The Utah War (1857-1858)
The fears that Mormons were building an independent kingdom in the west grew with every federal official sent to Utah. President Buchanan sent troops to the Utah Territory in 1857 to install a new governor in Utah, Alfred Cummings. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, a former Mormon ally, backed President Buchanan’s decision to send troops to the territory: “the Mormon Government, with Brigham Young at its head, is now forming alliance with Indian tribes in Utah.” Mormon actions affirmed Douglas’s statement. As the US army began their journey west, Brigham Young gave orders to one of his lieutenants to tell the Native Americans if the army crossed their path “that if they permit our enemies to kill us they will kill them also.” In addition, Jake Arapeen, the new chief of the Utes, pledged his support of the Mormon cause in a letter to Brigham Young “but if the americans come here and want to drive the Mormons from this land I will geather all the indians from the sorounding mountains and fight them untill they will be glad for peace, why cant they go home and let us alone.” These were mostly empty words on both sides.
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The news of troops coming to Utah caused Mormons to fear that the troops were actually coming to force them out of the territory, as had been done to them several times before. Mormons had been forcefully removed from Illinois and Missouri in the 1830s for difficulties caused by the Mormon religion in these regions. This time though, the Mormons had no intention of leaving their new home. A few months after Buchanan sent troops to the territory with the new governor, Young issued a proclamation:
CITIZENS OF UTAH, we are invaded by a hostile force, who are evidently assailing us to accomplish our overthrow and destruction… Our duty to our country, our holy religion, our God, to freedom and liberty, requires that we not quietly stand still and see these fetters forged around us which are calculated to enslave, and bring us in subjection to an unlawful military despotism.
Young had essentially called the citizens of Utah to arms against the United States. Steps were immediately taken to bar anyone from entering Utah territory. Young also gave orders to conserve food and not to give any grain “to any Gentile merchant or temporary sojourner.” The 3,000 members of the Mormon Nauvoo Legion were mustered into full time service.
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Brigham Young also gave the Latter-day Saints instructions to gather in forts built around larger towns and to move south. In a special conference, instructions were given to the Saints about the move south. The Saints were broken into three groups: those in southern Utah who would gather into larger towns and send aid to those in northern Utah who had to move; those in northern Utah who would stay behind to guard property, take care of crops, and set fire to homes if needed; and the approximately 30,000 people living north of Utah Valley that would move south.
Daniel H. Wells, the lieutenant-general of the Nauvoo Legion, helped lead troops against the Army. The legion was mostly occupied with blocking the main passage into Utah so troops would have a harder time getting to the area. They also raided convoys of federal soldiers along their way to the territory, slowing their passage.
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In total, Major Lot Smith’s “Mormon Raiders” destroyed three freight trains, comprised of 74 large freight wagons. The supplies destroyed included “68,832 rations of dessicated vegetables, 4 tons of bread, 4 tons of coffee, 84 tons of flour, 46 tons of bacon, 3,000 gallons of vinegar, and 7 tons of soap -- enough to last the entire expedition three months.” The raiders also set the grass on fire by the wagons, which killed many of the expedition’s animals and destroyed the remaining grazing lands. Winter then came upon the army, causing the federal troops to hole up for the winter of 1857.
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The winter of 1857-58 was a difficult one for the army. Buchanan sent more troops and supplies to Utah, which met up with the rest of the army in the spring of 1858. It seemed that the Mormons were about to be driven from their land once again. Young turned to Thomas Kane, a political ally of the Mormons. Kane rushed to Utah to try to mediate a compromise between the​ US soldiers and the Mormons. Kane arrived in February of 1858 and began to try to make peace. Buchanan issued an ultimatum to the Mormons which read, “I offer now a free and full pardon to all who will submit themselves to the authority of the federal government. If you refuse to accept it, let the consequences fall on your own heads. But I conjust you to pause deliberately, and reflect well, before you reject this tender of peace and good will.” Brigham Young and the elders of the Mormon church eventually agreed to this pardon, and even accepted Albert Cumming as the governor. Camp Floyd was set up the same year so the federal government could keep an eye on the Mormons.
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1. “Comments upon the Remarks of Hon. Stephen Arnold Douglas,” Deseret News, 2 September 1857, 204-207.
2. Young to Andrew Cunningham, 4 August 1857, Brigham Young Collection, Church History Department.
3. Arapeen to Young, 28 February 1858, Brigham Young Collection, Church History Department. Written through an unknown interpreter.
4. “Proclamation by the Governor,” Buchanan, Utah Expedition, 34-35.
5. Ibid.
6. Brooks, The Mountain Meadows Massacre, 13.
7. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 185-86.
8. Ibid, 178.
9. Young to Wells, Rich and Grant, 18 November 1857, Brigham Young Collection, Church History Department.
10. President James Buchanan, 6 April 1858.
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Figure 1. "The Bivouac," Harper's Weekly, April 24, 1858, 265, https://archive.org/details/harpersweekl00bonn/page/264.
Figure 2. "An Army Train Crossing the Plains," Harper's Weekly, April 24, 1858, 264, https://archive.org/details/harpersweekl00bonn/page/264.
Figure 3. "The March Across the Plains in a Sow-Storm," Harper's Weekly, April 24, 1858, 265, https://archive.org/details/harpersweekl00bonn/page/264.