History of Salt Lake City, Part 26

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

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" WASHINGTON, August 28th, 1857.

" COLONEL: In anticipation of the orders to be issued placing you in com- mand of the Utah expedition, the general-in-chief directs you to repair, without delay, to Fort Leavenworth, and apply to Brevet Brigadier General Harney for all the orders and instructions he has received as commander of that expedition, which you will consider addressed to yourself, and by which you will be governed accordingly. You will make your arrangements to set out from Fort Leaven- worth at as early a day as practicable. Six companies of the 2d Dragoons will be detached by General Harney to escort you and the civil authorities to Utah, to remain as part of your command instead of the companies of the Ist Cavalry, as heretofore ordered. Brevet Major T. J. Porter, assistant adjutant general, will be ordered to report to you for duty before you leave Fort Leavenworth.

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

IRVIN McDOWELL,

Assistant Adjutant General.

" Colonel Albert S. Johnston,

2d Cavalry, Washington, D C.

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As the army passed the boundary line of Utah, Governor Young's Proclama- tion was forwarded, with his order to arrest the advance of " the forces now in- vading Utah Territory." This was the juncture when either General Harney or Colonel Johnston should have been on the spot, with the entire force, to have opened the campaign, but at that very moment Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston wasstill at Fort Leavenworth, a thousand miles from the army to which he had been appointed, while Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, commanding 2d Dragoons, and Colonel C. F. Smith commanding Battalion 10th Infantry were also far away from the seat of action. Colonel Cooke in command of six com- panies 2d Dragoons commenced his march from Fort Leavenworth, on the 17th of September, and arrived at Fort Bridger November 19. Of his onset he has thus reported :

" The regiment has been hastily recalled from service in the field and al- lowed three or four days only, by my then commanding officer, to prepare for a march of eleven hundred miles over an uninhabited and mountain wilderness ; in that time the six companies of the regiment who were to compose the expedi- tion were re-organized ; one hundred and ten transfers necessarily made from and to other companies; horses to be condemned and many obtained ; the com- panies paid, and about fifty desertions occured ; the commanders of four of them changed. To these principle duties and obstacles, implying a great mass of writ- ing, were to be added every exertion of experience and foresight to provide for a line of operation of almost of unexampled length and mostly beyond communi- cation. On the evening of the 16th, at the commencement of a rain-storm, an inspector general made a hurried inspection by companies, which could not have been very satisfactory to him or others-the company commanders, amid the confusion of Fort Leavenworth, presenting their new men, raw recruits, whom they had yet scarcely found or seen, under the effects usually following the pay- table."

Governor Cumming, also, who should have been at the seat of war to have met Governor Young's proclamation with a counter proclamation, giving to Col- onel Alexander the power to act as his posse commitatus, before the winter set in, was under the escort of Colonel Cooke, and did not issue his proclamation before the 21st of November.

Brigham and the Mormons alone were prepared for the issue, notwithstand- ing the Government had taken every precaution to prevent the news of the projected expedition reaching Utah in advance, by cutting off the postal com- munication. (It is so charged by Governor Young.) In six days after the news reached the Pioneers of the coming of the army, the Utah militia is ordered out ; in twenty-one days the first detachment of the Mormon Life Guards has taken the field, under Colonel Burton; in one month and eleven days Lot Smith has burnt the supply trains of the Expedition.

In May, General Scott's circular was issued for the march of the army; in the latter part of November Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston and Governor Alfred Cumming were at headquarters, Camp Scott, powerless to act, locked out from Salt Lake Valley by the commanding general of the year -- inexorable winter.

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HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

General Sam Houston had said to the Government at the onset: "If you make war upon the Mormons you will get awfully whipped !" which, when it was told to Brigham Young, he said, " General Sam Houston had it right."

Hearing nothing from his commander, without instructions and fearing everything, Colonel Alexander concentrated his forces at Ham's Fork, until some course should be resolved upon by a council of the officers. It was then the latter part of September ; winter was approaching, the stock of forage was rapidly decreasing, and the country was altogether unfitted for winter-quarters. Every day's delay was disastrous, and threatened the very existence of the ex- pedition, for the mountains were already covered with snow and the daring Mor- mon cavalry were constantly harassing the supply trains and running off the animals. The troops began to show signs of demorilization; they were in a bleak and barren desert, with an enemy surrounding them that knew every inch of the ground, and who, to all appearance, could easily destroy them without shed- ding a drop of their own blood.

On the roth of October the officers of the Expedition held a council of war and determined that the army should advance from Ham's Fork, but to change the route of travel and make Salt Lake Valley, if they could, via Soda Springs, a distance of nearly three hundred miles, and at least a hundred and fifty miles farther than the route through Echo Canyon. The order was issued, and next day the troops commenced a dreary march.

" Early in the morning," says Stenhouse, in his " Rocky Mountain Saints," " the sky was surcharged with dark, threatening clouds, and as they started the snow fell heavily. A few supply-trains were kept together and guarded by the infantry, but the travel was slow, vexatious and discouraging. The beasts of burden were suffering from want of forage, as, in anticipation of this movement, the grass had been burned all along that route. The animals were completely exhausted, and, before they were a week on the new route, three miles a day was all the distance that could be made.

" Another council of war was held, but the only topics of discussion were the suffering, disaster, and heavy losses of the company. The soldiers were mur- muring, and dissatisfaction reigned everywhere. Some gallant officers were desir- ous of forcing an issue with the Mormons, cutting their way through the canyons, and taking their chances of what might come. This course might have afforded some gratification to individuals, but to the company at large it was impracticable : every effort was necessary to save the Expedition from total ruin."

In explanation of the unprecedented slow march, it should be stated that every movement was really a military manouvre. Colonel R. T. Burton, with a force of about 200 Mormon soldiers was, constantly harassing the army, which in return resorted to every strategy to deceive the Mormon soldiers in regard to their real intent.

Every day they moved a short distance, but realizing that their movements were constantly watched by the Mormon soldiery, Colonel Alexander was in doubt as to what course to pursue, as while moving north, every means of annoy- ance without actual warfare was employed by this little body of defenders of their Utah homes. Finally, as the result of this continued vigilance, on the 11

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part of the little army of Mormons, Colonel Alexander retraced his steps and counter-marched down stream and went into Winter Quarters.

" In this forlorn condition the new commander was heard from, and the troops were instantly inspired with new life. Colonel Johnston comprehended the situation and ordered the Expedition to retrace its steps. The snow was six inches deep, the grass all covered, the animals starving. The advance had been slow, the retreat was simply crawling. On the 3rd of November they reached the point of rendezvous, and next day Colonel Johnston joined them with a small reinforcement and the remainder of the supply-trains.

" The morale of the army was restored by the presence of an efficient com- mander with instructions in his pocket, but the difficulties of the Expedition were increasing every hour. The supply-trains were strung out about six miles in length, the animals worrying along till, thoroughly exhausted, they would fall in their tracks and die.

" All this long line of wagons and beef cattle had to be guarded to prevent surprise and the stampede of the animals. The snow was deep on the ground and the weather was bitterly cold. Many of the men were fatally rrost-bitten, and the catte and mules perished by the score. In Colonel Philip St. George Cooke's command fifty-seven head of horses and mules froze to death in one night on the Sweetwater, and from there to Fort Bridger, where the Expedition finally wintered, the road was literally strewn with dead animals. The camp on Black's Fork, thirty miles from Fort Bridger, was named 'The Camp of Death.' Five hundred animals perished around the camp on the night of the 6th of November. Fifteen oxen were found huddled together in one heap, frozen stiff.

" In this perilous situation the expeditionary army to Utah made the distance to Bridger-thirty-five miles-in fifteen days! Often the advance had arrived at camp before the end of the train left. On the 16th of November, the army reached their winter-quarters, Camp Scott, two miles from the site of Fort Bridger and one hundred and fifteen from Salt Lake City."

The official report of Colonel Philip St. George Cooke is still more desolate. The experience of several days, as noted by the Colonel, will illustrate his report of the march of the Second Dragoons from Fort Leavenworth to Camp Scott :

" November 6th, we found the ground once more white and the snow fall- ing, but then very moderately; I marched as usual. On a four-mile hill the north wind and drifting snow became severe; the air seemed turned to frozen fog ; nothing could be seen; we were struggling in a freezing cloud. The lofty wall at ' Three Crossings' was a happy relief ; but the guide, who had lately passed there, was relentless in pronouncing that there was no grass. The idea of find- ing and feeding upon grass, in that wintry storm, under the deep snow, was hard to entertain ; but as he promised grass and other shelter two miles further, we marched on, crossing twice more the rocky stream, half choked with snow and ice ; finally he led us behind a great granite rock, but all too small for the promised shelter. Only a part of the regiment could huddle there in the deep snow; whilst, the long night through, the storm continued, and in feaful eddies. from above, before, behind, drove the falling and drifting snow. Thus exposed

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for the hope of grass, the poor animals were driven, with great devotion, by the men, once more across the stream and three-quarters of a mile beyond, to the base of a granite ridge, but which almost faced the storm ; there the famished mules, crying piteously, did not seek to eat, but desperately gathered in a mass, and some horses, escaping the guard, went back to the ford, where the lofty pre- cipice first gave us so pleasant relief and shelter.

" Thus morning light had nothing cheering to reveal ; the air still filled with driven snow ; the animals soon came driven in, and, mingled in confusion with men, went crunching the snow in the confined and wretched camp, tramping all things in their way. It was not a time to dwell on the fact that from that moun- tain desert there was no retreat, nor any shelter near; but a time for action. No murmurs, not a complaint was heard, and certainly none saw in their com- mander's face a doubt or clouds ; but with cheerful manner he gave orders as usual for the march.

"November 10. The northeast wind continued fiercely, enveloping us in a cloud which froze and fell all day. Few could have faced that wind. The herders left to bring up the rear with extra, but nearly all broken down mules, could not force them from the dead bushes of the little valley; and they re- mained there all day and night, bringing on the next day the fourth part that had not frozen. Thirteen mules were marched, and the camp was made four miles from the top of the pass. A wagon that day cut partly through the ice of a branch, and there froze so fast eight mules could not move it empty. Nearly all the tent pins were broken in the last camp; a few of iron were here substi- tuted. Nine trooper horses were left freezing and dying on the road that day, and a number of soldiers and teamsters had been frost-bitten. It was a desper- ately cold night. The thermometers were broken, but, by comparison, must have marked twenty-five degrees below zero. A bottle of sherry wine froze in a trunk. Having lost about fifty mules in thirty-six hours, the morning of the eleventh, on the report of the quartermaster, I felt bound to leave a wagon in the bushes, filled with seventy-four extra saddles and bridles, and some sabres. Two other wagons at the last moment he was obliged to leave, but empty. The Sharp's carbines were then issued to mounted as well as dismounted men.

"November II. The fast growing company of dismounted men were marched together as a separate command by day ; the morning of the 12th, a number of them were frost-bitten from not being in motion, although standing by fires.

"November 15. The sick report had rapidly run up from four or five to forty-two; thirty-six soldiers and teamsters having been frosted.

" FORT BRIDGER, November 19. I have one hundred and forty-four horses, and have lost one hundred and thirty-four. Most of the loss has occurred much this side of South Pass, in comparatively moderate weather. It has been of starvation ; the earth has a no more lifeless, treeless, grassless desert ; it contains scarcely a wolf to glut itself on the hundreds of dead and frozen animals, which for thirty miles nearly block the road ; with abandoned and shattered property, they mark, perhaps, beyond example in history, the steps of an advancing army with the horrors of a disastrous retreat."

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HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

The winter experience of the troops after their arrival at Camp Scott was quite in keeping with the march to Utah as described by Colonel Cooke. Rations were short, and many articles of daily necessity were altogether unattainable. Whiskey sold at $12 a gallon ; tobacco $3 a pound, and sugar and coffee about the same rate. Flour for a time was a luxury at a very high figure; "and the possession of a good supply with no other protection than the covering of a tent was as dangerous to its owner as a well-filled purse is to a pedestrian in a first- class city after sunset." The cattle, too, were miserably poor, but their hides furnished mocassins for the soldiers. Every day, all through the winter, bands of fifteen or twenty men might be seen hitched to wagons, trailing for five or six miles to the mountain sides to get loads of fuel for the use of the camp. But the greatest privation of all was caused by the lack of salt. Learning of this distress of the soldiers, and knowing that with poor meat and no vegetables, the craving for salt to season the dish must be almost as intolerable as the burning thirst for water in the desert, Brigham sent a load of salt to Colonel Johnston, accompanied with a letter of gift, which forms one of the Government documents. (See appendix.) But Colonel Johnston ordered the messengers from his camp with every expression of contempt for Brigham Young, the great Mormon "rebel." " How mutable are human affairs !" comments Stenhouse, noting this incident. " Five years later, that same Colonel Johnston was himself designated a 'rebel,' and became one of the most distinguished generals in the Confederate army. The Colonel Johnston of Utah became the General Albert Sidney Johnston of Shiloh !"

The salt, however, by indirect means was returned to the camp. Johnston's army, after all, did eat Brigham Young's salt; and the soldiers knew it, but the high-spirited commander shared it not. The Indians, however, soon furnished a supply for the Colonel and his officers, and hurried through the snow with their packs of salt and sold it at $5 per pound, but the increase of the supply reduced the price.

Probably Colonel Johnston thought that Brigham Young was wantonly tantalizing the high spirit of himself and officers with a realization of their con- dition ; but, if he had read the following entry in Apostle Woodruff's diary, at a later date, he would probably have revised that opinion.

"I spent the evening at President Young's office (at Provo). He said, ' I am sorry for the army; and thought of sending word to the brethren in Great Salt Lake City to sell vegetables to them. I have also had it in my heart, when peace is established, to take all the cattle, horses and mules, which we have taken from the army, and return them to the officers.'"

Here is another similar entry of a later date :

" Colonel Alexander called yesterday and had a short interview; and it was very agreeable. President Young said, 'I was much pleased with him, and am satisfied that, if he had the sole command of the army, and I could have had three hours' conversation with him, all would have been right, and they could have come in last fall as well as now.'"

With this couple Colonel Alexander's statement in his letter, " I have only to repeat my assurance that no harm would have happened to any citizen of

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Utah, through the instrumentality of the army of the United States in the per- formance of its legitimate duties without molestation. Together, these simple notes combine a-volume of historical explanations. The people of Utah regarded it as an unhallowed crusade not a United States army that they were resisting.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE NAUVOO LEGION ORDERED IN FOR THE WINTER, PICKET GUARD POSTED, MARCH OF THE LEGION TO GREAT SALT LAKE CITY: RE- CEIVED WITH SONGS OF TRIUMPH. A JUBILANT WINTER IN ZION. SUMMARY OF GOVERNMENT MOVEMENTS FOR THE SPRING CAMPAIGN.

The army having gone into Winter Quarters at "Old Fort Bridger " and " Henry's Fork," the Nauvoo Legion was called in and concentrated at Camp Weber, situated at the mouth of Echo Canyon. As soon as the Territorial troops had all arrived, provisions were made for a picket-guard, consisting of fifty picked men under the command of Captain John R. Winder, to remain at Camp Weber during the winter, and the following order was issued :

" HEAD QUARTERS EASTERN EXPEDITION, CAMP WEBER, December 4th, 1857.

" Capt. John R. Winder.

"DEAR BRO: You are appointed to take charge of the guard detailed to remain and watch the movements of the invaders. You will keep ten men at the lookout station on the heights of Yellow Creek. Keep a constant watch from the highest point during daylight, and a camp guard at night, also a horse guard out with the horses which should be kept out on good grass all day, and grained with two quarts of feed per day. This advance will occasionally trail out towards Fort Bridger, and look at our enemies from the high butte near that place. You will relieve this guard once a week. Keep open and travel the trail down to the head of Echo, instead of the road. Teamsters or deserters must not be permitted to come to your lookout station. Let them pass with merely knowing who and what they are, to your station on the Weber and into the city. If officers or others undertake to come in, keep them prisoners until you receive further ad- vices from the city. Especially and in no case let any of the would be civil officers pass. These are, as far as I know, as follows: A. Cumming (governor), Eckels (chief justice), Dotson (marshal), Forney (superintendent of Indian affairs), Hockaday (district attorney). At your station on the Weber you will also keep a lookout, and guard the road at night, also keep a camp and horse guard. Keep the men employed making improvements, when not on other duty. Build a good horse corral, and prepare stables. Remove the houses into a fort

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line and then picket in the remainder. Keep a trail open down the Weber to the citizen's road. Be strict in the issue of rations and feed. Practice economy both in your supplies and time and see that there is no waste of either. Dry a portion of the beef and use the bones in soup with the hard bread, which, as it will not keep equal with the flour, it is desirable to have first used so far as practicable.

" Instruct each mess to save their grease and ashes, and make soap, and wash their own clothes. Dig out trouughs to save the soap, and learn to be saving in all things. If your lookout party discover any movement of the enemy in this direction, let them send two men to your camp on the Weber, and the remainder continue to watch their movements, and not all leave their station, unless it should prove a large party, but keep you timely advised so that you can meet them at the defences in Echo, or if necessary render them assistance. Where you can do so at an advantage, take all such parties prisoners, if you can without shooting, but if you cannot, you are at liberty to attack them as no such party must be permitted to come into the city. Should the party be two strong and you are compelled to retreat, do so after safely cacheing all supplies ; in all cases giving us prompt information by express, that we may be able to meet them be- tween here and the city. Send into the city every week all the information you can obtain, and send whether you have any news from the enemy or not, that we may know of your welfare, kind of weather, depth of snow, etc.

" The boys at the lookout station should not make any trail down to the road, nor expose themselves to view, but keep concealed as much as possible, as it is for that purpose that that position has been chosen. No person without a permit must be allowed to pass from this way to the enemy's camp. Be careful about this. Be vigilant, active and energetic and observe good order, discipline and wisdom in all your works, that good may be the result. Remember that to you is entrusted for the time being the duty of standing between Israel and their foes, and as you would like to repose in peace and safety while others are on the watchtower, so now while in the performance of this duty do you observe the same care, vigilance and activity, which you would desire of others when they come to take your place. Do not let any inaction on the part of the enemy lull you into a false security and cause any neglect on your part.

" Praying the Lord to bless and preserve you in life, health and strength, and wisdom and power to accomplish every duty incumbent upon you and bring peace to Israel to the utter confusion and overthrow of her enemies.

"I remain, your brother in the Gospel of Christ,

[Signed,] DAN'L H. WELLS, Lieut. Genrl. Comdng."

" P. S. Be careful to prevent fire being kindled in or near the commissary storehouse."

The guard having been selected, the Legion marched to Great Salt Lake City and on arriving there was greeted by the enthusiastic citizens with songs of victory. The poetess, Eliza R. Snow, saluted with her war song, which the fol- lowing lines will illustrate :

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"Strong in the power of Brigham's God, Your name's a terror to our foes ; Ye were a barrier strong and broad As our high mountains crowned with snows. X * Then welcome! sons of light and truth. Heroes alike in age and youth."

In about two weeks Captain Winder reported to Governor Young that a deep snow had fallen in the mountains and he was instructed to release all but ten men. This guard was continued during the winter.

There was no need of scouts or spies to keep the city well posted relative to the army, for all through that winter, so cheerless to the Expedition, deserters and army teamsters were constantly arriving from Bridger, in many instances in a starving and destitute condition. They were kindly treated by the Mormon guard, provided with food and passed on to Great Salt Lake City. Through this channel, Governor Young and General Wells were kept well informed of the condition and contemplated movements of the army.

In December the Utah Legislature met in Great Salt Lake City, and Gover- nor Young delivered his annual message, in which he reviewed the conduct of the Administration towards Utah, and at great length expounded the funda - mental principles of the American Confederation. It is a remarkable document, and will be read a century hence with deep interest. [See Appendix.]

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History of Salt Lake City, Part 26

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