CAMP FLOYD IN RETROSPECT

by Don Richard Mathis

A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science

Department of History

University of Utah

June 1959 This Thesis for the Master's Degree by

Don Richard Mathis

has been approved by

Ch&frman, Supervisory Committee

Reader, Supervisory Committee

Head} Major Department

Dean, Gradua/te Sc#6ol ~J~ PREFACE

During the period of United States History typified by the westward movement, military posts were established along the main routes of travel for the principal purpose of providing protection to those hardy souls who looked to the setting sun for a better way of life. There was at least one exception to this practice, however, and it is the topic of this thesis. \he author has an abiding interest in military move­ ments in the West and a desire to learn more of the contribu­ tion made to America by dusty cavalrymen and footsore infantry men. This study of Camp Floyd, Utah Territory, grew out of this interest, which bordered at times on obsession. Though

Camp Floyd was typical of western outposts in many respects, it was still unique in the purpose of its establishment— to quell the reported rebellion of subjects of the United States.

An attempt has been made in this work to capture the excitement and romance experienced by the frontier soldiers stationed at Camp Floyd, as well as to discuss their several contributions to the development of the West.

Appreciation is expressed to the many people and insti tutions who aided the author in preparing this work; to Dr.

Leland H. Creer, Head of the Department of History at the

University of Utah, for his guidance and encouragement in su­ pervising this thesis, to Dr. David E. Miller, Professor of History at the University, for his detailed reading of this work and for his helpful suggestions on style and phraseology, to the University of Utah Library, Utah State Historical Society, the Bancroft Library, and the L.D.S. Church Historian*s

Office for making available the primary material used in this thesis, and to the author's grandfather, Henry George Mathis, a pioneer of Utah, who was directly influenced by the topic of this paper. Especial appreciation is due the author*s wife, Sara-Beth, for her untiring efforts in typing this thesis and for the patience, understanding, and encouragement she has expressed to him in the preparation of this work.

Don Richard Mathis

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page PREFACE...... H i TABLE OF CONTENTS...... V

LIST OF MAPS...... vi I BUCHANAN'S BLUNDER...... 1 II JUST WHERE WE WANT TO GO...... 26 III POSSE COMITATUS ...... 61+ IV MILITARY PATHFINDERS...... 8l V EMIGRANTS AND INDIANS...... lOij.

VI CIVILIANS AND SOLDIERS...... „ ...... lij.3

VII RETURN TO D U S T ...... 162

APPENDIXES...... 169

BIBLIOGRAPHY. . , ...... l8£

▼ LIST OP MAPS

Figure Page

1 ARMY ROUTE FROM FORT BRIDGER TO CAMP FLOYD, 1858 ...... 31

2 MILITARY RESERVE AT CAMP FLOYD, U.T., 1859 . . 35

3 CAMP FLOYD, U.T., 1859 ...... Ul

l\. TERRITORY AND MILITARY DEPARTMENT OF UTAH, i860...... 98

i

vi CHAPTER I

BUCHANAN*S BLUNDER

With the creation of the Territory of Utah, the Mormon

people were subjected to "Carpet Bag" government— placed again

under the domination of officials who had very little in common with the saintso In essence, it was a result of this territori­

al government and the political manipulations of President

Buchanan that the "Utah War" occurred. The evolution of con­ flict between government and citizen, or church if you will, and the subsequent formation and march of United States Army

units to the Great Basin is a lengthy and involved study. Only the highlights of the smoldering coals of distrust, fear, and hatred will be examined here.

The citizens of "Mormondom" made petition to the govern­ ment in Washington, D.C., for admission to the Union as a state, with the name of "Deseret," soon after realizing that the ter­ ritory they occupied had come under the control of the United

States. A constitutional convention met in Salt Lake City early in March, I8I4.9 , to form a provisional government pending Con­ gressional action to establish a civil organization for the

territory annexed by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. A con­

stitution was adopted and the officers provided under it were

1 2

•lected on March 12, I8I49• With this, the provisional govern­ ment of the State of Deseret began to function. In effect, the organization of this government gave legal recognition to the "Theo-democracy” and tended to place "gentiles” under* the authority of the L.D.S. Church. , On July 6, I8I4.9 , the last day of the week appointed for the first session of the Legislature of the State of Des­ eret, a memorial to Congress was drafted whieh asked that

Deseret, with the political organization then in operation, be admitted to the Union.

Congressional action of l8£0 denied the memorial for statehood and ereated instead the Territory of Utah, on Sep­ tember 7o This received presidential approval by Millard

Filmore on September 9. As a consequence of this action the

Legislature for the State of Deseret voted its own disolution, to take effect on April 5» 1851* By the end of the summer newly appointed officers, half of whom were Mormons, had assumed their duties in the territory. As the years passed, changes in the appointed officers took place* Some of the gentile appointees had difficulty recognizing where the true authority for government was, i.e., in the church. Severe collisions occurred between themselves and their constituents as a result of their desire to exercise the office to whieh they had been appointed. This gave President James Buchanan an excuse to use the Mormon issue in an attempt to popularize his party and lay the groundwork for his re-election. 3

One of the early areas of conflict was embraced in the unique relationship that the Mormons claimed with their red brethren— the Indians. Missionaries were sent among them to provide instruction on the history of their forebears as told in the Book of Mormon,, The saints had long recognized that a brotherly attitude toward the red men— expressed in terms of food, clothing, recognition, and kindness— bore sweeter fruit than a hostile one0 In consequence of these friendly expres­ sions toward them, the Indians distinguished between Mormons and other white men. To people out of the church, this appeared to be a conspiracy between two evil factions, and one which would eventually result in trouble for the American who held the conventional opinion about Indians.

Gentile Indian agents in Utah repeatedly warned the government in Washington of the dangers of Mormon meddling in their affairso Agent J.H. Holeman reported as early as Novem­ ber l85l, that "it seems to me that no Mormon should, officially, have anything to do with the I n d i a n s . G a r l a n d Hurt wrote in

May 1855, that he feared Mormon missionaries would ’’teach those wretched savages that they are the rightful owners of the Ameri­ can soil, and that it has been wrongfully taken from them by tha whites, and that the Great Spirit had sent the Mormons among them to help them recover their rights.M He further suggested

^House Executive Document, Number 71» 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial N o . 956 > 129. 2Ibid., 176. k that active measures be taken to regulate intercourse between the saints and the Indians* Fuel was added t© the growing fire of suspician against the Mormon relations with the Indians by Thomas S. Twiss, agent of the Upper Platte. He reported in April l857» that the saints were inciting the Indians of his district to violence by estab­ lishing settlements on their land under the pretence of facili­ tating the execution of a contract to carry mail from Independence,

Missouri, to Salt Lake City.'*'

The Indian agents, under the territorial government, were joined in expressions of lawlessness and treason on the part of the Utahans. David E. Burr, surveyor general of Utah corresponded with the General Land Office in 1856, indicating that he and his deputy surveyors were subject to assault, insult, and the possibility of losing their lives through action by the

Mormons. On March 28, l857» he wrote that "the fact is, these people £kormons| repudiate the authority of the United States in this country, and are in open rebellion against the general p government.”

Gentile officials in the territory were supported by gentile civilians in their charges. W.M.F. Magraw Mfelt that it was incumbent on him as a ’personal and political friend,* to advise the President relative to the ’present political and

1Ibid«, 192o

^Ibid., 119. Italics in the original. social conditions * of the Territory of Utah. In a letter of

October 3» 1856, he wrote: . There is no disguising the fact, that there is left no ▼estige of law and order, no protection for life or pro­ perty; the civil laws of the Territory are overshaddowed and neutralized by a so-styled ecclesiastical organization, as despotic, dangerous and damnable, as has ever been known to exist in any country, and which is ruining not only those who do not subscribe to their religious code, but is driving the moderate and more orderly of the Mormon community to desperation.2

The judicial branch of territorial government also added

its weight to the complaints. The two justices prominent in the

immediate conflict were George P« Stiles and ¥.¥. Drummond, The territorial legislature had made a peculiar distribution of ju­ dicial power which Justices Drummond and Stiles refused to ac­

knowledge o Shortly after assuming their offices in 18SU- and 1855> they began to set aside the territorial laws respecting

this unusual distribution of power. Their refusal to recognize

the territorial law caused considerable difficulty with the Mor­

mons* In consequence of this difficulty Justice Stiles* office was broken into, the court records maintained by him removed,

and several of his personal papers scattered and burned. Shortly

after this, Stiles fled the territory and reported to his su­

periors in Washington, that his court records had been destroyed

and that the saints were in open rebellion against the laws of

the United States. Justice Drummond resigned his office and left

"^Andrew L. Neff, History of Utah, ed. Lei and H„ Creer (Salt Lake City, the Deseret News Press, 19^0), if)\?. 2 House Executive Document, Number 71, 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 95 b , T , 6

the territory on the heels of Stiles. When he arrived in Wash­ ington, he corroborated the story of Stiles by leveling the fol­ lowing charges against the people of Utahs

lo The Mormon people of Utah look only to the president of the church as being the supreme lawgiver. 2. There is a secret organization among the males of Utah to acknowledge only the law of the priesthood„ 3. There are men in Utah set apart by the church to destroy the lives and property of those who reject its authority, l^-o The records "of the supreme court in Utah have been destroyed by order of the Church." 5. Federal officials "are constantly insulted, harassed, and annoyed by the Mormons." 6. The Mormons openly speak against the United States government and its chief executives, living and dead. 7. Favoritism and injustice are being shown in the courts and executive pardons of the territory. 80 The murder of Captain John W. Gunnison, and party, was performed by Indians— ordered, advised, and directed by the Mormons. The deaths of Leonidas Shaw and A.W. Babbitt were both directed by the church.^-

These charges brought to a head the claims of federal

officers, in years past in Utah Territory, that the United States was looked upon with contempt by the Mormons.

Needless to say, these various complaints against the people of Utah were answered, but the emotion of the situation had hold of the reins after Judge Drummond*s letter of resigna­

tion was made public. He had recommended in his resignation that

a non-Mormon governor be appointed to the territory and that the

authority of that governor be enforced by a large military force.

He stated that his reason for "making this communication thus

public is, that the democratic party, with which I have alway*

House Executive Document, Number 71* 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 956* 212-211]-.

V 7 strictly acted, is the party now in power, and, therefore, is the party that should now be held responsible for the treasonable and disgraceful state of affairs that now exists in Utah Terri­ tory."^- This statement led Neff to write:

Political expediency, party responsibility and the strong likelihood that his program would redound to the advantage and glory of the Democratic Party were cleverly drawn poli­ tical motives for the writing of his vindictive document.^

Drummond1s resignation suggested a political stratagem to the president— gain support of both the North and the South by taking active measures against the Mormon polygamists,, The newly formed Republican party had made equal issue of slavery and polygamy as part of its program to discredit the "popular sovereignty" idea as voiced in the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Democrats were being pressed to take a stand on polygamy before the view gained credence that they supported it. Stephen A.

Douglas formally stated the policy of his party on this issue as a means of gaining widespread support for the party and him­ self in the forthcoming presidential election. He condemned the

"peculiar" institution and advocated that measures be taken to cor­ rect the situation in Utah. "Undoubtedly it was believed to be good party strategy as well as sound political tactics to rob the

Republican party of its thunder"^ by sending an army to Utah to quell rebellion and establish law and order, as sug-

Iderrio

2Neff, op. cit., l+lj-9.

3Ibid., k59c 8

gested by Drummond0 It is very possible that Buchanan wanted

to steal thunder not only from the Republicans but also from

Douglas. If the Utah War had not backfired, he may well have

done just that I At any rate, the president issued an order t©

the general In chief, Winfield Scott, to move the United States

Army against the rebellious Mormons. General Scott directed the adjutant general, quarter­ master general, and chief of ordnance to put all of their fa­ cilities at the disposal of the Army for Utah. In a circular

dated May 28, 1857* Scott stated that the Utah force would be

composed of units from the 2nd Dragoons, 5th and 10th Infantry,

and Ifth Artillery— to total not less than 2,500 men."*’ These

various units were then located at a number ©f western outposts

and would have to be gathered at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Terri­

tory, under a central commander. By May 28, General W.S. Harney, then in command of the Department of the West with headquarters

at Fort Leavenworth, had been appointed the commander for the 2 army to be sent to Utah.

The gigantic task of assembling, •quipping, and getting the force on the move had already begun by this time. The 5th

Infantry had been ordered to assemble and wait at Jefferson

"SeLo u s e Executive Document, Number 71* 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 956» 2 It was the success that General Harney experienced in rebellious Kansas which influenced his appointment to perform a similar mission among the Mormons as commander of the Army for Utah. See House Executive Document, Number 71» 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No* 956, 1 .

L 9

Barracks, Missouri. On June 29, 1857, this regiment was directed to march on to Port Leavenworth,1 and there be joined with the main body of the 10th Infantry,^ which was already in Kansas assist­ ing General Harney perform his duties controlling the whites in 3 their election squabbles. The two companies of the 10th In­ fantry at Port Snelling, Minnesota, were ordered to Port Leaven­ worth, on July 30, to join their regiment4 which had already left for Utah,,

During the month of July, the 5th and 10th Infantry

Regiments, Phelps* six pounder battery, and Reno’s twelve pounder battery marched from Fort Leavenworth with the senior officer, Colonel E.B. Alexander, in command. General Harney remained in the vicinity of Leavenworth directing the campaign against

Indians and insurgent whites„ Because of the unsettled nature of political affairs In Kansas Territory, Governor Walker secured retention of the Kansas command for General Harney.^

On August 28, 1857, Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston was ordered to Fort Leavenworth, to take command of the A m y for Utah. 6 He

^House Executive Document, Number 71, 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 956, ^ 2Ibid0, 5. ^Oliver L. Spaulding, The United States Army in War and Peace, (New York, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1937)» 236. ^House Executive Document, Number 71, 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 956, 12. ^William P. Johnston, The Life of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston (New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1^79}, 208o

House Executive Document, Number 71, 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 95&»' 13. 10 was directed to comply with all of the orders and instructions that had been issued to General Harney— pertaining to the Utah forceso The basic letter of instructions— dated June 29, 1057, applicable to the conduct of the army in Utah— contained the following significant items:

lo The people of Utah Territory are in rebellion against the United States. 2 0 The military are to insure the success of the new civil officials in discharging their duty, namely, "the establishment and maintenance of law and order.” 3. The military force is placed at the disposal of.the civil authorities, i.e., the governor, judges, and marshals, to act as a posse oomitatus on the requisi­ tion of the civil authorities. Ij.. The army is to actively engage in warfare against the citizenry only as a means of self defense. 5. The supreme authority of the territory is to rest with the civil authorities, nonetheless, the military is not to be subject to that authority; it is encouraged to support the authority however. 6. The United States government will spare no expense in supporting the military force. 7. A small body of men is to be detached to guard the movement of beef cattle.

A significant amendment to the above letter was made on July 1:

In addition to the instruction, already given, it is further directed that all requisitions which the commander of the expedition for Utah may, in his discretion, address to the departments of supply, be promptly complied with, without reference to higher authority.2

It appears that every facility at the armyfs disposal was geared to support the force going to Utah. The stores at

Forts Leavenworth and Kearney, were opened to the westward moving regiments. Contracts for goods were let in the East for the

1Ibid., 7-9. 2Ibid., 9. 11

specific purpose of providing for the Utah Array. Several of

these contracts were given without advertisement, which later

led to Congressional investigation of corruption and favoritism in the conduct of the Utah Expedition and resulted in the name

’‘Contractors War” being attached to it.

General Harney had started the mobilization of the force for Utah, sent the vanguard of two regiments and supporting ar­ tillery on their way, and dispatched a special agent, Captain

Stewart Van Vliet, to investigate the logistical support avail­

able in Utah and suggest a location for a camp. When Colonel

Johnston assumed command in August, all that remained to be done was to finish the preliminary plans and execute the movements on the battlefield.

It was expected that the army would be in the Salt Lake Valley for the winter, despite the lata start for that place.

Resistance from the Mormons was not anticipated. Several unforseen Incidents occurred which prevented the realization of the expecta­ tion. No sooner had the supplies started for Utah than the Indians

in the vicinity of Port Kearny began raiding the herds of cat­ tle. Several hundred head of beef were driven off on August 2. The infantry guards were not the least bit effective against mounted Indians. To correct this situation Colonel Johnson re­

quested, on September 12, that twenty infantrymen be mounted at Fort Kearny to keep the Indians in check. This request was granted

and the move was effective in stopping Indian depredations. How-

^•Por a list of these contracts see Appendix C. It ever, the Mormon raiders were soon to present another problem in the guarding of beef cattle. On September 16, six companies of the 2nd Dragoons were detached from Port Leavenworth, to march as escort to the newly appointed civil authorities and as reinforcement, in place of

the 1st Cavalry, for the Utah Army. Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cooke was selected as commander of the dragoons. He was provided with a half ration of corn for his horses as far as

Fort Kearny, where his supply of grain cauld be replenished to Fort Laramie, and from there to the Salt Lake Valley, where it was estimated that he would arrive by November 20, 1857.1 Un­

fortunately, the supply of c o m at Fort Laramie was inadequate

to satisfy the needs of the dragoons. This, coupled with the burning of suitable forage west of that post, by the Mormons,

resulted in a significant slow down of the whole Utah Expedi­ tion. The herds of cattle couldnH move without food. The horses of the dragoons suffered from hunger and lost strength,

and the mules of the supply trains were in the same condition.

Colonel Johnston left Fort Leavenworth the day follow­ ing Colonel Cooke*s departure, in company of a fast moving es­ cort of forty dragoons. He arrived at Fort Kearny on September 214., and reported that the march was detained due to bad roads.3

1House Executive Document. Number 71, 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 95^, 21-22. 2Ibid., 28.95. 3Ibid., 22-23. 13

By this time the civil authorities and their escort were several days behind him. His desire was to join the Infantry units in advance of his position as quickly as possible. He left Port

Kearny, and arrived at Port Laramie, on October Ij.. In his re­ port from Laramie, Colonel Johnston expressed some concern over the bad roads; lack of supplies, grains, and forage; and sug­ gested that possibly his soldiers would not be able to gain the shelter of Salt Lake Valley before winter.^ He was some­ what disturbed by the report of Captain Van Vliet that the 2 Mormons would not sell supplies to the army, and may have questioned the advisability of crossing the mountains, which would place his men at the mercy of the saints for the winter®

As Colonel Johnston hastened westward to join his van­ guard, he was met with reports describing increased resistance to the army intrusion. On October 16? he received a communica­ tion from Colonel Alexander, dated October 8, wherin it was reported that ”the Mormons [were] committing acts of hostility and depredation, fandj had already burnt three trains contain­ ing supplies.”3 Alexander was at a great disadvantage in at­ tempting to punish the perpetrators of these raids since they were on horseback and he did not have a mounted unit with him.

Colonel Alexander had not received communication of the

1Ibid., 28-29.

2Ibid., 21+-26o

3Ibid., 39. I k fact of Colonel Johnston*s assumption of command. In fact, he had not received any commuhication from the expedition head­ quarters up to this time (August 8, 1857).1 Consequently, he was unaware of certain strategic changes in the order and dis­ position of the troops at his rear. He was well aware of the enemies at his front, however, and was concerned over his lack of instructions from higher headquarters. It is apparent that in its haste to get the Army for Utah into Utah, the military had violated almost every rule of combat effectiveness.

Infantry units had been sent out without adequate sup­ port to enable them to even effectively defend themselves.

The trains were at the mercy of the enemy because of insuffi­ ciently equipped guards. The resistance of the Mormons had not been anticipated. Lines of communication had not been maintained between the commander and his command. Poor plan­ ning was evidenced in almost every phase of the mobilization.

Once the movement had begun, it was impossible to rectify the mistakes. Colonel Alexander desperately needed dragoon support, but they were some 200 miles behind him, unable to advance until supplies of grain were brought from the rear. The crown­ ing problem of the whole expedition was the rapid approach of bad weather and the need to find a winter camp, since it was apparent that the campaign could not be ended before the moun­ tains were choked with snow.

Colonel Alexander was halting in his assumption of re-

1Ibid0, 38. 15 sponsibllity for the units near him, nonetheless, when he finally realized that the responsibility was his whether he assumed it or not, he took decisive action* He determined to move the troops under his command up Ham*s Fork to "Sublette *s

Cut-Off, along that road to Bear river and Soda Spring,” whore a winter camp could be established. He recommended that the units to his rear follow his course of action, so that a uni­ fication of the army could be accomplished before winter set in, and preparations made for an early spring campaign against the Mormons down the Bear River Valley. He further recommended to the headquarters of the army, that a force of soldiers be sent east from Oregon and California, since the roads from those territories to the Utah communities were open longer in the year„^

As these recommendations moved eastward, they were taken under advisement by Colonel Johnston, east of South Pass. He decided on October 16, to stop the proposed movement of Colonel Alexanders force to Soda Springs and instead concen- p trate the troops at Fontenelle Creek, just north of present day Kemmerer, Wyoming. The suggestion that a force move east from Oregon and California was forwarded to New York City, where it was accepted and plans laid for* its execution under the per­ sonal supervision of the general in chief.3 However, on

1Ibid., 30-32, 38-14.0* 2Ibid., 1+0. 3Ibid*, 15-16. 16

February if, 1858, these plans were countermanded and the pro­ posed support from the western departments failed to materialize.^

In a communique dated October 18, at South Pass, Colonel

Johnston indicated that the concentration of soldiers at Fon- tenelle Creek was only a temporary measure of deception to keep the Mormon raiders from burning the grass near Henry's

Fork, east of Fort Bridger, where the permanent winter camp was to be established, after sufficient snow had fallen to make forage burning impossible. He also made a painful admis­ sion when he wrote in this letter:

I greatly regret that the impossibility of concentrating the troops destined for this service, and their supplies, will prevent a forward movement before spring. It is now manifest that before the force can be united that the autumn will be too far advanced to move with a probability of success, though not opposed by the Mormons.

On this same day (October 18) Colonel Alexander inde­ pendently concluded that his plan of moving to Soda Springs 3 was not feasible. He determined to reverse his march and go down Ham's Fork toward Fort Bridger, and then over to Henry's

Fork where he planned to put his men into winter camp.^ At this time Colonel Alexander had not yet received Colonel

Johnston's instructions to move on to Fontenelle Creek, nor did he know of the commander's decision to make Henry's Fork

1Ibid0, 16. 2Ibid., 65. % h e night of October 17-18 marked the debut of winter in the mountains with snow falling to a depth of three to four inches. ^House Executive Document, Number 71, 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 66-67° 17 the permanent winter camp. When Colonel Alexander did receive the order to proceed to Fontenelle Creek, on October 22, he was well on his way back to Henry*s Fork. Consequently he brought his force to a halt on Ham*s Fork to await further instructions.'*' On October 2 Colonel Johnston issued orders to Colonel Alexander to "march and camp at some suitable point p below the crossing on Black's Fork." This order was complied with and the vanguard settled about three miles from Fort Bridger on November 20 October 18 was a day of decision for the Array of Utah.

The snow and cold of the proceeding days had turned Colonel Alexander back and impressed on all of the field commanders the necessity of securing a concentrated winter encampment. In view of the turn in the weather, Johnston sent a letter of encouragement to Lieutenant Colonel Cooke, then at Chimney

Rock, urging him to make haste in joining the body of the force near Fort Bridger. Detachments of soldiers were then sent out from the main body to assist the wagons in getting 3 into camp. Two civilian trains destined for Salt Lake were requisitioned by the aimy to bolster their supply of goods. Livestock began to suffer from the cold and lack of food, and

Ji . many head perished0 On November 6} Colonel Johnston and the

1 Ibid., 67-68. 2Ibid., 6 7. ^Trains of Livingston and Kincade, and Garrish and Radford. ^House Executive Document, Number 71, 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 956, 99, 101-102. Army for Utah occupied Fort Bridger and established Camp Scott, their permanent winter camps0 The troops were assembled, with

the exception of Lieutenant Colonel Cooke*s column, which ar­ rived at Fort Bridger within a fortnight„ By November 20, 1857, the Army for Utah, composed of units from the 5th and 10th Infantry, 2nd Dragoons, and ifth Artillery was encamped along Black*s Fork near Fort Bridger, The hard­

ships experienced by them during the months of October and No­ vember were only a preview of the difficulties that would be encountered before the winter was through,.

The faulty planning of higher headquarters was very

apparent to the force on Black*s Fork. Ample supplies of good warm clothing were needed, but not available. Livestock and men were hungry because of the lack of sufficient food, A basic ingredient to life, salt, was in great demand since none had been sent with the army. In spite of these inconveniences

the men survived the winter in their tents at Camp Scott and Fort Bridger.

During the cold winter months, plans were laid for the move to Salt Lake in the spring. On November if, l857» the commander issued an order to Lieutenant Colonel William Hoffman

at Fort Laramie, to prepare his two companies of 6th Infantry for an early spring march to join the Utah Army0 The force

already in Utah Territory was strengthened by the enlistment

of four companies of volunteers from the teamsters, and em­ ployees of the South Pass Wagon Road Company trapped with the 19

army by the snow* Captain B.E. Bee was elected to command these volunteers and was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel of

Utah Militia by Governor Gumming, who was also at Port Bridger.1

The livestock that survived the last month of the march were moved to Henry*s Pork where some grass was available*

Lieutenant Colonel Cooke reported on November 21, 1857> that 13lj. of his original 278 horses had died of starvation after 2 his farce went through South Pass on November 11. Captain

John H. Dickerson wrote on November 2\±, 1857, that ’’about 588 mules of this command jXrmy for Utahj have died since leaving

Port Leavenworth. Over nine-tenths of this loss has occurred within the last month* About half the horses of the two bat- 3 teries are dead, and two thirds of the dragoons are dismounted."

This left the army with only lljif horses, 522 mules, and about

2,000 beef cattle to be wintered on Henry*s Pork* The Mormon

strategy of burning the grass and supply trains along the route, and driving off the herds of cattle was extremely effec­

tive* . To correct the deficiency in draught animals, and as part of the preparations for the spring offensive, General^"

Johnston ordered Captain R.B. Marcy and a force of forty

1Ibid., 113. 2Ibid., 99* 3Ibid., 101-102.

^Colonel Johnston was promoted to the rank of brevet brigadier general on November 18, 1857? "for meritorious conduct in the ability, zeal, energy, and prudence displayed by him in command of the army in Utah." 20

soldiers and twenty-two civilians, to inarch overland to New

Mexico Territory and purchase 1+00 horses and 800 mules0

General Johnston exercised faith in the assurance of his su­

periors that no expense would be spared in support of his army,

and authorized Captain Marcy to spend $120,500 for the animals*2 3 Captain Marcy and company left Camp Scott on November 27, 1857

They arrived at Port Massachusetts after almost eight weeks of

extremely difficult travel. On March 23, 1858, the detachment, reinforced by units under the command of Colonel W.W. Loring,

left New Mexico to rejoin the army in Utah. This force arrived back at Camp Scott on June 10, with 960 mules and 160 horses in herds.^-

In the meantime, General Johnston continued to prepare

his command for an early march. The herds of mules, horses, and cattle were occasionally moved to better grazing grounds0

As the snow began to melt, a force of ninety dragoons, mounted

on mules, was sent back to Port Laramie to patrol the road and act as guides for the columns of reinforcement. Other small

detachments were sent toward Salt Lake City to spy out the route

and ascertain the activity of the Mormon resistance.

1House Executive Document, Number 71, 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial Ho. 956, 10^* 2T , Idem. ^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 975, 221. ^Ibid.. 187-201. 21

The War Department in the East was also a hive of activity in preparing for the spring offensive. On January 8, 1858, General Scott ordered columns of reinforcement from the

6th and 7th Infantry Regiments, 1st Cavalry, 2nd Artillery, and the rest of the 2nd Dragoons to prepare for an early march to Utah. This would have made the total strength of the Army for Utah (if all units were at their maximum strength) 5,606 1 officers and men. Later adjustments in these columns resulted in less than half of them reaching their Utah destination.

Supply trains were organized to accompany the reinforcements and provide the force with food, clothing, arras and ammunition, tents, and other equipment.

A resolution was presented in Congress to increase 2 the size of the military establishment, not. expressly because of the Utah Expedition, but with that expedition as one of the 3 motivating factors. Another measure proposed to Congress, arising out of the difficulties in Utah, was construction of if a telegraph line to the army there. The Utah situation be­ came the avowed reason for the acceptance of many proposals made to Congress at this time of supposed emergency. Senator

John P. Hale^ from New Hampshire, indicated the absurdity of the

1Ibid., 31. p The Congressional Globe, 35th Congress, 1st Session, ip6.

3Ibid., U29-14.35. W , 1559-15614-. 22

situation when he said:

I did not suppose that I should ever get out of patience with the Senate, but I confess this Utah war comes very nearly doing it. I thought it had answered its purpose when we had got the additional volunteers ^Increase in the armyj, . . . but it has got here now to help this telegraph along. . . o Now Brigham Young is coming in to be another scarecrow to build this telegraph, and Heaven only knows what next. . . . There is a proposition to vote twelve additional sloops-of-war, and I will bet you that Brigham Young will be tacked on to that. We shall be told . . <, there is a necessity for additional sloops, with which to storm Salt Lake, or something of that sort. I do not believe there is any sort of necessity for lugging Brigham Young in here. If it is to be continued, I shall ask for an amendment . . . that the name of Brigham Young shall not be brought into every measure, but that it shall be limited to. a certain number of days, or a certain number of measures.

Evidently the Utah emergency was not considered to be too

serious by some of the members of the national government.

By the time that the snow had cleared from the passes

separating the army and the saints, the crisis was in fact

over, having been mediated through the efforts of the peace

commissioners and Colonel Thomas L. Kane. The preparations made by the War Department and the various proposals made to

Congress had indicated a full fledged battle. Such a battle may have occurred had not a level headed Senator from Massachu­

setts, Henry Wilson, introduced and promoted the acceptance of

a resolution to have a commission appointed to investigate and 2 find a peaceable settlement to the Utah rebellion. As an out­

growth of this resolution, L.W. Powell and Ben McCulloch were

1Ibid., 1^63. 2Ibid., i+28. 23 sent to the territory with a presidential pardon for the citi­ zens of Utah, on condition that they stop their rebellion and pledge their faith and allegiance to the United States. On June 12, 1858, they reported that their mission had been suc­

cessful'*' and that peace was restored in the Mormon communities <,

By the time that the commissioners got to Utah, Governor Alfred

Cumming had been accepted by the people, largely through the efforts of Colonel Kane, who had arrived in February after having travelled around the Horn and overland from California.

The army still had its orders to march into Salt Lake,

so as soon as Captain Marcy returned with the draught animals (June 10) and Colonel Hoffman, his command, and the advance trains arrived at Camp Scott (by June 10), the Utah force began

its move out of winter quarters. An assembly point on Bear

River was designated by the commanding general and on June 13, 1858, the advance to that place began* By June 16, all of the units had gathered from their winter encampments, and an order of march was issued to govern the anticipated five day journey to the Salt Lake Valleys

GENERAL ORDERS NO. 30

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF UTAH Camp on Bear river, U.T., June 16, 1858.

The army will commence the march to-morrow, and daily hereafter till arrival in Salt Lake Valley, in the follow­ ing order, each command being followed immediately by its train and a proportion of the supply train.

^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, Part 2, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 975, 110-120. 2k

Brevet Colonel C0F. Smith’s battalion, constituting the advanced guard, at 5 a.m. 10th infantry and Phelp»3 battery at 5<»l5 a.m. 5th infantry and Reno*3 battery at S»kS a.m. Colonel Loring*a battalion of mounted riflemen, 1st cavalry. 3d, 6th, and 7th infantry at 6.15 a.m. Volunteers at 6*30 a.m. 2nd Dragoons, constituting the rear guard, at 7 a.m. Commanders of regiments and battalions will order the guard for their respective trains. The headquarters will be with the advance.

By order of Brevet Brigadier General A.S. Johnston. F.J» PORTER x Assistant Adjutant General

The next morning, the Army for Utah marched from Bear

River somewhat behind schedule. The troops and trains encoun­ tered considerable mud and rain for the next few days; conse­ quently it took longer than the anticipated period of time to reach the valley. The Mormons presented no obstacle to the movement; indeed, they began to come into camp to sell country produce to the soldiers. As the men proceeded over the moun­ tains and down through the canyons they observed with mixed feeling the defenses prepared by the saints. By June 21, the soldiers had left toe mud and were experiencing discomfort due to dust as they wound their way through Echo Canyon. June 25 marked their first view of the seat of Mormondom, the destina­ tion of their year*s long march. Captain Albert Tracy wrote;

’We . . . reach at last the bald and rocky crest of JBig

Mountain* * The view from this point is little less than mag­ nificent--opening out between rocky and snow-clad peaks and

1Ibid., 119 ridges, t© the veritable valley of Salt Lake in the distance.”

The Army for Utah camped that night in the dell at the eastern foot of Little Mountain. If one could imagine the sight from the hills surrounding the force that night— could have seen the fires sparkling— could have heard the out­ bursts of laughter and loud talk--could have reflected on the handiwork of President Buchanan, he may have uttered the pro­ phetic words, "There lies a miscarriage— a great mistake, to 2 be known in future years as 1 Buchanan*s Blunder* ."

^Albert Tracy, The Utah War, Utah Historical Quarterly, ed. J. Cecil Alter (Salt Lake City, Utah State Historical Society, 19h$), XIII, 25. 2 Orson P. Whitney, History of Utah (Salt Lake City, George Q. Cannon and Sons Co., 1592T7 I, 568. CHAPTER II

JUST WHERE WE WANT TO GO

The Army for Utah camped on the flat at th© eastern base of Little Mountain on June 25, 1858. The next day *s task was to move over the last obstacle and pass through Salt

Lake City. The Peace Commissioners, Powell and McCulloch, had requested General Johnston to assure the people of Utah that their property would be respected during the army*s sojourn among them. This assurance had been given in the form of a proclamation on June lij., wherein he stated ”... that no per­ son whatever will be in anywise interfered with or molested in his person or rights, or in the peaceful pursuit of his avoca­ tions o11 To insure that his troops would not have opportunity to violate this proclaimed assurance of peace, the commander determined early in the march to pass, in one day, through Great

Salt Lake City, and camp a sufficient distance away from the community to discourage any acts of violence or hostility by his 2 men. With this goal in mind; the army utilized the full moon of the morning, June 26, to get an early start, so that the entire force would be clear of the city and encamped on the west side

^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, Part 2, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 975* 121. 2Ibid., 117.

26 27 of the Jordan River by nightfall.^ At three o’clock in the morning^ the men were awakened and the wagons loaded and strung out in preparation for the crossing of Little Mountain. Break­ fast was prepared and eagerly consumed, then the movement be- 2 gan.

Over the hill and down through the narrow defile known as Emigration Canyon went the men led by General Johnston.

They soon passed the last bend of the stream and eagerly marched out onto the bench overlooking the modern Zion. What a sur­ prise! Rather than a city of desolation, akin to the country they had recently passed over, they saw a neat, orderly, well planned community spread out before them. Houses built of adobe and looking very much like cut gray stone stood in even rows along the wide streets. Green shrubbery and spreading trees surrounded each home, and in the distance the green banks of the Jordan River shone in the morning sun. Amazement clouded the faces of some, others felt yearnings for home which the scene before them brought to remembrance.

The regimental banners fluttered in the breeze as the army moved down off the bench toward the city. To the tune of nOne-Eyed Riley” they entered the town, and as they marched

1Ibid., 121. 2 The basic material for the description of the army*s entrance into Salt Lake Valley, and its subsequent passage to Cedar Valley was obtained from Jesse A. Gove, The Utah Expedition l8f?7-58» ed. Otis G. Hammond (Cleveland, Arthur H. Clark Co., 1928), 177-181+; and Tracy, op. cit., 26, 30. they fell into step, something they had not done for a long time. Again they were brought up short by surprise. Instead of a mass of people to observe the triumphal entry, they sav

only a few men occupying pre-assigned posts. The soldiers thought that the occupants of the city were a well disciplined people to remain in their homes while such a parade was within their view. Not until later in the military occupation did the soldiers learn of the evacuation and planned destruction of this oasis in the desert.^

The army marched west through the city, across the

Jordan River at North Temple Street, then south for about three miles* For two days they remained in camp on the west bank of the Jordan, near what is known today as Twenty-First

South and Redwood Road. On June 28, the wagons and the men turned westward for a march of sixteen miles to the vicinity of 2 Copperton, Utah, on Bingham Creek, WSst and south of Salt Lake

City. The mules and horses ate the grass faster than it could be found, consequently, the mounted units moved almost daily thereafter in search of water and forage for the animals. This was done to the disgust of many soldiers, but to the amusement

■'■Edward W. Tullidge, The History of Salt Lake City and Its Founders (Salt Lake City, Edward W. Tullidge, l886), 22l±0 2 Official military correspondence called this camp "West Creek," which should not be confused with the West Creek now flowing into the north end of Cedar Valley. The John Bennion, Journal (unpublished manuscript), entry for July 2, 1858, identifies the "West Creek" camp as being on present day Bingham Creek. . . 29 of the Mormons, for here was a well organized group of intel­ ligent men wandering about as though they were dumb, not knowing where to go. Captain Tracy tells us of this paradox in his journal entry for July 6, l858j

We read of Calebs in search of a wife, and of various people in search of many things. Our search is for a camp. . . . Why not have camped by the city, and have march at once in a direct line to the ground selected for a permanent occupation? Such, however, is life, and particularly the life of a soldier.*

His entry of July 9 shows the humor evidenced by the Mormons- as they observed this seemingly confused situation:

The Mormons grin to see us marching out again today* Your Mormon is of a practical turn and by no means en­ dorses the habit of beating about, to the loss of valu-p able time, together with the strain of personal muscle.

To outward appearances these men did not know where to go, but the War Department leaders had already decided the general location of the military post. They had begun their search for a camp in Mormondom as early as July 28, 1857, when

Captain Van Vliet was specifically directed to look for, and secure, a suitable location for the array in Utah. His orders even went so far as to suggest Skull Valley or ”any place some twenty or thirty miles from the city [Salt Lake City] . He reconnoitered Skull Valley, and those valleys connected with it, but reported under date of September 16, 1857, that Tooele

^Tracy, op. cit., 29 2Ibid., 30. 3 -^Senate Executive Document, Number 11, 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 920, 28* 3© was the only location suitable for a camp.1 Undoubtedly the army wanted to camp in the area of the Rush Military Preserve, which had been set apart in 1855, on the advice of Lieutenant Colonel EoJ. Steptoe. This was primarily due to the need for livestock forage, which Colonel Steptoe had reported an abun­ dance of in that spot. Scouts were sent out as soon as the army arrived on the banks of the Jordan, and by July 1, Cedar Valley was selected, and received its final confirmation by the commanders, as the future home of the Army for Utah. Captain Jesse A. Gove recorded this confirmation in a letter to his wife, dated July 2, l8£8:

Gen0 Johnston returned yesterday from a reconnaissance for a post. He took with him a board of officers and the Commissioners0 He has decided to go south to Cedar ^ Valley, near Lake Utah and Provo. Just where we want to go.

Little did Captain Gove realize how often and vehemently the place selected for the permanent location of the army would be cursed and referred to as Mthis God forsaken spot.* Captain

John W. Phelps expressed his sentiments toward the location of Camp Floyd in the following words: The object in choosing this place as a military site must have been to accustom us to all kinds of unseasonableness in order to reconcile us to the greatest of all possible unseasonablenesses, viz., that of slavery.3

On July 6, a week after the decision had been made, the array began its movement into Cedar Valley. It took two days to

1Ibid., 26-27o ^Gove, op, cit., 178. ^John Wo Phelps, Diary (unpublished manuscript), April 23, 1859. . , A m y route from Port Bridger oNe?it> to Camp Floyd, 1858.

£c« le o s ic oj> g o t i__ i_____i____ _> M ilks

AftMY Rout£ Map 1. gather the mass of humanity, animals, and supplies into the shadow of the Oquirrhs, along a small stream flowing into the north end of the valley--known today as West Creeko Tents were put up, the area divided among the various commands, and the first enemy of Camp Floyd encountered. Captain Gove described the enemy in the following wordsi There is so much alkali in the soil that it is like ashes. It becomes powdered as the wagons pass over it on our mareh, so that, with perspiration on the face, we get as black as though we were painted. Dust so thick ^ that you cannot see a foot before you for most of the way.

The dust was so fine that It penetrated the pages of a closed 2 book packed away in a box, so evident that each footfall raised a cloud to encircle the head and hinder the breathing of the person that walked. This enemy was to be a plague on the army during its entire stay in Cedar Valley. General Johnston thought the dust problem was serious enough to prevent the

drilling of the men. In his communication of July 22,to Army Headquarters at West Point, he wrote:

The soil everywhere, except in small moist localities, is exceedingly pulverulent, and by the occupancy of any position for a few days only it becomes beaten into a fine dust, which rises in clouds by the slightest disturb­ ance o With every desire to exercise all the different arms in the evolutions of the line, I find it impossible without great danger to the lungs of men and animals. I do not believe we can find any.position for a camp or post free from this objection.-'

^-Gove, op. clt., 18l+o 2Tracy, op. clt a, 36. 3 Senate Executive Document, Number 1, Part 2, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 975, 125. 33

General Johnston and Captain Gove are only two of the many writers that have left vivid descriptions of encounters with the dust. It is no wonder that the temporary camp in the mouth of West Canyon was constantly enshrouded in a cloud. Official records indicate that there were thirty-nine company-size units, not including the various headquarters and bands, making a total of 2,i|10 soldiers caraped there on July 10.^ In addi­ tion to this may be added the livestock for the mounted units

(consisting of 586 horses) and the trains (reported as a mini­ . , 2 mum of 500 wagons and 3,000 mules), and the civilian employees and camp followers of which there is no accurate count. The unit camped at the head of the stream was indeed fortunate.

The water was so muddy that it was thought unfit for even the livestock to use. General Johnston directed that four metal wagon bodies be set in the ground to be used as settling basins

For the significant figures on names and strengths of units at Cemp Floyd from June 1858 to July l86l? see abstracts of Returns for the Department of Utah, in Appendix A, taken from U.S. National Archives, Records of the War Department, Office of the Adjutant General, Returns of the Utah Expedition 1857-1861. 2 George Laub, Diary (unpublished manuscript), June 26, 1858. The quartermaster general reported the following figures relative to trains equipment provided to the Army for Utah. There is some question as to whether all of the equipment con­ tinued to Utah after some of the columns were directed to other areas. "Besides the vast supplies provided for the service, the operating columns were furnished with nine travelling forges, twenty-two ambulances, twenty-nine light wagons, nine hundred and eighty-two baggage wagons, six thousand four hundred and forty- seven mules, and two hundred and fifty-four horses, in addition to the horses furnished for the mounted corps," House Executive Document, Number 2, Part 3, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 999, 797. 3k so that the horses could drink.

The small stresin flowing out of West Canyon proved insufficient to supply the needs of the force encamped on its banks„ More men were expected to arrive any day, which, with their animals, would increase the need for- water. It was de­ cided that the permanent location for the post would have to be in the center of the valley where more water was available.

This decision was made with some reluctance on the part of the general* He wrotes In selecting a site for our winter camp, I was de- 1 sirous, if possible, to avoid proximity to the dense settlements, or any settlements, if possible; but this was not practicable, for every suitable position where there is water is occupied,, In this valley there are two small settlements, the one close by the place selected for the camp,3 where there is a spring of water, and contains perhaps ten families; we shall occupy opposite sides of the stream, . and I will see that they suffer no inconvenience from us

The major portion of the army remained at West Canyon, while a party under Lieutenant Colonel D, Buggies went south to survey and lay out the permanent post. The disposition of the men*s quarters was to be, facing north and from left to right; Headquarters; 10th, 7th, and 5th Infantry Regiments;

% National Archives, Records of the War Department, . .. . e Utah, Iifiik&ES Sfiai 1,911-19,61 (letter no. 317, July 2i+, 1858), I, 360-361. ^Cedar Port and Fairfield. 3Pairfield.

^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, Part 2, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 975j 125. r f 36

Six Pounder Battery; Twelve Pounder Battery; and the 2nd

Dragoons,1 When the survey was completed, large numbers of

Moircon laborers and artisans were hired to assist in the work of construction. Carpenters and mechanics received $3«00 per 2 day and board. This labor force, directed and assisted by

the soldiers, immediately began building storehouses in which to place the goods arriving almost daily by mule and ox trains.

The army had been ordered west to Utah Territory in

the spring of 1857, shortly after the return of Justices Stiles

and Drummond to Washington, D.C, The quartermaster general and

the commissary general of subsistence had made arrangements

for supplies to support a force of 5,606 men to be put on the

road west. Thousands of pounds of foodstuffs, arms, ammuni­

tion, and equipment had been prepared at Fort Laramie for 3 shipment to Utah. Contracts were let to suppliers in the

East to provide additional goods specifically for the army in 5 Utah. k Russell, Majors and Waddell were given the contract to

^John Wo Phelps, Letters (unpublished manuscript), Letter to "General,” September 7, 1858, II, li}2. 2Laub, Diary, August 11, 1858. •^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 975» 50-5l. For a list of this equipment see Appendix B. ^House Executive Document, Number 99, 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No, 95^, 2-5'. See Appendix C for a list of these contracts. £ ^This contract was awarded on January 16, 1858 at Wash­ ington, D.C. and provided for rates of from $1.35 to $i|o5:0 per hundred pounds of freight, per hundred miles, depending on the type of freight, the post of pickup and delivery, and the time of year. A table of these rates is found in House Executive Docu­ ment, Number 99, 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 958, 37 transport these goods to the western outpost. Alexander Majors wrote of the gigantic task of moving millions of pounds of goods-to Utah: That spring (l858] our firm, under the name of Russell, Majors and Waddell, obtained a new contract from the United States Government to carry freight to Utah for the years 1858-59. That year the Government ordered an immense lot of freight, aggregating 16,000,000 pounds, itfost of whieh had to be taken to Utah. We had to increase the transportation . . . to 3,500 wagons and teams, and it required more than forty thousand oxen to draw the supplies; we also employed over four thousand men and about one thousand mules.

Thousands of pounds of flour, sugar, beans, rice, \ coffee, and other dry goods required dry weatherproof storage facilities to prevent total loss by spoilage. Dried fruit, hams, bacon, and other perishable type products needed cool warehouses for their preservation. Hundreds of pounds of ammunition and explosives had to have dry storage buildings that would afford these goods maximum security. Clothing, saddles, harnesses, and livestock feed in the form of grains also required undercover storage, away from the blasts of wind, snow, and rain. The immense amount of goods shipped to Utah made building great warehouses one of the most important re­ quirements of the men at Camp Floyd. Many of the storage buildings departed from the standard material of adobe and were made entirely of wood or stone. The quartermaster's barns on the eastern edge of camp were an example

''"Alexander Majors, Seventy Years on the Frontier, ed„ Prentiss Ingrahm (Chicago and New York, Rand, McNally and Co., 1893), 11*3. of the wooden structures. Stone was used to construct the

magazine. The arms and ammunition were stored in this building,

which was enclosed by a fifty-five by seventy-five foot stone 2 wall. All the stone used in building Camp Floyd was obtained

from open quarries in the hills about two miles northwest of 3 the camp, and was mined by the stockade prisoners. Stone was

also used to build a four foot high wall around the cemetary, twenty rods long by thirteen rods wide and in on© other small

building twenty by forty feet, possibly a guardhouse, seventy-

five yards due west of the magazine. By September 7, most of

the storehouses were complete^ and many of them were already

filled.

Beginning on September Ij., and continuing for about a week, the soldiers at West Canyon moved south through Cedar

Fort to Fairfield and the permanent Camp Floyd, The name

"Floyd” had been given to the entire valley on July 10, 1858,

so in order to distinguish between the two camps the location

at West Ganyon was referred to as the "Upper Camp," The sol­

diers began building their quarters as soon as they arrived

■'’Ma n y of these buildings were made completely of wood. Contemporary accounts tell of the burning of the bams that could not be sold at the abandonment of the post0 One commissary build­ ing remains standing today (1959) and is wholly a wooden structure o Journal History of the Church , September 2, X86l. 1, 3Tracy, op, cit., 69<>

^Phelps, Letters. Letter to "General," September 7, 1858 II, llj.2, . . . 39 on the ground set aside for them. Large pits were dug in the sloughs of the creek to extract clay for the 1,600,000 adobes1 required for construction of the buildings, Civilians from the neighboring communities found ready employment making dobies, which were fashioned by pressing a gruel of clay, water, and straw into molds eleven by eight by four inches. The filled molds were placed in the sun to dry, after which the bricks were removed and given to the soldiers who did the actual con­ struction.3 They were required to work with makeshift tools as a consequence of the destruction of their trains the pro­ ceeding fall. Brick by brick the walls rose until they were eight feet high.^" As the walls grew, space was left for doors and windows, the sills and frames of which were fashioned from pine sawed by the army in the canyons of the Oquirrhs. Each squad room and officer*s quarters had four windows. The floors were made @f hard pounded clay and straw, except for the head-

•*~Senate Executive Document, No. 52, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial Number 1035, 299. 2 Idem indicates that these laborers were Mormons. Greeley, op. cito, 2U6, says that the laborers were Mexicans0 There is little evidence to suggest that a large labor force of Mexicans was with the army. Some may have been travelling with Colonel Loring*s command from New Mexico, but not enough to contribute appreciably to the construction. ^Richard F. Burton, The City of the Saints and Across the Rocky Mountains to California (London, Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, lB6TJ, lj-06; estimates that the adobe bricks cost one cent apiece. Using this estimate and the number of adobes re­ ported by Assistant Surgeon Aquila T. Ridgely, a figure of $16,000 for adobes is arrived at.

^Johnston, op. clt., 23k° quarters and staff structures which had wooden ones. The

roofs were sawed planks from Brigham Young*s mill^ in Mill

Creek Canyon. These were laid against the ridge beams, the

seams stripped, and the whole covered with three to four inches 2 of adobe mud. The quarters, and some of the other buildings

in which men worked, had fireplaces. Many of the adobe struc­ tures were finished off with a wash of white, or sometimes

colored, clay.

When the post was at its largest, it comprised some 3 300 to lj.00 buildings i— the quarters, warehouses, messes, guard houses, administration buildings, stables, and so forth. Most

of the troops were kept busy throughout the fall months raising

these structures. There were interruptions arising from Indian difficulties, of which more will be mentioned later, but as a whole the army devoted its entire time and energy to complete the post.

Some changes in the strength of the Army for Utah, which naturally affected construction, were made during the

first three months at Camp Floyd. No sooner had this great array arrived in the valleys of the Wasatch Mountains than

Horace Greeley, An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco in the Summer of lti59~~(New York.C'.M. Saxton. Barker and Co., i860), 21+7 > estimates that of the total cost of $200,000 for Camp Floyd, Brigham Young received in excess of $50,000 for the lumber that he supplied for its construction. 2Tracy, op. cit., 35. plans were laid to reduce its size. On June 29, 1858, the Department of the Army issued General Order Number 17. This order affected a reorganization of the Utah forces and gave

complete command of them to General Johnston, According to

Headquarters of the Array General Order Number 1, dated January 8, 2 1858, a force to aggregate 5,606 men was to be sent to Utah,

At that time there were less than 2,000 soldiers in the terri­ tory, This would mean a reinforcement of some 3,000 men in the spring of 1858. By the time the army had decided on their location for a camp in Cedar Valley this re inf ore ement was already on the march. General Order Number 17 halted most of the reinforcement and detailed it to other posts and territories than those associated with the Department of Utah* Three

columns were to continue to Camp Floyd, where they arrived on

September 16, 2lf, and 25 respectively, providing an increase 3 of 967 men and 168 horses to General Johnston's command.

Not only did General Order 17 provide for the disposi­ tion of the columns enroute for Utah Territory, it also re­ organized the force already there. The 6th Infantry Regiment, located east of Fort Bridger (building a road through Bridger*s

Pass) and at Camp Floyd (two companies), was ordered to Walla

•^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, Part 2, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 975, 131.

2Ibid., 31. . 3 U.S. National Archives, Records of the War Department, Office of the Adjutant General, Efi.turaa ja£ ±iu Utah Expedition. 1857-1361, Field Returns of the ij.th, 5th, and 6th Columns, Utah Forces, September 1858. 4-3

Wall9, Washington. Territory, to assist in the control of in­ surgent Indians. An engineer company that had been directing the road work of the 6th Regiment was sent back to West Point by this same order.

While the array was encamped at the Upper Camp in the north end of Cedar Valley, General Johnston was faced with the problem pf what to do with the battalion of volunteers who were shortly due for discharge. He decided to send them back to Fort Leavenworth to be paid off and disbanded0 His main consideration was to prevent the possibility of a large body of men being released to cause damage and ill will with the Mormons. On July 197 this group of volunteers, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Bee, left Camp Floyd. On this same day, the escort provided for Captain Marcy, under the command of Colonel Loring of the Department of New Mexico, began 2 their return journey. This reduced the number at Camp Floyd by 603 men. These readjustments in strength and disposition left the Army for Utah with 2,791 officers and men3 (exclusive of the 371 men at Fort Bridger) to participate in the dedi­ cation ceremonies at Camp Floyd on November 9, 1858. This is the largest number of military men at Camp Floyd than can be

•'•Senate Executive Document, No. 1, Part 2, 35th Con­ gress, 2nd Session, Serial Number 975, 137.

2 Ibid., 121+.. 3 ^U.S. National Archives, Records of the War Department, Office of the Adjutant General, Returns of the Utah Expedition 1857-1861, Return for Department of Utah, October 1858. * documented.

By November 8, 1858, the quarters were nearly finished.

On this date an order was issued by camp headquarters for a

grand review and dedication ceremony to be culminated by the first raising of the national standard in Cedar Valley, to b®

accompanied by the national salute to be fired by Light Company

B, I|.th Artillery6 CIRCULAR

Tuesday, 9th Nov, 1858, having been designated as the day on which the National Flag be hoisted for the first time in this valley, the following is the order for the ceremony, viz: The troops of this command will be formed under arms at 11^ o'clock A.M. and the columns formed on the ground as hereinafter indicated at % before 12:00 o'clock A.M. A National Salute will be fired by Light Company B, l4.th Artillery at 12 o*clock M., precisely. At the first gun the flag will be run up to the masthead. The three Regiments of Infantry formed in columns closed in mass— division front--7th and 10th on the North side of the Staff facing South; Ipth-on the West side facing East; Light Company B 5th Artillery and 2nd Dragoons on the East side facing west; (Artillery on the right)— Light company B ij.th Artillery to be posted in the S.W. angle, between the 5th infantry and the Depot Guard House. As soon as the Flag is saluted the Regiments and Corps will o be marched to their respective parades and then dismissed0

The next day, November 9, 1858, the troops gathered in

obeyance to the parade order. By eleven-thirty in the morning,

Various sources estimate the strength of the force at Camp Floyd as ranging upwards to 7,000 men. Leonard J. Arrington in his Great Basin Kingdom (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1<558), 196, conservatively used the figure of i^.,000 soldiers. 2 This is obviously a misprint. The other artillery unit at Camp Floyd at this time was Light Company, C, 3rd Artillery.

•^Valley Tan, I (November 12, 1858), 2. the various units had assumed their assigned positions and waited patiently the ceremony looked forward to since their first day in Cedar Valley just two months before. The post was almost complete and had the appearance of a city laid on the flat of the valley. The flag staff had been completed on Saturday, November 6, and stood nakedly stabbing the sky. It was a magnificent pole standing a straight ninety feet out of the ground; four feet and four inches in circumference at the base'. A few minutes before noon the general and his staff rode up, taking position on the south facing the flagstaff to the north. At precisely twelve o'clock noon, Lieutenant Colonel Pitcairn Morrison, the Post Commander, signalled with his sword and the salute began.

As the first gun barked its homage, the flag was raised by Lieutenants Nathan A.M. Dudley and Alexander Murry, of the

10th Infantry, and the bands began playing "Hail Columbia," finishing as the cadence of the seventeenth explosion echoed back from the hills. The guns continued their salute and at the twenty-second shot were again joined by the bands as they struck up the "Star Spangled Banner." After the last note of music the guns were still speaking their tribute, finally end­ ing with the thirty-second blast, one for each state in the

Union, Colonel Morrison proposed three cheers for the flag.

This was executed and the soldiers were marched back to their quarters to the tune of "Yankee Doodle." The giant banner hung limp at the masthead awaiting the omnipresent wind of Cedar Valley. At about one o'clock in the afternoon, the breeze freshened and the forty by twenty-eight foot flag unfurled and shook itself against the desert sky.1 Upon arriving back at their respective quarters the men were dismissed and served a whiskey ration, while the officers

gathered at the headquarters for punch and lunch* The day was a festive occasion for the men. That night the theater,

primarily the work of the 5th Regiment, opened to a full house. The theater at Camp Floyd was an integral part of the

entertainment of the post, and consequently deserves consider­ able mention here. The soldiers, as in the case of all large

groups of men, craved entertainment. General Johnston realized

the danger to the morale of his force if they could only find

entertainment across the stream in Fairfield. It is believed

that he encouraged the soldiers to seek satisfaction in their

own camp. As a consequence of this encouragement, and with the cooperation of the $th Infantry Regiment, a theater was built within the confines of the post. The theater organization was

called "The Military Dramatic Association," and was composed

of the theatrically minded men and women of the camp and its

environs. The organizers went as far afield as Salt Lake City

in order to obtain female talent. A Mrs. Tuckett, one of the

principal Mormon actresses of the "Social Hall," was "stolen"

1Ibid.. I (November 12, 1858), 2. Also see Deseret News. VIII (November 10, 1858), iSk.

'“Valley Tan, I (November 12, 1858}, 2. U-7

1 by Sergeant Dick White for the Camp Floyd theater. Other 2 Mormon actresses may also have been employed by the soldiers.

The first presentation of the theater was a great success and opened the way for almost continuous twice weekly performances until the 5th Regiment was ordered to New Mexico in April i860.

Scenery and costumes were difficult to obtain, but this did not prevent the theater from becoming a tremendous success.

The inventive American soldiers solved these problems with ease. For example, the initial scenery was prepared using yellow mustard, red pepper, and ox blood for pigments, be- 3 cause paints were not available." An evening*s entertainment usually consisted of two or three selections with an interlude of some sort. The actors and actresses seemed to favor the comedy and farce, but did not lack the ability to present legitimate drama. On at least one occasion they favored the troops with a Shakespearian tragedy.^"

The program for November 9, was composed of a prologue by Mr. Willis, of the 5th Infantry, a farce in two acts entitled

"Used Up," and an afterpiece, "The Dead Shot." A band under

“John S. Lindsay, The Mormons and the Theatre (Salt Lake City, Century Printing, 1965), l5-I8. p Phelps, Letters. Letter to "Eunice," November 3» 1858, III, 182. Also see letter to "Helen," November if, 1858, III, 185. 3 ^Lindsay, op. cit., 16. Also see Valley Tan, I (Novem­ ber 12, 1858), 2. ^Valley Tan, I (October 5, 1859), 3, indicates that Othello was presented on September 2i+, 1859. 48

the direction of the 7th Infantry provided musical support to the evening1 s entertainment.^*

The theater was typical of frontier theaters. Among the plays presented were found such old time favorites as

"Sweethearts and Wives,” ”Serious Family," “The Day After the

Wedding,” "The Secret, or the Hole in the Wall,” and many 2 many others. Intermission selections were played by the band, whieh was almost always present, with the leading vocalists of the various rogimenfcs singing bsllads typical of soldiers„ One such ballad, ”Root Hog or Die,” almost broke the association up on January 15, 1859.^ It was so offensive in nature that two of the leading ladies, Mrs. Tuckett and Mr s . Lougee, left

the ranks of actresses in the organization until an apology k was tendered by the offender.

The pages of the Valley Tan are full of praise for the work of the theater. In the issue of January 25, 1859, the

critic said this in regard to ”The Lady of Lyons”: ”There are

so many affecting passages, and were so well recited as to bring down thunders of applause. However, the various performances

1 Ibld., I (November 16,1858}, 3. 2 See Appendix D for a list of some of the prominent plays and principals of the "Military Dramatic Association.”

3Valley Tan, I (January 25, 1859}, 3. . k Ibid., I ( February 1, 1859), 2.

^Ibid., I (January 25, 1859), 3 , 49 were not always praised. It seems that the camp claimed a number of critics. All received space in the Valley Tan. While one was praising, another was condemning, and the reader today can’t help but believe that these critics were engaging in just another form of recreation at Camp Floyd,

Throughout the winter the theater continued to perform.

With the approach of spring, and the scarcity of m o m y among the troops, it was found necessary to close down. Many of the sol- 1 diers had not received pay for six to ten months and could not attend the plays, not having enough money to purchase a ticket, which cost fifty cents for enlisted men and one dollar for officers.- The theater closed the latter part of March, 1859, and remained closed tintII June 1|, when it reopened and continued 3 to operate with few interruptions until it was disposed of in

April i860. The Dramatic Association was the frequent sponsor ii of dancesT in addition to the dramatic presentations.

The Military Dramatic Association was only one of the many organizations at Camp Floyd designed to provide entertain­ ment or other than military activity for the soldiers. Shortly after the completion of the post a group of officers petitioned

•^Ibid., IfFebruary 1, 1859), 2. Also see U.S. National Archives, Records of the War Department, Department of Utah, Letters Sent 1857-1861 (Letter No. 1+5, February 6, l8j?9), II, 120-121. 2Phelps, Diary. ' November 12, 1858, ^These interruptions were for new scenery or redecoration of the theater, ^Valley Tan, I (January 18, 1859), 2. 5o the Grand Lodge of Missouri for permission to begin a Masonic Lodge in Utah,^ A charter was issued on March 6, 1859, and probably reached the petitioners at Camp Floyd sometime in

April. The grant provided the name "Rocky Mountain Lodge" for the Masonic group there, and stipulated that it must be returned p to the Grand Lodge in May i860." Upon receipt of the charter the members of the Masonic Order immediately began construction of a temple. They built the walls with adobe bricks and hand sawed all of the lumber needed for the roof, sills, and door frames. The building was sixty feet long by thirty feet wide, 3 with high windows on the north and south sides. Meetings be­ gan as soon as it was completed,, In the first year 162 degrees l|. were conferred, more than any other lodge in Utah up to 19314-.

Most of the degrees were conferred on soldiers; however, there is evidence that at least one initiate at Camp Floyd was a civilian.

The Rocky Mountain Lodge returned its first charter, according to previous arrangement, to the Grand Lodge at St. Louis,

^Sam Henry Goodwin, Freemasonry in Utah, Rocky Mountain Lodge Number 205 (Salt Lake City, Grand Lodge of Utah, 193I4J , 17.

2Idem. 3Ibid., 19o ^Ibid», 21. 5 Richard Thomas Ackley, "Across the Plains in 1858," Utah Historical Quarterly, ed. J. Cecil Alter (Salt Lake City, Utah State Historical Society, 192+1), IX, 227; states that he was the first civilian "taken in." 51

In May i860. A second charter was granted in May. i860, with the n u m b e r s "205” added to the title of Rocky Mountain Lodge," and the Masonic labors continued until Camp Floyd was abandoned. During its two years of existence, the Rocky Mountain Lodge gave humanitarian service to many destitute emigrants passing west through Utah Territory. Food and clothing, or funds with which to purchase supplies, were often provided for those who 2 had not made proper preparations for their journey w st. Tn addition to this service, the Rocky Mountain Lodge contributed

$250 to the construction of the Washington Monument, in Wash- 3 ’ ington, D.C. It is not definately known when the second char­ ter for the lodge was returned to the Grand Lodge of Missouri. The last recorded communication between the Grand Lodge and the Rocky Mountain Lodge was dated March 27, l86l, just four months to the day before Camp Floyd was officially abandoned and the first Masonic Lodge of Utah ceased its labor.^

The Military Dramatic Association and the Rocky Mountain Lodge were two of the many organizations which absorbed the interest of off duty soldiers. A few more activities of camp life deserve mention here. The latter part of June, 1859,

Bartholomew^ Great Pioneer Circus presented a series of shows

^"Goodwin, op0 ait., 17. 2Ibid., 21. 3Idem.

^Ibid., 33. 52

at the camp.* This was a civilian organization which travelled through the communities of central Utah. After the group moved

from Camp Floyd, the soldiers determined to organize their own

circus. On August 20, 1859, the "Soldiers Circus" opened at the camp. It was composed entirely of residents of the post 2 and was well received by the men. The acts included the usual

buffoonery of clowns and several outstanding acrobatic groups.

Of course the clowns made successful burlesque of the Mormon

way of life. The Valley Tan reported:

Crawford and Willis possess a peculiar faculty in hitting off the Mormons, and this is the thing to please the soldiers. We all hate these degenerate scoundrels, and anything produced in the way of burlesquing them will always take well.^

The success of the circus prompted performances two and three times a week. The show got better, so an enlargement and im­

provement of the pavillion was soon required and accomplished„^

"Observer" reported on September 7> that the Soldiers Circus

" is the only place of amusement in Camp Floyd worth going to."^

This was primarily because of the buffoonery of Crawford and

Willis:

■''Valley Tan, I (July 6, 1859), 2. Also see Phelps, Di arv. June 22, 1559.

2Valley Tan, I (September 7, 1859), 2.

3Ibid., I (September 28, 1859), 1.

^Ibid., I (September H+,1859), 2.

- Ibid., I (September 7, 1859), 2. 53

The fountain-head from which all the amusement was drawn was the inimitable comicality of Willis and Crawford. Their tricks and witticisms invariably brought down the audience in roars of applause; but the capping of the climax was in the burlesque on Mormon emigration. 0 o . Willis* personification of the Mormon Bishop was ren­ dered so well that it afforded material for laughter for days afterward.1

About the same time that the Soldiers Circus was being organized, another society to occupy the soldier's attention was created. Sunday, August 21, marked the debut of the lfGer- manic Singing Club.” This group of men had spent considerable time in constructing and decorating a social hall on the 7th Infantry’s ground, in which to hold their meetings. The Singing

Club was unique in that It was a private organization. Only members and guests could attend the activities of the society.

The purpose of the organization was to promote "dramatic repre- 2 sentations and chorus singing.” Meetings were held each night to sing and rehearse dramatic and operatic presentations for the club. The first performance before the group was executed in German and included three farces with choral interludes be­ tween each one. In subsequent weeks the society performed selections from grand opera, sponsored classical orchestral numbers, and presented other music and drama of a very high caliber. A critic of one of their meetings reported in the

October 5, issue of the Valley Tan:

~*~Idem.

2Idem. 54

We may state that the music performed at this elegant little establishment is characterized no less by its chaste­ ness of style than by the brilliance of its execution^, The selections are made with taste and judgement, and is deci­ dedly superior £0 anything which can be heard elsewhere in this territory.~

The intellectual life of the camp received considerable support from-a number of schools that operated in the various unitso Captain John W. Phelps was a frequent lecturer at one of these schools and recorded a report that when his school ended 2 on April 2, 1859, four soldiers had learned to write.

It has been shown that there were many and varied acti­ vities and entertainments organized within the camp to occupy the spare time of the men. Before elaborating on the entertain­ ments available across the stream, in Fairfield, mention should be made of some of the duties and amusements common in the camp to a lesser degree than those already described.

Life at Camp Floyd was at times far from glamorous.

There were the routine duties associated with the maintenance of a military establishment. The post was in need of constant maintenance and improvement. During the winter of 1858-59> the quartermaster built a conduit, which provided for the distri- 3 bution of water throughout the camp* in addition to this,

Richard Ackley wrote of other improvements accomplished by the

1Ibid., I (October 5, 1859), 3. 2Phelps, Diary. April 2, 1859. 3 Valley Tan, I (January 18, 1859), 2. 55 quartermaster: As Spring opened, the men were busy building and rearranging the garrison. Capt. Turnley, the Quartermaster of the post, was very efficient in his duties. A very large spring of water started close by, and the Captain had it nicely cleaned out and walled up. About on^ mile below, he damiaad it up and built a mill for the purpose of grinding grain, for either flour or feed for the horses. Also a large lot of bath-houses were fixed for the purpose of the men bathing. The little lake formed by the dam, he filled with fish, which he had brought from Lake Utah,

Besides working at improvements, the soldiers in camp had the official responsibility associated with the ceremonies of parades, guard duties, funerals, entertaining Indian digni­ taries, and policing across the creek in Fairfield. Excerpts from accounts of these various duties reveal that Camp Floyd life was not always the exciting one generally expected at frontier army posts. A parade was held on every significant holiday regard­ less of the weather of obstacles of terrain. Captain Tracy described the review in honor of Washington1s birthday, 1859, as being one of extreme hardship due to both weather and ter­ , 2 rain. There was a biting wind blowing the falling snow into a blizzard, but the parade continued with the men slipping and tripping over the sagebrush. In subsequent parades the dust was the element which blinded them. With the tramping of feet in the parade, great clouds arose to add to the discomfort of the troops. Not being able to see through the dust made it

^Ackley, op. cit., 22I4.0 2 Tracy, op. cite, 51|-560 56 extremely difficult for the soldiers to maintain their lines, or even keep their feet due to stumbling over clumps of sage.

Even with these problems to contend with, the reviews must have been something to see. Imagine the largest force to be assembled in one place since the Mexican War parading "upon the plateau, and forming a line of brave and well disciplined soldiers 0 . . across the valley almost from one mountain to the other.

Closely allied with the duties of parading were those associated with providing security for the quarters, warehouses, prisons, and arsenal. Guard duty at Camp Floyd was always drudgery, though a necessary concern of all the men. The sever­ al guard stations were occupied twenty-four hours a day then, just as similar stations in the army today are maintained*

Documents relate that the officer of the day had a real and sometimes hazardous task to perform in checking his guards* One of the sentries was occasionally located at the quarry, about two miles from camp. The officer on duty was required to visit this sentoy during the night. Captain Tracy wrote of his experi­ ence in performing this assignment:

Northwesterly and between camp and the point where the guard is stationed lies the usual stretch of sage. . . . Over this ground . . . the wolves are wont at night to traverse in packs. * . . These animals appeared parti­ cularly on the alert tonight, and, with my orderly— both of us on foot— I had proceeded perhaps nearly half way

Valley Tan, I (January 1+, 1859), 2 57

. * . when at the front and somewhat to right, there arose the longdrawn deep howl. . . . Presently from the neigh­ borhood of the lower camp, there came the answer, then another, deeper and wilder of note, and finally the chorus of a troop under full head, in one direction. I did not linger for the advance, and if I did not run, I imitated the Kentuckian in some very rapid walking. Nearer and nearer the pack came on, till I almost, fancied I could hear the sagebrush crash beneath them.

At this point the captain and his orderly reached the protecting

fire of the sentry. They later returned to camp, accompanied by an armed escort. Upon arriving in camp, Captain Tracy re­ lieved his orderly who reported to his fellows that "there wasn't an officer in this camp could beat Captain Tracy walking."

The wolf packs were attracted to the camp by the slaugh­

tering pens on its outskirts. Many an off duty hour was spent

in hunting these i^olves, using dogs to chase them up for shoot- 3 ing. This amusement, and the camp billiard room were generally 1+ reserved for officers.

While some men occupied their spare time hunting wolves

in the valley, other men were hunting for precious metals. The

search for riches was met with some success. Captain Phelps

reported in his diary of silver, lead, and gold being discovered by the soldiers in the vicinity of the camp.

^Tracy, op. cit., 69-70. p Idem. ^Valley Tan, I (February 1, 1859), 2.

^Ackley, op. cit., 225. 5 Phelps, Diary, November 10, 1858; January 31, 1859, April 27, 1859. ' 58

At the same time that the mineral riches of the land were being discovered, the agriculturalists of the military establishment were exploiting the earth by way of farming. On

April 27> 1858, ground was surveyed for a large garden and on

May 2, plowing and planting began. By the end of the spring of 1859> there had been forty acres of soil seeded in the valley by the soldiers. Each regiment had the responsibility for tending and irrigating the garden one day a week. The crop was to be equally distributed among the men when the harvest was brought in. The garden flourished and was a great success."

When the activities in camp became too dull, there were 2 always available the amusements of Fairfield, across the stream

It was a gamble to venture over for an evening. Permission was required, in writing, before the luxuries of "camp follower civilization" could be sampled. All the vices known to man 3 were present in the town of "Frog." Knifings and shootings I4. ' ' were common occurrences, so much so that two provost sergeants were appointed by the commander to police the town and attempt

1Ibid., April 27, 1859; May 2, 1859; June 1, 1859; July 3, lWH July 30, 1859. 2 Fairfield wa3 often referred to as "Frogtown" or "Dobie town." 3 See Appendix E for a contemporary description of a Saturday night in Fairfield.

^Deseret News, X (April 2, i860), 61j also Valley Tan, I (March 1, --- Tracy, Ackley, Greeley, Burton and the newspapers are all agreed that Fairfield was the breeding place of the lawless­ ness of the territory. 59

1 to maintain order between soldiers and civilians. The princi­ pal entertainments were gambling—in every conceivable form

(cards, horseracing, pistol shooting, ten pins, roulette, bil­ liards, etc,}— figating, women, and drinking. Among the bever­ ages obtainable was a whiskey composed of alcohol and tobacco.

This brew was responsible for frequent illnesses and receives mention in the department medical reports as being the cause of 2 at least one death. The two principal streets of town were lined with establishments designed to dispense liquors and excitement. There is evidence to suggest that women were readily 3 obtainable to contribute to the entertainments across the stream."

General (then Lieutenant) B.M. Thomas recorded his impression of

"Frogtown," an accurate summary in view of evidence obtainable today:

Fairfield, or Frogtown, as we called it, was on the oppo­ site side of the stream. Here were assembled a motley gang of horse thieves, murderers and desperadoes. . . 0 Every house was a gambling deji, with barroom attachment. Crime ran high carnival here.*+

Many of the men buried in the post cemetary were victims of drunken brawls or foul play in Fairfield— that "hell of gamblers

1Vallej Tan, I (March 1, 1859), 2„ 2 Senate Executive Document, Number 52, 36th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 103p, 307• ■5 ^Ackley, op. cit., 219-220. Also see Phelps. Diary. June 15, 1859.

^Proceedings of the M a¥. Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons of Utah, Fifty-fourth Annual Communication (Salt Lake City. T725TT 95.“ — ^ ------— - ’ 60 liquor venders," 1 However, the life of "Dobiatown" did not appeal to all of the soldiers. Indeed, it was to combat the licentious exis­ tence of Fairfield that several hundred men banded together into p the "Military Order of the Sons of Temperance,” If a man found life at Camp Floyd too unbearable and couldn*t compensate for it at Frogtown, he had two alternatives, both of which were utilized at one time or another0 He could commit suicide,-' or desert the post. As a matter of fact, desertions were fairly common, moreso than suicides! The di­ aries of Phelps and Ackley, and the pages of the Deseret News all report punishment being meted out to deserters that were caught and returned to camp,'*’ The prescribed method of correc­ tion for this crime was a public whipping and a tour of duty at the stone quarry. If the routine activity at Camp Floyd was difficult, it was at least healthy. The sterility of the soil made breeding

•^Phelps , Letters. Letter to "Helen," February 2, 1859, III, 220, 2Valley Tan, II (December 7, 1859), 2, ^Deseret News, X (April 2, i860), 61; reports the suicide of a clerk in the 7th Infantry Regiment, This Is confirmed by the medical reports of the camp: Senate Executive Document, Number 52, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No, 1035, 319, Captain Phelps Diary reports that there were two additional suicides in the first.year at Camp Floyd; May 13 and August 6, 1859, ^Ackley, o£, cit., 225. Also see Deseret News, X (April 25, i860), 61; and Phelps, Diary February 5, 1^59; February 19, 1859; July 16, 1859, 61 places for micro-organisms few and far between. There was plenty of clear fresh water, and good wholesome food. The dry

air was a boon to the sufferers of respiratory disease. Though the dust is often mentioned as being inconvenient to breathing, the military health records show no serious respiratory illnesses resulting from it. The most prevalent disease at the post was mountain fever, a disease which completely baffled the doctors of the territory. Some attributed it to drinking snow water,1 while others blamed the night mountain air02 With the cause of the fevers not being known, they led the list of mortality with a ra­ tio of one death for every eighty-six cases, compounded over a period of three years. This placed the Department of Utah eighth in severity out of the twenty-three regions of the United States listed in the health records.3 There was some scurvy among the men, but the ample supply of fresh fruits and vegetables procured from the Mormon gardens decreased the severity and duration of the disease in individual instances. Cases contracted at camp were caused principally by "drunkeness, filth, despondency, ennui, and an unvaried diet from which vegetables”^ were absent.

It is interesting to note that despondency was recognized as a contributing factor in producing scurvy. Undoubtedly, despondency

^Senate Executive Document, Number 52, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial wo. l03>» 3l3»

2Idem. ■

3Ibid., 325. 1+ Ibid., 309. 62 was a common condition for soldiers in the Department of Utah, and had some influence in the prevalence of other illnesses.

The following maladies are ordered according to the aggregate mortality for each, compounded over a three year period in the Department of Utah: fevers, digestive disfunctions, respiratory diseases, wounds and injuries, brain and nervous system, muscular disorders, venereal diseases, and miscellaneous.

When compared with the national military mortality rate for the same period, the Department of Utah was lower in proportion to mean strength than any other region except the Military Academy and Army Headquarters at West Point, with an aggregate annual 2 ratio of 8.2 deaths for every 1,000 men in the department.

Utah may not have been the most lively department of the army but it was certainly the most healthy.

Camp Floyd had humble beginnings, but before its abandon­ ment it ranked with the largest and most prominent military establishments in the United States. Certainly, the experiences of the soldiers at the post were conducive to dissatisfaction and boredom, but fortunately there were opportunities for adven­ ture and excitement in the duties away from camp--military duties that the Army for Utah was frequently called upon to discharge. As a consequence of these tasks the men were given the chance to revitalize their attitudes. Some, who were never

1Ibid., 318-321. 63 called upon to participate in military ventures away from Cedar

Valley, resigned and left Utah feeling that their time had been completely wasted,. Captain Phelps was one of these men, and as he left, he breathed a sentiment it is believed was expressive of the thoughts and desires of many of the men that served in the Army for Utah;

On arriving at the rim of Cedar Valley I turned to look at the small region of the globe where an entire year and more of ray life had been spent,like a blank, and which I hoped I might never see again.

What adventures away from camp had Captain Phelps missed? One concerned itself with a conflict between civil and military authorities— the "Provo Incident"--an examination of which will be presented next.

"^Phelps, Diary. September 8, 1859 CHAPTER III

POSSE COMITATUS1

The instructions which governed the conduct of the army in Utah Territory specified that soldiers were to be used at the discretion of the civil authorities to aid them in estab- 2 lishing and maintaining law and order among the Mormon people.

It will be remembered that law and order had been established through the mediations of Colonel Kane and the peace commis­ sioners at least two months before the Army for Utah reached

Great Salt Lake City. At least the commissioners and newly appointed governor were satisfied that the reported rebellion was over, before the army left its winter camp at Fort Bridger and Camp Scott. However, some of the recently appointed civil authorities refused to recognize that the Mormons had estab­ lished peace with the United States. These men were bound and determin ed to extract what they termed "justice" from the saints, and before they were through they had almost fanned the

-Posse Comitatus is literally the power of the county. The term denotes a body of citizens who are summoned to assist an officer of the law "in suppressing a riot or in executing any legal precept which is forcibly opposed. The word comitatus is often omitted and posse alone used." (Webster1s Unabridged Dictionary.) 2 House Executive Document, Number 71» 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 7^', 7» 65 coals of conflict into open flame again.

Governor Cumming had sensed that trouble was brewing as early as November 5, 1858. The men at Camp Floyd daily uttered oaths of hatred and threats of violence against the residents of Zion. General Johnston could control the soldiers, but he had no authority when it came to dealing with the civili­ ans. The governor attempted to salve the situation when he wrote a letter of explanation and appeal to Secretary of State,

Lewis CassJ

It is a subject of regret that certain persons who believe that the Mormons ought to be cured of their errors of opinion by violent remedies have Inflamed the passions of the ignorant against the inhabitants, and several mur­ ders have been the result of this unwise and wicked prac­ tice. If the administration desire to preserve the present peaceable condition of society here, I cannot too strongly urge the necessity of avoiding the appointment to office in this Territory of men who believe it to be proper to wage a war of extermination against men who entertain i errors of opinion on the subjects of religion and politics.

In spite of the efforts of the territorial chief execu­ tive to prevent his subordinate officers from waging a war of retribution, such a conflagration broke out in March, 1859, at the session of the second district court in Provo.

On March 7, 1859, John Cradlebaugh, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court and one of the recently appointed gentile officers charged with the establishment of law and order in Utah, left his quarters in the security of 2 Camp Floyd, and journeyed to Provo to preside over the second

^House Executive Document, Number 78, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 1056, l|o 2Phelps, Di&.ry. March 7, 1859. 66

1 district court which was to meet there on March 8. Judge

Cradlebaugh was one of the men alluded to by Governor Gumming in his report to the secretary of state, on November 5• To insure success in his plans of bringing justice to the terri­ tory, Judge Cradlebaugh had made requisition to the army on

March 6, for a force of men to accompany him to court„ He based his request on the authority granted to the army to aid the civil officers upon their request. It seems that several violators of various laws had been arrested and imprisoned at the camp. Once the court had begun to meet, it was believed that other persons guilty of crimes would be apprehended and brought to trial. Undoubtedly many of these '’criminals" were of the predominant religious faith. The judge may have anti­ cipated resistance to his form of justice, just as the governor had, and this may have been the primary motivation behind his asking for military assistance. He formally stated his reasons for having soldiers at the court in the following words:

Certainty of punishment being the surest preventive of crime, and having no prison within my district in which to secure . „ . offenders that they may be brought to justice, the public interest, as well as my duty requires that the prisoners . . . be transmitted to the place of trial, and there be kept under military guard until their cases are disposed of. I feel confident that without such aid the court will be unable to bring said persons before the court, and secure their answering to the crimes alleged against them.^

Senate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 1021}-, llj-O.

^Idem. 67

General Johnston responded to the judge's request by ordering a company of 10th Infantry, commanded by Captain Henry

Heth, to escort the prisoners and the judge to Provo. The gen­ eral had no desire to give cause for dispute between his men and the citizens of Provo. He was very specific in his instructions to Captain Heth. He ordered that the soldiers were not to assist in arrests or otherwise follow directives from the judge or marshal except to guard and deliver the prisoners turned over to them by authorized civilian law enforcement officers.

Any requests for assistance were to be directed to the command­ ing general and not to be complied with unless ordered by him.

In addition to securing the prisoners, Captain Heth's men were directed to afford protection to witnesses seeking it in their camp, which was to be established outside of the city limits.

To further avoid friction with the civilians, the soldiers were encouraged to stay out of town, even to the extent of requiring the marshal and court bailiffs to come to their camp 1 to get the prisoners.

Upon arriving in Provo, the soldiers were persuaded by Judge Cradlebaugh that to camp outside the extended limits of the city would make the discharge of their orders impractical and almost impossible. Consequently, Captain Heth secured permission from the town marshal to occupy the ground around the seminary (where court was being held), with the officers taking up residence in one of the rooms on the ground floor,

1Ibid., ll+ 0 -l|l. 68

adjoining and under the one occupied by the grand jur^ and the 1 designated meeting place for the court*

These arrangements touched off a series of protests,

which for a time threatened to result in violence* On March 10,

1859, fifty-six of the citizens of Provo drafted and presented

a petition to the mayor and city council stating their views

and feelings respecting the ^invasion" of the court by the army. They wrote that the alleged need for soldiers to act

as guards because of the absence of security for the prisoners was unfounded: "The civil officers both of the city and county hold themselves in readiness at all times to secure and take 2 care of prisoners." They further protested:

The judge says the troops were sent . . . at his request. We can only look upon it that he is either afraid of his own personal safety or that they are here to intimidate private citizens, witnesses, jurors, and so prevent jus­ tice.-'"

The next day, Mayor B*K. Bullock and the city council wrote to Governor Curaming, expressing, by way of consolidated protest, their objections to this "high-handed outrage:"

Dear Sir: The mayor and city council of Provo beg leave to respectfully represent, that whereas the city council have received petitions from the various wards of this city against the military occupations of the seminary and vicinity by United States troops, to the annoyance of the citizens of this city and intimidation of those persons

House Executive Document, Number 78, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 10^6, 7-9.

2Ibid*, 7*

Idem* 69

having business with the district court, in session in the seminary, and also rendering it exceedingly difficult for the civil officers, and expensive, to preserve the peace between the unruly portion of the citizens and sol­ diers, some unpleasant circumstances having already occurred, and that they regard it as a direct interference with the municipal regulations of American citizens. Under These circumstances you will see the impropriety of their longer continuing in their present positions, and we respect­ fully request your honor to cause that they be removed beyond the limits of this city.

A letter similar in context to the above was also sent to

Judge Cradlebaugh* This prompted a series of heated communi­ cations between the judge and the city officials.

The judge reiterated his belief that there were no means or facilities for tending prisoners at Provo. He challenged the council to show where the soldiers had interfered with or annoyed citizens, and closed his first rebuttal with these words: "As to your remark about intimidation, allow me to say that good American citizens have no cause to fear American troops o

This attack on the loyalty of the pardoned Mormons was almost more than they could peaceably bear. The council shot back an acid reply to the judge, again stating that prison facilities were available, listing several "incidents" between the troops and the civilians, and explaining again the impro­ priety of having the civil courts virtually controlled by the steel of the military.

Senate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 102i{., l42<>

^Ibid,, 1^3 70

By the middle of March, the whole territory had entered into the dispute. The community of Spanish Pork added its pro­ test to that from the people of Provo„ On March 22, a petition from citizens throughout the territory was presented to the governor, who forwarded it to the secretary of state at Wash­ ington, D.C. The Valley Tan and the Deseret News devoted con­ siderable space to editorials, charges, and counter-charges^ which tended to excite the men at Camp Floyd and the Mormon readers throughout the valleys of the Wasatch Mountains.

However, all of the citizens did not rebel at having troops in and around the halls of justice. On March lij., eight men, claiming citizenship in Provo, complicated the protests from Provo, Spanish Fork, and the territory by requesting that the troops not be removed from the city. They further certi­ fied that they had neither seen nor heard anything which could be interpreted as intimidation by the army, and that the con- 1 duct of the soldiers was exemplary.

In the meantime, Governor Cumming determined to get to the bottom of the problem through a personal investigation,,

On March llj., he arrived at Provo and found the disposition of the military force to be precisely as described to him in the petitions from the citizens of the area, The governor was virtually ignored by Captain Heth, an action which resulted in open conflict between the chief executive and the military com­ mander of the department,, Judge Cradlebaugh chose this most

1Ibid„, 1UJ+ 71 inopportune time to add insult to injury by securing the arrest of Mayor Bull.ock and threatening to arrest Bishop Johnson of

Springville. This action caused an increase in the size of the police force and touched off frequent rows between soldiers and civilians, which resulted in Captain Heth*s men being dri- 1 ven from their posts by stoning, "When the mayor of Provo was arrested „ „ . every ablebodied man in town immediately became a member of the police force, and the judge found him­ self confronted with a civilian army of his own indirect cre­ ation."^

Captain Heth became greatly alarmed with the appear­ ance of such a large police force about his position. He pre­ pared for a battle and sent a messenger back to Cemp Floyd, on

March 18, with a description of the now openly hostile situa­ tion. This report prompted General Johnston to muster a force 3 of some 500 men to march to Battle Creek and be in readiness to support Captain Heth in case fighting began. Major Gabriel

R. Paul was directed to assume command of the entire Provo expedition, which numbered 6I4.7 men. Again, the general em­ phasized the need for maintaining peaceful relations with the

■^Tracy, 0£. cit., 59 0 Also see Ackley, o£. cit., 22i|.« 2 Nels Anderson, Desert Saints (Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 191+2), 199» 3 Pleasant Grove. 4 Returns of the Utah Expedition. March, 1859. 72 citizenry when he instructed the major:

You will be careful not to permit your command to inter­ fere with the rights of the citizens, and, on no pretence whatever, will you make an attack upon any body of citi­ zens except in sheer self-defense.

On March 21, the force, under Major Paul, marched from

Camp Ployd. Just as Captain Heth had exercised independence of action by not camping .outside the city, so also did the major move considerably closer to the seat of action then he was specifically directed. On March 22, his men marched through 2 Battle Creek and on to the Timpanogos River, where they camped 3 within sight of the court house.

Governor Cumming had observed these movements of the military. Indeed, he had attempted to quiet the condition by writing to the general on March 20, requesting that Captain

Heth’s command be removed to a "position outside of the wall of the village," and that the men under Major Paul "assume such position as will relieve the inhabitants from the influence of a military encampment in their vicinity.He continued his letter by writing:

It is with pleasure that I announce to you, that after careful observation I am satisfied that the presence of the military force in this vicinity is? unnecessary, and for this and other reasons I desire to impress upon you the propriety of the immediate disposition of the troops as above indicated.5

^Senate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 10£i+, 11+9. ^Provo River. ^Tracy, op. cit., 60-61. fy-House Executive Document, Number 73, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No„ l6j?6, 19. £ •^Idertio 73

Accompanying this letter was a copy of instructions frora Secretary of State Cass to the governor, indicating that troops could be called on for assistance *and while thus em­ ployed they will be under the direction of the proper civil officer, and act in conformity with the Instructions you may give as the chief executive magistrate of the Territory.

This last phrase brought forth a strong and heated reply from the general on March 22, the day Major Paul camped on Timpano- gos River. General Johnston briefly reviewed the events which made the use of troops at Provo necessary. Then he launched into an analysis of the military position in respect to the civil one. He defended Captain Heth for not reporting to the governor, for "such an act would be an acknowledgement of raili-

• 2 tary supremacy on your part which does not exist.” He further stated:

To prevent any misunderstanding hereafter, I desire to say to your excellency that I am under no obligation what­ ever to conform to your suggestions, with regard to the military disposition of the troops of this department, except only when it may be expedient to employ them in their civil capacity as a posse, . . . I have also to say to you that, to secure the military convicts who were re­ quired as witnesses by the United States district attorney, it would have been necessary to»send a force to Provo with them, whether asked for or not.^

Since the troops were asked for, and by Judge Cradlebaugh, the

^Idem. Italics in the original.

2Ibifl., 21.

'Idem. 74 general indicated that he could not remove them without first

obtaining their release from the requesting official.

It was apparent to the governor that he could make no peace with the military commander until a clarification of orders was obtained from the secretary of state and the general

in chief. The soldiers at Camp Floyd had believed for some time

that the governor was on the verge of falling into the pit of

Mormondom. His taking sides with the saints in the Provo con­ flict confirmed their suspicions and the gulf between the civil

and military authority continued to widen throughout the summer

of 1859, until a stand was taken on the issue by the government at Washington as a result of a plea from the territorial execu­

tive. Governor Gumming asked Secretary Cass, in a letter of

March 25, "that the discrepancy which exists between the instruc­

tion given to the civil and military departments in this terri­ tory o . . be removed by some further action on the part of the government,

To make his position in the Provo incident absolutely

clear, pending action from Washington, the governor issued a

proclamation on March 27, reviewing the military movements, their effect on the civilian element of the population, and the general*s refusal to comply with the executive request for

withdrawal. He concluded with the following declaration:

Now therefore I, Alfred Cumming, governor of the Territory of Utah, do hereby publish this my solemn protest against the present military movement, and also

1Ibid,, 23 75

against all movements of troops incompatible with the letter and spirit of , , . the instructions received by me from the government fop my guidance while governor of the Territory of Utah.1

On May 2, 1859, Secretary of State Cass wrote to Gover­ nor Gumming that the secretary of war had issued orders to

General Johnston clarifying when the military were to be subject

to call and direction from the civil officers. Four days later

Secretary of War John B. Floyd wrote to the department commander:

Peace being now restored to the Territory, the judicial administration of the laws will require no help from the army under your command. If the service of the United States troops should be needed under any circumstances, it could only be to assist the executive authority in executing the sentence of law or the judicial decrees of the court; and that necessity could only arise when the services of a civil posse were found to be insufficiento You will, therefore, only order the troops under your command to assist as a posse comitatus in the execution of the laws, upon written application of the governor of the Territory, and not otherwise.

This communique made it clear that soldiers were to be used

only as a posse comitatus and upon a request from the governor.

It was also a rebuke to General Johnston for allowing his men 3 to be used by the judge„ However, he was to have sweet revenge

before too long.

1Ibid., 23-21+, p Senate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No, lOT1,., 15?. 3 Anderson, op. clt., 200; reports on documentation not readily available, which sheds additional light on o the secretary of state1s statement of clarification: "On May 17, 1859, Attorney General Jeremiah S, Black wrote to the federal judges in Utah that they had exceeded their authority to become public accusers. Concerning the Provo epi­ sode he wrote the following opinion, concurred in by the 76

Before the summer of 1859 was through, Governor Cumming had cause to regret his pressing for such a narrow interpreta­ tion of orders. In August, an Indian uprising occurred on the 1 California road near the Goose Creek Mountains. The governor asked the general to "detach a suitable command with instruc- 2 tions to communicate with Superintendent Forney, at Brigham

City, with a view of arresting the murderers, and furnishing 3 protection on the road," General Johnston replied that he would comply with the request:

And I will, in consequence of the information contained in your letter, but not in compliance with your requisi­ tion, despatch a force, as I would do should the like information come from any source entitled to credit,'"*

This was sufficient answer, but he continued to rub salt into president: 1. That the governor of the territory alone has power to issue a requisition upon the commanding general for the whole or a part of the army0 2. That there was no apparent occasion for the presence of the troops at Provo. 3. That if the rescue of the prisoners in custody had been attempted, it was the duty of the marshal and not of the judge to summon the force that might be necessary to prevent it. That the troops ought not to have been sent to Provo with­ out the concurrence of the governor, nor kept there against his remonstrance. 5* That the disregard of these principles and rules of action has been In many ways extremely unfortunate,"

^In southwestern Idaho and northwestern Utah, p Jacob Forney was appointed Indian agent for Utah, to fill the office vacated by Garland Hurt on September 27, l857<> Mr. Forney came into Utah in the spring of 1858, after having wintered with the array at Fort Bridger.

^House Executive Document, Number 78, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 1056, 30. ^Tdem. 77 the wound by writing:

In view of the very specific orders of the Secretary of War of recent date, limiting my authority to comply with your requisitions for the aid of the United States troops to cases which in a single contingency may occur, I shall feel it my duty to refuse a compliance with your requisi­ tions for Jroops in any other case whatever than those specified.

With this, the conflict, which had seemingly been settled in May, was touched off again. The chief executive of the terri­ tory had learned that he could not deal directly with the mili­ tary commander, so he wrote again to Secretary Cass: "There seems to be an obvious descrepancy between the orders of the honorable Secretary of War to General A.S. Johnston and your 2 instructions to me. 11 The secretary replied in such a way as to give support to General Johnston's stand:

In supposing that there is any conflict between your instructions and those issued by the War Department in May last, I think you labor under some misapprehension. The troops in Utah were not intended to be placed at your disposal, so that you might employ them for any purpose connected with the welfare of the Territory which you might deem expedient, but were only intended as posse comitatus in aid of the civil power, whenever resistance was manifested to the execution of legal process.-'

This communique evened the score between the general and the governor. The orders were clarified, so that no misunder­ standing as to the relationship between civil and military officers would be possible in the future. Feelings had been

1 Ibid., 31.

2Ibid., 29.

3Ibid., 32. 78 aroused between the two as a result of the Provo Incident, so hostile that they were never resolved,, General Johnston and

Governor Cumming avoided contact with each other as though one

or the other were possessed of a plague. Their future communi­

cations were perfunctory in nature, never cordial nor personal.

Fortunately, the successors to command at Camp Floyd, after

General Johnston left in March i860, did not inherit his con­ tempt for the governor.

The affair at Provo, which had touched off this contro­ versy, ended just a few days after the governor's formal re­ quest, in March, for clarification of instructions. Undoubtedly,

the pressure exercised on the army by the chief executive and

the citizenry prompted orders for withdrawal of the military

force on April I4.. The judge, sensing his perilous position without guns to back him up, brought the session of court to

a speedy conclusion and joined the retreating army. Prisoners, whose cases had not been heard at Provo, were marched back to

Camp Floyd with the soldiers. Considerable excitement was

evidenced among the residents of Dobietown^ as the criminals were marched through. An indication of the high feelings

evolving from the Provo incident is shown by the treatment

accorded to the Mormon prisoners upon arriving back at camp.

Ackley wrote:

There was great excitement in camp when they were brought up. One of those placed in the guard house of the 7th Infantry came very near to losing his life. There

"''Known today as Fairfield. 79

were always a good many soldiers who were confined in the guard houses for some misdemeanor or other, and this one particularly, had ten who had attached to tham a ball and chain0 . . . This night particularly they were walking into the cells single file with their ball and chain attached, holding the ball in the right hand as they walked in. The Provo prisoners were lying in the hall of the guard house tired after a long march from Provo. One of these fellows let his iron ball drop, which weighed about 10 pounds, in­ tending for it to strike the Mormon in the head, and would have killed him had it not been that he threw up his arm to save himself, but broke his arm.

Of course, Judge Cradlebaugh was heralded as the hero of American justice and received many callers and congratulations on the evening of arrival back in camp. He was so well thought of that the bands of the 7th and 10th Regiments serenaded his 2 honor late into the night.

The Provo incident gave rise to other situations similar in nature, all of which revolved around the relationship be­ tween military and civil officers. It will be remembered that the bishop of Springville had been threatened with arrest during the conflict at Provo. To avoid this he and some of his follow­ ers had fled into the mountains. On March 21+, while the troops were at Provo, Marshal Peter K. Dotson made requisition on

General Johnston for a force of two hundred men to assist him, as a posse, in searching out and capturing the bishop and his followers who were hiding in Hobble Creek Canyon. Judge Cradle­ baugh favorably endorsed the marshal*s request, which was

“Ackley, op0 cit., 221+-225. p Tracy, 0£. cit., 67. s© 1 approved on the same day. Two hundred men were detailed from

Major Paul * s command, at Timpanogos River, the next day, "to be 2 • ready for . . . movement at an hour's notice." At two o ’clock

in the morning-of March 26, after special preparations for a quiet movement, the posse began their march to Springville to capture Bishop Johnson. Fortunately, he had not returned home that night and the entire object of the mobilization was thwarted.

When morning came, the soldiers marched back to their camp, after first scaring the bishop's nine wives with an Indian war dance. Thus ended the only posse activity concurrent with the

Provo affair.

The military force was frequently called upon to aid in the control of Indians and provide protection to emigrants along the various routes west, many of which had been explored and established by the army during its sojourn in Utah Terri­ tory. An examination of these activities reveals a significant contribution of the Army for Utah, to Utah and the West.

xSenate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 1 0 2 Ij., l£?. 2 Tracy, op. cit., 62. CHAPTER IV

MILITARY PATHFINDERS

Many roads were explored and established by the army,

or as a direct result of military activity, in connection with

the Utah Expedition. These roads were later utilized by civilians

in their business and settlement, and consequently deserve recog­ nition as one of the lasting contributions of the soldiers to.

the West.

In the course of movement to Utah, in 1857, the army had followed generally well established roads. It was not

until winter camp had been made at Fort Bridger and Camp Scott,

on Black's Fork, that significant strides were made in the line

of discovering or publicizing practicable new routes of travel.

The first venture in this regard arose out of the neces­

sity of obtaining a remount from New Mexico to replace the horses

and mules that had died since the soldiers had left the East.

On November 27, 1857, Captain Randolph B. Marcy and a

party of sixty-four men left Camp Scott and blazed a trail

south and east to Forts Massachusetts and Garland in the De­

partment of New Mexico. Their route was from Camp Scott to

Green River, by way of Henry's Fork, generally along Green River,

following Indian trails, to Box Elder Creek,1 along the north

^Willow Creek.

8 1 bank of that stream for nineteen miles then southeast over the

Roan Cliffs to the Colorado River Valley near Westwater. The

trail skirted the hills on the north side of the valley to near

Grand Junction, Colorado. From this point, Marcy and his men

followed Gunnison*s road along the Gunnison and Uncompahgre

Rivers, over the mountains to the head of the Rio Grande and

down that river into Fort Massachusetts on January 18, 1858.

From here the party proceeded down the Rio Grande into New

Mexico to purchase livestock.

On March 17, 1858, after having completed their pur­

chases, the soldiers started their return journey. They went 1 north and east from Rayado, along the Fort Leavenworth road,

over the Raton Mountains to Purgatoire Creeko They left the

Leavenvrorth road here and travelled northwest to Pueblo, Colo- 2 rado, then up Fontaine qui Bouille Creek for about thirty miles where they went into camp to awjait the reinforcement of

Colonel W.W. Loring and command.

Colonel Loring arrived on April 28, and the march con­

tinued the next day across the high ground to Cherry Creek, then

down to the South Platte, along this river to Cache la Poudre

Creek. From here they went over the ridge to the Laramie River,

then to Medicine Bow; along Bryan’s trail for about thirty miles, and west, north of Bridger*3 Pass generally along present day

■^Cimarron, Colorado. 2 Fountain Creek. 83 1 U.S. highway thirty to Camp Scott, where they arrived on 2 June 10.

This trek was accomplished under the unfavorable con­ ditions of winter weather and partially unknown terrain. To­ day most of Captain Marcy’s route is followed by good, hard surfaced highway.

Concurrent with the Marcy expedition, and for the same purpose, was one sent north into the Flathead country under the direction of F.B. Ficklin. He was directed to negotiate with traders and Indians for cattle and horses. His party left

Camp Scott on December 9, l857« They followed the California road to Soda Springs, then north to the Snake River, north and east of Fort Hall. From here they went along the Snake to where 3 its direction shifts to the east and west. At this point they took an Indian trail north across the mountains to the Beaver­ head River, along that river to the Jefferson, then northwest k to Deer Lodge, Hell»s Gate, and north to St. Ignatius. Ficklin and his party were unsuccessful in securing livestock, so on

March 3» 1858, they began their return journey to Camp Scott by the same route used on the outward trip. They arrived back

^"The route from Medicine Bow Butte to Fort 3ridger had been mapped and described by Captain Howard Stansbury on his return to the States in 1850. 2 Senate Executive Document, Number 1, Part 2, 35th Con­ gress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 9?£> 187-201. 3 ^About Roberts, Idaho.

^Mis soula, Montana, 84 at the location of the Army for Utah on April 10, after experi­ encing a journey equally as trying, if not as fruitful, as that of Captain Marcy» The Picklin route is also covered by a ribbon of concrete and asphalt today0

Both of these expeditions followed well known Indian trails or already established roads. Their contribution was not so much finding a new route as it was improving and publi­ cizing the old through accurate description. When the Pikes

Peak gold rush began in 1859, the Marcy trail was looked to as a rapid way for eastward travelling miners to use. New Mexico and Utah Territories were brought closer together militarily by Captain Marcy*s expedition, which showed that there was a route of communication available between the two.

When the gold mining activity began to develop in

Western Montana, the Picklin route became a major highway be­ tween the Utah communities and the mineral fields. Butte was right on the road, Virginia City accessible by it.

There were four other major contributions made to road building as a result of the Utah Expedition. They were: (1) the work of the 6th Infantry Regiment in preparing the new 2 road from Laramie crossing to Port Bridger by way of Bridger’s

Pass (this was partially the route used by Captain Marcy in his return from New Mexico), (2) the examinations of Captain

•^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, Part 2, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 975, 68-71. 2 North Platte, Nebraska. ®5

John Newton between Bear River, Ogden's Hole, and Cache Valley,

{3 } the extensive explorations of Captain James Simpson, (1+)

the work of Captain Henry Selden as he led his party to New

Mexico in i860 by way of Spanish Pork Canyon and the Spanish

Trail. There were other mapping expeditions in Utah, but they were not officially connected with Camp Ployd, so little will be said of them.

It will be remembered that reinforcement columns had been dispatched to Utah in the spring of 1858. Of the six that were sent, only three were eventually utilized by the

Army for Utah. They were the fourth, fifth, and sixth columns and had travelled over the main route from Port Laramie to

Port Bridger. The fourth and fifth columns left the main road

at Port Bridger and entered the Mormon communities over a new route explored by Capt ain Simpson, of which more will be m e n ­ tioned later.

The first column, consisting of the 6th Infantry and a company of engineers, although not eventually stationed in Utah did make a contribution to spying out the land west of present

day North Platte, Nebraska. On April 27, 1858, Lieutenant

Colonel George Andrews, commander of the 6th Infantry, was

ordered to explore a new route from Laramie crossing to Fort

Bridger0 He was directed to utilize the findings of Lieutenant

Francis T. Bryan's exploration, in 1856, of a road between Fort

^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 975, IOI4.. 86

1 Riley, Kansas, and Bridger*s Pass, and Captain Howard Stans- bury*s description of a route between Bridger*s Pass and Port 2 Bridger.

The purpose of marching the 6th Regiment over this new route was to determine the advisability of sending all of the reinforcements that way, which it was believed would be shorter and better suited in regard to water and forage. Colonel

Andrews was directed to prepare a wagon road as he went, so that other military forces could follow.

The march from Port Leavenworth to Laramie crossing of the South Platte was uneventful and followed the mainstream of traffic for western travel. On June 9, the party left the well beaten path and started its road building with none other than Lieutenant Bryan leading the way. They experienced little difficulty as they worked their way up Lodge Pole Creek, after leaving the South Platte. Water was in abundance and good grass readily available, though fuel for fires was sometimes scarce. On June 19, the column crossed the road between Port

Laramie and New Mexico, some fifty miles north of where Loring had left it at Cache la Poudre Creek. As Colonel Andrew*s men approached the headwaters of Lodge Pole Creek, the ground be­ came somewhat rougher, but still passable for wagons. Their route led them over the divide separating the creek and the

"House Executive Document, Number 1, 3ii-th Congress, 3rd Session, Serial $o„ 8$i|, 371. ^4ade in 1850 on his return to the States. 87

Laramie River, to the point where Captain Marcy had followed Bryan's road for thirty miles just a month before. Andrews1

column went around the north side of Medicine Bow Butte, across

the North Platte, and through Bridger*s Pass. Captain Marcy

had gone some twenty miles further north, and wrote that forage 1 conditions were poor in that area. The first column spent a few days near the pass improving the road, then continued on

to Bitter Creek, Green River, and Port Bridger where it arrived 2 on August 5, 1858. While at Bridger1s Pass, Colonel Andrews

sent in & report that discouraged any further activity along

his route by Utah bound forces:

I would decidedly not recommend that any trains or commands be sent after us over this route. The Laramie route is preferable in ©very particular; the only advan­ tage that can be claimed for this is that it is about sixty miles shorter,^but the scarcity of grass does away with this advantageo

On August 2, orders were issued from Camp Ployd in

compliance with General Order Number 17, June 29, 1858, which

routed the 6th Infantry to Walla Walla, Washington Territory. Before leaving Port Bridger, Colonel Andrews wrote his final

report on the new route utilized by his force:

After a careful consideration of all the circumstances connected with the route through "Bridger*s Pass,” I am clearly of the opinion it is not advisable that it should be used for large government trains, or number of emigrants

^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 97^j 222.

I 2Ibid., 215-220 v 3Ibid., 207o 88

enroute to Oregon, Utah., or California. , . . In conclusion, I mention that my guides say that the route through Bridger*s Pass may be used to advantage in the winter by mails or small,parties, as the snow is not deep except where it drifts8

The routes of Captain Marcy and Colonel Andrews, west of their junction on the Laramie River near Medicine Bow Butte, closely paralleled one another„ Marcy had moved over his about one month previous to Andrews, whose route was generally south of Marcy*s a few miles<, For all practical purposes the routes were the same. As has been mentioned previously, this area became a highway of gold diggers rushing to Pikes Peak in the summer of 1859. Today it is one of the main cross country thoroughfares, with every major means of transportation passing over it. The main line of the Union Pacific Railroad utilizes its easy grade, aircraft pass swiftly over the relatively level 2 ground, and one of the main branches of the United States transcontinental highway system follows the path travelled by units of the Army for Utah in 1858.

When the Army for Utah left its winter camp on Blacks

Fork and began its journey over the Wasatch Mountains into the

Salt Lake Valley, General Johnston detached Captain John Newton and an escort of thirty men from the main body to make an ex­ ploration of the land between Bear River, Ogdens Hole, and

Cache Valley. The purpose of the expedition was to find a good

1 Ibid., 215-216.

with the exception of Medicine Bow Peak, which has in recent years been the site of at least one major aircraft disaster. 89 road between the junction of Bear River and Yellow Creek, and 1 the south end of Cache Valley. On June 15, the party of ex­ plorers left Bear River guided by Jim Bridger. They were separated from the main column for ten days and rejoined it in East Canyon on June 2i+„ Their route took them from Bear 2 River, west up a side canyon on to the table land between the 3 river and the headwaters of Sandy Creek, around on the ridge Ji south of the creek to the valley of Pumbar's Creek, then along the divide to the northwest to the head of Ogden River,,

Then they followed down the river into Ogden's Hole, along the east side of the valley to a tributary of Ogden River,' then east to avoid the steep hills, over the divide separating £ Ogden's Hole and Cache Valley, and down into the valley.

After investigating the canyons to the east of Cache Valley, including Blacksmith's Fork, they retraced their steps back to Pumbar's Creek, down that creek to the Weber River where they joined the main road, and caught the advancing column in

East Canyon0 Captain Newton's report was unfavorable:

^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No, 975>> 118. 2 Possibly Duck Creek. 3 Lincoln Creek.

^"Lost Creek. 5 Possibly Wolf Creek. 6 Along Davenport Creek. 90

A ridge road over to 0gden*s Hole is inconvenient, if not impracticable# A ridge road from Bear Lake to Cache Valley is impossible. Ravines or canons, it is apparent, must be [further] explored in order to connect^Bear River of the east with Ogden's Hole or Cache Valley.

This exploration discouraged the search in that quarter for an all weather road to the east, so future effors were made to the south, after the army settled in Cedar Valley.

Soon after the establishment of Camp Floyd, great trains of goods began arriving from depots in the east. These wagons had two routes through which they could enter the Salt Lake

Valley. One was by way of Weber Canyon, the other over Little

Mountain and down Emigration Canyon, the main thoroughfare.

Both of these routes were long and difficult, with winter snow closing them to wagon travel. General Johnston determined to locate and build better roads. It was through his desire to establish improved routes of supply and communication with the camp and other centers of population that led to numerous military explorations in all directions from Camp Floyd. Some of these probes resulted in several improved routes of travel being established. Others were fruitless respecting roads, but did give a broader understanding of the land to the Mormons and the army. Captain James H. Simpson was the leader of these significant investigations.

Captain Simpson arrived at Camp Floyd on August 19, 1858, and was directed on August 2l|, to examine a route to Fort

"Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 973, 203. 91

Bridger by way of the Timpanogos River. a road had been pre­

pared by the Mormons for about twelve miles up the canyon

through "narrow defiles" and "outcroppings of rock" which

were recognized as the chief obstacles to a route through that

quarter to Fort- Bridger0 Little was knovm of the country from

the head of Provo River east, however, and it was in this area

that Simpson was to concentrate his survey. He was given an

- escort of one officer and twenty men equipped for fifteen days.

The party left Gamp Floyd August 25, and was gone until

September 12. The route they used was described as follows:

From Camp Floyd to the mouth of Timpanogos River canon; . . . thence up the valley of the Timpanogos to its north­ easterly source; thence across the divide to Silver Creek; thence down the valley of Silver Creek to the old Salt Lake City road, called the "Parley's Park road;” thence by this road over the divide to the Weber river; thence down the valley of the Weber to the mouth of White Clay creek, 2 (Morin's Fork;) thence up the valley of the White Clay creek to one of its eastwardly sources; and thence across the head waters of Yellow creek, Bear river, Sul- pher creek, aad Muddy fork in an almost direct course to Fort Bridger.-3

The road was about the same distance (155 miles) as the old

route, but was *far superior . . . in respect to grade, wood,

water, and grass."

Captain Simpson was so enthusiastic about the merits

of his discovery that working parties were soon dispatched from

~LIhld o, II4.5-II+6. Provo River.

2Chalk Creek.

■'House vm.* , '* •’ nr 2, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, 0. . IJC1- „ * 92 both Camp Floyd and Fort Bridger to cut out brush, improve dug- ways, clean out springs, and generally prepare the new route for extensive travel. The soldiers assigned to this duty worked for about two months and by October 13, they had completed the road and returned to their respective camps. When Simpson arrived at Fort Bridger on September 3, he publicized the im­ proved way to Utah Valley and it came into immediate use by freighters and military parties. Major D.P. Whiting, commanding the fifth column of Utah forces, decided to utilize the new~ discovery when he left Fort Bridger on September 12, for Camp

Floyd. He made the following report under date of September 22, while still on the road near Timpanogos canyon:

The road will be a very good one, especially after the subsequent passage and improvements contemplated by Cap­ tain Simpson, and is abundantly supplied with fine grass, water, and fuel.

Major G.E. Paul wrote to the department headquarters on the same day, also from the vicinity of Provo River, that the sixth column was closely following Major Whiting’s unit on the new road. His communication said:

I have had no reason to regret it [taking the nev route] , as I have found good camps every night, with wat»r, wood, and grassland my animals are generally in a thriving condition.

These two reports indicate the acceptance of the Simpson route.

Both communiques were prompted by a directive from General

^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 975» 114-8. 2Ibid., lltf. 93

Johnston, dated September 17, which suggested that the Simpson road be utilized by the army. The fifth and sixth columns were better than half way along the new road before the direc­ tive was delivered, an indication of the favor with which

Simpson*s exploration was received,,

The piece of the road in the lower end of Timpanogos

Canyon proved to be a source of revenue to the Mormons. They had built it and consequently deserved a tithe for its use„“

Captain Simpson recommended to the chief of the corps of topo­ graphical engineers that the government purchase the rights of the company operating the road and open it to public use with- 2 out charge. This proposal received the endorsement of the 3 general commanding the department.

Simpson was not idle long, after completion of his road to Fort Bridger. His talents had been exposed sufficiently to make him one of the most valuable men in the department.

When he wasn*t locating routes of travel, he was directing the survey of reservations in the territory, preaching a Sunday sermon, or conducting a burial. He was indeed a versatile man, one of vision and purpose. When he had located the road through

Timpanogos Canyon and White Clay Creek and read Lieutenant Bryan's reports of his road from Lars.mie crossing to Fort Bridger, he

^For a list of tolls on this road see Appendix F. 2 Senate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 1025, 854® 3 Ibid., Serial No. 1021+, 220. 9^- was impressed with the fact that a shorter, improved, and more practicable transcontinental route was in the offing, pro­ vided that a satisfactory way from Gamp Floyd to Carson Valley could be located.

On October l5> 1858, Captain Simpson was directed to make a preliminary exploration to the west with the view of finding new areas in which to graze the public animals, and locate a feasable route to the Humboldt River, where it was contemplated that a military post would be established by the 1 soldiers in Utah the next spring.

The indefatigable explorer left the Army for Utah head- qiarters four days later. The westward probe was cancelled be­ cause of a severe snow storm after a penetration of only eighty- four miles. The party returned to Camp Floyd on October 28, with the conviction that further exploration in that quarter would reveal a good road. They were so certain of this that the mail contractor, Chorpenning and Company, immediately took ad­ vantage of the route explored, extended it to Ruby Valley and 2 cut over 100 miles off the old California road.

During the winter of 1858-59, Captain Simpson formu­ lated plans to exhaust the possibility of realization of his dream. These projects were submitted to the secretary of war the first of the year and called for a detailed reconnaissance directly west from Camp Floyd to Genoa, and due east to Fort

1Ibid., 127o 2Ibid., Serial No. 1025, 8ij.8 95

Leavenworth.'*' His proposals were approved and orders were accordingly issued on April 26, 1859, which called for examina­ tions both east and west. An escort of one officer, twenty enlisted men, and a medical officer was assigned to accompany the expedition. The topographical party, exclusive of the es­ cort, numbered twenty-two civilian employees and soldiers.

Teamsters and quartermaster's employees brought the aggregate strength of the force to sixty-four people. Rations for three months were drawn from the camp quartermaster, who also supplied livestock, wagons, tools, and other equipment.

The expedition left Camp Floyd on May 2, amid bright sunshine and warm, fair weather. Captain Simpson kept a de­ tailed journal of the trip, indicating the nature of the wild­ life and vegetation encountered, noting the topography of the land and the state of the weather, and describing frequent contact with other humans. The party followed their trail of the proceeding fall, with minor deviations, until they reached

Short Cat Pass where it ended. They continued in a south­ westerly direction, following the mail company's extention around 3 the Goshoot Mountains, where they made first contact with

Indians:

^ James H. Simpson, Report of Explorations Across the Great Basin of the Territory of Utah (Washington, Government Printing OffTce, 1876), I4.I. 2 In the Thomas Range.

Deep Creek Range. 96

We have to-day seen a number of Go-shoot Indians. They aremost JsicQ wretched-looking creatures, certainly the most wretched I have ever seen, and I have seen great numbers in various portions of our country.“

After passing the Goshoot Mountains the soldier’s route went generally northwest, still following the mail company 2 trail, through Hasting’s Pass in the Humboldt Mountains. At this point the mail route went north to join the California

Road at Gravelly Ford' on the Humboldt River, so Captain

Simpson’s group discontinued following it here. They were obliged to make their own way from the west side of the pass to the roads and settlements in Carson Valley.

From the Humboldt Mountains the party turned southwest again, crossing frequent valleys and mountain ranges, notably II c the Pe-er-re-ah and Se-day-eAs they went, Captain Simpson recorded that ’’wild parsnips, said to be poisonous to man and beast, abound here. Grease, or whisky and gunpowder, are said to be the antidote." Evidence of the excellent planning and equipment of the expedition is also found in his journal:

The merry sound of the blacksmith’s anvil and forge, and the hammer of the wheelwright, after we got into camp, reminds me constantly of the very efficient manner . . .

“Simpson, op. cit., 52. 2 Ruby Range. 3 "Near Beowawe, Nevada.

UT(?oiyabe Range.

5 Shoshone Mountains, L Simpson, op, cit., 66. 97

in which I have been fitted out by the Quartermaster*s Department* The army wagons are, however, of such superior character as very seldom to require repairs* • • • The portable forge , * , we found indispensable for the pre­ paration of shoes for the animals, and other purposes*

The mornings in the mountains presented a picture for a poet. The captain painted a photo of words in describing one morning departure:

The crack of the whip, the "gee I get upI” of the teamsters, the merry laugh, the sudden shout from the exuberance of spirits, the clinking of armor, the long array of civil, military, and economic personnel, in due order, moving with hope to our destined end, coupled with the bright, bracing morning, and, at times, twit­ tering of birds, make our morning departure from camp very pleasing*

When the Se-day-e Mountains had been crossed, the lay of the land led the party almost due west to Carson Lake, around the south side to the Walker River, then northwest to Carson

River where an old wagon road was found and followed into Genoa;

The expedition had been on the march for forty-two days and consequently needed rest before attempting the return trip.

In order to afford opportunity for recruitment, and to tran­ sact some business, Captain Simpson left the party at Genoa on

June 13, and took stage, rail, and steamer to San Francisco and return. He was back at Genoa on June 23, and the group left for Camp Floyd the next morning.

The return route (as seen on the map) closely followed

1Ibid*, 6?. 2 Ibid., 75* 99 the outward journey to Twin Springs, L where it separated and took course up to sorae fifty miles south0 This route was described as being better than the outward onej

1 am happy to report that my return route proved still better than my outward one in all the essentials which go to make up a good road, . . . but the necessity of keeping far south to obviate the Great Salt Lake desert made it impossible. It is this route which I have recommended emigrants to take.

And take it they did! Captain Simpson arrived back at Camp

Floyd on August 3, and within one week several wagon trains were following his road west through the sage.

This particular exploration made outstanding contribu­ tions to the West and the development of America. It would have been enough if the Army for Utah had accomplished nothing more than this one reconnaissance. The new route was advertised in the August 17 issue of the Valley Tan and within two years was a main highway from Salt Lake City to California. The mail contractors had already used part of it and when the survey was completed they made the whole route the main line for their runs. The overland stage found the road to be of great advan­ tage, When the Pony Express began operating In i860, it too, found the Simpson road to be the best. The Pony Express was short lived, but its replacement, the magnetic telegraph, also followed along the trail blazed by Utah Army explorations.

^Near Hot Springs, Nevada. 2 Senate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No, 1025, 850-851. 100

It is interesting to note that even though the southern

portion of the road was recommended, it was the northern part

that was most frequently used. This was due primarily to the

difference in distances over the two. By the northern route

it was 571 miles from Salt Lake City to Genoa; by the southern

road the distance was twenty-nine miles greater. Contrast 571 miles or even 600 miles with the 774 miles between the same

points by way of the old California road to the north of Great

Salt Lake and the Humboldt river.1 From Fort Bridger to

Sacramento, by way of Carson Valley over the Simpson roads, 2 was over 300 miles shorter than the Humboldt-Truckee route.

Besides opening a new road to the west, one that was

used until the internal combustion engine replaced the horse,

this expedition exploded a great myth, which it is believed

contributed to the early cattle and sheep settlements of Nevada:

I will remark, however, that the idea that seems to have been generally prevalent that the country intervening the Great Salt Lake valley and Carson valley is a great desert, is a mistake; and that, so far from the portion we went over being so, it is on the contrary made up of mountain ranges, quite well supplied with water and valleys, along which run fertilising streams. . . . In addition to this, the mountains are covered with cedar, pine, fir, pinion . . . and mountain mahogany.-*

According to the orders of April 26, the topographical

party was to make an equally detailed examination to the east

in an attempt to locate a suitable road by way of the Uinta

1Ibl3.0, 25-26. p Senate Executive Document, Humber 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 1024, 220. ^Simpson, o£. cit., 85l.

v 101

Valley, White River, and the headwaters of the Arkansas to

Fort Leavenworth. This order was modified on August 5> to conform to the lateness of the season and the necessity of

Captain Simpson's returning to Washington. He was instructed to reorganize his party, taking as an escort men who were due for discharge in November, and establish a camp at Round Prairie" from which a short reconnaissance down the Duchesne River could be conducted. The point of this investigation was to find a practicable way to connect with either Colonel Loring or Cap- 2 tain Gunnison's routes across the mountains.

The reorganized party, consisting of fifty-four people, left Camp Floyd on August 9, 1859, and three days later made camp at Round Prairie. Simpson and a small escort detached themselves from the main body and continued their search east over the mountains to the Duchesne River. The route was de­ scribed as being heavily wooded, brushy, and steep. The horses went lame at the junction of the Duchesne and Uinta

Rivers,^ so the probe to the Green River was cancelled and the survey party returned to Round Prairie on August 19. The whole group decamped on August 21, and took up the march for the states by way of Fort Bridger, South Pass, Fort Kearny, and Fort

Leavenworth. The Army for Utah lost its greatest explorer with

“In the vicinity of Heber, Utah. 2 Simpson, op. cit., 133» 3 The present day junction of the Duchesne and Straw­ berry Rivers near the city of Duchesne. 102 the departure of Captain Simpson. His mark was significant and long lasting, and even though no longer a part of the Utah forces, he was remembered by them, and by people travelling his roads for years afterward.

The major portion of the Utah Army was ordered to New

Mexico in the spring of i860. As an outgrowth of the movement 4 to that territory, a new route was explored. Captain Henry R.

Selden was provided with a command of three infantry companies and instructed to prepare a road to Santa Pe by way of Spanish

Fork Csnyon and the Spanish Trail. This road was to be utilized by the retiring columns commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Edward

R.S. Canby--formerly the commander of Port Bridger--and Lieu­ tenant Colonel William Chapman. Selden and his detachment of sappers left Camp Floyd on May 10. They encountered consider­ ably more difficulty in clearing a path than had been antici­ pated. Colonel Canby had to be at Port Garland by July 2lf, so when it bscame apparent that Captain Selden would not be able to prepare the Spanish Fork route in time to meet that deadline, an alternate route was utilized, south through San Pete Valley to Salt Creek, then east and south to New Mexico. Captain

Selden continued to build his road up Spanish Fork Canyon to 2 the summit where an epidemic of sickness halted his men for four days. Then they proceeded down Soldier Canyon into Castle

^Salina Canyon. 2 Soldier Summit. 103

Valley and to the Spanish Trail which was followed into Santa Fe.

Pathfinding was a major activity of significance con­ tributed by the army in Utah. The foregoing examples are limited to the official expeditions arising out of the Utah Expedition.

Other government explorations were conducted contemporaniously with the existence of Camp Floyd. Some of these were: Captain

Macomb’s expedition from New Mexico in 1859; Captain Wallen*s investigation of a road from Oregon, conducted in 1859; and

Berthoud's central exploration from Colorado in l86l.

Our attention is now directed to another tangible con­ tribution of the army at Camp Floyd to the development of western America, centering around relations with the Indians of the territory. CHAPTER V

EMIGRANTS AND INDIANS

The Mormons had enjoyed a peculiar sort of freedom from Indian depredations, resulting from their unusual atti­ tude of brotherhood toward the red men. There had been occa­ sions when trouble arose, but in comparison to other white groups, the Mormons had been relatively free from acts of

Indian hostility. The first report of the secretary of war, after the army arrived in Utah expressed this observation:

There are no complaints of Indian hostilities toward the Mormon people. All other Territories and people upon our vast frontiers suffer from Indian depredations, but the Mormon people enjoy an immunity from their outrages. For the protection of these people against Indians there is no necessity for the presence of a single soldier.

It will bo remembered that one of the contributing causes of the Utah War was the charge by Indian agents that the

Mormons were inciting the natives to acts of violence against gentile whites. This was due to misunderstanding as to the

Mormon relationship with the red men, and is undoubtedly what 3 the secretary of war had reference to.

^Senate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 102iS|, 15. 2 Supra, 3-ij-.

•i ^Indian hostilities in Utah may be attributed to the following causes: ' 1. Failure of the government to liquidate the Indian title to

lOLj. 105

Unfortunately, the Mormon-Indian relationship deteri­ orated within weeks of the army*s settlement at Fort Bridger and Camp Scott. The soldiers were accused of being respon­ sible for this, and of actively soliciting help from the natives to make the Mormon position untenable. F.J. Porter, assistant adjutant general of the Utah Army said in later years that

while at Fort Bridger, Colonel Johnston took every occa­ sion to bring the Indians within knowledge and influence of the army, and induced numerous chiefs to come to his camp. * . . The Utes, Pi-Utes, Bannocks, and other tribes, visited Colonel Johnston, and all went away expressing themselves pleased, assuring him that so long as he remained they would prove his friends, which the colonel told them would be best for them. Thus he effectually destroyed all influence of the Mormons over them, and insured friendly treatment to travelers to and from California and Oregon.

This is certainly an incriminating statement. It appears as though the army was guilty of the same crime that the Mormons had been charged with, i.e., meddling in Indian affairs. The major difference was that the situation under military control got out of hand and after the Mormon-Array hostilities ended, the natives continued to raid, not only the

land being occupied by white settlers. 2. Mormon colonization and futher encroachments upon land owned by the Indians. 3. Mormon missionary activity among the Indians, if. The Utah Legislature stopping of the Indian slave trade. S» Inciting of Indians to acts of violence by white renegades who lived among them, 6. The hostile actions of white travellers and emigrants passing through the Indian country. For a detailed examination of the above causes, see Leland H, Creer, Utah and the Nation (University of Washington Publications in Social Science, Vol. VTl; Seattle, the University of Wash­ ington Press, 1929), 161-191.

•*-F.J. Porter, cited in Johnston, op0 cit., 235. 106

1 saints, but any white people, for as Washki had said, "they

[.Indians^ knew no difference between white men, and were as 2 apt in war to slay Mormons as Americans," or vice versa.

Agent Hurt was charged with being the principle insti­ gator of hostile attitudes by maintaining constant communica­ tion with the chiefs throughout the winter and encouraging

them to join with the soldiers in the spring offensive,-

BoF. Ficklin was also denounced for reportedly providing the primary motive for the Indian raid on the Formon settlement

at Fort Lemhi‘s on February 25, 1858, wherein two people were c killed, five wounded, and 255 head of livestock driven off."

Admittedly, Ficklin had contacted the Indians of that area in

an attempt to purchase animals for military use, but the fact that he was completely unsuccessful leads to the conclusion that the Indians stole the cattle and horses for their own use and not for trading purposes with the army.

From February through April the Utahans lost a con­

siderable number of horses and cattle to native raiders. The

Utah forces were held responsible for these losses even though

~A chief of the Snakes, 2 Johnston, op. c-it,, 235.

-'Tullidge, ojD, clt., 2i|0, 1+ In eastern Idaho. 5 . Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No, $75, 7k-7?• 107 evidence is lacking to prove that they ever became the purchasers of stolen property. These raids brought a request from Governor

Cumming^ to General Johnston, which asked him to investigate the alleged conspiracies of Hurt and Ficklin, and to be on the lookout for the lost property:

Many acts of depredation have been recently committed by Indians upon the property of the inhabitants. . . . Be­ lieving that the Indians will endeavor to sell the stolen property at or near the camp, I send herewith the brand book (incomplete) and memoranda (in part) of stock lost by citizens of Utah since February 25, 1858.

The general made an investigation and submitted the following report to the governor on April 21:

I have inquired into the charges made against Dr. Hurt, and have satisfied myself that he has faithfully dis­ charged his duty as agent, and that he has given none but good advice to the Indians. . . . Other hostile acts per­ petrated on Salmon river and other places have been inquired into by me. Inclosed you will receive,, . . letters which show that no act of hostility or annoyance has been commit­ ted on Salmon river, or Bannack creek or any other place by the Indians in consequence of the instigations by any­ one connected with the army.-*

This statement hints that there were instigations by the army, a fact confirmed by Forney:

On March 11, 1858, Forney reported that Colonel Johnston had requested him to get the co-operation of the Indians in the army’s operations. ”The intention is not to engage Indians for actual fighting, but as scouting parties. . . . I have concluded that it is my duty to render the army all the aid in my power.

^"In his first communication from Salt Lake City, after being escorted there by Colonel Kane in April 1858. 2 Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial tto. 975» ?3. 3 Ibid., 77. k Jacob Forney, cited in, Anderson, op. cit., 202. 108

The seed of hostility had been sown by the Army for

TJtsho The favored position of the Mormons was made void in the eyes of the Indians, and they were again at peace with no white man. The seed bore a rich harvest that kept foot-tired infantrymen and saddle-sore dragoons busily engaged until Camp

Ployd was abandoned. A sketch of activities by troops with headquarters in Utah, arising out of Indian hostilities, will be presented as evidence that the secretary of war was mistaken in his first report, and that the Utah Army made an important contribution to maintaining lines of travel between the East and the West.

On August 16, 18^8, while the Army for Utah was still encamped at West Creek (Upper Camp), John Mayfield, a mail contractor, and two companions, left Salt Lake City for Placer- ville, California, on a normal run over the northern route. By

August 20, they were about 300 miles west of Salt Lake, on the

Humboldt River, That night, after the mules had been turned out to graze, a band of Indians made a surprise attack and drove the animals off. Mayfield and his party remained at that spot for a day and a half waiting for the mail wagon from the west to arrive and save them from the gathering of natives that threatened their destruction* The position of the white men was growing more perilous by the hour, so they set out on foot, carrying mail, food, and blankets toward Goose Creek.

The Indians pursued and pressed them so closely that everything was abandoned except arms. The red men halted to rummage through the cast off articles and Mayfield and his companions 109

were able to elude the savages.

By August 30, Mayfield had returned to Great Salt Lake

City and reported his experience to the governor. Cumming

responded by writing to General Johnston,, He said "that the

presence of a military force consisting of at least one hundred

.mounted men, should permanently stationed in the vicinity of

'the head of the Humboldt river.* The general wrote the follow­

ing reply to Cumming:

A strong post in that direction should be established; and I have had the subject under consideration, but con­ clude that the preparations cannot be made this autumn in consequence of the lateness of the season when the supplies may be expected, and the necessity for the available transportation for the establishment of a post in this valley [[Cedar Valley! , the work of which is now going on. For the purpose of giving all needful protection as far as it can be given on that route until the winter sets in . . . I will order a force of one hundred dragoons and fifty infantry to march to the crossing of the Humboldt river and establish a temporary camp."

Accordingly, Captain J.M, Hawes was ordered, on

September 2, to take charge of a detachment of 1^0 men and

march to the first crossing of the Humboldt to protect the

mail and travellers on that route. He was instructed to deter­

mine, if possible, which tribe was responsible for the attack

on Mayfield, demand the restoration of the lost property, and

punish the natives for their offense. He was directed to re­

turn to Camp Floyd not later than November 1, and earlier if

^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No, 975"* iij2o"

" i b id . , ll+3-ll+lj- 110

1 the weather threatened to close the road for the winter. The soldiers, accompanied by Indian agent Forney, left immediately.

Captain Hawes reported in a communication dated October 1, that he had established his camp as directed and had made 2 frequent contact with Indians, all of whom seemed to be friendly»

He was not able to determine what tribe vras responsible for raiding the mail and consequently could not retrieve the lost property or punish the offenders. The detachment broke camp on October 2, and returned to Camp Floyd on October 23. His mission was not a complete failure. Undoubtedly the natives had been impressed by the military force, and the emigrants were now assured that protection would be afforded them in their travels.

While the Humboldt expedition was away from Cedar

Valley, other Indian incidents occurred in the immediate vi­ cinity of Camp Floyd. A Mrs. Markham and her nine year old daughter were assuited by two red men near Spanish Fork on

September 10. The governor directed deputy agent Hurt to arrest the assailants, using a civil posse if necessary. The agent made an attempt to carry out this directive, but was completely unsuccessful, so on September 25, Gumming made re­ quisition on General Johnston for 200 dragoons to assist Hurt in the discharge of his duty. The general assigned Major Paul,

1Ibid., lijl|.-lU5.

2Ibid., 158. Ill

100 dragoons, and 100 Infantrymen to the task. This expedi­ tion left Camp Floyd October 1, and after a forced march of forty-five miles, arrived at the Indian reservation early the next morning. The Indian village was immediately surrounded.

Major Paul*s report described the action as follows:

They jthe Indians} had previously obtained information that troops were about to visit them, and they had hurriedly fled to the mountains on the morning of the 1st instent, with the exception of two chiefs, Tintic and Pinteets, and ten others, with a number of women and children. The agent having informed me that if it was necessary, to arrest all the men in order to secure the chiefs, orders were accord­ ingly given, and all were captured with but little difficulty except Pinteets, who refused to surrender and fled towards the mountains. He was pursued, and in the attempt to take him was shot at and killed."

The chief and all the men but three, were detained until the released Indians went into the mountains and returned with 2 the two culprits, who were turned over to agent Hurt and deliv­ ered to prison in Salt Lake City. When Tintic and the rest of his band were released, they fled into the mountains to join the tribe. Agent Hurt and Major Paul attempted to induce their return to the reservation, but were unsuccessful. This caused considerable fear that the Indians would conduct raids of re­ prisal for the killing of Pinteets. To prevent this, Hurt requested General Johnston to permit the soldiers to remain in the vicinity of the village for a few weeks. Permission was granted, and Major Paul’s command received supplementary rations, equipment, and supplies for ten days.

1Ibid., 159o 2 Named Mose and Looking-glass. 112

When Governor Cumming learned of the unfortunate shoot­ ing of Pinteets, he requested the general to order 100 men to

Springville and 100 men to P«nd Town,^ to remain at these places for at least twenty days unless sooner released by agent Hurt.

The specific assignment of these troops was to give protection to the Mormon communities and not to make aggressive movements against the Indians. Johnston issued the appropriate order on

October 5» and by the seventh both columns had left— one com­ manded by Captain Tracy, the other by Colonel Ruggles. They took up their assigned positions with joy, for they were free of the sage, dust, and work of construction which marked the activity at Camp Floyd. Fortunately, the Indian raids failed to materialize, so on October 15 the soldiers began their 2 return to Cedar Valley. Major Paul’s command returned to

Camp Floyd on October 16; Colonel Ruggles* on the twentieth; and Captain Tracy*s on the twenty-third.3 With this the Indian campaigns of 1858, in Utah, came to a close.

Throughout that winter, General Johnston continued his policy of bringing Indians to camp for meetings. The natives were always treated with firmness, and were shown impressive displays of military prowess. They seemed to leave Cedar

Valley with a feeling of friendship and respect toward the army.

1 Salem, Utah. 2 Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 975* 152-160. 3 Tracy, ojo. clt., 5lo 113

This was what the general wanted, in hope that it would result in good relations during the next summer,, It seems as though this result was partially achieved insofar as the tribes close to Camp Ployd were concerned, but the Indians to the north and west continued to be a source of difficulty,,

During the winter, the natives near Camp Ployd availed themselves of every opportunity to raid the government herds.

This, coupled with the activity of renegade white horse thieves, made it necessary for military guards to establish sub-posts IP 3 in Rush, San Pete, Tintic, and Salt Creek valleys and at the

Sevier River bridge and on Chicken Creek.^ Duty at these vari­ ous locations was rotated among the body of men at Camp Ployd.

Several of these posts were consolidated in January because of the grass being completely consumed by the animals.

With the approach of spring and the opening of the roads to California, Major Henry Prince, the paymaster, was ordered to San Francisco to secure money with which to pay the troops, most of them having not been paid for the preceding four to six months. He departed from Utah on Pebruary 11, 1859, by the southern route to California, and was ready to return in May.

A three fold mission suggested itself to the general at this time, in connection with the return of the paymaster.

^Camp Tyler and "Camp” in Rush Valley. 2 ■ Camp Porter. " 3 Camp Crosman. k Camp Eastman. 111*.

On April 17, 1859, Captain R.P. Campbell was ordered

to take one company of 2nd Dragoons and one company from each

of the 5th and 10th Infantry Regiments to accomplish the multi­ fold tasko They were directed to march to the Santa Clara 1 River and investigate the Mountain Meadows massacre, escort

Major Prince back to Cedar Valley with one company, and the two remaining units remain at Santa Clara and provide protection to travellers using the southern road to California, Tfte entire party marched from Camp Floyd on April 21, and returned on

June 1, with Major Prince. This was contrary to previous plans, but was necessary because of a change in orders which required their presence back at Cedar Valley0 While at the

site of the Mountain Meadows massacre a detailed investigation took place. Judge Cradlebaugh was the principal actor in .this, having traveled south with Captain Campbell. He first attempted to determine who was responsible for the attack and then made requisition on the expedition’s civilian employees to assist him in arresting those he thought were guilty.

The presence of an armed force to back him up made the

judge very bold in his accusations and gathering of evidence, but after Major Prince arrived and the escort was ordered back to Camp Floyd, the judge thought it best to discontinue

See Juanita Brooks, The Mountain Meadows Massacre (Stanford, California, Stanford University Press, 1950), for a discussion of this entire event. O ^Senate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial.No. 102l|, 165-166. 115 his study of the incident, While at Mountain Meadows the array

interred the remains of the dead, determined that the emigrants property had been sold at public auction in Cedar City, assis­ ted in locating and transporting the surviving children to 1 2 Salt Lake City, and made a thorough map of the area. The

soldiers also gathered evidence which was used in later inves­

tigations and trials associated with the massacre. The events back at headquarters, which made it necessary for the entire force to return, were centered in threats of further Indian raids on the northern route. ,

Governor Cumming wrote to the military commander on

May 9, 1859:

The public interest required that a military force should be furnished for the protection of persons and property on the northern route to California0 I therefore respectfully request that for this purpose you will order three or more companies to occupy suitable points between the Goose Creek mountains and Stoney point, on the Humboldt river.^

This request was made right after the Provo incident,^ before

the instructions to the civilian and military departments were

clarified. General Johnston was, therefore, very curt in his reply to the chief executive:

^Senate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 1021*, £06-208. p Brooks, op, cit., frontispiece. 3 ^Senate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 1021)., 175. Ij. Supra., 6i*-80. 116

I propose during the traveling season to place a force on the northern route to California for the protection of travelers and trains., but find it inexpedient to dispatch the force now.*

The general suggested that emigrants who desired to have an

escort should gather at a convenient location until a large train had assembled, then they should notify the army and an escort would be provided„

Shortly after this series of communications, the gover­ nor received notification that a band of Bannock Indians had raided a wagon train near Fort Hall. This report was pressure enough on Johnston and he immediately ordered a force of two

companies of dragoons, under Captain R.H. Anderson, to leave for a month long expedition to the area of conflict. The de­

tachment left Camp Floyd on May 19, 1859, with specific in­

structions to protect emigrant and merchant trains, and to 2 reclaim stolen property and chastize the thieves. This party returned to headquarters on June 15, but the success or

failure of the expedition is not indicated in available docuT mentary sources.

Upon his return to Camp Floyd, Captain Anderson found 3 that his company and one other unit from the 2nd Dragoons," had been relieved from the Department of Utah and transferred

to Fort Kearny. On June 27# the two companies left Utah for

1Ibld., 176. 2 Idem. 3 ^Companies A and C, 2nd Dragoons. 117

their new post. Seventeen surviving children of the Mountain

Meadows massacre and several men due for discharge traveled with them. The order which affected this change also relieved

Light Company C, 3rd Artillery, and reassigned it to the Depart­ ment of Oregon. This unit also left for its new destination

on June 27.1

These losses were made up in the course of the summer.

In July and September two columns of recruits arrived in Utah

to replace the men that had been discharged. Companies A and

3, ij-th Artillery were assigned to the Department of Utah, and

arrived at Camp Floyd on September 28, as replacement for the p two companies of dragoons lost in June.

Three days before Captain Anderson’s command returned

from Fort Hall, Major Isaac Lynde’s detachment, composed of

162 officers and men from the 7th Infantry and the 2nd Dragoons,

left for the northern road and the Humboldt River in fulfill­ ment of the general’s commitment to the governor in May. This

unit was given the usual instructions, i.e., to protect emi­

grant and merchant wagon trains, and discipline the natives

when necessary. The expedition was rationed for ninety days.

Initially It escorted an emigrant train of eight wagons which

slowed the movement of the column considerably. The soldiers

patrolled the route north through Brigham City, City of the

Rocks, the Goose Creek Mountains, to the head of the Humboldt

of the Utah Expedition, l857-lS6l, June 1859.

^Ibid., July-September 1859. 118

River. They met several small parties of emigrants along the way. The column reached Gravelly Ford on July 12, and stayed at the mail station there for two days. On the fourteenth, the party continued down the river to the next mail station, twenty-two miles from Gravelly Ford. One of the men became sick here, so the expedition split up with Major Lynde and fifty men continuing the patrol along the road for another hundred 1 miles before turning back on July 20.

Major Lynde*s men had not seen any Indians and had contacted few emigrants up to this point. As they marched east along the return route many emigrants were met, particularly after leaving Gravelly Ford, Many of these people were described as being in an almost destitute condition. The major author- ized them to dip into the array stores, so that they would be able to reach the California settlements. On August 3, the column reached the head of the Humboldt. The major indicated that emigration had been very heavy over the road he had been patrolling. Some trains were as large as 300 wagons. The only Indians that he had encountered were friendly, and moving in small bands. There were no hostile incidents reported on the road patrolled by Major Lynde and his men, and undoubtedly their presence had been a contributing factor to this peaceful

attitude. Unfortunately, several raids occurred on the road to

^Senate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 102!*., 2l|0-2i|i4.o 119 the east of the area being watched.'*'

On August 1, Samuel Smith wrote to Doctor Forney from

Brigham City, indicating that an Indian massacre had occurred p on the California road some 200 miles north. The incident was reported to Smith by a band of natives who were attempting to trade items obviously from a white wagon train. The Indian version of the raid was: "Two Indians entered a camp of emi­ grants to trade, and were killed by said emigrants. The Indians then gathered their forces and revenged their death by killing five men and two women belonging to said camp." Other reports indicated different causes for the attack and more whites being killed.

Dr. Forney immediately left for the north, but before leaving he penned a note to the governor requesting military assistance in the vicinity of the Goose Creek Mountains, where

the raid was supposed to have taken place. The governor, though barely on speaking terms with General Johnston, sent the following request to him:

1 therefore respectfully request that you will detach a suitable command, with instructions to communicate with Superintendent Forney, at Brigham City, with the view of arresting, the murderers, and furnishing protection on the road.^

^Idem. 2 On Shepherd’s wagon train. 3 House Executive Document, Number 78, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 1056, 29• ^Tbid., 30. 120

The general filled this request by ordering Company G,

2nd Dragoons, commanded by Lieutenant Ebenezer Gay, to march from Camp Floyd on August 8, for the northern road. The company was to be equipped for forty days, and was to transport fifteen days' rations for Major Lynde’s command, so that it could join in the discharge of this mission. Accordingly, Lieutenant Gay and party left camp and marched north, making first contact with a band of Bannocks near Devils Gate on August 13. The red men exhibited a hostile attitude toward the soldiers which resulted in a serious altercation. Lieutenant Gay reported on

August 15, from Box Elder, that twenty Indians were killed in the action, No soldiers were lost, but four were severely wounded, and two slightly* The Lieutenant vras certain that the band he had fought were the ones responsible for the raid on 2 Shepherd*s train.

The general had anticipated the action of the thirteenth, and ordered reinforcements for Lieutenant Gay. Special Orders

Number 71, dated August ll*, directed Company E, 2nd Dragoons to leave for Bear River immediately, to be followed by com­ panies B, 10th Infantry and C, 5th Infantry* These units were instructed to unite with Lieutenant Gay and Major Lynde and establish a depot at Bear River crossing on the California

Road, from which to operate for the remainder of the season in

1 Brigham City* 2 Senate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 102k, 212-213, 219-220. 121 furnishing protection to trains and chastizing renegade Indians.

The senior officer was to assume command of the combined forces until Major Lynde returned to the depot from the Humboldt,

He was then to take command of the operations. Supplies for

the entire expedition, to last until October 20, were to be

forwarded to Bear River by contractor trains.“

This order was carried out, so that when Major Lynde

and the Humboldt Expedition arrived at Bear River on August 19,

they were met by the two companies of dragoons. The major

appraised the situation and on August 21, sent one company of

dragoons and one of infantry,under Captain Lafayette McLaws,

to patrol the roads north to Port Hall. Another wagon train

raid was reported to Major Lynde*s detachment on this same day.

On August 25, the two additional companies of infantry from

Camp Floyd joined the Bear River Expedition. From this time

until the depot was abandoned, patrols were constantly moving

through Cache Valley and the area bordered by Bear Lake on

the east, Raft River on the west, and Fort Hall on the north.

These examinations were completely without success. All

Indians had disappeared from the army’s view, but the emigrants

continued to be bothered by them. During this time one more

train was attacked on Lander’s road, about eighteen miles from

Fort Hall, by a group of Snake Indians. Emigration stopped

with the approach of winter, so the soldiers gathered at their

1Ibido, 218. 2Ibid., 2 U - 2 i ^ . o 122 depot and marched back to their headquarters in Cedar Valley, where they arrived by October 20«

The Army for Utah had accomplished a great deal during the summer of 1859. Simpson*s road was not opened until late in the season, so the major portion of overland emigration had followed the northern roads to California and Oregon. The soldiers had performed a vital service to these emigrants by escorting them through known areas of danger and by patrolling action which undoubtedly reduced the frequency and severity of

Indian raids on the trains. However, the soldiers had not been too successful in capturing or punishing the raiders.

Lieutenant Gay*s command had been the only unit to enter in­ to pitched battle with the natives, an action which resulted in the lieutenant being cited for bravery. The array activity on the northern road prevented the Indians from waging full scale war and provided insight into the fact that many of the

Indian raids were planned and executed under the leadership of white robbers who had the ulterior motive of personal gain through the use and sale of plunder obtained from the emigrants.

When plants were laid for the reduction of the force at Camp Floyd in the spring of i860, the governor could point to the example of 1859, to show the need and effectiveness of a military force in controlling the natives. This undoubtedly was a major factor in keeping an army in Utah during the summer of i860, when Secretary Cass exerted pressure to have the

1Ibid., 231-2i]4 123

United States troops completely removed from the territory.

With the soldiers all back at camp from their various patrols of the summer, the routine of military life settled back into its usual form. During the course of the winter of

1859-1860, plans were laid for the withdrawal of most of the

Utah forces. Secretary of State Lewis Cass wrote to Gumming on December 2, 1859, and suggested that the army withdraw;

It is deemed very desirable to reduce the large number of United States troops now in Utah, if it can be done con­ sistently with the tranquillity and general interests of the Territory,, and on this point, also, your views will be acceptable.

Governor Cumming responded to this query on February 2, i860:

The Indians of this Territory are numerous, well armed, and somewhat warlike. The withdrawal of the entire army from this Territory seems to me injudicious and unjust, both to the resident population, as well as to the emi­ gration through the country. I would, therefore, suggest that about $00 (five hundred) soldiers should be retained here, and be established at such points as are deemed desirable by the officer in command.

The suggestion offered by the governor is essentially the one that was followed. General Order Number 10 reached

Camp Floyd in April, and provided for the following:

The military force of the Department of Utah will be re­ duced to three companies of the 2nd Dragoons, three com­ panies of ij.th Artillery . . . now there, and four compan­ ies of the 10th Infantry. Col. P. St. George Cook, 2nd Dragoons, is assigned to the command. . . . The re­ mainder of the force now in Utah^will be withdrawn as early as possible in the spring.-

^House Executive Document, Number 78, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 1C56, I4I. 2Ibid., I[6.

^Deseret News, X (April 11, i860) i|8. See Appendix G, 12k

The first soldier to leave Utah under the withdrawal order was General Johnston. He had requested a leave of ab­ sence shortly after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley. In his report of July 8, 1858 he wrote:

I request that the general jwinfield Scott] will grant me a furlough for four months, with leave to apply for an ex­ tension. I have had no relaxation from duty, not for a day, for more than nine years.1

It was not until January 11, i860, that his request received consideration, and then it resulted in his complete release from the Department of Utah. His orders of that date read:

The Secretary of War directs that, should not the service of the department in Utah, in your judgement, especially require your further presence, you will, as soon as convenient to yourself after the receipt hereof, turn over the command of the department to the second in command, and repair by such route as you may select to this city [Washington, D.cQ , and report to the Secretary of War for further orders.L'-

The general was quick to put his affairs in order and prepare for his journey back to the states. He had expressed little love for the circumstances of the Utah Expedition. He had been frustrated at every turn as a military commander, robbed of victory by conspiring civil officials, and when the opportunity finally presented itself for him to leave Utah and the humiliation that it meant to him, he was pleased to utilize for the complete extract of General Order Number 10. See Appen­ dix A for the designation of units that remained at Camp Floyd.

^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 35th Congress. 2nd Session, Serial No. 975/ 123.

2Hous£ Executive Document, Number 78, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 1056, 50. 125 it. He wrote to the adjutant general at Washington, D.C., on

February 22:

I have the honor to report that the service in this department does not require my special presence. I shall, therefore, in compliance with the discretionary orders of the Secretary of War of the 11th of January, turn over this day the command to Brevet Colonel Charles F, Smithy 10th Infantry, and leave tomorrow for Washington city.

It was not until February 29, that the general relin­

quished his command to Colonel Smith and March 1; that he left

Camp Floyd for California by the southern route. His departure was marked by a review of the troops and a salute fired by one

of the batteries. The band played ”Come out of the Wilderness'’

as he wheeled his horse and headed out of camp with his escort.

Within three months of Johnston’s departure, Camp Floyd was almost abandoned. During the month of May i860, the force

at Camp Floyd was rediiced from thirty-four company size units,

composed of 2,227 officers and men, to eight companies total­

ing 281). soldiers. The disposition of the units that marched 3 from Utah at that time was:

Transferred to New Mexico: Company G, 2nd Dragoons; 5th Infantry Regiment; Headquarters, Band, and Companies A,B, C,D,E,G,H,I,E, 7th Infantry Regiment; Companies A,F,H, 10th Infantry Regiment.

1Ibid o, <10 2 The Valley Tan went out of print at this same time. The last issue, dated February 29, i860, mentioned the change in command and the demise of Johnston. 3 Returns of the Utah Expedition. 1857-1861, May i860. 126

Transferred to Fort Laramie: Headquarters, Band, and Company C, 10th Infantry Regiment.

Transferred to Fort Bridger: Companies B and G, 10th Infantry Regiment»

The companies for Fort Bridger and Fort Laramie left

'on May 10 „ Captain Selden*s command of three companies of in­

fantry also left on May 10, to prepare a new road through

Spanish Fork Canyon and the Spanish Trail to New Mexico, for

the third and fourth columns to follow, A detachment of 2nd

Dragoon^ accompanied Captain Selden to Green River. At this

point they took charge of the column’s wagons and drove them

back to Camp Floyd, The first column, composed of five com­

panies of 5th Infantry and Company G, 2nd Eragoons, and the

second column, made up of four companies of 7th Infantry,

marched from the Utah Army headquarters on May 15 and 16, via

Timpanogos Canyon, Fort Bridger, Bridger*s Pass, Pueblo, and

Fort Garland. The third column, formed from three companies

of the 5th Infantry and two companies of 10th Infantry, marched

on May 20, and the fourth and last column consisting of five

companies of 5th Infantry left on May 21. The last two columns

were scheduled to march through Spanish Fork Canyon. Captain

Selden was not able to adequately prepare the road, so these

units marched south through San Pete Valley, then east through

Salt Creek Canyon"*" and southeast to New Mexico. All of the

columns for New Mexico reached their destination by August 5,

■^Salina Canyon. 127 i860.1 The men that remained In Utah under Colonel Smith en­ gaged in activities similar to those of the summer of 1859, i.e., guarding emigration in i860 and 1861. Governor Cumming had communicated with Colonel Smith as early as April 12, i860, asking what his intentions were for protecting routes of emi­ gration for the forthcoming season. The colonel responded on

April 2l+, and indicated the following:

It is my intention to send a mounted force on that road £northern3 for the purpose to which you allude, as soon as the season and other circumstances will permit; although, owing to the removal of the greater part of the troops now in this Territory . . . the strength of that force will be far short of what my immediate predecessor in command of this department intended to send.^

While this correspondence was going on, the governor

received two letters from prospective California emigrant parties. Both indicated that trouble could be expected on the northern road with the first emigrant train. Residents of

Brigham City reported the following:

Now come the Indians, and threaten to kill every man that travels the road. Two gentlemen have just returned from Bear river. They told me that they were on govern­ ment business and the Indians refused to let them go on. They threaten to kill every man between here and the Weber.-

To avert any such threatened disaster, Colonel Smith,

^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 36th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 107$, 60. 2 Ibid., 70-71.

3Ibid., 71. 128 to whom this letter was forwarded by Camming, issued an order on May 20, which provided for an expedition to consist of three companies from the 2nd Dragoons (This was the entire dragoon force at Camp Ployd, except for thirteen men.) to march for the northern road on June 5, to protect emigrants and punish marauders. A depot was to be established on the

Port Neuf River from which to conduct the patrols of the season.

Lieutenant Colonel M.T. Howe was directed to organize and com­ mand this party. He was given the following special instructions on May 22:

Uln addition to the usual instructions^] another object LisJ to be accomplished; and that is, if possible, the seizure of the Indians who murdered and dispoiled divers emigrants last summer. . . . Should any outrage be committed . . . by Indians 0 . . let them be summarily punished or pursued to the bitter end, always making it an indispensable condition of peace, for them to deliver up the offenders. Let it be impressed, however, on the commanders of parties, . . . not to con­ found Indians who are friendly with those hostile. Judging by the events of last summer, there is a tribe of Indians who have blue eyes and light hair, who wear whiskers, and speak good English. They may always be regarded as so hostile that no terms are to be made with them.

He was further directed to warn all friendly Indians to stay away from the emigrant roads; to instruct the emigrants to organize themselves for defense and always keep their arms available. He was authorized to issue or sell supplies to destitute parties as Major Lynde had done the previous summer.

The expedition was fitted out by the post quartermaster, and marched from Camp Floyd, according to the orders, on June 5.

^Ibid., 80. Colonel Smith was undoubtedly referring, in a subtle way, to the white renegades who were leading the Indians in 1859. 129

Between May 20, when the Port Neuf (.arty was ordered, and June when it left, Colonel Smith received notification of a general native uprising near Carson Valley, and east from that place throughout the western part of the territory.

The hostilities were touched off at the mail station of

Williams on the Carson River, early in May. A large force of

Indians descended on the station, burned it and killed the four inhabitants. Riders were sent out from Carson City and

Virginia City to the outlying areas to gather the people to­ gether in the larger communities, A force of 106 men was mustered and marched against the Indians, This force of ci­ vilian soldiers met the red men near Pyramid Lake on the even­ ! ing of May 12. In the ensuing conflict the white men were completely defeated and routed by a force of over 500 natives, well armed and mounted. When news of these events reached the California settlements, arms, amrriun.ltion, and II4I1 soldiers were rushed east into Carson Valley.

This force of 1[|1|- soldiers, reinforced by 550 civilian volunteers, marched against the red men and fought a running battle from their first contact on May 29, in which six or seven Indians were killed. On June 2, another battle took place between 300 whites and 800 to 1,000 Indians. Again the red men were defeated, losirp; some forty or fifty warriors.

This was the decisive battle of this conflict. The white men pursued the retreating force of warriors for two more days, until it was ascertained that they were fleeing the locale.

At this point the volunteers and soldiers halted. The volunteers 130 returned to their homes, and the soldiers to Carson River where they established a post."

The Indian activities during this period of time were not confined to Carson Valley. Many of the mail stations east to Camp Floyd were threatened or attacked, which resulted in their abandonment or destruction and a subsequent disruption of serviceo It was to combat this that a portion of the re­ maining force at Camp Floyd was organized into a Carson Valley

Expedition. Colonel Smith had already committed his dragoon force to service on the northern route, so it was necessary for him to mount and equip Light Company B, l+th Artillery, as dragoons in order to meet the new emergency. On May 25 and 26, he ordered this unit into the field under Lieutenant

Delavan D. Perkins. The first order provided for a detachment of twenty-three men to precede the main body, moving as rapidly as possible, to Ruby Valley to establish a depot from which to operate in protecting the Simpson mail and emigrant route for the summer. Lieutenant Stephen H. Weed was directed to 2 command the advance party.” They left camp early on the twenty-sixth, for Ruby Valley, where they arrived on June 10.

Lieutenant Perkins and the remainder of his command left

Camp Floyd on May 27, thoroughly equipped with rations (all bacon), arms (Colt’s revolvers and Harper’s Ferry rifles,

caliber 58), and ammunition (150 rounds per arm, per man),

-Ibid,, 73-76, 89-92. This post was called Fort Churchill

2Ibid., 77-78. 131 designed to last for ninety days. Frequent rapid movement was anticipated, so only necessary clothing and camp equipment was taken. The column under Lieutenant Perkins arrived on June 13, at the depot which had been located by Weed.

Colonel Smith was left with barely enough men to per­ form the necessary duties at the Cedar Valley camp. The Port

Neuf Expedition was composed of 170 officers and men; the Carson

Valley Expedition had sixty-six men in it. This left only forty-eight men at Camp Floyd. Smith wrote of his dissipating command in his May 26 report to army headquarters In New York:

When the second dragoons and light company B have left Camp Floyd, I shall not be able to make further detach­ ments, for the four companies of infantry, two of the tenth and two of the fourth artillery, acting as infantry, are barely sufficient to guard the very large supply of public stores at the post.~

In spite of this appeal, pressure was brought to bear upon him to send out more men. On June 19, two petitions-- from Carson City and Virginia City--reached him requesting that a sizable force be stationed along the mail route. The~ colonel caused the following reply to be sent to these peti­ tioners :

The small force in this department, with the necessity of employing a portion of it in the Humboldt road during the summer, will not enable him {[Colonel SmithJ to send, on the western mail route, a larger force than that now on the road.2

The adjutant general»s office suggested on June 18,

"ibid., 72.

2Ibld., 86. 132 that the Department of Utah commander do more than he was doing to protect the emigrant road3. ’ This suggestion was backed up by a petition from members of the U.S. Senate, dated June 28, wherein they took the Colonel to task for his inefficient pro­ tection of mail and emigrants along the Simpson road. It would seem today that criticism against Colonel Smith was not justi­ fied,, The eastern incomprehension of western distances was as evident in i860 as it is today. A fei-vr men can only guard so much territory. A— attempt to spread 236 men over almost 2,000 miles of road would certainly have been less effective than the plan of concentrated patrols, which was used by the Utah Army.

Lieutenant Perkins was met with reports of increased native hostility, as his column moved west. Several of these reports are worthy of mention here in connection with his march.

On June 2, a Mr. Miller was severely wounded by Indians near , 2 Deep Creek.“ Lieutenant Perkins was met at Deep Creek by an emigrant party of 186 people, who requested an escort to Carson

Valley. Between Deep Creek and Ruby Valley he added about fifty more people to his column. On June 8, two days after the military force had passed, going west, the mail station at

Shell Creek was raided and burned. The buildings had already 3 been abandoned because of threatening gestures by the Goshutes.

3Tb l d ., 82. 2 Near Trout Creek, Utah. -

-^Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 36th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 1079, B? —B8. 133

On June ll|, a column left the Ruby Valley depot for

Carson Valley as escort for the emigrants picked up along the way. Fourteen men remained behind to guard the government property and to patrol east to Shell Creek to provide security for the civilians who were rebuilding the burned out station there. The Carson Valley column accomplished its mission without incident and returned to Ruby Valley within" a few days."

Colonel Smith, in the meantime, and in consequence of the Senatorial pressure being put upon him, ordered Lieutenant

Perkins to divide his force into four small units and station them at different locations along the road, at places which would afford the best protection to the mail and emigrants.

Accordingly, Perkins designated the stations for his troops 2 3 as being Willow Springs, Egan Canyon, Dry Creek, and Smith's

Creek.„ , 14- The command was subsequently divided and the subposts established. This was the last official act of Lieutenant

Perkins on this expedition. He became seriously ill and had to turn his command over to Lieutenant Weed on August 9.

Weed controlled the actions of the Carson Valley Expedition 5 from this time until its return to Camp Floyd in the fall.

1 Idem. 2 Near Trout Creek, Utah. 3 In Antelope Valley, Nevada.

% e a r Smith's Ranch, Nevada. 5 Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 36th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 1079, 73-94. ' 1314-

On August 6, a supply train from Cedar Valley was

attacked near Antelope Springs. The only damage done was the

killing of one horse. On August 11, Lieutenant Weed and his men left for the site of this raid to chastize the Indians in

that vicinity. The soldiers made a long march east that day,

and as they approached the mail station at Egan Canyon, they were met by the Pony Express rider, who informed Weed that the

station was being threatened. Weed described the action best

in his own words;

Upon arriving within a mile of this station jjplgan Canyon] , , . I was met by the express rider, who informed me that the station was surrounded by Indians, armed, and appar­ ently hostile. Leaving a non-commissioned officer with seven men with my two wagons, with the balance of my party I hastened on, and found the report of the express man correct. There were from 75 to 100 Indians immediately around the station; nearly all of whom were armed with rifles; and certainly a greater number then either of those mentioned from 500 to 800 yards distant on the mountains. , * . I gave directions for surrounding the Indians near the station; and while that order was being executed, two or three of my men, too eager to commence, fired prematurely, thus alarming the Indians, and leaving an opportunity for them to retreat. * , . The fire then became general; but the Indians very soon got up the sides of the mountains south and east of the station, where they were well protected from our fire by rocks and trees. As they were evidently well supplied with rifles and ammuni­ tion, and were so greatly superior In point of numbers, I did not think It advisable to attempt to attack them in their strong position*

Three of the soldiers were wounded, one of which later died,

and several Indians were killed or wounded* The military

wounded were sent back to Ruby Valley while the remainder of

Ibid., 914--95. 135

the force remained at the Egan Canyon station for a few days to

escort the express riders through the canyon.“

During this same period of time another patrol from

the Ruby Valley depot was engaged in action against the hos-

tiles, first near Spring Valley, then at Deep Creek. The pa­

trol had left Ruby Valley two days previous to the action.

While encamped at night in Spring Valley, they were attacked.

Sergeant George L. Bishop described the action in the following words:

About half past eleven the sentinel reported that there were arrows flying in all directions, and to prove that it was so, one of the arrows struck between Mr. Rogers* head and mine, I immediately, but very quietly, awoke the men; divided them; four with the horses; two skirted one side of the hill, Mr. Rogers and myself on the other; the moon just arose; we started one Indian; he turned and fired a rifle; Mr. Rogers and I fired, and judge struck him, but he was too near the hills to follow him.*-

The detachment broke camp immediately, rode all night, and

arrived at Deep Creek the next morning.

Soon after their arrival they received a report that

some Indians had demanded food from a crew of haymakers and

threatened trouble if the demand was not met. Sergeant Bishop

decided that such insolence required correction. The next day

the soldiers went down to the field where the men were working,

concealed in the bottom of a wagon with hay over the top. The

soldiers were very quiet until five Indians showed themselves.

1 dexr.o 2 Ibid., 99. 136

The sergeant and his men then jumped out and fired on the red men, killing one and wounding three others0 The Indians fled the spot, with the soldiers in pursuit, but Sergeant Bishop and his men were not able to catch them. That evening three of the soldiers were sent back to Shell Creek tc guard the station there, and the four others remained at Beep Creek.

The men who were sent back to Shell Creek encountered a band of natives the next day 8nd dispatched four of them.

In the meantime, Lieutenant Weed had returned to Ruby

Valley for supplies. He reported on August 21, that "there are now very few Indians in the vicinity of the road. It is my opinion that they have scattered to trade with the tribes to the north and south.”"' However, by September 6, they had returned and another battle took place near Deep Creek in 3 which Sergeant Bishop was wounded.' This was the last action reported by the Carson Valley Expedition of i860. The soldiers

continued to escort the express and patrol the road until

October $, when they returned to Camp Floyd. Lieutenant Weed reported on October 9^ that

c-irexamstances do not at present require the presence of troops on the western mail route to prevent Indian depre­ dations. Since my last report I have talked with a con­ siderable number of Indians. . . „ They appear very humble, and expressed a strong desire for peace.h-

1Ibid., 100o 2Ib i d 99.

3Ibid., 205.

^Ibid., 106. What were the significant contributions of this expedi­ tion to Western development? One was that the array provided a certain amount of security for emigrants moving over the improved road disco\Tered by Simpson the previous summer.

Possibly the most important accomplishment of the military establishment operating out of Ruby Valley was escorting the

Pony Express. Evidence has been presented to show that the saga of heroism associated with those lone riders of corres­ pondence must be shared by the men of the Carson Valley Expe­ dition, for It was their task to protect the riders from

Indian attack. When the soldiers were not available to escort the express through areas of danger, the riders stopped riding and the main line of rapid communication was disrupted. For­ tunately this did not occur often, but only because the soldiers were so diligent in providing protection and security to the route. Rapid communication between the East and the West was of vital Importance at that time when the nation was on the brink of disintegration. One must remember that when the ex­ press found it necessary to put spurs to animal to evade native pursuers, or exchange shots to protect the mail, a soldier from Camp Floyd was also there spurring or shooting along with the rider or station men.

It will be remembered that another expedition was sent out from Camp Floyd to the northern route during the summer of l860o This party consisted of three companies of dragoons, and established a depot on the Port Neuf River in present day southern Idaho, on June 21. Detachments were sent out from 138 this depot, beginning on June 25, and continuing until the latter part of September. They patrolled the roads east to

Salt River and Little Beaver, west to the City of the Rocks on the California road, and west to Rock Creek and Salmon Palls on the Oregon route. Affairs in this northern part of the 2 - department were fairly quiet until late in the summer, and the patrols soon became routine. Lieutenant Colonel Howe, the expedition commander, reported that the medical officer treated an accidental fracture for one of the employees of a civilian train, on July 13. Other than this, there were no incidents worthy of mention until August 16. On that date a raid by four natives was reported to the commander as having occurred on August 9, just west of Green River. One member of an emi­ grant party was wounded and was consequently treated by the expedition medical officer, A detachment was sent east to investigate, but was unsuccessful in apprehending the perpe­ trators of the attack,"

A month passed before another incident occurred. On

September 7, a very small party of emigrants were attacked near the City of the Rocks by "eight persons supposed to be

^On the Snake River near Salmon Palls Creek, 2 The Port Neuf depot was actually located in Oregon Territory, and the operations of this expedition were almost totally confined to that territory. The soldiers assigned to Oregon were busily engaged elsewhere, so Utah forces assumed responsibility for guarding that part of Oregon closest to Utah. 3 Senate Executive Document, Number 1, 36th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No, 1079, 101, 139

Indians” who "spoke good English,," Word of this raid reached the Port Neuf depot two days later. Lieutenant Colonel Howe immediately sent a relief party to the site of the altercation.

As the soldiers marched west they met several of the emigrants on foot working their way back to the depot,, The civilians were fed, clothed, and left under guard while the remainder

of the column proceded to where the party»s wagons and belong­

ings had been abandoned. They found th?l- the raiders had

driven off all of the stock and completely rifled the wagons,

leaving nothing of value behind, and destroying what was left.

The relief gathered all of the emigrants together and trans­ ported them back to the main body of troops. These emigrants

could not procede on their journey, so they remained with the

soldiers and marched back to Camp Floyd for the winter.“

Colonel Philip St. George Cooke arrived at Camp Floyd

on August 18, with a detachment of recruits, and assumed com­ mand of the Utah forces on August 20, i860. His first offi­

cial act was to order part of the Port Neuf Expedition to

return from the northern road. Accordingly, Company B, 2nd

Dragoons left the Port Neuf on September ]+, and arrived at

department headquarters ten days later. Orders dated August 28,

called the remainder of the northern force back to Cedar Valley.

They started for home on September 22, after delaying their

departure because of insufficient transportation. These two

companies of dragoons, and the emigrants, arrived at Camp Floyd

1Ibid., 103-101* ll^O on October 5» Lieutenant Colonel Howe made several significant observations in his final report. He stated that emigrants had reported bands of white traders selling whiskey to the

Indians, which caused considerable conflict with the emigrant trains. Another observation reported by the expedition com­ mander was that in spite of his warning for the emigrants to organize for defense many refused to do so:

Many of the emigrants were without fire-arms, and said they had never been told of any danger in traveling the road, therefore did not know the necessity of being armed. A large proportion, however, had been forewarned, yet traveling without any precaution or organization, their fire-arms mostly in their wagons, and many of them not loaded „ . . and when encamped many not having any guard during the night, and when the importance of forming associations was suggested to them, some would laugh at such an idea."

Indeed, he reported in the case of the raid at Salt

River on August 9, that "as usual, with ninety-nine one-hun­ dredths of emigrants, their fire-arms, except revolvers, were 2 in the wagons, some not loaded." His register indicated an emigration of "?69 men, 325 women, 474 children, with 359 wagons, 1,045 horses, 4>075 cattle, and 3,415 sheep."' Un­ fortunately, Lieutenant Weed had not maintained a similar record of travel over the Simpson route, so there is no accurate indication of civilian use of that road during the summer of i860.

1Ibid., 104.

2Ibid., 101.

"Ibid., 1 0 4 . 11+1

All of the detachments had returned to Camp Floyd by

October 6, i860, and the men settled back into the routine of garrison duty, which was fairly strenuous for the approximately

500 soldiers who wintered there. They had considerable work to do in just guarding the stores and equipment at camp.

Colonel Cooke endeavored to correct this situation by dispos­ ing of a great deal of the material through public auction at the post. In the course of the winter several sales were con­ ducted, which materially enriched the saints at the expense of the national government.

With the approach of spring and the increasing proba­ bility of a division of the nation, Colonel Cooke made it plain where his sympathy lay, by changing the name of Camp Floyd to

Fort Crittenden/' on February 6, l86l. Evidently, all of the soldiers in Utah did not share their commander's desire for peace within the Union. As soon as the roads out were opened in the spring of 1861, over 100 men resigned and left Fort

Crittenden, assumedly to join the cause of the South.

The last action of soldiers at Fort Crittenden, re­ specting the Indian menace, took place between May 19, and

June 19, l86l. On the former date, Company E, 10th Infantry, and a detachment of 2nd Dragoons, left Cedar Valley for duty

^Cooke indicated that he was for peace and union by naming the post of his command after Senator John J 0 Crittenden of Kentucky, who presented compromise resolutions to Congress in the form of proposed Constitutional amendments on December 18, i860, in an effort to reconcile the differences between the North and the South. The effort was rejected by President Lincoln. llj.2 on the western mail route. Unfortunately, the action of this party is unknown due to its reports being lost in the corres­ pondence of the first hectic months of the Civil War. It is assumed that these men marched to the old Ruby Valley depot with the intention of occupying it for the entire summer. On

June 7 or 8, Colonel Cooke received Special Order Number 86-| dated May 17, from headquarters of the army at Washington, which called for the immediate abcn.donment of the Utah post.

He immediately sent a rider to call in the Ruby Valley force, which arrived back at Cedar Valley on June 19. With this, the

Utah Army at Port Crittenden disassociated itself from concern over Indian problems in the territory, and devoted its energy to feverish preparation for the march back to the states.

Further elaboration of the soldiers* activities in dealing with the red men is not required. From the first in­ cident of 1858, until the removal of the army in 1861, the men had discharged every duty associated with Indian control with vigor and enthusiasm. The overland routes for emigration and communication had been secured; the Mormon people had enjoyed a sense of well being and safety from native depredations due to the presence of the Utah forces. This was only part of the saints’ advantage arising out of the presence of the soldiers.

Other gains of the residents of Utah arising out of the mili­ tary occupation, will be discussed next. CHAPTER VI

CIVILIANS AND SOLDIERS

There was frequent intercourse between the soldiers

and the civilians, both Morao . and gentile, from the time that

the array approached the borders of Zion in l858? until its demise in l86l. Many aspects of these associations have al­

ready been indicated in other chapters of this work. The pur­ pose of this chapter is to make pointed reference to selected incidents In an effort to show their impact upon the develop­ ment of Utah and the West.

Further mention of the soldiers part in exploring,'

establishing, and guarding new as well as old routes of travel

and communication is unnecessary. Thct the army, with head­

quarters at Camp Floyd, make a lasting contribution In this

regard Is beyond question. However, a pointed emphasis of

other aspects of growth arising out of the Utah Expeditionf may be in order.

The Army for Utah gave impetus to the commercial de­

velopment of the territory. Enterprising businessmen took

advantage of the army's specie to found commercial establish­ ments, which caused a decline in the barter system economy of

Utah and resulted In the acquisition of fortunes which have

served as the foundation for western business houses of today.

11+3 m

The California markets grew because of the needs of the army.

Overland freighting concerns reaped a harvest of gold for the same reason. At the bottom of these developments was the frugal Mormon.

As the soldiers marched from their winter camp at Fort

Bridger and Camp Scott, in June 1858, they were met by civilian peddlers with country produce for sale. The soldiers provided a good market for such goods, after experiencing a x^inter of near starvation diets. When the army camped on the west side of the Jordan River, on June 27 end 28, they were re­ quired to pay for the privilege at the price of $150 per day,“

The next commercial contact with the civilians occurred on

June 29, when the soldiers were greeted with civilians hawking fresh and cured fish. From this time on, the people of Utah found ready cash for goods or services to the military estab­ lishment. Captain Phelps was so impressed with these inde­ pendent businessmen that he wrote in his journal: "The day daxras; Mormon market people throng to the carap with their 2 produce; the day declines and they wend their way home.”

The following are representative of the prices obtained for produce by these people, many of whom had never before seen

United States coin:

Cheese $ .50 per pound. Apples 1.00 per dozen. Potatoes 2.00 per bushel. New Potatoes 3»00 per bushel.

1Tracy, op. clt., 28. ‘"Phelps, Diary, August 18, 1858. 11+5

Beer $2.00 per gallon. Butter .50 per pound. Pish 1.00 each.

Oftentimes the saints would barter their produce goods rather than accept payment in specie. James Car"- lie, a resident of Wasatch County, wrote of this practice:

In 1859 most of the freight teams enroute to Camp Flode I'sicj passed through this valley. As they passed by they .,'oulci trade old wagon covers, seamless sacks, etc., for vegetables and grain. The material we got in this way furnished us with about all our common wearing apparel. Men thought they were well dressed when-^they had canvas suits . . o made from old wagon sheets0X

The gentile merchants who followed the army into Utah put this desire of the saints to barter to good advantage. The shop keepers offered luxury items such as cotton yarn, boots and

shoes, hats and caps, hardware, and rare foods to the Mormons

in exchange for country produce. The produce would then be

sold to the soldiers for cash at a good profit to the merchants.

This trade was instrumental in enticing enterprising Mormons

into the business of commerce. Notable among this group were the Walker brothers, who wrote the following for H.H.

Bancroft: "In 1859 started General Merchandise store at old

Camp Floyd . » . Cedar County, Utah. All brothers of the

firm remained in same till U.S. troops were returned from

there."- Of course, this was only one of several enterprises

entered into by these brothers at this time.

“James Carlile, History of James Carllle (unpublished manuscript). 2 talker Brothers Biographies (unpublished manuscript). IkJb

Reference has already been made to the influence of the army in providing a market for building materials, and laborers in constructing Camp Floyd,1 It is appropriate to mention again that lumber sold for $70.00 per 1,000 board feet, and adobies were one cent a piece; and that laborers were paid from three to seven dollars a day plus board. Phelps wrote of the character impression he received of the Mormon laborers who were employed at the post: .

. A good many of the saints have at length been employed on our quarters and storehouses. . . . I think that some of them are honest. With others, however,-there seem to be alligators at the bottom of their eyes.

The civilians, both Mormon and gentile, reaped greater harvests of gold through large contracts awarded by the Army for Utah. It will be remembered that at the inception of the

Utah Expedition, literally all of the facilities of the U.S.

Army were directed to support the Utah forces. During the first year, contracts were let in excess of five million dollars by the quartermaster general, for the specific purpose of support­ ing the Army for Utah.-^ These contracts were for food, clothing, equipment, and transportation.^- The contracts provided liberal

'‘'Supra, 36, 39.

^Phelps, Letters, Letter to ’’Hickman,” October 13. 13^8. Ill, 171. . •3 -'House Executive Document, Number 2, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 999, 797* ij. See Appendix C for a partial list of these contracts. Ik7 payment for goods or services. This policy continued after

Camp Ployd had been established, with the people of Utah materially benefiting from it. Some examples of this practice are in order.

Many of the early first year contracts were for live- stock--to be used as dragoon mounts— work stock, and beef cattle.

When the army first arrived at Cedar Valley, contracts were let for herding these animals at a rats of one dollar and fifty cents per head, per month.' With herds numbering in the thou­ sands, and all accounts paid in specie, one can readily see the effect upon the economy of Utah arising out of the herding contracts alone. These affected more than just the economy, however. Indeed, they led to conflicts which whetted the hatred of both soldier and Mormon, one for the other. One of these contests should mentioned as an example of civilian-sol- dier hatred relationship.

General Johnston declared vast areas of land surround­ ing Cedar Valley to be military preserves upon which the con­ tracted herders were to graze the military livestock. Some of this acreage had already been claimed by the saints, who had herds on it. Most of the army*s contract herders were gentiles, and when they came onto the ground occupied by the Mormons* herds and demanded the removal of said animals, severe conflict resulted. The Mormons were seemingly intentionally excluded

^House Executive Document, Number 50, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No. 1006, 21, 23. 114-8 from the contracts, which increased the agitation, because of their desire to dip into the treasury and share the spoils with their gentile brethren,, The general attempted to quell this disturbance on August 26, 1858, by writing to S.M. Blair,

a resident of Salt Lake City, who was concerned with maintain­ ing his personal livestock on ground set aside for military purposes:

I have to say, in reply, that Rush, Cedar, Tinic, and Goshen Valleys . . . have been designated for the use of the government for the purpose of grazing the public herds. . . . The grounds set apart by the settlers in any of these valleys for the use of their own herds will not be encroached upon, and all other rights and privileges ' appertaining to actual settlers will be respected.^

The agitation continued in spite of this assurance from

Johnston, so the offended saints took their case to Governor

Cumming. He in turn communicated with the general on October 8,

and reviewed the case of the ranchers concerned, led by one

Daniel Spencer0 Cumming concluded his letter as follows:

Certain persons claim the right of expelling those parties fSpencer and others] in virtue of a contract with the quartermaster*s department for grazing public mules, Mr. Spencer and the other parties would have gladly contracted with the quartermaster if the opportunity had been pre­ sented; and would even now graze the animals upon their p ranches for one-third less than the contract price. . . .

Evidently some action was taken as a result of this re­ port, because no further reference was made to the conflict over property in Rush Valley until February 28, 1859. On that date,

Senate Executive Document, Number 2, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. 102lf, 12ij.

2Ibid., 125. 149

Daniel Spencer submitted a claim against the army for property damage done by soldier herdsmen in Rush Valley. His claim in­ dicated that he had taken advantage of the situation by engaging in the business of keeping a tavern for the men stationed there. Some of his military customers got out of hand, stole the liquor and three horses (later found in Camp Turnley at

Ephraim), burned part of the building and some fencing, and killed several head of cattle. Later investigation of the

claim, by the army, showed that the three horses had wandered

into the military herds, and had not been stolen, that the burning of the cabin was accidental— it was ready to fall down anyway— that no fencing had been burned, and the ’’several head of cattle” was one sheep killed accidentally.

As a result of the action which caused the damage,

Spencer*s tavern was declared a public nuisance and an order given to have it evacuated, Spencer was given until April 1$

to remove his herds from the military reservation, after the

remaining part of the building was abandoned. A detachment

of the 10th Infantry, commanded by Sergeant Ralph Pike, was

sent to insure that the order was complied with. When they

arrived at the Spencer property, the caretaker, a Mr. Reeder,

requested that the execution of the order be delayed for

twenty-four hours, because of the inclement weather and the

inconvenience that it would cause to his wife and child. The

request was granted, but the next morning Reeder informed Pike

1Tbid., 168-171. that hs had received instructions from Daniel Spencer, in Salt

Lake, to remain on the land in defiance to the military order.

Sergeant Pike reported that he "had them packed up and removed 1 in about two hours.”

That same evening (March 21, 1859) Daniel Spencer8s nephew, Howard Spencer, arrived on the scene. He was ordered

from the property by the soldiers, but resisted and threatened

them with a pitchfork. When threatened, Pike took his rifle

and struck a crushing blow to young Spencer’s head, fracturing

it. This was a severe wound, and it is no wonder that Spencer was mentally deranged because of it. In consequence of this

assault, Pike was indicted under the charge of assault with

intent to kill and was brought to trial at Salt Lake in August.

VJhile returning to the courtroom after lunch on August 11, 1859 he was shot and mortally wounded by an assailant that he identi

fied, in a death bed deposition, as Howard Spencer. The assail

ant made a clean get away end the sergeant died in the earl;, morning of August 15.“' Spencer was later found, tried, and

acquitted on the basis of his mental incapacitation."

Sergeant Pike was buried with full military honors on

August 16, at Camp Floyd„ The inscription on his grave*s headboard read:

1Ibid», 157-158.

2Ibld., 215-217. 151

Ralph Pike, late 1st Sergeant of Company I, 10th Infantry, who died on the morning of the 15th of Aug, 1859, aged 22 years. He fell the victim of Mormon assassination in Great Salt Lake City in open day, having gone there in obedience to the mandate of the civil authorities.!

When news of Pike’s shooting reached Camp Floyd, the

soldiers were infuriated. Double guards were directed to main­ tain order and prevent the men from leaving camp. It was feared

that if they did, Mornons and their property would be in serious danger. Despite these efforts, a squad of 10th Infantry escaped 2 the confines of the post and razed the community of Cedar Fort*

It is readily seen from the foregoing that not all of the soldier-civilian relationships were cordial, nor did they all result in advantage to the Mormons, However, other con­ tacts were of great monetary value. As early as December 10,

1858, G.H. Crosman, deputy quartermaster general at Camp Floyd, advertized for bids on a contract for 150,000 bushels of wheat, 3 oats, or barley to be delivered the following fall. There is evidence to indicate that the quartermaster had been purchasing forage, grains, and foods on the open market all during the fall of 1858* It was reported thst hay sold for thirty-seven dollars

a ton, and flour for twenty-eight dollars a hundred, during this time.^ Adalaide Jackson Slack recorded the following success

^Journal History of the Church, August 17, 1859. It is believed that this is the only extant record of a headboard inscription in the Camp Floyd cemetary. 2Tracy, 0£. clt., 73* ^Valley Tan, I (December 10, 1858), 3.

^Phis same flour was resold to merchants as condemned stores for $l03i4- a hundred. 152 story about her father, James Jackson of Toquerville, growing out of grain sales in the fall of 1858: He (Father) got his first real start when Johnson*s {sic] array carae to Utah. He had planted a big c o m field and he built a wall about it. Everyone said he was foolish and that the soldiers would go through his wall easy enough, but when the army came he sold his c o m for gold and blankets and anything he asked for. 1

The advertisement of December 10 was only the beginning. O Other contracts were advertised as follows

Hay on February 16, 1859. Salt on May 17, 1859. Grain during September i860. Fuel, grain, hay and straw on May 1, 1861. Hay and oats on May 15, 1861.

Prices established by these contracts were good, and enriched the residents of Zion appreciably. There is some Indication that the Mormon authorities engaged in price fixing activities to ensure that the array paid well for the forage,grain, and produce obtained from church members. John Bennion*s journal entry for July 18, 1858> says:

Went to meeting at the mill. Two Elders came to give special instructions to the ward about grain and etc being sold to the army. Said by and by it would fetch $1+0 per bushel.-3

This amount was never obtained, possibly because of gentile competition. However, Governor Cumming recognized that the

^Adalalde Jackson Slack, Life Sketch (unpublished manu­ script)...... ^These advertisements appeared in the Valley Tan for dates indicated up to February 28, i860, and in the Deseret News for dates indicated thereafter. .... 3 John Bennion, Journal, July 18, 1858, II, 1+2. 153 civilians were monetarily benefiting from the army's presence.

He wrote on October 9, 1858:

The merchants are reaping immense harvests of gold, the reward for their industry and enterprize. The prices that are asked and readily obtained appear to be enormous. This -region must continue to be a valuable market for many years.1

Others in Utah also recognized the value of military occupation. A correspondent from Gamp Floyd wrote the follow­ ing in the November 5, 1858, issue of the Valley Tan:

The presence of the army here has been a blessing to “this people, i t has opened a market for their produce, given employment to their mechanics and laborers, and put gold into theirppockets, which in its turn affords "food and raiment."^

It will be remembered that Captain Phelps wrote in his journal of precious metals being discovered in the vicinity of 3 Cedar Valley, early in the army's sojourn there. Credit for the discovery and early development of precious mineral mining in central Utah is generally accorded to Colonel PatricKEdward

Connor and his detachment of California Volunteers, who estab­ lished Fort Douglas, Utah, in Salt Lake Valley, in 1862, a year after Camp Floyd's abandonment. To Colonel Conner and his men, the responsibility most certainly belongs— partially. It is believed that the credit for the initial discoveries belongs to soldiers of the Utah Expedition. Evidence found in the

"^House Executive Document, Number 78, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial No. IO56, 3. ^Valley Tan, I (November 5, 1858), 2. Italics in the original. 3Supra, 57. 15k archives of Tooel© County leads one to believe that the first claims laid to mineral rights in the Oquirrh Mountains were made by former soldiers of Camp Ployd. Possibly, Colonel

Conner had learned of the mineral wealth of that area from earlier communication with the Utah forces in Cedar Valley.

This may have motivated his encouragement to his men to search the ravines and ridges for gold, silver, lead, and copper.

The contribution of mineral wealth to the later development of Utah from the l860*s to the present day is so apparent as to warrant no further discussion.

The residents of Utah were not the only ones to bene­ fit from the establishment of Camp Ployd. Certain California merchants realized that goods from their stores could be shipped to Utah at a cheaper rate than those from the East, and that the Utah merchants could draw from their market earlier in the spring and later in the fall than from the St. Louis marketo Wagon trains began to arrive in Utah from these

Californians as early as April 19, 1859,1 whereas the trains p from the East did not begin to arrive until June 10. During this first spring, the California merchants advertised exten­ sively in the Valley Tan, and encouraged the storekeepers in

Utah to order goods from them, so that the military market

' 1Valley Tan, I (April 19, 1659), 2. 2Phelps, Diary, June 10, 1859. These trains had left the proceeding fall and had camped for the winter on the trail. The first trains to come all the way through from the East did not arrive until August 15, 1859. 155

could be cornered before new supplies arrived from the East.

A brisk trade evidently developed with the west coast. An

early April edition of the Valley Tan reported that over five hundred wagons had already left Los Angeles with goods valued

in excess of $180,000. The Camp Floyd establishment did much more than serve

as a ready market for goods and services. It also acted as a

distributor of supplies at "war Surplus'' sales, beginning on

July 111., 1859. G-.H. Crosman, deputy quartermaster at the Cedar

Valley camp, advertised on June 22, that 2,000 or more mule3,

draft and saddle, and several hundred army wagons, complete with harness, would be sold at camp through public auction.'*'

Accordingly, the sale commenced on the date announced, and

continued until July 29. The mules were sold for $60.00 to A $11*0o00 each, considerably below the original price paid by

the army. In all, about 2,500 were disposed of in this first war surplus sale in Utah. Captain Phelps reported that the

average price x*as about $70.00 to $80.00, with most purchases being made by Mormons. However, one of the principal buyers was a Mr. Ben Holliday, who purchased 300 or 900 mules for

speculative purposes on the California market. The documents

do not indicate what happened to the wagons offered in this

same 3ale. John Bennion indicates in his journal that he made

1Valley Tan, I (June 22, 1359), 3. 2Ibid.. I (July 20, 1359), 2.

^Phelps, Diary, July li*-29,1859. 156 two purchases of wagons, one on August 18, and the other on September 6. These may have been some of the array wagons sold to speculators between July 12+, and 29, and then resold to

Mormons, who could not muster sufficient cash to make a pur­

chase at the auction. Bennion paid $70.00 for one wagon and 1 2 yoke of oxen, and |80»00 fop the other wagon and harness.-

If these were military stock, they were sold for much less

than the array had originally paid for them. Other sales of surplus supplies and equipment followed

this beginning,long before the sacrifice sale conducted at the abandonment of the camp. On September 20, 1859, more wagons and mules were offered at auction, and were quickly purchased by the civilians.

When Russell, Majors and Waddell saw how rapidly the

army disposed of it3 surplus, they decided to follow the ex­

ample and offer their surplus wagons and livestock for sale.

The firm had obtained two contracts from the government in

1858. The first was awarded on January 16, to transport sup­ plies and equipment to Utah at a sL iding rate of from $1.35 to $lj..50 per hundred pounds, per hundred miles, depending on the point of pick-up and delivery and the season of the year.^-

•^Bennion later sold these two oxen to one of the butchers at Camp Ployd. See Journal, entry for October 28, 1859. p STohn Bennion, Journal, August 18 and September 6, 1859. 3 See Appendix C.

^See Appendix C. 157

With this very generous contract in hand, the company made bid on another contract--to furnish beef cattle to the array in

Utah. This was awarded in March, and provided a way for this enterprising firm to double the money of their freight contract*

The cattle delivered to Utah were the same animals used to haul the freight. This left a great many wagons without teams to draw them back to Missouri. It was these wagons, and the unacceptable livestock, which Russell, Majors,and Waddell offered for sale to the civilians in Utah, beginning on April 25, l860.~ Alexander Majors wrote of this arrangement as follows:

After unloading the wagons at Gamp Ployd, they were taken to Salt Lake City and placed as near as they could stand to each other in the suburbs of the city, and covered many acres of ground, where they remained for one year or more, when our agent sold them to the Mormon authorities for $10 apiece. . . . The Mormons used the iron about them for the manufacture of nails.2

It will be remembered that the major portion of the troops were withdrawn from Camp Ployd during May i860. The

Utahans benefited greatly from this, not only directly from the array, but indirectly because of the military movement.

When the army had come to Utah in 1858, many gentile merchants and settlers had followed. When the army was ordered to move in i860, these merchants prepared to follow the soldiers

again, by disposing of their old stock to the Mormons at ad­ vertised below cost prices. The thrifty saints utilised this

opportunity to purchase, with gold and silver obtained from the

^•Deseret News, X (April 25, i860), 62. ^Majors, op. cit., II4I4., 158 army, items which the gentiles did not want to transport again.1

There were barely enough men left at Camp Floyd, after the force left in May, to guard the stores. More men were not forthcoming, so the solution to the problem was to reduce the amount of supplies by selling them to the civilians. On

July 23, i860, the post quartermaster auctioned off ten horses.

This was just the beginning, however, for when Colonel Cooke assumed command in August, and saw the many huge warehouses full with not enough men to guard them, he immediately made plans to dispose of all materials not needed by the small force at Camp Floyd.

On November 1, i860, the ordnance officer auctioned off ”a number of rifles, rifle muskets, shot guns, etcw to the 2 civilians. A week later, on November 8, Ij.5,700 pounds of bacon, 100,000 pounds of flour, and a ’’quantity of condemned commissary property" was sold to the highest bidder. The ba­ con brought $5*00 per hundred pounds, and the flour sold for

$1.31+ a hundred. The sales of the day amounted to $l+,l+2l+.50, or ’’not quite as much as it cost to purchase and transport

the goods from the states."^ More animals were sold on

November 29. This was the last disposal of military property

^Deseret News, X (June 13, i860), 119. ^Deseret News, X (October 2J+, i860), 272. 3 This same flour had cost the array $28.00 a hundred pounds. ^Deseret News, X (November li|., i860), 289. 159 until the spring of 1861. On March 13, 1861, the quartermaster at the Cedar Valley camp advertised a sale of equipment to take place on March 20.

A wide assortment of goods were offered,^ from axes to stable forks. Andrew Jackson Stewart, a resident of Utah County, was one of the principal buyers at this auction. He reported the following regarding his purchases:

I bought at Camp Ployd 1036 wagons, lj.000 Ox yokes and 6000 log chains and monkied the iron up into Machinery and nails. The wagons averaged 800 lbs of iron Each and I paid $1^.00 Each for them. I also~b ought 30000— horse and mule shoes for j of a cent each.

It will be remembered that the Utah Array had made plans to remain at their deseret outpost indefinately, in spite of impending crisis between the North and the South. Colonel

Cooke did not receive orders to abandon Port Crittenden until the first week of June 1861. All property disposed of up to this time had been sold as a convenience to the small force in Cedar Valley. After the abandonment order was received, it became vitally necessary to hurry the disposal of public pro­ perty entrusted to the army. Indeed, one of the provisions of the order was specifically directed toward property dispo­ sition: "Such public property as the means of transportation will not permit to be moved will be disposed of to the best possible advantage to the government."^

■^See Appendix H for a list of these items. ^Andrew Jackson Stewart, Dictation (unpublished manuscript). ^War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. 53, l+92o 160

Accordingly, a “give awayfl sale began on July 16, 1861.

William Clayton wrote of this in a letter of that date:

Today commences the sale of all the government property at Camp Floyd, by auction,— buildings, grain, hay, and everything except arms and ammunition, soldiers clothing, and wagons and teams.

Flour sold for fifty-two cents a hundred; sugar for twelve and one-half cents a pound; and other goods and equipment equally as cheap* It was estimated that $1*,000,000 worth of goods sold for $100,000 in the last weeks before the army left Utah.2

One of the principal buyers was Brigham Young, who made pur­ chases through his agent, H.B. Clawson, to the amount of

$1*0,000.'' Other members of the church took advantage of this sale to obtain luxuries heretofore not available. Charles

Twelves* daughter recorded that her father

bought tents and harnesses for fifty cents each and a great many other things, such as second hand clothing and . . . our first stove. It was called a New Era, a wood stove. It was the first stove in our neighborhood for a long time, and we were proud of it.^

Those materials that could not be sold or carried away were destroyed. Many of the buildings were burned; all of the surplus arms and ammunition met this same fate, to keep them from falling into the hands of the Mormons; but even though they were made unsuitable for use in their original form, they

Millennial Star, XXIII (August 31, 1861), 566. 2Ibid., 612. %ullidge, op. clt., 21*8 ♦

History of Charles Twelves and Family (unpub- lished manus c ript), 2. 161 nonetheless were useful in other ways. Most of the iron and lead from the destroyed arms and ammunition was salvaged and used to manufacture machinery, tools, and hardware.

The Utah Expedition was indeed an economic life saver to the Momons, first by providing a market for the labor and produce of the saints— at good prices in specie--and second, by reversing the process and selling goods to the residents of Utah at give-away prices. John J. Davies summed up the economic aspect of benefit to Utahans when he spelled out the following: '’Instad of a Cures QsicJ to us the Army was a great blessing to the Saints in Supplying many of their necesitise jjsicJ at a very low rate."^

■^John J. Davies, Diary (unpublished manuscript), 21. CHAPTER VII

RETURN TO DUST

The Utah War was commenced with enthusiasm by the Federal

Government. Judge Drummond’s charges were the spark that ignited the powder barrel, which had been filled by territorial officials and gentiles with a dislike for Mormon institutions. President

Buchanan entered the fray to utilize the ’’emergency” created by the Mormon rebellion to popularize himself and his immediate followers. New territorial officers were appointed and escorted to Utah by a large military force gathered from numerous camps in the East. The military disciplining of the Momxon people miscarried and the army was required to spend a miserable winter on the borders of Utah, without adequate protection from the elements or food for nourishment.

Early in the spring of 1858, the war was brought to a sudden conclusion through the mediations of representatives sent from President Buchanan. Even though peace was estab­ lished, the great military machine continued to move under its momentum, through the Wasatch Mountains and into Salt Lake City, then south to Cedar Valley on the west side of Utah Lake.

There the force established a camp amid the sage and deep dust.

The Mormons and their produce were used to aid the building of the post, which resulted In a resurrection of the faltering

162 163 ' • economy of Utah. Slowly at first, but gradually increasing, the Mormons and the soldiers associated with each other, pri­ marily to the benefit of the saints.

A large number of undesirable camp followers came into

Utah with the amy. These people established themselves across the creek from the camp and were soon engaged in all types of activities, generally to the detriment of the soldiers. Gam­ bling halls, saloons, and other places of entertainment sprang up on the rich soil of an extravagant army.

Some of the soldiers chose to entertain themselves at camp rather than hazard the pleasures of Fairfield. These men soon had a theater organized, and followed this successful enterprize with a circus, singing club, fraternal organizations, schools, and the like. Frequent trips were made into the hills surrounding the camp, which disclosed the fact that mineral wealth was readily obtainable in the parched earth. The offi­ cers had certain activities reserved especially for themselves— billiards and wolf hunts. However, all was not play at Camp

Floyd. The post was constantly being improved and maintained.

And of course, the ceremonial duties associated with military life were dutifully discharged.

The a m y was curious to know more about the new land which it inhabited. In the course of the movement to Utah, several significant explorations were conducted and new roads discovered or improved. These routes were from Fort Leaven­ worth to Salt Lake City and from Fort Bridger to New Mexico

Territory. Curiosity, as well as necessity, prompted extensive I6i+ explorations by Captain James Simpson, wherein a new and shorter route was discovered from Camp Ployd west to California. In subsequent years this road became a main line of travel and communication, with emigrants, Pony Express, and telegraph following it. The roads blazed by the Army for Utah continue to be main routes of travel in our own time.

The soldiers had been deprived of glory through battle, and they attempted to compensate for it through various hostile actions against the Mormons. The Pike episode and the Provo incident1 were two of these excursions. Glory and battle were offered the soldiers by the Indians along the new road discovered by Captain Simpson, and along the northern routes to California and Oregon. The Indians and the soldiers frequently fought one another close to Camp Ployd as well as on the dusty emigrant roads.

The frugal Mormon benefited throughout all of this military activity. The army provided a market for his labor and produce in the early days of military occupation. After the soldiers were settled in their camp, the army*s surplus property was disposed of through public auctions, which re­ sulted in good expensive animals, equipment, and supplies being provided to the Mormons at a greatly reduced rate from the original price paid by the army.

The major portion of the Utah Army was transferred to

New Mexico early in i860. This movement made it necessary for

1 Supra, 64-80, lltf-151. 165 more surplus goods to be sold, all of which were purchased by the Utahans at sales conducted throughout the fall and winter of 1860-61. The troubled waters of dissolution in the East caused the eventual disbandonraent of the Utah Army, and the abandon­ ment of Camp Ployd, or Fort Crittenden as it was then known, to the wind, rain, and dust of Cedar Valley. On May 17, 1861,

Special Order Number 86^ was issued by Headquarters of the Array at Washington, D.C. The order read as follows:

As soon as practicable after receiving this order the commanding officer of the Department of Utah will march to Fort Leavenworth with the ten companies under his com­ mand. Such public property as the means of transportation will not permit to be moved will be disposed of to the best possible advantage to the Government.

The national capltol was being threatened by the Con­ federacy at the time, and it was thought better to have the seasoned troops of Fort Crittenden participating in its defense rather then fighting Indians. By the time that Colonel Cooke received the abandonment order in June, he had already dis- p patched a column of men to guard the western mail route.

Consequently, he sent a rider to bring the detachment back, then he began preparations to leave Utah. All the surplus property that could be sold wa£ disposed of and the rest was destroyed:

1War of the Rebellion. Series I, Vol. 53, 492.

^The Simpson road. 166

After the sales were over, the arms and ammunition were taken to a distance and piled up in pyramids; long trains of powaer were then properly arranged, and at a given signal the fusee was touched and the work of de­ struction accomplished*

By July 27, 1861, the A m y for Utah was ready to march east. The last act of the soldiers before leaving Salt Lake

Valley was to present Brigham Young with the flagstaff of

Fort Crittenden. The column, commanded by Colonel Cooke, marched east along the main road of travel and arrived at

Washington, D.C. on October 19.

" All that remained at Fort Crittenden was the bare adobe walls of the quarters, which were soon washed into mere piles of earth, without the protection of roofs# Some of the stone walls remained for a while, but these too were soon taken down, and used in the foundations of the houses of Fairfield. By

September 2, 1861, only eighteen families claiw^ed the site of the army*s camp as their home. The community that had boasted a population of over ten thousand lay all but deserted on the flat of Cedar Valley. The only part of the camp that remained intact was the graveyard where about seventy men slept under

the shifting dust.

Colonel Conner surveyed the site as a possible looatlon for a camp In 1862, but rejected it as being completely unsuit­ able for his purposes.

The land of Cedar Valley remained on the records of the War Department, as a military reservation, until July 22, I88I4., when it was turned over to the Department of Interior for

■^Tullidge, ojd. cit., 2lj.-l+9. 167 disposal. On December 12, 1892, the area was opened up for homesteading.^ The Deseret News of December 2l\., 1892, gave notice of the fact that the former military reservation of

Camp Ployd, or Port Crittenden, was open for homesteading.

The only land retained by the army was that occupied by the bodies of the soldiers buried at Camp Ployd.

Today, one can barely find an indication of the large military force which once occupied Cedar Valley, The two communities of Cedar Port and Fairfield offer the only pro­ tection from the sun, dust, and wind that still typifies the valley. If one stands at the Fairfield spring and looks due south he can distinguish a series of mounds extending to the south— all that remains of the hundreds of adobe buildings.

Further to the south, about one half mile, the graveyard is discerned, now fenced by iron rather than stone, though the foundation of the stone wall is still there. The cemetary is occupied by a lone monument of tribute to the men interred there. Again using the spring as a reference point, one can walk through the sage for about two hundred and thirty yards in a west-southwest direction and find the stone foundations to two other buildings— the magazine and a guard post. Follow­ ing down the stream from the spring, one can locate the site of the old mill pond on the west side of Fairfield, If one continues along the stream, through the town, he can see a

%ouse Document. Number 5» 56th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial No, 1*100, 153 . 168 number of shallow pits on each side, evidence o f the adobe works where so many Mormons labored in building Camp Floyd.

One structure of the camp is all that remains. It is an old commissary building, where most of the auction sales were held, and occupies the lot just across the street, to the south, from the building presently memorialized by the Utah State Parks

Commission.

This is Camp Floyd, 1959. It is difficult for one to comprehend the actions which occurred in that valley one hun­ dred years ago. This work has been an effort to recapture the romance of frontier military life as portrayed by the soldiers of the Utah Expedition at Camp Floyd. It is well to remember that their contribution was significant as well as romantic.

If this thesis has shown wherein the army, with headquarters in Cedar Valley, made significant contributions to the devel­ opment of Utah and the West, then it will have served the pur­ pose for which it was intended. APPENDIXES APPENDIX A

STRENGTH REPORTS FOR UNITS AT CAMP FLOID, UTAH TERRI­ TORY, COMPILED FROM U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES, RECORDS OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE ADJUTANT GENERAL, RETURNS OF THE UTAH EXPEDITION, 1857-1861,

Date and Place Units Commander Off E 0M,

June 18^8 Department Staff Gen, A.S, Johnston 12 West Creek, Utah Terri­ Ordnance Dept, Lt, JoL. Reno tory Ordnance Z k (Bingham Artillery Re­ 12 Canyon) cruits

1+th Artillery Capt, JoW. Phelps Light Company B 70 2nd Dragoons Col* P,S,G, Cooke Field and Staff 5 3 Companies A, B, C,E,F,G,H,I 11+ 1+02 5th Infantry Lt, Colo C,A, Field and Staff Waite k 13 Companies A,B, C,D,E,F,G,H,I,K I k 353 10th Infantry Col, E« Bo Field and Staff Alexander 7 17 Companies A,B, C,D,E,F,G,H,I,K 18 567 Companies F, 1st Col. ¥.W. Loring Cavalry; B,E, 6th Infantry; B, 7th Infantry io 255

Volunteers Lt0 Col, B,E0 Bee Field and Staff k Companies A, B, C,D n 288

170 171

Date and Place______Unit3______Commander Off E.M. June 1858 Mounted Rifle a Col. ¥.¥. Loring (Continued) (Attached from New Mexico) Field and Staff 1 Company K, Mounted Rifles 3rd Infantry Companies A,E, F 8 287

September Department Staff Gen, A. S. Johnston 9 18 1858 Camp Floyd, Camp Floyd Lt. Col. Pitcairn 76 2393 Utah Terri­ Morrison tory 2nd Dragoons Companies A,B, C,E,H

1+th Artillery Light Company B 3rd Artillery Light Company C

5th Infantry (Whole)

7th. Infantry Companies A,B, C, D,E,G,H,I,K

10th Infantry Companies A,B, C, E,F,G,H,I

October Department Staff Gen. A.S. Johnston 12 17 1858 Camp Floyd, Camp Floyd Lt. Col. Pitcairn 85 2677 Utah Terri- Morrison tory 2nd Dragoons Companies A, B, C,E,H

3rd Artillery Light Company C 172

Date and Place Units Commander Off E,M<

October 4th Artillery 1858 Light Company B (Continued) 5th Infantry (Whole)

7th Infantry Companies A,B, C,D,E,G,H,I,K

10th Infantry Companies A,B, C,E,F,G,H,I

December Department Staff Gen* A0S» Johnston 14 17 1858 Camp Floyd, Camp Floyd Lt. Col,, C«F0 Smith 77 2373 Utah Terri­ tory 2nd Dragoons Companies A,B, C,E,H

3rd Artillery Light Company C

4th Artillery Light Company B

5th Infantry (Whole)

7th Infantry Companies A,B, C,D,E,G,H,I,K

10th Infantry Companies A, B, C,E,F,G,H,I

September Department Staff Gen. A0S0 Johnston 9 9 1859 Camp Floyd, Camp Floyd Lt* Col. C.F. Smith 59 2114 Utah Terri­ tory 2nd Dragoons Companies B,E, G,H Date And Place ____ Units Command a i* Off EoMo September 14-th Artillery 1859 Companies A, B,C (Continued) 5th Infantry (Whole)

7th Infantry Companies A,B, C, D,E,G-,H, I,K

10th Infantry Companies A,B,C, E,F,G,H,I

November Department Staff Gen* A«S. Johnston 9 9 1859 Camp Floyd, Camp Floyd Lt, Colo C 0F0 Smith 72 2385 Utah Terri­ tory Companies B,E, G,H, 2nd Dragoons

i*th Artillery Companies A, B,C

5th Infantry (Whole)

7th Infantry Companies A, B, C,D,E,G,H,I,K

10th Infantry Companies A, B, C,E,F,G,H, I

February Department Staff Lt. Col. C®F. Smith 8 15 i860 Camp Floyd, Camp Floyd Lt. Col. Pitcairn 71 231*6 Utah Terri­ Morrison tory 2nd Dragoons Companies B,E, G,H

l*th Artillery Companies A,B,C

5th Infantry . (Whole) m

>&te and Place Units

February 7th Infantry i860 Companies A, B, (Continued) c ,d ,e ,g ,h ,i ,k

10th Inffuatry Companies A,B, c ,e ,f ,g ,h ,i

May i860 Department Staff Camp Floyd, Lt 0 Colo C,F, Smith 8 17 Utah Terri­ Camp Floyd tory lit. Col, M,S» How® 11 399 2nd Dragoons Companies B,E

l|.th Artillery Companies A, B, C

10th Infantry Companies E,I

August i860 Department Staff Col, P, George 6 Camp Floyd, ste 1 Cooke Utah Terri­ tory Camp Floyd Lt„ Col, C0F 0 Smith 12 301 2nd Dragoons Companies B,E,H

i|.th Artillery Companies A, B,C

10th Infantry Companies E,I

February Department Staff Col, p. st, George 1861 7 1 Fort Cooke Crittenien, Ft, Crittenden Capt, F,N0 Clarke Utah Terri­ 19 k$l tory 2nd Dragoons Companies B,E,H

ij-th Artillery Companies A,B,C, 175

£>ate and Place Units Commander Off E.M.

February 10th Infantry 1861 Companies E,I (Continued)

June 1861 Department Staff Col* P* St, George 5 i Fort Cooke Crittenden, Utah Terri- Ft, Crittenden Capt. F 0N<> Clarke 12 392 tory 2nd Dragoons Companies B,E,H

lj.th Artillery Companies A, B, C

10th Infantry Company E APPENDIX B

LIST OF GOODS FOR THE ARMY- IN UTAH AT FORT LARAMIE, NEBRASKA TERRITORY, FOUND IN SENATE EXECUTIVE DOCUMENT, NUM­ BER 1, PART 2, 35TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION, SERIAL NUMBER 975, PAGES 50-52,

FORT LARAMIE, Nebraska Territory, December 26, l85?<

Sir: I have the honor to state that the following commissary stores destined for Utah Territory, have been re­ ceived at this post?

3,077 sacks of flour, weight 293,851+* 1+1+2 bales of bacon, weight 1+6,265* 122 sacks of coffee, weight 20,130. 380 sacks of sugar, weight 38,91+7* 137 sacks of rice, weight 13, 974* 11^8 sacks of beans, weight 25,296. 15 tierces of hams, 6,36l0 113 half-barrels of vinegar, 23,l6l0 195 boxes of soap, ll+,51+5* 56 boxes of candles, 2,673* 1+ boxes of tea, 205* 20 half-barrels of molasses, 6,500. 5 barrels of dried fruit, 1,209* 3 salt kettles.

We have used of the above stores and turned over to the second dragoons 9,318 pounds of bacon, 315 pounds of hams, 16 bushels of beans, 1,200 pounds of brown sugar, 1+0 pounds candles, 516 pounds of soap.

L.P. HIGGINS

List of field guns and ammunition at Fort Laramie.

2 12-pounder field howitzers and carriages, with imple­ ments and equipments. 1+ 12-pounder mountain howitzers, with prairie carriage, with implements and equipments. 30 12-pounder field howitzers, canisters strapped. 72 12-pounder field howitzers, shells strapped. 81 12-pounder field howitzers, spherical case shot strapped. 20 12-pounder field howitzers, canisters fixed. 76 12-pounder field howitzers, shells fixed, lOlj. 12-pounder field howitzers, spherical case shot fixed.

176 177

i|i|. 12-pounder mountain howitzers, canisters fixed© 88 12-pounder mountain howitzers, shells fixed. 21+0 12-pounder mountain howitzers, spherical case shot fixed. IjJLij. 12-pounder field howitzers, blank cartridges. 19 12-pounder mountain howitzers, blank cartridges. 137 12-pounder field howitzers, burster. 305 fuzes filled, wood. 1,867 fuzes filled, paper. 53i friction tubes. 92 port fireso 957 priming tubes. 90 yards slow matcho 100 signal rockets.

* LYEDE

List of quartermster's stores, camp and garrison equipage for transportation to frba&o —

520 infantry uniform coats. 5 hospital tents. 1+ hospital tents, flies. 200 hospital tents, pins. 2,900 pair bootees. 1,200 pair stockings. 580 pair infantry trousers. 60 pair dragoon trousers. 372 cavalry jackets. 60 artillery jackets. 320 great coats for mounted men. 3+5 stable frocks. 30 cavalry hats. 10 pair sergeants chevrons. 10 pair corporal's chevrons. 10 clothing books. 250 knapsacks and straps. 100 tin canteens. 100 canteens and straps. 130 provision bags, 200 mess pans. 101 camp kettles. 1}. wagon covers 10 fifes. 10 pair drum-sticks. 10 bass and 10 snare heads. 3 storm and 3 garrison flags, 3 halyards.

L.Po HIGGINS APPENDIX C

LIST OF CONTPACTS FOR GOODS FOR THE ARMY FOR UTAH, COMPILED FROM HOUSE EXECUTIVE DOCUMENT, NUMBER 99, 35TH CON GRESS, 1ST SESSION, SERIAL NUMBER 955, PAGES 2-5. .

Statement of all contracts and purchases of supplies made by the subsistence department in connexion with the "titah Expedition;tT the names of the contractors and of the persons from whom purchases were made;' the prices to be paid under con­ tracts, and the prices paid for supplies purchased; together with the places at which the supplies contracted for and pur­ chased are to be delivered, ' '

PURCHASES

Purchases made at St. Louis, Missouri, as follovas

In February, 1858, of L 0E0 Forsyth, 5*478 bushels "white navy beans,” at $1.85 per bushel0 Of McEnnis.& Co., "fine salt,” 1,200 bushels at 4° cents per bushel. . Of E a Schneider & Co., "solar sperm candle^" (no quantity named), at 24 cents per pound. Of E s Schneider & Co., extra no. 1 soap, (no quantity named), at 5i cents per poundc Of JoH. Gamhart, 34*000 gallons of "clarified cider vinegar," at 4 3/4 cents per gallon. Of Belcher1s Sugar Refining Company, 525,000 pounds (more or less) refined white sugar, at 9 i cents per pound. Of DoA. January & Co. and Wm. M. Morrison & Co., 175*000 pounds "prime coffee," (part purchased of each firm,) at 10 1/2 and 11 1/2 cents per pound. Of W.Lo Ewing & Co., 84,000 pounds of rice, at 4 3/4 cents per pound. Of John J. Roe & Co., 1,088,000 pounds of "city eured clear bacon sides," at 10 cents per pound. Of J. & E. Walsh, 10,000 bags extra flour, (100 pounds each,) at $3.25 per bag. Of George Pegram, from 1,000 to 20,000 sacks of extra St. Louis flour, of 100 pounds each, at $3*25 per sack. The above purchases were made from proposals under adve rt isement 0

178 179

The following supplies have been ordered to be pur­ chased in New York, and forwarded as follows:

January 18, 1858— 1*1,000 rations "mixed vegetables to Fort Leavenwoth, for "troops on march to Utah," 35*000 rations "mixed vegetables" and.6,000 rations "desicated potatoes" to Fort Kearny, for"troops on march to Utah*" 1*1*,000 rations "mixed vegetables" and 18,000 rations "desicated potatoes" to Fort Laramie, for "troops on march to Utah," on January 28, 18580 600,000 rations "mixed vegetables" and 255,000 rations "desicated potatoes," for Utah, . . The desicated vegetables have been or will be pur­ chased from Cassin, agent of Chollet & Co.; but the prices have not yet been reported to the department* It is supposed, however, that they will not cost more than one cent per ration*

CONTRACTS

In February 1858, for army wagons, as follows:

With AoMo White for 150 wagons at $11*1 each, delivered at Pittsburg; With Beggs and Rowland for $0 wagons at $11*1 each, de­ livered at Philadelphia; With Neil McAlwayne for $0 wagons at $11*1 each, de­ livered at Pittsburg; With Philip Dorn for 50 wagons at $135 each, delivered at Cincinnatio

In March 1858, with J*¥0 Singleton & Co., for 1,500 cavalry horses at $159 each, at Fort Leavenworth,, In March 1858, with R.W* Hartley & Co*, for 100 sets of harness, complete for six mule team, at $1*9 per set, at Pittsburg* In March 1858, a contract was entered into with Russell, Majors & Waddell, for furnishing "beef cattle" (oxen from the trains) as follows: . At Great Salt Lake City (or vicinity,) U*T,, 3>50Q head, between October 1, 1858, and January 1,1860, at $7*50 per 100 pounds net weight* This contract was made without public notice* On January 16, 1858, with Russell, Majors & Waddell, for transporting military stores and supplies* Provided rates of from $1*35 to $1**50 per hundred pounds, per hundred miles, depending on the time of year and the posts of pickup and delivery* APPENDIX D

A LIST OF PLAYS PRESENTED BY THE "MILITARY DRAMATIC ASSOCIATION" AT THE CAMP FLOYD THEATER. COMPILED FROM THE PAGES OF THE DESERET NEWS, THE VALLEY TAN, AND THE ROMANCE OF AN OLD PLAYHOUSE.

The Robbers The Day After the Wedding The Serious Family The Secret, or the Hole in the Wall Raising the Wind Box and Cox Used Up The Stranger The Dead Shot A Kiss in the Dark Sweethearts and Wives Loves Sacrifice The Toodles Pride of the Market The Lady of Lyons All That Glitters is Not Gold The Irish Tutor Luke the Laborer The Golden Farmer The Rough Diamond Sketches in India The Idiot Witness The Maid of Croissy The Honeymoon Five Pounds Reward Othello

A LIST OF THE MAIN ACTORS AND ACTRESSES OF THE MILITARY DRAMATIC ASSOCIATION." COMPILED FROM THE ABOVE SOURCES.

Mr. George Acorn Mr. Baldwin, from the 7th Infantry Mr. Crawford Mr. Doyle Mr. Gayner Mr. Lee Mr. Merdames Mr. Northrop Mr. Rutledge, from the 5th Infantry Mr. Shaw Mr. Smith Mr. Thatcher, from the 10th Infantry Mr. Warren Mr. Charles Westwood Mr. White Mr. Willis, from the 5th Infantry Mrs. Lougee Mrs. Tuckett Mrs. Westwood Mrs. Whitlock ‘ Miss Whitlock

180 APPENDIX E

*1i "TWELVE HOURS AT GAMP PLOYD," PROM THE DESERET NEWS, IX (DECEMBER 21, 1859),. 333.

I arrived at Camp Ployd on Saturday night about dusk.

In the early part of the night, there were five head of beef cattle stolen from a citizen of Fairfield, which, I believe, were not recovered. A valuable watch dog, belonging to one of the most influential mercantile firms in that vicinity, was killed. . . to facilitate the perpetration of a robbery. . . . A store was broken open and a considerable amount of goods ex­ tracted. A daring robbery was also committed in a gambling saloon. At a place of public amusement there was not only a very spirited exemplication of "confusion worse confounded," but my ears were outraged with hearing, profusely used, language the most offensive and obscene; that which, In truth, would be disreputable in a respectable (if I may use that term in such a connection) brothel.

Between the hours of 12 and 1 o ’clock a.m., one of the leading citizens of Fairfield was aroused from his slumbers by a gentleman and lady wishing. . . to be joined in wedlock! Both the applicants were considerably Intoxicated and, believing, from unmistakeable evidence, that the marriage ceremony was, in this case, altogether superfluous, the performance thereof was declined. . . .

Though I have not been a long resident in the Territory, I have observed enough to know that . . . there is infinitely more lawlessness, outrage and abandonment in and around Camp Floyd than can be found in all other cities, towns, settlements and neighborhoods throughout the Territory.

At Cedar Fort, on Sunday evening, some of the "Mormons" and "Gentiles" had a most disgraceful row. Pistols were drawn, and knives brandished in the air. One man received a shot at his feet, which was designed for his heart. . . .

181 APPENDIX F

RATES OF TOLL ON THE TIMPANOGOS CANYON (PROVO CANYON) ROAD, CONSTRUCTED BY RESIDENTS OF UTAH VALLEY AND USED BY THE ARMY AS PART OF THE ROUTE BETWEEN CAMP FLOYD AND FORT BRIDGER, FOUND IN J.H. SIMPSON, REPORT OF EXPLORATIONS ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN, 137.

Rates of toll on the Provo Canon road.

For one cord of wood or timber hauled out ...... $1.00 For one pair of horses, mules, and carriage ...... 50 For one horse, mule, and rider . . . , ...... 10 Cattle, horses, or mules, driven up or down, for each head ...... 05 Sheep and hogs ..•oo.«*.«o*o* •••... oQ3 For each load of brick or hay 1.00

The above is a correct list of rates of toll as fixed by the county court. And all persons are hereby notified and instructed that no one will be permitted to travel the road without and order from Bishop E0H. Blackburn, and the gatekeeper will take due notice of the above instructions, and govern him­ self accordingly.

Done by order of the county court of Utah County:

E.H. Blackburn, General Agent.

182 APPENDIX G

AN EXTRACT FROM GENERAL ORDER NUMBER 10, APRIL i860, WHICH ORDERED MOST OF THE TROOPS AT CAMP FLOYD TO LEAVE FOR OTHER WESTERN OUTPOSTS, TAKEN FROM THE DESERET NEW'S, X (APRIL 11, i860), I4.8. The military force of the Department of Utah, will be reduced to three companies of the 2d Dragoons, three companies of l+th Artillery (including the Battery) now there, and four companies of the 10th Infantry. Col. P. St. George Cook, 2d Dragoons, is assigned to the command. Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, 10th Infantry, will remain with that portion of his regiment. The remainder of the force now in Utah will be withdrawn as early as possible in the spring.

Three of the six companies of the 10th Infantry to be withdrawn, will take post at Fort Laramie— the other three com­ panies of the 10th Infantry and the two companies of the 2d Dragoons will occupy Ft. Garland, New Mexico. The 5th regiment of infantry will relieve 3rd Infantry in New Mexico. The 7th Infantry will also take post in that Department— four companies at the Gila Copper Mines, and six companies near the mines in Arizona.

The troops moving from Utah to New Mexico will proceed by two general routes— the Dragoons and 7th Infantry via Timpanogas, Bridgerte Pass, Sangre de Christi Pass and Fort Garland. Their supplies will be replenished at Cheyenne Pass, by a train from Fort Laramie. The 5th and three companies of the 10th Infantry will move up Spanish Fork, thence across to the head of White river and down that stream, or as direct as possible to Green river. At Green river a strong party, for the purpose of exploration, will be detached, and proceed with packs in the general direction of the Spanish Trail, via Dolores river, as directly as possible to Santa Fe. The remainder of the column will continue on the route followed by Col Loring to the valley of the Rio Grande, shortening and improving the road wherever it is practicable. The Department Commander will direct the details of these movements as circumstances may require.

183 APPENDIX H

AN ANNOUNCEMENT OP A SALE TO BE CONDUCTED AT FORT CRITTENDEN, UTAH TERRITORY, ON MARCH 20, 1861, INDICATING THE TYPE OP GOODS SOLD TO THE CIVILIANS OP UTAH BY THE RE­ TIRING ARMY; TAKEN PROM THE DESERET NEWS, XI (MARCH 13, 1861), 16.

Auction Sale of Horse and Mule Shoes, etc. Will be Sold at Port Crittenden, U.T., on Wednesday the 20th inst., at 10 o'clock a.m.: 10,000 Mule Shoes and 10,000 Horse Shoes, from the manufactory of Messrs, Burdon and Sons, Troy, New York. Also, a large amount of Condemned Stores, consisting in part of the following articles: Axes, Camp Equipments, Spades, Gunny Bags, Hay and Saddle Blankets, Stable Porks, Riding, pack and wagon Saddles, Military Equipments, Blacksmith's, Carpenter's, Water Kegs, Wheelwright's and Saddler's Tools, Wagon and Ox Bows, Grindstones, Ox Yokes, Jack Screws, etc., etc. Straw Cutters, Rope,

Terms Cash,

R.E. Clary, A.Q.M.

18k BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. PRIMARY MATERIAL

1, United States Government Documents.

Congressional Globe* (Containing the debates and proceedings of Congress*) 35th Congress, 1st Session. Washington, 1858,

House Executive Document Number 1. (Message of the president, containing the report of the secretary of war, 1856.) 34th Congress, 3rd Session, Serial Number 894* Washington, 1856.

House Executive Document Number 71* (Reports from the secretary of war, secretary of the interior, secretary of state, and the attorney general relative to the military expedition ordered to Utah.) 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial Number 956. Wash­ ington, 1858.

House Executive Document Number 99• (Letter from the secretary of war reporting contracts given to support the Utah Expedition. To April 5* 1858.) 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial Number 958* Washing­ ton, 1858. ;

House Executive Document Number 2. (Message of the president, containing the report of the secretary of war, 1858.) 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial Number 999. Washington, 1858. House Executive Document Number 33* (Letter from the secretary of war containing an estimate of subsistence required by the Utah forces.) 35th Con­ gress, 1st Session, Serial Number 955* Washington, 1858.

House Executive Document Number 50. (Letter from the secretary of war transmitting a statement of contracts let by the War Department, 1859.) 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial Number 1006. Washington, 1859.

186 187

House Executive Document Number 78* ' (Message of the president transmitting correspondence relative to the condition of affairs in Utah, i860.) 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial Number 1056, Wash­ ington, i860.

House Document Number $, (Annual report of the department of interior, 1900.) 56th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial Number i+100. Washington, 1900,

Senate Executive Document Number 11. (Message of the president containing the report of the secretary of war.) 35th Congress, 1st Session, Serial Number 920. Washington, 1858.

Senate Executive Document Number 1. (Message of the president containing the report of the secretary of war, 1858.) 35th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial Number 975* Washington, 1859*

Senate Executive Document Number 2. (Message of the president containing the report of the secretary of war, 1859.) 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial Number 1021+ and 1025* Washington, i860.

Senate Executive Document Number 52. (Report of the surgeon general relative to sickness and mortality in the U.S. Army, 1855-1860.) 36th Congress, 1st Session, Serial Number 1035* Washington, i860.

Senate Executive Document Number 1„ (Message of the president containing the report of the secretary of war, i860.) 36th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial Number 1079. Washington, i860.

War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. 53* (Compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies.) Washington, 1898.

2. Bancroft Mormon Papers are contained in the Bancroft Library of the University of California, at Berkeley. These papers con­ tain original material gathered by Mr. Bancroft in connection with his History of Utah. The papers have been microfilmed are readily available.

Carlile, James. History of James Carlile, Heber City, Utah, copied 1931+. Davies, John J. Diary, St. George, Utah, copied 1937. 188

Early History of Charles Twelves and Family, Provo, Utah. (Ho date.)

Slack, Adalaide Jackson. Life Sketch. Ogden, Utah, copied 1937®

Stewart, Andrew Jackson. Dictation. Benjamin, Utah, 1886.

Walker Brothers Biographies. Salt Lake City, ca. 1885.

3. Utah State Historical Society Manuscripts*

Bennion, John. Journal. Salt Lake City, 1855-1877.

Laub, George. Diary, Salt Lake City, I8I4J4.-I87O.

Phelps, John. Diary. Salt Lake City, 1857-1859. Letters. Salt Lake City, 1857-1859. l+.~ U,S, National Archives.

Cartographic Records Division (maps). Camp Floyd, U.T. Surveyed and drawn, January 1859, by Lt. H.S. Putnam.

Military Reserve at Camp Floyd, U.T, Surveyed and drawn March 1859, by 2nd Lt. J.L.K. Smith.

Territory and Military Department of Utah, i860.

Still Pictures Branch. Fourteen photographs of Camp Floyd, U.T., 1858-1859.

War Department Records. Letters Sent, 1857-1861, Department of Utah.

Returns of the Utah Expedition, 1857-1861, Office of the Adjutant General.

5. Contemporary Works.

Ackley, Richard T. "Across the Plains in 1858," in Utah State Historical Quar­ terly, Vol. IX. Salt Lake City, Utah State Historical Society, 191+1. 189

Burton, Richard P. The City of the Saints and Across the Rocky Mountains to California. London, Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861. Gove, Jesse A. The Utah Expedition. Cleveland, Arthur H„ Clark Co., 1928.

Greeley, Horace. An Overland Journey from Near York to San Francisco in the Summer of 1859. New York, C.M. Saxton, Baker and Co., i860.

Majors, Alexander. Seventy Years on the Frontier. Chicago and New York, Rand, McNally and Co., 1893*

Simpson, James H. Report of Explorations Across the Great Basin of the Territory of Utah. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1876.

Tracy, Albert. The Utah War. Utah State Historical Quarterly, Vol. XIII. Salt Lake City, Utah State Historical Society, 19lj5.

6. Newspapers, Periodicals, and Miscellaneous.

Deseret News Weekly. Vols. VII-XI, Salt Lake City, 1858-1861. (Weekly newspaper from 1850 to 1898; daily newspaper from 1867 to date.)

Journal History of the Church. Salt Lake City, L.D.S. Church Historians Office, 1857-1900. (Manuscript daily entries of Church History.)

Millennial Star. Vol. XXIII, Liverpool and London, L.D.S. British Mission, 1861. (Weekly or monthly publication of the British Mission, l81j.O to date.)

Valley Tan. Vols. I and II, Salt Lake City, 1858-1860. fofeekly newspaper published by non-Mormon followers of the army, 1858-1860.)

B. SECONDARY MATERIAL

Anderson, Nels. Desert Saints. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 191+2. 190

Arrington, Leonard J. Great Basin Kingdom# Cambridge, Mass., Harvard UniversLty Press, 1958*

Bancroft, H.H. History of Utah. San Francisco, The History Co., 1889.

Brooks, Juanita The Mountain Meadows Massacre. Stanford, Calif., Stanford University Press, 1950.

Cardon, P.V. HIn Old Camp Floyd,” in The Improvement Era, Vol 32. Salt Lake City, 1928-1929.

Creer, Leland H. Utah and the Nation. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1929.

Cooley, Everett. The Utah War. Unpublished Master’s Thesis, University of Utah, 1914-7 •

Driggs, Howard R. "Old Camp Floyd: Utah's First Military Post,” in the Juvenile Instructor, Vol. 53. Salt Lake City, 1918.

Goodwin, Sam H. Freemasonry in Utah, Rocky Mountain Lodge Number 205. Salt Lake City, Grand Lodge of Utah, 193lj-o

Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army. Vol. I, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1903*

Johnston, William P* The Life of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston. New York, D. Appleton and Co., 1879*

Lindsay, John S. The Mormons and the Theatre. Salt Lake City, Century Press, 1905*

Neff, Andrew L. History of Utah. Salt Lake City, The Deseret News Press, 1914-0.

Piper, George D. The Romance of an Old Playhouse. Salt Lake City, The Deseret News Press, 1937* Proceedings of the M.W. Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons of Utah., Fifty-fourth Annual Communication. Salt Lake City, 192$.

Spaulding, Oliver L. The United States Army in War and Peace. New York, G.P. Putnam*s Sons, 1937*

Stegner, Wallace. Mormon Country. New York, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 19i+2.

Stenhouse, Thomas B. Rocky Mountain Saints. New York, D. Appleton Co., 1873•

Tullidge, Edward W. The History of Salt Lake City and its Founders. Salt Lake City, Edward W. Tullidge, 1886.

Whitney, Orson F. History of Utah, Vol. I. Salt Lake City, George Q. Cannon and Sons Co., 1892.

Young, Otis F. The West of Philip St. George Cooke. Glendale, Calif., The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1955*