firing upon the settlers. Brigham preferred peace to war with
them : thought that it was cheaper to feed than to fight them,
and pursued a conciliatory policy. But the red man required
experience. As Governor of the State of Deseret, Brigham
called out the militia, entrusted it to Gen. Daniel H. Wells,
who, accompanied by a lieutenant of Capt. Stansbury's com-
mand, and a hundred of " the brethren," went after the Indians.
The Mormons drove the red-skins out from the banks of the
Timpanogos on to Utah lake, which was then frozen, and there
killed about thirty and took over twice that number prisoners.
* " Mormonism : Its Leaders and Designs," p. 145.
MORMONS DISCOVER GOLD IN CALIFORNIA. 273
The whites lost one man, and six wounded. This fight and
the disposition of the prisoners * struck the Indians with ter-
ror, and their braves sued for peace.
Another change was in store for the Saints.
Three of the Battalion Mormons, upon being discharged
from the United States service in California, found occupation
with Thomas Marshall, of gold-discovery notoriety, and while
working for him, digging Capt. Sutter's mill-race, these three
" brethren " claim to have found the gold. The glory of this
event is, therefore, appropriated by the Saints, and forms part
of the buncombe speeches on all great occasions, when the^ vir-
tues and worth of the Saints are exhibited.
The immense emigration across the plains in 1850 brought
large quantities of clothing, dry-goods, and general merchan-
dise into Great Salt Lake City. Many of the immigrants had
loaded up with heavy stocks of goods, mechanics' tools, and
general machinery, expecting to find a ready sale for them in
the new Eldorado. Most of them had splendid outfits, and
everything necessary to support themselves in a new country.,
Some parties, who had left the States late, had travelled fast
and passed the other immigrants on the way, brought the re-
port that steamers had sailed from New York loaded with pas-
sengers and merchandise for California, and that the new coun-
try would be flooded with both.
With such a report ringing in their ears, there was now no
time to lose, and everything was to be sacrificed to expedite
the journey. When they arrived in Salt Lake Yalley, the
Mormons obtained almost everything they wanted in exchange
for grain and vegetables. Stories are related of the frantic haste
with which many of the emigrants would part with wagons,
cattle, and goods, for a horse or mule outfit to carry them to
California. The Saints were thus suddenly prosperous, and
* It is said that the order was given to " leave neither root nor branch of them,"
and that it was executed to the very letter.
" A party was driven up Table Mountain, but were induced to come down and
surrender. They were guarded in camp until the morning, and .then ordered to give
up their weapons. They refused to do this, and acting in a sullen and hostile manner,
were fired .upon and nearly all killed immediately. t A few broke through the line
of sentinels, and endeavoured to escape by crossing the lake on the ice, but were
chased down by horsemen, and ' ceased to breathe.' My informant was an actor id
the terrible scene." " Gunnison," p. 147.
2Y4 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
several of the predictions of the leaders were, in this manner,
claimed to be fulfilled.
In the midst of their distress in the wilderness, when leav-
ing civilization and commerce behind, and, to all human ap-
pearance, going into a desert where the Gentiles would not
follow them, Heber C. Kimball had predicted to the Saints
that they " would yet buy goods as cheap in the mountains as
" they could in New York city." Brigham had told them
that in five years " they would be better off than ever they
" were before," and thus the unlooked-for rush to California
fulfilled the prediction, and " the people acknowledged the ac-
" complishment of that divine inspiration." At the same time
one of*Joseph's predictions had its fulfilment. "When the Kirt-
land Safety Society Bank burst in 1838, its notes were, not
worth the clean paper. Joseph predicted that " they would
" yet be as good as gold." "When the Battalion gold discover-
ers returned to the valley, they deposited with the Church
leaders large quantities of gold-dust, and, with that as a basis,
, the Kirtland notes were for a little time put into circulation as
a convenience, " on a par with gold," and in that way the pre-
diction was fulfilled. Had the bundles of the Kirtland Safety
Society notes still in Ohio been convertible and " good as gold,"
the holders of that paper would have seen the prediction and
its fulfilment more clearly. A momentary convenience of ex-
change between Brother Smith and Brother Jones in Salt Lake
valley (for momentary and very limited it certainly was) be-
ing the fulfilment of a prediction, requires an " eye of faith "
to see.
The Congress of the United States ignored the " State of
" Deseret ; " and on the 9th of September, 1850, extended over
the country occupied by the Mormons the Territorial organi-
zation of Utah within the following limits : " bounded on the
" west by the State of California, on the north by the Territory
" of Oregon, on the east by the summits of the Eocky Mountains,
" and on the south by the 37th parallel of north latitude," with
the proviso that Congress should be at liberty, when it might
be deemed " convenient and proper," to cut it up into two or
more Territories, or to attach any portion of it to any other
State or Territory. On the 28th of that month, his Excellen-
TERRITORY OF UTAH CREATED. 275
cy Millard Fillmore, President of the United States, appointed,
" with the advice and consent of the Senate," BRIGHAM YOUNG,
of Deseret, Governor ; B. D. HARRIS, of Vermont, Secretary ;
JOSEPH BUFFINGTON, of Pennsylvania, Chief- Justice ; PERRY E.
BROCCHUS, of Alabama, ZERUBBABEL SNOW,- of Ohio, Associate
Justices ; SETH M. BLAIR, of Deseret, IT. S. Attorney ; and
JOSEPH L. HEYWOOD, of Deseret, U. S. Marshal.
Mr. Buffington declined serving as chief-justice, and LEM-
UEL G. BRANDEBURY was appointed in his stead.
Snow, Blair, and Heywood were Mormons, and, with Brig-
ham added, it gave the majority of the Federal offices to the
Saints, for which the name of President Fillmore is held in
high esteem. At once the political capital of Utah a hundred
and fifty miles south of Salt Lake City was designated Fill- *
more, and the county Millard. It is due to this statesman to
add, that the charge which has been frequently made against
him, of appointing Brigham Young governor " while he knew
" that he had eight wives," is very unfair. President Fillmore
appointed Brigham on the recommendation of Col. Thomas L. j
Kane, and upon the assurance of that gentleman that the' I
charges against Brigham Young's Christian morality were un-
founded. Col. Kane was long enough among the Mormons,
and familiar enough with them on their journey between Nau-
voo and Council Bluffs, to have learned that polygamy was a
fact in Mormonism, unless the Mormons designedly kept him
in ignorance, and deceived him. The larger number of the
" eight wives " complained of were sealed to Brigham on the
banks of the Missouri. Probably, Col. Kane did not personally
know polygamy to be a fact, and certainly neither President
Fillmore nor the Senate knew it.*
On the 3rd of February, 1851, Brigham Young took the
oath of office, and was formally acknowledged governor of
Utah. He preferred Deseret under " the Lord," but with the
characteristic instinct of his nature the love of rule rather '
than see a Gantile appointed governor of Utah, he himself ac-
cepted that office under Congress. On the 25th of March he
issued a special message to the general assembly of the State
of Deseret, notifying them of the action of Congress. On the
* The Author was so informed by letter from ex-President Fillmore.
276 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
5th of April, 1852, Deseret merged into Utah officially, but the
State organization was continued and exists to-day as much as
ever it did. Nominally, the civil authority is Utah : de facto?
it is Deseret. The Government pays. the Territorial legislators
i}\Q\Y per diem for nraking the laws of Utah, and hands them
their mileage at the end of the session. On the day succeeding
the close, Brigham, as governor of Deseret, convenes them as a
State legislation : reads his message to them, and some one pro-
poses that the laws of the legislature, of Utah be adopted by
the State of Deseret. In this manner, Brigham is continued
governor de facto, and hence the tenacity with which the name
of " Deseret " is preserved. To give to the State that succeeds
the Territory of Utah any other name than " Deseret " would
* be to throw discredit upon the inspiration that named the pro-
visional Government in 1849. Let but the Federal Congress
name it " Deseret " come when it may into the Union and
Brigham and his worshippers will see, through all the tortuous
windings of its history for over a score of years, the finger of
God, and the dark deeds of the past will be sanctified in their
sight. They will believe that " the Lord " has been with Brig-
ham throughout.
The Gentile Federal officers arrived in July of 1851, and
very soon after their arrival concluded that Utah was not the
most pleasant place in the world for unbelievers. They at-
tended a special conference of the Church held in September,
and were honoured with an invitation to sit on the platform
with the prophets. On that occasion the proposition was made
to send a block of Utah marble or granite as the Territorial
contribution to the "Washington monument at the seat of Gov-
ernment. Associate Justice Brocchus made a speech, and before
closing it drifted on to polygamy. He spoke irreverently of
that institution, going so far as to assure the ladies of its im-
morality, reproved the leaders for their disrespectful language
' concerning the Government and their consignment of Presi
dent Zachary Taylor to the nether regions. T^is was some-
thing new in the Eocky Mountain Zion, and the " Lion of the
" Lord " was in a moment aroused.
The audience was indignant at Brocchus, and when Brigham
let himself loose on to the unfortunate Judge, the people would
FIRST TROUBLE WITH THE FEDERAL OFFICERS. 277
have torn that Federal functionary into shreds if the Prophet
had not restrained them. When Brigham reiterated the situa-
tion and locality of the then recently deceased President Tay-
lor, the Judge put in a demurrer, on which " brother Heber "
kindly touched his Honour on the shoulder and assured him
that he need not doubt the statement, for he would see him
when he got there. Heber's witty endorsement of Brigham
was anything but reassuring to the Judge.
It was on this occasion that Brigham immortalized the
crooking of his little finger. " If," said he, " I had but crooked
" my little finger, he would have been used up ; but I did not
" bend it. If I had, the sisters alone felt indignant enough
" to have chopped him in pieces." * Since that memorable
day he had, not infrequently warned the troublesome of the
danger of crooking that finger, and it was no idle threat when
he said : " Apostates, or men who never made any profession
" of religion, had better be careful how they come here, lest I
" should bend my little finger." f
Judge Brocchus, failing to humble himself before " the ser-
" vants of the Lord," thought that retirement from the Terri-
tory would be favoured by the Life Insurance Company, and
he, accompanied by Chief Justice Brandebury and Secretary
Harris, soon after bade a long farewell to Zion. Miss Eliza
R. Snow's clever pen satirized the retreating Federals, in popu-
lar verse, and assured them and the world when they left the
Saints that :
> " They only of themselves bereft us." .
This, however, was only poetic truth, for Secretary Harris,
who was the custodian of the Territorial funds, retired with .
$24,000, which had been appropriated by Congress for the
"jper diem " and mileage of the legislature. This was a great
annoyance to the Prophet-Governor, and he attempted to re-
strain the Secretary ; but Mr. Harris stuck to the treasure and
returned it to the proper department of the Government.
The Federal officers, on their arrival in the Eastern States, .
published a hastily written statement of the whole occurrence, /
and very indiscreetly used the expression that "Polygamy /
"monopolized all the women, which made it very inconvenient \
* " Journal of Discourses," p. 186-7. f Ib., p. 167.
278 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
"for the Federal officers to reside there." Loose as people
might suppose frontier life to be, no one anticipated that rep-
resentatives of the Federal Government would thus express
themselves. That one sentence annihilated them.
Over the signature of Jedediah M. Grant, Brigham's coun-
sellor, a series of letters was addressed to the New York
Herald, under the title of " Truth for the Mormons," in which
the Federal officials were turned into ridicule and fiercely
handled. The Herald gave the public only one letter; but
Grant, nothing daunted, published the whole series in pamphlet
form, and scattered them broadcast. The Grant letters, from
their forcible and pungent style, attracted the attention of lit-
erary men as gems of wit and vigorous English. They were
so far superior to the Mormon literature that preceded them,
and so much above Jedediah himself, that great credit was
given by the Saints to the special inspiration which controlled
him. In after years it was really painful to the Author to
learn that two of Pennsylvania's honoured sons, already al-
luded to in this work one no less than an ex-Yice-President
of the United States, and the other enjoying a military title
were the inspiration and authors of the famous letters. What
a charm there is in a mild and harmless delusion !
On the departure of the judges and secretary from Utah,
Brigham appointed his counsellor, "Willard Richards, Secretary
of the Territory. Associate Justice Snow, being a Mormon,
took no offence, and remained, and the Legislature of the Ter-
ritory clothed the Probate courts with " both appellate and
"original jurisdiction," and the Federal judges could there-
after be easily dispensed with. The Saints had really no use
for them.
CHAPTEK XXXV.
THE 1RKEPKESSIBLE CONFLICT BETWEEN THEOCKACY AND BE-
PUBLIC ANISM. The Federal Officers in Utah Some become Sycophants to
the Priesthood Some are defiant Brigham Young a Second Time appointed
Governor Trouble with the Federal Judges They leave the Territory.
IN his moments of calm reflection, Judge Brocchus may have
concluded that his zeal against polygamy had outstripped his
prudence. The Government took that view of it, and quietly
"dropped" the "runaway judges and secretary." Judges
Reed and Shaver, with Secretary Ferris, soon replaced Bran-
debury, Brocchus, and Harris. Brigham was triumphant.
The new appointees, as might be expected, received a cor-
dial welcome. The judges reciprocated, but the secretary
shared the sentiments of his predecessor. The judges deliv-
ered some favourable speeches and wrote some friendly letters,
but the secretary soon after published a book expressing senti-
ments the very antipodes of those uttered by his Federal asso-
ciates. Thenceforth Brigham's policy was to array the Federal
officers against each other, and in doing so he has been singu-
larly successful.
The successors of the " runaway " officials held brief tenure
of power. Judge Heed returned to New York on a visit, and
there died. Judge Shaver, apparently in good health at night,
was found the next morning dead in his bed. Secretary Fer-
ris, after a short residence, went to California. Though Judge
Shaver had spoken very kindly of the Mormons, and was ex-
ceedingly "social" with "the brethren," his sudden death
furnished gossips with the story of his being poisoned on ac-
count of some supposed difficulty with Brigham. The Author
has never seen any ground for such a suspicion.* The judge
* Mrs. Waite says : " There was some difficulty between the judge and the
280 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
was buried with processional honours, and a discourse by one of
the apostles embalmed his memory in the history of the Church.
Chief-Justice John F. Kinney, Associate Justices George
P. Stiles and "W. TV". Drummond, and Secretary Almon "W.
Babbitt, were the third " batch " of officials. Judge Kinney
has a very important history, and appears frequently in this
work. Judge Stiles had been reared in Mormonism, but was
inharmonious with the priesthood. Judge Drummond turned
out a perfect Mephistopheles to the Saints. Secretary Babbitt
was a full-fledged Mormon.
At this period of Utah history the Government at Washing-
ton was seemingly very kindly disposed towards the Saints, as
all but two of the Federal offices were held by Mormons ; but the
political thermometer at Washington is always very variable.
The report of the " runaway " officials, though it accom-
plished nothing for themselves, stirred up the nation respect-
ing polygamy, and what was regarded as defiance of Govern-
ment. Up to the time of this report, the Church had made no
public acknowledgment of polygamy as a principle of the faith.
It could now no longer be concealed, and Brigham announced
that he was ready to publish the revelation.
The avowal of polygamy was for a time a'grave subject at
Washington ; but that was a question only of morals, and Con-
gress is slow to legislate on morality. The reported speech,
" Old Zachary is in hell, and I am glad of it," charged to Brig-
ham, stirred up the political animus at the seat of government
a vast deal more, and in course of time Brigham's removal from
the governorship was resolved upon.
In a Tabernacle address, June 19, 1853, Brigham denied
being the author of the statement about President Taylor, and
said that he had only endorsed the statement of some one else:
" I simply bore testimony to the truth of it." * In his denial
he manifests an evasiveness that does not improve the subject.
Brigham was, however, secure as Governor. His words, "7
am and will be Governor, and no power can hinder it" were
Prophet, the nature of which was not distinctly known. The difficulty increased,
and one morning the judge was found dead in his bed. The heads of the Church
took great pains to have the affair investigated, and came to the conclusion that the
judge had died of some disease of the head ! ' " (Page 24.)
* "Journal of Discourses," vol. i., p. 185.
BRIGHAM RE APPOINTED GOVERNOR. 281
very galling to those who sought his removal. But behind that
boldness there appeared in the published sermon a shrewd
proviso to fall back upon in case his removal should be accom-
plished : " Until the Lord Almighty says, ^Brigliam, you need
" ' not le Governor any longer? "
In 1854, Lieutenant-Colonel E. J. Steptoe, with about three
hundred of his regiment, arrived in the Territory on their way
to California. Much kind attention was paid to the colonel
and his officers ; social parties were frequent, and very pleasant
relations existed.
Early in December, President Pierce tendered to the colonel
the appointment of Governor of Utah ; but before the next re-
turning monthly mail, a memorial to his Excellency, headed
by Chief-Justice Kinney, was signed, requesting Brigham's re-
appointment as Governor and Superintendent of Indian Af-
fairs. The colonel's name followed that of Kinney, and the
names of the officers of the regiment three Mormons - Judge
Shaver and District-Attorney Hollman.
A very romantie story is told by Mrs. C. Y. Waite, in her
book, in which Brigham is charged with using two sisters of
easy virtue to enveigle the colonel into an unpleasant position,
by which, in the language of the Tabernacle, " the Lord put a
" hook in the colonel's 1 nose." But, without'that incentive to
leave the Saints, the colonel doubtless preferred the profession
of arms to the honour of being Governor over a handful of poor
people in a desert so far removed from the rest of mankind,
and after receiving such demonstrative kindness from the Mor-
mons, could not well afford to accept an appointment which
would have ousted his chief host against the wishes of the peo-
ple. It is said that the colonel's letter of appointment was not
hastily delivered after it reached Salt Lake City, and between
the arrival of the mail that should have brought the appoint-
ment and the arrival of the mail at which the letter of appoint
ment was delivered, dancing parties were given that secured
the kind feeling of the colonel and his officers. " The Lord "
had not yet concluded, "Brigham, you need not be Governor
" any longer," and so, in 1855, he was reappointed by Presi-
dent Franklin Pierce.
In the organic act of the Territory it is provided that " the
282 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
" governor, secretary, chief justice and associate justices, attor-
" ney and marshal, shall be nominated, and by and with the
" advice and consent of the Senate, appointed by the President
" of the United States." In the list of first Federal appoint-
ments the last two important offices those of United States
attorney and United States marshalwere filled by two Mor-
mons, Messrs. Seth M. Blair and Joseph L. Heywood. With
the appointment of a Gentile to the office of United States
marshal as successor of Mr. Heywood, the question of jurisdic-
tion was forced upon the attention of the court, and very sin-
gularly the most important question that has agitated Utah
during twenty years was first entertained before a Federal judge
who had himself been many years a Mormon.
The Territorial Legislature had created a Territorial mar-
shal, and now a conflict was inevitable between him and the
marshal appointed by the United States. The United States
marshal claimed that he was the executive officer of the United
States courts, whether the business before the court was fed-
eral or territorial ; the Mormon marshal tiaimed that he was
the officer of the United States court while it was occupied
with territorial business. It was of little consequence to any
one whether the fees of the court should pass into the pocket
of a United States marshal or a territorial marshal ; but it was
a matter of great importance to every one which of these two
officials should empanel the juries and enforce the writs of
the court.
Judge Stiles favoured the claim of the United States mar-
shal, and brought a storm of wrath about his head. Had he
been purely a Gentile judge, he would have fared better, but
being a renegade Mormon, and defying the priesthood that he
once obeyed, there was no indignity too great to oifer him.
Some Mormon lawyers entered the court while the question
was pending, and, led by the best lawyer among them, insulted
and threatened the judge with personal violence unless he ruled
as they demanded. On account of these intimidations he has-
tily adjourned his court.*
* Though under no circumstances could there be offered any palliation for such
an offence, there is at the same time a degree of satisfaction in reading that the
outrage was reserved for the person of Judge Stiles. He was the counsel who sus-
SPREADING ABROAD THE CURTAINS OF ZION. o 83
Some of the " good "brethren " had now their attention di-
rected to the renegade judge, and while he was ahsent from his
office they gathered up the records of the United States Dis-
trict Courts, placed them in safe keeping, and afterwards made
a fire of books and papers found in his office. On his return,
when he saw the fire, he very naturally concluded, as his office
was ransacked, that all the I>o6ks^ records, and papers were de-
stroyed. That insane and foolish outrage created a great sen-
sation throughout the States adverse to the Saints.
Consistently with their programme, and possessing a great
country in which " Israel could increase and multiply and
" become a great people," the leaders were continually calling
upon the Saints to " spread abroad the curtains of Zion," and
as soon as it was safe to venture in advance of a settlement
already made, the survey of another was immediately com-
menced.
ISTorth and south of Salt Lake the Mormon colonists had
only the Indians to contend with, and by judiciously avoiding
any conflict with the red men they experienced comparatively
little trouble. But when the colonists pushed forward to the
western frontier of the Territory they there met with the ad-
venturous miner, and peace was thenceforth very doubtful.