LATE FROM THE UTAH EXPEDITION
ADVANCE OF THE TROOPS.
PROCLAMATION OF GOV. CUMMING.
Mormon Intrigues with the Indians.
MISMANAGEMENT OF THE CAMPAIGN.
General Indignation in the Army.
A COURT OF INVESTIGATION DESIRED.
AFFIDAVITS CONCERNING MORMON OUTRAGES.
From Our Special Correspondent.
CAMP AT THE JUNCTION OF SMITH'S AND
BLACK'S PORKS, U. T., NOV. 13,1857. }
Nov. 6, as I wrote to you on the previous day it was the intention, the army moved forward in the direction of Fort Bridger. The night be-fore, the Mormons had succeeded in stealing be-tween four and five hundred head of cattle, which | belonged to the sutler's train of the 5th Infantry and to the private train of Gilbert & Gerrish. Both those trains were, therefore, necessarily left behind. They have enough cattle remaining be-tween them to pull one train along a short distance on one day and go back to fetch up the other on the next; and their men are numerous enough and sufficiently well armed to resist any attack that is likely to be made on them by the Mormons.
On the evening of the 6th, just after we had reached the camp, Major Joseph Taylor, the Mor-mon prisoner against whom a writ for high treason had been issued, succeeded in escaping from four sentinels who had him in charge. As the event will of course be subjected to military investiga-tion, I will forbear from remarks calculated to cen-sure any individual.
On the next day the business of taking affidavits was resumed by Judge Eckels, and the evidence so accumulated, justified the issue of a writ against William Stowell, Taylor's fellow-prisoner, which was served on him during the afternoon, charging him also with high treason. He has acted as Tay-lor's adjutant, and it was on his person that the treasonable papers were found, to which I alluded in my letter of Nov. 5.
On the 8th instant, Dr. Hickman was released from custody by Col. Johnston, and sent part way toward Fort Bridger, under escort. His younger brother, it will be remembered, was dispatched to Salt Lake City with letters to Brigham Young, by Col. Alexander, last month. Various reasons have been suggested for the release of the doctor. In the absence of any official information from head-quarters, I would suggest that his liberation was considered as an equivalent to the release of Mrs. Mogo and Mr. Jesse Jones by the Mormons. George Grant (the brother of the late Jedediah M. Grant) waited on Mrs. Mogo officially, in Salt Lake City, about Oct. 20, and informed her that in case she should be sent to her husband, it would be ef-fected that Dr. Hickman should be given up.
On the 9th a rumor reached camp that the doctor had failed "to make connection" or in other words, that after his escort had left him he had been assas-sinated by a mountaineer, whose name was private-ly mentioned. It is certain that the mule on which the doctor rode into camp in October and rode out in November, belonged to part of a herd which was stolen from this same mountaineer last year; but I utterly discredit the rumor of the assassination.
The Utah Indians who accompanied Dr. Hurt to our camp last month, all returned home yesterday, except five, who will remain with us through the Winter. Before they left they were presented with blankets, caps, shoes, pipes, a few shot guns and rifles and some powder and lead. These who re-main have begun to make themselves useful to the command by driving up oxen and mules which have straggled from the line of march.
The scenes presented along the road and in the camp, by the dead and dying cattle, are truly pitia-ble. Last night, while I was thawing my hands at a fire of crackling willow twigs, one poor old ox staggered through the brush and passed between me and Lieut. L., directly into the blaze, in which it stood until the hair was burned from its fore legs and the flesh was scorched; then it retreated a yard or two, and fell and died. The next morning I saw a soldier comfortably seated on its head, between the horns, smoking his pipe while he warmed his feet at the embers. On the same morning when I left my tent at reveille, for a little walk in the brac-ing air before breakfast, two oxen were standing stiffly a few feet from the door. The only sign of life which they exhibited when I beat them to move them along was a slight motion of the head. When our tents were struck at noon, and we moved to our present camp, one of them remained immove-able in the same position. That night the thermom-eter had indicated 16° below zero. On the after-noon march I counted repeatedly five, and once seven oxen, mules and horses lying dead from cold or starvation, within the space of one hundred yards.
There has been such a prodigious loss of stock by theft, cold and hunger, that since Nov. 7 we have not advanced, on the average, two miles a day. It is necessary to employ all the cattle on one day to haul along one-half of the trains, and on the next to send them back to bring up the remainder. Most of the artillery horses are dead, and their places are supplied by mules.
But, in addition to the delay which such a loss of stock has rendered inevitable, the march of the army has been seriously retarded by the inefficiency of the employees of Messrs. Russell and Waddell, who have charge of the supply trains. Among the number some are undoubtedly Mormons, and are glad to clog the progress of the troops in any possi-ble way; others have been constantly drunk over night, and have devoted the morning to getting sober, not hitching up their cattle before noon; and others still are entirely unacquainted with their business.
CAMP ON BLACK'S FORK, U. T.,
Nov. 15,1857. }
Having gone out from the camp a few days ago, to pass a day and night with Lieutenant K., who was stationed on outpost duty, I trifled away a morning in visiting the lodges of some mountaineers, which their squaws had just pitched. In one, a Chinese boy was darning his pantaloons, encircled by puppies ; in another, three or four Snake squaws were gazing stolidly at a little jet of flame which bubbled on a pile of greasy sticks; two half-breed children were the occupants of the next, and were gnawing the half-cooked legs of a rabbit; and the fourth and last was tenanted by a pretty Sioux squaw, with a little speck of tattoo on her forehead, who was lying on a pile of neatly-folded blankets, outting the beads from an old pair of moccassins. At the end of the line of lodges a common tent was pitched, and in front of it a pretty girl of sixteen or seventeen was extricating a tea-kettle from under the front seat of a wagon. Determined to inspect all classes and qualities of camp-followers, I opened the tent door and entered, Indian fashion, uninvited. I expected to find another nest of squaws and half-breed children, but the only person there was a woman of forty-five or fifty, whom I recognized at once by her accent as an emigrant from England. She asked me to sit down, and handed me a blazing stick to light my pipe; the girl came in with the tea-kettle; then the husband made his appearance, a stout, honest-faced English-man; and the family told me their story.
The girl was the niece, not the daughter, of the old couple. They had lived near Sheffield, in En-gland, where the man, whose name is James Wadsworth, had charge of a shaft in a mine on Lord Fitzwilliam's estate, and was earning a com-fortable livelihood. William Young, Brigham's nephew, on his mission to Great Britain in 1855, finished their conversion to Mormonism, and in-duced them, by false promises and representations, to emigrate to the Great Salt Lake. They sailed from Liverpool in the ship Orison, and arrived at Boston with 900 fellow Mormon passengers, in May or June, 1856. They were all kept on shipboard until arrangements could be made to transport them en masse to the great Mormon camping-ground, near Iowa City. There they remained a few weeks, purchasing cattle and wagons, and then traveled to Council Bluffs and started across the Plains—the old man, his wife, their niece, and a boy nine years old, whom they had brought up as their son. This was an illegitimate child of an early friend of Mrs. Wadsworth. Five months after its birth, its mother married George, a nephew of James Wads-worth, and died a few months after, intrusting her child on her death-bed to the care of James and his wife. After her death, her husband renounced all claim to the child, and it was brought up by James Wadsworth as his own. George Wadsworth be-came a Mormon, and emigrated to Salt Lake City in 1854 or 1855.
James, his wife, niece, and boy, arrived at Fort Bridger last December. When they landed at Boston he had owned $3,000 in gold. When he crossed the Utah line, it had all been consumed in the expenses of the journey, and in satisfying assessments made on him by Mormon Elders at Iowa City, Council Bluffs, and along the road, for the benefit of the Church. On arriving at Salt Lake City he was sent, with his family, to settle at the town of Payson, near Lake Utah. He was ex-horted to take another wife, and his niece was mentioned to him as an eligible person to constitute his "second." It was only under the pretense that he was reserving her to "seal" to himself that he was able to protect her against insult.
Last August, having in the meanwhile been un-deceived concerning the true character of Mormonism, and having been pillaged of his property, and disappointed in his expectations, he resolved to quit the Territory and apostatize. In order to leave without exciting suspicion, he pretended that he wished to go to the town of Newton, in Iowa, and fetch from there another niece to Utah before the beginning of the Winter. After he had paid all demands made upon him, and deposited notes due him, to the amount of about $100, in the hands of the Mormon Bishop of Payson, Mr. Charles B. Hancock, that functionary gave him a written permit to depart. He had reached the Devil's Gate, on the Sweetwater, about the begin-ning of September, when he was encountered by a party of Mormons, with whom were George Wads-worth, William Young, and Phineas Young, Brig-ham's brother. They informed him that he could not prosecute his journey further, and turned him back, with his wagon and his fam-ily. On the return, they had all reached Ham's Fork, where an advanced detachment of Col. Alexander's command, headed by Lieut. Deshler, had arrived a week before, escort-ing Capt. Van Vliet, and had remained to guard a supply train. An opportunity presented itself for claiming the protection of this escort, which he improved. On the evening of the same day, Capt. Van Vliet arrived at the Fork, on his return from the city, accompanied by Porter Rockwell and Lewis Robinson. The next morning the two Youngs, Rockwell and Robinson, finding that it would be fruitless to attempt to force James Wads-worth further back toward Salt Lake, supported George Wadsworth in a demand which he made for the possession of the boy to whom I have alluded, and assisted in taking him by force from his adopted parents and carrying him away to Salt Lake City. James Wadsworth, with his wife and niece, remained with Lieut. Deshler's party. Their only wishes now are to recover the boy, and then endeavor in the States to retrieve the errors and misfortunes of the past.
Such is the history of this family. Distressing though it is, it is not without its parallel in the records of Mormon emigration; and I know from the unanimous testimony of all intelligent Gentiles who have resided in Utah, that these Wadsworths are more fortunate in their present destitution than many another family who remain on the Salt Lake, and have been forced against their will into polyg-amy and rebellion.
"CAMP SCOTT" on Black's Fork, U. T.,
2 miles from Ft. Bridger, Nov. 20, 2857. }
A corps of scouts was organized a fortnight ago and placed under the command of Mr. B. F. Fick-lin, a gentleman whose services to this expedi-tion I have had repeated occasion to mention. Their rcconnoisances proved, several days since, that Fort Bridger had been burned and abandoned by the Mormons, who were, however, encamped , in considerable numbers in its neighborhood. Our camp, on Nov. 15, was only seven miles distant from the Fort, and on the next day Capt. Dicken-son, the Quartermaster of the army, advanced in that direction, escorted by a company of dragoons. His report was such that on the following day Col. Johnston moved forward with the squadron of dragoons, the two artillery batteries, and the 5th infantry, and formed his present camp, two miles west from the Fort, on the bank of Black's Fork. The 10th infantry was left to come up in detach-ments, escorting the trains.
Nothing remains of Fort Bridger except the stone walls, built by the Mormons this Summer, which has been considerably enlarged since I first sent you news of its construction. Half-a-dozen I cannon balls would knock it to pieces, although it is a formidable defense against infantry. The original design was evidently a quadrangle, about forty paces in width and fifty in depth, to be flanked by two other quadrangles of slightly smaller dimen-sions. The central quadrangle was completed, and its wall is fifteen or twenty feet high. The walls of the western quadrangle are narrower, and were carried to the hight of eight or ten feet. Those of the eastern were never begun, but a ragged row of palisades marks the intended lino of their construc-tion. The buildings within the central inclosure were burned to ashes, and when I visited the spot yesterday, workmen were digging at what appeared to be a cache of bar iron and wagon tires near the southern wall. It is certain that there are large caches of provisions in our neighborhood, princi-pally of wheat and potatoes, of which last the Mormons are said to have raised 4,000 bushels in the vicinity of the Fort. They left a few hills undug, and I had the satisfaction of adorning my dinner-table, yesterday, with part of their contents, which I ate with great rolish, notwithstanding a rumor that they were poisoned with strychnine.
Fort Supply is said to have been burned also, as well as all the buildings in the Mormon settlement around it. If this proves to be the case, still more extensive caches must have been made there.
Col. Cook arrived to-day with the Governor; the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Mr. Forney; the Secretary of State, Mr. Hamet; the Marshal, Mr. Dotson, and the District-Attorney, Mr. Hock-aday. It appears that neither of the Associate Judges of the Supreme Court are in their company. This may occasion some embarrassment in those classes of cases which are liable to be removed to the full bench from the decision of a single judge. If the Chief Justice had been as remiss as his as-sociates, in coming to the Territory, the whole civil administration would have been paralyzed. The Colonel is encamped with his battalion of dragoons upon Black's Fork, three or four miles east from Fort Bridger, where he will remain a few days until the grass in the neighborhood of his camp is exhausted. His stock has suffered as se-verely as that of the main body. When he crossed the Rocky Ridge, the depth of the snow varied from one to two and a half feet. Nearly half the horses died or became unable to travel and were abandoned among the mountains; and their accou-trements and whatever could be thrown out to lighten the loading of his wagons, lie strewn about the camps of the last fortnight of his march. Lieut. Tyler is to be dispatched to-morrow with that squadron of dragoons which came on with Col. Smith's battalion and with 250 mules, to bring up all the wagons, camp furniture, &c., which have been left on the road by the various divisions of the army, and to assist Mr. Radford, the sutler of the 5th infantry in bringing up his train.
The mail arrived at the same time with Col. Cook, bringing news from the States to October 1. Mr. Jones, one of the contractors for its transpor-tation, came in charge of it. From previous ac-quaintance with him I am satisfied that no person of more efficiency or experience could have been selected to receive the contract. He is confident that the November mail will also reach us in due season. The Assistant Postmaster-General fur-nished Mr. Morrill, the Postmaster of Salt Lake City, with keys, before that gentleman left Wash-ington. Acting under the order of Col. Johnston, he has opened the bags this evening, and will de-liver their contents to-morrow. The condition of affairs surely justifies the examination by the com-manding officer of all letters directed to Mormons known to be actually in rebellion, and I have no doubt that such an examination will be made. Three months' back mail was cached by Mr. Jones, on the Sweetwater, and will be brought up by him within a fortnight.
On the evening of the 18th three Indians reached our camp, one of whom, Ben Simons, a Delaware, was in Salt Lake City eleven days ago. The other two are a Cherokee and a Snake, the latter the son of a chief called Little Soldier. Si-mons left his tribe 22 or 23 years ago, and has passed most of his life among the Rocky Mountains. Among his anecdotes, those which are revived from hie reminiscences of service in the famous Delaware body-guard of Col. Fremont are not the least interesting. He now owns a log cabin on the Weber River, and traps, and raises stock. It has been his custom for many years past to visit the Snake tribe to trade for furs, during the Winter. This Autumn, Brigham Young, being aware of this custom, sent for him, and after some talk gave him a permit, signed by himself as "Governor of "Utah Territory and Superintendent of Indian "Affairs" and dated November 2, authorizing him to visit Waushakee's village near the Wind River Mountains, and return at pleasure. He told him that he must not have intercourse with the United States army, but must, on the contrary, use every endeavor to stir the Snakes to hostilities against it. The fidelity with which Simons has obeyed the in-junction is exhibited by the fact that he is now present in our camp. Chauncey W. West, the Mormon Bishop of Ogden City, who signs himself "Colonel of the Weber Military-District" fur-nished him with another paper in which he stated that he was satisfied that Simons "is friendly to our people" and enjoined all Mormons to refrain from doing injury to his person, or pillaging his property. Ben carries both these documents care-fully rolled up in a rag.
He tells us that the male population of Salt Lake City is almost all under arms, and is drawn out upon the road, between Emigration Canon and Yellow Creek. Bishop, or rather Col. West in-formed him that the force posted in and about Echo Canon is 3,000 strong. His own observa-tions have satisfied him that this is not an under-esti-mate. On the northern side of the Canon the bluffs are almost perpendicular and several hundred feet in hight; but on the southern side they are lower, and the Mormons have thrown up earth-works along the summit-line. They have also dug ditches through the Canon and have so arranged an old beaver-dam on the Weber River that they can divert the course of the stream into these ditches and submerge the road for miles. At the eastern end of the Canon they have also built fortifications of earth, stone and wood. Among the persons whom Ben has noticed within ten days, in the neighborhood of these works, was Major Joseph Taylor, the same individual who escaped from our guard on the evening of Nov. 6.
With regard to the quantity of snow which has fallen up to this date on the Wahsatch range he says, (measuring the depth on his boot) that it averages at least one foot on the eastern slopes and on the Big Mountain about one foot and a half. On the western slopes there is not so much snow, and in some places, even on the line of the main road, the grass is accessible and abundant.
In the present excitement concerning the state of affairs in Utah, I have no doubt that John Hyde's book, a copy of which fell into my hands in Septem-ber, will be looked to in the States for information of various kinds concerning the Mormons. I have interested myself to ascertain how worthy it is of credit, and I can assure you that reliance may be placed upon his statements of facts. With regard to his expression of opinions concerning the policy proper to be pursued toward the Mormons by the Government of the United States, I can give you no such assurance. Indeed, I have heard it inti-mated by persons well acquainted with Mr. Hyde that the tone was probably given to those portions of his book by persons of greater age and political experience than himself.
As Mr. Hyde has very properly prefaced his book with an account of his family, I believe that I commit no impropriety in writing what I have heard concerning his wife, who remains in Salt Lake City. Her maiden name, I have been told, was Hawkins. A gentleman who has escaped from the city since the Summer informs me that Mr. Hyde has made several efforts, through himself and others, to communicate with her and induce her to join him in the States, but that she refuses, and once asserted in the presence of my informant, that "She was a Mormon, and a Mormon she would remain." He adds that he has heard from a reli-able source that she has married again. The Mormon Church, it will be remembered, pretended to break the covenant of marriage between her and her husband after the latter's apostacy.
CAMP SCOTT, Nov. 26,1857.
The army has gone into Winter quarters at Camp Scott. Whatever minor operations may be contem-plated will be assigned to detachments; but it is determined that no effort will be made to cross the Wahsatch range until next Spring.
The wisdom of Col. Johnston's decision not to risk a movement upon Salt Lake City, in the pres-ent condition of our animals and the total deficiency of forage, is not questioned by any candid officer; for it is not doubted that every considera-tion, public and personal, operated at headquarters in favor of a contrary decision. Prudent counsels have prevailed, and are received with acquiescence, although they have caused general and severe dis-appointment. From the highest subaltern to the lowest private, there was every manifestation of willingness to endure cheerfully all the hardships which would have been attendant on an effort to cross the mountains. Our present fear is that what we are debarred from undertaking will be accom-plished from the side of California before we can move in the Spring. The "Army of Utah" will then have had all the toil of a march unprecedented in length, through a country which it is complimentary to call a desert, and all the ennui of hibernation at an altitude of nearly 7,000 feet above the level of the Gulf of Mexico, at a distance of only 113 miles from Salt Lake City, only to see whatever glory was to be gained from the expedition inure to others.
Brigham Young will now have leisure to act out the programme which he developed to Capt. Van Vliet. Unless anticipated by a rapid movement of volunteers from California, he can raze his city to the ground without molestation, and make good a retreat to the mountains. He has the power to suppress any rebellion among his subjects against such an operation. But when I reflect upon his probable situation after having completed that pro-gramme, I become more astonished at his original determination to resist the National Government by force. If the administration of Mr. Buchanan is earnest in its policy towards the Mormon com-munity, it can close "Vancouver's Island on the North, Sonora on the South, and the Sandwich Islands on the West, against his retreat, as effec-tually as Jackson County, in Missouri, is closed against it on the East. It is simply a question of time, and the kingdom of the Latter Day Saints will crumble among the Wahsatch mountains, as soon as if it had remained on the plain and sunk under an administration of temporal power by anti-Mor-mon officers.
Our Winter camp is in the narrow valley of Black's Fork, sheltered by high bluffs, which rise abruptly on each side of the bottom, at the dis-tance of six or seven hundred vards from the chan-nel of the stream. The banks of the Fork are lined with willow brush and cottonwood trees, blasted in one or two places by attempts which were made by the Mormons before the evacuation of Fort Bridger to deprive us of fuel as well as of grass. The trees and brushes were fortunately too green to burn, and the fire swept through acres of wood, doing no other damage than to consume the dry leaves and scorch the bark. The water of the Fork is clear and pure, and ripples noisily over a stony bed, between two unbroken lines of ice. The headquarters are upon a little green knoll, around which the stream makes a gentle bend. The 5th infantry are camped on the left, toward Fort Bridger; the artillery batteries and the 10th infantry on the right. The dragoons will be dis-tributed along Henry's Fork, on which the grass is unburnt. All the cattle and mules which survive will also be sent there to recruit.
The work of killing cattle and jerking the beef, has been prosecuted busily during all the week; but the meat has suffered some deterioration in quality from the circumstance of having been beaten with ox whips over a thousand miles of road since the beginning of the Summer. Indeed, to speak plain-ly, it is reduced to muscle and gristle. To increase the unsavory prospective, is added the fact that there has been no salt in camp for more than a fort-night. The average cost of transportation from Leavenworth City to the Salt Lake is from 13 to 18 cents per pound, and it was thought uneconomical to haul an article across the Plains at so heavy ex-pense, the value of which at the expected termina-tion of the march would not exceed 2 cents per pound. So we are bountifully provided with boil-ing kettles and all the machinery for operating on the water of the Great Salt Lake; but the Great Salt Lake is unfortunately just 113 miles distant. I shook the final grains from my salt-cellar to-day, over a superb Mormon turnip taken from a cache unearthed at Fort Supply.
The civil officers of the Territory have founded a Gentile city in a nook in the wood above the camp of the 10th Infantry, and by the talk about "twenty feet front" and "corner lots" a passer-by might almost imagine himself in Kansas. The Gov-ernor occupies a scollop in the eastern line of the wood, on which he has planted his tents and un-loaded his wagons. Next comes the Chief Justice, who has excavated a quadrangle, fourteen feet square, and built a rough log hut over the hole. His establishment is more complete than that of the Indian Agent, which is progressing on a similar plan, but larger scale. The half-dozen Utes who are at work on it, handle the shovel and pick-ax with more dexterity than I had believed that Indians could acquire. The Marshal, and a son of the Surveyor-General, together with Mr. Mogo, the Deputy Surveyor, are building a cabin which will surpass in size any other in the row except the projected court house.
But a serious difficulty presents itself to the civil officials, with regard to erecting and furnishing buildings for the more convenient administration of their functions. Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, the Secretary of the Interior, issued a new series of instructions to the Marshals of all the States and Territories, last June, which are utterly irreconcila-ble with the present state of affairs in Utah. These were furnished to Mr. Dotson, the Marshal of this Territory, without modification by special instruc-tions adapted to the emergencies which might arise in event of hostilities ensuing with the Mormons. Under them he has no power to expend a sum larger than $50 for building or rent, or $20 for furniture, without first transmitting to Mr. Thomp-son a detailed estimate of such expenditures for his approval. The prohibition is positive and final, and such unauthorized expenditures, says the Secre-tary, will in no case be allowed, so we are likely to have no administration of justice for lack of a court-room, clerk's office, jail, furniture and station-ary, until Mr. Thompson can be heard from, next April or May, unless the Marshal deliberately vio-lates his instructions, or some benevolent citizen lends his purse to the United States. The guard- ents are stocked with civil prisoners, charged with all manner of crimes, from high treason to petit larceny; the Clerk of the Courts is asked to issue writs and attest affidavits of every description; the District-Attorney has constant calls upon him in his official capacity; the Chief Justice is ready to pro-ceed to the trial of causes; and yet Mr. Thompson, in his zeal for economy, has laid a pecuniary inter-dict on the transaction of business. I might tell you of other petty but annoying obstacles which obstruct the civil officials in their efforts to organize the Government, but the detail would be vexatious and uninteresting.
Capt. Marcy of the 5th Infantry will start to-morrow for New-Mexico with a picked company of 35 men, 23 of whom have been furnished from the 10th Infantry, and the remainder from the 5th. His object is to procure supplies of salt, and make ar-rangements for forwarding mules to the army in the early Spring. The trail which he will eventually strike leads to Taos. Notwithstanding the dangers to which such an expedition is exposed at this sea-son of the year, the prospect of inactivity through-out the Winter has caused a general desire among officers and men to be attached to it. Each com-pany of the infantry regiments was called upon to furnish a list of five men, from which its quota was to be selected, and in one instance, that of company A, 10th Infantry, commanded by Lieut. Kelly, ev-ery private applied for a place upon the list.
Capt. Magraw's company of volunteers has been attached to the 5th Infantry and recruited till it numbers 84 men. The term of enlistment has also been prolonged to nine months. Another volunteer company of the same strength has been raised by Capt. McLaughlin, and two more are in process of enlistment and will be mustered into the service in the course of a few days.
A special act of Congress will be required to in-dorse the enlistment of these companies and make appropriation for their pay. Reenforced in this manner, the total strength of the command will be about 1,800 men.
CAMP SCOTT, NOV. 29, 1857.
The following proclamation, issued on the 26th, by the Governor, was forwarded the next day to Salt Lake City in charge of Almeiron Grow, the Mormon prisoner, who was released for that pur-pose. He is also intrusted with the letter from Gov. Cumming to Brigham Young, a copy of which I subjoin. One condition of his release is that he shall make every effort to procure the restoration to his adopted parents of the boy seized by George Wadsworth on Ham's Fork, in September.
"GREEN RIVER COUNTY, near Fort Bridger,
Utah Territory, November 26, 1857. }
"To the People of Utah Territory.
"On the 11th of July, 1857, the President appointed me to preside over the executive department of the Government of this Territory. I arrived at this point on the 19th of this month, and shall probably be de-tained some time in consequence of the loss of animals during the recent snow storm.
"I will proceed at this point to make tha preliminary arrangement for Territorial Government. Many treasonable acts of vio-lence having recently been committed by lawless indi-viduals, supposed to have been commanded by the late Executive, such persons are in a state of rebellion. Proceedings will be instituted against them in a court organized by Chief-Justice Eckels, held in this county, which court will supersede the necessity of appointing military commissions for the trial of such offenders.
"It is my duty to enforce unconditional obedience to the Constitution, to the organic law of this Terri-tory, and to all the other laws of Congress applicable to you. To enable me to effect this object, I will, in the event of resistance, rely first upon a posse comita-tus of the well disposed portion of the inhabitants of this Territory, and will only resort to a military posse in case of necessity.
"I come among you with no prejudices or enmities; and by the exercise of a just and firm administration hope to command your confidence. Freedom of con-science and the use of your own peculiar mode of serving God are sacred rights, the exercise guaranteed by the Constitution, with which it is not the province of the Government or the disposition of its representa-tives in this Territory to interfere.
"In virtue of my authority as Commander-in-Chief of the militia of this Territory, I hereby command all armed bodies of individuals, by whomsoever organ-ized, to disband and return to their respective homes. The penalty of disobedience to this command will sub-ject the offenders to the punishment due to traitors.
"A. CUMMING, Governor of Utah Tenitory."
"GREEN RIVER COUNTY, near Fort Bridger,
Utah Territory, November 26,1857. }
"To Brigham Young, ex-Governor of Utah Territory.
"On the 11th of July, 1857, I was appointed by the President to be Governor of this Territory. Since my arrival within the limits of the Territory, I regret to have found that many acts of violence have been committed on the highways, in the destruction and robbery of property belonging to the United States. These acts, which indicate that the Territory is in a state of rebellion, are ascribed— how truly, I do not know—to yourself. A proclamation, purporting to have been issued from you, and a paper signed by your authority, found upon the person of Joseph Taylor, have been submitted to my inspection. The matter contained in these papers authorizes and com-mands violent and treasonable acts—acts tending to the disruption of the peace of the Territory, and which subject their actors to the penalties awarded to traitors. If these papers referred to be not authentic, I trust you will promptly disavow them.
"I" herewith inclose a copy of my proclamation to the people of Utah.
"You will oblige me by acknowledging the receipt of this by the returning messenger.
"I am, Sir, very respectfully your obedient, &c.,
"A. CUMMING, Governor, Utah Territory."
There is a general disposition to criticise this proclamation and letter with severity. Apart from their faults of style, it is alleged that the Governor has no right to pretend doubt that Brigham Young is the originator of the other proclamation to which allusion is made, and the instigator of all the subse-quent acts of Mormon rebellion. Young sent a copy of that proclamation to Col. Alexander's camp, over his own signature, and his letter was open to the Governor's inspection. Affidavits were also submitted to Gov. Cumming which prove that Young commanded the destruction of Government property, and the documents found on the person of Stowell, Taylor's Adjutant (not on Taylor him-self), complete the proof of treason.
Gov. Cumming, I am persuaded, has not been long enough on the theater of action, to feel such indignation as the treasonable acts of the Mormons have excited in those who have been smarting under them for the last two months. Time will unquestionably enable his Excellency to realize the emergencies of our situation more fully than I be-lieve that he now does. If he had come to the Territory at the time originally intended, and had personally and minutely observed the development of the Mormon rebellion, I doubt whether such a proclamation as the foregoing would ever have been issued. The statement would certainly have never been made, that his Excellency is detained here at "Camp Scott" in consequence of the loss of ani-mals during the recent snow-storm. Other and graver causes, it is notorious, have contributed to the detention of the "Army of Utah" whatever may be those which have caused his Excellency to delay. The old proverb about the stable-door and the stolen horse, may be applicable to any criti-cisms that may be made on this campaign; but it is a fact, and ought to be understood and established, that had the Quartermaster's Department provided proper supplies of corn, in view of the contingenc-ies of the campaign, or had Col. Alexander prose-cuted his movement toward Soda Springs, the headquarters of the Army would now have been in Salt Lake City.
Between Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger—a dis-tance of 400 miles—the only depots of grain were at the Platte Bridge and the bridge over the Sweet-water, and neither contained corn enough to suppfy a regiment of dragoons with a week's forage. The terrible loss of animals which the army has suffered is justly chargeable on those officers of the Quar-termaster's Department who were intrusted with the provision and disposition of the supplies. They seem to have entirely ignored the possibility of the Mormon community rising in arms. The public, to be sure, had the right to doubt that possibility, but it was criminal neglect for those to leave it out of view whose duty it was, and who were provided with sufficient funds to guard against every contin-gency. It is impossible for me to write on this subject without feeling, for of all the pitiable spec-tacles of other than human distress I have ever witnessed, none can compare with those which, were of daily occurrence during the march to this point from Fort Laramie. When the wolves and ravens and buzzards have finished their feast, and the snow has melted in the Spring, the road will be literally walled with skeletons.
At Fort Bridger two Boards of Survey are now in session; one, whose members are Capt. Gove and Lieut. Murray of the 10th, and Lieut. Archer of the 5th infantry, on the commissary and sub-sistence stores of the expedition; the other, whose members are Capt. Bee and Lieut. Hill of the 10th infantry, and Lieut. Howard of the 4th artillery, on the supplies of clothing and camp and garrison equipage, which it is the peculiar province of the Quartermaster's Department to provide. What results have been obtained by the Board first men-tioned I do not know, but one of the developments made by the second Board, is that among the Quartermaster's stores there are found only 148 pairs of shoes and 600 pairs of stockings to supply two regiments of infantry and several companies of volunteers throughout the Winter, while there are more than a 1,000 check-stocks and 3,000 bed-sacks, articles for which there is not the slightest use.
I wrote to you on November 4, that the damage flone to the supplies of the army by the destruction of the three trains on Oct. 5-6, had been over-esti-mated. I was assured by what should be compe-tent authority, that such was the case; and I still believe that we can subsist through the Winter without extraordinary suffering, unless develop-ments are made in respect to the subsistence sup-plies as alarming as those which are likely to appear respecting the Quartermaster's stores. But the following order, issued to-day, from Headquarters, indicates how pressing is the necessity of forcing supply-trains through from the States in the early Spring; and since its publication there have been frequent predictions that the army will be reduced to half rations before the month of April:
"HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF UTAH,
CAMP SCOTT, U. T., Nov. 29, 1857. }
"GENERAL ORDERS NO. 16.
I. The rations of meat and four will consist of two pounds of beef or three-quarters of a pound of bacon (the latter issued once in seven days,) and thirteen ounces of flour. The component part of the ration will be issuable as follows; beans three times in ten days; rice five times in ten days; dessicated veget-ables twice in ten days; vinegar, candles and soap once in two days; molasses twice, and dried peaohea once in fifteen days—one gallon of the former and ten pounds of the latter to one hundred rations. No issue or sales will be made to any one whatever authorized by regulations, orders, or by the commander of this army, to receive subsistence, other than in the above proportions, and at the rate of one ration to each per-son entitled to an issue or purchase.
"II. The sale by suttlers, and all other persons, of ardent, vinous and malt liquors, is prohibited within the limits of this command.
"By order of Col. ALBERT S. JOHNSTON.
"F. J. PORTER, Ass't Acting Adjutant-General"
The amount of reduction effected by this order may be calculated by the statement of the proper daily quantity in bulk of a single ration, which is: pork 12 ounces; beef one pound, 4 ounces; flour 1 pound, 2 ounces; beans 64 gills; rice 1 pound, 6 ounces; coffee 96 ounces; sugar 1 pound, 92 ounces; vinegar 32 gills; candles 24 ounces; soap 64 ounces; salt 16 gills; and by the fact that it cuts off all the extra rations allowed to officers by the regulations.
With regard to the prosecution of the movement toward Soda Springs, Col. Alexander arrived at Green River with his regiment on Sept. 28. The same night a forced march of nearly 30 miles was made across to Ham's Fork, where it was antici-pated that an attack would be made by the Mormons upon the supply trains, which were guarded only by a detachment of twenty men under Lieut. Deshler. The 5th Infantry and the artillery batteries came up a few days afterward, and Col. Alexander, by virtue of his superior rank, assumed command of the entire force. In this assumption he was justified by circumstances and sustained by every officer under his command. By the act he rendered himself responsible for the haps and mishaps of the army, until he was relieved from that responsibility by the arrival of Col. Johnston. Within a fortnight the movement up Ham's Fork toward the broad beaten road, which leads to Fort Hall past Soda Springs, was determined upon. The proclamation of Brigham Young was received also, which confirmed the fact, if confirmation was necessary, that the Mormons were traitors and rebels. The march along Ham's Fork was exe-cuted under many difficulties. No road existed there, and one was cut by the army through forty miles of willow brush and wild sage. The broad, beaten emigrant road was gained. The army was halted there for a few days, and then the backward movement down Ham's Fork was commenced. On the vacillation of purpose exhibited by the com-manding officer in his councils, his orders, and his demeanor, I do not propose to comment. The backward movement was completed, and on October 29 the Army of Utah was further from Salt Lake City than it was on Sep-tember 29. Fort Bridger and Fort Supply, where it was known that the Mormons had great stores of provisions, remained unmolested. In the meanwhile three supply-trains had been burned, and Government property to the value of more than $1,000,000 destroyed by rebels; more than 1,500 cattle had been stolen by the same rebels from the rear and neighborhood of the army; and at least one murder and several atrociout robberies had been perpetrated by Mormons upon peaceable mountaineers. Yet the commanding officer had all the while been conduction a correspondence with Brigham Young, which I hope to see, at some period, made public, and never in the course of that correspondence had he seemed to realize the relation in which the Mormon communi-ty had placed itself toward the National Govern-ment. It was undoubtedly a great responsibility which rested upon the shoulders of Col. Alexander; but it was also a great opportunity for vindicating the national honor and winning personal distinc-tion with which he was furnished, an opportunity such as never before befell an officer of his rank in the whole military history of the United States. The arrival of Col. Johnston shifted the responsi-bility, but the opportunity was lost to Col. Alexan-der forever, and to the Army of Utah until next Spring.
In consideration of this series of obstacles to the immediate success of the Utah Expedition, it is a general desire in the army that a court of investiga-tion shall be ordered into the conduct of the cam-paign. The blame, if blame is to be bestowed, will rest upon only a few officers, high in rank to be sure, but not above question as to military ca-pacity. It cannot, in any event, be fastened upon any corps in the command. There is not a sub-altern, nor even, I believe, a private in the ranks, who would not welcome an opportunity, attended by whatever difficulty or hardship, to wipe out the mortification which is sincere and universal.
CAMP SCOTT, Nov. 30,1857.
The mail will leave at sunrise to-morrow morn-ing. There is little news to add to what I have recorded in the package which I send.
A venire will be issued to-morrow for a Grand Jury for the term of the District Court for this county, which will commence on Monday, Dec. 7. It is possible that no one of the political cases will be touched at this term, on account of the difficulty which the Mormon prisoners will experince in pro-curing counsel and witnesses for their defense. The court will be held in a hospital tent issued for that purpose by order of Col. Johnston.
Mr. Ficklin, with his corps of scouts, arrived to-day from Henry's Fork, where he has succeeded in purchasing several hundred head of beef cattle from the mountaineers.
All the Government wagons and camp equipage left on the road have been brought up safely, and also the train of Radford & Cabot, sutlers to the 5th Infantry, and that of Gilbert Gerrish.
The arrival of the November mail from the States is expected daily.
The health of the army continues good, and large quantities of vegetables have been taken from caches discovered near Fort Supply, and are de-posited for the use of the hospitals in cases of scurvy. Beside what was found in caches, more than 200 bushels of turnips were dug from a single field.
Dr. Hurt, the Indian Agent, transmits a report to Washington by this mail, which discusses freely and fully the various intrigues of the Mormons with the Indian tribes.
AFFIDAVIT OF AN ESCAPED MORMON WOMAN.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY FOR UTAH, GREEN RIVER COUNTY, SS:
United States of America, Territory of Utah.—Margaret H. Mogo, being duly sworn, testifies on oath that she is the wife of Charles Mogo, a citizen of the United States, and is aged 20 years.
My late residence was in Salt Lake City in the Ter-ritory of Utah, where my husband was Deputy Sur-veyor-General. He fled from there on or about July 29, 1857, being compelled to leave by acts committed by the Mormons. Brigham Young preached a sermon in the Bowery in which he applied libelous and insult-ing epithets to my husband, and exhorted the Mor-mons to "go at him." After that sermon people con-tinually hung around our house at night, and my hus-band was repeatedly assailed with stones while pass-ing through the streets. He left on horseback about 9 o'clock a. m.
After his departure I did not go out of my house until I got ready to leave the city. Mr. Bell of the firm of Livingston, Kincaid &. Co. lived with his fam-ily In the house with me. I gave birth to a child on Sept. 16, 1857. I have been attached to the Mormon faith, but am so no longer. I have been solicited to be initiated in the Mormon endowments, but have re-fused.
On Oct. 20, George Grant, one of the dignitaries of the Mormon church, came to me officially and asked me if I wanted to leave the city. I told him that I did, that I wanted to go to my husband. He asked me then if I was willing to abandon the Mormon church for the sake of my husband. I answered, that for my hus-band's sake I was willing to abandon everything. He then told me that I must give him notice of the day when I wanted to leave. My baby was sick, and I said that I could not be ready to go for a week.
That same day, Grant and Ferry Little, who is also a Mormon, came and took away from my house, without authority, a variety of things, which belonged to my husband, and were worth several thousand dollars, (flour, coffee, sugar, dried apples, camp equipage, &c.). They professed to take them for the benefit of the Mormon church, and they gave Mr. Bell a memoran-dum-book, in which they pretended to have written down the quantities of things which they took; but these quantities were stated incorrectly. Mr. Bell gave it to me.
During the week, Marianne, one of the wives of Brigham Young's eldest son, Joseph, came to call on Mrs. Bell and myself, I think with the intention of dissuading me from going away. Among other things, who said that it was I, being a Mormon, who had saved my husband's life on July 29. Joseph Young, her husband, is reputed to be in command with one of the bands of Mormons who are now in arms against the United States.
On or about Oct. 28, a light carriage, drawn by mules, was sent to take me away. I did not know who, if anybody, was to accompany me; but I found three men with the carriage, John Harvey, Adam Sharp and Joseph Sharp. People came out to the doors of all the houses around to see me go off. On the route I sat on the back seat with my child, and either Harvey or one of the Sharps usually drove, while the other two rode on horseback. Before we were clear from the outskirts of the city Jesse Jones and William Hickman caught up with us on horseback and joined us.
At some places on the road two men sat in front of me instead of one, and on two occasions they took Mr. Jones around mountains so as to prevent his ob-serving things on the regular road. The first time was on our second day out, about noon. At the place where they took him round I saw many Mormons armed. They were on foot. They had a prisoner there to whom Jones went to speak. There was a stream there, which we crossed; I do not know its name. In size, it was about as large as Black's Pork of Green River. They took him round again the same evening, or else the next day, at a stream again, in a valley. I think it was the same stream. There I saw what I thought were ruins.
We passed through Echo Canon at night. They put Jones in the wagon on our drive through it. The carriage being covered and my seat being at the back, and my attention devoted to my child, it was impossi-ble for me to note accurately anything which we passed on the journey. There was a Mormon camp at each end of Echo Canon, where there were many men under arms.
My baby died on Saturday, October 31. On that day we reached Fort Bridger. There we stopped some time, but I was kept shut up in the carriage all the while. George Grant came to the carriage there and spoke to me. William Hickman stopped there. His younger brother, who had joined us in one of the canons, and the two Sharps, Harvey and Mr. Jones came on to Col. Alexander's camp with me, where we arrived on Sunday, November 1.
In Salt Lake, before I left, I heard that all the men from the other Mormon settlements were collected and camped on the Temple Square, and that there was a large body of Mormons in the Council House, ready to move at a moment's notice. I heard, also, that Brig-ham Young had preached a sermon in the Square, to the effect that his people ought first to get rid of the Gen-tiles and then cut all the apostate Mormens' throats. All the Gentiles left in the city, about half-a-dozen in number, intended to depart for California by the mail, which was to leave for there on November 5. Mr. Bell wanted to come East instead of going to California, but Brigham Young refused him a permit. He sold his stock to Brigham and the Mormon Church for lands in Iowa. There is a very small supply of groceries and clothing in Salt Lake City; but of such provisions as are native products of the Territory there is an abundance.
In my opinion the proportion of the Mormons, who would be glad of an opportunity to escape from the authority of the Church, and who are privately op-posed to the course which Brigham Young has adopted toward the United States Government, is about one quarter of the men, and certainly one-half of the women. Beside the regular Mormon camp which we passed on our journey, we met repeatedly small parties of Mormons on horseback, numbering, each, from five to fifteen or twenty men—the last of them within five or six miles of Col. Alexander's camp.
Mr. Bell told me, before I left, that Mr. Jones and myself were sent out by the Mormons for the purpose of getting Dr. Hickman released and sent back to Salt Lake City. Dr. Hickman is a brother of William Hick-man, and was at the time a prisoner in Col. Alexan-der's camp.
(Signed) MARGARET MOGO.
Subscribed and sworn to before the Hon. D. H. Eckels, Chief Justice of the Territory of Utah, on the fifteenth day of Novem-ber, in the year, 1857. Attest:
ALBERT G. BROWNE, jr.,
[L. S.] Clerk pro tem of the U. S. District Court for
Green River County, U. T.
MORMON BULLETINS.
We have files of The Deseret News to Nov. 4, con-taining the latest bulletins of the Saints in regard to the conflict with the Government.
FROM CARSON VALLEY.
The company from Carson began to arrive on the 1st inst., and will probably be all in by the 3d. This company, with a few exceptions, embraces all who were sent on missions to that region, also several from Oregon and California. It is reported that the Gentiles were mad when the "Mormons" settled in Carson, and madder still when they left, proving the truth of the saying that "the wicked are like a troubled sea cast-ing up mire and dirt." But as they are not pleased with themselves, how can it be expected that they should be with anybody else ? With them it is "life" and salvation to do everything to serve the devil, "but death and destruction for the Latter Day Saints "to serve the Lord."
Elder Henry P. Richards arrived with this company from his late mission to the Sandwich Islands.
BRIGHAM DEFINES HIS POSITION.
In the Tabernacle on the 4th of October, Brigham Young made the following remarks:
I will say a few words before the congregation is dismissed.
As but few can be in our offices to learn the news that is brought in, I will say that on the 2d, Friday last, a messenger arrived with the intelligence that the soldiers were going up Ham's Fork. Previous to that I had sent by Lieut. Gen. Wells a copy of the proclamation proclaiming martial law and ordering the troops not to come here. They treated it as I supposed they would. They say they are sent by the President, are subject to superior officers, and intend to abide their instructions, and I expect they will until some other power checks their progress.
I do not know that anybody's heart burns, except it is to get a little nearer to our enemies, and for the troops to undertake to come in here.
I have told you before, and I tell you now, that the result will be that Mormonism will be higher and greater in power than it ever was before. Our ene-mies will sink while we increase in power and strength, and enjoy an influence that we never en-joyed before, and the Lord will have His own way in bringing about these things. I know that all will be made right, and an all-wise, overruling Providence will bring us off victorious. He has led us to victory and peace, and has given us power and influence that we can sustain ourselves against all that can come to annoy, destroy, desolate and drive the Saints of God. God will fight our battles, and He will do it just as He
If the Government of the United States have sent soldiers to this Territory, I do not know it, for I have had no official notice of such a circumstance, and you will perceive that I treat them accordingly. If they are sent by Government, they are sent expressly to destroy this people; and if they are not, sent by the Government, they have come expressly to destroy this people; therefore, I shall treat them, as I have informed the officer in command, the same as though they were an avowed mob—not as I would those who have heretofore mobbed us, but as parties who have come to mob us now.
I have informed Col. Alexander that, had his com-mand been the men who have heretofure mobbed us, and the lying scribblers and the wicked rabble who have all the day long been trying to incite mobs against us, they never would have seen the South Pass.
We have sought for peace all the day long, and I have sought for peace with the army now on your borders, and have warned them that we all most firmly believe that they are sent here solely with a view to destroy this people, though they may be ignorant of that fact. And though we may believe that they are sent by the Government of the United States, yet I, as Governor of this Territory, have no business to know any such thing, until I am notified by proper authority at Washington. I have a right to treat them as a mob, just as though they had been raised and officered in Missouri, and sent here expressly to destroy this people. We have been very merciful and very lenient to them. As I informed them in my un-official letter, had they been those mobocrats who mobbed us in Missouri, they never would have seen the South Pass. We had plenty of boys on hand, and the mode of warfare they would have met with, they are not acquainted with.
I would just as soon tell them as tell you of my mode of warfare. As the Lord God lives we will waste our enemies by millions, if they send them here to destroy us, and not a man of us be hurt. That is the method I intend to pursue. Do you want to know what is going to be done with the enemies now on our borders ? If they come here I will tell you what will be done. As soon as they start to come into our settlements let sleep depart from their eyes, and slumber from their eyelids, until they sleep in death, for they have been warned and forewarned that we will not tamely submit to being destroyed. Men shall be se-creted here and there, and shall waste away our ene-mies, in the name of Israel's God.
Col. Anderson complains of our mode of warfare. They have two or more field batteries of artillery with them, and they want us to form a line of battle in an open plain and give them a fair chance to shoot us. I did not tell the Colonel what I thought, but if he had a spark of sense, he must be a fool to think that we will ever do any such thing. I am going to ob-serve the old maxim:
"He who fights and runs away,
Lives to fight another day."
Should our enemies venture upon violent measures I design so to manage affairs that none of our boys will be killed, and in my answer to the Colonel I have told him pretty plainly what we shall do under certain contingencies.
Colonel Alexander preaches to me a little, stating in his letter, "I warn you that the blood shed in this contest will be upon your head;" but that warning gave me no thought. But if the blood of those soldiers is shed, it will be upon the heads of their officers.
Another year, I am going to prepare for the worst, and I want you to prepare to cache our grain and lay waste this Territory, or I am determined, if driven to that extremity, that our enemies shall find nothing but heaps of ashes and ruins. We will be so prepared that in a few days all can be consumed. I shall re-quest the bishops to see that the people in their wards are provided with two or three years' provisions. There is enough already raised in many places this season to supply the people from two to three years, and I wish them to take care of it, though I ex-pect that in all probability we will raise a great many crops before our enemies again come here to disturb us; and I expect that we are fully able to defend our-selves, and that our enemies will not be able to come within a hundred miles of us. I know that ten men, such as I could name and select, could stop them be-fore they got to Laramie. And if we had seen fit to have sent such men this season, they alone could very easily have so stopped our enemies that they never would have got through the Black Hills. I count five such men equal to twenty-five thousand, and believe that two of them could put ten thousand to flight. I believe we are now where that could be done. I will take five or ten such as I can name, and if two can put ten thousand to flight I am sure that ten are perfectly able to do it.
ELDER WM. YOUNG SHOWS FIGHT.
We acknowledge Br. Brigham Young as President of this church; we have long acknowledged him as such; also Br. Heber C. Kimball as his first and Br. Daniel H. Wells as his second Counselor. This quo-rum constitutes an embodied power. Where does it center? In the head; and it compares with the Triune Godhead, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Are these three men, who compose the First Presidency, one ? They are. God has ordained them on earth to fulfill his purposes, build up his kingdom, cast down Babylon, establish righteousness on the face of all the earth, cleanse this planet from corruption and prepare it for a dwelling place for immortal saints.
Has not the Lord embodied all the priesthood and power of his kingdom in the head of the first quorum of his church ? Yes; where should the power of this people be centered ? In that personage whom God has ordained to lead his people; and, as I have prayed myself, not that the Lord would tell me any-thing particular about the armies of the enemies of God, but make it known to his servants Brigham, Heber and Daniel; that he would give such counsel to his servant Brigham as would be necessary for the ad-vancement of his kingdom, the destruction of Satan's empire and the downfall of Babylon, the spread of truth and the universal reign of peace on this planet, until the land of Joseph is purified and the people of God return and go back with pure hearts and contrite spirits to Jackson County, according to the words of the servants of God, and build the great Temple of the Lord, according to the words of the Prophet Joseph.
Well, here we are, a free people; we are at liberty to go out in the defense of Zion, which we never could do before. The elders have been to the nations and besought the people to repent and leave off their wickedness, to reform and be baptized and be saved, crying as John the Baptist did, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Had the nations opened the door to the servants of God to freely preach among them, before this time the Gospel would have been sounded in every ear, and when that is done, Jeeus says the end shall come. When the olive tree begins to put forth its buds, know ye that Summer is nigh. The stone that is cut out of the mountains without hands has begun to roll, and it will fall on the feet, toes and legs of the image and crush great Babylon to pieces; by its power the na-tions will be broken.
I have long prayed that the Lord Almighty would destroy the nation that gave me birth, unless the rulers thereof repent; yes, I pray that it may be broken to pieces and become like an old vessel that is broken and thrown out to rot and to return to its na-tive elements.
Let us keep the commandments of God and all will be right. I want to say a word in relation to our present position. It becometh you and I to be val-iant for the truth. All the Latter Day Saints have said, they are willing to stand up in defense of the cause of truth.
The old Methodists used to say, when they got up in the pulpit to speak as I have to day, that they were ready to defend Zion's cause at any risk. They knew but little about Zion and her cause and the principles of eternal truth. But they have been revealed and taught to us from the stand. Sab-bath after Sabbath. No people have been blessed with the privileges of the Gospel of the Son of God as we have!
We are free, for Christ has made us free, and the Apostle says: "Whom the Son makes free is free indeed." If you are free by the blood of the cove-nant, and have redeemed yourself by its requirements, see that you bring no spots upon your garments, be-tray not your trust, but be constant to the truth and stand a witness for it under every circumstance in which you may be placed.
Will the Lord give strength? Yes, and all the power, victory and glory we need. The Lord has courageous men and women in the last days, and I believe there is as much courage among the women as there is among the men. I want them to have courage enough to pray for their husbands and sons, instead of being afraid, and not say when one of the brethren comes into your house, "Do you think any of the brethren will be killed ?" The Lord will dictate that, you need have no anxiety about it. Lorenzo Dow told the people on a certain occasion, ''You old professors, go home and take down your "Bibles that have lain on the shelf until you can write "damnation in the dust that has collected on them, "and read the old Prophets and see what the Lord did "for his people of old." The Lord, at one time, sent forth his angel in the time of battle and slew a hun-dred, four score and four thousand souls in one night. At another time, when the people of God went forth to battle and they were afraid, the servant of the Lord stood before them and encouraged them, exhorting them with words of consolation, saying, the Lord is at the head of his armies.
Brethren, trust not altogether in the weapons which are in your hands; but when you fight, pray and let your meditations be unto your (God, and the Lord will regard you and answer your prayer and fight your battles, as he did in the days of the Philistines when they defied the armies of Israel. The Lord gives vic-tory to his people, but we should all the time be will-ing to come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty, whenever it is necessary.
May God bless you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
POSITION OF THE MORMON ARMY.
From The Lot Angeles Star Extra, Dec. 8.
Mr. Bell, with whom we have had a conversation, informs us that he left Salt Lake City on the 8th No-vember, and after two days' traveling, short stages, encamped for a day or two. While encamped an ex-press arrived from the city, who informed them that Col. Johnston had arrived at Ham's Fork and taken the command; that communications, short and ex-pressive, had passed between the Colonel and Gov. Young, the result of which was that Col. Johnston or-dered his command to be ready next morning for an advance on Salt Lake City, where he intended to winter. Ham's Fork is about one hundred miles from the city. The Mormons were stationed at Echo Canon, about fifty miles from the city, through which the troops must pass. A collision, therefore, was in-evitable, as the Mormons were in great numbers, and were being rapidly reinforced. A march of two or three days would bring the troops in front of their op-ponents.
The rumor we alluded to in our last, respecting the burning of a number of wagons, has been confirmed by Mr. Bell. The wagons were the property of the Government contractors, and seventy-six of them were burned. A body of armed mounted men came at night to the camp, told the wagon-master what they intended to do, gave him time to awake his men and remove their baggage and bedding, told him to select a wagon to take his party back to the States, which he did, and they then set fire to the whole train, burn-ing up seventy-six wagons. The cattle were driven into Salt Lake City.
With regard to the Indians east of Salt Lake, it is more than probable that Col. Johnston has propitiated them, and they will be found, if not on the side of the Government, at least neutral.
In case of resistance to the troops, there is every reason for confidence that Col. Johnston will force the passage of the canon, and make good his advance to the city.
The force of the Mormons has been greatly over-estimated; almost every available man has been en-rolled. In passing through the settlements, Mr. Bell found that the men generally had been called out to the mountains; and yet the whole force fell far short of 10,000 men.
The Winter has set in with severity. In the city the snow was two inches deep, and in the mountains, where the Mormons were encamped, it must have been from six to twelve inches deep.
The Mormon army was in a very poor condition, badly clothed, poorly armed, and with very little pro-visions.
The families are represented as being in a suffering condition—wanting in provisions and wood—the Win-ter already commenced, and the men all called off to the camps.
Mr. Bell's company had passports from Gov. Young, but were only asked for them once. It seemed as if intelligence had been sent ahead of them, and all knew of their journey to California but at one station.
Nevertheless, it was necessary, at each settlement, to call on the Bishop, hire an interpreter, and send them ahead of the company to treat with the Indians for their safe passage. By representing themselves as Mormons, using every precaution, and more particu-larly by the expenditure of over $2,000 among Bish-ops, interpreters and Indians, the company succeeded in making their way in safety.
We have confirmation of the report that was circu-lated at the time, regarding the company that was massacred some time since, that they suftered at the hands of the Indians in revenge for criminal indis-cretions on the part of certain of their members. Small bags containing poison were found in springs, the waters of which caused sickness and death among the Indians. They mustered their forces, followed and massacred the whole party.
The Mormons who recently left San Bernardino for Salt Lake were met by Mr. Bell's company beyond the Mojave. The train was moving along. There was no encampment on the Mojave, as had been re-ported here the past two or three days.
Messrs. Kincaid & Co., and Gilbert & Grelish, sold out their entire stock of goods to the Mormons at the prices offered by the authorities. They were told the people wanted them, and they had better take what they could get, or abide the result.
Mr. Bell was enrolled in the army of defense, but, on being informed of it, declined, of course, the in-tended honor. He, therefore, left the Territory. The company arrived in good health.
19th Century Mormon Article Newspaper Index
