This already tense situation was further exacerbated by a period of intense religious revival starting in late 1856 dubbed the "Mormon Reformation.". Numerous newspaper articles continued to sensationalize Mormon beliefs and exaggerated earlier accounts of conflicts with frontier settlers. [20] These factors contributed to the popular belief that Mormons "were oppressed by a religious tyranny and kept in submission only by some terroristic arm of the Church...[However] no Danite band could have restrained the flight of freedom-loving men from a Territory possessed of many exits; yet a flood of emigrants poured into Utah each year, with only a trickle...ebbing back."[14]:70–71. Tensions between followers of the Latter Day Saint movement (Mormons) and Protestant Americans had simmered for two decades, including intense conflicts in … During the winter both sides strengthened their forces. "[40] Brigham Young intended to evacuate the Latter-day Saints to the Bitterroot Valley, which is now in Montana. [15] When gold was discovered in California, in 1848 at Sutter's Mill, which sparked the famous California Gold Rush, thousands of immigrants began moving west on trails that passed directly through territory settled by Mormon pioneers. From excited Indians they learned of the approach of an "army" marching overland from Yuma - which in reality was Ives's packtrain. These circumstances were not helped by the relationship between "Gentile" (non-Mormon) federal appointees and the Mormon territorial leadership. President Buchanan first decided to appoint a new governor in place of Brigham Young. For nearly a decade the Mormons in Utah had relative peace and were free to practice their religion as they saw fit. They smiled. [44], The journals of members of the Ives expedition as well as the Mormons from Hamblin's group attest to the tension and war hysteria among both the US Army and the Mormons in these remote territories.[44]. Will Bagely believes that Mormon culture was inherently violent; Thomas Alexander and others conclude that Utah Territory was less violent than other contemporaneous societies. An emigrant wagon train of non-Mormons is attacked and besieged by a mixed contingent of Mormon militia dressed as Paiute Indians. "[51] While all these private assurances were inducements for the Latter-day Saints to bend to federal will, Buchanan maintained a tougher stance in his public statements. Yes we did move the needle, yes we did grow the audience and yes we did get respect and recognition, but you want to keep doing that. Buchanan and the U.S. Congress saw these acts as obstructing, if not subverting, the operation of legitimate institutions of the United States. The reason it started was because of a misunderstanding. Although the United States had gained control of the settled parts of Alta California and Nuevo México in 1846 in the early stages of the Mexican-American War, legal transfer of the Mexican Cession to the U.S. came only with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the war in 1848. The Nauvoo Legion fortified the narrowest sections of the canyon in case the army attempted to break through. The war’s end and President Lincoln’s assassination shortly thereafter in April 1865 did not bring an end, though, to the questioning of Mormon sympathies as American newspapers continued to report Utah’s perceived disloyalty. In February 1858, Senator Sam Houston of Texas stated that a war against the Mormons would be, On April 1, Senator Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania declared that he would support a bill to authorize volunteers to fight in Utah and other parts of the frontier only because. [14] Others had severe difficulties adjusting to the Mormon-dominated territorial government and the unique Mormon culture. As early as February 1858, Young had sent parties to explore the White Mountains on what is now the Utah/Nevada border where, he erroneously believed, there were valleys that could comfortably harbor up to 100,000 individuals. On November 21, Cumming sent a proclamation to the citizens of Utah declaring them to be in rebellion, and soon after, a grand jury was formed at Camp Scott, which indicted two Mormon prisoners, Brigham Young, and over sixty other members of the Mormon hierarchy for treason. Then, apparently influenced by reports from Judge W. W. Drummond and other former territorial officials, he and his cabinet decided that the Mormons would resist the replacement of Governor Brigham Young. [28] This meeting may have been Young's attempt to get Native Americans to support the Mormons against the United States and refrain from raids against Mormon settlements. The Mormon War, otherwise known as the Utah War or Mormon Rebellion, describes the violence surrounding an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in Utah Territory and the U.S. Army, which lasts from March 1857 to July 1858. 1857-1858 The battles began miles ahead of the army's arrival in SLC . OCLC, Articles with dead external links from November 2014, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2014, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, http://books.google.com/books?id=7_IbAQAAMAAJ, http://books.google.com/books?id=9ikOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA207, http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9D03EEDA153CEE34BC4152DFB3668383649FDE, http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E01E0DD1230EE34BC4E52DFB4668383649FDE, http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/whq/38.4/b, William G. Hartley, "Dangerous Outpost: Thomas Corless and the Fort Limhi/Salmon River Mission", http://books.google.com/books?id=FtlxhQfecOgC, http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/4055, http://books.google.com/books?id=H6jLKkByLUsC, Dinnick Huntington Diary, August 30 and September 1, 1857, "First Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union", http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29498, Religious Education Archive: 19th Century Mormon Publications: "Proclamation by the Governor" dated 5 August 1857, Mormon Publications: 19th Century – Proclamation by the governor, "THE IVES EXPEDITION REVISITED A PRUSSIAN'S IMPRESSIONS", "IMPORTANT FROM UTAH. They were released but later murdered and robbed of their stock and $25,000. Popular sovereignty, the defense of which had been a major cause of the Utah Expedition, was finally repudiated when the resolution of the slavery question sparked the American Civil War. However, the President would not wait. He is identified as being a Pharmacist’s Mate 1st Class from Salt Lake City, Utah who was on duty at one point at a hospital in Samoa on August 1st, 1918. Their primary concern was to be governed by men of their own choosing rather than "unsympathetic carpetbag appointees" whom they believed would be sent from Washington, D.C. if their region were given territorial status, as was customary. However, Harney's letter did not mention that Young had been replaced as governor, nor did it detail what the mission of the troops would be once they arrived and these omissions sparked even greater distrust among the Saints. While there were casualties, mostly non-Mormon civilians, the "war" had no battles, and was resolved through negotiation. People also believed that Brigham Young maintained power through a paramilitary organization called the Danites. As governor, Cumming soon became more popular with the Mormons than with the military forces that had remained until the outbreak of the Civil War. When did the Cold War actually begin? [55] In March 1863, Judge Kinney issued a writ against Young for violation of the Suppression of Polygamy Act. The author Chaim Potok, who was a chaplain in Korea, had as an assistant a Mormon boy from Utah, "a man whom I would have trusted with my life," he wrote. As early as August 1857, Brigham Young had written to Thomas L. Kane of Pennsylvania asking for help. "'Buchanan's Blunder' The Utah War, 1857–1858", in. Modern map underlaid for reference. He quickly recognized that supplies or accommodations for the Army would not be forthcoming. The Nauvoo Legion was under the command of Daniel H. Wells and consisted of all able-bodied men between 15 and 60. It was assaulted on June 6, 1944, by elements of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division and was taken with relatively few casualties. Early in 1858 exploring parties were sent to locate a place of refuge that Young believed to exist in the central Great Basin. This activity led to a variety of other changes that fundamentally affected the cultural and political life of the state. Settlers living near the 7,000 troops quartered in Cedar Valley did sell the troops lumber for building construction, farm produce and manufactured goods. While Mormons believe in the principles of classical liberalism as found in the U.S. Constitution, Mormon political thought continues to be influenced by a concept dubbed "Theodemocracy." The Utah War (1857–1858), also known as the Utah Expedition, Utah Campaign, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the United States government. Popular sovereignty was the theoretical basis of the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. The Danites were created by some Mormons in Missouri in 1838. 3 Timeline of events. The Nauvoo Legion finally made contact with federal troops in late September just west of South Pass. Flattop. This second proclamation received wide circulation throughout the Territory and was delivered by messenger to Col. Alexander with the approaching army. William P. MacKinnon, "Loose in the Stacks: A Half Century with the Utah War and Its Legacy". However, President Abraham Lincoln did not enforce these laws; instead Lincoln gave Brigham Young tacit permission to ignore the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act in exchange for not becoming involved with the American Civil War. However, circumstances necessitated a "Move South" rather than a "Move North.". The Utah War. D.G. Daniel H. Wells was a member of the Latter-day Saint First Presidency, commander of the Nauvoo Legion, and later mayor of Salt Lake City. On 23 March Young announced that the time had come to implement the “Sebastopol” policy, a plan named after a strategic Russian retreat during the Crimean War. The U.S. Congress created the Utah Territory as part of the Compromise of 1850. William Preston Johnston; Albert Sidney Johnston (1878). As they settled in Utah, the desert territory began to blossom. Share with: Link: Copy link. Members of the Bannock tribe. July 24, 1847: Mormon Pioneers found Salt Lake City as the first city of the, April 1857: Troops are mobilized for the Utah campaign (, July 5, 1857: Brigham Young refers in a sermon to "rumors" that the U.S. is sending 1,500 to 2,000 troops into the Utah Territory, and warns them, possibly sarcastically, that if people enter the territory and don't "behave themselves", they will be subject to a "Vigilance Committee", and the, July 13, 1857: President Buchanan appoints, July 23, 1857: Rockwell and Smoot arrive in Salt Lake City and inform, August 2, 1857: Brigham Young publicly discusses the possible secession of the Mormon theocracy from the, August 5, 1857: Brigham Young declares martial law (. As the war began in early 1861, the War Department pulled the Federal troops out of the Utah Territory and reassigned them to other regions where they were more immediately needed to quell the brewing rebellion. The lives of all who took part in the war were changed deeply, for better or worse--and so were the lives of many who did not actually go to war but were affected indirectly. He was now ordered to ascend the Colorado to the head of navigation with utmost speed to determine the feasibility of transporting troops and war materiel up the Colorado by steamer to the mouth of the Virgin River, and thence overland to Utah. Kane was a man of some political prominence who had been helpful to the Mormons in their westward migration and later political controversies. Mormons often referred to polygamy as “The Principle.” In 1862, the Morrill anti-bigamy bill was passed which made it illegal to have more than one wife. The war officially ended on February 2, 1848, with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. At Utah, the VII Corps had penetrated a good five miles with only light casualties. Ives was instructed to proceed with extreme caution, since treacherous Mormons might already be lurking on the Colorado above Yuma. Young had generally adopted a policy of conversion and conciliation towards native tribes. The Mormons, fearful that the large U.S. military force had been sent to annihilate them[citation needed], made preparations for defense. At that time, only about 75,000 Mexican citizens lived north of the Rio Grande. Near the end of May, Buchanan offered a pardon to the inhabitants of Utah Territory for their “seditions and treasons” if they agreed to obey the federal government. Despite Young's efforts, Native Americans attacked Mormon settlements during the course of the Utah War, including a raid on Fort Limhi on the Salmon River in Oregon Territory in February 1858 and attacks in Tooele County just west of Great Salt Lake City. LDS Church leaders understood that they were not "leaving the political orbit of the United States", nor did they want to. Young ordered the Legion to take delaying actions, essentially harassing federal troops. On July 28, 1857, U.S. Army Captain Stewart Van Vliet, an assistant quartermaster, and a small escort were ordered to proceed directly from Kansas to Salt Lake City, ahead of the main body of troops. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., who led the 4th Infantry Division while relying on a cane to walk. A few days later, three large Army supply trains that were trailing the main army detachments were burned by Mormon cavalry led by Lot Smith. In early October, Legion members burned down Fort Bridger lest it fall into the hands of the army. However, Alexander's force was stopped by a heavy blizzard in late October. By the end of the war, most Iowa soldiers wanted to see an end to slavery. [55] General Patrick Edward Connor, commanding officer of the federal forces garrisoned at Fort Douglas, Utah beginning in 1862 was explicitly instructed to not confront the Mormons. Note: This article is based on a talk entitled “Why World War II Did Not End the Great Depression,” presented at a meeting of Libertarians for Peace and the Libertarian Liberty League in Monterey, California, on January 6, 2009. During the heavy winter of 1857–1858, he traveled under the alias "Dr. Osborne" over 3,000+ miles from the East coast to Utah, first by ship to Panama, crossing the isthmus via the newly constructed (1855) Panama Railway, and then taking a second ship to San Francisco. A. Winder. [42] Few if any shots were fired in these exchanges, and the Army's lack of cavalry left them more or less open to Mormon raids. Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Wilford Woodruff, 5:96. "[41] It also commanded that "all the forces in said Territory hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment's notice to repel any and all such invasion. Instead, he settled his troops into ill-equipped winter camps designated Camp Scott and Eckelsville, near the burned-out remains of Fort Bridger, now in the state of Wyoming. Cumming thereafter became a moderate voice, and opposed the hard-line against the Mormons proposed by Colonel Johnston and other federal officials still at Camp Scott. Senator Sam Houston was vehemently opposed to it and called it, "one of the most fearful calamities that has befallen this country, from its inception to the present moment. Another problem faced by the Americans was that many units were landed in the wrong place. All the Mormon settlements in northern Utah must be abandoned and prepared for burning. In early July, the Mormons from the northern settlements began to return to their homes after it was clear that no more reinforcements were being sent into Utah from either the east or west. Firearms were manufactured or repaired by the Mormons, scythes were turned into bayonets, and long-unused sabres were burnished and sharpened. The two main countries that were so-called enemies were the United States and the Soviet Union. South Pass. It was an expensive war between the Mormon people in Utah and the government and army of the United States. It sounds outlandish now, but the United States went to war with Mormons in the late 1850s. The Army and the Mormons continued in a fragile co-existence until the troops left in 1861 when called back east for service in the American Civil War. [39] One commentary opines that "during most of August the Mormon leaders had not precisely focused on a strategy for dealing with the approaching army; and after the first proclamation was struck off, they likely had second thoughts about a direct confrontation with the federal government. A year's worth of work improving their living conditions had essentially been lost. This call for an investigation was renewed during the crisis of 1857 by Bernhisel and even by Senator Stephen A. Douglas. The War Department was now considering launching a second front in Utah via the Colorado. However, in 1862, new troops arrived and built Fort Douglas in the foothills east of Salt Lake City. Register The Mormon Wiki. As for the Mormon community in Utah, the exertions and expenditures associated with the Nauvoo Legion efforts and the Move South taxed both capital and morale. Lt. Col. Charles Ferguson Smith relieved General Johnston of the command of the Department of Utah in 1860. Why Was The Cold War Important ? Historian Harold Schindler states that his mission was to contact Governor Young and inform him of the expedition's mission: to escort the new appointees, to act as a Posse comitatus and to establish at least two and perhaps three new U.S. Army camps in Utah. In sermons on August 16, and again one month later, Young publicly urged the emigrant wagon trains to keep away from the Territory. J Keith Melville, Theory and Practice of Church and State During the Brigham Young Era at 47–48. The Old Spanish Trail, the southern route into California. Though bloodshed was to be avoided, and the U.S. government also hoped that its purpose might be attained without the loss of life, preparations were made for war. MacKinnon, William P. "At Sword's Point, Part 1: A Documentary History of the Utah War to 1858" (Norman, Okla.: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 2008). The troops were originally to be led by Gen. William S. Harney. Young announced the approach of the army to a large group of Latter-day Saints gathered in Big Cottonwood Canyon for Pioneer Day celebrations on July 24, 1857. On June 19, a newly arrived reporter for the New York Herald somewhat inaccurately wrote, "Thus was peace made – thus was ended the 'Mormon war', which...may be thus historisized: – Killed, none; wounded, none; fooled, everybody. In the spring of 1857, President James Buchanan appointed a non-Mormon, Alfred Cumming, as governor of the Utah Territory, replacing Brigham Young, and dispatched troops to enforce the order. That Young hoped for a diplomatic solution is clear from his early appeal to Thomas L. Kane, the influential Pennsylvanian who had for ten years been a friend of the Mormons. The historian Brigham Madsen notes, "[T]he responsibility for the [Fort Limhi raid] lay mainly with the Bannock. However, he found the residents of Utah determined to defend themselves. [17]:1095 The LDS Church in territorial Utah viewed plural marriage as religious doctrine until it was removed from the essential dogma of the Church by Wilford Woodruff in 1890.[14]:81–82[18]. [36] Nevertheless, Van Vliet told Young that he believed that the Mormons "have been lied about the worst of any people I ever saw. They killed two Mormons and wounded several others. Library of Congress. The Utah War, also known as the Utah Expedition,[1] Utah Campaign,[2] Buchanan's Blunder,[3] the Mormon War,[4] or the Mormon Rebellion[5] was an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the United States government. These two narrow passes lead into the Salt Lake Valley, and provided the easiest access to the populated areas of northern Utah. To commemorate the sacrifice and involvement of Utahns in the Great War, the Utah WWI Commission will provide information and resources to the public. [57] The all Mormon grand jury refused an indictment citing a lack of evidence for Young's marriage to Amelia Folsom in January of that year.[58]. He therefore granted Kane unofficial permission to attempt mediation, although he held little hope for the success of negotiations. Brigham Young’s response would determine whether Johnston and his men marched into Salt Lake Valley as occupiers or as helpers and protectors of loyal citizens. As they descended Echo Canyon to Salt Lake city, Kane and the Mormon militia men successfully fooled Cumming as to the size of the armed contingent lining the canyon, something of which Cumming later complained bitterly. Richard Bennett, The Lion and the Emperor: The Mormons, the Hudson's Bay Company, and Vancouver Island, 1846–1858, BC Studies, no. Riding through the still empty streets of Salt Lake City on June 26, an embittered Johnston was heard to say that he would have given "his plantation for a chance to bombard the city for fifteen minutes. This belief often led Mormon pioneers to elect ecclesiastical leaders to political office. From 1857 to 1858, the settlers and the government battled for hegemony over the culture and government of the state-to-be. "[19] The Republicans linked the Democratic principle of popular sovereignty to the acceptance of polygamy in Utah, and turned this accusation into a formidable political weapon. The most important provision forbade "all armed forces of every description from coming into this Territory, under any pretense whatsoever. The Latter-day Saints lost control of the executive branch and the federal district courts, but maintained political authority in the Territorial Legislature and the powerful probate courts. The army was not given instructions on how to react in case of resistance. The high desert of southwestern Wyoming held little cover for either the U.S. army or the Nauvoo Legion. From battle lines in Europe and the Pacific, to service on the home front in Utah, veterans remember the final days of conflict and the spontaneous explosion of joy at the end of World War Two in VICTORY! Why did they call it the Cold War? These letters reported that Mormons were already engaged in hostilities with United States Army forces who were attempting to enter Utah from the east, and Ives's expedition took on a new meaning. They first claimed that the migrants were killed by Native Americans. The Utah Territory during the American Civil War was far from the main operational theaters of war, but still played a role in the disposition of the United States Army, drawing manpower away from the volunteer forces and providing its share of administrative headaches for the Lincoln Administration. It was assaulted on June 6, 1944, by elements of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division and was taken with relatively few casualties. Determining that they could not ascend the river beyond Black Canyon they turned back downstream. Johnston awaited resupply and reinforcement and prepared to attack the Mormon positions after the spring thaw. incurring the expense of sending troops without investigating the reports on Utah's disloyalty to the United States, dispatching the expedition late in the season, and. However, prisoners were captured by both sides, and the army began to grow weary of the constant Mormon harassment throughout the fall. However, neither of the non-Mormons would encourage Young’s hope that the army might be persuaded to go away, nor could they give him convincing assurance that Johnston’s troops would come in peacefully. In addition to popular election, many early LDS Church leaders received quasi-political administrative appointments at both the territorial and federal level, that coincided with their ecclesiastical roles; in particular were the powerful probate judges. Johnston was a more aggressive commander than Alexander but this predicament rendered him unable to immediately attack through Echo Canyon into Utah. In October 1857, Mormons arrested six Californians traveling through Utah and charged them with being spies for the U.S. Army. He obtained an escort of soldiers commanded by Lt. James A. The government never reimbursed the outfitters for these losses, and in 1860 they formed the Pony Express to earn a government mail contract to keep them from falling into bankruptcy. Major General Stewart Van Vliet of the U.S. Army. White settlement of Utah altered crucial ecosystems and helped destroy Indian subsistence patterns which caused starvation. Meanwhile President Buchanan responded to rising criticism by publicly appointing two commissioners, Lazarus Powell and Ben McCulloch, to carry an amnesty proclamation to the Mormons. "[53] At the end of June 1858 the Army troops under General Johnston entered the Salt Lake Valley unhindered. 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