The Utah War: Part 2

Congressional Transcripts Pertaining to the “Mormon Insurrection” in Utah "Continued"

December 4, 1871 – President Ulysses S. Grant’s third annual message to congress: “In Utah there remains a remnant of barbarism repugnant to civilization, to decency, and to the laws of the United States. Territorial officers however, have been found who are willing to perform their duty in a spirit of equity and with a due sense of the necessity of sustaining the majesty of the law. Neither polygamy nor any other violation of existing statues will be permitted within the territory of the United States. It is not with the religion of the self-styled Saints that we are now dealing, but with their practices.

They will be protected in the worship of God according to the dictates of their consciences, but they will not be permitted to violate the laws under the cloak of religion. It may be advisable for Congress to consider what in the execution of the laws against polygamy is to be the status of plural wives and their offspring. The propriety of Congress passing an enabling act authorizing the Territorial legislature of Utah to legitimize all children born prior to a time fixed in the act might be justified by its humanity to these innocent children.” (Vol. 7 p. 151).

December 7, 1875 – President Ulysses S. Grant’s seventh annual message to congress: “In nearly every annual message that I have had the honor of transmitting to Congress I have called attention to the anomalous, not to say scandalous condition of affairs existing in the Territory of Utah, and have asked for definite legislation to correct it. That polygamy should exist in a free, enlightened and Christian country without the power to punish so flagrant a crime against decency and morality seems preposterous.

True, there is no law to sustain this unnatural vice, but what is needed is a law to punish it as a crime and at the same time to fix that status of the innocent children the offspring of this system and the possibility of innocent plural wives. But as an institution polygamy should be banished from the land, and I deem of vital importance the need to drive out licensed immorality such as polygamy and the importation of women for illegitimate purposes.” (Vol. 7 pp. 355-356).

December 1, 1879 – President Rutherford B. Hayes’ Third annual message to Congress: “The continued deliberate violation by a large number of prominent and influential citizens of the Territory of Utah of the laws of the United States for the prosecution and punishment of polygamy demands the attention of every department of the Government. This Territory has a population sufficient to entitle it to admission as a State and the general interests of the nation, as well as the welfare of the citizens of the Territory, require its advance from the Territorial form of government to the responsibilities and privileges of a State.

This important change will not, however, be approved by the country while the citizens of Utah in very considerable number uphold a practice which is condemned as a crime by the laws of all civilized communities throughout the world. The law for the suppression of this offence was enacted with great unanimity by Congress more than seventeen years ago, but has remained until recently a dead letter in the Territory of Utah because of the peculiar difficulties attending its enforcement. The opinion widely prevailed among the citizens of Utah that the law was in contravention to the Constitutional guaranty of religious freedom. This object is now removed.

The Supreme Court of the United States has decided the law to be within the legislative power of Congress and binding as a rule of action for all who reside within the Territories. There is no longer any reason for the delay or hesitation in its enforcement. It should be firmly and effectively executed. If not sufficiently stringent in it provisions, it should be amended; and in aid of the purpose in view I recommend that more comprehensive and more searching methods for preventing as well as punishing this crime be provided. If necessary to secure obedience to the law, the enjoyment and exercise of the rights and privileges of the citizenship in the Territories of the United States may be withheld or withdrawn from those who violate or oppose the enforcement of the law on this subject.” (Vol 7. pp. 559-569).

December 6, 1880 – President Rutherford B. Hayes’ fourth address to Congress: “It is the recognized duty to and purpose of the people of the Untied States to suppress polygamy where it now exists in our Territories and to prevent its extension. Faithful and zealous efforts have been made by the United States authorities in Utah to enforce the laws against it. Experience has shown that the legislation upon this subject, to be effective, requires extensive modification and amendment. The longer action is delayed the more difficult is will be to accomplish what is desired. Prompt and decided measures are necessary. The Mormon sectarian organization which upholds polygamy has the whole power of making and executing the local legislation of the Territory. By its control of the grand and petit juries it possesses large influence over the administration of justice.

Exercising, as the heads of this sect do, the local power of the Territory, they are able to make effective their hostility to the law of Congress on the subject of polygamy, and in fact, do prevent its enforcement. Polygamy will not be abolished if the enforcement of the law depends on those who practice and uphold the crime. It can only be suppressed by taking away the political power of the sect, which encourages and sustains it. The power of Congress to enact suitable laws to protect the Territories is ample. It is not a case of halfway measures. The political power oft the Mormon sect is increasing. It controls now one of our wealthiest and most populous Territories. It is extending steadily into other Territories.

Wherever it goes it established polygamy and sectarian political power. The sanctity of marriage and the family relation are the corner stone of our American society and civilization. Religious liberty and the separation of church and state are among the elementary ideas of free institutions. To reestablish the interests and principles which polygamy and Mormonism have imperiled, and to fully reopen to intelligent and virtuous immigrants of all creeds that part of our domain, which has been in a great degree closed to general immigration by intolerant and immoral institutions, it is recommended that the government of the Territory of Utah be reorganized.

I recommend that Congress provide for the government of Utah by a governor and judges or commissioners, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate – a government analogous to the provisional government established for the territory northwest of the Ohio by the ordinance of 1787. If however, it is deemed best to continue the existing form of local government, I recommend that the right to vote, hold office, and sit on juries in the territory of Utah be confined to those who neither practice nor uphold polygamy. If thorough measures are adopted, it is believed that within a few years the evils which now afflict Utah will be eradicated, and that this Territory will in good time become one of the most prosperous and attractive of the new States of the Union.” (Vol. 7, pp. 605-606)

March 4, 1881 – President James Garfield’s inaugural address to Congress: “The Constitution guarantees absolute religious freedom, Congress is prohibited from making any law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The Territories of the United States are subject to the direct legislative authority of Congress, and hence the General Government is responsible for any violation of the Constitution in any of them. It is therefore a reproach to the Government that in the most populous of the Territories the constitutional guarantee is not enjoyed by the people and the authority of Congress is set at naught. The Mormon Church not only offends the moral sense of manhood by sanctioning polygamy, but prevents the administration of justice through ordinary instrumentalities of law. In my judgment it is the duty of Congress, while respecting to the uttermost the conscientious convictions and religious scruples of every citizen, to prohibit within its jurisdiction all criminal practices, especially of that class which destroys the family relations and endangers social order.” (Vol. 8, p. 11)

December 6, 1881 – President Chester Arthur’s first annual address to Congress: “For many years the Executive, in his annual message to Congress, has urged the necessity of stringent legislation for the suppression of polygamy in the Territories, and especially in the Territory of Utah. The existing stature for the punishment of this odious crime, so revolting to the moral and religious sense of Christendom, has been persistently and contemptuously violated ever since its enactment. Indeed, in spite of commendable efforts on the part of the authorities who represent the Untied States in that Territory, the law has in very rare instances been enforced, and for a cause to which reference will presently be made, is practically a dead letter. The fact that adherents of the Mormon Church, which rests upon polygamy as its corner stone, have recently been peopling in large numbers Idaho, Arizona, and other of our Western Territories is well calculated to excite the liveliest interests and apprehension.

It imposes upon Congress and the Executive the duty of arraying against this barbarous system all of the power which under the constitution and the law they can wield for its destruction. Reference has been already made t the obstacles which the United States officers have encountered in their efforts to punish violations of law. Prominent among these obstacles is the difficulty of procuring legal evidence sufficient to warrant a conviction even in the case of the most notorious offenders. Your attention is called to a recent opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States, explaining its judgment of reversal in the case of Miles, who had been convicted of bigamy in Utah. The court refers to the fact that the secrecy attending the celebration of marriages in that Territory makes the proof of polygamy very difficult, and the propriety is suggested of modifying the law of evidence which now makes a wife incompetent to testify against her husband.

This suggestion is approved. I recommend also the passage of an act providing that in the Territories of the United States the fact that a woman has been married to a person charged with bigamy shall not disqualify her as a witness upon his trial for that offense. I further recommend legislation by which any person solemnizing a marriage in any of the Territories shall be required, under stringent penalties for neglect or refusal, to file a certificate of such marriage in the supreme court of the Territory. Doubtless Congress may devise other practicable measures for obviating the difficulties, which have hitherto attended the efforts to suppress this iniquity. I assure you of my determined purpose to cooperate with you in any lawful and discreet measures which may be proposed to that end.” (Vol. VIII, pp. 57-58)

December 4, 1883 – President Chester Arthur’s third annual address to Congress: “The Utah Commission has submitted to the Secretary of the Interior its second annual report. As a result of its labors in supervising the recent election in that Territory, pursuant to the act of March 22, 1882, it is appears that persons by that act disqualified to the number of about 12,000 were excluded from the polls. This fact however, affords little cause for congratulations, and I fear that it is far from indicating any real and substantial progress towards the extirpation of polygamy. All the members elect of the legislation are Mormon. There is grave reason to believe that they are in sympathy with the practices that this Government are seeking to repress, and that its efforts in that regard will be more likely to encounter their opposition than to receive their encouragement and support.

Even if this view should happily be erroneous, the law under which the commissions have been acting should be made more effective by the incorporation of some such stringent amendments as they recommend, and as were included in the bill No. 2238 on the Calendar of the Senate at its last session. I am convinced, however, that polygamy has become so strongly entrenched in the Territory of Utah that it is profitless to attack it with any but the stoutest weapons which constitutional legislation can fashion. I favor, therefore, the repeal of the act upon which the existing government depends, the assumption by the National Legislature of the entire political control of the Territory, and the establishment of a commission with such powers and duties as shall be delegated to it by the law.” (Vol. 8, p. 184)

December 1, 1884 – President Chester Arthur’s fourth annual address to Congress: “The report of the Utah commission will be read with interest. It discloses the results of recent legislation looking to the prevention and punishment of polygamy in that Territory. I still believe that if that abominable practice can be suppressed by law it can only be by the most radical legislation consistent with the restraints of the Constitution. I again recommend, therefore, that Congress assume abs9lute political control of the Territory of Utah and provide for the appointment of commissioners with such governmental powers as in its judgment may justly and wisely be put into their hands.” (Vol. 8, p. 250)

March 4, 1885 – President Grover Cleveland’s first inaugural address to Congress: “The conscience of the people demand that the Indians within our boundaries shall be fairly and honestly treated as wards of the Government and their education and civilization promoted with a view to their ultimate citizenship, and that polygamy in the territories, destructive of the family relation and offensive to the moral sense of the civilized world shall be repressed.” (Vol. 8, p. 302)

December 8, 1885 – President Grover Cleveland’s first annual address to congress: In the Territory of Utah the laws of the United States passed for suppression of polygamy has been energetically and faithfully executed during the past year, with measurable results. A number of convictions have been secured for the unlawful cohabitation, and in some cases pleas of guilty have been entered and a slight punishment imposed, upon a promise by the accused that they would not again offend against the law nor advise, counsel aid, or abet in any way its violation by other. The Utah commissioners express the opinion, based upon such information, as they are able to obtain, that but few polygamous marriages have taken place in the Territory during the last year. They further report that while there can not be found upon the registration lists of voters the name of a man actually guilty of polygamy, and while none of that class are holding office.

Yet at the last election in the Territory all of the officers elected, except in one county, where men who though not actually living in the practice of polygamy subscribe to the doctrine of polygamous marriages as a diving revelation and a law unto all higher and more binding upon the conscience than any human law, local or national. Thus, is the strange spectacle presented of a community protected by Republican form of Government to with they owe allegiance. Sustaining by their suffrages a principle and a belief, which set at naught that obligation of absolute obedience to the law of the land, which lies at the foundation of republican institutions. The strength, the perpetuity, and the destiny of the nation rest upon our homes, established by the law of God, guarded by parental care, regulated by parental authority, and sanctified by parental love. These are not the homes of polygamy.

The mothers of our land, who rule the nation as they mold the characters and guide the actions of their sons, live according to Gods holy ordinances, and each, secure an happy in the exclusive love of the father of her children, sheds the warm light of true womanhood, unperverted and unpolluted, upon all within her pure and wholesome family circle. These are not the cheerless, crushed, and unwomanly mothers of polygamy. The fathers of our families are the best citizens of the Republic. Wife and children are the sources of patriotism, and conjugal and parental affection beget devotion to the country.

The man who, undefiled with plural marriage, is surrounded in his single home with his wife and children has a stake in the country, which inspires him with respect for its laws and courage for its defense. These are not the fathers of polygamous families. There is no feature of this practice or system, which sanctions it, which is not opposed to all that is of value in our institutions. There should be no relaxation in the firm but just execution of the law now in operation. And, I should be glad to approve such further discreet legislation as will rid the country of this blot upon its fair fame. Since the people upholding polygamy in our Territories are reinforced by immigration from other lands, I recommend that a law be passed to prevent the importation of Mormon into the country (Vol. 8 pp. 361-362).

December 3, 1888 – President Grover Cleveland’s fourth annual address to Congress: “It also appears from this report that though prior to March, 1885, there had been but 6 convictions in the territories of Utah and Idaho under the laws of 1862 and 1882, punishing polygamy and unlawful cohabitation as crimes, there have been since that date nearly 600 convictions under these laws and the statutes of 1887; and the opinion is expressed that under such a firm and vigilant execution of these laws and the advance of ideas opposed to the forbidden practices, polygamy within the United States is virtually at an end.” (Vol. 8, p. 794)

December 1, 1890 – President Benjamin Harrison’s second annual address to Congress: “The increasing numbers and influence of the non-Mormon population of Utah are observed with satisfaction. The recent letter of Wilford Woodruff, president of the Mormon Church, in which he advised his people to “refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the laws of the land,” has attracted wide attention, and it is hoped that its influence will be highly beneficial in restraining infractions of the laws of the United States. But the fact should not be overlooked that the doctrine or belief of the church that polygamous marriages are rightful and supported by divine revelation remains unchanged. President Woodruff does not renounce the doctrine, but refrains from teaching it, and advises against the practice of it because the law is against it. Now it is quite true that that law should not attempt to deal with faith or belief of anyone; but it is quite another thing, and the only safe thing, so to deal with the Territory of Utah as that those who believe polygamy to be rightful shall not have the power to make it lawful.” (Vol. IX, p. 118)

December 9, 1891 – President Benjamin Harrison’s third annual address to Congress: “The legislation of Congress for the repression of polygamy has, after years of resistance on the part of the Mormons, at last brought them to the conclusion that resistance is unprofitable and unavailing. The power of Congress over this subject should not be surrendered until we have satisfactory evidence that the people of the State to be created would exercise the exclusive power of the State over this subject in the same way. The question is not whether these people now obey the laws of Congress against polygamy, but rather would they made, enforce, and maintain such laws themselves if absolutely free to regulate the subject? We cannot afford to experiment with this subject for when a State in once constituted the act is final and any mistake irretrievable. (Vol. IX, p. 206)

January 4, 1893 – President Benjamin Harrison’s proclamation to Congress: “Whereas Congress by statute approved March 22, 1882, and by statutes in furtherance and amendment thereof defined the crimes of bigamy, polygamy, and unlawful cohabitation in the Territories and other places within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States and prescribed a penalty for such crimes; and Whereas on or about the 6th day of October, 1890, the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church, through its president issued a manifesto proclaiming the purpose of said church no longer to sanction the practice of polygamous marriages and calling upon all members and adherents of said church to obey the laws of the United States in referenced to said subject-matter; and, Whereas it is represented that since that date of said declaration the members and adherents of said church have generally obeyed said laws and have abstained from plural marriages and polygamous cohabitation;

And Whereas by a petition dated December 19, 1891, the officials of said church, pledging the membership thereof to a faithful obedience to the laws against plural marriages and unlawful cohabitation, have applied to me to grant amnesty for past offenses against said laws, which request a very large number of influential non-Mormons residing in the Territories have also strongly urged; and Whereas the Utah Commission in their report bearing date September 15, 1892, recommended that said petition be granted and said amnesty proclaimed, under proper condition as to the future observance of the law, with a view to the encouragement of those now disposed to become law-abiding citizens; and  Whereas during the past two years such amnesty has been granted to individual applicants in a very large number of cases, conditioned upon the faithful observance of the laws of the United States against unlawful cohabitation, and there are now pending many more such applications:

Now, therefore, I Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by virtue of the powers in me vested, do hereby declare and grant a full amnesty and pardon to all persons liable to the penalties of said act by reason of unlawful cohabitation under the color of polygamous or plural marriage who have since November 1, 1890, abstained from such unlawful cohabitation, but upon the express condition that they shall in the future faithfully obey the laws of the United States hereinbefore named and not otherwise. Those who shall fail to avail themselves of the clemency hereby offered will be vigorously prosecuted. In witness thereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this 4th day of January, A.D. 1893, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and seventeenth. Benj. Harrison. By the President: John W. Foster, Secretary of State.” (Vol, IX, pp. 368-369).
   
September 25, 1894 – President Grover Cleveland’s proclamation to Congress: “Whereas Congress by a statute approved March 22, 1882, and by statutes in furtherance and amendment thereof defined the crimes of bigamy, polygamy, and unlawful cohabitation in the Territories and other places within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States and prescribed a penalty for such crimes; and Whereas on or about the 6th day of October, 1890, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church, through its president issued a manifesto proclaiming the purpose of said church no longer to sanction the practice of polygamous marriages and calling upon all members and adherents of said church to obey the laws of the United States in reference to said subject-matter;

And, Whereas on the 4th day of January, A.D. 1893, Benjamin Harrison then President of the United States, did declare and grant a full pardon and amnesty to certain offenders under said acts upon the condition of future obedience to their requirements, as is fully set forth in said proclamation of amnesty and pardon; and Whereas upon the evidence now furnished me I am satisfied that the members and adherents of said church generally abstain from plural marriages and polygamous cohabitation and are now living in obedience to the laws, and that time has arrived when the interests of public justice and morality will be promoted by granting of amnesty and pardon to all such offenders as have complied with the conditions of said proclamation, including such of said offenders as have been convicted under the provision of said act:

Now, therefore, I Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, by virtue of the powers in me vested, do hereby declare and grant a full amnesty and pardon to all persons who have in violation of said acts committed either of the offenses of polygamy, bigamy adultery, or unlawful cohabitation under the color of polygamous or plural marriage, or who having been convicted of violations of said acts, are now suffering deprivation of civil rights in consequence of the same, excepting all persons who have not complied with the conditions contained in said executive proclamation of January 4, 1963. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United State to be affixed, Done at the city of Washington, this 25th day of September, A.D. 1894, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and nineteenth. Grover Cleveland. By the President: W.Q. Gresham, Secretary of State.” (Vol IX, pp. 510-511).

January 4, 1896 – President Grover Cleveland’s proclamation to Congress: “Whereas said convention, so organized, did, by ordinance irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of said State, as required by said act, provide that perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured and that no inhabitant of said State shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship, but that polygamous or plural marriages are forever prohibited, and did also by said ordinance make the other various stipulations recited in section 3 of said act” (Vol. IX, p. 689).

It wasn’t possible to find transcripts from the Congressional Record that referenced the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which occurred on September 11, 1857, 4-days before Brigham Young declared Independence from the United States on September 15th. And, Federal Judge John Cradlebaugh didn’t even begin holding court hearings on the atrocity until March of 1859, in Provo, Utah. Further, it wasn’t until July of 1875 that the actual court proceeding against the sole defendant, John D. Lee, even began (9) (10), and the New York Herald didn’t report any news of the massacre until September 14, 1872, 15-years later. It also appears that Congress may not have discussed the matter until as late as 1907 (by virtue of a record on the subject matter in the Congressional Record, dated February 12, 1907, which could not be procured). The reason for these delays appears to be that Congress was being pulled in many different directions during this period in history. Because of this, it also appears that Congress may have decided the best means of resolving the “Mormon Insurrection” in the Utah Territory was to simply remove Brigham Young, and replace him with a non-Mormon.

The following article is an excerpt of an article appearing in the New York Herald on September 14, 1872, 15-years after the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which occurred on September 11, 1857:

THE NEW YORK HERALD

Whole No. 13,173.     New York City, September 14, 1872.          Four Cents.
 
A MORMON MONSTROSITY
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Letting In Light on the Mountain Meadows Massacre
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A Participant in the Slaughter Confesses
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Men and Women Were Murdered in Cold Blood --
Only the Children Spared.
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A DEMON'S FLAG OF TRUCE.
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Horrible Record of Bloodthirstiness
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SALT LAKE CITY, Sept 14, 1872 - The following is the affidavit in full by one of the least guilty among the participators In the affair, showing conclusively that the terrible Mountain Meadows massacre was the act of the Mormon authorities. It will be remembered that a large company of emigrants on their way to California are known to have been all killed, with the exception of the young children. When their massacre was discovered. The Mormons set afloat the story that they had perished at the bands of the Indians, but from time to time circumstantial evidence has appeared indicating that they were

MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD

by the Mormons In revenge for previous outrages upon the latter perpetrated In Illinois and Missouri. A competent witness now says under oath that the Mormon millitia attacked the emigrants, and, alter a flght of several days without result, sent a flag of truce offering them protection if they would lay down their arms. The terms being compiled with, the entire party was butchered by their captors…

But, the Mountain Meadows Massacre is just one atrocity among many, including the Gunnison Massacre, the Aiken Massacre, the murders of Richard Yates and Franklin McNeil and at least 6-other instances of brutality that ended with the murder of non-Mormons in the Utah Territory. The Gunnison Massacre is named after U.S. Army Captain John Gunnison who was commission to begin surveying the right of way for the new transcontinental railway that would link the Eastern States with the Pacific, and run through Utah, and it is well documented that Governmental officials hoped the new railroad would also help dilute the concentration of Mormons in the Utah Territory. On October 26th, 1853, Captain John Gunnison and all seven of his men were massacred, and then mutilated, supposedly at the hands of Indians, along with their Mormon guide. And, it’s similar to the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre in that it allegedly involves white-men who disguised themselves as Indians. Not surprisingly, the massacre led to heightened tensions between the Mormons of Utah and President Franklin Pierce, and led to the departure of what remained of the U.S. Calvary in Salt Lake City, which was re-deployed in the wake of the event. It also comically led to an unexpectedly liberation of about 100 polygamous wives who chose to leave Utah with the Cavalry, much to the chagrin of Brigham Young. And, it became one of the primary reasons for escalating tensions that eventually led to the “Utah War” in 1857, 4-years later.

2-years after the Gunnison Massacre, President Franklin Pierce appointed William Drummond as a new Justice of the Utah Supreme Court, in 1855. And, it’s important for the reader to understand that Drummond was commissioned to a territory that had been founded as the independent soveriegn Mormon nation of Deseret, had always been governed by “theocratic rule”, held great disdain for the United States and had never had an actual  Federal Judge sit the bench. After arriving in Utah, Drummond found himself the Federal Judge of a territory with no apparent regard for the America's Judeo-Christian culture or laws, and he was charged with the dubious responsibility of trying to restore Constitutional law in what had been a foreign land. Upon assuming these responsibilities, he immediately declared the Mormon Probate Courts illegal because the Mormons were using them to circumvent Federal laws. Drummond also found that the Mormons refused to recognize the legitimacy of American land titles or water rights, and the security of U.S. mail being transported through the Utah Territory, under contract with the Mormons, was routinely violated. Drummond also immediately began taking a closer look at the circumstances surrounding the 1853 Gunnison Massacre, and adjudicated several of the cases that related to the massacre. At this point, Drummond became convinced that the Mormons not only planned the massacre and conspired with the Indians, but may have actually participated in the massacre as well. And, because of Drummonds work in this area, he was not very well liked by Brigham Young or the Mormons.

It should seem rather obvious that the Mormons of Utah wouldn’t have much reason to like a non-Mormon outsider who was short-circuiting their ability circumvent America law, and was trying to expose their alleged connections to the Gunnison massacre and numerous other atrocities that had occurred in the Utah Territory. To counter Drummond’s rumors, the Mormons immediately began attacking Drummond’s moral character, and began circulating vicious rumors that Drummond was cohabitating with a known ”lady of the evening” who he allegedly tried passing off as his wife. But, another version of Drummond’s alleged debauchery claims that he had a propensity to lecture the Mormon’s on polygamy, while at the same time cohabitating with another man’s wife. If there is any truth to either of these rumors, it would appear that Utah's high-society, while tolerant of their own ways, were much too Victorian in their attitudes to allow such a base Christian man as Drummond in their midst. Because of this, the Mormons also brandished other forms of persecution against Drummond, which included continually antagonizing him and “severely leaving him alone”. It’s quite likely that these accounts of Drummond’s personal life were really part of a “smear campaign” that were strategically designed to embarrass Drummond and U.S. Government, who Young and the Mormons despised.

Imagine the unbearable environment of hostility in which Drummond must have been forced to live in. He wasn’t part of the Mormon culture, he had no real friends or camaraderie in that lonely place, he lived in the midst of a strange religious theocracy that defied America and he was continually antagonized and shunned. Because of this intolerable atmosphere, Drummond resigned his commission to Utah on March 30, 1857, 2-years later. In his letter of resignation Drummond claims that Brigham Young and his Mormon theocracy superseded Federal law, that the only laws the Mormons acknowledged were the laws of the Melchizedek Priesthood and that the laws of Congress and the Constitution were routinely ignored. His letter also cites the unlawful conduct of the Mormons, their murderous assaults on dissenters of the Church and their alleged involvement in the Gunnison Massacre. Gunnison’s widow, who always suspected that the Mormons were involved in her husband’s murder, read Drummond’s accusations and eventually brought her own charges against the Mormon religion, and this received great publicity in April and May of 1857. However, her charges were never fully investigated due to the numerous other issues that Congress was forced to contemplate during this period of time. Drummond’s letter of resignation is shown below in its entirety:

RESIGNATION OF JUDGE DRUMMOND

To the Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, Attorney General of the United States, Washington City, D. C.:

MY DEAR SIR: As I have concluded to resign the office of Justice of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Utah, which position I accepted in A. D. 1854, under the administration of President Pierce, I deem it due to the public to give some of the reasons why I do so. In the first place, Brigham Young, the governor of Utah Territory, is the acknowledged head of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," commonly called "Mormons"; and, as such head, the Mormons look to him, and to him alone, for the law by which they are to be governed: therefore no law of Congress is by them considered binding in any manner.

Secondly. I know that there is a secret oath-bound organization among all the male members of the church to resist the laws of the country, and to acknowledge no law save the law of the "Holy Priesthood," which comes to the people through Brigham Young direct from God; he, Young, being the vicegerent of God and prophetic successor of Joseph Smith, who was the founder of this blind and treasonable organization.

Thirdly I am fully aware that there is a set of men, set apart by special order of the Church, to take both the lives and property of persons who may question the authority of the church, (the names of whom I will promptly make known at a future time).

Fourthly. That the records, papers, &c., of the supreme court have been destroyed by order of the church, with the direct knowledge and approbation of Governor B. Young, and the federal officers grossly insulted for presuming to raise a single question about the treasonable act.

Fifthly. That the federal officers of the Territory are constantly insulted, harassed, and annoyed by the Mormons, and for these insults there is no redress.

Sixthly. That the federal officers are daily compelled to hear the form of the American government traduced, the chief executives of the nation, both living and dead, slandered and abused from the masses, as well as from all the leading members of the Church, in the most vulgar, loathsome, and wicked manner that the evil passions of men can possibly conceive.

Again: That after Moroni Green had been convicted in the district court before my colleague, Judge Kinney, of an assault with intent to commit murder, and afterwards, on appeal to the supreme court, the judgment being affirmed and the said Green being sentenced to the penitentiary, Brigham Young gave a full pardon to the said Green before he reached the penitentiary; also, that the said Governor Young pardoned a man by the name of Baker, who had been tried and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in the penitentiary, for the murder of a dumb boy by the name of White House, the proof showing one of the most aggravated cases of murder that I ever knew being tried; and to insult the court and government officers, this man Young took this pardoned criminal with him, in proper person, to church on the next Sabbath after his conviction; Baker, in the meantime, having received a full pardon from Governor Brigham Young. These two men were Mormons.

On the other hand, I charge the Mormons, and Governor Young in particular, with imprisoning five or six young men from Missouri and Iowa, who are now in the penitentiary of Utah, without those men having violated any criminal law in America. But they were anti-Mormons -- poor, uneducated young men on their way for California; but because they emigrated from Illinois, Iowa, or Missouri, and passed by Great Salt Lake City, they were indicted by a probate court, and most brutally and inhumanly dealt with, in addition to being summarily incarcerated in the saintly prison of the Territory of Utah. I also charge Governor Young with constantly interfering with the federal courts, directing the Grand Jury whom to indict and whom not; and after the Judges charge the Grand Juries as to their duties, that this man Young invariably has some member of the Grand Jury advised in advance as to his will in relation to their labors, and that his charge thus given is the only charge known, obeyed, or received by all the Grand Juries of the federal courts of Utah Territory

Again, sir, after a careful and mature investigation, I have been compelled to come to the conclusion, heart-rending and sickening as it may be, that Captain John W. Gunnison, and his party of eight others, were murdered by the Indians in 1858, under the orders, advice, and direction of the Mormons; that my illustrious and distinguished predecessor, Hon. Leonidas Shaver, came to his death by drinking poisoned liquors, given to him under the order of the leading men of the Mormon Church in Great Salt Lake City; that the late secretary of the Territory, A. W. Babbitt, was murdered on the plains by a band of Mormon marauders, under the particular and special order of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and J. M. Grant, and not by the Indians, as reported by the Mormons themselves; and that they were sent from Salt Lake City for that purpose, and that only; and as members of the Danite Band they were bound to do the will of B. Young as the head of the Church, or forfeit their own lives.

These reasons, with many others that I might give, which would be too heart-rending to insert in this communication, have induced me to resign the office of Justice of the territory of Utah, and again return to my adopted State of Illinois. My reason, sir, for making this communication thus public is, that the democratic party, with which I have always strictly acted, is the party now in power, and therefore is the party the should now be held responsible for the treasonable and disgraceful state of affairs that now exists in Utah territory. I could, sir, if necessary, refer to a cloud of witnesses to attest the reason I have given, and the charges, bold as they are, against those despots who rule with an iron hand their hundred thousand souls in Utah, and their two hundred thousand souls out of that notable territory, but shall not do so, for the reason that the lives of such gentlemen as I should designate in Utah and in California would not be safe for a single day.

In conclusion, sir, I have to say that, in my career as Justice of the Supreme Court of Utah territory, I have the consolation of knowing that I did my duty; that neither threats nor intimidations drove me from that pat; upon the other hand, I am pained to say that I accomplished little good while there; that the judiciary is only treated as a farce. The only rule of law by which the infatuated followers of this curious people will be governed, is the law of the church, and that emanates from Governor Brigham Young, and him alone.

I do believe that, if there was a man put in office as Governor of that territory, who is not a member of the church (Mormon,) and he supported with a sufficient military aid, that much good would result from such a course; but, as the territory is now governed, and as it has been since the administration of Mr. Fillmore, at which time Young received his appointment as Governor, it is noon-day madness and folly to attempt to administer the law in that territory. The officers are insulted, harassed, and murdered for doing their duty, and not recognizing Brigham Young as the only law-giver and law-maker on earth. Of this every man can bear incontestable evidence who has been willing to accept an appointment in Utah; and I assure you, sir, that no man would be willing to risk his life and property in that territory after once trying the sad experiment.

With an earnest desire that the present administration will give due and timely aid to the officers that may be so unfortunate as to accept situations in that territory, and that the withering curse which now rests upon this nation by virtue of the peculiar and heart-rending in. situations of the territory of Utah may be speedily removed, to the honor and credit of our happy country,

I now remain your obedient servant,
 W. W. DRUMMOND,
Justice Utah Territory.
March 30, A. D. 1857.

President James Burchanan, relying on the recommendations made by Drummond in his letter of resignation, immediately began searching for Brigham Young’s replacement as Territorial Governor of Utah. Finally, on June 13, 1857, after offering the appointment to several individuals who declined it, Buchanan finally appointed Alfred Cumming as Young’s replacement. Buchanan also saw fit to send a 2,500 man military force to accompany Cumming to Utah and help ensure a smooth transition. And, it’s quite interesting to compare the real history of the Utah Territory with “other history” that is generally available today and professes to be from “authoritative sources”. One such source provides a rather trite and much abridged depiction of the circumstances surrounding the “Utah War” and  the related “conflicts” that are associated with these historic events. When reading them, there is little to suggest that anything out of the ordinary even actually occurred. In one, the entire incident is simply referred to as “Buchanan’s Blunder”, and explains:

“After news of their polygamous practices spread, the members of the LDS Church were quickly viewed as un-American and rebellious. In 1857, after news of a false rebellion spread, the government sent troops on a "Utah expedition" to quell the supposed rebellion and to replace Brigham Young as territorial governor with Alfred Cumming. The resulting conflict is known as the Utah War…”

“…As troops approached Salt Lake in northern Utah, nervous Mormon settlers and Paiutes attacked and killed 120 immigrants from Arkansas in southern Utah. The attack became known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The massacre became a point of contention between LDS leaders and the federal government for decades. Only one person, John D. Lee, was ever convicted of the murders, and he was executed at the massacre site…”(8)

In conjunction with his investigations of the Gunnison Massacre, Judge Drummond also wrote a letter to Captain Gunnison’s widow, Martha Gunnison, which was printed in the New York Times on May 1, 1857 and created a public outcry. Drummond’s letter to Martha Gunnison is shown below in its entirety:

JUDGE DRUMMOND’S LETTER TO MARTHA GUNNISON

CHICAGO, ILL., April 27, 1857
MRS. M. D. GUNNISON, Bethlehem, Pa.

MY DEAR STRANGE FRIEND: -- Your kind note of inquiry, under date of the 24th inst., was duly received at this place on the 21st inst., but owing to personal matters, I have been wholly unable to reply to your letter until this day, for which delay I trust your generous heart will find no fault. You ask me "to give the particulars of such information as I have gleaned" in connection with the murder of John W. Gunnison, who was most foully and inhumanly murdered on the Servier river, in Utah Territory, in A. D. 1853. This information I will cheerfully give you, not only as a sense of duty to you as the wife of a good man, who fell prematurely at his post doing duty, but as a matter of fact, which should go to the world as a portion of the history of that barbarous transaction.

In the month of November, A. D. 1853, Captain Gunnison and eight others (one of whom was a Mormon), were murdered on the Sevier river, in Utah Territory, and the report was quite current that they were murdered by the Indians; subsequently, at a session of the Grand Jury in Juab county, Utah Territory, Hon. John F. Kinny, presiding, twenty-six Indians of the Pahvant tribe were indicted for the said murder, and, by some arrangement between Col. E. J. Steptoe, of the United States Army, and Kanash, the Chief of the Pahvant tribe, eight Indians (some of whom were squaws, and one old blind Indian man,) were put upon their trial for murder, at Nephi City; and strange to say, a Mormon jury found the Indian warriors not guilty, and as against the old, crippled, and measurably blind Indians, three in number, found a verdict of manslaughter, and they were sentenced to three years imprisonment in the penitentiary of Utah, being the full length of time prescribed by the statute for such offences.

These verdicts, and the finding of the juries under the law and the evidence, so wounded and mortified Judge Kinney, that he at once adjourned the court, unavoidably coming to the conclusion that there was false dealing somewhere; and in fact, not only he, but Col. Steptoe, Gen. Holman, and the Government Attorney, Hon. Garland Hurt, the Indian Agent of the Territory, Capt. James B. leach, the mail contractor between San Diego in California and Salt Lake City, and Columbus L. Craig, all of whom were cognizant of the influences brought to bear on the trial, arrived irresistibly at the conclusion that the Indians were found not guilty by order of the church, and that Dimick B. Huntington, an Indian interpreter, and spiritual brother-in-law of Gov. Brigham Young, was the man who bore the decree and order of the church to the jury, who implicitly found the verdicts according to the mandates of the church, as is now the universal rule and order of jury trials "in the peaceful valleys of the mountains."

At the November term of my court, held at Fillmore City, in the year 1855, one Levi Abrams, a Jewish Mormon, was put upon his trial for the willful and unprovoked murder of Toebe, a favorite warrior of the Pahvant band, and during that trial much was said by both Indian and white witnesses relative to the murder of Captain Gunnison and his party, which raised strong presumptions in my mind that certain white men were particips criminis to that cruel murder, but not wholly conclusive. In this case the jury, true to the law of the church, and basely false to the law of the land, found Abrams not guilty.

At the same court, a favorite Indian warrior of Gov. Young, by the name of Eneis, was put upon his trial for the murder of Captain Gunnison and others, to which I particularly allude in this letter and at this time, and, upon his trial I became convinced beyond the possibility of a doubt, that the whole affair was a deep and maturely laid plan to murder the whole party of engineers, or surveyors, and charge the murders upon the Indians (who, by the way, have the credit for killing a great many persons). In the trial of the warrior Eneis, the evidence disclosed the fact that he was the property of Governor Young, and that he could speak English quite fluently, and that, when he left the city of Salt Lake, he went under the order of Governor Young and the church. Again, it was repeatedly proven that Eneis was in company with several white men on the day before the murder, and that they were all on their way toward the engineers' camp.

Again, it was proven on the same trial by a number of Indian witnesses, that only four shots were fired by the Indians, and that all the rest were fired by the Mormons, and that, by order and direction of the Mormons, the Indians sprang out of the ambush, where they lay disguised during the night before the firing, which occurred about sunrise in the morning, and went across the river to scalp and otherwise maltreat the men in their agonies of death, but more particularly to save the Mormon who fell in the fight, provided he was not fatally wounded, and told the Indians how they could recognize the Mormon from the Americans, which was by certain peculiar marks on the garment which he wore next to his body; but the poor fellow, with the other eight had received a fatal shot, and died on the ground with his priestly robe worn next to his body.

The white men were so accurately described, that any one acquainted with the principal men of the Mormon church could quite readily select the men described by Old Pareshont and Heap of Elk, as well as several others equally as honest and intelligent, who were the principal witnesses in behalf of the Government. And right here I have no hesitation in saying who some of them are and were, and this I do for the benefit of those men who may go to Utah as appointees under the present administration, viz.: William A. Hickman, Anson Call, Alexander McRay, Ephraim Hanks, James W. Cummings, Edwin D. Wolley, George Peacock, Levi Abrams, and ___ Bronson, all of whom are in good fellowship and standing to this day in the church; and although the evidence on behalf of the Government against Eneis was clear and conclusive, and no rebutting evidence, the Mormon jury, true to the order of the holy priesthood, found a verdict of not guilty.

And here, my dear friend, painful and revolting as it is, the true history of that sad scene requires me to say that the evidence disclosed the fact that several Indian warriors crossed the Sevier river immediately after seeing that they had accomplished the work for which they were set apart, and proceeded to cut off the legs and arms of the men while in the agonies of death; also, to scalp them, and then rifle their pockets of their contents; and take off their clothes and put them on themselves; and that Eneis, the then prisoner at the bar, cut Capt. Gunnison's body open and took out his heart while he was yet alive, and the heart full of blood that it bounded on the ground after being taken out; and not content with this, but cut out his tongue, and otherwise cut and mangled his body.

True it is, my dear friend, I know that this dark and bloody picture will prostrate every nerve of your tender form; and painful and heart-sickening as it is for me to think of, let alone pen anything in connection with that revolting murder, but duty to you, duty to the country, duty to a broken and violated law, duty to bleeding and down-trodden humanity, duty to a correct history in connection with the dark and bloody code of the order of the High Priesthood of the Utah Mormons, and above all, duty to the fair reputation of a brother officer engaged in the faithful discharge of his duty, and one who fell in the noonday of life at the hands of an organized band of systematic pirates, robbers, and murderers, and whose blood yet cries to heaven for a witness to attest in thunder-tines the dread but sad and solemn truth connected with his tragic fate, all seem to require that when I answer his wife, the companion of his youth, who so naturally applies to the man, of all others, possessed of the legal truths connected with this history, and I could tell them precisely as they are, and not suppress any part thereof.

I can well imagine, Madam, your long sufferings and anxieties relative to the death of your husband, and I most truly assure you that your conclusions relative to his death were well founded. I leave you and all others to conclude whether I am not fully justified in my conviction in the premises, and whether I could have rationally come to any other conclusion than the one to which I here refer, as well as in my letter of resignation to Attorney-General Black. With an ardent desire that you may live to a ripe old age, enjoy all the blessings which this life can afford, and, above all, in that list of blessings, good health, live to see the day when the foul stain of Mormon oppression and tyranny shall be effectually checked in this our happy country, your husband's untimely death vindicated by the courts and laws of the land, and, after death, in that Grand Lodge above be re-united to the partner and companion of your youth.

 W. W. Drummond.

As previously mentioned, the actual roots of the “Utah War” go much deeper than the events that occurred in the Utah Territory between 1847 and 1858. And, this "war" between the Mormons of Utah and the "Christian Gentiles” of America actually has nothing to do with “religious persecution” at all, which is what the Mormons allege today. This claim is actually an outrage, and is simplistic in its attempt to deflect any responsibility for their-own actions. It’s also important to understand that the subject matter contained within this chapter spans the relatively short period of only 10-years, between 1847 and 1858. In order to gain a better understanding of the significance of these events, they must be placed in context with the other wars and conflagrations that the Mormons were previously involved in at Palmyra and Fayette, New York in 1831, Kirtland, Ohio between 1831 and 1838, western Missouri between 1831 and 1839 and Nauvoo, Illinois between 1840 and 1845. Only after doing this is it plain to see that the “Utah War” was just another Mormon conflict among many, whose real aim was independence from America. Until the underlying theological foundations of the Mormon Church are fully understood, which prophecy that America will one day become a "Mormon Kingdom of Zion" whose choice for acceptance, Joseph Smith proclaimed, is “...the church or the sword”, there may never be a resolution for this conflict.
 

Foot Notes & Bibliographies:

Historical transcripts of the Congressional Record were obtained from The Ten Commandments and their Influence on American Law by William Federer. See (7) below.

1. Wood, Charles. The Mormon Conspiracy: Black Forest Press, 2004.
2. Hinckley, Gordon. Summit of the Ages: 1999 General Conference. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1999.
   http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:UEEpOD-n9ygJ:www.lds.org/conference/...
3. History of the Church: Daniel’s Prophecy of the Rise of the Kingdom of God in the Last Days
4. Revelation 24, History of the Church 1:211-14. September 11, 1831.
5. Linn, Alexander. The Story of the Mormons from the Date of their Origin to the Year 1901. Globusz Publishing, 2008
   http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Mormons/
6. Young, Brigham. Proclamation by the Governor. September 13, 1857
   http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mountainmeadows/martial...
7. Federer, William. The Ten Commandments and their Influence on American Law. Amerisearch, Inc., 2003
   http://books.google.com/books?id=jxjD2Kd-gu8C&pg=PA272&lpg=PA272dq=utah+...
8. Utah. Wikipedia
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah
9. Bancroft, Hubert. History of Utah, 1540 - 1886: The History Company, 1889.
   http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:4qxcaDG025cJ:www.utlm.org/onlineboo...
10. Baskin, Robert. Reminiscences of Early Utah: Signature Books, 1914.
    http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:iaUKYORdDm4J:www.signaturebooks.com...