Two Texans play historic parts in utah confrontation
Former Texas Ranger Ben McCulloch left for Utah on Apr. 13, 1858 with orders straight from the president to stop the Mormons led by Brigham Young and federal troops commanded by a fellow Texan from going to war
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints had been a target of persistent and often violent persecution since its founding in 1830 by Joseph Smith. Driven from Ohio and Missouri, the Mormons enjoyed temporary tolerance in Illinois until a mob murdered Smith in 1844.
In search of a sanctuary for his flock, Brigham Young led a mass migration to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. The thriving colony soon petitioned for admission to the Union as the State of Deseret, but congress chose instead to create the Territory of Utah. President Millard Fillmore placated the Mormons by appointing Young territorial governor, but the gesture merely delayed the inevitable. Federal officials, nearly all non-Mormon, charged the church with religious tyranny, while the Saints accused the outsiders of blatant bigotry. By 1855, most office-holders had gone home in disgust leaving their posts vacant.
Meanwhile, the Mormon practice of polygamy became a bi-partisan national scandal. Democratic Sen. Stephen A. Douglas condemned the denomination as “a loathesome ulcer,” and the Republican platform of 1856 branded slavery and polygamy as America’s “twin relics of barbarism.”
Exploiting the public feeling against the Mormons, President James Buchanan called out 2,000 troops to put down the “rebellion” in Utah and to force obedience to a new batch of appointees. When the army officer in charge of the mission openly questioned his orders, command went to the respected Texan, Col. Albert Sidney Johnston.
Arriving at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in September 1857, Johnston was shocked to learn that the badly organized expedition was strung out over 1,500 miles of wilderness trail. Hoping to unify his fragmented force and take Utah by winter, he rushed west in a race against time and the elements.
The week of Johnston’s departure, Brigham Young declared the territory under martial law and off-limits to the U.S. military. As per his instructions, the Mormon military began to fortify the mountain passes and prepare for armed resistance.
In early October, guerrillas caught the advance guard napping and destroyed 72 wagonloads of supplies in a bloodless raid. Bracing for an early blizzard, Johnston ordered all units to meet at Fort Bridger 125 northeast of Salt Lake City.
Five miles a day was the best Johnston and his men could manage in the waist-deep snow and zero temperatures. Axle grease froze on wagons and artillery, as horses, mules and oxen dropped dead in their tracks.
The frostbitten soldiers only thought their ordeal over, when they finally reached the rendezvous point. The Mormons had leveled Fort Bridger forcing the enemy to build winter quarters with their bare hands.
A promotion to general did little to lift Johnston’s spirits as he waited impatiently for spring and the last leg of the miserable march. Back in Washington, however, the Buchanan administration had second thoughts about the entire enterprise and hurriedly dispatched a special envoy to arrange an armistice.
Johnston greeted his old friend Ben McCulloch with mixed emotions in May 1858. He could not believe the government had chosen to compromise with the Saints, especially in light of their apparent complicity in the recent massacre of defenseless families at Mountain Meadows. Although he regarded the Mormons as fanatics never to be trusted, decades of discipline compelled him to abide by the outcome of the peace talks.
McCulloch found the church hierarchy open to a sensible way out of the dangerous impasse. Brigham Young had never dreamed Johnston would survive the winter much less be ready and willing to fight. After several fruitful sessions, McCulloch and the Mormons came to terms.
As part of the understanding, Johnston occupied the Saints’ heartland. But when he marched through Salt Lake City on Jun. 26, 1858, there was not a living soul in sight. The Mormons had evacuated the town until the good intentions of the soldiers could be confirmed. Distrust was deeply ingrained on both sides.
Constructing a permanent camp midway between Salt Lake City and Provo, Gen. Johnston spent the next year keeping a watchful eye on the Mormons. However, he never again set foot in their capital. To his immense relief, he was finally reassigned in May 1859 and allowed to go home to Texas.
Neither Albert Sidney Johnston nor Ben McCulloch lived through the Civil War as both died in battle as Confederate generals. As for Utah, statehood did not come until 1896, six years after the Mormons formally abandoned polygamy.
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