A doubtful Young invited the officer to a conference that Sunday at which Young’s blistering oratory cataloged Arnold K. Garr and Clark V. Johnson, Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, 1994, pp. Returning from Big Cottonwood Canyon, Young, who saw the federals as hostile, declared martial law and called home remote settlers and missionaries. He served in the territorial legislature and oversaw Mormon settlement along the Little Colorado River, where he established dairy, sawmill, and ranching operations. A driver started to rise. Mormon leader Brigham Young vowed to burn Salt Lake City rather than surrender to the Army. With white men among the raiding party, they convinced the settlers that Mormons cut a deal with the Paiutes to allow their safe passage, so long as they gave up their weapons. Federal officials complained of Young's dictatorial ways and the power of the church, while others were shocked at the Mormons' practice of polygamy. But by 1857, non-Mormon newspapers from New York to California had begun reporting that the Mormons were seeking the Indians' allegiance in case of a clash with the United States. By May 1, Smith and the new Utah Cavalry were marching to Independence Rock, 50 miles southwest of Casper, Wyoming, to join the U.S. Army’s 11th Ohio Cavalry in patrolling the telegraph lines. Acknowledging that the Mormons “have been lied about the worst of any people I ever saw,” Van Vliet gave his word that he would do his best to stop the troops bound for Utah. Buchanan, fearing his over-extended, ill-conceived expedition might lose to the Mormons, agreed. Now 27, he was a proven fighter, uncommonly brave, noble-hearted, and a faithful Latter-day Saint. In the 1857-1858 Mormon War, President James Buchanan sends U.S. troops to Utah Territory in the so-called "Utah Expedition." Utah, which was settled by the Mormans (Latter-day Saints) in the mid-1840s, was declared a US territory in 1850, and Brigham Young (1801-77), a Mormon leader was appointed governor. Their leader was Salt Lake City Mayor Abraham Smoot, who, while carrying the June mail east, had seen U.S. Army soldiers mustering at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant sentiment was gripping the country and national politics revolved around slavery. Young said his people would rather spend their lives in the mountains than endure further oppression. “And send 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. “It is my intention,” he said, “on arriving in Salt Lake City, to capture Brigham Young and the twelve apostles and execute them in a summary fashion.” Unable to discourage Alexander, Van Vliet raced east, hoping to convince President Buchanan to recall the expedition. Young asked Wells who might most effectively harry the attackers. The Presidency feared the Mormon community would not accept a non-Mormon governor, resulting in the suspension of mail to Utah and … At the territorial offices in Salt Lake City, Cumming discovered that the Mormons had not destroyed federal records but simply “secured” them against falsification. In 1886, defending his property near Tuba City, Arizona, he was killed by renegade Indians. Had there been transcontinental telegraphic … The fight lasted five days and the Baker-Fancher party began to run out of ammunition, water, and food. News of the stalled expedition galvanized opinion across the country against President Buchanan for sending an ill-advised army into the field. When a Mormon band plundered and burned the Taylor home, one young Mormon, Benjamin F Johnson, argued his fellow vigilantes into leaving a horse for a pregnant Mrs Taylor and her children to ride to safety. “He said the troops wouldn’t get to Salt Lake City, but goods and cattle would come.” Smith’s men laughed. They felled trees across the trail and trenched the canyon floor to obstruct wagons and wheeled cannon. By Firearms were manufactured or repaired by the Mormons, scythes wer… Mormon War Of 1857 - Bing Images. They reached Salt Lake City as the Saints were leaving town. War can be as much political construct as military exercise, and in July 1857 U.S. President James Buchanan needed political ammunition. A unanimous vote affirmed his counsel. This little known war resulted in the deaths of hundreds of men, women and children. Learning of the troops’ mission, Smoot had whipped his horse 1,000 miles home to warn his people. The Utes stalked the party, stealing livestock. 3. On July 25, 1857, the 10th anniversary celebration of the Mormons’ arrival in Salt Lake Valley was in full swing east of the city at the head of Big Cottonwood Canyon. History Coursework Mormons 34th anniversity Argentina declare war on Falklands oil show 10 more British Empire attitudes in Britain 1857-90 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. Buchanan was playing to his base. Mormons regarded Indians as descendants of a tribe of Israel, and after initial conflict had amicable relations with the Utes, Shoshone, and other natives. A decade ago, on the day they had arrived in the valley, he had told his followers, “If our enemies will give us ten years unmolested, we will ask no odds of them; we will never be driven again.”. Young had declared Utah Territory unsafe for non-Mormons, or “gentiles,” and most skirted his domain. Cumming convened a grand jury of soldiers and in absentia indicted Young and 60 subordinates for treason. In March 1858, recalling how during the Crimean War in 1854 the Russians had threatened to destroy Sevastopol if Britain and allies attacked the port, Young suggested to the Saints that they torch Salt Lake City if federals entered the valley. “When I was a boy on the farm in Illinois, there was a great deal of timber which we had to clear away,” Lincoln told the Mormon. It was too hard to split, too wet to burn, and too heavy to move, so we plowed around it. “You won’t have horses,” Smith said, smiling. We will not be governed one whit by the men that are sent here,” to which the congregation of 2,000 shouted assent. Mormon bishops acting as probate judges so often sidestepped territorial courts that a federal judge complained to Buchanan that the Mormons were in rebellion—harassing federal officials, ignoring and even subverting federal law, and destroying court records. Heber Kimball, Young’s firebrand counselor, was staring hard at Van Vliet when he said, “But let me tell you, the yoke is off our neck and it is on theirs, and the bow key is in. Once the men turned in their rifles, they were all slaughtered: men, women, and children. spring, Johnston had 5,500 soldiers, teamsters, and suppliers ready to invade Utah at the thaw. 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