Adventures in Mormon History

On 26 June 1858, COL Albert Sidney Johnston ordered his troops forward, marching them towards Salt Lake City. For over a year, they had endured cold, hunger, and grueling marches. Now, as they entered Salt Lake City, they found it abandoned -- other than a few Soldiers of the Nauvoo Legion, who stood ready to set the city ablaze if Johnston’s Soldiers began rampaging. How did Johnston’s Army feel about this ambiguous end to a year-long campaign?  How did Latter-day Saints deal with uncertainty amid Army patrols and evacuation orders? And how effective were these military measures, when the spirited young men and women of Pioneer Utah wanted to be together? 

On this episode, we explore: 

○  Johnston's Decision to March to Salt Lake City before he could be reinforced -- and all the glory for a successful campaign stolen -- by General William S. Harney.  
○  The Nauvoo Legion's efforts to evacuate the city and prepare it for burning.
○  How the young men and women of pioneer Utah creatively defied evacuation orders, armed sentries, and patrols, to be together.  
○  Johnston's march through Salt Lake City, despite the taunting appearance of BG James Ferguson and the Nauvoo Legion Cavalry.  
○  Mixed reactions -- both of disappointment and awe -- at entering Salt Lake City.  
○  Loud complaints of New York Times correspondent James Simonton at the distance that the Latter-day Saint women maintained from both him and the Army -- and one obvious reason why that Simonton seemingly overlooked.  
○  The end of the Utah War and tribute to Thomas L. Kane of Pennsylvania.

For the materials and sources in this story, we owe a special thanks to Utah War historian William "Bill" MacKinnon - His two-volume set, "At Sword's Point: A Documentary History of the Utah War to 1858" is an extraordinary resource for anyone interested in learning more about the Utah War. It is available on Amazon and Google Books.  

Search Terms: Thomas L. Kane, Brigham Young, COL Albert Sidney Johnston, New York Times, James Simonton, James Ferguson,  Governor Alfred Cumming, Utah War, Camp Scott, Fort Bridger, Wyoming History, Utah History, James Buchanan, Mormon History, Latter-day Saints, U.S. Army, American West, Romance, Courtship, and Marriage in Pioneer Utah, Polygamy, Monogamy.

In March 1858, Thomas Kane’s efforts to end the Utah War had been fruitless.  a week with COL Albert Sidney Johnston and the U.S. Army on the plains of Wyoming. President James Buchanan had sent the Army to Utah, to remove Brigham Young as Governor and replace him with Alfred Cumming. This had led to a months-long armed standoff between the US Army and the Latter-day Saint militia. Sensing that he alone could work out a peace between the two sides, Thomas Kane raced to the Wyoming Wilderness, at personal expense and with no official authority, to throw himself between the Armies and negotiate a peace. But after months of grueling travel, personal danger, and several close calls with death, Thomas Kane had made no progress in convincing COL Johnston or his staff to de-escalate the conflict.     

This would change on the night of March 16th, when Kane called on COL Johnston with an usual request. Kane asked for permission to pass through the Army’s defensive line to travel to the Latter-day Saint militia and deliver a sealed letter to Brigham Young. As one of the few outsiders that the Latter-day Saints trusted, Kane could cross through the Nauvoo Legion’s defenses without trouble, even though they had brought the U.S. Army campaign to a cautious halt.  COL Johnston gave him permission. and so Kane armed himself with two pistols, took his brother’s rifle, mounted his horse, and headed west, passing through the Sentry Line and riding towards the Latter-day Saint militia.

On this episode, we explore Kane's secret message to Brigham Young, his close call with death as he survived an attempt on his life, his meeting with William Kimball where he proposed an audacious plan - Bring Alfred Cumming alone into Salt Lake City, leaving the Army without a mission or purpose, and set the stage for a lasting peace.  

To learn more about the stories in this episode, please check out these (excellent!) sources:  

For the materials and sources in this story, we owe a special thanks to Utah War historian William "Bill" MacKinnon - His two-volume set, "At Sword's Point: A Documentary History of the Utah War to 1858" is an extraordinary resource for anyone interested in learning more about the Utah War. It is available on Amazon and Google Books.  

o   Matthew J. Grow, “I have Given Myself to the Devil: Thomas L. Kane and the Culture of Honor,” 73 Utah Hist. Q. 4 (2005).  

o   Richard D. Poll, “Thomas L. Kane and the Utah War,” 61 Utah Hist. Q. 2 (1993). 

o   Elder Lance B. Wickman, “Thomas L. Kane: Outrider for Zion,” Ensign (September 2003).

Search Terms: Thomas L. Kane, Brigham Young, COL Albert Sidney Johnston, CPT Culvier Grover, MAJ Fitz John Porter, Governor Alfred Cumming, Utah War, Camp Scott, Fort Bridger, Wyoming History, Utah History, James Buchanan, Patrick "Pat" Kane, Elizabeth Kane, Echo Canyon, Mormon History, Latter-day Saints, U.S. Army, American West.

 Note: During their lifetimes, a debate came up between Alfred Cumming and Thomas Kane on one side and Major Fitz John Porter on the other as to whether Cumming was heading off into the unknown or whether Brigham Young had invited him into the Salt Lake Valley. It seems clear that Young had not passed any message to Cumming (a good part of Kane's discussion with William Kimball was focused on what to do if Brigham Young did not agree) -- but Kane may have overplayed his hand in assuring Cumming he would be well received.  

On the night of 9 March 1858, Thomas L. Kane was trudging through a heavy snow storm on his self-appointed mission to End the Utah War. He had convinced Brigham Young and Church Leaders to extend an olive branch to the Army Expedition by offering them large quantities of food and supplies.  But now, over 25 feet of snow buried the mountain roads. With temperatures plummeting and winds howling, Kane found himself growing weaker while the storm raged around him. Sensing that he might not survive, the sickly Kane decided to prepare for the worst. He wrote a letter to Alfred Cumming, the incoming Governor of Utah traveling with the Army:  "Dear sir: In case of accident I write this memorandum to apprise you that I am the bearer of overtures for peace from Gov. Brigham Young. Letters from Pres. Buchanan throwing light upon my position will be found upon my person. My other letters and effects I beg may be forwarded to my family at Philadelphia."  But three days later, Kane, insensible and frosted, would ride into the Army Camp. 

On this episode, we explore Thomas Kane's awkward meeting with COL Johnston, how the Soldiers of the expedition openly grumbled that Kane should be hanged as a "Mormon spy," how Kane's relationship with Johnston soured to the point that he challenged the Commander to a duel, and how his efforts to convince Johnston to reciprocate Brigham Young's olive branch instead gave the impression that the Latter-day Saints were weak, divided, and vulnerable.  We remember how, at the end of his week at the Army Camp, Kane was farther from peace then ever . . . And yet how, when all hope seemed gone, he struck upon an idea that would prove his single greatest contribution to end the Utah War.  


To learn more about the stories in this episode, please check out these (excellent!) sources:  

For the materials and sources in this story, we owe a special thanks to Utah War historian William "Bill" MacKinnon - His two-volume set, "At Sword's Point: A Documentary History of the Utah War to 1858" is an extraordinary resource for anyone interested in learning more about the Utah War. It is available on Amazon and Google Books.  

o   Matthew J. Grow, “I have Given Myself to the Devil: Thomas L. Kane and the Culture of Honor,” 73 Utah Hist. Q. 4 (2005).  

o   Richard D. Poll, “Thomas L. Kane and the Utah War,” 61 Utah Hist. Q. 2 (1993). 

o   Elder Lance B. Wickman, “Thomas L. Kane: Outrider for Zion,” Ensign (September 2003).

Search Terms: Thomas L. Kane, Brigham Young, COL Albert Sidney Johnston, CPT Culvier Grover, MAJ Fitz John Porter, Orin Porter Rockwell, Governor Alfred Cumming, CPT John W. Phelps, Utah War, Fort Bridger,Camp Scott, Ecklesville, James Buchanan, Patrick "Pat" Kane, Elizabeth Kane, Echo Canyon, Mormon History, Latter-day Saints, U.S. Army, American West.


The Title of this Episode comes from the report of a French Correspondent with the Army Camp, who reported that Kane "literally fell as a bombshell in the midst of federal officers."  

In February 1858, the Latter-day Saints and the U.S. Army were in an armed standoff on the frozen plains of Wyoming.  The Army, under the command of COL Albert Sidney Johnston, were on half rations, and suffering from a lack of salt. The Latter-day Saints seemed to have the upper hand for the time being, though they faced growing threats from all sides.  In the middle of this stalemate a strange letter arrived in Salt Lake City for Brigham Young.  It had come express from the town of Nephi, about 80 miles to the south.  The note, scrawled in a hurry, contained this cryptic message: “My dear sir, I trust you will recognize my handwriting. That I have made [the journey] in six weeks from New York may persuade you that I am on no fool’s errand . . . . I send this to you by express, and urge you to postpone any military movement of importance until we meet and have a serious interview. If you cannot see the expediency of doing so on other grounds, I entreat it as a favor – in requital of the services which I rendered your people in their less prosperous days. I remain their friend, to serve them faithfully, Dr. Osborne.”  

Two days later, pale and shaking with illness, the mysterious “Doctor Osborne” arrived in the city – it was none other than their friend, Colonel Thomas Kane, who could now dispense with his pseudonym.   He had indeed made the trip in 6 weeks, traveling night and day to reach Salt Lake City before the Latter-day Saints and the U.S. Army came to battle. But his message to the Saints -- to welcome the Army into the valley, and immediately send them food and supplies, turned out to be a hard sell. Some (like George A. Smith) scoffed at this idea.  How COL Kane managed to (as his wife Elizabeth would later write),  "turn a whole people’s will and make them ask for peace in the hour of their triumph.” 

To learn more about the stories in this episode, please check out these (excellent!) sources:  

David L. Bigler, "The Crisis at Fort Limhi 185, 35 Utah Hist. Q. 2 (1967), available at https://issuu.com/utah10/docs/uhq_volume35_1967_number2/s/104099. 

For the materials and sources in this story, we owe a special thanks to Utah War historian William "Bill" MacKinnon - His two-volume set, "At Sword's Point: A Documentary History of the Utah War to 1858" is an extraordinary resource for anyone interested in learning more about the Utah War. It is available on Amazon and Google Books.  

Search Terms: Thomas L. Kane, Brigham Young, George A. Smith, Utah War, Fort Bridger, James Buchanan, Patrick "Pat" Kane, Echo Canyon, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Mormon History, Latter-day Saints, U.S. Army, American West, Fort Limhi, Shashone, Bannock, Attack.  

This episode continues the adventures of Thomas L. Kane, who left his home in February 1858 and set out for Salt Lake City.  His self-imposed mission was to stop the Utah War.  His plan was, as his wife Elizabeth later wrote, was somewhat hazy:  “Tom’s plan was to go in disguise to Utah by way of California, winter though it was, and make his unexpected appearance at Brigham Young’s very gates, relying upon his own mental force and Young’s knowledge of the sincerity of his goodwill to the Mormons. He actually intended to turn a whole people’s will and make them ask for peace in the hour of their triumph.”  But before he could get to Brigham Young's gates, he first had to pass through the towns of Los Angeles and San Bernadino. At the time, both these towns were hornet nests of anti-Mormon frenzy. 

On this episode, we recount:

  o  How Thomas Kane assumed the identity of "Doctor Osborne," and came up with a cover story about needing to get to Utah to collect specimens of western flora. We recount how (somewhat ham-fisted) effort at undercover work.
   
  o  Just how dangerous Los Angeles and San Bernadino were for Latter-day Saints in 1857 - 1858.  For background, we recount the (mis)adventures of William Wall, who passed through San Bernadino on his way home to Provo from a mission to Australia.  He was pursued by a lynch mob, but managed to evade them twice. But he had a final confrontation as he prepared to leave the City.  We recount how, as William Wall was surrounded, he bore a "powerful testimony of the Gospel."  Then, he bore a different kind of testimony with what he called a "splendid double-barreled shotgun" and a "good Bowie knife," impressing upon the mob that some of them would die along with him.  

  o The Vigilance Committee of San Bernadino's efforts to hunt the mysterious "Doctor Osborne."

   o How Kane saved from the violence of the Vigilance Committee by Frances Swan Clark and Colonel Alden Jackson. 

To learn more about the stories in this episode, please check out these (excellent!) sources: 

    o  Ardis A. Parshall, "Frances Swan Clark: A Kindness Remembered," essay posted 18 May 2008 and last visited on 6 November 2022, http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2008/05/18/frances-swan-clark-a-kindness-remembered-redux/.  I came across Parshall's essay in MacKinnon, At Sword's Point, Part 2 Chapter 7, n. 34, so thanks to both Parshall and MacKinnon!

   o For the materials and sources in this story, we owe a special thanks to Utah War historian William "Bill" MacKinnon - His two-volume set, "At Sword's Point: A Documentary History of the Utah War to 1858" is an extraordinary resource for anyone interested in learning more about the Utah War. It is available on Amazon and Google Books.  

Search Terms: Frances Swan (Kimball Clark) Clark, Winter Quarters, Thomas L. Kane, Patrick Kane, Utah War, Albert Sidney Johnston, "Doctor Osborne," George Clark, William Wall, William Pickett, Elizabeth Kane, James Buchanan, Brigham Young, Ebenezer Hanks, Los Angeles, San Bernadino, Mississippi River, Mormon Pioneers, Plural Marriage, Polygamy, Secret Identity, Vigilance Committee, Lynch Mobs, Old West, Colonel Alden Jackson,         

At the crisis of the Utah War -- Arguably the most dangerous moment in the history of the Latter-day Saints -- Colonel Thomas Kane set out on a bold plan: He would travel to Utah and Wyoming, in the dead of winter, throw himself between the U.S. Army and the Latter-day Saints, and hammer out a peace agreement. Nobody -- including President James Buchanan and his own father, Judge John Kane -- believed he would succeed. Yet Thomas Kane declared to Buchanan, "I am determined to go, with or without your approbation."  On this episode (Part I of III), we remember Colonel Thomas Kane, the greatest hero of the Utah War.  

Thomas Kane was born to wealthy and influential parents. His father, John Kane, was a federal judge and a leading Jacksonian Democrat. The Kane family was driven by a deep need for adventure, exploration, and humanitarian causes. Elisha would become a Navy Officer and an explorer.  When the British expedition of Sir John Franklin disappeared into the Arctic in 1845, Elisha would answer the pleas of Lady Jane Franklin for a rescue mission. He would make two grueling expeditions to the frozen Arctic wastes in an effort to find and rescue the unfortunate crew of the Terror. 

Thomas was, in some ways, different from his brother Elisha. At 5 and a half feet and 130 pounds, Thomas was frequently laid low with illness. But he shared his brother’s deep need for hardship and rugged adventure, which seemed to bring him to life.  His brother John would later write, “Tom is never so well as when exposed to that which would kill most men of his build, and that a hard life in open air—not matter how hard—always agrees with him better than the most tranquil sedentary existence." 

On this episode, we recount:

- Thomas's efforts to follow in his brother's tracks, and lead his own expedition to the frozen Arctic to rescue the unfortunate crews of the H.M.S. Terror and the H.M.S. Erebus.  
- Thomas Kane's grief at the death of his friend, LDS Apostle Jedediah M. Grant.
- Thomas Kane's need for rugged adventure and open-handed philanthropy
- Thomas Kane's hair-trigger sensitivity for anything he viewed as a slight to his honor, and even after suffering a gunshot wound to the face during the 1861 Battle of Dranesville (near present-day Arlington, Virginia), he was determined to move forward and fight a duel against a fellow Union Officer.  
- His wife Elizabeth's desperate effort to stop her husband from dueling 

To learn more about the stories in this episode, please check out these (excellent!) sources: 

o   Matthew J. Grow, “I have Given Myself to the Devil: Thomas L. Kane and the Culture of Honor,” 73 Utah Hist. Q. 4 (2005).  NOTE: In this episode, I state as a fact that Elisha Kent Kane married Margaret Fox.  Matthew Grow's article describes the history of their romance and their love letters.  Margaret Fox claimed they were married; the surviving Kane family strenuously disputed her claim.  

o   Richard D. Poll, “Thomas L. Kane and the Utah War,” 61 Utah Hist. Q. 2 (1993) 

o   Elder Lance B. Wickman, “Thomas L. Kane: Outrider for Zion,” Ensign (September 2003)

 o For the materials and sources in this story, we owe a special thanks to Utah War historian William "Bill" MacKinnon - His two-volume set, "At Sword's Point: A Documentary History of the Utah War to 1858" is an extraordinary resource for anyone interested in learning more about the Utah War.     

Before Lot Smith’s raid on the Wagon Supplies, conventional wisdom in the Government and the Nation seemed to be that talk of the Latter-day Saints actually resisting the Army was just that – Talk.   But when news of the raid finally reached the states, it was shocking. Overnight, Johnston’s Army lost roughly half its supplies for the campaign. Johnston and his troops would spend a hungry, freezing winter on half-rations in the ashes of what had once been Fort Bridger – which also had been burned by the Nauvoo Legion to deny shelter to Johnston’s troops.        

But Lot Smith's raid sparked a dangerous escalation of the conflict.  A Grand Jury hastily handed down indictments for treason against Church Leaders, raising the grim prospect of death by hanging.  Army leaders -- Johnston, McClellan, William T. Sherman, Harney -- all longed for a pitched battle against the Mormons.  Latter-day Saints faced danger and new threats from the north (with native tribes turning against them), from the south (with the intrepid Captain Randolph Marcy on the verge of finding a way through Utah's arid red rock desert), and from the west (as Californians clamored to raise a force to attack Utah and avenge the murders of the Baker-Francher Wagon Company at Mountain Meadows).    On this episode, we explore what easily could have been the most precarious and dangerous moment the Latter-day Saints have ever faced. 

For the materials and sources in this story, we owe a special thanks to Utah War historian William "Bill" MacKinnon - His two-volume set, "At Sword's Point: A Documentary History of the Utah War to 1858" is an extraordinary resource for anyone interested in learning more about the Utah War.    

Search Terms: Utah War, William McClellan, "Little Mac", William Tecumseh Sherman, Albert Sidney Johnston, William Selby "Squaw Killer" Harney, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Poerter Rockwell, Civil War, Mormon History, Latter-day Saints, Utah Territory, Polygamy, Plural Marriage, U.S. Army,  Fort Bridger, Lot Smith, Salt Lake City, 2LT James Henry Martineau, George Watts, Echo Canyon, Albert Sidney Johnston, Brigham Young, Charlie Becker, James Ferguson,  Wild Bill Hickman, Nauvoo Legion, International Latter-day Saints, Immigration, Prisoners, Law of War, Law of Armed Conflict, Russia, British Empire, Alaska, British Colombia.

In the 1920s, an elderly and well-respected Oregon Rancher, Charlie Becker, prepared a sketch of his adventurous life, the places he had seen, the adventures he had lived, and the hardships he had overcome. He also disclosed that, as a young man, he had served as a Civilian Teamster accompanying Johnston’s Army during the Utah War.  In an unguarded moment, he allowed himself to be captured by a Latter-day Saint Raiding party. He would spend the next months a prisoner in the Utah Territory, where he would be one of the few outsiders to see up close the lives of the Latter-day Saints in their mountain home.  On this episode, we will explore the story of Charlie Becker, a prisoner of the Utah War. 

This episode covers:
- How Charlie Becker was captured by a Mormon raiding party; 
- His interrogation by Lieutenant General Daniel H. Wells and the General Staff, including the hot-tempered Irishman, Adjutant General James Ferguson;
- How Daniel Wells quickly stomped out James Ferguson's suggestion that they find ways of "forcing" Becker to disclose more intelligence ("Tut! Tut! None of that, Mr. Ferguson!");
- How Charles Decker brought Charlie Becker to his house, where he met two of Decker's Wives: Lena Young Decker (the daughter of Brigham Young) and  Margaret Jane Maxfield Decker and how, to his shock, the two women "[got] along splendidly, like an older and younger sister."   
- How he was confined, with other prisoners, in Salt Lake City during a Christmas celebration, and how the prisoners and the good-natured Danish guard decided to celebrate  with a rousing game of "Blind Man's Bluff" -- and made so much racket they inadvertently summoned the notorious killer, Wild Bill Hickman, who promptly arrested the guards and replaced them with "a monstrous, surely Swede."  
- How he was released and returned to COL Albert Sidney Johnston, where he reported how the Mormon people had treated him with great kindness (especially the Decker family, whom he describes as "a most lovable Mormon family").  

For the materials and sources in this story, we owe a special thanks to Utah War historian William "Bill" MacKinnon - His two-volume set, "At Sword's Point: A Documentary History of the Utah War to 1858" is an extraordinary resource for anyone interested in learning more about the Utah War.    

See also Rebecca  Bartholomew & Leonard J. Arrington, Rescue of the 1856 Handcart Companies (1992).

Search Terms: Utah War, Mormon History, Latter-day Saints, Utah Territory, Polygamy, Plural Marriage, U.S. Army,  Fort Bridger, Lot Smith, Salt Lake City, Echo Canyon, Albert Sidney Johnston, Brigham Young, Charlie Becker, James Ferguson, Charles Decker, Lena Young Decker, Wild Bill Hickman, Nauvoo Legion, Court-Martial,  Margaret Jane Maxfield Decker, International Latter-day Saints, Immigration, Prisoners, Law of War, Law of Armed Conflict   

In August of 1857, Brigham Young delivered a speech to the saints assembled in the Tabernacle.  As he contemplated the Army force marching closer to the home of the Saints, he bitterly remembered how, over the last he and the Latter-day Saints, over the last 20 years, had been brutally victimized by armed bands, from Ohio to Missouri to Illinois.  He saw the approach of federal troops as simply the latest armed force to set out to destroy them.  But he decided that this time would be different.  He roared from the pulpit: "Let it be treason or not treason . . . .  The Lord God Almighty and the Elders of Israel being our helpers, they shall not come into this territory.  I will fight them and I will fight all hell rather than tamely submit to such outrageous wrong and oppression."  

This episode covers: 

• The strategy the Latter-day Saints adopted to resist Johnston's Army
• Daniel H. Well's Council of War on 3 October 1857
• The, uh, friendship between Captain Porter Rockwell and Major Lot Smith
• Lot Smith's daring raid on the Army's supply wagon train
• The single most memorable line of the Utah War - "For His sake, I'm going to burn them." 

Special thanks to Utah War historian William "Bill" MacKinnon - His two-volume set, "At Sword's Point: A Documentary History of the Utah War to 1858" is an extraordinary resource for anyone interested in learning more about the Utah War.   

Key Words: Brigham Young, Daniel H. Wells, Porter Rockwell, Lot Smith, N.V. Jones, James Parshall Terry, John Dawson, Utah War, Burning Supply Wagons, Raiders, Nauvoo Legion, Scorched Earth, Fort Supply, Fort Bridger.

In 1857, the Buchanan Administration sent an Army Expedition to Utah.  It was sure to be an arduous, difficulty journey, with many ways to suffer and few to win glory.  But who were the Soldiers marching against the Latter-day Saints?  On today’s episode, we explore the Soldiers and Teamsters, which included both selfless heroes and hopeless drunks, public servants and fugitive criminals, that made up Johnston’s Army.  

Discussions include:  

• A letter from Robert E. Lee warning Albert Sidney Johnston not to take his wife to Utah, as the many wives of Brigham Young would look upon her as a "poor, imposed on sinner."
• The medical journal of Dr. Robert Bartholomew, Regimental Surgeon to the 10th Infantry Division.  He noted two classes of Soldiers - those who grew stronger through exercise and moderate living, and "worthless recruits" whose only abstained from whiskey when they could procure it.  
• The lone, dogged Marine, LT Robert Browning, who joined the Army expedition as an observer.  Three years later, the dashing young Marine would be lost in the Pacific Ocean, having gone down with his ship, USS Levant.  
• The "Thieves, Thugs, and Worthless Characters" that made up the Teamsters and Contractors joining the expedition.  
• The memoirs of Private Robert Morris Peck, including a description of how the card sharks and sharpers among the Teamsters would have nearly all the Soldiers' money within a few days of pay day, and a colorful description of Charlie Hart, one of the most reckless gamblers to join the expedition.  
• The desertion of Private Charles Wilcken, his defection to the Latter-day Saints, and his long and fruitful life as a baptized member of the Church.  Wilcken would have three descendants run for the U.S. Presidency - George Romney, Mitt Romney, and Jon Huntsman, Jr.   

To learn more about the start of the Utah War, please check out these (excellent!) sources:  

• William MacKinnon, At Sword's Point: A Documentary History of the Utah War (Vol. I and II) (2016).  MacKinnon's work on the Utah War is nothing short of phenomenal.  They are available on Google Books to anyone interested.   Also, I drew on the Forward to Volume I written by Will Bagley.