History of Salt Lake City, Part 17

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194

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" This is all very well, and very high and mighty and dignified, certainly; but while the grass grows, the cow starves ; while Congress is taking its months to

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do the work of a day, the verdict of the public goes against us, as the law-word is, by default, and we stand substantially convicted of anything and everything that any and every kind of blackguard can make up a lie about. And now I hear that the charges are not to be pushed ; two of the officers want to come back to us as friends-they are to be virtually abandoned after doing us all the harm they can. What Mr. Webster thinks, we care a little; what is the opinion of most members of Congress, you can hardly believe, in your part of the world, how very little, but Public Opinion, that power we respect as well as recognize ; and, therefore, I am now determined, on my own responsibility, to write myself, and blurt out all the truth I can. I may not be discreet, but I will be honest."

J. M. Grant was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Leg- islative Assembly of the Territory in 1852, and at three subsequent sessions, filling that office with dignity and honor, to the fullest satisfaction of the mem- bers over whom he presided. As a legislator he was quick and talented, and brought to the law-making department a high practical sense of justice and right, which qualified him to propose and render valuable aid in framing wholesome laws for the political and domestic welfare of the community.

On December Ist, 1856, Mayor Grant breathed his last, and his spirit went joyfully to mingle with those of his friends, family and brethren that had gone before. He was forty years of age when he died, but had spent those years to such advantage in laboring for the welfare of his fellow-men that he was mourned bv thousands, and left in their memories a name that will be forever cherished as a symbol of virtue, integrity and honor. The editor of the Deseret News in closing his obituary, says:

" Brother Grant needs no eulogy, and least of all such an one as our language could portray, for his whole life was one of noble and diligent action upon the side of truth, of high-toned and correct example to all who desire to be saved in the Kingdom of our God. As a citizen, as a friend, a son, a husband, a father, and above all as a Saint, and in every station and circumstance of life, whether military, civil, or religious, he everywhere, and at all times, shed forth the steady and brilliant light of lofty and correct example, and died as he lived and coun ." seled, with his 'armor on and burnished.' Though all Saints deeply feel his departure, yet they can fully realize that it redounds to his and our 'infinite gain.' "'

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HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

CHAPTER XV.

EXPOSITION OF THE CAUSES AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE UTAH WAR. GEN- ERAL SCOTT'S CIRCULAR AND INSTRUCTIONS TO THE ARMY. MAGRAW'S LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. DRUMMOND'S CHARGES. THE REPUBLI- CAN PARTY ASSOCIATES UTAH WITH THE SOUTH. THE " IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT." FREMONT AND DOUGLAS.

The subject of the Utah Expedition occupies nearly the entire history of Salt Lake City, and of Utah in general, from the year 1857 to 1861, when Camp Floyd was evacuated. On the part of the U. S. Government the extraordinary record commenced with the issuing of the following

CIRCULAR.

To the Adjutant General, Quartermaster General, Commissary General, Surgeon General, Paymaster General, and Chief of Ordnance.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, May 28, 1857.

Orders having been dispatched in haste for the assemblage of a body of troops at Fort Leavenworth, to march thence to Utah as soon as assembled, the general-in-chief, in concert with the War Department, issues the following in- structions, to be executed by the chiefs of the respective staff departments, in connection with his general orders of this date :

I. The force-2d dragoons, 5th infantry, Ioth infantry and Phelps' battery of the 4th artillery-to be provided with transportation and supplies, will be esti- mated at not less than 2,500 men.

2. The Adjutant General will, in concert with the chiefs of the respective departments, issue the necessary orders for assigning to this force a full comple- ment of disbursing and medical officers, an officer of ordnance and an Assistant Adjutant General, if the latter be required.

He will relieve Captains Phelps' 4th artillery and Hawes' 2d dragoons from special duty, and order them to join their companies. He will also give the necessary orders for the movement of any available officers, whose services may be desired by the Quartermaster General or Commissary General in making purchases. Lieutenant Col. Taylor and Brevet Major Waggaman will be ordered to exchange stations.

All available recruits are to be assigned to the above named regiments up to the time of departure.

3. About 2,000 head of beef cattle must be procured and driven to Utah. Six months' supply of bacon (for two days in a week) must be sent-des- 2

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iccated vegetables in sufficient quantity to guard the health of the troops for the coming winter.

4. Arrangements will be made for the concentration and temporary halt of the 5th infantry at Jefferson Barracks.

The squadron of dragoons at Fort Randall taking their horse equipments with them will leave their horses at that post, and a remount must be provided for them at Fort Leavenworth. Also, horses must be sent out to the squadron at Fort Kearney, and the whole regiment, as also Phelps' battery, brought to the highest point of efficiency.

Besides the necessary trains and supplies, the quartermaster's department will procure for the expedition 250 tents of Sibley's pattern, to provide for the case that the troops shall not be able to hut themselves the ensuing winter. Storage tents are needed for the like reason. Stoves enough to provide, at least, for the sick, must accompany the tents.

5. The Surgeon General will cause the necessary medical supplies to be pro- vided, and requisition made for the means of transporting them with the ex- pedition.

6. The chief of ordnance will take measures immediately to put in position for the use of this force, three travelling forges and a full supply of ammunition, and will make requisition for the necessary transportation of the same.

WINFIELD SCOTT.

The command of the Expedition was at first given to Brigadier General W. S. Harney, but was afterwards transfered to Col. Albert Sidney Johnston. It is due to the Government to accompany this circular with the letter of instructions to General Harney, explanatory of its views and designs concerning Utah and her people :

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,

New York, June 29, 1857.

SIR: The letter which I addressed to you in the name of the general-in- chief, on the 28th ultimo, his circular to the chiefs of staff departments same date ; his general order No. 8, current series, and another now in press, have indicated your assignment to the command of an expedition to Utah Territory, and the preparatory measures to be taken.

The general-in-chief desires me to add in his name the following instruc- tions, prepared in concert with the War Department, and sanctioned by its au- thority, whenever required.

The community and, in part, the civil government of Utah Territory are in a state of substantial rebellion against the laws and authority of the United States A new civil governor is about to be designated, and to be charged with the estab- lishment and maintenance of law and order. Your able and energetic aid, with that of the troops to be placed under your command, is relied upon to insure the success of his mission.'

The principles by which you should be guided have been already indicated in a somewhat similar case, and are here substantially repeated.

If the governor of the Territory, finding the ordinary course of judicial pro-

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ceedings of the power vested in the United States' Marshals and other proper officers inadequate for the preservation of the public peace and the due execution of the laws, should make requisition upon you for a military force to aid him as posse 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 per- formance of his duties, you will take care that the summons be promptly obeyed. And in no case will you, your officers or men, attack any body of citizens what- ever, except on such requisition or summons, or in sheer self-defence.

In executing this delicate function of the military power of the United States the civil responsibility will be upon the governor, the judges and mar- shals of the Territory. While you are not to be, and cannot be subjected to the orders, strictly speaking, of the governor, you will be responsible for a jeal- ous; harmonious and thorough co-operation with him, or frequent and full con- sultation, and will conform your action to his requests and views in all cases where your military judgment and prudence do not forbid, nor compel you to modify, in execution, the movements he may suggest. No doubt is entertained that your conduct will fully meet the moral and professional responsibilities of your trust; and justify the high confidence already reposed in you by the govern- ment.

The lateness of the season, the dispersed condition of the troops and the smallness of the numbers available, have seemed to present elements of difficulty, if not hazard in this expedition. But it is believed that these may be compen- sated by unusual care in its outfit, and great prudence in its conduct. All dis- posable recruits have been reserved for it.

So well is the nature of this service appreciated, and so deeply are the honor and the interest of the United States involved in its success, that I am authorized to say that the government will hesitate at no expense requisite to complete the efficiency of your little army, and to insure health and comfort to it, as far as at- tainable. Hence, in addition to liberal orders for its supply heretofore given -and it is known that ample measures, with every confidence of success, have been dictated by chiefs of staff departments here-a large discretion will be made over to you in the general orders for the movement. The employment of spies, guides, interpretors or laborers may be made to any reasonable extent you may think desirable

The prudence expected of you requires that you should anticipate resistance, general, organized and formidable, at the threshold, and shape your movements as if they were certain, keeping the troops well massed and in hand when ap- proaching expected resistance. Your army will be equipped, for a time, at least, as a self sustaining machine. Detachments will, therefore, not be lightly hazarded, and you are warned not to be betrayed into premature security or over confidence.

A small but sufficient force must however, move separately from the main column, guarding the beef cattle and such other supplies as you may think would too much encumber the march of the main body. The cattle may require

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to be marched more slowly than the troops, so as to arrive in Salt Lake Valley in good condition, or they may not survive the inclemency and scanty sustenance of the winter. This detachment, though afterwards to become the rear guard, may, it is hoped, be put in route before the main body, to gain as much time as possi- ble before the latter passes it.

The general-in-chief suggests that feeble animals, of draught and cavalry, should be left ten or twelve days behind the main column, at Fort Laramie, to recruit and follow.

It should be a primary object on arriving in the valley, if the condition of things permit, to procure not only fuel, but materials for hutting the troops. Should it be too late for the latter purpose, or should such employment of the . troops be unsafe or impracticable, the tents (of Sibley's pattern) furnished will, it is hoped, afford a sufficient shelter.

It is not doubted that a surplus of provisions and forage, beyond the wants of the resident population, will be found in the valley of Utah; and that the inhabitants, if assured by energy and justice, will be ready to sell them to the troops. Hence no instructions are given you for the extreme event of the troops being in absolute need of such supplies and their being withheld by the inhabi- tants. The necessities of such an occasion would furnish the law for your guidance.

Besides the stated reports required by regulations, special reports will be ex- pected from you, at the headquarters of the army, as opportunity may offer.

The general-in-chief desires to express his best wishes, official and . personal, for your complete success and added reputation.

" I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GEORGE W. LAY, Lieutenant Colonel Aid- de - Camp.

Brevet Brigadier General W. S. Harney,

Commanding &c., Fort Leavenworth, K. T.

P. S .- The general-in-chief (in my letter of the 26th instant) has already conveyed to you a suggestion-not an order, nor even a recommendation-that it might be well to send forward in advance a part of your horse to Fort Laramie, there to halt and be recruited in strength, by rest and grain, before the main body comes up.

Respectfully, G. W. L., Lt. Col., Aid-de-Camp.

Though the foregoing document shows no desire on the part of the Govern- ment to destroy those colonies of Mormons which were fast spreading over this western country, yet upon its face it bears remarkable evidence that the Bu- chanan expedition was projected without a sufficient knowledge of the real con- dition of Utah at that precise period, or of the feelings of her people towards the parent Government, whether loyal or disloyal. Take for instance the passage of instructions from the general-in-chief relative to supplies : " It is not doubted that a surplus of provisions and forage, beyond the wants of the resident popu- lation will be found in the Valley of Utah," etc.

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The great military capacity and experience of General Scott, to say noth- ing of his humane character, would be sufficient evidence in the history that, when these instructions were given, he knew absolutely nothing of the real con- dition of the people of Utah during the year preceding; for that was the very year of the great famine in Utah, described in the foregoing chapter, which was likened to the famine in Egypt. There were thousands of people in Utah who had been hungry an entire year when those instructions were penned, and multi- tudes of little children in her valleys who had so often cried themselves to sleep, and forgotten the gnawings of hunger, till, sleeping or waking, hunger became as second nature to them; nor were there sufficient supplies in all the valleys of Utah to satisfy that hunger till the harvest of 1857, three months later than the date of General Scott's circular. Yet that general was about to quarter an army in or near Salt Lake City, with the full assurance that there were, at the time of the issuance of his orders, abundant supplies in the " Valley of Utah" " be- yond the wants of the resident population" to feed his army. In view of this famine how suggestive of the ignorance of the Government concerning the con- dition of Utah, and the loyalty or disloyalty of her people, is the addendum of the commander-in-chief to General Harney: " Hence no instructions are given you for the extreme event of the troops being in absolute need of such supplies and their being withheld by the inhabitants. The necessities of such an occa- sion would furnish the law for your guidance." Had an army been ordered to Utah before the harvest of 1857, for the very purpose to literally devour the country and destroy the Mormon community root and branch by famine, rather than by the sword, the order, though inhuman, would not have been so incon- sistant as General Scott's instructions with his undoubted humane intentions.

The only justification indeed of the Buchanan administration for sending the expedition, which all America soon confessed was the most humiliating blun- der to be found in the whole history of the nation, was just in the fact that the Government knew scarcely anything of Utah affairs ; and the simple explanation of this ignorance is that for six months preceding the inception of the expedi_ tion there had been no postal communication between Utah and the Eastern States. The mails had failed; Utah had been shut out from the rest of the world by an early and extraordinaryly severe winter; the handcart companies of Mormon emigrants came nearly perishing on the plains, buried in the snows ; the entire Territory had risen to the rescue ; the leaders had been absorbed in saving the community from perishing in the valleys in consequence of the famine, and their companies on the plains from a disaster which, but for the res- cue, would have been as frightful to those emigrants as the retreat of Napoleon's army from Moscow, and withal the devoted people, whose homes were even then threatened with invasion, and their social and religions organization with utter dissolution were oblivious of the war cloud gathering over their heads. Mean- time, a few Government officials, principal among whom were Judge Drummond and the very mail contractor who had failed to carry the mails, had betrayed the Government into the commission of a series of blunders, which soon provoked a general public condemnation and the investigation of Congress. The New York Herald, at the time, stated :

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"Some of our cotemporaries have been publishing long letters dated from Utah, and containing heart-rending accounts of the sufferings inflicted on poor helpless women, by the brutality of the Mormon leaders. It is perhaps as well that the public should know that these letters are made up on this side of the Mississippi, and we have no doubt do more credit to the imagination than to the memory of their writers. No journal has a correspondent in Utah at the present time. It reflects some credit on the ingenuity of our cotemporaries to have be- thought themselves of getting up an excitement about Utah just as Kansas died out.

" Of the facts of the case in Utah, it is very difficult to form a reliable judg- ment, simply because our most reliable authorities, such as Judge Drummond, now in Washington, are tainted with a suspicion of interested motives. *

"There is no authority in the Constitution to justify an interference by Congress or the Federal Government with such an institution as polygamy in a Territory. It is as clearly without the pale of Congressional or executive regu- lation as slavery ; if Congress may not pass a law to govern the one, it may not pass a law to govern the other; if the President cannot interfere to drive slavery out of Kansas; neither can he assume to drive polygamy out of Utah. Marriage, a civil contract, is essentially subject to the control of local, municipal, or civil laws; the Federal Government has nothing to do with it, and Congress can make no laws defining its nature, altering its effect, or prescribing penalties for breaches of its obligations committed by people residing within a Territory of the United States.

" Those, therefore, who assumed that Mr. Buchanan was going to carry fire and sword among the Mormons because they were polygamists, and to put down polygamy by force of arms, gave the President very little credit for judgment or knowledge of the instrument under which he holds his powers."

The passage of the general-in-chief's instructions relative to "a surplus of provisions and forage," in a land of famine, is not more remarkable in the history than the information given to General Harney, as the reason and justification for the invading expedition which he was to command: "The community and, in part, the civil government of Utah Territory are in a state of substantial rebellion against the laws and authority of the United States. A new civil governor is about to 'be designated, and to be charged with the establishment and mainten- ance of law and order. Your able and energetic aid, with that of the troops to be placed under your command, is relied to issue the success of his mission."

Read a century hence, issolated from the well connected history of Utah, whose every fact and circumstance now can be verified, the circular and letter of instructions, representing the views of the Administration, would be received as an established record that the people of Utah had made public demonstrations of rebellion ; that Brigham Young was in actual usurpation, and that defiant word had been sent by the citizens that they would not receive any Governor other than of their own choice; nor would even this view be sufficient coupled with the following passage indicating that Utah was in actual attitude of war at that moment against the United States : "'The prudence expected of you requires that you should anticipate resistance, general, organized and formidable, at the

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threshold, and shape your movements as if they were certain, keeping the troops well massed and in hand when approaching expected resistance. * * You are warned not to be betrayed into premature security or over confidence."

Nothing, however, up to this date, had occurred to warrant the conclusion that the people of Utah were "in a state of substantial rebellion." No mass meetings had been held during 1856 to utter any protest, not even of the mildest form permitted by the Constitution, much less had they made any public demon- stration that could reasonably be construed either into an act or intent of rebellion against the United States government. But in the reverse of this, as noted in the preceding chapter, a constitutional convention was held that very year ; a republican constitution adopted, with the declaration of rights already exhibited, and delegates were sent to Congress to ask for the admission of Utah into the Union. For historical suggestiveness, lay by the side of the documents proceed- ing from General Scott the following extract from the Deseret News :

" The delegates of the convention, from the various counties, except Green River, met in the Council House on the 17th inst. (March). The event was an- nounced by the firing of cannon and music from Captain Ballo's band. Throughout the day flags floated from the cupolas of the Governor's mansion and Council House, also from the tall flag poles on the Temple Block and in front of the Deseret, and Livingston, Kinkead & Co.'s stores, from flag staffs on the roof of Gilbert & Gerrish's store, and from those on the roofs of many other public buildings.

" At an early hour a large concourse of citizens had assembled, anxiously awaiting the commencement of those deliberations and acts, which have for their object the addition of another star to the brilliant and thickly spangled constel- lation styled, E Pluribus Unum.

" The convention organized by unanimously electing the Hon. J. M. Grant, president ; Mr. T. Bullock, secretary; Mr. J. Grimshaw, assistant secretary ; Mr. R. T. Burton, sergeant-at-arms; Mr. W. C. Staines, messenger ; Mr. T. Hall, doorkeeper ; and Messrs. G. D. Watt and J. V. Long, reporters. At 12:30, adjourned until 2 p.m.

" In the afternoon the freedom of the convention was unanimously tendered to His Excellency the Governor, the United States officers of the Territory, President H. C. Kimball, the members of the Legislative Assembly, Hons. E. Snow, A. Lyman and E. Hunter, Hon. Elias Smith, Probate Judge of G. S. L. County, and the Aldermen of G. S. L. City.

" After a remarkably short, efficient, and harmonious session, the conven- tion dissolved on Thursday, March 27.

'. Hon. George A. Smith, and Hon. John Taylor, editor of the Mormon, were unanimously elected delegates to proceed to Washington, and lay before Congress Utah's request for admission into the Union.

" The Constitution of the State of Deseret was signed by every member of the convention, though they were from various climes and of diverse creeds, government officials, merchants, etc., etc., thus indicating, beyond controversy, the represented feelings of all classes of our Territorial population. If our memory correctly serves us, so general and fair a representation of the views and

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feelings of the various districts of Territory, and so frank and hearty a blending of party interests, have never been excelled, if even equalled, in the initiatory action required for the admission of a new state. *

" Is Utah loyal? Aye, MOST LOYAL, beyond successful challenge or contra- diction, as is and always had been proved by all her sayings and doings. But does she love corruption and oppression? Verily no, for her sons and daughters, with few exceptions, have been reared in the cradle of liberty, in common with the citizens of the States, and the pure mountain breezes keep that love fanned to a bright and unquenchable flame. And the few exceptions just named, those who were not born citizens of our Republic, are congenial descendents of that stock from which sprang our "Revolutionary Sires." They have left their fatherlands, as did our forefathers, to escape the oppressor's rod and find a loved asylum "in the home of the free." Then can Congress refuse to extend the broad folds of equal rights and constitutional liberty over that portion of the public domain, whose inhabitants will stand by the Union while a vestige thereof exists and blood flows in their veins? It is not to be presumed that any Congress could wish so to do, but if it might, by any possibility, be imagined that an op- posite feeling could be indulged, who would like to face the mingled whirlwind of scorn and indignation that would then arise in the breast of every lover of truth and justice throughout the world ?

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History of Salt Lake City, Part 17

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194