USA > Utah > Salt Lake County > Salt Lake > History of Salt Lake City > Part 25
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" It is also presumed that your humane feelings will prompt you, in case there are any persons who wish to peacefully leave your camp for this city, to permit them to avail themselves of the protection and guidance of the escort now sent.
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" Trusting that this communication will meet your entire approval and hearty co-operation, I have the honor, sir, to be your obedient servant, BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, U. T.
" Colonel E. B. Alexander,
Tenth Infantry, U. S. A., Camp Ham's Fork."
"GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, October 21, 1857.
" MY DEAR SIR: I embrace this the earliest opportunity of answering your communication to me, embracing a letter from Mr. Fuller, of New York, to you, an introductory letter to me, and also one from W. I. Appleby to Governor Young ; the latter, immediately on its receipt, I forwarded to His Excellency; and here let me state, sir, that I sincerely regret that circumstances now existing have hitherto prevented a personal interview.
" I can readily believe your statement, that it is very far from your feelings, and most of the command that are with you, to interfere with our social habits or religious views. One must naturally suppose that among gentlemen educated for the army alone, who have been occupied by the study of the art of war, whose pulses have throbbed with pleasure at the contemplation of the deeds of our venerated fathers, whose minds have been elated by the recital of the heroic deeds of other nations, and who have listened almost exclusively to the declama- tions of patriots and heroes, that there is not much time, and less inclination, to listen to the low party bickerings of political demagogues, the interested twaddle of sectional declaimers, or the throes and contortions of contracted religious bigots. You are supposed to stand on elevated ground, representing the power and securing the interests of the whole of a great and mighty nation. That many of you are thus honorable, I am proud, as an American citizen, to acknowl- edge ; but you must excuse me, my dear sir, if I cannot concede with you that all your officials are so high-toned, disinterested, humane and gentlemanly, as a knowledge of some of their antecedents expressly demonstrates. However, it is not with the personal character, the amiable qualities, high-toned feelings, or gentlemanly deportment of the officers in your expedition, that we at present have to do. The question that concerns us is one that is independent of your personal, generous, friendly and humane feelings or any individual predilection of yours; it is one that involves the dearest rights of American citizens, strikes at the root of our social and political existence, if it does not threaten our entire annihilation from the earth. Excuse me, sir, when I say that you are merely the servants of a lamentably corrupt administration ; that your primary law is obedi- ence to orders, and that you came here with armed foreigners with cannon, rifles, bayonets, and broadswords, expressly, and for the openly avowed purpose of ' cutting out the loathsome ulcer from the body politic.' I am aware what our friend Fuller says in relation to this matter, and I entertain no doubt of his generous and humane feelings, nor do I of yours, sir; but I do know that he is mistaken in relation to the rabid tone and false, furious attacks of a venal and
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corrupt press. I do know that they are merely the mouthpiece, the tools, the barking dogs of a corrupt administration. I do know that Mr. Buchanan was well apprised of the nature of the testimony adduced against us by ex-Judge Drummond and others; for he was informed of it, to my knowledge, by a mem- ber of own cabinet, and I further know, from personal intercourse with members of the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, that there have been various plans concerted at headquarters for some time past, for the over- throw of this people. Captain, Mr. Fuller informs me that you are a politician ; if so, you must know that in the last presidential campaign the republican party had opposition to slavery and polygamy as two of the principal planks in their platform. You may know, sir, that Utah was picked out, and the only Territory excluded from a participation in pre-emption rights to land. You may also be aware that bills were introduced into Congress for the persecution of the Mor- mons ; but other business was too pressing at that time for them to receive atten- tion. You may be aware that measures were also set on foot, and bills prepared to divide up Utah among the Territories of Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon and New Mexico (giving a slice to California), for the purpose of bringing us into collision with the people of those Territories, not to say anything about thousands of our letters detained at the postoffice at Independence. I might enumerate injuries by the score, and if these things are not so, why is it that Utah is so ' knotty a question ?' If people were no more ready to interfere with us and our institutions than we are with them and theirs, these difficulties would vanish into thin air. Why, again I ask, could Drummond and a host of others, mean scribblers, palm their barefaced lies with such impunity, and have their infamous slanders swallowed with so much gusto? Was it not that the administration and their satellites, having planned our destruction, were eager to catch at anything to render specious their contemplated acts of blood ? Or, in plain terms, the democrats advocated strongly popular sovereignty. The republicans tell them that, if they join in maintaining inviolable the domestic institutions of the South, they must also swallow polygamy. The democrats thought this would not do, as it would interfere with the religious scruples of many of their supporters, and they looked about for some means to dispose of the knotty question. Buchanan, with Douglass, Cass, Thompson and others of his advisers, after failing to devise legal measures, hit upon the expedient of an armed force against Utah ; and thus thought, by the sacrifice of the Mormons, to untie the knotty question ; do a thousand times worse than the republicans ever meant ; fairly out-Herod Herod, and by religiously extirpating, destroying, or killing a hundred thousand innocent American citizens, satisfy a pious, humane, patriotic feeling of their constituents; take the wind out of the sails of the republicans, and gain to themselves immortal laurels. Captain, I have heard of a pious Presbyterian doctrine that would incul- cate thankfulness to the all-wise Creator for the privilege of being damned. Now, as we are not Presbyterians, nor believe in this kind of self-abnegation, you will, I am sure, excuse us for finding fault at being thus summarily dealt with, no matter how agreeable the excision or expatriation might be to our political, patri- otic or very pious friends. We have lived long enough in the world to know that we are a portion of the body politic, have some rights as well as other people,
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and that if others do not respect us, we, at least, have manhood enough to respect ourselves.
" Permit me here to refer to a remark made by our friend Mr. Fuller, to you, viz : 'That he had rendered me certain services in the city of New York, and that he had no doubt that when you had seen us and known us as he had, that you would report as favorably as he had unflinchingly done.' Now, those favors to which Mr. Fuller refers were simply telling a few plain matters of fact that had come under his own observation during a short sojourn at Salt Lake. This, of course, I could duly appreciate, for I always admired a man who dare tell the truth. But, Captain, does it not strike you as humiliating to manhood ånd to the pride of all honorable American citizens, when among the thousands that have passed through and sojourned among us, and knew as well as Mr. Fuller did our true social and moral position, that perhaps one in ten thousand dare state their honest convictions; and further, that Mr. Fuller, with his knowl- edge of human nature, should look upon you as a rara avis, possessing the moral courage and integrity to declare the truth in opposition to the floods of falsehood that have deluged our nation. Surely, we have fallen on unlucky times, when honesty is avowed to be at so great a premium.
" In regard to our religion, it is perhaps unnecessary to say much ; yet, what- ever others' feelings may be about it, with us it is honestly a matter of conscience. This is a right guaranteed to us by the Constitution of our country ; yet it is on this ground, and this alone, that we have suffered a continued series of persecu- tions, and that this present crusade is set on foot against us. In regard to this people, I have traveled extensively in the United States, and through Europe, yet have never found so moral, chaste, and virtuous a people, nor do I expect to find them. And, if let alone, they are the most patriotic, and appreciate more fully the blessings of religious, civil, and political freedom than any other por- tion of the United States. They have, however, discovered the difference be- tween a blind submission to the caprices of political demagogues and obedience to the Constitution, laws, and institutions of the United States; nor can they, in the present instance, be hoodwinked by the cry of ' treason.' If it be treason to stand up for our constitutional rights; if it be treason to resist the unconstitu tional acts of a vitiated and corrupt administration, who, by a mercenary armed force, would seek to rob us of the rights of franchise, cut our throats to subserve their party, and seek to force upon us its corrupt tools, and violently invade the rights of American citizens ; if it be treason to maintain inviolate our homes, our firesides, our wives, and our honor from the corrupting and withering blight of a debauched soldiery ; if it be treason to keep inviolate the Constitution and institutions of the United States, when nearly all the States are seeking to trample them under their feet, then, indeed, we are guilty of treason. We have care- fully considered all these matters and are prepared to meet the 'terrible ven- geance ' we have been very politely informed will be the result of our acts. It is in vain to hide it from you that this people have suffered so much from every kind of official that they will endure it no longer. It is not with them an idle phantom, but a stern reality. It is not, as some suppose, the voice of Brigham only, but the universal, deep-settled feeling of the whole community. Their cry
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is, ' Give us our Constitutional rights ; give us liberty or death !' A strange cry in our boasted model republic, but a truth deeply and indelibly graven on the hearts of 100,000 American citizens by a series of twenty-seven years' unmiti- gated and unprovoked, yet unrequited wrongs. Having told you of this, you will not be surprised that when fifty have been called to assist in repelling our ag- gressors, a hundred have volunteered, and, when a hundred have been called, the number has been more than doubled ; the only feeling is 'don't let us be over- looked or forgotten.' And here let me inform you that I have seen thousands of hands raised simultaneously, voting to burn our property rather than let it fall into the hands of our enemies. They have been so frequently robbed and de- spoiled without redress, that they have solemnly decreed that, if they cannot enjoy their own property, nobody else shall. You will see by this that it would be literally madness for your small force to attempt to come into the settlements. It would only be courting destruction. But, say you, have you counted the cost ? have you considered the wealth and power of the United States and the fearful odds against you? Yes; and here let me inform you that, if necessitated, we would as soon meet 100,000 as 1,000, and, if driven to the necessity, will burn every house, tree, shrub, rail, every patch of grass and stack of straw and hay, and flee to the mountains. You will then obtain a barren, desolate wilderness, but will not have conquered the people, and the same principle in regard to other property will be carried out. If this people have to burn their property to save it from the hands of legalized mobs, they will see to it that their enemies shall be without fuel; they will haunt them by day and by night. Such is, in part, our plan. The three hundred thousand dollars' worth of our property destroyed already in Green River County is only a faint sample of what will be done throughout the Territory. We have been twice driven, by tamely submitting to the authority of corrupt officials, and left our houses and homes for others to in- habit, but are now determined that, if we are again robbed of our possessions, our enemies shall also feel how pleasant it is to be houseless at least for once, and be permitted, as they have sought to do to us, 'to dig their own dark graves, creep into them, and die.'
" You see we are not backward in showing our hands. Is it not strange to what lengths the human family may be goaded by a continued series of oppres- sions? The administration may yet find leisure to pause over the consequences of their acts, and it may yet become a question for them to solve whether they have blood and treasure enough to crush out the sacred principles of liberty from the bosoms of 100,000 freemen, and make them bow in craven servility to the mendacious acts of a perjured, degraded tyrant. You may have learned already that it is anything but pleasant for even a small army to contend with the chilling blasts of this inhospitable climate. How a large army would fare without re- sources you can picture to yourself. We have weighed those matters; it is for the administration to post their own accounts. It may not be amiss, however, here to state that, if they continue to prosecute this inhuman fratricidal war, and our Nero would light the fires and, sitting in his chair of state, laugh at burning Rome, there is a day of reckoning even for Neros. There are generally two sides to a question. As I before said, we wish for peace, but that we are deter-
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mined on having it if we have to fight for it. We will not have officers forced upon us who are so degraded as to submit to be sustained by the bayonet's point. We cannot be dragooned into servile obedience to any man.
"These things settled, Captain, and all the like preliminaries of. etiquette are easily arranged ; and permit me here to state, that no man will be more courteous and civil than Governor Young, and nowhere could you find in your capacity of an officer of the United States a more generous and hearty welcome than at the hands of his excellency. But when, instead of battling with the enemies of our country, you come (though probably reluctantly) to make war upon my family and friends, our civilities are naturally cooled, and we instinctively grasp the sword; Minie rifles, Colt's revolvers, sabres, and cannon may display very good workmanship and great artistic skill, but we very much object to having their temper and capabilities tried upon us. We may admire the capabilities, gentle- manly deportment, heroism and patriotism of United States officers; but in an official capacity of enemies, we would rather see their backs than their faces. The guillotine may be a very pretty instrument, and show great artistic skill, but I don't like to try my neck in it.
" Now, Captain, notwithstanding all this, I shall be very happy to see you if circumstances should so transpire as to make it convenient for you to come, and to extend to you the courtesies of our city, for I am sure you are not our personal enemy. I shall be happy to render you any information in my power in regard to your contemplated explorations.
"I am heartily sorry that things are so unpleasant at the present time, and I cannot but realize the awkwardness of your position, and that of your com- patriots, and let me here say that anything that lays in my power compatible with the conduct of a gentleman you can command. If you have leisure, I should be most happy to hear from you. You will, I am sure, excuse me, if I disclaim the prefix of reverend to my name ; address John Taylor, Great Salt Lake City.
"I need not here assure you that personally there can be no feelings of enmity between us and your officers. We regard you as the agents of the administration in the discharge of a probably unpleasant duty, and very likely ignorant of the ultimate designs of the administration. As I left the East this summer, you will excuse me when I say I am probably better posted in some of these matters than you are, having been one of a delegation from the citizens of this Territory to apply for admission into the Union. I can only regret that it is not our real enemies that are here instead of you. We do not wish to harm you or any of the command to which you belong, and I can assure you that in any other capacity than the one you now occupy, you would be received as civilly and treated as courteously as in any other portion of our Union.
"On my departure from the States, the fluctuating tide of popular opinion against us seemed to be on the wave. By this time there may be quite a reaction in the public mind. If so, it may probably affect materially the position of the administration, and tend to more constitutional, pacific and humane measures. In such an event our relative positions would be materially changed, and instead of meeting as enemies, we could meet, as all Americans should, friends to each other, and united against our legitimate enemies only. Such an issue is devoutly
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to be desired, and I can assure you that no one would more appreciate so happy a result to our present awkward and unpleasant position, than yours truly,
JOHN TAYLOR.
Captain Marcy.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF UTAH, Black's Fork,
16 miles from Fort Bridger, en route to Salt Lake City, November 7th. 1857.
Official :
F. J. PORTER, Assistant Adjutant General.
CHAPTER XX.
REVIEW V OF THE EXPEDITION, KANSAS TROUBLES. GENERAL HARNEY RELIEVED OF THE COMMAND. GENERAL PERSIFER F. SMITH APPOINTED IN HIS STEAD. HE DIES AND COLONEL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON IS APPOINTED). DISASTROUS MARCH OF THE SECOND DRAGOONS TO UTAH. SCENE OF THE ARMY IN WINTER QUARTERS.
At this point must be given a circumstantial review of the history of the Expedition from the issuing of General Scott's circular to the close of the winter of 18;7-8, so bitter in its experience to the ill-fated troops who composed the army sent to invade the Rocky Mountain Zion.
The force consisted of two regiments of infantry -the Fifth and Tenth ; one regiment of cavalry -the old Second Dragoons; and two batteries of artillery-Reno's and Phelps'. Of the equipments, it may be said there was nothing forgotten and nothing grudged, to make the Expedition a splendid and thorough success.
"So well is the nature of this service appreciated," wrote the commander- in-chief to General Harney, by the pen of his and de camp, "and so deeply are the honor and interests of the United States involved in its success, that I am authorized to say that the government will hesitate at no expense requisite to complete the efficiency of your little army, and to insure health and comfort to it, as far as attainable. Hence, in addition to the liberal orders for its supply here- tofore given-and it is known that ample measures, with every confidence of suc- cess, have been dictated by the chiefs of staff departments here-a large discretion will be made over to you in the general orders for the movement. The employment of spies, guides, interpreters or laborers may be made to any reasonable extent you may think desirable."
And the officers were as eminent as the amplitude of the supplies and effi-
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ciency of the equipments. The chief officers were gentlemen of thorough mili- tary education. There were names connected with that army, which rank to day in the national galaxy of America's great generals. There was General Harney, who at that period held the reputation of being the greatest Indian fighter of all the commanding officers of the American army; and for that reason he was probably singled out at the onset for this campaign against the Mormons, which in a mountainous country must necessarily have partaken much of the guerilla warfare, if it came to the action. There was General Persifier F. Smith, a dis- tinguished officer; Captain Van Vliet, afterwards a Major-General ; Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, also afterwards a Major General, and of before time the honored commander of the Mormon Battalion; Captain Marcy a distin- guished officer and father in-law of General McClellen ; Colonel Alexander who himself was able to command an expedition ; and greater than all besides Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, the brilliant soldier who afterwards commanded the Confederate army ot the battle of Shiloh, and fell as one of the laurelled heroes of Southern rebeldom, but in 1857 he was sent as the commander to put down Mormon rebeldom. What a strange fatality ! and what a parallel !
It was the flower of the American army that was sent to Utah, and its his- tory is more remarkable from that very fact. When the order was given for the march of the troops, no one of that command could have divined that such ter- rible disasters were in store as befel them before the close of the year. The prospect appeared auspicious at the commencement of the march. Writing from Fort Kearney, August 10th, Colonel Alexander reported all well. "The men are in good health and condition, and have surprised me by the endurance they exhibited from the commencement. The march from Fort Leavenworth here occupied nineteen days, giving an average of fifteen and a half miles per day." Writing from Fort Laramie, September 3d, he congratulates with the following passage :
" On the 5th the march to Utah will be resumed, and although the accounts of the road as regards grass makes it much more difficult than anything we have yet experienced, I hope to give as favorable a report upon my arrival at the Salt Lake City.
" I may be excused from expressing the pride I feel in the successful accom- plishment by my regiment of so much of its first arduous duty, and I confidently express the belief that unless some very unforeseen accident occurs, I will reach the Territory of Utah in a condition of perfect efficiency and discipline."
Meantime a change had come in the disposition of the Expedition, that the Mormons might well consider as fated, both to themselves and the troops; for had that expedition under General Harney reached the Great Salt Lake Valley that year, it certainly must have been after a desperate battle or two with the " Nauvoo Legion " under General Wells; then if the word of Brigham Young had been kept, as faithfully as the burning of the government trains indicated, General Harney, even though a victor, would have found Great Salt Lake City in ashes; and, in his spring campaign, every city in Utah would have shared
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the same fate, or that United States army would have been baptized in its own blood.
But no sooner had Colonel Alexander started with his advance troops than the Kansas troubles revived. " Bleeding Kansas" had for several years been the national sensation, and "Border Ruffianism " was a real terror to the American mind, while Mormon rebellion was much of a myth, and at its worst was no sub- ject of political terrorism to the nation. The presence of General Harney and the Second Dragoons was now needed in Kansas by this new development of affairs. His supposed fitness, above other generals to command the Utah Expe- dition, made him more abundantly fit now to grapple with Kansas. Captain Van Vliet sensed the strange fatality of this new development when he said to Brig- ham Young : "I am anxious to get back to Washington as soon as I can. I have heard officially that General Harney has been recalled to Kansas, to officiate as Governor."
Thus the General who, from his experience in Indian warfare, was supposed to be sufficient to put down the Indians and Mormons combined-that being one of the suppositions of this war-never took command of this expedition, and the dragoons were, therefore, absent from the Plains when they were most required.
General Persifer F. Smith was assigned to the command in the place of General Harney, but he fell ill and died at Fort Leavenworth. The infantry and artillery, with all the quartermaster and commissary stores, were then on the plains, and the command of the expedition, by seniority of rank, devolved upon Colonel Alexander, of the Tenth Infantry. The expedition was, therefore, with- out any instructions from the Government ; all that its commander, Colonel Alexander, knew was its destination. The next link of the strange history is found in the following military order :
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