|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
CHAPTER V.
FROM THE NAUVOO EXODUS TO THE MORMON WAR IN UTAH.
The Via Dolorosa of Mormon History - Through Iowa - Great suffering - "Stakes of Zion" - Settlement in Nebraska - "Mormon Battalion" - Journey to Utah - Founding of Salt Lake City - Early accounts - Outrages upon California emigrants - Travelers murdered - Apostates "missing" - Dangers of rivalry in love with a Mormon Bishop - Usurpations of Mormon Courts and officers - Federal Judges driven out - Murders of Babbitt and Williams - Flight of Judges Stiles and Drummond - The Army set in motion for Utah New officers appointed - Suspicious delay of the Army - The "Mormon War" begun.
THE last of the Mormons was exiled from the State which had gladly received them seven years before, and we turn to their march through Iowa - the Via Dolorosa of Mormon history. A band of pioneers through Iowa left Nauvoo the 20th day of January, 1846, and the same day the High Council issued a circular announcing the general intention to leave. Early in February several thousand Mormons crossed the Mississippi, many of them on the ice, and started directly west, along a line near the northern boundary of Missouri. They were divided into companies of ten wagons each, under control of captains, and this semi-military order was maintained throughout. As the spring advanced, many of the able-bodied men scattered to various places in Missouri and Iowa, seeking employment of every kind, and the remaining men, with a great band of women and children, pursued their way. In that climate and at that season, their sufferings were necessarily great. The high waters, wet prairie, damp winds and muddy roads of spring troubled them worse than the frosts of winter, and sickness and death increased. "All night," says a woman who made the journey, "the wagons came trundling into camp with half-frozen children screaming with cold, or crying for bread, and the same the next day, and the next, the whole line of march.
"The open sky and bare ground for women and children in February is a thing only to be endured when human nature is put to the rack of necessity, and many a mother hastily buried her dead child by the wayside, only regretting she could not lie down with it herself and be at peace."
On their way they established "Stakes," and when the weather had sufficiently advanced, enclosed large fields and planted them with grain for those who were to follow after. The most noted of these "stakes" were Garden Grove and Mt. Pisgah. They bridged the Nishnabatona, Nodaway and Grand Rivers, besides many smaller streams, and later, when the grass was grown, turned northward.
MORMON CAMP AT COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA.But the advance of the season seemed to increase the amount of disease; hundreds who had been frostbitten and chilled during the winter died along the way, and the route was lined with graves. Still the zeal of the survivors sustained them, and the cruel ambition of their leader forced them on; and though many deserted and turned away to various Gentile settlements, a majority remained. As successive parties left Nauvoo, the trains were spread over a line of a hundred miles; but during the latter part of, the season they concentrated in the Pottawattomie country, extending up and down the Missouri from Council Bluffs. Here they built ferry boats, and a part crossed the river. Preparations for the winter were made on both sides; cabins were built, rude tents erected, and "dugouts," dwellings half underground, constructed. Many young men went back to the States, and hired out to work for provisions, which were forwarded to the camp. According to other witnesses, a band of horse and cattle thieves was organized under the control of Orson Hyde, and a gang of counterfeiters sent into Missouri. In the July previous they had been visited by Captain James G. Allen, of the United States Dragoons, with whom Brigham Young entered into negotiations to furnish a battalion for the Mexican War. The Mormons were the more ready to enter this service, as they expected to be discharged in California, where the Church then intended to settle. Five hundred men were enrolled in a few days, and proceeded to Leavenworth, where they were mustered into the service of the United States. An agent of Brigham Young accompanied them thus far and received twenty thousand dollars of their advanced bounty, which was understood to be for the support of their families during their absence. Several of them, since apostatized, testify that none of it was ever so appropriated. The battalion was placed under the command of Colonel Philip Saint George Cooke, and started forthwith on the noted overland march of General Kearny.
They marched two thousand and fifty miles to San Diego, California, passing through the mountains of southern Colorado and New Mexico, and across the "desert of death." One company of them re-enlisted for a short time in California, many apostatized and the rest made their way to Salt Lake City. The main body of the Saints meanwhile concentrated at what is now Florence, six miles north of Omaha, which they called Winter Quarters. There they built five hundred log houses one gristmill, and several "horse mills;" there the Church was completely reorganized; the "Quorum of Three" re-established, and it was unanimously resolved that "the mantle of the Prophet Joseph had fallen on the Seer and Revelator, Brigham Young;" who was accordingly chosen to all the offices and titles of the dead Prophet.
On the eastern side of the Missouri, were still some two thousand wagons scattered in various camps, each bearing the name of its leader. Many of these names remain in the local nomenclature of that country, as Cutlers, Perkins, Millers, etc. At this time they were visited by Colonel (since General) Thos. L. Kane, of Philadelphia, who continued with them some time, crossed a portion of the plains with them, and figured extensively in an important period of Mormon history. Elder John Hyde, the noted apostate, says that Kane there embraced Mormonism, but this seems quite improbable. During the winter, Orson Pratt, Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor went on a mission to England, giving general notice to the Saints abroad, that the next gathering place would be in Upper California. "At a conference held before they left Nauvoo, to determine their destination, Lyman Wight had strongly urged Texas, John Taylor proposed Vancouver's Island, many were in favor of Oregon and Brigham Young insisted upon California. They finally fixed indefinitely upon "some valley in the Rocky Mountains."
In accordance with this conclusion, the Pioneer Band, "a hundred and forty-three men, driving seventy wagons; under the command of Brigham Young, left Winter Quarters, April 14th, 1847, and followed Fremont's Trail westward up the Platte River. West of the Black Hills, they diverged and followed a "trapper's trail" for four hundred miles, and from Bear River westward, laid out a new route through Emigration Cañon to Jordan Valley.
MORMONS EMIGRATING TO UTAH IN 1847.The company entered the valley July 24th, now celebrated as "Anniversary Day." They found willows and other scant vegetation about a rod wide along City Creek, and this stream they dammed, and dug an irrigating ditch. They planted a few potatoes, from which they raised enough that year to serve for seed for a large plant, though no bigger than chestnuts. They proceeded also to lay out a city, and in October Brigham Young and a few others went back to Winter Quarters. The people had suffered greatly with cholera, fever and inflammatory diseases, and the "Old Mormon Graveyard" at Florence contains seven hundred graves of that winter, of which two hundred are of children. Vast numbers had "fallen into apostasy," or turned away and joined themselves to recusant sects; and all their fair-weather friends had forsaken them. But the little remnant were at least consolidated in sentiment, strengthened and confirmed together by mutual suffering, firm and self-reliant; and something over four thousand made the journey to Salt Lake the following season. But the small party left in the valley had raised but a scant crop, and though the new comers had transported all the provisions they could, there was great scarcity. Every head of a family issued rations to those dependent upon him, and many children received, for months, "each one biscuit a day and all the sego roots they could dig." Wolves, raw hides, rabbits, thistle roots, segos, and everything that would support life was resorted to. In 1849, a plentiful crop was raised furnishing enough for food and a small surplus. February 20th, 1848, emigration from Great Britain was re-commenced after a suspension of two years. On the 10th of November of that year the inhabitants of Nauvoo were awakened at an early hour by a fire in the Mormon Temple, which was soon beyond their control and in a short time everything was destroyed but the bare walls. The city was largely occupied by a colony of Icarians, French Communists, under the lead of M. Cabet, and they had begun to refurnish the building for a social hall and schoolroom. The Hancock Patriot of that date gives a full account of the misfortune, showing conclusively that the building had been fired by an incendiary. "But it is," says the Patriot, "impossible to assign a probable motive. The destroyer certainly had less worthy feelings than the man who fired the 'Ephesian Dome.' Admit that it was a monument of folly and evil, it was at least a splendid, and harmless one."
Many have since supposed that it was fired by an emissary from a rival city. The walls still stood in such perfect preservation, that nearly two years after the citizens determined to roof and finish it for an Academy; but on May 27th 1850, a violent hurricane swept over Iowa and Illinois and prostrated the structure, leaving only a portion of the western wall, and now naught but a shapeless pile of stones marks the spot. Mormon annals give many interesting incidents of their first three years in Utah, but this record can deal particularly only with that portion of their history where they came in immediate contact with the Gentiles. For two years they seem to have had it all their own way; if there were Gentiles resident in Salt Lake City before 1849, they were "braves before Agamemnon," history makes no mention of them. Of course there were trappers and mountaineers who occasionally visited the city, and a few parties of emigrants passed that way even before the great rush of '49. Lieutenant Ruxton's "Life in the Far West" gives an account of a visit to the new city, which is both amusing and romantic, and M. Violet, the French chief among the Shoshonees, visited the Mormon settlements soon after their establishment. For three years the Mormons devoted all their energies to developing the country and getting ready to live; their extreme poverty prevented their being either very enterprising in reaching out towards their neighbors, or particularly anxious to encroach on any one. Quite a number of Gentiles had met with them in various places on the plains and accompanied them some distance; but Colonel Thomas L. Kane, who made most of the journey with them, and witnessed their early efforts, has left the only account approaching to exactness of these early years. The great rush of gold hunters in 1849, was coeval with a season of plenty, and the association seems to have been mutually beneficial to Mormons and pioneers, but none of the latter appear to have halted in "Zion." They were in too eager haste to gain the new Eldorado. As early as 1846 a few emigrants passed this way to the Pacific coast, and the latter part of that year one Hastings led a party by a new route south of the Lake, since known as " Hastings Cut-off."
It is estimated by those living at various military posts on the overland route, that from five to ten thousand emigrants from the United States had crossed to the Pacific coast before the discovery of gold. Fort Bridger had been occupied several years by Colonel James Bridger, the oldest mountaineer in that region, who had been engaged in the Indian trade there, and upon the head waters of the Missouri and Columbia since 1819. Early in 1849 General Wilson, newly appointed Indian Agent for California, passed through Salt Lake City, making a short stay, and late the same year Captain Howard Stansbury, of the United States Topographical Engineers, reached the city and remained till the next May. This officer with his assistant, Lieutenant Gunnison, set out from Leavenworth, Kansas, on the 31st of May, 1849; traveling up the Blue River to its head, he crossed over to the Platte and followed the main emigrant route as far as Fort Bridger.
Thence he endeavored to find a more direct route to the head of the lake than the one usually followed by Fort Hall, in Idaho, which required a "northing" of nearly two degrees. In pursuance of this intention he followed the "Mormon Road" west to Bear River, thence followed down that stream northward, six miles to Medicine Butte, from which he sought a route due west, but was obliged to turn again to the south and struck upon the head of Pumbars Creek, a tributary of the Weber.
From this hollow he passed over another ridge to Ogden Hole, long the rendezvous of the Northwest Fur Company, on account of its fine range for stock in winter. From this place he passed out into the main valley, and from the "bench" northwest of Ogden, on the 27th of August, caught his first view of Great Salt Lake. Thinking, as he stated, that his success depended somewhat upon the good-will of the Mormons, he visited Salt Lake City at once, and seems to have formed a very favorable opinion. He acknowledges the courtesy and assistance of the Mormons, "as soon as the true object of the expedition was understood." His party were probably the first Gentiles who ever spent more than a month or two in Salt Lake City. Late in 1849, or early in 1850, Messrs. Livingston and Kinkead, pioneer merchants, opened a store in Salt Lake City, and from the extent of their trade, the Saints seemed to have realized handsomely on their sales to the California emigrants.
Captain Stansbury completed his survey of the Great Salt Lake. and set out on his return to the States in August, 1850; and soon after an immense emigration appeared on their way to California. The association of the preceding year seems to have created great confidence and nearly all these emigrants made a lengthy stay in the Mormon settlements. For three years the Mormons had been almost unheard of in the States, most of the prejudice against them had died out and had the policy of the first year been pursued, mutual good-will would have been established on a firm basis and the settlement in Utah considered a real blessing.
VIEW OF SALT LAKE CITY IN 1850 -- FROM THE NORTHWEST.But renewed prosperity, plenty and increasing numbers had produced their usual effects, arrogance, spiritual pride, and a desire to dominate over "the unbelievers," and numerous difficulties arose. Late in the season a large number of emigrants were persuaded that it was unsafe to continue the westward route at that season, and concluded to remain all winter among the Mormons. They represent that all was pleasant until autumn was too far advanced for them to leave even by the southern route, after which a series of merciless exactions began, and never ceased as long as the Mormon civil authorities could find pretences for bogus legal actions, or the emigrants had anything of which they could be stripped. Those who had hired out to work for Mormons were refused their pay, and denied redress in the courts; if difficulties arose, fines of from one to five hundred dollars were imposed for the slightest misdemeanors; in all suits between Mormon and Gentile, the latter invariably paid the costs; they were openly reviled in court by the Mormon Judges, and in one peculiarly aggravating instance Justice Willard Snow boasted to Gentiles in his court that "the time was near at hand, when he would judge Gentiles for life and death, and then he would snatch their heads off like chickens in the door yard."
In one case an emigrant died near the Hot Springs, and his three companions buried him and proceeded on their way without notifying the city authorities. Complaint was made that some city ordinance had been violated; they were pursued, taken back to the city, and every dollar they had, as well as their wagon and all their stock, were taken to pay their fine and costs. Another Gentile was struck over the head with a board by Bill Hickman, and returned the blow, for which he was arrested and fined eighty dollars; the costs made up the amount to more than two hundred dollars, but as he had but little over half the sum, they kindly contented themselves with taking all he had, and let him depart. Many who had come in with a complete "outfit," finished their journey on foot. When these emigrants reached the general rendezvous on the Sacramento, they began to compare notes. And as each new comer added to the evidence, it was thought best to compile their statements to send to their eastern friends. Accordingly the affidavits of five hundred of them were selected, reduced to form, and, with their names appended, published and circulated generally in the East.
This book, of which a copy may be found in the State library at Sacramento, contains statements of facts which seem almost incredible, even with our present knowledge of Mormon law and its administration; but they rest on the sworn testimony of reliable men, who now reside in Tuolumne, Amador, Placer, Nevada, Sierra, and other mining counties of California.
This publication roused all the old bitterness of feeling against the Mormons, which was not a little heightened soon after by the shameless avowal on their part of polygamy and incest as features of their religion. Meanwhile, by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848, all that section had passed from the dominion of Mexico to that of the United States, and early in 1849, the Mormon authorities called a convention "of all the citizens of that portion of upper California lying east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, to take into consideration the propriety of organizing a Territorial or State Government." This convention met at Salt Lake City on the 5th of March, 1849, and in a short session "ordained and established a free and independent Government, by the name of the STATE OF DESERET," fixed the boundaries of the new State, and provided for the election of a Governor and all State officers. On the 2d of July following, the Legislature of the new State met, elected a delegate to Congress, adopted a memorial also to that body, in which they set forth their loyalty, patriotism and material progress, population and other qualifications and asked for admission.
Congress, however, failed to see it precisely in that light, and on the 9th of September, 1850, passed an act to organize the Territory of Utah, of which President Fillmore appointed Brigham Young, Governor. In return for this courtesy, Brigham soon after preached one of his "live sermons," in which he said; "Why, when that time comes (the earthly reign of the Saints) the Gentiles will come begging to us to be our servants. I know several men, high in office in the Nation, who would make good servants. I expect the President of the United States to black my boots." This was, to say the least, unkind of Brigham. At the same time, Lemuel C. Brandenburg was appointed Chief Justice; Perry E. Brochus, and Zerubbabel Snow, (Mormon) Associate Justices; Seth M. Blair, (Mormon) Attorney General, and B. D. Harris, Secretary. Thus the President had divided the offices pretty equally between Saint and Gentile. The officers did not reach Utah till July, 1851, at which time there were a few Gentiles resident in Salt Lake City, mostly carpenters and other artisans whose labor was just then in special demand, emigrants who had failed at that point on their way to the Pacific, and perhaps half a dozen California traders or cattle dealers. The new Gentile officers soon found themselves involved in difficulty; Judge Brochus rashly attempted to preach against polygamy, and having his life threatened soon after left the Territory, followed in 1852, by Secretary Harris, leaving the government once more in the hands of the Mormons. Brigham Young appointed his second counsellor, Willard Richards, to fill the vacant Secretaryship, the sole remaining Judge, Z. Snow, and the District Attorney being good Mormons."
A few Spaniards who had come into Utah from the South were tried before Snow, and convicted "of buying Indian children for slaves," whether justly or not, cannot now be determined. The Indians were taken from the Gentiles, and turned over to the " brethren," to make them, according to prophecy, "a fair and delightsome people." An Indian war soon after broke out, and occasional difficulties continued through 1852, '53, and '54. In place of the judges who had resigned, President Pierce appointed Judges Leonidas Shaver and Lazarus H. Reed; the former arrived in the fall of '52, the latter in June, '53. Judge Shaver was "hail fellow, well met," and lived on the best of terms with the Mormons for some time, but at length a sudden quarrel occurred between him and Brigham Young. He occupied a room in a house belonging to Elder Howard Coray, but rented by a Mr. Dotson. One night he retired in his usual health, and the next morning was found dead in his bed. The Church authorities ordered a thorough investigation, and the Coroner's jury of Mormons decided that he died of "some disease of the head." One physician gave it as his opinion, that the Judge had been greatly addicted to the use of opium, and died in consequence of being suddenly deprived of it; and this is the popular belief among the Mormons. Only one witness on this matter was ever examined in the States, and she gave it as her opinion that he had been poisoned, adding that she had heard Brigham Young say: "Judge Shaver knew too much, and he dare not allow him to leave the Territory." Being an apostate Mormon, her evidence may be true or untrue. The Mormons treated Judge Reed with marked courtesy, and after a stay of one year he left with an exalted opinion of them. He went to his home in New York, intending to return, but died very suddenly while there.
About this time, a young man named Wallace A. C. Bowman, a native of New York, arrived at Salt Lake from New Mexico, with a company of Spanish traders. He met Brigham Young and his "body guard" at Utah Lake, and, according to his companion's account, had some difficulty with the latter. On his arrival in the city, he was arrested by Robert T. Burton on several charges. He was kept in confinement several weeks, but no evidence appearing against him was released. He started east at once, but was shot and instantly killed in a cañon but a few miles from the city, "by Indians," according to the Mormon account; by Norton and Ferguson, "Danites," according to the same witness above mentioned. As in that case, it is now impossible to tell which story is true. John F. Kinney, of Iowa, was appointed Chief Justice to succeed Reed, and George P. Stiles Associate Justice; Joseph Holman, of Iowa, Attorney General, and Almon W. Babbitt Secretary. In the spring of 1855, W. W. Drummond, of Illinois, was also appointed Associate Justice.
In the fall of 1854, Colonel Steptoe, with about three hundred men of the United States Army, reached Salt Lake and spent the winter. At the same time quite a number of Gentiles, on their way to or returning from California wintered in the city. It is now known that Colonel Steptoe had been secretly commissioned Governor of Utah by President Pierce, but, being of an uncautious disposition, he attempted to practice polygamy on a free and easy plan not approved by the Saints, the result of which was that he was ingeniously trapped by two of Brigham's "decoy women," and to avoid exposure resigned his commission and recommended Young's continuance in that office. Utah now began to be regarded as the "Botany Bay of worn-out politicians;" if a man was fit for nothing else, and yet had to be rewarded for political services, he was sent to Utah.
CALIFORNIA EMIGRANTS ATTACKED AT THE HUMBOLT During all the period from 1852 to 1856 numerous "Gladdenites" and other apostate and recusant Mormons were frequently slipping away and crossing to California and Oregon; and many of these parties, as well as trains of Gentile emigrants, were harassed in various ways which could hardly be accounted for by Indian hostility. Alimon W. Babbitt, having quarrelled with Brigham, started across the plains in 1855 and was murdered "by Indians who spoke good English;" and of this case Brigham said, "He lived a fool and died like a fool. When officers undertake to interfere with affairs that do not concern them, I will not be far off. He undertook to quarrel with me and soon after was killed by the Indians."
In 1852 Lieutenant Gunnison, M. Creuzfeldt, the botanist, and eight of their party were massacred near Sevier Lake, by Indians, as then reported; but soon after escaped apostates stated that it was done by "painted Mormons." In 1851 a Mr. Tobin came to Salt Lake with a party and while there was quite intimate with Brigham's family. It is reported also that he was engaged to Brigham's daughter Alice Young. He returned in 1856, but had some difficulty and left. His party was attacked at night on the Santa Clara, three hundred and seventy miles south, many of them wounded and six of their horses killed; but they escaped by abandoning their baggage.
Not an arrow was shot at them, their clothing was pierced by bullets, the wounds were evidently from the best make of rifles and they all testify that the attacking party spoke English. Other parties of recusant Mormons were missed in Nevada; several emigrants from Missouri were last heard of near Salt Lake, and others had their stock run off where it was reasonably certain there were no hostile Indians.
A recusant testifies that "one of the Missourians had boasted of helping to drive the Saints from Jackson County, and that he was kidnapped and murdered under the old mint by John Kay and other 'Danites.'" A young man in Cache Valley had a difficulty with the bishop in regard to a girl whom the bishop wanted for a "plural wife." The young man was seized in a cañon by two men with blackened faces and by them mutilated in an unspeakable manner. He afterwards went to San Bernardino, California, and died insane. A similar difficulty arose in a settlement on the Weber, and the young man was found dead, having received two shots in the back. One general difficulty exists in all these cases. The witnesses were all apostate Mormons. While the writer would not stigmatize a whole class, among whom he has many pleasant acquaintances, and which contains some thoroughly honest and reliable men, yet it must be confessed that, of those who have lived Mormons for a term of years the outside world must always remain in doubt.
There were very few Gentiles in Salt Lake, their interest required that they should know nothing outside their business, and they generally took care to make no inquiry. Hence little definite and positive proof of the affairs of that period was laid before the Government; but these reports spread through the West and constantly increased the bitterness against the Mormons. Had the latter shown any willingness to throw light upon disputed points, their case would have a much better appearance. But their preaching constantly excited the people to greater hostility against the Government, and their courts and officers regularly thwarted every attempt of the Federal officials to inquire into reported crimes or bring offenders to justice. In the fall of 1856, it became no longer possible for the Federal Judges to maintain the independence of their courts. The Mormons claimed that the Territorial Marshal should select the jurors for Federal courts when doing Territorial business, instead of the United States Marshal.
Pending the decision of this question, James Ferguson, Hosea Stout, and other Mormon lawyers and officials, entered the court-room with an armed mob, and compelled Judge Stiles to adjourn his court. Thomas Williams, a Mormon lawyer, who had an office with Judge Stiles, protested against this action, for which his life was threatened. He soon after tried to escape to California, but was murdered on the way. The records of the District Courts were soon after stolen from Judge Stiles's office and, as he supposed at the time, destroyed. Both the Gentile Judges soon after left the Territory, reaching the States in the spring of 1857. The Mormons were now in open rebellion. Congress was not in session, but President Buchanan and War Secretary Floyd determined to send an armed force with new officials. Accordingly, a force of nearly three thousand men was sent forward from Leavenworth, under the command of Gen. W. S. Harney, who was, while on the plains, superseded by Col. Albert Sidney Johnston. At the same time new men were appointed to all the civil offices, as follows: Governor, Alexander Cumming; Chief Justice, D. R. Eckles; Associate Justices, John Cradlebaugh and Charles E. Sinclair, and Secretary, John Hartnet.
The march of the column was delayed for various reasons, and it was late in September before the army, accompanied by the officials, crossed Green River and entered the Territory. Meanwhile Captain Van Vliet, an active and discreet officer, had been sent forward to purchase provisions for the army and assure the people of Salt Lake of the peaceful intentions of the Government. On his arrival there, he was amazed to find them preparing for war.
MORMON TABERNACLE CAMP ON THEIR ARRIVAL IN UTAH.
Main Table of
Contents
