After The War

With the return of the people to their homes, the peaceful
avocations of life in Utah were resumed. The federal judges
received assignments to their districts, and the other federal
officers took possession of their offices. Chief Justice Eckles
selected as his place of residence Camp Floyd, as General
Johnston's camp was named; Judge Sinclair's district included
Salt Lake City, and Judge Cradlebaugh's the southern part of the
state.

Judge Cradlebaugh, who conceived it to be a judge's duty to see
that crime was punished, took steps at once to secure indictments
in connection with the notorious murders committed during the
"Reformation," and we have seen in a former chapter with what
poor results. He also personally visited the Mountain Meadows,
talked with whites and Indians cognizant with the massacre, and,
on affidavits sworn to before him, issued warrants for the arrest
of Haight, Higbee, Lee, and thirty-four others as participants
therein. In order to hold court with any prospect of a practical
result, a posse of soldiers was absolutely necessary, even for
the protection of witnesses; but Governor Cumming, true to the
reputation he had secured as a Mormon ally, declared that he saw
no necessity for such use of federal troops, and requested their
removal from Provo, where the court was in session; and when the
judge refused to grant his request, he issued a proclamation in
which he stated that the presence of the military had a tendency
"to disturb the peace and subvert the ends of justice." Before
this dispute had proceeded farther, General Johnston received an
order from Secretary Floyd, approved by Attorney General Black,
directing that in future he should instruct his troops to act as
a posse comitatus only on the written application of Governor
Cumming. Thus did the church win one of its first victories after
the reestablishment of "peace."

An incident in Salt Lake City at this time might have brought
about a renewal of the conflict between federal and Mormon
forces. The engraver of a plate with which to print counterfeit
government drafts, when arrested, turned state's evidence and
pointed out that the printing of the counterfeits had been done
over the "Deseret Store" in Salt Lake City, which was on Young's
premises. United States Marshal Dotson secured the plate, and
with it others, belonging to Young, on which Deseret currency had
been printed. This seemed to bring the matter so close to Young
that officers from Camp Floyd called on Governor Cumming to
secure his cooperation in arresting Young should that step be
decided on. The governor refused with indignation to be a party
to what he called "creeping through walls," that is, what he
considered a roundabout way to secure Young's arrest; and, when
it became rumored in the city that General Johnston would use his
troops without the governor's cooperation Cumming directed Wells,
the commander of the Nauvoo Legion, who had so recently been in
rebellion against the government, to hold his militia in
readiness for orders. Wells is quoted by Bancroft as saying that
he told Cumming, "We would not let them [the soldiers] come; that
if they did come, they would never get out alive if we could help
it."* The decision of the Washington authorities in favor of
Governor Cumming as against the federal judges once more restored
"peace." The only sufferer from this incident was Marshal Dotson,
against whom Young, in his probate court, obtained a judgment of
$2600 for injury to the Deseret currency plates, and a house
belonging to Dotson, renting for $500 year, was sold to satisfy
this judgment, and bought in by an agent of Young.

* "History of Utah," p. 573, note.


To complete the story of this forgery, it may be added that
Brewer, the engraver who turned state's evidence, was shot down
in Main Street, Salt Lake City, one evening, in company with J.
Johnson, a gambler who had threatened to shoot a Mormon editor. A
man who was a boy at the time gave J. H. Beadle the particulars
of this double murder as he received it from the person who
lighted a brazier to give the assassin a sure aim.* The coroner's
jury the next day found that the men shot one another!

* "Polygamy," p. 192.


Soon all public attention throughout the country was centred in
the coming conflict in the Southern states. In May, 1860, the
troops at Camp Floyd departed for New Mexico and Arizona, only a
small guard being left under command of Colonel Cooke. In May,
1861, Governor Cumming left Salt Lake City for the east so
quietly that most of the people there did not hear of his
departure until they read it in the local newspapers. He soon
after appeared in Washington, and after some delay obtained a
pass which permitted his passage through the Confederate lines.
When the Southern rebellion became a certainty, Colonel Cooke and
his force were ordered to march to the East in the autumn, after
selling vast quantities of stores in Camp Floyd, and destroying
the supplies and ammunition which they could not take away. Such
a slaughter of prices as then occurred was, perhaps, without
precedent. It was estimated that goods costing $4,000,000 brought
only $l00,000. Young had preached non-intercourse with the
Gentile merchants who followed the army, but he could not lose so
great an opportunity as this, when, for instance, flour costing
$28.40 per sack sold for 52 cents, and he invested $4,000. "For
years after," says Stenhouse, "the 'regulation blue pants' were
more familiar to the eye, in the Mormon settlements, than the
Valley Tan Quaker gray."

When Governor Cumming left the territory, the secretary, Francis
H. Wooton, became acting governor. He made himself very offensive
to the administration at Washington, and President Lincoln
appointed Frank Fuller, of New Hampshire, secretary of the
territory in his place, and Mr. Fuller proceeded at once to Salt
Lake City, where he became acting governor. Later in the year the
other federal offices in Utah were filled by the appointment of
John W. Dawson, of Indiana, as governor, John F. Kinney as chief
justice, and R. P. Flenniken and J. R. Crosby as associate
justices.

The selection of Dawson as governor was something more than a
political mistake. He was the editor and publisher of a party
newspaper at Fort Wayne, Indiana, a man of bad morals, and a
meddler in politics, who gave the Republican managers in his
state a great deal of trouble. The undoubted fact seems to be
that he was sent out to Utah on the recommendation of Indiana
politicians of high rank, who wanted to get rid of him, and who
gave no attention whatever to the requirements of his office.
Arriving at his post early in December, 1861, the new governor
incurred the ill will of the Mormons almost immediately by
vetoing a bill for a state convention passed by the territorial
legislature, and a memorial to Congress in favor of the admission
of the territory as a state (which Acting Governor Fuller
approved). They were very glad, therefore, to take advantage of
any mistake he might make; and he almost at once gave them their
opportunity, by making improper advances to a woman whom he had
employed to do some work. She, as Dawson expressed it to one of
his colleagues, "was fool enough to tell of it," and Dawson,
learning immediately that the Mormons meditated a severe
vengeance, at once made preparations for his departure.

The Deseret News of January 1, 1862, in an editorial on the
departure of the governor, said that for eight or ten days he had
been confined to his room and reported insane; that, when he
left, he took with him his physician and four guards, "to each of
whom, as reported last evening, $100 is promised in the event
that they guard him faithfully, and prevent his being killed or
becoming qualified for the office of chamberlain in the King's
palace, till he shall have arrived at and passed the eastern
boundary of the territory." After indicating that he had
committed an offence against a lady which, under the common law,
if enforced, "would have caused him to have bitten the dust," the
News added: "Why he selected the individuals named for his
bodyguard no one with whom we have conversed has been able to
determine. That they will do him justice, and see him safely out
of the territory, there can be no doubt."

The hints thus plainly given were carried out. Beadle's account
says, "He was waylaid in Weber Canon, and received shocking and
almost emasculating injuries from three Mormon lads."* Stenhouse
says: "He was dreadfully maltreated by some Mormon rowdies who
assumed, 'for the fun of the thing,' to be the avengers of an
alleged insult. Governor Dawson had been betrayed into an
offence, and his punishment was heavy."** Mrs. Waite says that
the Mormons laid a trap for the governor, as they had done for
Steptoe; but the evidence indicates that, in Dawson's case, the
victim was himself to blame for the opportunity he gave.

* "Polygamy," p. 195.

** "Rocky Mountain Saints," p. 592.


Stenhouse says that the Mormon authorities were very angry
because of the aggravated character of the punishment dealt out
to the governor, as they simply wanted him sent away disgraced,
and that they had all his assailants shot. This is practically
confirmed by the Mormon historian Whitney, who says that one of
the assailants was a relative of the woman insulted, and the
others "merely drunken desperadoes and robbers who," he explains,
"were soon afterward arrested for their cowardly and brutal
assault upon the fleeing official. One of them, Lot Huntington,
was shot by Deputy Sheriff O. P. Rockwell [so often Young's
instrument in such cases] on January 26, in Rush Valley, while
attempting to escape from the officers, and two others, John P.
Smith and Moroni Clawson, were killed during a similar attempt
next day by the police of Salt Lake City. Their confederates were
tried and duly punished."*

* "History of Utah," Vol. II, p. 38.


The departure of Governor Dawson left the executive office again
in charge of Secretary Fuller. Early in 1862 the Indians
threatened the overland mail route, and Fuller, having received
instruction from Montgomery Blair to keep the route open at all
hazards, called for thirty men to serve for thirty days. These
were supplied by the Mormons. In the following April, the Indian
troubles continuing, Governor Fuller, Chief Justice Kinney, and
officers of the Overland Mail and Pacific Telegraph Companies
united in a letter to Secretary Stanton asking that
Superintendent of Indian Affairs Doty be authorized to raise a
regiment of mounted rangers in the territory, with officers
appointed by him, to keep open communication. These petitioners,
observes Tullidge, "had overrated the federal power in Utah, as
embodied in themselves, for such a service, when they overlooked
ex-Governor Young" and others.* Young had no intention of
permitting any kind of a federal force to supplant his Legion. He
at once telegraphed to the Utah Delegate in Washington that the
Utah militia (alias Nauvoo Legion) were competent to furnish the
necessary protection. As a result of this presentation of the
matter, Adjutant General L. L. Thomas, on April 28, addressed a
reply to the petition for protection, not to any of the federal
officers in Utah, but to "Mr. Brigham Young," saying, " By
express direction of the President of the United States you are
hereby authorized to raise, arm, and equip one company of cavalry
for ninety days' service."* The order for carrying out these
instructions was placed by the head of the Nauvoo Legion,
"General" Wells--who ordered the burning of the government trains
in 1857--in the hands of Major Lot Smith, who carried out that
order!

* Tullidge's "History of Salt Lake City," p. 252.

** Vol. II, Series 3, p. 27, War of the Rebellion, official
records.


Judges Flenniken and Crosby took their departure from the
territory a month later than Dawson, and Thomas J. Drake of
Michigan and Charles B. Waite of Illinois* were named as their
successors, and on March 31 Stephen S. Harding of Milan, Indiana,
a lawyer, was appointed governor. The new officers arrived in
July.

* After leaving Utah Judge Waite was appointed district attorney
for Idaho, was elected to Congress, and published "A History of
the Christian Religion," and other books. His wife, author of
"The Mormon Prophet," was a graduate of Oberlin College and of
the Union College of Law in Chicago, a member of the Illinois
bar, founder of the Chicago Law Times, and manager of the
publishing firm of C. W. Waite & Co.

At this time the Mormons were again seeking admission for the
State of Deseret. They had had a constitution prepared for
submission to Congress, had nominated Young for governor and
Kimball for lieutenant governor, and the legislature, in advance,
had chosen W. H. Hooper and George Q. Cannon the United States
senators. But Utah was not then admitted, while, on the other
hand, an anti-polygamy bill (to be described later) was passed,
and signed by President Lincoln on July 2.

During the month preceding the arrival of Governor Harding,
another tragedy had been enacted in the territory. Among the
church members was a Welshman named Joseph Morris, who became
possessed of the belief (which, as we have seen, had afflicted
brethren from time to time) that he was the recipient of
"revelations." One of these "revelations" having directed him to
warn Young that he was wandering from the right course, he did
this in person, and received a rebuke so emphatic that it quite
overcame him. He betook himself, therefore, to a place called
Kington Fort, on the Weber River, thirty-five miles north of Salt
Lake City, and there he found believers in his prophetic gifts in
the local Bishop, and quite a settlement of men and women, almost
all foreigners. Young's refusal to satisfy the demand for
published "revelations" gave some standing to a fanatic like
Morris, who professed to supply that long-felt want, and he was
so prolific in his gift that three clerks were required to write
down what was revealed to him. Among his announcements were the
date of the coming of Christ and the necessity of "consecrating"
their property in a common fund. Having made a mistake in the
date selected for Christ's appearance, the usual apostates sprang
up, and, when they took their departure, they claimed the right
to carry with them their share of the common effects. In the
dispute that ensued, the apostates seized some Morrisite grain on
the way to mill, and the Morrisites captured some apostates, and
took them prisoners to Kington Fort.

Out of these troubles came the issue of a writ by Judge Kinney
for the release of the prisoners, the defiance of this writ by
the Morrisites, and a successful appeal to the governor for the
use of the militia to enable the marshal to enforce the writ. On
the morning of June 13 the Morrisites discovered an armed force,
in command of General R. T. Burton, the marshal's chief deputy,
on the mountain that overlooked their settlement, and received
from Burton an order to surrender in thirty minutes. Morris
announced a "revelation," declaring that the Lord would not allow
his people to be destroyed. When the thirty minutes had expired,
without further warning the Mormon force fired on the Morrisites
with a cannon, killing two women outright, and sending the others
to cover. But the devotees were not weak-hearted. For three days
they kept up a defence, and it was not until their ammunition was
exhausted that they raised a white flag. When Burton rode into
their settlement and demanded Morris's surrender, that fanatic
replied, "Never." Burton at once shot him dead, and then badly
wounded John Banks, an English convert and a preacher of
eloquence, who had joined Morris after rebelling against Young's
despotism. Banks died "suddenly" that evening. Burton finished
his work by shooting two women, one of whom dared to condemn his
shooting of Morris and Banks, and the other for coming up to him
crying.*

* For accounts of this slaughter, see "Rocky Mountain Saints,"
pp. 593-606, and Beadle's "Life in Utah," pp. 413-420.


The bodies of Morris and Banks were carried to Salt Lake City and
exhibited there. No one--President of the church or federal
officer--took any steps at that time to bring their murderers to
justice. Sixteen years later District Attorney Van Zile tried
Burton for this massacre, but the verdict was acquittal, as it
has been in all these famous cases except that of John D. Lee.
Ninety-three Morrisites, few of whom could speak English, were
arraigned before Judge Kinney and placed under bonds. In the
following March seven of the Morrisites were convicted of killing
members of the posse, and sentenced by Judge Kinney to
imprisonment for from five to fifteen years each, while sixty-six
others were fined $100 each for resisting the posse. Governor
Harding immediately pardoned ail the accused, in response to a
numerously signed petition. Beadle says that Bishop Wooley
advised the governor to be careful about granting these pardons,
as "our people feel it would be an outrage, and if it is done,
they might proceed to violence"; but that Bill Hickman, the
Danite captain, rode thirty miles to sign the petition, saying
that he was "one Mormon who was not afraid to sign." The grand
jury that had indicted the Morrisites made a presentment to Judge
Kinney, in which they said, "We present his Excellency Stephen S.
Harding, governor of Utah, as we would an unsafe bridge over a
dangerous stream, jeopardizing the lives of all those who pass
over it; or as we would a pestiferous cesspool in our district,
breathing disease and death." And the chief justice assured this
jury that they addressed him "in no spirit of malice," and asked
them to accept his thanks "for your cooperation in the support of
my efforts to maintain and enforce the law." It is to the credit
of the powers at Washington that this judge was soon afterward
removed.*


* Even the Mormon historian has only this to say on this subject:
"Of the relative merit or demerit of the action of the United
States and territorial authorities concerned in the Morrisite
affair the historian does not presume to touch, further than to
present the record itself and its significance."--Tullidge,
"History of Salt Lake City," p. 320.


Next: Attitude Of The Mormons During The Southern Rebellion

Previous: The Mountain Meadows Massacre

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