History of Salt Lake City, Part 21

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

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" INDIAN AGENCY OF THE UPPER PLATTE, On Raw Hide Creek, July 15, 1857.

"SIR: In a communication addressed to the Indian Office, dated April last, I called the attention of the department to the settlements being made within the boundaries of this agency by the ' Mormon Church,' clearly in viola- tion of law, although the pretext or pretence under which these settlements are made is under the cover of a contract of the Mormon Church to carry the mail: from Independence, Missouri, to Great Salt Lake City.

"On the 25th May, a large Mormon colony took possession of the valley of Deer Creek, one hundred miles west of Fort Laramie, and drove away a band of Sioux Indians whom I had settled there in April, and had induced them to plant corn.

"I left that Indian band on the 23d May, to attend to matters connected with the Cheyenne band, in the lower part of the agency.

" I have information from a reliable source that these Mormons are about three hundred in number, have plowed and planted two hundred acres of prairie, and are building houses sufficient for the accommodation of five hundred persons, and have a large herd of cattle, horses and mules.

"I am persuaded that the Mormon Church intend, by this plan thus partially developed, to monopolize all of the trade with the Indians and whites within, or passing through, the Indian country.

" I respectfully and earnestly call the attention of the department to this in- vasion, and enter my protest against this occupation of the Indian country, in force, and the forcible ejection of the Indians from the place where I had settled them.

"I am powerless to control this matter, for the Mormons obey no laws en- acted by Congress. I would respectfully request that the President will be

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pleased to issue such order as, in his wisdom and judgment, may seem best in order to correct the evil complained of.

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

THOS. S. TWISS,

Indian Agent, Upper Platte. "Hon. J. W. Denver, Commissioner of Indian Affairs."

The date of the communication referred to, (of April, 1857), is prior to the circular of General Scott, and cotemporary with the letter of Judge Drum- mond to the Attorney General, which was dated April 2d, 1857, enclosing his resignation dated March 30th, 1857. These three letters quoted-from the con- tractor, Magraw, Associate Justice Drummond, and Indian Agent Twiss-are the very documents which, both in subject and date, bore most directly upon the " information which gave rise to the military expedition ordered to Utah Terri- tory, * throwing light upon the question as to how far said Brigham Young and his followers are in a state of rebellion or resistance to the government of the United States." Moreover, in most of the documents fur- nished to the House, excepting those from the War Department, of date subse- quent to the determination of the Expedition, there is seen not only a marked, and almost serial connection with the three documents in example, but the evidence of a decided conspiracy ; that is to say, those documents were con- cocted both with malice and intent to bring on the "Utah War," by leading the Government astray with false information that " Brigham Young and his follow- ers" were " in a state of rebellion or resistance to the government of the United States." It will be noticeable, that two of the six " Gentiles of Great Salt Lake City," to whom Judge Drummond refers the Attorney General " for proof of the manner in which they have been insulted and abused by leading Mormons for two years past," are Garland Hurt, Indian Agent, and John M. Hockaday, mer- chant and mail contractor. There was no call for proof from the Chief Justice, John F. Kinney, then in the east, nor from such Gentile merchants as Livingston and Bell, the latter of whom was also the postmaster of Great Salt Lake City, nor from William H. Hooper, who in that period must be considered as a Gen- tile merchant rather than as a Mormon.

Now, the pertinency of this mail business in the historical exposition of causes which led to the Utah war will appear at the very naming of the fact that Hockaday and Magraw were the former contractors to carry the mail between Independence, Missouri, and Great Salt Lake City.

Notice at this point a remarkable connection of causes suggestive of con- spiracy, when laid side by side with subsequent events, and the acts of the prin- cipal factors who gave to the Government the information that led to the sending of the Expedition to put down a rebellion, which had no existence in fact or intent, so far as the citizens of Utah were concerned.

In the fall of 1856, Hockaday and Magraw lost the mail contract, which, as noticed, was awarded to Mr. Hiram Kimball, a citizen of Utah. This award was not as any favor from the department, which, there is every reason to believe,

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preferred the former contractors, but in compliance with the rule, requiring the lowest responsible bid. The mail service for Utah was now in the hands of the community so vitally concerned in its success, rather than in the mere emolu- ments of the contract ; and Governor Young, in the interest of the commerce of the Territory, and of their emigrations, as well as for the quick and reliable postal intercourse with the Eastern States, had already designed the gigantic " B. Y. Express Carrying Company." Doubtless the former contractor, one of whom, Mr. Hockaday, was a resident merchant of Salt Lake City, knew of the concep- tion of such a design of Governor Young, some time before the new contract was awarded, seeing the contract was sought for that very purpose. The great Mormon colonizer and city founder, had already proclaimed his intention of establishing a line of settlements from Great Salt Lake City to Carson Valley, and a line of intercourse east to the Missouri River ; and it was quite certain that, on this eastern line, a chain of settlements would spring up out of the Mor- mon emigrations, as soon as permitted by the Government in its treaties for In- dian lands. This example was given by the Mormons in their exodus, when they established " stakes of Zion " on the route to the Mountains-laid the founda- tions indeed of what have since become our great frontier cities. No sooner did the Indian agent, Thomas S. Twiss, see the establishment of the mail stations, by the "Y. X. Company," than he predicted to the Government, the Mormon con- trol of the trade of the plains, and urged hostilities to prevent this colonization of the eastern line, exaggerating a mail station into a settlement of five hundred, and charging the Mormons with driving off the Indians and unlawfully settling on their lands.

The contractor, W. M. F. Magraw, on the side of his personal interest, seems to have been in full understanding and perfect accord with Indian Agent Twiss; and immediately upon the award of the contract to Mr. Hiram Kimball, upon which was to be based the operation of the " B. Y. Express and Carrying Company," he wrote to the President of the United States, addressing him " as a personal and political friend," to lay before him " some information relative to the present political and social condition of the Territory of Utah," in which "there is left no protection for life or property," but a condition of things, which, (to follow the contractor's words) "will, when published, startle the conservative people of the States, and create a clamor which will not be readily quelled; and I have no doubt that the time is near at hand, and the elements rapidly combin- ing to bring about a state of affairs which will result in indiscriminate bloodshed, robbery and rapine, and which, in a brief space of time will reduce that country to a condition of a howling wilderness."

Very suggestive is this prediction of the contractor Magraw, in view of the fact that it was afterwards nearly fulfilled. It was the prospect of the ensuing two years-a prospect, moreover, which was known in the States, and even in Europe, quite six months before it was known to the people of Utah-which reasonably suggests that it was an anticipation not of prescient sagacity, but of a direct conspiracy to accomplish that foreshadowed in Magraw's letter, presented by Secretary Cass as the first link of the imformation which gave rise to the Utah Expedition. And the prediction is the more striking the closer it is viewed, and

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the nearer the altar is approached upon which the sacrifice to be offered up was laid. The Mormon community is the sacrifice seen upon the altar, just as it had been in Missouri and Illinois,-a sacrifice which, when it was revealed in the actual offering to the gaze of the good wife of Governor Cummings, caused that lady to weep, and in anguish to implore her noble- hearted husband to use his in- fluence with the Government to save the devoted people. It was the " country" which the Mormons had changed from " the desert to the fruitful field," and made it "blossom as the rose," that in " a brief space of time" was to be re- duced " to a condition of a howling wilderness," which, when General Johnston and his army were brought face to face with the prospect, as they rode through the deserted city of the Great Salt Lake, appalled even those familiar with the desolations of war.

The prediction of this mail contractor, then, has a deep significance in the history, especially when coupled with his statement to the President, to the effect that there was about to be " published " charges against the Mormon community which would " startle the conservative people of the States, and create a clamor which will not be readily quelled." This was fulfilled to the letter, when a few months later Judge Drummond fulminated his monstrous charges, both in Cali- fornia and the Eastern States, and aroused a fury in the nation to "wipe " the Mormon community out.

But there is another part of the narrative to be yet told, relative to the mail service and the contracts in question, that ramifies itself in every branch of the history, from the date of Mr. Magraw's letter to the President, to the time of the repudiation of the Kimball contract by the General Post Office Department, and the arrival of the news in Utah that an army was on the way. The major thread of this subject shall be left to the hereafter review, in the next message of the Governor Young to the Legislature, so ponderous and important is the matter ; but a few minor threads is here necessary for the completeness of the historic story.

The failure of the contractor Magraw to bring the last mails, which kept Utah and "the world " so long without news of each other, made it necessary for the postmaster of Great Salt Lake City, to make a special contract to carry the mail east to the terminal point, Independence, Missouri. Feramorz Little was entrusted with the contract, and he and Ephraim K. Hanks left Great Salt Lake City with the mail, December 11, 1856. Beyond the Devil's Gate on the way they met the former contractor's outfit-Mr. Magraw and company. They were bringing their last mail through and picking up their stock. Having tarried so long, however, this contractor and his company failed to come through, in con- sequence of the deep snows in the mountains, and they returned to the Platte River Bridge and wintered. The important item will by and by appear in Gov- ernor Young's message, that the official letter of the award of the new contract to Mr. Hiram Kimball wintered with them, in the pocket of one of the con- tractor's agents, which circumstance had a sequel not greatly to the honor of the post office department, in its repudiation of Mr. Kimball's contract, on the pre- text of the service not being commenced by him in the stipulated time.

Mr. Little with the special mail arrived at Independence, Missouri on the

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27th of February, 1857, after a very severe trip. He forthwith proceeded to Washington to collect his money for taking the mail down, which having accom- plished, he went to New York. The charges of Judge Drummond were just at that moment published in the Eastern papers, creating a great excitement. The following letter to the public from Mr. Little was called forth in answer:

" MERCHANT'S HOTEL, N. Y., April 15, 1857. " Editor Herald.

"SIR: As myself and Mr. E. K. Hanks are the last persons who have come to the States from Great Salt Lake City, I deem it my duty to bear testimony against the lying scribblers who seem to be doing their utmost to stir up a bad feeling against the Utonians. We left our homes on the IIthi of De- cember, brought the last mail to the States, and certainly should know of the state of things there. The charges of Judge Drummond are as false as he is cor- rupt. Before I left for the States, I was five days every week in Great Salt Lake City, and I witness to all the world that I never heard one word of the burning of nine hundred volumes of law, records, etc., nor anything of that character, nor do I know, or ever heard of anything of the dumb boy story he talks of.

" There is only one house between my house and the Penitentiary, said to contain "five or six young men from Missouri and Iowa," and I do know that up to the day I left, there were only in that place of confinement three Indians, who were convicted at the time of Colonel Steptoe's sojourn there, for having taken part in the massacre of Captain Gunnison and party, which Drummond row charges upon the Mormons, even though Colonel Steptoe and the United States' officers then in Utah investigated the affair thoroughly and secured the conviction of the three Indians alluded to. This is an unblushing falsehood, that none but a man like Drummond could pen.

" The treasonable acts alleged against the Mormons in Utah are false from beginning to end. At Fort Kearney we learned all about the murder of Colonel Babbitt, and do know that that charge against the Mormons is but another of Drummond's creations.

" I have but a short time at my disposal for writing, but must say, that I am astonished to find in the States, rumors againt Utah. We left our homes in peace, dreaming of no evil, and we come here and learn that we are the most corrupt of men, and are preparing for war.

" Yours, etc.,

FERAMORZ LITTLE."

At New York, Mr. Little learned from Mr. James Monroe Livingston, one of the firm of Livingston and Kinkead, of Great Salt Lake City, that the "Y. X." company for carrying the mails had been started, and that he, Mr. Little, was expected to take charge of the returning mails. He immediately hastened to Independence, Missouri, where he found the agents who had come down from the mountains with the Utah mails. There was at Independence a large accum- ulation of mail matter, amounting to several tons. The men in charge fitted up two or three wagons, and Mr. John R. Murdock, with the latest mail selected, started home on the Ist of May, while Mr. Little remained to get up the June

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mail, and on the Ist of June, he started himself with three wagon loads of postal matter.

While at Independence, gathering up the mails, Mr. Little had much inter- course with the numerous contractors at that point, who were waiting the con - tracts for the Utah Expedition, with which, though not yet announced officially from the War Department, they were well posted in the design. The Mormon mail agent at first could not believe it possible that the Government was about to send an army against Utah for being in a state of rebellion which, he assured them was not the case, while they in turn assured him that such an expedition was projected and certain. What a suggestion of "the Contractor's war" !

A short distance from Fort Laramie, Mr. Little met Abraham O. Smoot, Esq., the then Mayor of Great Salt Lake City, in charge of the June mail going east. Of his trip Mayor Smoot furnishes us the following :

" On the 2d of June, 1857, I left Salt Lake City in company with a young man from the Thirteenth Ward, by the name of Ensign, (whose father still re- sides in that ward), in charge of the last mail going east by the Y. Express.

" We met between Fort Laramie and Kearney, some two or three hundred United States troops, who said they were reconnoitering the country in search of hostile Indians, who at that time were very troublesome on the plains. The offi- cer in command (whose name has gone from me) treated us very kindly, and proposed to furnish us an escort as far east as Fort Kearney, I thanked him for his kind consideration in offering the escort, but told him I feared his escort would not be able to keep up with me, as I proposed to drive about sixty miles a day, until I reached Fort Kearney, and at that speed I thought there would be little, if any, danger of the Indians overtaking us.

" About one hundred miles west of Independence we began to meet heavy freight teams. The captains and teamsters all seemed to be very reticient in re- lation to giving their destination, and all I was able to learn from them was that they had Government freight, and were bound for some western post, and the trains belonged to William H. Russell.

" In less than two days from that time I reached Kansas City, twelve miles west of Independence, where I met Nicholas Groesbeck who had charge of the Y. X. Company at that end of the route. In company with him we immediately proceeded to the office of William H. Russsell, and there learned that the desti- nation of his freight trains was Salt Lake City, with supplies for Government troops who would soon follow, I also learned from William H. Russell of the appointment of Governor Cumming and other Federal officers that came out with the United States troops that year.

"The next morning Mr. Groesbeck sent the mail into Independence and I remained in Kansas City to learn more of the movements of the Government, if possible.

" The mail we took down was received by the postmaster and he informed the carrier that he had received instructions from the Government to deliver no more mail for Salt Lake City at present.

That denial implied that we had no more use for our stock and mail stations on the route ; so, in consultation with Bro. N. Groesbeck and others, we con-

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cluded to move our stock and station outfits homeward. Myself and Judson Stoddard were given the responsibility, and two or three other young men (Bro. Ensign being one) were detailed to assist us.

" We moved slowly gathering everything as we went, until we reached South Platte about 120 miles east of Fort Laramie where we met Porter Rockwell with the July mail from Salt Lake City, he proceeded no further east but returned with us to Fort Laramie, 513 miles east of Salt Lake, arriving there on the 17th of July.

" On the 18th Bio. O. P. Rockwell and myself, believing that we had passed all danger of Indian troubles, concluded to leave the stock in the care of Bro. J. Stoddard and others to bring in at their leisure and we would make our way home by the 24th of July, the tenth anniversary of the arrival of the Pioneers in Salt Lake Valley. This arrangement did not meet with the approval of Bro. Stoddard against which he strongly protested but without effect, so he finally accepted the alternative of leaving his stock (some eight or ten which were his personal property) with his trusty hired men and accompany us to the Salt Lake Valley.

" We hitched up two span of our best animals to a small spring wagon and left Fort Laramie on the evening of the 18th of July, and reached Salt Lake City on the evening of the 23rd of July, making the 513 miles in five days and three hours.

Yours respectfully, A. O. SMOOT.

Provo City, Utah, February 14th, 1884."

CHAPTER XVII.

THE PIONEER JUBILEE. CELEBRATION OF THEIR TENTH ANNIVERSARY. ARRIVAL OF MESSENGERS WITH THE NEWS OF THE COMING OF AN INVADING ARMY. THE DAY OF JUBILEE CHANGED TO A DAY OF INDE- PENDENCE. CAPTAIN VAN VLIET AND THE MORMON PEOPLE.

The people were celebrating the twenty-fourth of July-the anniversary of the pioneers-in Big Cottonwood Canyon, when the news reached them of the coming of the troops to invade their homes.

They had conquered the desert. Cities were fast springing up in the soli. tary places, where cities had never been planted before, and in valleys that had once been the bed of the great sea ; civilization was spreading.

A plentiful harvest was promised that year, and every circumstance of their situation seemed favorable, except the lack of postal communication with the

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East. Their isolation, in this particular, had kept them in ignorance, up to that time, of the movements of the Government concerning them.

On the 22d of July, 1857, numerous teams were seen wending their way, by different routes, to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, where they halted for the night. Next morning Governor Young led the van of the long line of car- riages and wagons, and before noon the cavalcade reached the camp ground at the Cottonwood Lake, which nestles in the bosom of the mountain, 8,000 feet above the level of the sea. Early in the afternoon, the company, numbering 2,687 persons, encamped, and soon all were busy with the arrangements for the morrow. It will be seen, at a glance, that this was intended to be a pioneer's jubilee indeed ; not in a city, but in primitive surroundings, suggestive of their entrance into these valleys ten years before.

There were in attendance: Captain Ballo's band, the Nauvoo brass band, the Ogden City brass band, and the Great Salt Lake City and Ogden martial bands; also, of the military, the ist company of light artillery, under Adjutant- General James Ferguson ; a detachment of four platoons of life guards and one platoon of the lancers, under Colonel Burton; and one company of light in- fantry cadets, under Captain John W. Young. Colonel J. C. Little was marshal of the day.

Early on the following morning the people assembled, and the choir sang :

" On the mountain tops appearing."

Then, after prayers the Stars and Stripes were unfurled on the two highest peaks, in sight of the camp, on two of the tallest trees. At twenty minutes past nine A. M., three rounds from the artillery saluted the First Presidency, and at a quarter past ten, three rounds were given for the "Hope of Israel," Captain John W. Young, with his company of light infantry, answered to this last salute, and went through their military evolutions to the admiration of the beholders. This company numbered fifty boys, at about the age of twelve, who had been uni- formed by Governor Young.

At noon, Mayor A. O. Smoot, Elder Judson Stoddard, Judge Elias Smith, and O. P. Rockwell, rode into camp, the two former from the "States " (Mis- souri River), in twenty days. They brought news of the coming of the troops. It was the first tidings of war. Any other people in the world would have been stricken with a terrible fear; but not so these Mormon Saints. The well-known war cry of Cromwell, when he entered into battle, " The Lord of Hosts is with us!" was the undaunted explanation of every heart, and soon it was the burden of every speech.

In a moment the festive song was changed to the theme of war ; the jubilee of a people swelled into a sublime declaration of independence. Never before did such a spirit of heroism so suddenly and completely possess an entire community. Men and women shared it alike. The purest and most graphic passage of Sten- house's "Rocky Mountain Saints" is the description of this eventful day. It it worthy of quotation. He says :

"On the 24th of July, 1857, there were probably gathered at the lake about two thousand persons-men women, and children -- in the fullest enjoyment of

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social freedom. Some were fishing in the lake, others strolling among the trees, climbing the high peaks, pitching quoits, playing cricket, engaging in gymnastic exercises, pic-nicking, and gliding through the boweries that were prepared for the mazy dance. It was a day of feasting, joy, and amusement for the silver-haired veteran and the tottering child. The welkin rang with the triumphant songs of Zion, and these, accompanied by the sweet melody of many-toned instruments. of music, thrilled every bosom with enthusiastic joy. Their exuberance was the. pure outgushing of their souls' emotion, and owned no earthly inspiration, for- their only beverage was the sparkling nectar of Eden, while their sympathies were. united by a sacred and fraternal bond of affectionate love, which for the time ren- dered them oblivious of the artificial distinctions of social life. The highest and: the lowest rejoiced together, rank and authority were set aside; it was a day in. which the dreary past could be favorably contrasted with the joyous present, and : hearts were made glad in the simple faith that the God of their fathers was their protector, and that they were his peculiar people.

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History of Salt Lake City, Part 21

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