As soon as the slaughter was completed the plundering began. Beside their wagons, horses, and cattle,* they had a great deal of other valuable property, the whole being estimated by Judge Cradlebaugh at from $60,000 to $70,000. When Lee got back to the main party, the searching of the bodies of the men for valuables began. "I did hold the hat awhile," he confesses, "but I got so sick that I had to give it to some other person." He says there were more than five hundred head of cattle, a large number of which the Indians killed or drove away, while Klingensmith, Haight, and Higbee, leaders in the enterprise, drove others to Salt Lake City and sold them. The horses and mules were divided in the same way. The Indians (and probably their white comrades) had made quick work with the effects of the women. Their bodies, young and old, were stripped naked, and left, objects of the ribald jests of their murderers. Lee says that in one place he counted the bodies of ten children less than sixteen years old.
When the Mormons had finished rifling the dead, all were called together and admonished by their chiefs to keep the massacre a secret from the whole world, not even letting their wives know of it, and all took the most solemn oath to stand by one another and declare that the killing was the work of Indians. Most of the party camped that night on the Meadows, but Lee and Higbee passed the night at Jacob Hamblin's ranch.
In the morning the Mormons went back to bury the dead. All these lay naked, "making the scene," says Lee, "one of the most loathsome and ghastly that can be imagined." The bodies were piled up in heaps in little depressions, and a pretence was made of covering them with dirt; but the ground was hard and their murderers had few tools, and as a consequence the wild beasts soon unearthed them, and the next spring the bones were scattered over the surface.
This work finished, the party, who had been joined during the night by Colonel Dame, Judge Lewis, Isaac C. Haight, and others of influence, held another council, at which God was thanked for delivering their enemies into their hands; another oath of secrecy was taken, and all voted that any person who divulged the story of the massacre should suffer death, but that Brigham Young should be informed of it. It was also voted, according to Lee, that Bishop Klingensmith should take charge of the plunder for the benefit of the church.
The story of this slaughter, to this point, except in minor particulars noted, is undisputed. No Mormon now denies that the emigrants were killed, or that Mormons participated largely in the slaughter. What the church authorities have sought to establish has been their own ignorance of it in advance, and their condemnation of it later. In examining this question we have, to assist us, the knowledge of the kind of government that Young had established over his people—his practical power of life and death; the fact that the Arkansans were passing south from Salt Lake City, and that their movements had been known to Young from the start and their treatment been subject to his direction; the failure of Young to make any effort to have the murderers punished, when a "crook of his finger" would have given them up to justice; the coincidence of the massacre with Young's threat to Captain Van Vliet, uttered on September 9, "If the issue continues, you may tell the government to stop all emigration across the continent, for the Indians will kill all who attempt it"; Young's failure to mention this "Indian outrage" in his report as superintendent of Indian affairs, and the silence of the Mormon press on the subject.* If we accept Lee's plausible theory that, at his second trial, the church gave him up as a sop to justice, and loosened the tongues of witnesses against him, this makes that part of the testimony in confirmation of Lee's statement, elicited from them, all the stronger.
Let us recall that Lee himself had been an active member of the church for nearly forty years, following it from Missouri to Utah, travelling penniless as a missionary at the bidding of his superiors, becoming a polygamist before he left Nauvoo, accepting in Utah the view that "Brigham spoke by direction of the God of heaven," and saying, as he stood by his coffin looking into the rifles of his executioners, "I believe in the Gospel that was taught in its purity by Joseph Smith in former days." How much Young trusted him is seen in the fact that, by Young's direction, he located the southern towns of Provo, Fillmore, Parowan, etc., was appointed captain of militia at Cedar City, was president of civil affairs at Harmony, probate judge of the county (before and after the massacre), a delegate to the convention which framed the constitution of the State of Deseret, a member of the territorial legislature (after the massacre), and "Indian farmer" of the district including the Meadows when the massacre occurred.
Lee's account of the steps leading up to the massacre and of what followed is, in brief, that, about ten days before it occurred, General George A. Smith, one of the Twelve, called on him at Washington City, and, in the course of their conversation, asked, "Suppose an emigrant train should come along through this southern country, making threats against our people and bragging of the part they took in helping kill our prophet, what do you think the brethren would do with them?" Lee replied: "You know the brethren are now under the influence of the 'Reformation,' and are still red-hot for the Gospel. The brethren believe the government wishes to destroy them. I really believe that any train of emigrants that may come through here will be attacked and probably all destroyed. Unless emigrants have a pass from Brigham Young or some one in authority, they will certainly never get safely through this country." Smith said that Major Haight had given him the same assurance. It was Lee's belief that Smith had been sent south in advance of the emigrants to prepare for what followed.
Two days before the first attack on the camp, Lee was summoned to Cedar City by Isaac Haight, president of that Stake, second only to Colonel Dame in church authority in southern Utah, and a lieutenant colonel in the militia under Dame. To make their conference perfectly secret, they took some blankets and passed the night in an old iron works. There Haight told Lee a long story about Captain Fancher's party, charging them with abusing the Mormons, burning fences, poisoning water, threatening to kill Brigham Young and all the apostles, etc. He said that unless preventive measures were taken, the whole Mormon population were likely to be butchered by troops which these people would bring back from California. Lee says that he believed all this. He was also told that, at a council held that day, it had been decided to arm the Indians and "have them give the emigrants a brush, and, if they killed part or all, so much the better." When asked who authorized this, Haight replied, "It is the will of all in authority," and Lee was told that he was to carry out the order. The intention then was to have the Indians do the killing without any white assistance. On his way home Lee met a large body of Indians who said they were ordered by Haight, Higbee, and Bishop Klingensmith, to kill and rob the emigrants, and wanted Lee to lead them. He told them to camp near the emigrants and wait for him; but they made the attack, as described, early Monday morning, without capturing the camp, and drove the whites into an intrenchment from which they could not dislodge them. Hence the change of plan.
During the early part of the operations, Lee says, a messenger had been sent to Brigham Young for orders. On Thursday evening two or three wagon loads of Mormons, all armed, arrived at Lee's camp in the Meadows, the party including Major Higbee of the Iron Militia, Bishop Klingensmith, and many members of the High Council. When all were assembled, Major Higbee reported that Haight's orders were that "all the emigrants must be put out of the way"; that they had no pass (Young could have given them one); that they were really a part of Johnston's army, and, if allowed to proceed to California, they would bring destruction on all the settlements in Utah. All knelt in prayer, after which Higbee gave Lee a paper ordering the destruction of all who could talk. After further prayers, Higbee said to Lee, "Brother Lee, I am ordered by President Haight to inform you that you shall receive a crown of celestial glory for your faithfulness, and your eternal joy shall be complete." Lee says that he was "much shaken" by this offer, because of his complete faith in the power of the priesthood to fulfil such promises. The outcome of the conference was the adoption of the plan of treachery that was so successfully carried out on Friday morning. The council had lasted so long that the party merely had time for breakfast before Bateman set out for the camp with his white flag.*
Several days after the massacre, Haight told Lee that the messenger sent to Young for instructions had returned with orders to let the emigrants pass in safety, and that he (Haight) had countermanded the order for the massacre, but his messenger "did not go to the Meadows at all." All parties were evidently beginning to realize the seriousness of their crime. Lee was then directed by the council to go to Young with a verbal report, Haight again promising him a celestial reward if he would implicate more of the brethren than necessary in his talk with Young.* On reaching Salt Lake City, Lee gave Young the full particulars of the massacre, step by step. Young remarked, "Isaac [Haight] has sent me word that, if they had killed every man, woman, and child in the outfit, there would not have been a drop of innocent blood shed by the brethren; for they were a set of murderers, robbers, and thieves."
When the tale was finished, Young said: "This is the most unfortunate affair that ever befell the church. I am afraid of treachery among the brethren who were there. If any one tells this thing so that it will become public, it will work us great injury. I want you to understand now that you are NEVER to tell this again, not even to Heber C. Kimball. IT MUST be kept a secret among ourselves. When you get home, I want you to sit down and write a long letter, and give me an account of the affair, charging it to the Indians. You sign the letter as farmer to the Indians, and direct it to me as Indian agent. I can then make use of such a letter to keep off all damaging and troublesome inquirers." Lee did so, and his letter was put in evidence at his trial.
Lee says that Young then dismissed him for the day, directing him to call again the next morning, and that Young then said to him: "I have made that matter a subject of prayer. I went right to God with it, and asked him to take the horrid vision from my sight if it was a righteous thing that my people had done in killing those people at the Mountain Meadows. God answered me, and at once the vision was removed. I have evidence from God that he has overruled it all for good, and the action was a righteous one and well intended."*
When Lee was in Salt Lake City as a member of the constitutional convention, the next winter, Young treated him, at his house and elsewhere, with all the friendliness of old. No one conversant with the extent of Young's authority will doubt the correctness of Lee's statement that "if Brigham Young had wanted one man or fifty men or five hundred men arrested, all he would have had to do would be to say so, and they would have been arrested instantly. There was no escape for them if he ordered their arrest. Every man who knows anything of affairs in Utah at that time knows this is so."
At the second trial of Lee a deposition by Brigham Young was read, Young pleading ill health as an excuse for not taking the stand. He admitted that "counsel and advice were given to the citizens not to sell grain to the emigrants for their stock," but asserted that this did not include food for the parties themselves. He also admitted that Lee called on him and began telling the story of the massacre, but asserted that he directed him to stop, as he did not want his feelings harrowed up with a recital of these details. He gave as an excuse for not bringing the guilty to justice, or at least making an investigation, the fact that a new governor was on his way, and he did not know how soon he would arrive. As Young himself was keeping this governor out by armed force, and declaring that he alone should fill that place, the value of his excuse can be easily estimated. Hamblin, at Lee's trial, testified that he told Brigham Young and George A. Smith "everything I could" about the massacre, and that Young said to him, "As soon as we can get a court of justice we will ferret this thing out, but till then don't say anything about it."
Both Knight and McMurphy testified that they took their teams to Mountain Meadows under compulsion. Nephi Johnson, another participant, when asked whether he acted under compulsion, replied, "I didn't consider it safe for me to object," and when compelled to answer the question whether any person had ever been injured for not obeying such orders, he replied, "Yes, sir, they had."
Some letters published in the Corinne (Utah) Reporter, in the early seventies, signed "Argus," directly accused Young of responsibility for this massacre. Stenhouse discovered that the author had been for thirty years a Mormon, a high priest in the church, a holder of responsible civil positions in the territory, and he assured Stenhouse that "before a federal court of justice, where he could be protected, he was prepared to give the evidence of all that he asserted." "Argus" declared that when the Arkansans set out southward from the Jordan, a courier preceded them carrying Young's orders for non-intercourse; that they were directed to go around Parowan because it was feared that the military preparations at that place, Colonel Dame's headquarters, might arouse their suspicion; and he points out that the troops who killed the emigrants were called out and prepared for field operations, just as the territorial law directed, and were subject to the orders of Young, their commander-in-chief.
Not until the so-called Poland Bill of 1874 became a law was any one connected with the Mountain Meadows Massacre even indicted. Then the grand jury, under direction of Judge Boreman, of the Second Judicial District of Utah, found indictments against Lee, Dame, Haight, Higbee, Klingensmith, and others. Lee, who had remained hidden for some years in the canyon of the Colorado,* was reported to be in south Utah at the time, and Deputy United States Marshal Stokes, to whom the warrant for his arrest was given, set out to find him. Stokes was told that Lee had gone back to his hiding-place, but one of his assistants located the accused in the town of Panguitch, and there they found him concealed in a log pen near a house. His trial began at Beaver, on July 12, 1875. The first jury to try his case disagreed, after being out three days, eight Mormons and the Gentile foreman voting for acquittal, and three Gentiles for conviction. The second trial, which took place at Beaver, in September, 1876, resulted in a verdict of "guilty of murder in the first degree." Beadle says of the interest which the church then took in his conviction: "Daniel H. Wells went to Beaver, furnished some new evidence, coached the witnesses, attended to the spiritual wants of the jury, and Lee was convicted. He could not raise the money ($1000) necessary to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, although he solicited it by subscription from wealthy leading Mormons for several days under guard."**
Criminals in Utah convicted of a capital crime were shot, and this was Lee's fate. It was decided that the execution should take place at the scene of the massacre, and there the sentence of the court was carried out on March 23, 1877. The coffin was made of rough pine boards after the arrival of the prisoner, and while he sat looking at the workmen a short distance away. When all the arrangements were completed, the marshal read the order of the court and gave Lee an opportunity to speak. A photographer being ready to take a picture of the scene, Lee asked that a copy of the photograph be given to each of three of his wives, naming them. He then stood up, having been seated on his coffin, and spoke quietly for some time. He said that he was sacrificed to satisfy the feelings of others; that he died "a true believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ," but did not believe everything then taught by Brigham Young. He asserted that he "did nothing designedly wrong in this unfortunate affair," but did everything in his power to save the emigrants. Five executioners then stepped forward, and, when their rifles exploded, Lee fell dead on his coffin.
Major (afterward General) Carlton, returning from California in 1859, where he had escorted a paymaster, passed through Mountain Meadows, and, finding many bones of the victims still scattered around, gathered them, and erected over them a cairn of stones, on one of which he had engraved the words: "Here lie the bones of 120 men, women, and children from Arkansas, murdered on the 10th day of September, 1857." In the centre of the cairn was placed a beam, some fifteen feet high, with a cross-tree, on which was painted: "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I will repay it." It was said that this was removed by order of Brigham Young.*
With the return of the people to their homes, the peaceful avocations of life in Utah were resumed. The federal judges received assignments to their districts, and the other federal officers took possession of their offices. Chief Justice Eckles selected as his place of residence Camp Floyd, as General Johnston's camp was named; Judge Sinclair's district included Salt Lake City, and Judge Cradlebaugh's the southern part of the state.
Judge Cradlebaugh, who conceived it to be a judge's duty to see that crime was punished, took steps at once to secure indictments in connection with the notorious murders committed during the "Reformation," and we have seen in a former chapter with what poor results. He also personally visited the Mountain Meadows, talked with whites and Indians cognizant with the massacre, and, on affidavits sworn to before him, issued warrants for the arrest of Haight, Higbee, Lee, and thirty-four others as participants therein. In order to hold court with any prospect of a practical result, a posse of soldiers was absolutely necessary, even for the protection of witnesses; but Governor Cumming, true to the reputation he had secured as a Mormon ally, declared that he saw no necessity for such use of federal troops, and requested their removal from Provo, where the court was in session; and when the judge refused to grant his request, he issued a proclamation in which he stated that the presence of the military had a tendency "to disturb the peace and subvert the ends of justice." Before this dispute had proceeded farther, General Johnston received an order from Secretary Floyd, approved by Attorney General Black, directing that in future he should instruct his troops to act as a posse comitatus only on the written application of Governor Cumming. Thus did the church win one of its first victories after the reestablishment of "peace."
An incident in Salt Lake City at this time might have brought about a renewal of the conflict between federal and Mormon forces. The engraver of a plate with which to print counterfeit government drafts, when arrested, turned state's evidence and pointed out that the printing of the counterfeits had been done over the "Deseret Store" in Salt Lake City, which was on Young's premises. United States Marshal Dotson secured the plate, and with it others, belonging to Young, on which Deseret currency had been printed. This seemed to bring the matter so close to Young that officers from Camp Floyd called on Governor Cumming to secure his cooperation in arresting Young should that step be decided on. The governor refused with indignation to be a party to what he called "creeping through walls," that is, what he considered a roundabout way to secure Young's arrest; and, when it became rumored in the city that General Johnston would use his troops without the governor's cooperation Cumming directed Wells, the commander of the Nauvoo Legion, who had so recently been in rebellion against the government, to hold his militia in readiness for orders. Wells is quoted by Bancroft as saying that he told Cumming, "We would not let them [the soldiers] come; that if they did come, they would never get out alive if we could help it."* The decision of the Washington authorities in favor of Governor Cumming as against the federal judges once more restored "peace." The only sufferer from this incident was Marshal Dotson, against whom Young, in his probate court, obtained a judgment of $2600 for injury to the Deseret currency plates, and a house belonging to Dotson, renting for $500 year, was sold to satisfy this judgment, and bought in by an agent of Young.
To complete the story of this forgery, it may be added that Brewer, the engraver who turned state's evidence, was shot down in Main Street, Salt Lake City, one evening, in company with J. Johnson, a gambler who had threatened to shoot a Mormon editor. A man who was a boy at the time gave J. H. Beadle the particulars of this double murder as he received it from the person who lighted a brazier to give the assassin a sure aim.* The coroner's jury the next day found that the men shot one another!
Soon all public attention throughout the country was centred in the coming conflict in the Southern states. In May, 1860, the troops at Camp Floyd departed for New Mexico and Arizona, only a small guard being left under command of Colonel Cooke. In May, 1861, Governor Cumming left Salt Lake City for the east so quietly that most of the people there did not hear of his departure until they read it in the local newspapers. He soon after appeared in Washington, and after some delay obtained a pass which permitted his passage through the Confederate lines. When the Southern rebellion became a certainty, Colonel Cooke and his force were ordered to march to the East in the autumn, after selling vast quantities of stores in Camp Floyd, and destroying the supplies and ammunition which they could not take away. Such a slaughter of prices as then occurred was, perhaps, without precedent. It was estimated that goods costing $4,000,000 brought only $100,000. Young had preached non-intercourse with the Gentile merchants who followed the army, but he could not lose so great an opportunity as this, when, for instance, flour costing $28.40 per sack sold for 52 cents, and he invested $4,000. "For years after," says Stenhouse, "the 'regulation blue pants' were more familiar to the eye, in the Mormon settlements, than the Valley Tan Quaker gray."
When Governor Cumming left the territory, the secretary, Francis H. Wooton, became acting governor. He made himself very offensive to the administration at Washington, and President Lincoln appointed Frank Fuller, of New Hampshire, secretary of the territory in his place, and Mr. Fuller proceeded at once to Salt Lake City, where he became acting governor. Later in the year the other federal offices in Utah were filled by the appointment of John W. Dawson, of Indiana, as governor, John F. Kinney as chief justice, and R. P. Flenniken and J. R. Crosby as associate justices.
The selection of Dawson as governor was something more than a political mistake. He was the editor and publisher of a party newspaper at Fort Wayne, Indiana, a man of bad morals, and a meddler in politics, who gave the Republican managers in his state a great deal of trouble. The undoubted fact seems to be that he was sent out to Utah on the recommendation of Indiana politicians of high rank, who wanted to get rid of him, and who gave no attention whatever to the requirements of his office. Arriving at his post early in December, 1861, the new governor incurred the ill will of the Mormons almost immediately by vetoing a bill for a state convention passed by the territorial legislature, and a memorial to Congress in favor of the admission of the territory as a state (which Acting Governor Fuller approved). They were very glad, therefore, to take advantage of any mistake he might make; and he almost at once gave them their opportunity, by making improper advances to a woman whom he had employed to do some work. She, as Dawson expressed it to one of his colleagues, "was fool enough to tell of it," and Dawson, learning immediately that the Mormons meditated a severe vengeance, at once made preparations for his departure.
The Deseret News of January 1, 1862, in an editorial on the departure of the governor, said that for eight or ten days he had been confined to his room and reported insane; that, when he left, he took with him his physician and four guards, "to each of whom, as reported last evening, $100 is promised in the event that they guard him faithfully, and prevent his being killed or becoming qualified for the office of chamberlain in the King's palace, till he shall have arrived at and passed the eastern boundary of the territory." After indicating that he had committed an offence against a lady which, under the common law, if enforced, "would have caused him to have bitten the dust," the News added: "Why he selected the individuals named for his bodyguard no one with whom we have conversed has been able to determine. That they will do him justice, and see him safely out of the territory, there can be no doubt."
The hints thus plainly given were carried out. Beadle's account says, "He was waylaid in Weber canyon, and received shocking and almost emasculating injuries from three Mormon lads."* Stenhouse says: "He was dreadfully maltreated by some Mormon rowdies who assumed, 'for the fun of the thing,' to be the avengers of an alleged insult. Governor Dawson had been betrayed into an offence, and his punishment was heavy."** Mrs. Waite says that the Mormons laid a trap for the governor, as they had done for Steptoe; but the evidence indicates that, in Dawson's case, the victim was himself to blame for the opportunity he gave.
Stenhouse says that the Mormon authorities were very angry because of the aggravated character of the punishment dealt out to the governor, as they simply wanted him sent away disgraced, and that they had all his assailants shot. This is practically confirmed by the Mormon historian Whitney, who says that one of the assailants was a relative of the woman insulted, and the others "merely drunken desperadoes and robbers who," he explains, "were soon afterward arrested for their cowardly and brutal assault upon the fleeing official. One of them, Lot Huntington, was shot by Deputy Sheriff O. P. Rockwell [so often Young's instrument in such cases] on January 26, in Rush Valley, while attempting to escape from the officers, and two others, John P. Smith and Moroni Clawson, were killed during a similar attempt next day by the police of Salt Lake City. Their confederates were tried and duly punished."*
The departure of Governor Dawson left the executive office again in charge of Secretary Fuller. Early in 1862 the Indians threatened the overland mail route, and Fuller, having received instruction from Montgomery Blair to keep the route open at all hazards, called for thirty men to serve for thirty days. These were supplied by the Mormons. In the following April, the Indian troubles continuing, Governor Fuller, Chief Justice Kinney, and officers of the Overland Mail and Pacific Telegraph Companies united in a letter to Secretary Stanton asking that Superintendent of Indian Affairs Doty be authorized to raise a regiment of mounted rangers in the territory, with officers appointed by him, to keep open communication. These petitioners, observes Tullidge, "had overrated the federal power in Utah, as embodied in themselves, for such a service, when they overlooked ex-Governor Young" and others.* Young had no intention of permitting any kind of a federal force to supplant his Legion. He at once telegraphed to the Utah Delegate in Washington that the Utah militia (alias Nauvoo Legion) were competent to furnish the necessary protection. As a result of this presentation of the matter, Adjutant General L. L. Thomas, on April 28, addressed a reply to the petition for protection, not to any of the federal officers in Utah, but to "Mr. Brigham Young," saying, "By express direction of the President of the United States you are hereby authorized to raise, arm, and equip one company of cavalry for ninety days' service."* The order for carrying out these instructions was placed by the head of the Nauvoo Legion, "General" Wells—who ordered the burning of the government trains in 1857—in the hands of Major Lot Smith, who carried out that order!
Judges Flenniken and Crosby took their departure from the territory a month later than Dawson, and Thomas J. Drake of Michigan and Charles B. Waite of Illinois* were named as their successors, and on March 31 Stephen S. Harding of Milan, Indiana, a lawyer, was appointed governor. The new officers arrived in July.
At this time the Mormons were again seeking admission for the State of Deseret. They had had a constitution prepared for submission to Congress, had nominated Young for governor and Kimball for lieutenant governor, and the legislature, in advance, had chosen W. H. Hooper and George Q. Cannon the United States senators. But Utah was not then admitted, while, on the other hand, an anti-polygamy bill (to be described later) was passed, and signed by President Lincoln on July 2.
During the month preceding the arrival of Governor Harding, another tragedy had been enacted in the territory. Among the church members was a Welshman named Joseph Morris, who became possessed of the belief (which, as we have seen, had afflicted brethren from time to time) that he was the recipient of "revelations." One of these "revelations" having directed him to warn Young that he was wandering from the right course, he did this in person, and received a rebuke so emphatic that it quite overcame him. He betook himself, therefore, to a place called Kington Fort, on the Weber River, thirty-five miles north of Salt Lake City, and there he found believers in his prophetic gifts in the local Bishop, and quite a settlement of men and women, almost all foreigners. Young's refusal to satisfy the demand for published "revelations" gave some standing to a fanatic like Morris, who professed to supply that long-felt want, and he was so prolific in his gift that three clerks were required to write down what was revealed to him. Among his announcements were the date of the coming of Christ and the necessity of "consecrating" their property in a common fund. Having made a mistake in the date selected for Christ's appearance, the usual apostates sprang up, and, when they took their departure, they claimed the right to carry with them their share of the common effects. In the dispute that ensued, the apostates seized some Morrisite grain on the way to mill, and the Morrisites captured some apostates, and took them prisoners to Kington Fort.
Out of these troubles came the issue of a writ by Judge Kinney for the release of the prisoners, the defiance of this writ by the Morrisites, and a successful appeal to the governor for the use of the militia to enable the marshal to enforce the writ. On the morning of June 13 the Morrisites discovered an armed force, in command of General R. T. Burton, the marshal's chief deputy, on the mountain that overlooked their settlement, and received from Burton an order to surrender in thirty minutes. Morris announced a "revelation," declaring that the Lord would not allow his people to be destroyed. When the thirty minutes had expired, without further warning the Mormon force fired on the Morrisites with a cannon, killing two women outright, and sending the others to cover. But the devotees were not weak-hearted. For three days they kept up a defence, and it was not until their ammunition was exhausted that they raised a white flag. When Burton rode into their settlement and demanded Morris's surrender, that fanatic replied, "Never." Burton at once shot him dead, and then badly wounded John Banks, an English convert and a preacher of eloquence, who had joined Morris after rebelling against Young's despotism. Banks died "suddenly" that evening. Burton finished his work by shooting two women, one of whom dared to condemn his shooting of Morris and Banks, and the other for coming up to him crying.*
The bodies of Morris and Banks were carried to Salt Lake City and exhibited there. No one—President of the church or federal officer—took any steps at that time to bring their murderers to justice. Sixteen years later District Attorney Van Zile tried Burton for this massacre, but the verdict was acquittal, as it has been in all these famous cases except that of John D. Lee. Ninety-three Morrisites, few of whom could speak English, were arraigned before Judge Kinney and placed under bonds. In the following March seven of the Morrisites were convicted of killing members of the posse, and sentenced by Judge Kinney to imprisonment for from five to fifteen years each, while sixty-six others were fined $100 each for resisting the posse. Governor Harding immediately pardoned all the accused, in response to a numerously signed petition. Beadle says that Bishop Wooley advised the governor to be careful about granting these pardons, as "our people feel it would be an outrage, and if it is done, they might proceed to violence"; but that Bill Hickman, the Danite captain, rode thirty miles to sign the petition, saying that he was "one Mormon who was not afraid to sign." The grand jury that had indicted the Morrisites made a presentment to Judge Kinney, in which they said, "We present his Excellency Stephen S. Harding, governor of Utah, as we would an unsafe bridge over a dangerous stream, jeopardizing the lives of all those who pass over it; or as we would a pestiferous cesspool in our district, breathing disease and death." And the chief justice assured this jury that they addressed him "in no spirit of malice," and asked them to accept his thanks "for your cooperation in the support of my efforts to maintain and enforce the law." It is to the credit of the powers at Washington that this judge was soon afterward removed.*
The attitude of the Mormons toward the government at the outbreak of hostilities with the Southern states was distinctly disloyal. The Deseret News of January 2, 1861, said, "The indications are that the breach which has been effected between the North and South will continue to widen, and that two or more nations will be formed out of the fragmentary portions of the once glorious republic." The Mormons in England had before that been told in the Millennial Star (January 28, 1860) that "the Union is now virtually destroyed." The sermons in Salt Lake City were of the same character. "General" Wells told the people on April 6, 1861, that the general government was responsible for their expulsion from Missouri and Illinois, adding: "So far as we are concerned, we should have been better without a government than such a one. I do not think there is a more corrupt government upon the face of the earth."* Brigham Young on the same day said: "Our present President, what is his strength? It is like a rope of sand, or like a rope made of water. He is as weak as water.... I feel disgraced in having been born under a government that has so little power, disposition and influence for truth and right. Shame, shame on the rulers of this nation. I feel myself disgraced to hail such men as my countrymen."**
Elder G. A. Smith, on the same occasion, railing against the non-Mormon clergy, said, "Mr. Lincoln now is put into power by that priestly influence; and the presumption is, should he not find his hands full by the secession of the Southern States, the spirit of priestly craft would force him, in spite of his good wishes and intentions, to put to death, if it was in his power, every man that believes in the divine mission of Joseph Smith."* On August 31, 1862, Young quoted Smith's prediction of a rebellion beginning in South Carolina, and declared that "the nation that has slain the prophet of God will be broken in pieces like a potter's vessel," boasting that the Mormon government in Utah was "the best earthly government that was ever framed by man."
Tullidge, discussing in 1876 the attitude of the Mormon church toward the South, said:—
"With the exception of the slavery question and the policy of secession, the South stood upon the same ground that Utah had stood upon just previously.... And here we reach the heart of the Mormon policy and aims. Secession is not in it. Their issues are all inside the Union. The Mormon prophecy is that that people are destined to save the Union and preserve the constitution.... The North, which had just risen to power through the triumph of the Republican party, occupied the exact position toward the South that Buchanan's administration had held toward Utah. And the salient points of resemblance between the two cases were so striking that Utah and the South became radically associated in the Chicago platform that brought the Republican party into office. Slavery and polygamy—these 'twin relics of barbarism'—were made the two chief planks of the party platform. Yet neither of these were the real ground of the contest. It continues still, and some of the soundest men of the times believe that it will be ultimately referred in a revolution so general that nearly every man in America will become involved in the action.... The Mormon view of the great national controversy, then, is that the Southern States should have done precisely what Utah did, and placed themselves on the defensive ground of their rights and institutions as old as the Union. Had they placed themselves under the political leadership of Brigham Young, they would have triumphed, for their cause was fundamentally right; their secession alone was the national crime."**
Knowledge of the spirit which animated the Saints induced the Secretary of War to place them under military supervision, and in May, 1862, the Third California Infantry and a part of the Second California Cavalry were ordered to Utah. The commander of this force was Colonel P. E. Connor, who had a fine record in the Mexican War, and who was among the first, at the outbreak of the Rebellion, to tender his services to the government in California, where he was then engaged in business. On assuming command of the military district of Utah, which included Utah and Nevada, Colonel Connor issued an order directing commanders of posts, camps, and detachments to arrest and imprison, until they took the oath of allegiance, "all persons who from this date shall be guilty of uttering treasonable sentiments against the government," adding, "Traitors shall not utter treasonable sentiments in this district with impunity, but must seek some more genial soil, or receive the punishment they so richly deserve."
When Connor's force arrived at Fort Crittenden (the Camp Floyd of General Johnston), the Mormons supposed that it would make its camp there. Persons having a pecuniary interest in the reoccupation of the old site, where they wanted to sell to the government the buildings they had bought for a song, tried hard to induce Colonel Connor to accept their view, even warning him of armed Mormon opposition to his passage through Salt Lake City. But he was not a man to be thus deterred. Among the rumors that reached him was one that Bill Hickman, the Danite chief, was offering to bet $500 in Salt Lake City that the colonel could not cross the river Jordan. Colonel Connor is said to have sent back the reply that he "would cross the river Jordan if hell yawned below him."
On Saturday, October 18, Connor marched twenty miles toward the Mormon capital, and the next day crossed the Jordan at 2 P.M., without finding a person in sight on the eastern shore. The command, knowing that the Nauvoo Legion outnumbered them vastly, and ignorant of the real intention of the Mormon leaders, advanced with every preparation to meet resistance. They were, as an accompanying correspondent expressed it, "six hundred miles of sand from reinforcements." The conciliatory policy of so many federal officers in Utah would have induced Colonel Connor to march quietly around the city, and select some place for his camp where it would not offend Mormon eyes. What he did do was to halt his command when the city was two miles distant, form his column with an advance guard of cavalry and a light battery, the infantry and commissary wagons coming next, and in this order, to the bewilderment of the Mormon authorities, march into the principal street, with his two bands playing, to Emigrants' Square, and so to Governor Harding's residence.
The only United States flag displayed on any building that day was the governor's. The sidewalks were packed with men, women, and children, but not a cheer was heard. In front of the governor's residence the battalion was formed in two lines, and the governor, standing in the buggy in which he had ridden out to meet them, addressed them, saying that their mission was one of peace and security, and urging them to maintain the strictest discipline. The troops, Colonel Connor leading, gave three cheers for the country and the flag, and three for Governor Harding, and then took up their march to the slope at the base of Wahsatch Mountain, where the Camp Douglas of to-day is situated. This camp was in sight of the Mormon city, and Young's residence was in range of its guns. Thus did Brigham's will bend before the quiet determination of a government officer who respected his government's dignity.
But the Mormon spirit was to be still further tested. On December 8 Governor Harding read his first message to the territorial legislature. It began with a tribute to the industry and enterprise of the people; spoke of the progress of the war, and of the application of the territory for statehood, and in this connection said, "I am sorry to say that since my sojourn amongst you I have heard no sentiments, either publicly or privately expressed, that would lead me to believe that much sympathy is felt by any considerable number of your people in favor of the government of the United States, now struggling for its very existence." He declared that the demand for statehood should not be entertained unless it was "clearly shown that there is a sufficient population" and "that the people are loyal to the federal government and the laws." He recommended the taking of a correct census to settle the question of population. All these utterances were gall and wormwood to a body of Mormon lawmakers, but worse was to come. Congress having passed an act "to prevent and punish the practice of polygamy in the territories," the governor naturally considered it his duty to call attention to the matter. Prevising that he desired to do so "in no offensive manner or unkind spirit," he pointed out that the practice was founded on no territorial law, resting merely on custom; and laid, down the principle that "no community can happily exist with an institution so important as that of marriage wanting in all those qualities that make it homogeneal with institutions and laws of neighboring civilized countries having the same spirit." He spoke of the marriage of a mother and her daughter to the same man as "no less a marvel in morals than in matters of taste," and warned them against following the recommendation of high church authorities that the federal law be disregarded. This message, according to the Mormon historian, was "an insult offered to their representatives."*