An incident of the winter was the expedition of Captain Randolph B.
Marcy across the Uinta Mountains to New Mexico, with two guides and thirty-five volunteer companions, to secure needed animals. The story of his march is one of the most remarkable on record, the company pressing on, even after Indian guides refused to accompany them to what they said was certain death, living for days only on the meat supplied by half-starved mules, and beating a path through deep snow. This march continued from November 27 to January 10, when, with the loss of only one man, they reached the valley of the Rio del Norte, where supplies were obtained from Fort Ma.s.sachusetts. Captain Marcy started back on March 17, selecting a course which took him past Long"s and Pike"s Peaks. He reached Camp Scott on June 8, with about fifteen hundred horses and mules, escorted by five companies of infantry and mounted riflemen.
During the winter Governor c.u.mming sent to Brigham Young a proclamation notifying him of the arrival of the new territorial officers, and a.s.suring the people that he would resort to the military posse only in case of necessity. Judge Eckles held a session of the United States District Court at Camp Scott on December 30, and the grand jury of that court found indictments for treason, resting on Young"s proclamation and Wells"s instructions, against Young, Kimball, Wells, Taylor, Grant, Locksmith, Rockwell, Hickman, and many others, but of course no arrests were made.
Meanwhile, at Washington, preparations were making to sustain the federal authority in Utah as soon as spring opened.* Congress made an appropriation, and authorized the enlistment of two regiments of volunteers; three thousand regular troops and two batteries were ordered to the territory, and General Scott was directed to sail for the Pacific coast with large powers. But General Scott did not sail, the army contracts created a scandal,** and out of all this preparation for active hostilities came peace without the firing of a shot; out of all this open defiance and vilification of the federal administration by the Mormon church came abject surrender by the administration itself.
* For the correspondence concerning the camp during the winter of 1858, see Sen. Doc., 2d Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II.
** Colonel Albert G. Brown, Jr., in his account of the Utah Expedition in the Atlantic Monthly for April, 1859, said: "To the shame of the administration these gigantic contracts, involving an amount of more than $6,000,000, were distributed with a view to influence votes in the House of Representatives upon the Lecompton Bill. Some of the lesser ones, such as those for furnishing mules, dragoon horses, and forage, were granted arbitrarily to relatives or friends of members who were wavering upon that question."
The princ.i.p.al contract, that for the transportation of all the supplies, involving for the year 1858 the amount of $4,500,000, was granted, without advertis.e.m.e.nt or subdivision, to a firm in Western Missouri, whose members had distinguished themselves in the effort to make Kansas a slave state, and now contributed liberally to defray the election expenses of the Democratic party."
CHAPTER XIV. -- COLONEL KANE"S MISSION
When Major Van Vliet returned from Utah to Washington with Young"s defiant ultimatum, he was accompanied by J. M. Bernhisel, the territorial Delegate to Congress, who was allowed to retain his seat during the entire "war," a motion for his expulsion, introduced soon after Congress met, being referred to a committee which never reported on it, the debate that arose only giving further proof of the ignorance of the lawmakers about Mormon history, Mormon government, and Mormon ambition.
In Washington Bernhisel was soon in conference with Colonel T. L.
Kane, that efficient ally of the Mormons, who had succeeded so well in deceiving President Fillmore. In his characteristically wily manner, Kane proposed himself to the President as a mediator between the federal authorities and the Mormon leaders.* At that early date Buchanan was not so ready for a compromise as he soon became, and the Cabinet did not entertain Kane"s proposition with any enthusiasm. But Kane secured from the President two letters, dated December 3.** The first stated, in regard to Kane, "You furnish the strongest evidence of your desire to serve the Mormons by undertaking so laborious a trip," and that "nothing but pure philanthropy, and a strong desire to serve the Mormon people, could have dictated a course so much at war with your private interests." If Kane presented this credential to Young on his arrival in Salt Lake City, what a glorious laugh the two conspirators must have had over it! The President went on to reiterate the views set forth in his last annual message, and to say: "I would not at the present moment, in view of the hostile att.i.tude they have a.s.sumed against the United States, send any agent to visit them on behalf of the government." The second letter stated that Kane visited Utah from his own sense of duty, and commended him to all officers of the United States whom he might meet.
* H. H. Bancroft ("History of Utah," p. 529) accepts the ridiculous Mormon a.s.sertion that Buchanan was compelled to change his policy toward the Mormons by unfavorable comments "throughout the United States and throughout Europe." Stenhouse says ("Rocky Mountain Saints,"
p. 386): "That the initiatory steps for the settlement of the Utah difficulties were made by the government, as is so constantly repeated by the Saints, is not true. The author, at the time of Colonel Kane"s departure from New York for Utah, was on the staff of the New York Herald, and was conversant with the facts, and confidentially communicated them to Frederick Hudson, Esq., the distinguished manager of that great journal."
** Sen. Doc., 2d Session. 35th Congress, Vol. II, pp. 162-163.
Kane"s method of procedure was, throughout, characteristic of the secret agent of such an organization as the Mormon church. He sailed from New York for San Francisco the first week in January, 1858, under the name of Dr. Osborn. As soon as he landed, he hurried to Southern California, and, joining the Mormons who had been called in from San Bernardino, he made the trip to Utah with them, arriving in Salt Lake City in February.
On the evening of the day of his arrival he met the Presidency and the Twelve, and began an address to them as follows: "I come as amba.s.sador from the Chief Executive of our nation, and am prepared and duly authorized to lay before you, most fully and definitely, the feelings and views of the citizens of our common country and of the Executive toward you, relative to the present position of this territory, and relative to the army of the United States now upon your borders." This is the report of Kane"s words made by Tullidge in his "Life of Brigham Young." How the statement agrees with Kane"s letters from the President is apparent on its face. The only explanation in Kane"s favor is that he had secret instructions which contradicted those that were written and published. Kane told the church officers that he wished to "enlist their sympathies for the poor soldiers who are now suffering in the cold and snow of the mountains!" An interview of half an hour with Young followed--too private in its character to be partic.i.p.ated in even by the other heads of the church. An informal discussion ensued, the following extracts from which, on Mormon authority, ill.u.s.trate Kane"s sympathies and purpose:--
"Did Dr. Bernhisel take his seat?"
Kane--"Yes. He was opposed by the Arkansas member and a few others, but they were treated as fools by more sagacious members; for, if the Delegate had been refused his seat, it would have been TANTAMOUNT TO A DECLARATION OF WAR."
"I suppose they [the Cabinet] are united in putting down Utah?"
Kane--"I think not."*
* Tullidge"s "History of Salt Lake City," p. 203.
Kane was placed as a guest, still incognito, in the house of an elder, and, after a few days" rest, he set out for Camp Scott. His course on arriving there, on March 10, was again characteristic of the crafty emissary. Not even recognizing the presence of the military so far as to reply to a sentry"s challenge, the latter fired on him, and he in turn broke his own weapon over the sentry"s head. When seized, he asked to be taken to Governor c.u.mming, not to General Johnston.* "The compromise,"
explains Tullidge, "which Buchanan had to effect with the utmost delicacy, could only be through the new governor, and that, too, by his heading off the army sent to occupy Utah." A fancied insult from General Johnston due to an orderly"s mistake led Kane to challenge the general to a duel; but a meeting was prevented by an order from Judge Eckles to the marshal to arrest all concerned if his command to the contrary was not obeyed.
"Governor c.u.mming," continued Tullidge, "could do nothing less than espouse the cause of the "amba.s.sador" who was there in the execution of a mission intrusted to him by the President of the United States."**
* Colonel Johnston was made a brigadier general that winter.
** Kane brought an impudent letter from Young, saying that he had learned that the United States troops were very dest.i.tute of provisions, and offering to send them beef cattle and flour. General Johnston replied to Kane that he had an abundance of provisions, and that, no matter what might be the needs of his army, he "would neither ask nor receive from President Young and his confederates any supplies while they continued to be enemies of the government" Kane replied to this the next day, expressing a fear that "it must greatly prejudice the public interest to refuse Mr. Young"s proposal in such a manner," and begging the general to reconsider the matter. No farther notice seems to have been taken of the offer.
Kane did not make any mistake in his selection of the person to approach in camp. Judged by the results, and by his admissions in after years, the most charitable explanation of c.u.mming"s course is that he was hoodwinked from the beginning by such masters in the art of deception as Kane and Young. A woman in Salt Lake City, writing to her sons in the East at the time, described the governor as in "appearance a very social, good-natured looking gentleman, a good specimen of an old country aristocrat, at ease in himself and at peace with all the world."* Such a man, whom the acts and proclamations and letters of Young did not incite to indignation, was in a very suitable frame of mind to be cajoled into adopting a policy which would give him the credit of bringing about peace, and at the same time place him at the head of the territorial affairs.
* New York Herald, July 2, 1858. For personal recollections of c.u.mming, see Perry"s "Reminiscences of Public Men," p. 290. What is said by Governor Perry of c.u.mming"s Utah career is valueless.
In looking into the causes of what was, from this time, a backing down by both parties to this controversy, we find at Washington that lack of an aggressive defence of the national interests confided to him by his office which became so much more evident in President Buchanan a few years later. Defied and reviled personally by Young in the latter"s official communications, there was added reason to those expressed in the President"s first message why this first rebellion, as he called it, "should be put down in such a manner that it shall be the last." But a wider question was looming up in Kansas, one in which the whole nation recognized a vital interest; a bigger struggle attracted the attention of the leading members of the Cabinet. The Lecompton Const.i.tution was a matter of vastly more interest to every politician than the government of the sandy valley which the Mormons occupied in distant Utah.
On the Mormon side, defiant as Young was, and sincere as was his declaration that he would leave the valley a desert before the advance of a hostile force, his way was not wholly clear. His Legion could not successfully oppose disciplined troops, and he knew it. The conviction of himself and his a.s.sociates on the indictments for treason could be prevented before an unbiased non-Mormon jury only by flight. Abjectly as his people obeyed him,--so abjectly that they gave up all their gold and silver to him that winter in exchange for bank notes issued by a company of which he was president,--the necessity of a reiteration of the determination to rule by the plummet showed that rebellion was at least a possibility? That Young realized his personal peril was shown by some "instructions and remarks" made by him in the Tabernacle just after Kane set out for Fort Bridger, and privately printed for the use of his fellow-leaders. He expressed the opinion that if Joseph Smith had "followed the revelations in him" (meaning the warnings of danger), he would have been among them still. "I do not know precisely," said Young, "in what manner the Lord will lead me, but were I thrown into the situation Joseph was, I would leave the people and go into the wilderness, and let them do the best they could.... We are in duty bound to preserve life--to preserve ourselves on earth--consequently we must use policy, and follow in the counsel given us." He pointed out the sure destruction that awaited them if they opened fire on the soldiers, and declared that he was going to a desert region in the territory which he had tried to have explored "a desert region that no man knows anything about," with "places here and there in it where a few families could live," and the entire extent of which would provide homes for five hundred thousand people, if scattered about. In these circ.u.mstances "a way out" that would free the federal administration from an unpleasant complication, and leave Young still in practical control in Utah, was not an unpleasant prospect for either side.
A long Utah letter to the Near York Herald (which had been generally pro-Mormon in tone) dated Camp Scott, May 22, 1858, contained the following: "Some of the deceived followers of the latest false Prophet arrived at this post in a most deplorable condition. One mater familiar had crossed the mountains during very severe weather in almost a state of nudity. Her dress consisted of a part of a single skirt, part of a man"s shirt, and a portion of a jacket. Thus habited, without a shoe or a thread more, she had walked 157 miles in snow, the greater part of the way up to her knees, and carried in her arms a sucking babe less than six weeks old. The soldiers pulled off their clothes and gave them to the unfortunate woman. The absconding Saints who arrive here tell a great many stories about the condition and feeling of their brethren who still remain in the land of promise.... Thousands and thousands of persons, both men and women, are represented to be exceedingly desirous of not going South with the church, but are compelled to by fear of death or otherwise."
Governor c.u.mming, in his report to Secretary Ca.s.s on the situation as he found it when he entered Salt Lake City, said that, learning that a number of persons desirous of leaving the territory "considered themselves to be unlawfully restrained of their liberty," he decided, even at the risk of offending the Mormons, to give public notice of his readiness to a.s.sist such persons. In consequence, 56 men, 38 women, and 71 children sought his protection in order to proceed to the States.
"The large majority of these people;" he explained, "are of English birth, and state that they leave the congregation from a desire to improve their circ.u.mstances and realize elsewhere more money for their labor."
Kane having won Governor c.u.mming to his view of the situation, and having created ill feeling between the governor and the chief military commander, the way was open for the next step. The plan was to have Governor c.u.mming enter Salt Lake Valley without any federal troops, and proceed to Salt Lake City under a Mormon escort of honor, which was to meet him when he came within a certain distance of that city. This he consented to do. Kane stayed in "Camp Eckles" until April, making one visit to the outskirts to hold a secret conference with the Mormons, and, doubtless, to arrange the details of the trip.
On April 3 Governor c.u.mming informed General Johnston of his decision, and he set out two days later. General Johnston"s view of the policy to be pursued toward the Mormons was expressed in a report to army headquarters, dated January 20:--
"Knowing how repugnant it would be to the policy or interest of the government to do any act that would force these people into unpleasant relations with the federal government, I have, in conformity with the views also of the commanding general, on all proper occasions manifested in my intercourse with them a spirit of conciliation. But I do not believe that such consideration of them would be properly appreciated now, or rather would be wrongly interpreted; and, in view of the treasonable temper and feeling now pervading the leaders and a greater portion of the Mormons, I think that neither the honor nor the dignity of the government will allow of the slightest concession being made to them."
Judge Eckles did not conceal his determination not to enter Salt Lake City until the flag of his country was waving there, holding it a shame that men should be detained there in subjection to such a despot as Brigham Young.
Leaving camp accompanied only by Colonel Kane and two servants, Governor c.u.mming found his Mormon guard awaiting him a few miles distant. His own account of the trip and of his acts during the next three weeks of his stay in Mormondom may be found in a letter to General Johnston and a report to Secretary of State Ca.s.s.* As Echo canyon was supposed to be thoroughly fortified, and there was not positive a.s.surance that a conflict might not yet take place, the governor was conducted through it by night. He says that he was "agreeably surprised" by the illuminations in his honor. Very probably he so accepted them, but the fires lighted along the sides and top of the canyon were really intended to appear to him as the camp-fires of a big Mormon army. This deception was further kept up by the appearance of challenging parties at every turn, who demanded the pa.s.sword of the escort, and who, while the governor was detained, would hasten forward to a new station and go through the form of challenging again: Once he was made the object of an apparent attack, from which he was rescued by the timely arrival of officers of authority.**
* For text, see Tullidge"s "History of Salt Lake City,"
pp. 108-212.
** "In course of time c.u.mming discovered how the Mormon leaders had imposed upon him and amused themselves with his credulity, and to the last hour that he was in the Territory he felt annoyed at having been so absurdly deceived, and held Brigham responsible for the mortifying joke."--"Rocky Mountain Saints," p. 390.
The trip to Salt Lake City occupied a week, and on the 12th the governor entered the Mormon metropolis, escorted by the city officers and other persons of distinction in the community, and was a.s.signed as a guest to W. C. Staines, an influential Mormon elder. There Young immediately called on him, and was received with friendly consideration. Asked by his host, when the head of the church took his leave, if Young appeared to be a tyrant, Governor c.u.mming replied: "No, sir. No tyrant ever had a head on his shoulders like Mr. Young. He is naturally a good man.
I doubt whether many of your people sufficiently appreciate him as a leader."* This was the judgment of a federal officer after a few moments" conversation with the reviler of the government and a month"s coaching by Colonel Kane.
Three days later, Governor c.u.mming officially notified General Johnston of his arrival, and stated that he was everywhere recognized as governor, and "universally greeted with such respectful attentions"
as were due to his office. There was no mention of any advance of the troops, nor any censure of Mormon offenders, but the general was instructed to use his forces to recover stock alleged to have been stolen from the Mormons by Indians, and to punish the latter, and he was informed that Indian Agent Hurt (who had so recently escaped from Mormon clutches) was charged by W. H. Hooper, the Mormon who had acted as secretary of state during recent months, with having incited Indians to hostility, and should be investigated! Verily, Colonel Kane"s work was thoroughly performed. General Johnston replied, expressing gratification at the governor"s reception, requesting to be informed when the Mormon force would be withdrawn from the route to Salt Lake City, and saying that he had inquired into Dr. Hurt"s case, and had satisfied himself "that he has faithfully discharged his duty as agent, and that he has given none but good advice to the Indians."