THE MORMONS.
Utah was settled in 1847 by a religious community of people generally
known by the name of Mormons, but they style themselves,
“The Latter-day Saints of the Church of Jesus Christ.”
In the great valley of a vast inland sea, the existence of which was
unknown to the world seventy-five years ago, whose surroundings were
a desert in the most rigid definition of the term, a great
commonwealth has been established unparalleled in the history of
its origin by that of any of the civilized countries of the world.
Out of the most desolate of our vast arid interior areas, in less than
half a century has been evolved not only a magnificent garden spot,
but a great city with all the adjuncts of our most modern civilization.
Rich in its architecture, progressive in its art, with a literature
that is marvellous when the conditions from which it has sprung are
seriously considered, the Mormon community meets all the demands of
our ever advancing civilization.
Neither the love of gold, nor the cupidity of conquest, those
characteristics which have subordinated other portions of the
New World to the restless ambition of man, were the causes that have
revolutionized both the physical character and the social conditions
of the now wealthy and prosperous state of Utah. As Bancroft very
forcibly states:
Utah was settled upon an entirely new idea of God's revelation
to the world. Old faiths have been worked over and over;
colonies have been built upon those tenets, but never before
have any results comparable to those which characterize that
of the Mormon faith been attained, in founding a community,
based as it is upon an entirely new religion.
Originating east of the Mississippi, perhaps no sect in modern times
has been so persecuted as was that of the Mormons in their early days.
So great and unbearable had this persecution become that it was
determined by their leaders to seek some remote spot where they could
worship according to their own ideas, without fear of molestation.
The Mormon emigration to Utah was seriously considered by Brigham
Young years before 1847, the date of their exodus. It is claimed
that he was but carrying out the plans of Joseph Smith, who early in
1842 said that his people “would yet be driven to the Rocky Mountains,
where they would be able to build a city of their own free from all
interference.”
In confirmation of this the following extract from Heber C. Kimball's
diary shows that a migration to some point west of the Rocky Mountains
was contemplated:
Nauvoo Temple, December 31, 1845—President 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 travellers in those regions.
When it had been determined to leave for the Great Basin, winter
quarters were established on the Elk Horn River; and on the morning
of the 9th of April, 1847, the migration began, but was not fairly
inaugurated until the 14th. The party were allowed a wagon, two oxen,
two milch cows, and a tent, to every ten of their number. For each
wagon there was supplied a thousand pounds of flour, fifty pounds
of rice, sugar, and bacon, thirty of beans, twenty of dried apples
or peaches, twenty-five of salt, five of tea, a gallon of vinegar,
and ten bars of soap. Every able-bodied man was compelled to carry
a rifle or musket. His wagon served for bed and kitchen, and was
occasionally used as a boat in crossing the streams. A day's journey
averaged about thirteen miles, with a rest at noon to dine and to
allow the cattle to graze.
For the benefit of those who were following them, the first party of
Mormons adopted some curious devices to inform their friends among
the latter how they were progressing. For post-offices, they used
the bleached buffalo-skulls found on the prairie, which, after the
letters were placed inside, they suspended from the limbs of trees
along the route. For guide-posts and to indicate their camping-places,
they painted on the bald fronts of other buffalo-skulls the date and
number of miles they had made.
After over three months of hardship and suffering, this party of
pioneers reached the portals of their destination. On the 19th of
July, 1847, two of the number started from the advance camp soon after
sunrise to make a reconnoissance of the road, which left Cañon Creek
and ran along through a ravine to the west.
The ascent was gradual for about four miles, when the dividing
ridge was reached. Here the two pioneers tied their horses,
and on foot ascended a near-by mountain, Big Mountain by name,
to obtain a glimpse of the country. Previously, from the
peaks of that neighbourhood, the pathfinder of the pioneer
band had been met by a series of towering, snow-capped
mountains, piled seemingly one upon the other, ever greeting
his tired vision as he gazed eagerly westward, looking for
the Promised Land. But this time a different view was exposed.
To the southwest, through a vista of gradually-sloping
mountains, through an opening in the cañons, the light blue
and the fleecy white clouds above seemed to be sinking into
a plain of gold. Two small portions of a level prairie were
visible, and beyond rose a series of blue mountains, their
peaks tipped with snow. It was the Valley of the Great Salt
Lake!
From the summit of the Big Mountain, they gazed long and
earnestly on the glorious view. First they looked upon the
high walls surrounding their position at the time, but ever
would their eyes turn longingly to that little panorama of
life and colour which appeared through a gap in the mountains,
the yellow and green of the valley, the blue and white of the
sky, with a foreground of dark mountains clothed in darker
shrubbery. The Oquirrhs rose majestically in the centre of
the picture, and far beyond them a dim, shadowy outline of
the Onaqui range, which completed the glorious landscape.
Previous to their arrival in the valley, on the 23d of June, the
Mormons met Jim Bridger and two of his employees en route to Fort
Laramie. Bridger was told that he was the man of all men whom they
had been looking for, upon which he advised them to camp right where
they were, and he would tell them all he knew about the country and
the region around the Great Basin. Camp was accordingly made,
Bridger took supper with Brigham Young, and the information he had to
impart was given in the old trapper's usual irregular way. Learning
that the destination of the Mormons was in the Desert of the Salt Lake
Valley, Bridger offered to give one thousand dollars for the first ear
of corn raised there. “Wait a little,” said the president of the
Mormons, “and we will show you.” In describing to Brigham Young the
Great Salt Lake, which he called “Sevier Lake,” he said that some of
his men had spent three months going around it in canoes hunting
beaver, and that the distance was five hundred and fifty miles.
In 1856 thousands of European converts to the new religion emigrated
to Utah. On their arrival in this country, however, they had very
little spare cash. It was therefore decided by those in authority
that they should cross the plains with hand-carts, in which was to
be hauled their baggage. Wagons were provided for tents, provisions,
and those who were not able to walk.
In a circular published in Liverpool by the Presidency of the British
Isles, among other things it recited that “The Lord, through his
Prophet, says of the poor, let them gird up their loins, and walk
through, and nothing shall hinder them.”
Iowa City was the point where the poor emigrants were outfitted and
received their hand-carts. These were somewhat primitive in
construction:
The shafts being about five feet long, and of hickory or oak,
with crosspieces, one of them serving for a handle, forming
the bed of the cart, under the centre of which was a wooden
axletree, the wheels being also made of wood, with a light
iron band, and the entire weight of the vehicle about sixty
pounds. Better carts were provided in subsequent years.
To each one hundred persons were furnished twenty hand-carts, five
tents, three or four milch cows, and a wagon with three yoke of oxen
to convey the provisions and camp equipage. The quantity of clothing
and bedding was limited to seventeen pounds per capita, and the
freight of each cart, including cooking utensils, was about one
hundred pounds.
One of the companies reached the old winter quarters near the middle
of August, and there held a meeting to decide whether they should
continue the journey or encamp for the winter. They had yet more than
a thousand miles to travel, and with their utmost efforts could not
expect to arrive in the valley until late in November. The matter was
left with the elders, all of whom, excepting one named Levi Savage,
counselled them to go forward and trust in the Lord, who would surely
protect them. Savage declared that they should trust, also, to such
common sense as the Lord had given them. From his certain knowledge,
the company, containing as it did so large a number of the aged and
infirm, of women and children, could not cross the mountains thus late
in the season without much suffering, sickness, and death. He was
overruled and rebuked for want of faith. “Brethren and sisters,” he
replied, “what I have said I know to be true; but seeing you are going
forward, I will go with you. May God in his mercy preserve us.”
The company set forth from their camp on the 18th, and on each
hand-cart was now placed a ninety-eight pound sack of flour, as the
wagons could not carry the entire load. At first they travelled about
fifteen miles a day, although delays were caused by the breaking of
wheels and axles. The heat and aridity of the plains and mountains
speedily made many of the cart-wheels rickety and unable to sustain
their burdens without frequent repairs. Some shod the axles of their
carts with old leather, others with tin from the plates and kettles
of their mess outfit; and for grease they used their allowance of
bacon, and even their soap, of which they had but little. On reaching
Wood River the cattle stampeded, and thirty head were lost, the
remainder being only sufficient to allow one yoke to each wagon.
The beef cattle, milch cows, and heifers were used as draft animals,
but were of little service, and it was found necessary to place
another sack of flour on each hand-cart. The issue of beef was then
stopped, the cows gave no milk, and the daily ration was reduced to
a pound of flour, with a little rice, sugar, coffee, and bacon,
an allowance which only furnished breakfast for some of the men,
who fasted for the remainder of the day.
While encamped on the North Fork of the Platte the emigrants were
overtaken by another party of elders, returning from foreign missions,
who gave them what encouragement they could. “Though it might storm
on their right and on their left the Lord would keep open their way
before them, and they would reach Zion in safety.” After camping with
them for one night, the elders went on their way, promising to leave
provisions for them at Fort Laramie if possible, and to send them aid
from Salt Lake City. On reaching Laramie no provisions were found,
and rations were again reduced, men able to work receiving twelve
ounces of flour daily, women and old men nine ounces, and children
from four to eight ounces.
As the emigrants travelled along the banks of the Sweetwater,
the nights became severe, and their bed-covering was now insufficient.
Before them were the mountains clad almost to the base with snow,
where already the storms of winter were gathering. Gradually the
old and infirm began to droop, and soon deaths became frequent,
the companies seldom leaving their camping-ground without burying one
or more of the party. Then able-bodied men began to succumb, a few
of them continuing to pull their carts before they died, and one or
two even on the day of their deaths. On the morning when the first
snow-storm occurred, the last ration of flour was issued, and a march
of sixteen miles was before them to the nearest camping-ground on
the Sweetwater. The task seemed hopeless, but at noon a wagon
drove up, containing Joseph A. Young and Stephen Taylor, from Salt
Lake City, who told them that a train of supplies would reach them
in a day or two. Thus encouraged, the emigrants pushed forward.
By doubling their teams, and by the strongest of the party helping
the weak to drag their carts, all reached the camping-ground, though
some of the cattle perished, and during the night five persons died
of cold and exhaustion.
In the morning the snow was a foot deep, and there remained only two
barrels of biscuits, a few pounds of sugar and dried apples, and
a quarter of a sack of rice. Two of the disabled cattle were killed,
their carcasses issued for beef, and on this and a small dole of
biscuits the emigrants were told that they must subsist until
supplies reached them. The small remnant of provisions was reserved
for the young children and the sick. It was now decided to remain
in camp, while the captain with one of the elders went in search of
the supply-trains. The small allowance of beef and biscuit was
consumed the first day, and on the second day more cattle were killed
and eaten without biscuit. On the next day there was nothing to eat,
for no more cattle could be spared. Still the supplies came not,
being delayed by the same storm which the emigrants had encountered.
During these three days many died and numbers sickened. Some expired
in the arms of those who were themselves almost at the point of death.
Mothers wrapped with their dying hands the remnant of their tattered
clothing around the wan forms of their perishing infants. The most
pitiful sight of all was to see strong men begging for the morsel
of food that had been set apart for the sick and helpless.
It was now the evening of the third day, and the sun was sinking
behind the snow-clad ranges which could be traced far to the west
amid the clear, frosty atmosphere of the desert. There were many who,
while they gazed on this scene, did not expect to see the light of
another day, and there were many who cared for life no longer, having
lost all that makes life precious. They retired to their tents and
commanded themselves to their Maker, lay down to rest, perchance
to die. But presently a shout of joy was raised. From an eminence
near the western portion of the camp covered wagons were seen
approaching, with the captain at their head. Immediately about half
of the provisions, together with a quantity of warm clothing,
blankets, and buffalo-robes were distributed to the companies.
The remainder was sent forward under charge of Grant for the use of
another company.
But the troubles of the hand-cart emigrants were not yet at an end.
Some were already beyond all human aid, some had lost their reason,
and around others the blackness of despair had settled, all efforts
to rouse them from their stupor being unavailing. Each day the
weather grew colder, and many were frost-bitten, losing fingers,
toes, or ears, one sick man who held on to the wagon bars to avoid
jolting having all his fingers frozen. At a camping-ground at
Willow Creek, a tributary of the Sweetwater, fifteen people were
buried, thirteen of them having been frozen to death. Near South
Pass another company of the brethren met them, with supplies from
Salt Lake City, and from the trees near their camp several quarters
of fat beef were suspended—“a picture,” says Chislett, who had charge
of one of the companies, “that far surpassed the paintings of the
ancient masters.” From this point warm weather prevailed, and fresh
teams from the valley constantly met them, distributing provisions
sufficient for their needs, and then travelling eastward to meet
the other company.
On reaching Salt Lake City on the 9th of November, it was found that
sixty-seven out of a total of four hundred and twenty had died on
the journey. Of the six hundred emigrants included in Martin's
detachment, which arrived there three weeks later, a smaller
percentage perished. The storm which overtook the party on the
Sweetwater reached them on the North Platte. There they encamped
and waited about ten days for the weather to moderate. Their rations
were reduced to four ounces of flour per head a day, for a few days,
until relief came. On arriving at Salt Lake City the survivors were
received with the utmost kindness.
On their arrival at Devil's Gate on the Sweetwater, twenty men
belonging to the other company were left in charge of stock,
merchandise, and baggage, with orders to follow in the spring.
The snow fell deep, and many of the cattle were devoured by the
wolves, while others perished from cold. The rest were slaughtered,
and on their frozen carcasses the men subsisted, their small stock
of flour and salt now being exhausted. Game was scarce in the
neighbourhood, and with their utmost care the supply of food could
not hold out until spring. Two of the men, with the only horses
that remained, were sent to Platte Bridge to obtain supplies; but the
animals were lost, and they returned empty-handed. Presently the
meat was all consumed, and then their only resource was the hides,
which were cut into small pieces and soaked in hot water, after the
hair had been removed. When the last hide had been eaten, nothing
remained but their boot-tops and the scraps of leather from their
wagon. Even the neck-piece of a buffalo-skin which had served as
a door-mat was used for food. Thus they kept themselves alive until
spring, when they subsisted on thistle-roots and wild garlic, until
at length relief came from Salt Lake City.[17]
On the 5th of December, 1857, John B. Floyd, then Secretary of War,
in his report to James Buchanan, President of the United States,
states that the people of Utah implicitly obeyed their prophet, and
that from the first day of their settlement in the territory it had
been their aim to secede from the Union. He says that for years
they had not even pretended obedience to Federal authority, and that
they encouraged roaming bands of Indians to rob and massacre the
emigrants bound for the Pacific coast.
Previous to the assembling of any troops for duty in Utah to enforce
obedience to the laws of the government, an opinion was asked of
General Winfield Scott, then commanding the army, as to the feasibility
of sending an armed expedition into the territory. Scott's decision
was most emphatically against the proposition to send troops there
so late in the season. The general's advice was not heeded, however,
and in May orders were promulgated that the Fifth and Tenth Infantry,
the Second Dragoons, and a battery of the Fourth Artillery should
assemble at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, with the Valley of the Salt Lake
as their objective point.
In June, 1858, more than six thousand troops were mobilized for Utah,
and the command was given to Brigadier-General W. S. Harney.
In the whole military history of the country, before the Civil War,
no expedition had ever been better equipped and rationed than that
which was to be called “The Army of Occupation in Utah.” Thousands
of cattle and immense supply-trains were started across the plains
in advance. The price for the transportation was twenty-two cents
a pound.
These exorbitant contracts made the lucky individuals who had
secured them very wealthy. By a little political wire-pulling he who
had secured the flour contract obtained permission to provide the
troops with Utah flour. It cost him but seven cents a pound, but he
received the twenty-two cents which it would have cost to have
transported it from the States.
This large army was stationed in Utah Territory for nearly four years.
It is stated on good authority that the private soldiers asked of
each other, “Why were we sent here? Why are we kept here?” while
the common people wondered whether the authorities at Washington kept
them there to make the contractors rich.
At that time the people of the territory were in a starving condition
in consequence of the failure of crops and the unusually severe
winter of 1856-1857. There were thousands who for over a year had
never realized what a full meal meant; children by the hundreds
“endured the gnawings of hunger until hunger had become to them
a second nature”; yet despite this condition of affairs the orders
issued to General Harney from Washington display a lamentable
ignorance, or a determination to compel the Mormons to feed the
troops on the basis of the miracle of “the loaves and fishes.”
His instructions were as follows:
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 with-held by the inhabitants. The necessities
of such an occasion would furnish a law for your guidance.
Exactly the reverse of what was intended by the authorities at
Washington occurred in Utah. In another chapter it is shown how the
Mormons stampeded the cattle of the supply-trains, and robbed them
of their contents, so it will be perceived that the Mormons themselves
subsisted on the rations intended for the troops, completely
controverting what was implied in the orders to General Harney.
On the day after the departure from Salt Lake of the officers[18] sent
on a special mission to investigate the condition of affairs in Utah,
Brigham Young issued a proclamation declaring martial law in Utah,
forbidding all armed forces to enter the territory under any pretence
whatever, and ordering the Mormon militia to be in readiness to march
at a moment's notice. It is probable that the Nauvoo Legion, which
now included the entire military force of the territory, mustered at
this date from four to five thousand men.
Though imperfectly armed and equipped, and, of course, no match for
regular troops, the Mormons were not to be held in contempt. In July,
1857,[19] the Nauvoo Legion had been reorganized, the two cohorts,
now termed divisions, having each a nominal strength of two thousand.
The division consisted of two brigades; the brigades of two regiments;
the regiments of five battalions, each of a hundred men, the
battalions being divided into companies of fifty, and the companies
into platoons of ten. Each platoon was in charge of a lieutenant,
whose duty it was carefully to inspect the arms, ammunition, and
accoutrements. All able-bodied males in the territory, excepting
those exempt by law, were liable to military duty, and it is probable
that the Mormons could have put in the field not less than seven
thousand raw troops, half disciplined, indeed, but inured to hardship,
and from the very nature of their environment splendid rifle-shots.
It was not the intention of the Mormons to encounter the army of Utah
in the open field, or even behind breastworks, if it could be avoided.
In order to explain their tactics a despatch sent by the
lieutenant-general of the Nauvoo Legion to Major Joseph Taylor will
make plain what they proposed to do.
On ascertaining the locality or route of the troops, proceed
at once to annoy them in every possible way. Use every
exertion to stampede their animals and set fire to their
trains. Burn the whole country before them and on their
flanks. Keep them from sleeping by night surprises; blockade
the road by felling trees or destroying the 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 surprises. Save life always, when it is possible;
we do not wish to shed a drop of blood if it can be avoided.[20]
When General Harney had joined his command and heard of the state
of affairs in Utah, he said in his characteristic bluff manner:
“I am ordered there, and I will winter in the valley or in hell!”
Before he reached the portals of the territory, however, his services
again being demanded in Kansas, Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, then
at Fort Leavenworth, was appointed to the command of the army of Utah,
and during the interim Colonel Alexander assumed command of the forces.
About the middle of August, General Wells, in command of twelve
hundred and fifty men, supplied with thirty days' rations, established
headquarters at Echo Cañon. Through this cañon, the Mormons
supposed, lay the path of the invading army, the only means of
avoiding the gorge being by a circuitous route northward to Soda
Springs, and thence by way of Bear River Valley, or the Wind River
Mountains. On the western side of the cañon dams and ditches were
constructed, by means of which the road could be submerged to a depth
of several feet. At the eastern side stone heaps were collected
and bowlders loosened from the overhanging rocks, so that a slight
leverage would hurl them on the passing troops, and parapets were
built as a protection for sharp-shooters.[21]
At this juncture a letter from General Wells was delivered to
Colonel Alexander, together with copies of the organic act, the law
of Utah, the proclamation forbidding the entrance of armed forces
into the territory, and a despatch from Brigham Young. The last
was a remarkable document, and must have been somewhat of a surprise
to the colonel, who had proved himself one of the most gallant
soldiers of the Mexican War. He was informed that he, Brigham Young,
was still governor of Utah, who ordered him to withdraw by the same
route he had entered. Should he desire, however, to remain until
spring in the neighbourhood of the present encampment, he must
surrender his arms and ammunition to the Mormon quartermaster-general,
in which case he would be supplied with provisions, and would not
be molested.
Colonel Alexander replied in brief and business-like phrase.
He addressed Brigham Young as governor; stated that he would submit
his letter to the commanding officer immediately on his arrival;
that meanwhile the troops were there by order of the President, and
that their future movements and operations would depend on orders
issued by competent military authority.
In writing to brother officers en route to join their commands,
Colonel Alexander said:
No information of the position or intentions of the commanding
officer has reached me, and I am in utter ignorance of the
object of the government in sending troops here, or the
instructions given for their conduct after reaching here.
I have decided on the following points: First, the necessity
of a speedy move to winter quarters; second, the selection
of a point for wintering; third, the best method of conducting
the troops and supplies to the point selected.
A council of war was held, and the point selected was Fort Hall,
on Beaver Head Mountain, one hundred and forty miles from Fort Bridger.
So little did the colonel know about the disposition of the command,
that at the time and place when he expected to be joined by Colonel
Smith, in charge of supply-trains, that officer was still at the
South Pass, with an escort of two hundred men.
On the 11th of October the troops commenced their march. Snow was
falling heavily, and for several days they were compelled to cut
a path for their wagons through the dense brush, their trains being
still of such unwieldy length that the vanguard had reached its
camping-ground at nightfall before the rear guard had moved from
its camp of the preceding day. Meanwhile bands of Mormons, under
their nimble and ubiquitous leaders, hung on their flanks, just out
of rifle-shot, harassing them at every step, seven hundred oxen being
captured and driven to Salt Lake City on the 13th!
There was as yet no cavalry in the force. A few infantry companies
were mounted on mules and sent in pursuit of the guerillas, but the
Saints merely laughed at them, terming them jackass cavalry.
The grass had been burned along the route, and the draught animals
were so weak that they could travel only three miles a day. When the
point was reached where Smith's detachment was expected to join
the army, the commander, disappointed and sorely perplexed, called
a council of war, at which many of the officers were in favour of
cutting their way through the cañons at all hazard.
At this juncture a despatch was received from General Johnston,
who was now at South Pass, ordering the troops to proceed to
Fontenelle Creek, where pasture was abundant, and a few days later
a second despatch directed them to march to a point three miles below
the junction of Ham and Black Forks, the colonel stating that he
would join them there. On the 3d of November they reached the place
of rendezvous, where Johnston arrived the following day, with a
reënforcement of cavalry and the supply-trains in charge of Smith.
Albert Sidney Johnston was a favourite officer, and had already given
earnest of the qualities that he displayed a few years later in the
campaigns of the Civil War, on the Confederate side. The morale of
the army was at once restored, and each man put forth his utmost
energy at the touch of this excellent soldier. But their troubles
were not yet ended. The expedition was now ordered to Fort Bridger,
and at every step difficulties increased. There were only thirty-five
miles to be travelled, but excepting on the margin of a few slender
streams the country through which their route lay was the barest of
desert land. There was no shelter from the chill blasts of this
mountain solitude, where, even in November, the thermometer sometimes
sank to sixteen degrees below zero. There was no fuel but the wild
sage and willow; there was little pasture for the half-frozen cattle.
The march continued on the 6th of November, and on the previous night
five hundred of the strongest oxen had been stolen by the Mormons.
The train extended over six miles, and all day long snow and sleet
fell on the retreating column. Some of the men were frost-bitten,
and the exhausted animals were goaded by their drivers until many
fell dead in their traces. At sunset the troops encamped wherever
they could find a particle of shelter, some under bluffs, and some
in the willow copses. At daybreak the camp was surrounded by the
carcasses of frozen cattle. Several hundred beasts had perished
during the night. Still, as the trains arrived from the rear,
each one halted for a day or more, giving time for the cattle to
rest and graze on such scant herbage as they could find. To press
forward rapidly was impossible, for it would have cost the lives
of most of the draught animals; to find shelter was equally impossible,
for there was none. There was no alternative but to proceed slowly
and persistently, saving as many as possible of the horses, mules,
and oxen. Fifteen days were required for this difficult operation.
Meanwhile Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, who arrived on the 19th by
way of Fort Laramie, at the head of five hundred dragoons, had fared
no better than the main body, having lost nearly half of his cattle.
On the 5th the command of Colonel Cooke passed the Devil's Gate.
While crossing what he calls a four-mile hill, he writes as follows:—
The north wind and drifting snow became severe; the air
seemed turned to frozen fog; nothing could be seen; we were
struggling in a freezing cloud. The lofty wall at Three
Crossings was a happy relief; but the guide, who had lately
passed there, was relentless in pronouncing that there was
no grass. As he promised grass and shelter two miles farther,
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 up 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.
Meanwhile the animals were driven once more across the stream to the
base of a granite ridge which faced the storm, but where there was
no grass. They refused to eat, the mules huddling together and
moaning piteously, while some of the horses broke away from the guard
and went back to the ford. The next day better camping-ground was
reached ten miles farther on. On the morning of the 8th the
thermometer marked forty-four degrees below freezing point; but in
this weather and through deep snow the men made eighteen miles, and
the following day nineteen miles, to the next camping-grounds on
Bitter Creek, and in the valley of Sweetwater. On the 10th matters
were still worse. Herders left to bring up the rear with stray mules
could not force them from the valley, and there three-fourths of them
were left to perish. Nine horses were also abandoned. At night the
thermometer marked twenty-five degrees below zero; nearly all the
tent-pins were broken, and nearly forty soldiers and teamsters were
on the sick list, most of them being frost-bitten. “The earth,”
writes the colonel, “has no more lifeless, treeless, grassless desert;
it contains scarcely a wolf to glut itself on the hundreds of dead
and frozen animals which for thirty miles nearly block the road.”
At length the army arrived at Fort Bridger—to find that the buildings
in and around it, together with those at Fort Supply, twelve miles
distant, had been burnt to the ground by Mormons, and the grain and
other provisions removed or destroyed. All that remained were two
enclosures surrounded by walls of cobblestone cemented with mortar,
the larger one being a hundred feet square. This was appropriated
for supplies, while on the smaller one lunettes were built and
mounted with cannon. A sufficient garrison was stationed at this
point; the cattle were sent for the winter to Henry Fork in charge
of Colonel Cooke and six companies of the Second Dragoons, and about
the end of November the remainder of the troops went into winter
quarters on Black Fork of the Green River, two or three miles beyond
Fort Bridger, and a hundred and fifteen from Salt Lake City. The site,
to which was given the name of Fort Scott, was sheltered by bluffs
rising abruptly at a few hundred yards from the bed of the stream.
Near by were clumps of cottonwood which the Mormons had attempted
to burn; but the wood being green and damp, the fire had merely
scorched the bark.
Though most of the beef cattle had been carried off by the Mormons or
Indians, a sufficient number of draught animals remained to furnish
meat for seven months during six days of the week, while of bacon
there was enough for one day in the week, and by reducing the ration
of flour, coffee, and other articles, they might also be made to last
until the first of June. Parties were at once sent to Oregon and
New Mexico to procure cattle and remounts for the cavalry. Meantime
shambles were built, to which the starved animals at Fort Henry were
driven, and butchered as soon as they had gathered a little flesh,
their meat being jerked and stored for future use.
There was not an ounce of salt in the entire camp; a supply was
proffered as a gift from Brigham Young, whom Johnston now termed,
“The great Mormon rebel,” which was rejected with contempt. Salt was
secretly brought into the camp, but the commander would eat none
of it, and the officer's mess was soon after supplied by the Indians
at the rate of five dollars a pound!
Thus did the army of Utah pass the winter of 1857-1858, amid
privations no less severe than those endured at Valley Forge
eighty-one years before.
But meanwhile events occurred which promised a peaceful solution of
the difficulty. The spirited resistance of the Saints had called
forth unfavourable comments on Buchanan's policy throughout the
United States and Europe. He had virtually made war upon the
territory before any declaration had been issued; he had sent forward
an army before the causes of offence had been fairly investigated;
and now, at this critical juncture in the nation's history when there
was a possibility of the disruption of the Union, he was about to
lock up in a distant and almost inaccessible region more than
one-third of the nation's war material, and nearly all of its best
troops. Even the soldiers themselves, though in a cheerful mood and
in excellent condition, had no heart for the approaching campaign,
accepting, as they did, the commonly received opinion that it was
merely a move on the President's political chess-board. In a word,
Buchanan and the Washington politicians and the Johnston-Harney army
must confess themselves hopelessly beaten, before a blow was struck.
The army was powerless before the people they had come to punish.
All that remained to do was to forgive the Mormons and let them go.
Through the pressure brought to bear, the President was induced to
stop the threatened war. On the 6th of April he signed a proclamation
promising amnesty to all who returned to their allegiance; and on
the 26th of June, 1858, the army of Utah entered the Valley of the
Great Salt Lake.
Thus ended this farcical demonstration on the part of the government
—a war without a battle! There was, perhaps, no genuine basis of
necessity upon which to organize the expensive and disastrous
expedition against the Mormons. The real cause, perhaps, should be
attributed to the clamour of other religious sects against what they
held to be an unorthodox belief.
The City of Salt Lake, the capital of the Mormon settlement, was
founded upon the arrival of that sect in the valley in 1847. It is
situated in latitude 40 degrees 46 minutes north, and longitude
112 degrees 6 minutes west, (from Greenwich), at the foot of the
western slope of the Wahsatch Mountains, an extensive chain of
lofty hills, forming a portion of the eastern boundary of what is
known in our geography as the Great Basin.
The growth of this delightful mountain city in its arid, desolate
environment is a monument to the patience, industry, and devotion
to a principle which has few parallels.
The corporate limits aggregate about fifty square miles; no city in
the world, perhaps, possesses streets of such an extraordinary width.
Through their whole vast length the magnificent trees which fringe
them are irrigated by streams of pure water flowing from the several
cañons in the vicinity. By this constant passage of these mountain
streams, the air is deliciously cooled, and Salt Lake City made one of
the most beautiful and charming places on the North American continent.
It is declared by the faithful that Brigham Young affirmed it was in
a vision that the place was designated to him by an angel from heaven
as the exact spot where the capital of Zion should be built.
By the requirements of an original ordinance each residence was to
be located twenty feet in the rear of the lot, the intervening space
forming a little park filled with flowers, trees, and shrubbery.
By the same system of irrigation which flows through the streets to
nourish the trees, the water runs into every garden spot, and
produces a beauty of verdure in what was once the most barren of
wastes.
Even in its infancy, Salt Lake City was the only charming spot
between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean, for in the early
days of the hazardous passage across the plains, the whole region
with rare exceptions was conspicuous for the entire absence of trees.
There was one monotonous blaze of sunshine, day after day, as the
caravans and overland coaches plodded through the alkali dust of the
desert. The weary traveller gazed upon nothing but seemingly
interminable prairies and naked elevations, destitute of verdure,
or as he entered the rock-ribbed Continental Divide, only rugged
mountains relieved the eternal sameness of his surroundings.
Salt Lake City, nestling in its wealth of trees and flowers, was
a second “Diamond of the Desert.” In its welcome shade, the dusty
traveller, like the solitary Sir Kenneth, reposed his jaded limbs
and dreamed of the babbling brooks and waving woodlands he had left
a thousand miles behind him.
The temple and the tabernacle, of purely Mormon conception, are the
most elaborate and attractive architectural structures in the city.
It is claimed by the faithful that the site of the temple was
announced by Brigham Young to his people on an evening in July,
1847, a very short time after the arrival of the Mormon pioneers.
The story runs that while roaming in company with some of his apostles,
about the region of the camp, discussing and declaring that where
they had halted was the very place on which to rear the new Zion,
the prophet stuck his cane in the ground and said to those who were
with him, “Here is where the temple of our God shall rise.”
Of course there was no appeal from his dictum, and from the moment
of his declaration that spot was regarded as sacred by all the people,
who firmly believed that when their leader spoke it was through
inspiration from heaven.