that is desired to enable the judiciai-y to prosecute its duties ; but I will say
that the Legislature, in my opinion, have legislated to prevent the judiciary from bringing
such offenders to justice.
*********

They have provided the Probate Courts with criminal jurisdiction, and it would
seem that the whole machinery was made so that they should be brought before that
court and tried, and the fact that there is no additional legislation to provide for bringing
them before this court, proves that it was done to prevent.

The Judge then proceeded to find fault with the Deseret News
for indulging in certain strictures on the Federal courts, and with
ex-Governor Young for an alleged similar cause. Finally he came
to the Mountain Meadows massacre and the Potter and Parrish affair,
also mentioning the murder of one Henry Fobbs at Pondtown, and
the killing of Henry Jones and his mother at Payson.* He then
said :

To allow these things to pass over gives a color as if they were done by authority.
The very fact of such a crime as that of the Mountain Meadows shows that there was
some person high in the estimation of the people, and it was done by that authority; and
this case of the Parrishes shows the same, and unless you do your duty, such will be the
view that will be taken of it.

You can know no law but the laws of the United States and the laws you have here.
No person can commit crimes and say they are authorized by higher authorities, and if
they have any such notions they will have to dispel them.

I saw something said in that paper of some higher law. It is perhaps not proper to
mention that, but such teachings will have their influence upon the public mind.

* Fobbs was said to have been killed by Indians while passing through the Territory.
Jones and his mother were guilty of incest and were shot by an enraged mob of citizens,
who [lulled down the house in which they dwelt. Both events took place in 1857.

*

I

criminal
Kb Ah of

tail will ay
bt before that

rish affair,

He then

.inty.
at there «

i have here.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 713

of the people, did not propose to be trifled with. He forthwith
issued the following proclamation :

Whereas, one company of the U. S. Infantry, under the command of Captain Heth,
is now stationed around the Court House at Provo, where the Hon. John Cradlebaugh is
now holding court, and eight additional companies of infantry, one of artillery, and one
of cavalry, under the command of Major Paul, are stationed within sight of the Court
House ; and,

Whereas, the presence of soldiers has a tendency, not only to terrify the inhabitants
and disturb the peace of the Territory, but also to subvert the ends of justice, by causing
the intimidation of witnesses and jurors ; and,

Whereas, this movement of troops has been made without consultation with me,
and, as I believe, is in opposition to both the letter and spirit of my instructions; and,

Whereas, Gen'l. Johnston, commander of the military department of Utah, has
refused my request that he would issue the necessary orders for the removal of the above
mentioned troops:

Now, therefore, I Alfred Cumming, Governor of the Territory of Utah, do hereby
publish this my solemn protest against this present military movement, and also against
all movements of troops incompatible with the letter and spirit of the annexed extract
from the instructions received by me from government for my guidance while Governor of
the Territory of Utah.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the

^_^_^ Territory to be affixed. Done at Great Salt Lake City, this

( ^ ) twenth-seventh day of March, A. D. eighteen hundred and fifty-

1 ' " J nine, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-

1 ' ' third.

John Hartnett, By the Governor,

Secretary of State. Alfred Cumming.

The following is the "extract" referred to in the foregoing
proclamation :

It is your duty to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, and to maintain the
peace and good order of the Territory, and also to support by your power and authority
the civil officers in the performance of their duties. If these officers, when thus engaged,
are forcibly opposed, or have just reason to expect opposition, they have a right to call
such portions of the posse comitatus to their aid as they may deem necessary. If circum-
stances should lead you to believe that the ordinary force at the disposal of such officers
will be insufficient to overcome any resistance that may be reasonably anticipated, then you
an' authorized to call for such number of the troops as the occasion may »equire, who
will act as a posse comitatus, and while thus employed, they will be under the direction
of the proper civil officer, and act in conformity with the instructions you may give as
the Chief Executive Magistrate of the Territory.

714 HISTORY OF UTAH.

About the same time Judges Sinclair and Cradlebaugh — Judge
Eckels seems to have been absent from the scene — addressed a joint
letter to the United States Attorney-General in relation to the matter
at issue. To the answer of that high functionary, which fully
sustained Governor Gumming, and figuratively cuffed the ears of his
opponents, reference will be made a little later.

Judge Cradlebaugh, without waiting for the grand jury to
present the indictments that he desired, and doubtless despairing of
their intention so to do, began issuing bench warrants for the
apprehension of certain persons suspected of complicity in the
Springville murders. These warrants were served by the U. S.
Marshal, accompanied by a squad of soldiers. Several men were
arrested, among them some Mormon witnesses subpoenaed by the
grand jury, and handed over to the keeping of the military. There
were also a number of Indians and a few Gentiles in custody.

After waiting in vain two weeks for the grand jury to gratify
him, Judge Cradlebaugh became angry, and summoning the members
of that body before him, he discharged them, at the same time
dismissing the prisoners then in custody and closing his court. He
entered upon the docket these words: "The whole community
presents a united and organized opposition to the administration of
justice." In his final address to the grand jury, His Honor
wrathfully said :

If it is expected that this court is to be used by this community as a means of
protecting it against the pecadillos of Gentiles and Indians ; unless this community will
punish its own murderers, such expectation will not be realized. It will be used for no
such purpose.

When this people 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 court cannot bring you to a proper sense of your duty, it can at least turn the savages
in custody loose upon you.

In summing up the evidence in the Springville cases, the Judge
had thus expressed himself:

Men are murdered here. Coolly, deliberately, premeditatedly murdered — their
murder is deliberated and determined upon by Church council meetings and that, too. for

HISTORY OF UTAH. 715

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
despotism. 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.

The grand jury framed a reply, remonstrating against these
insults and protesting against their untimely and dishonorable
discharge. They stated that they were surrounded during their
deliberations by a detachment of the army, and that army officers
were quartered within hearing of the evidence of witnesses who were
being examined in the jury-room; that they presented indictments
for offenses against the laws of the United States, which indictments
had been treated with contempt and the prisoners indicted liberated
without trial; that witnesses subpoenaed by the grand jury had been
treacherously arrested and the jury deprived of their evidence; but
that notwithstanding they were thus trammeled by the court, they
had honored their oath and were endeavoring to faithfully discharge
their duties when they were dismissed by His Honor with a
slanderous and insulting harangue.*

Soon after the closing of the court, the troops investing Provo
were withdrawn. And so ended Judge Cradlebaugh's vain attempt —
could it be otherwise than vain? — to saddle upon the Mormon
Church, upon an entire community, crimes committed by a few
individuals, for whose conduct that Church, that community, could
not justly or reasonably be held responsible.

But the game was not yet played out. Another act of the
drama remained : an act that came very near provoking a serious
conflict, with General Johnston and the troops at Camp Floyd on
one side, and Governor Cumming and the Utah militia on the other.

* The members of the grand jury were : John Riggs (foreman), James Pace,
William Meeks, Isaac Morley, Jr., Richard Sessions, D. D. McAithur, A. G. Conover,
John Mercer, George W. Bean, Jesse McCauslin, John W. Turner, John Sessions, M. C.
Kinsman, A. P. Dowdle, Martin H. Peck, James Smith, Lorenzo Johnson, William A.
Follett, X. T. Guyman, John Harvey, Wilber J. Earl, Philander Colton and L. C.
Zabriskie.

716 HISTORY OF UTAH.

A conspiracy had been concocted by the Federal officials for the
arrest of Brigham Young on a charge of counterfeiting, — the
trumped-up case mentioned previously. This attempt was made
about the time that the troops were withdrawn from Provo. A
young artist, an engraver, residing at Salt Lake City, had been
employed by certain parties from Camp Floyd to duplicate a plate
used by the Quarter-master of that post for notes drawn upon
the assistant treasurers of the United States at St. Louis and New
York. The artist, who was very clever, did his work well, but it is
believed was not aware that he was committing a criminal act.
This, however, did not suffice to shield him. The fraud being-
discovered, the principal, one Brewer, who had employed the
engraver to make the plate, was arrested at Camp Floyd. He
immediately turned states evidence, shifting the onus from his own
shoulders to those of the artist, and also endeavoring to implicate
President Young in the affair. The charge against the latter was
absolutely groundless, but it suited the purpose of the conspirators,
and was simply another attempt to make " some person high in
authority" responsible for the misdeed of a comparatively obscure
individual. A writ was issued for the arrest of the artist, and
another for the apprehension of Brigham Young. The U. S.
Marshal was to serve the writs, and if resisted, as it was fully
expected he would be, General Johnston's artillery was to make a
breach in the wall surrounding the residence of the ex-Governor,
who would be taken by force and carried to Camp Floyd.

Such was the program which certain officers from camp,
entrusted with the service of the writs, laid before Governor
Gumming, soliciting his co-operation in the matter. To the artist's
apprehension, His Excellency offered no objection; in fact he helped
to secure it; but to the arrest of Brigham Young on such a
baseless charge he would not listen. Said the Governor to the
officers: "When you have a right to take Brigham Young, gentle-
men, you shall have him without creeping through walls, you shall
enter by his door with heads erect, as becomes representatives of

HISTORY OF UTAH. 717

your government. But till that time, gentlemen, you can't touch
Brigham Young while I live, by G — d."

Discomfited, the officers returned to Camp Floyd. It was now
rumored that General Johnston would send two regiments and a
battery of artillery to enforce the writ for the arrest of the Mormon
leader. Governor Cumming promptly informed General Wells of
this report, and directed him to hold the militia in readiness to repel
the threatened assault. Five thousand men flew to arms in response
to this order, and eagerly awaited the issue. ' But the regiments
from Camp Floyd did not come. General Johnston had evidently
changed his mind. Soon afterward the letter from the United States
Attorney-General, in answer to Judges Sinclair and Cradlebaugh
came to hand. That letter decided that the troops could be used as
a posse to enforce the processes of the courts only upon the call of
the Governor. The power of the judicial-military conspirators was
thus broken. A few extracts from this letter of Judge Black's,
which was dated May 17th, 1859, are here inserted. Said the great
jurist to the Utah judges:

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 cases
brought before them, and to determine them impartially according to the evidence adduced
on both sides. *^*^*^^**

The Governor is the supreme Executive of the Territory. He is responsible 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 movement 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 relations of general hostility with one another. The instructions
given to the Gommanding-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, judges,
or the marshal shall find it necessary to summon 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 civil posse, and too sudden to admit of a formal requisition of the

718 HISTORY OF UTAH.

Governor upon the military commander. 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. * * * *

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 cloth each one of the judges, as well
as the marshal and all his 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. ^^^h^^^K^H^5^

On the whole the President is very decidedly of opinion —

1. That the Governor of the Territory alone has power to issue a requisition 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 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 concurrence 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.

A strong effort was now made by the anti-Mormons to have
Governor Cumming removed, and another executive, more in
harmony with their views and policies, appointed in his stead. To
this end a mass meeting of Gentiles convened at Camp Floyd in the
latter part of July. Among those present were the Federal Judges
and Dr. Garland Hurt. An address was issued, accusing the
Mormons of numerous crimes, declaring that they were still disloyal,
and that President Buchanan had been deceived and had done a
great wrong in withdrawing from the courts the protecting power of
the military.

That same month these ''disloyal Mormons" had celebrated, in
response to the following order, the natal day of American liberty :

SPECIAL ORDER NO. 2.

Headquarters Nauvoo Legion,
Adjutant- General's Office, G. S. L. City, July 1st, 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

HISTORY OF UTAH. 719

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 this city as follows :

1st. — 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, simultaneously at
the residences of Governor Cumming and President Young, at the office of the Territorial
Secretary, and the residence of the United States Attorney. Captain Pitt's band will be
stationed at sunrise opposite the residence of Governor Cumming, 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."

2nd. — After the morning salute the guns will be parked at the Court House till noon,
when a salute of thirty-three guns will be fired.

3rd. — 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 1st Cavalry will be detailed as a guard, and continue
on guard through the day. The whole detachment 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

Lieutenant-General Daniel H. Wells,
Adjutant- General James Ferguson.

Almost simultaneously with the effort put forth by local Gentiles
for the removal of Governor Cumming, the friends of General
Johnston, at Washington, brought a strong pressure to bear upon
President Buchanan for the same purpose. Johnston at that time
was quite an influential personage. His great military ability was
recognized, and he was regarded as a very likely successor to the
aged veteran, Winfield Scott, General-in-Chief of the United States
Army. In fact, his friends at the capital were working to that end.
To the influence exerted against Governor Cumming, who was looked
upon as a foe to General Johnston, and was indeed a very lion in his

720 HISTORY OF UTAH.

path, President Buchanan would probably have yielded, had not
that staunch friend of Utah, Colonel Thomas L. Kane, who also had
great influence at the seat of government, and to whom the President
felt particularly grateful for his recent services in the west, by a
master-stroke of political strategy thwarted the scheme for the
Governor's displacement.* Colonel Kane had been solicited by the
Historical Society of New York City to deliver a lecture on Utah
affairs, but had postponed the acceptance of the invitation. Hearing
of the movement against Governor Cumming, and learning that
President Buchanan had asked of a mutual friend how the proposed
removal would be likely to affect Colonel Kane, the latter, being
determined that Cumming, whom he regarded as a friend to the
Territory, should be retained in office, saw that now was an
opportune time to lecture in the metropolis on Utah affairs.
Arrangements were forthwith concluded, and though suffering from
an attack of pleurisy, the Colonel proceeded from Philadelphia to
New York for that purpose. His effort was entirely successful.
During the lecture he took particular pains to eulogize Governor
Cumming for his wise and able administration, and declared him to
be admirably fitted for the duties of his difficult and trying position.
Next morning condensed reports of the lecture appeared in all the
metropolitan newspapers and were scattered broad-cast over the
country by the associated press. The result was that public opinion
was turned completely in Cumming's favor, and President Buchanan,
politic as ever, refused to remove him, and he was continued in office
till the close of his term.

The advent of Johnston's army proved both a benefit and a
detriment to Utah. The founding of Camp Floyd furnished a market
for the products of farm, ranch and dairy, and the opportunity to

* President Buchanan in his message to Congress, December, 1858, says : " 1
cannot refrain from mentioning the valuable services of Colonel Thomas L. Kane, who,
from motives of pure benevolence, and without any official character or pecuniary
compensation, visited Utah during the last inclement winter for the purpose of con-
tributing to the pacification of the Territory."

HISTORY OF UTAH. 721

profit by the presence of the troops was not lost sight of by the
settlers in their vicinity. The merchants were naturally among the
first to recognize and take advantage of the commercial chance thus
afforded, and more than one contractor and middleman had good
reason, from a worldly standpoint, to bless and not curse the coming
of the army. In fact the community at large was greatly benefitted
in a temporal way. Owing to the suspension of travel across the
plains and the consequent breaking up of local business houses at the
time of "the war," the people were destitute of many comforts which
now, through trade with Camp Floyd, began to be re-supplied.* In
exchange for flour, grain, beef, butter, eggs, poultry and dried fruits,
the citizens obtained cash, clothing, tea, coffee, sugar and other
necessaries. When Camp Floyd was evacuated, the government
property, such as was not destroyed, was sold out at great sacrifice.
Several Utah merchants there "made their start," and in a few years
became very wealthy. Thus was the advent of the army of great
material benefit to the Territory.

On the other hand evils were introduced into the community
which, until then, it had never known. These, however, were more
traceable to the crowds of camp-followers — those usual hangers-on
to the skirts of an invading army — that came with the troops, than
to the soldiers themselves. They were truly the off-scourings of
civilization; thieves, gamblers and desperadoes of the worst type.
Contact with such characters could not but have a debasing effect
upon the morals of the people, especially the youth, some of whom
became in time almost as bad and reckless as those whose evil
examples they unhappily followed. Hitherto it had been the boast
that Utah was almost entirely free from the vices which prevailed
elsewhere. There was little if any drunkenness, no gambling, no

* During the troubles of 1857 the Mormon forces were instructed not to interfere
with trains of merchandise belonging to Gentile or other businessmen in Utah. Genera]
Johnston, however, would not permit them to pass his lines, and detained them east oi
the Wasatch Mountains all winter. The result was a general breaking up of local
merchants and consequent privations among the people.

722 HISTORY OF UTAH.

prostitution, — in short, none of the social evils which seem to be a
concomitant of modern civilization, and are held by some sophists to
be essential to the welfare of the communities they invariably
corrupt and destroy. In those days it was said, and with perfect
truth, that an unprotected woman might traverse the Territory from
one end to another without being molested, without hearing an
obscene word or witnessing an insulting gesture. But with the
coming of the troops, or the camp-followers, this happy condition
began to change, and before long it could with equal propriety be
affirmed :

Where rose aloft the voice of reverent prayer,
The horrid oath now rent the midnight air ;
O'er streets deserted ere the darkening night,
The glare of sin sent forth its baleful light ;
The grog-shop, held aloft from arm of law,
Poured forth its poison with defiant maw ;
O'er walks where virtue long had wandered free.
Staggered the drunkard, lurked the debauchee ;
With watchful eye the gambler lay in wait
To lure his victim with a gilded bait,
While pimp and harlot ply their artful game
To drag our youth to dens of death and shame*

Murders also became frequent. Now and then it was a peaceable
and respectable citizen who fell a victim to the knife or bullet of the
drunken desperado or midnight thief and assassin. Generally, how-
ever, it was the drunkards and desperadoes who slew each other, in
which event " good riddance" was the common expression of public
sentiment.

Among the homicides that occurred soon after the founding of
Camp Floyd were the following: The shooting of Policeman William
Cooke, in October, 1858, by a ruffian named McDonald, who succeeded
in escaping; the killing of Sergeant Ralph Pike by Howard Spencer,
in retaliation for an assault committed some time before. Pike had

* The Indians in the vicinity of Camp Floyd became very corrupt. Some of the
tribes, notably the Goshutes and Sanpitches, through disease and drunkenness were
almost destroved.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 723

cracked Spencer's skull with a musket, and brought him nigh to
death's door. He barely recovered, but when he did, sought out
his assailant and shot him dead. This tragedy occurred August
11th, 1859. Howard Spencer was a Mormon, and Sergeant Pike an
officer from Camp Floyd. By many, Spencer, at the time of the
shooting, was considered insane, made so by the terrible blow he had
received from the Sergeant's musket. In fact this was the ground
upon which he was accmitted when tried for murder many years
later.* Another murder was that of Alexander Carpenter by Thomas
H. Ferguson, which has already been mentioned. All three killings
occurred at Salt Lake City. Another notable homicide that took
place there about the same time was the shooting of Messrs. Brewer
and Johnson. This twain were gamblers and desperadoes. They
were shot, it is said, at the same instant, while walking home one
night together. Who their slayer or slayers were was never known.
Other murders occurred in various parts of Utah during this time of
terror.

An interesting event of the summer of 1859 was the visit to our
Territory of Horace Greeley, founder and editor of the New York
Tribune. The great journalist was on his way to the Pacific coast,
having taken his own advice and "come west,'' not to "grow up with
the country," but to see what growth the western country had
attained. He reached Salt Lake City on Sunday evening, July 10th,
by overland mail stage from the frontier. On the evening of Satur-
day, the 16th, a reception and supper were given in his honor, — the
former at the Council House, the latter at the Globe Bestaurant, — by
the Deseret Typographical and Press Association. Speeches were
made by Mr. Greeley and by Messrs. Orson Hyde, John Taylor,
Gilbert Clements and John Banks. Ballo's brass band and Foster

*Tlie assault upon Spencer by Pike occurred in Rush Valley, March 22. 1859. It was
both brutal and unprovoked. Pike, attended by a military escort, had come to Salt Lake
City to answer before the District Court to an indictment for the assault, when Spencer,
entirely alone, walked up to him on East Temple Street, inquired his name and shut him
in the presence of three of his comrades. Spencer then fled, and though hotly pursued,
escaped.

724 HISTORY OF UTAH.

and Olsen's serenade band discoursed delightful music on the occa-
sion, and a poem composed by John Lyon, entitled "Welcome to
Greeley," was read by James McKnight. Mr. Greeley's address to the
printers occupied about half an hour. In his plain and peculiar
style he referred to the progress the world had made during his
recollection ; remarked how extraordinary had been the increase of
facilities for the spread of knowledge through the press and by means
of the electric telegraph, and stated that he looked forward to a day
when still greater improvements would be made — when the daily
newspaper, printed from continuous rolls, cut and folded by steam,
would be thrown off ready for distribution at a rate far exceeding
that of the rapid eight and ten cylinder presses then in use ; and
when the telegraph would connect, through one grand electric cur-
rent, continent with continent and island with island, till every
corner of the earth should be illumined with telegraphic communica-
tion. Of course Mr. Greeley, during his stay, did not omit calling on
President Young, with whom he had several long and interesting
interviews.

In addition to the Deseret News, the pioneer journal, Utah had
at this time a paper called the Valley Tan. It was the first Gentile
print published in the Territory, and lent vigorous influence to the
Federal Judges and General Johnston in their antagonism to the
Mormon leaders and to Governor Cumming. The first number of the
Valley Tan — a four-page weekly — was published November 5th, 1858.
It was edited by Kirk Anderson, at Salt Lake City, though it originated
at Camp Floyd. The next paper established was The Mountaineer,
which made its appearance on the 27th of August, 1859. Its
editors and proprietors were James Ferguson, Seth M. Blair and
Hosea Stout. It was an ably conducted journal and opposed the
Valley Tan,

On August 1st of this year recurred the biennial election of
delegate to Congress. Dr. John M. Bernhisel had represented Utah
in that capacity since the organization of the Territory. He now
retired and Hon. William H. Hooper was chosen delegate.

HISTORY OF UTAH. 725

The "Pony Express," to carry dispatches between the Missouri
River and the Pacific coast, was inaugurated in the spring of 1860.
The first express from the west reached Salt Lake City on the 7th of
April, having left Sacramento on the night of the 3rd. The first
from the east, which left St. Joseph, Missouri, on the evening of April
3rd, arrived here on the evening of the 9th. This brought Utah
within six days' communication with the frontier, and within seven
days of the nation's capital ; a result which our citizens, who were
then accustomed to receiving news three months after date, duly
appreciated. Said the Deseret News: "Although a telegraph is very
desirable, we feel well satisfied with this achievement for the present."

The first dispatches dropped by the Pony Express at Salt Lake
City contained the news of the intended introduction in the United
States Senate of "a bill amendatory of the act organizing the Terri-
tory of Utah." This bill, it was said, proposed that the seat of
government be removed from Salt Lake City to Carson Valley, and that
the name of the Territory be changed from Utah to Nevada. According
to the Washington correspondent of the St. Louis Republican, the
Committee on Territories, who were expected to report the bill, hoped
by this policy to pass the political power of the Territory from Salt
Lake to Carson Valley — from the hands of the Mormons to those of
the Gentiles. The removal of the seat of government to Carson
Valley, in connection with the rich mines lately discovered there, it
was thought would attract a large Gentile population to that locality.
This, however, was the last that was heard of the bill for an act to
obliterate Utah.

Other news of a still more stirring nature was brought by the
Pony Express. The air was now filled with rumors of war. Events
in the east had been hastening to a crisis; the plot for secession had
ripened and borne fruit, and the great internecine struggle that was
to temporarily split the nation and shake the whole earth with its
thunder, was just about to begin. The direct result upon Utah of the
opening of the conflict was the withdrawal of the Federal troops
from the Territory.

726 HISTORY OF UTAH.

As early as March, 1860, General Johnston had left Camp
Floyd for Washington, D. C. He had never visited Salt Lake
City since passing through it with the army in June, 1858.
Consequently he and Brigham Young never met. After his
departure, Colonel Philip St. George Cooke became the post com-
mander. By his order, early in February, 1861, Camp Floyd
changed its name to Fort Crittenden. Secretary Floyd, for whom
the post was originally named, had fallen from his allegiance and
was now considered a traitor to his country. In May, 1860, most of
the troops at Camp Floyd had left, pursuant to orders, for Arizona
and New Mexico, and in July, 1861, the residue took up their march
for the east, to participate in the war for the Union.

Prior to the abandonment of Camp Floyd vast stores of
provisions and army supplies of all kinds were offered for sale by
the military authorities and purchased by local merchants and other
citizens. The sacrifice in price was enormous, and many far-sighted
buyers made their fortunes. It is estimated that four million dollars
worth of goods were disposed of for $100,000. This did not include
arms and ammunition, great quantites of which, instead of being-
transported back to the States, were destroyed. Among the heaviest
purchasers was President Brigham Young, whose agent and business
manager, Colonel H. B. Clawson, visited the Fort for that purpose.
Walker Brothers also bought extensively, as did other Utah
merchants.

Some of the more prominent officers accepted an invitation from
Colonel Clawson, who was President Young's son-in-law, to visit the
ex-Governor prior to their departure from the Territory. Among
those who paid their respects to the Mormon leader were Colonel
Cooke, Colonel Alexander, Captain Marcy and Quartermaster
Crossman. All were very pleasant, the animosities of the past
evidently having evaporated. These officers presented to President
Young the flag-staff from which the stars and stripes had floated
over Camp Floyd. This interesting relic stood for many years on the
brow of the hill near the White House, the President's early resi-

HISTORY OF UTAH. 727

dence, where it continued to bear aloft the national banner.
Whatever General Johnston had thought, it is evident that Colonel
Cooke and his brother officers did not, at this time, deem the
Mormons disloyal. The presentation of such a gift at such a time
speaks volumes to the contrary. And what of General Johnston,
who had denounced the Saints as "rebels?" Himself a rebel now,
wearing the grey instead of the blue, commanding a Confederate in
lieu of a Union army, his star of life, with the star of his glory, was
soon to set in a sea of blood on the fatal field of Shiloh.

INDEX

Aborigines of America
Acts of the General Assembly of Deseret
Agreement to Leave Illinois
Alexander, Col. E. B., Commanding
Vanguard of Army for Utah 609,
" Arrival on Ham's Pork
" Replies to Governor Young's Proc-
lamation
Allen, Capt. James, Musters the Mor-
mon Battalion
"American Desert," Webster's Estimate,
Angell, Truman O., Architect of the Temple
Apostasy at Kirtland
Appeal to President Polk and Various

Governors
Arapeen, Indian Chief 513,

Army Ordered to Utah

" Its Coming Reported to Governor

Young
" Officers Commanding
" Arrival at Fort Laramie
" In a Dilemma

" Winter Quarters on Black's Fork
" Enters Salt Lake Valley
" Effect on Utah Markets and Morals
" Removal from Utah
Arnold, Orson P Accidentally Shot
Ashley, on Utah Lake

Babbitt, Almon W., President Kirtland
Stake

" Trustee-in-Trust at Nauvoo 250,

" Delegate to Congress from Deseret

" Denied the Seat

" Secretary of the Territory

" Slain by Indians
Baptism Commanded
Battalion, Mormon, Mustered

" Its Roster

" Its March

" Some Remain in California 364,

Battle Creek Fight with Indians
Beatie, H. S., Pioneer of Carson Co.

" Adjutant Utah Militia
Barlow, James M.. Veteran Jeweler

" Indian Expedition

" Major Utah Militia
Bennett, Dr. John C.
Benson, EzraT.,

" One of the Twelve Apostles

" Captain of Ten, Pioneer Company
In the Valley 332,

" Returns to meet Immigrants

" Chaplain Utah Militia

" His Employees pioneer Tooele
County

" As Utah Legislator

" Mission to Europe
Bernhisel, Dr. John M., Regent University
of Deseret

" Utah's first Delegate to Congress

Big Blue Riot and Battle

47 VOL. 1.

Bigler, Henry W., First Chronicler of the

Gold Discovery 381

Bishopric, The 58

" Black Rock" at Great Salt Lake 338

Blair, Seth M., First U. S. Attorney for Utah 451

" Prosecutes at First Murder Trial 481

" Major Utah Militia 623

" Editor and Proprietor Mountaineer 724

Boggs, Lieut. Gov. of Missouri, Orders

out Militia 107
" As Governor Orders Gen. Atchi-
son to Suppress Insurrection
in Daviess County 149
" Exterminating Order 156
" Makes Demand on Illinois for Mor-
mon Leaders 178
" Mysteriously Shot 197
" Bogus isrigham" Arrest 236
Bolton, Curtis E., Rifutes Drummond's

Slanders 583
Bonneville, Captain 293
Boun<iarv Lines of the Territory Estab-
lished 450
Bowery, The Old 344, 410, 459, 462, 493, 502
Box Elder County Created 546

£i " Returns to California 349

iVA Bridger, Fort 318

" Purchased by Governor Young 513

" Burned tiy Utah Militia 653

Bridger, James, Trapper and Explorer 293

" Interview with the Pioneers 316

186 Brocchus, Judge Perry E., a Disappointed

9?4 Official 460

406 " Leaves the Territory 469

443 Brockman, Col., Bombards Nauvoo 272

507 Brown, Captain James, Reaches the Valley 342

553 " Visits Goodyear on the Weber 350

33 " Buys Goodyear's Lands 375

259 " Utah Legislator 478

263 Brown, John, Pioneer of 1847 322

269 " Ascends Twin Peaks 350

380 " Explorer Southern Utah 421

423 " Utah Legislator 478

483 "Buchanan's Blunder" 56<

623 " He Sees it 664
387 Buchanan, President, Orders an Army to

432 Utah 588

624 " Informs Congress that Peace is

193 Restored 681

186 " Proclamation of Pardon 682

278 Bullock, Thomas, Clerk of Pioneer Camp 304

300 " First Type-setting in Deseret 387

336 " Clerk Salt Lake County 436

347 " Clerk General Assembly of Deseret 454

396 " Takes Original Census of Utah 457

Burning of Government Trains 635
419 Burton, Col. Robert T., Gallant Charge at

477 Provo Indian fight 427

553 " Expedition against the Goshutes 432

" Reconnoiters at South Pass and on

434 Sweetwater 624

458 " Intercepts Col. Alexander's North-

107 em Advance 643

■30

INDEX.

Cache Valley Recommended to the Pioneers
" Explored

The County Created
Came, John T., Military Sec'y Utah Militia
Calamities of 1856
Call, Anson, Pioneer of Millard County

" Presiding at Fillmore
Callister, Col. Thomas, in Immigration of
1847
in Utah Militia 623,

" Captures U. S. Soldiers
Campbell, Robert, First Recorder Salt Lake

City
Campbellltes, The
"Camps of Israel" in Iowa
Cannon, George Q.

" Arrival at Nauvoo
" Journeys to Utah
" In California and the Sandwich

Islands
" Speech in Congress on Deseret land

grants
" Establishes the Western Standard
" Chosen an Apostle
Carrington, Albert, First to Ascend Twin
Peaks
" Assists to Frame Constitution

of Deseret
" Assessor and Collector of Des-

eret
" Assists in Surveying Lake

" Editor Deseret News

" Chief Topographical Engineers

Utah Militia
Carson County Settlement

" Reinforcements

" Talked of as Capital of Utah

Carthage. Illinois, a Hotbed of Moboeracy

" Jail
Census, 1851
Chislett, John, Narrative of Hand-cart

Journey
Cholera in Zion's Camp
Christ Appears on the American Continent
Clark, General John B.
Clawson, H. B., Aide-de-camp to General
Wells
" Daring Ride During Indian Fight

at Provo
" In First Dramatic Performance
" Purchases Army Stores and Sup-
plies at Camp Floyd
Clay County, Mormon Exodus from
Clayton, William, Records Revelation on
Celestial Marriage
" Clerk of Camp of Israel
" Historian of Pioneer Camp
" Invents a Roadometer
" Topographical Engineer Utah Mil-
itia
Conover, Col. P. W., Military Commander at
Fort Utah
" Operations Against Indians
Constitutional Convention in 1849
" 1856

Cooke, Col. Philip St. George, Takes
Command of Mormon Battalion
" Accompanies Utah Expedition
" Terrible Experience near South Pass
" Honors the Mormon Battalion
" In Command at Camp Floyd
Counterfeiting Charged Against ex-Gov.

Young
Cowdery, Oliver

" Mission to the Indians
" Excommunicated
" Returns to the Mormon Faith
and Dies
Cradlebaugh, Judge John, Begins Oper-
ations
" Charges the Grand Jury

Cradlebaugh Judge, Attended by Troops 711
" Rebuked by Att'y-General

Black 717

Cricket Plague 377

Crismon, Charles, Immigrant of 1847 359

" Pioneer Mill Builder 386

Crooked River (Missouri) Battle 155

Cumorah, The Battle of 45

Cumming, Governor Alfred, Starts for Utah 610

" issues his First Proclamation 655

" Accepts Col. Kane's Peace Policy

and Enters Salt Lake

Valley 670

" Proclamation of Peace 686

" Protests Against Troops at Provo 713

" Efforts to Secure his Removal 718

Cummings, James W., Paymaster- General

Utah Militia 623
Cunningham, Andrew, Juror at Inquest on

Judge Shaver 542

" Colonizes Snake River Country 628

Currency and Coin in Early Days 386

D
Dame, Col. William H., Commanding Iron

Military District 622, 704, 707
Danites, The 154, 195
Davis County Settled 372
Decker, Charles F., Purchases Indian Cap-
tive 368
" Pioneer Mail Carrier 498
" Lieutenant Utah Militia 625
Delegate to Congress Elected, First 458
Deseret, the Name of the Proposed State 392
" Boundaries First Established 405
" Merged into Utah 454
" University of, Chartered 434
Deseret-California Statehood Project 407
Deseret News Established 432
Discomforts of the First Winter in the Val-
ley 366
Dissensions atKirtland 137
Donner Party of Emigrants 295
Douglas, Stephen A. 177
" As Judge, Gives Decision Releasing

Joseph Smith from Custody 190

" Advises Mormon Exodus 221
" Treats with Mormon Leaders on

Removal from Illinois 246
" Presents Deseret's Memorial for

Statehood 443
'■ Styles Mormonism "the Loathsome

Ulcer" 588
Drummond, W. W., Appointed Associate

Justice 545

" Falls into Disgrace 578

" Letter of Resignation 580

Dunklin, Governor, of Missouri 106

Early Political History
Echo Canyon War

" Officers in Command

" Fortifications

" Utah Militia Engaged in the

Campaign
Eckels, Chief Justice, Holds Court on Black's

Fork I

Egan, Howard, Captain of Ten, Pioneer
Company :

" Kills his Wife's Seducer
" Escorts Col. Kane to the Frontier 1

Eldredge, Horace S.

" Marshal of Deseret

Brigadier-General Utah Militia
" Assists to Draft Laws for Utah
Militia 1

Emma, Joseph Smith's Wife

" Attitude Towards Polygamy 216, !

Emigrants from Great Britain, First Mor-
mon

INDEX.

731

Emigration Canyon
Emigration Compau

Following the Pio-

Ensign Peak

Exodus to the Great West Predicted
" " " Contemplated

" From Illinois Agreed Upon

Expedition Against Utah — its Causes
" Reinforcements Ordered

Expositor, Nauvoo

Famine Years in Utah 379, 1

Far West, Caldwell County, Founded

" The Gathering Place
Farr, Lorin, flrst Mayor of Ogden :

" Utah Legislator
Feasting on the Sweetwater !

Federal Courts after the "Utah War" i

Felt, Nathaniel H., First Alderman Salt
Lake City
" Utah Legislator
Ferguson, James, Sergeant-Major Mormon

Battalion !

" Adjutant- General Utah Militia 396, i

" Territorial Attorney

" Member Deseret Dramatic Asso-

ciation !

" Letter to Col. Cooke I

" Editorand Proprietor' Mountain-

eer
Ferris, B. G., Secretary of the Territory 476, I
Fillmore Located as Territorial Capital

" Session of the Legislature I

First Presidency Organized
First Stake of Zion in the Rocky Mountains :
First White Child Born in Utah \

Flagstaff from Camp Floyd Presented to ex-
Governor Young
Floyd's Advice and Motive !

Floyd, Camp, Founded I

of Illinois

Abandoned
Ford, Thomas, Elected «in
" His Broken Pledge
" Suggests California to the Saints
Foreign Missions, The First
Forney, Jacob, Supt. Indian Affairs

" Gathers up Children of Massacred
Emigrants
Fort Supply Founded
Fortifications in Echo Canyon
Fourth of July Celebration 1859
Fox, Jesse W., Commissioner to Locate Ter-
ritorial Capital
" Surveys Grounds of S. L. Temple
Free Masonry at Nauvoo
Fremont, John C, on the Shores of the Great
Salt Lake
" Arrested in California
" In Custody Traveling Eastward
" Arrives in Utah destitute
" Standard-bearer of Republicanism
Frontier Guardian at Kanesville
Fullmer, David

" Member of Stake Presidency

" Assists to Draft Constitution of

Deseret
" Explorer Southern Utah
" Utah Legislator
Fullmer John S.

" Trustee- in-Trust at Nauvoo 250,
" Assists to Draft Constitution of

Deseret
" Colonel Deseret Militia
" Utah Legislator

Gibson, Henry E., Brings News of Utah's
Organization

Godbe, William S., escorts Col. Kane to Salt
Lake City

Gold Discovered in California 380

Gold Hunters en route to California 400

Golden Plates Delivered to Joseph Smith 27

" Described 30

" How Translated 31

" Final Disposition 35

" The Historv they Record 37

Goodyear, Miles, Meets the Pioneers 319

" Location on the Weber 350

" Sells his Lands to Captain Brown 374

Governments, Mormon Views of

Mormon

Grant, Jedediah M,

Church 113
" Captain of Hundred, Emigration of

1847 359

" Brigadier- General Utah Militia 396
" Projector Great Salt Lake Valley

Carrying Co. 418

" First Mayor Salt Lake City 435
" Letters Against Judge Brocchus

et al., 476

" Counselor to President Young 531

" Settles Morgan County 540

" Death 565

Grant, George D., Capt. First Company

Utah Militia 396
" Commands Militia in Indian Fight at

Fort Utah 426

" Major-General Militia 623
Grant, George W., Heroic Conduct at the

Frozen Sweetwater 562

Grasshopper Visitations 531, 547

"Great Basin," The 284

Great Salt Lake, The 286

" Earliest White Navigators 292

" Visited by the Pioneers 338

" Surveyed by Capt. Stans-

bury 415

Greeley, Horace, visits the Territory 723

Groesbeck, Nicholas, Refused U. S. Mails 598

Gulls as Saviors of the People 378

Gunnison, Lieut., on the Courts of Deseret 402

" With Stansbury's Command 412

" On Mormon Polygamy 492

" Massacre 520

" " Investigated by Col.

Steptoe 538

" " Drummond's Story 545

718 Haight, Hector C, pioneer of Davis County

Haight, Horton D. 632,

482 Haight, Isaac ('., explorer Southern Utah
503 " Colonel of Militia 701,

191 Hale, Emma, marries Joseph Smith

" Accepts but afterwards denies polyg-
292 amy 216,

270 Hammond, Mary J. D., pioneer school-
361 teacher

530 Hancock, Levi W.
588 " Utah Legislator

384 Hancock County, Illinois, alarmed at Mor-
174 mon Immigration

388 Hand-cart Disaster

Hanks, E. K., Color-bearer-General
393 " In Indian Fight at Provo

421 ' ' Pioneer Mail Carrier

478 " Helps Hand-cart Companies

230 " Special Mail Carrier 1857

274 " Scout and ranger

Hardy, Leonard W., Captain Salt Lake Police
393 " Pallbearer at Judge Shaver's Funeral

396 Harney, General W. S., assigned to com-
477 mand of Utah Expedition 593,

Harris, Martin, Befriends Joseph Smith
" Visits Professor Anthon
" Furnishes money for printing Book
452 of Mormon

Harris, B. D., First Secretary ot the Territory
667 " Departs with Legislative Funds

732

INDEX.

Haun's Mill Massacre ^

Heywood, Joseph L., Trustee in Trust at

Nauvoo 95n 274

First U. S. Marshal of Utah ' 451

Commissioner to Establish Terri-

torial Boundary 541

Higbee, John S., pioneer Utah County 399

High Council organized, First 113

Homicides of Early Days 7™ 799

Hooper, William H., Secretary, pro tern, of'

Utah m fi7o

elected Delegate to Congress 724

Home, Joseph Captain of Fifty, Immigration

of 1847 ocq

" Explorer Southern Utah 421

Hnnto;JwTb' '2 ^migration of 1847 359

Hunter, Edward, First meeting with Joseph

Smith ^4

" Captain of Hundred, Emigration 1847 359

Agent Perpetual Emigrating Fund 417

" Presiding Bishop S 439

Huntington, Dimick B. 399

II In Provo Indian Fight 427

w„-ik * Investigates Gunnison Massacre 526

Hurlburt, D. P., originator of Spaulding

otory ?fi - .. q

Hurt, Dr. Garland, Indian Agent
Hyde, Orson, chosen an Apostle
' Helps open British Mission

Mission to Palestine
' Electioneers for Joseph Smith as Pre

dential Candidate
|| In charge of British Mission

Establishes the Frontier Guardian
Presides in Carson Valley
I
Illinois, Welcomes the Mormons

5 HI

175

541

166, 170

24S

Exodus from
IndePRodcek ^ Day' 1S51' observed at B'ack

Indian Troubles, 1S50 40!

iff ™

1856 KC!

Indian Attack on Mountain Meadow Emi-
grants 7f)f
Iowa, the Saints Journey Across w
Iron County settled, at Parowan £5;

Jackson County, Missouri 7f

* The Central Gathering Place Sf

Expulsion of the Saints mr

Jackson, President, Appealed to joe

Jaques, John, Narrative of the Hand-cart

Journey «q

Jareditesy0TPh0egraPhiCal EDgiDeer «

Jennings, William, early Utah Merchant 499

Johnson, LuketsfmCarSOnCOUDty 5«

|| Chosen an Apostle 118

t„>, f Captain of Ten, Pioneer Company 300

Johnston, Albert Sidney, Succeeds Gen'l

Harney as Commander of Utah

Expedition 611

Joins the Army on Black's Fork 652

Challenged by Col. Kane 67o

Marches through Salt Lake Valley 687

Conflict with Governor Cummine- 712

Jones, Col . ^.T, Utab aDd falls at s*»° *! it
" Commanding Militia force in Echo

Canyon fi?q fi-s
J°neS'Dan 230,235,415

K

Kane, Thomas L. 256

I Visits the Mormon Camps in Iowa 261

Describes Nauvoo after the Battle 974

Vouches for Brigham Young 47?

Volunteers as a Mediator " «fii

Lecture on Utah affairs too

Kanesville, on the frontier 979 &£

Kimball, Heber C, Arrival at Kirtland
Ordained an Apostle
Opens British Mission
' In Missouri

Second Mission to England
In Exodus from Illinois
Assists in Mustering Mormon Bat-
talion
; Starts for the Rocky Mountains

In Salt Lake Valley
|| Returns to Winter Quarters

First Counselor to President Young

A Remarkable Prediction '

Chief- Justice of Deseret
President of Council, General As-
sembly of Deseret

in Laying Corner-stone of
Salt Lake Temple
Phi'authropy cUlriiig Famine of 1856
In Big Cottonwood Canyon, 1857
In the Move South 1858
Kimball David P., Heroic Conduct at Sweet-
water
Kimball, Ellen S., a Pioneer Woman
Kimball, Hiram, Government Mail Contrac-
tor c7fi
Kimball, Lieut, William H., in Indian Fight
at Provo
" In "Walker War"

Brigadier General Utah Militia
Escorts Gov. Cumming to Salt Lake
Kingsbury, Joseph C.
_. " Immigrant of 1847

Kinney, John F., Chief Justice
Kirtland, Ohio

Arrival of the Prophet
Temple Corner-stone laid

Dedicated
Financial Troubles
" Flight of Church Leaders
Klmgensmith, Philip, at Mountain Meado«s

Massacre
Knight, Joseph, the Prophet's Early friend
Newel, and the " first miracle "

La Hontan's Strange Narrative
Lakes of Utah
Lamanites, The

First Mission

286, 601
41
65,71

r irsi mission to |

Laney, Isaac, Survivor Haun's Mill Massacre

Laramie, Pioneers Reach the Fort 31

" Utah Expedition at kiq

Law, Wilson and William 133

" Defection from Mormonism 222

Lawrence, Henry W., Major Utah Militia 624

-L*ee, jonn JJ., ^qq

|| at Mountain Meadows 702

" Reports the Massacre to Gov. Young 708

Legislature Elected, The First Territorial 458

" Its Members 477

Little, Feramorz, Secures Mail Contract 498

Replies to Drummond's Charges 596

Asst.-Quartermaster General Utah

Militia R93

Litule' JAesse C-> Visits President Polk 256

Adjutant Pioneer Company 304

" Explores Cache Valley 350

Lyman, Amasa M., a Prisoner at Far West 159

One of the Twelve Apostles 235

Goes to Pueblo 312

Arrives in the Valley 333

Leads San Bernardino Colony 483

M

Magraw Letter to Prest. Buchanan 574

Manifesto to the Migrating Saints 298

"Manuscript Story" Discovered 49

Marcy Captain, Seeks Supplies for the Army '

of Utah J cm

Margetts Party Killed by Indians 455

INDEX.

Pioneers 345
" Fight with Indians 519
Marsh, Thomas B., Chosen an Apostle 118
Martial Law Declared 626
Maughan, Peter, Pioneer Cache County 546
McAllister, John D. T., Major in Utah Mil-
itia 623, 640
McBae, Alexander 163
" Captain Spartan Band 273
" In Utah Militia 623
Memorial for Territorial Government 405
Merchants in Utah, Earliest 498
Merrill, P. C, Lieut, Mormon Battalion 264
" Captain of Guards 504
" Commander Davis Military District 622
Mexican Slave Traders 508
Mexico, War with 255
Military Districts of Utah 621
Militia Organization 1849 396
" Officers 1857 621
" Return from Echo Canyon 660
Millard County Settled 482
Millennial Star 184
Miller, William, Arrested as "Bogus Brig-
ham" 236
Mills and Mill Builders of Early days 385
Minute Men, The 396
Missouri, Mormon Arrival at the 255
Missouri Persecutions 147
" Retaliatory Measures 153
" Exodus from 166
Mobocrats in Missouri Sued 106
Mobocrats Gathering Against Nauvoo 225
Morgan County Settled 540
Morley, Isaac 74
" Organizes Immigration of 1847 35S
" Member of High Council 388
" Pioneer Sanpete Co. 419
Utah Legislator 478
Mormon, Book of— Revealed in Vision 24
" Translation 28
" Copyright and Publication 35
" Records Comprised in It 37
" Compared with "Manuscript

Story" 51

Mormon, Nephite General 45

Mormon Battalion Mustered 259

Mormonism Explained 66

Moroni Appears to Joseph Smith 24

Moses, Julian, Pioneer School Teacher 434

Mount Pisgah Pounded 254

Mountain Meadows Massacre 614

" Story of the Crime 692

" Indian Attack on the Emigrants 700

Mountaineer, The 724

"Move, The," of 1858 677

Munlock, John, Sen. 74

" Early Bishop 388

Murdock, John R., in Indian Fight atProvo 427

" Rapiil Hide as Mail Carrier 586

" as Bearer of Dispatches 625

N

Nauvoo

Utah

Its Charter

" Legion

" " Reorganized i

" Temple Begun

" Expositor Abated

" Under Martial Law

" Charter Repealed

" Exodus from

" Bombarded
Nebeker, John, Immigrant of 1847

" Assistant Marshal ill Pioneer Times

" A Founder of Fort Supply
Neff, John, Immigrant of 1847
" Philanthropist During Famine

Nephites, The

" Their Annihilation

Noble, Joseph B.

" Captain of Fifty, Immigration 1847
O
" Old Fort," Its Origin
Organic Act of Utah
Organization of the Church
Overland Emigration, The Earliest

P
Pacific Railway, Early Talk of 41

Pack, John, Pioneer of 1847
Partridge, Edward, the First Bishop
" Brutally Mobbed

" Imprisoned by General Clark

" His Death

Patten, David W., Called to the Apostleshii
" In Missouri
" His Death
Payson, Indian Outrage at

Peace Commissioners Arrive at Salt Lake City 682
Perpetual Emigrating Fund Established

347

294

514

Pettigrew, David

" Early Bishop

" Captain of Guards

" Major Utah Militia

Phelps W. W.

" Editor Erenina ami Moniina Star
" Presiding in Missouri 117,

" Arrested with Joseph
" Assists to Draft Constitution of Deseret
" Southern Utah Explorer

Preceptor in University of Deseret
" Utah Legislator
Pitt, William, Captain Nauvoo Brass Band
" Pioneer Painter
" Meets First Handcart Companies
Pioneers, List of

" Start and Organization
" At Fort Laramie
" " Bridger
" Their Journey Ended
" Leaders Return to the Missouri
Pioneer Ploughmen

" Day Celebrated, 1849
1857
Polk, James K., plans to Capture California

with Mormon Soldiers
Political History, Beginning of
Polygamy, or Celestial Marriage

" Publicly Proclaimed
Pony Express Inaugurated
Potter and Parrish Murders
Pratt, Addison, Missions to Society Islands
Pratt, Orson
" Association with the Prophet
" Starts for Missouri
" Called to the Apostleship
" Mission to England
" On Sugar Creek, Iowa
" In Command of Pioneer Vanguard
" First to Arrive in the Valley
" His Pioneer Sermon
" Surveys Salt Lake City
" Commissioner to Select Site for Terri-
torial Capital
" Preaches firs! Sermon on l'olygamy
" Preaches Funeral Sermon of Judge
Shaver
Pratt, Parley 1'.
" Second Visit to Missouri
" Presides over School of Elders
" Chosen an Apostle
" Converts John Tavlor in Canada
" Publishes Voire ,',f Woniina
" Prisoner at Far West

Presides in Eastern States
Another Mission to England
On the Frontier

174

734

INDEX.

Pratt, Parley P., In Immigration ol 1847 358

" Describes Famine and Harvest Feast 379
" Assists to Frame Constitution of Des-

eret 393

" Explores Southern Utah 420

" His Assassination 695

Priesthood Restored 33

Probate Judges Elected 483

Prophecy on War, Joseph Smith's 98

Provo, Settlement of 399

R
Railroad across the Continent, Early Advo-

cacy of 488
Raleigh, Alonzo H., Prest. Deseret Dramatic

Ass'n. 503

" Major Utah Militia 623

Rebellion in Utah, Alleged 588

Reed, L. H., Chief Justice of the Territory 506

" Death 540

Reese, John and Enoch, Pioneer Merchants 499

" In Carson County 541

Reformation, The 565

Republic, The First American 42

Rich, Charles C. 158

" Brigadier General Nauvoo Legion 194

" Major General Nauvoo Legion 235

" Commanding Artillery Company 359

" Ordained an Apostle 388

" Organizes Deseret Militia 396

" Missions to California 417, 483

" In Echo Canyon ksq

Richards, Franklin D.

" Missions to England

" Leads first Emigration by River

Route to Kanesville

" Chosen an Apostle 388

' ' Assists Survivors Gunnison Massacre 525

'" Assists in the Reformation 564

" Brigadier General Utah Militia 623, 659

Richards, Levi 204

" Arrested with Joseph Smith 224

" In the Exodus 261

Richards, Phinehas 157 224 419

Richards, Samuel W. ' 220

" Regent University of Deseret

" City Councilor, Salt Lake City

157, 235
"B, 417

434

Richards, Willard

" Called to the Apostleship

" Ordained

" Church Historian

" At Carthage Jail

" Counselor to Prest. Young

" Secretary of Deseret

" Editor Deseret News

" Secretary pro tern of Utah

" Postmaster Salt Lake City

134

479, 507
497
531

" Death
Rigdon, Sidney

" Secretary to Joseph Smith 80
" Dedicates " Land of Zion " 90
" Brutally mobbed 95
" Flees from Kirtland Mob 139
" Fourth of July Oration at Far West 144
" In Liberty Jail 164
" Loses his Faith 219
" Pretensions to Leadership and Ex-
communication 233
Robison, Lewis, Quartermaster General Des-
eret Militia 396
" City Councilor Salt Lake City 435
" Messenger to Col. Alexander 629
Rockwell, Orrin Porter, joins the Mormon

Church 60

" Arrested with Joseph Smith 200

" Shoots Frank A. Worrell 245

Among the Pioneers 301

Scout and Ranger 624, 639

Rockwood, A. P., overseer Pioneer Stockade 356

' Commissary Gen'l Deseret Militia 396

Utah Legislator 478

" In Echo Canyon Campaign 624

Rowberry, John, Pioneer of Tooele 419

" Commander Tooele Military Dist. 622

S

Salt Lake City Surveyed 347

" Divided into Wards 388

". Incorporated 435

" Deserted by its People 681

Salt Lake Temple 503

Salt Lake Valley as Seen by the Pioneers 325

San Bernardino, Settlement at 483

Sanpete Valley Settled 419

School in the Old Fort 433

Scott, Camp, Winter Quarters of Johnston's

Army 1857 . 655

Scott, Col. John, in the Exodus 252

" Officer in Utah Militia 396
" Commander at Battle Creek Indian

Fight 423
Scott, General Winfield, Issues Orders for

the Utah Expedition 592
Seer, The, Publication 493
Sessions, Peregrine, Pioneer of Davis Co. 372
" Settles in Carson County 541
Seventies Organizations 118
Sharp, John, Opens Cottonwood Quarries 505
" Major Utah Militia 624
Shaver, Leonidas, Associate Justice 506
" Death and Burial 542
Sherwood, Henry G. 253
" Pioneer of 1847 300
" Surveys Salt Lake City 347
'' Utah Legislator 478
Shumway, Charles 248
Captain of Ten, Pioneer Band 300
" A Pioneer of Sanpete 419
" Utah Legislator 478
Silver Lake Celebration of the Twenty-
fourth 600
Simmons, Joseph M., Early Actor 501
" Meets the Hand-carts 557
" In Utah Militia 623 625
Sinclair, Judge Charles E., Opens Court 690
Slavery Views of Brigham Young 496
Smith, Alma L., Survivor Haun's Mill Mas-
sacre 157
Smith, Don Carlos 17 175, 182, 194
Smith, Elias 165
" Probate Judge 483
" Postmaster S. L. City 531, 604
Smith, Father John 174 364
Smith, George A. ' 113
" Ordained an Apostle 169
" In the Exodus 249
" Enters Salt Lake Valley 329
" Pioneer of Iron County 433
" In Command Southern Utah Militia 515
' ' Church Historian 531
" Delegate from Territorial Convention
„ T „ 546,553
In Echo Canyon 627
" Tour of Southern Settlements 1857 696
Smith, HyTum, Baptism 34
" Assists to Organize the Church 57
" Meets Parley P. Pratt 71
" One of the First Presidency 139
" In Chains at Far West 160
" Patriarch of the Church 183
" Surrenders with Joseph 227

Receives the Golden Plates

Marriage

Baptism and Ordination

First Arrest

Moves to Kirtland

Locates the City of Zion

Violently Assaulted and Tarred and

Feathered
His Prophecy on War

INDEX.

735

Smith, Joseph, Plight from Kirtlancl 139
" Tried by Court Martial 160
" In Liberty Jail 164
" Visits Washington 172
" Arrested on Missouri writ 189
" Predicts Exodus to the Rocky Moun-
tains 195
" Charged with Attempted Murder 197
" Kidnapped 205
" Candidate for the Presidency 218
" Starts for the Rocky Mountains 227
" His Assassination 231
" Trial and Acquittal of his Murderers 243

Smith, Joseph F. 160

" In Immigration of 1848 383

Smith, Lot, in Deseret Militia 396

" In Indian Fight at Provo 427

" Major Utah Militia 624

" Messenger to Col. Alexander 629

" Burns Government Trains 632

Smith, "Pegleg," Recommends Cache Valley

to the Pioneers 315

Smith, Samuel H. 17, 34, 57, 182, 232

Smith, William 17, 118, 202, 234, 443

Smoot, A. O., Captain of Hundred, Emigra-
tion of 1847 359
" Meets U. S. Cavalry on the Plains 597
" i Carries the News to Governor Young 604

127,

Snow, Eliza R.

Snow, Erastus i«
" Joins Orson Pratt, first two Pioneers in

the Valley 323, 329
" Ordained an Apostle 388
" Assists to Draft Constitution of Deseret 393
" Mission to Denmark 417
" Strengthening Southern Utah Settle-
ments 529
" Presiding at St. Louis 553
Snow, Lorenzo 127
" In Immigration of 1848 383
" Ordained an Apostle 388
" Mission to Italy 417
" Colonizing Box Elder Co. 529
Snow, Willard 118
" Member of Stake Presidency 388
" Utah Legislator 478
Snow, Zerubbabel 118
" Associate Justice of Utah 451, 460
" Dissents from Judges Brandebury and

Brocchus 471
" Presides at Egan-Monroe Murder

Trial 480
" DeeideB Again-; Meviean Skive-Trad-
ers 510
Social Hall Opened 500
Soldiery Surround the Court at Provo 711
"Spartan Band" at Battle of Nauvoo 273
Spaulding, Solomon 46
Spencer, Daniel, Captain of Hundred, Emi-
gration of 1847 359
" As Roadmaster 385
" Prest. Salt Lake Stake 388
" Regent University of Deseret 434
As Utah Legislator 478
Spencer, Orson, Member of Faculty Nauvoo

University 183

" Arrives in Salt Lake Valley 415

" Chancellor University of Deseret 434

As Utah Legislator 478

Death 553

Staines, William C, Immigrant of 1847 359

" Territorial Librarian 483

" Entertains Col. Kane 669

" " Governor dimming 672

Stansbury, Captain Howard, Testimony as to

Mormon Fair Dealing with

Gentiles 403

" Arrives in the Valley 412

" Comments on Polygamy 491

" Endorses Governor Young 536

Steptoe, Lieut. Col. E. J., Named as Governor 536

Stoddard, Judson, Agent B. Y. Express Co.

Stoker, John, Earh Settler Davis County 373

" As Utah Legislator 478

Stout, Col. Hosea, Captain Nauvoo Police 248

" In the Exodus 252

" Meets Returning Pioneers 363
" Captain Night Guard, Emigration

1848 383

" Territorial Attorney 621

" Editor and Proprietor Mountaineer 724

Stringam, Bryant 359

" At Inquest and Burial of Judge

Shaver 542

In Cache Valley 546

" Agent Y. X. Company 625

Sugar Creek, the Rendezvous ' 249

Summit County Settled 529

Sunday School, The first 434

T

Tabernacle, The Old 493

Taft, Seth 300

" Early Bishop 388

" Pioneer of Sanpete 419

Taylor, John, 134, 137

" Called to the Apostleship 140

Missions to England 170, 184, 278

" Editor Time* and Seasons 219

" Wounded in Carthage Jail 231

" Arrival on the Frontier 303

" In Immigration of 1847 358

" Associate Justice of Deseret 395

" Mission to France 417

" Delegate from Territorial Convention 546

" In Echo Canyon 627

" Letter to Captain Marcy 648

Taylor. Major Joseph, Taken Prisoner 640

Temples, at Kirtland 99, 125

" At Far West 144, 169

At Nauvoo 184, 191, 236, 251, 275

" Salt Lake, Site Chosen 339

" " Corner-stones Laid 503

Theatricals of Early Days 501

Times and Seasons 175

Tithing, Law of 141

Tooele Valley Settled 419

Trustee-in-Trust Chosen 183

Twelve Apostles Chosen 117

" Mission to Europe 169

" After the Prophet's Death 232

" Vacancies Filled 140, 184,

235, 278, 3S7, 695
Twiss, T. S., Indian Agent, Makes false

U

United Order, The

University of Deseret Chartered

Urim and Thummim

" How Used

" Final Disposition

Utah, Lakes, Rainfall, Topography, etc
" Earliest Explorers

Utah Territory Created

Utah Valley Explored
" Settled

"Utah War" 1857-8

5S4

;,i>:

721

YaUeii Tan, The

Van Buren, Martin, Appealed to 174

Van Cott, John, Marshal Immigration 1847 359

" " In the Valley 389
Van Vliet, Captain Stewart. Precedes the

Army to Utah 611

His Report 615

W
Walker, Warlike Ute Chief 397, 422
War of 1853 508
Meeting with Governor Young 527
Death 539
Wallace, George B., Captain of Fifty, Immi-
gration of 1847 359
In Utah Militia . 623

::-;<;

INDEX.

Ward, Barney, 374, 428
Washington Monument, Utah's Contribu-
tion to 494
Weber County Settled 373
Weber River Miles Goodyear's Stockade 319, 350
Wells, Daniel H., Befriends the Mormons 167
" Alderman of Nauvoo 182
" Discharges the Prophet on Habeas

Corpus 225
" At the Battle of Nauvoo 273
" Emigrates to Utah 383
" Supt. of Public Works 385, 504
" Attorney General of Deseret 395
" Major General Deseret Militia 396
" Operations against Utah Valley In-
dians 429
" Chief Justice of Deseret 453
" Utah Legislator 477
" Operations Against Indians, Walker

War 514
" Affronts Chief Walker 528
" Lieutenant-General Utah Militia 602, 621
" In Echo Canyon 627
" Letter of Instructions to Major Taylor 640
" " " " Capt. Winder 661
West, Chauncey W., Immigrant of 1847 359
" Southern Utah Explorer 420
" Commander Weber Military District 622
" In Echo Canyon 658
Western Standard Established in San Fran-
cisco 542
Wheelock, Cyrus H., 230, 554
Whitmer, David 34
" At Organization of Church 57
" Presiding in Missouri 117
" Excommunicated 140
Whitmer, John, Presiding at Kirtland 79
" " in Missouri 117
" Excommunicated 140
Whitmer, Peter, 34
" At Organization of Church 57
" Mission to Indians 70
Whitney, Newel K., 72
Bishop of Kirtland 92
" Accompanies Joseph Smith to Mis-
souri 97
" Fidelity to Joseph 139
" At Kirtland after the Exodus 141
>' Bishop in Nauvoo 176
" Alderman at Nauvoo 182
" In the Exodus 249
" Superintendent of Emigration 303,358
Presiding Bishop 384
" Treasurer and Associate Justice of

Deseret 395
His Death 432
Whitney, Horace K., Pioneer of 1847 304
" Pioneer Compositor 432
" Early Actor and Musician 501
" Topographical Engineer,Utah Mili-
tia 623
Whitney, Orson K., Pioneer of 1847 301
" In Indian Fight at Provo 428
" In Echo Canyon 658
Wight, Lyman 74
" Arrested with Joseph 148, 159
" Ordained an Apostle 184
" Disfellowshipped 387
Williams, Frederick G., 74
" Member of First Presidency 99
" Succeeded by Hyrum Smith 139
Winder, Capt. John R., Commanding the

Outposts 661

Winter Quarters of the " Army of Utah " 655

Winter Quarters on the Missouri 279
" Manifesto Issued by Prest.

Young 298

' ' General Conference 302

" Return of Pioneer Leaders 364

Witnesses to Book of Mormon 34

Woodruff, Wilford, Joins the Church 113

" Ordained an Apostle 169

" Labors in England 185

" Presides Over British Mission 235

Woodruff, Wilford, At Mount Pisgah 255

" Captain of Ten, Pioneer Company 300

" First Sight of Salt Lake Valley 324

" Exploring the Valley 336
" Chaplain Deseret Militia 396, 623

" Utah Legislator 478

Woolley, Edwin D., Member High Council 388

" Military Storekeeper Utah Militia 624
Y

Young, Brigham, Embraces Mormonism 111

" Ordained an Apostle 118

" Fidelity to Joseph 137

" President of the Twelve 165

" Labors in England 184

" Successor to Joseph 233

" In the Exodus 249

" Recruiting for the Battalion 261

" Leads the Pioneers 304

" Sick of Mountain Fever 319

" Enters the Valley 324

" Returns to Winter Quarters 357

" President of the Church 382

" Elected Governor of Deseret 395

" His Attitude Toward Mining 418
" His Indian Policy 425,527,539

" Appointed Governor of Utah 451

" Controversy with Judge Brocchus 464

" Communication to President Pierce 471

" Advocates the Pacific Railroad 489

' ' Views on Slavery 496
" Proclamation Against Mexican Slave

Traders 512

" Record as Governor 532

" Reappointed 538

" Hears of the Coming of the Army 604
" His Attitude Toward the Expedition

605, 609

" Interview with Capt. Van Vliet 612

" Proclaims Martial Law 626

" Letter to Col. Alexander 645

" Gift of Salt to Gen. Johnston 659

'• Receives Col. Kane 667

" Meets Governor Cumming 672

" In Council with Peace Commissioners 682
" Commands Protection of Mountain

Meadow Emigrants 702

" Charge of Counterfeiting 716

" Visited by Camp Floyd Officers 726

Young, Brigham, Jun., 546, 564

" Color Bearer General, Gen. Wells'

Staff 623

" Commanding Outpost Echo Canyon 662

Young, Brigham H., Pioneer Compositor 432

" Public Printer 478

Young, Clara D., a Pioneer Woman 301, 328

" Rears Indian Child 368

Young, Harriet Page Wheeler, a Pioneer

Woman 301, 328

" Adventure with an Indian 367

Young, John, Commands Emigration of 1847 358
" Member of Stake Presidency 364, 384

Young, Joseph, 112

" President of Seventies 118

" At Haun's Mill 157

" Utah Legislator 478

Young, Joseph A., Rescues Hand-cart Com-
panies 557
" Aide-de-Camp to Gen. Wells 623
" Introduces Col. Kane 667

Young, Joseph W., 417

Young, Lorenzo D., 301, 328

" New Camp on City Creek 337

" Finishes First House in Utah 351

Y. X. Company Established 587

" " Discontinued 598

Zion, The Central Gathering place 88

" The land dedicated 91

" Stakes of 80, 92. 110, 114, 117, 141, 142,

174, 186, 254, 259, 355, 364, 388, 453

Zion's Camp Organized 115

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