Utah and the Mormons/Chapter 9
CHAPTER IX.
HISTORY CONTINUED.
- Battalion for Mexican War.
- Mormons arrive at Salt Lake.
- Character of the Mormon Exode.
- "Crickets."
- General Address to the Saints.
- "Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company," and "Public Works."
- State of Deseret.
- Territory organized.
- Ceremonies on breaking Ground for the Temple.
The fugitive Mormons established themselves at two different points in the Indian country, and, after a season of much privation and suffering, their affairs began to brighten. The Indians were friendly, their own industry and perseverance worthy of all commendation, the land was fertile, and their crops abundant.
It was during the fore part of their sojourn in this region that a Mormon regiment was recruited into the United States service for the Mexican war. This, like many other matters connected with the Saints, has been made the subject of much contradictory remark. They are fond of referring to it as a requisition made upon them by the government to test their loyalty, and their ready response to it is cited as strong evidence of their patriotic devotion to the country; and as this regiment was on its march to California at the period when the remaining Saints were driven from. Nauvoo, it offered an opportunity for comment not to be neglected. In an address to the Saints in all parts of the world, Brigham Young certainly makes a strong point on this subject. After taking a retrospect of the sufferings and persecutions of the Mormons, he says: "And, hard as it was to write it, it must forever remain a truth on the page of history, that, while the flower of Israel's camp were sustaining the wing of the American eagle by their influence and arms in a foreign country, their brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, and children were driven by mob violence from a free and independent state of the same national republic, and were compelled to flee from the fire, the sword, the musket, and the cannon's mouth, as from the demon of death."
Some of the Mormon seceders represent that they intended to excite an Indian war, and furnished the men to lull suspicion, knowing that active service would in the end make them a well-disciplined corps. But it is not probable there was any settled purpose of the kind. Nor is it to be presumed that they felt much attachment to a country which they had over and over again doomed to destruction, and against which they habitually indulged in bitter complaints and denunciations. According to William Smith, the prophet Joseph's brother, the leaders intended to establish an independent government beyond the Rocky Mountains; and as the Great Salt Lake Valley, to which they were journeying, was at the time Mexican territory, there would seem to be good evidence to that effect. Their professions of loyalty and patriotism must therefore be received with many grains of allowance. Colonel Kane says: "At the commencement of the Mexican war, the President considered it desirable to march a body of reliable infantry to California at as early a period as practicable, and the known hardihood and habits of 
MORMON ENCAMPMENT. discipline of the Mormons were supposed peculiarly to fit them for this service. As California was supposed, also, to be their ultimate destination, the long march would cost them less than other citizens. They were accordingly invited to furnish a battalion of volunteers early in the month of July" (p. 27).
The transaction seems, then, one of convenience on both sides; the government wanted some good troops, and the Saints were willing to fight for pay, especially in the direction and against an enemy which harmonized so remarkably well with their ulterior designs. They were at that time, too, in great need of ready funds, and the bounty, or portion of the pay, which is said to have amounted to some $20,000, was paid to the authorities of the Church, and more than counterbalanced the inconvenience arising from the absence of that number of men.
Early in the spring of 1847, a pioneer band of one hundred and forty-three men, with seventy wagons, started on their westward journey, with all the means and appliances for forming a settlement. They reached the valley of Great Salt Lake in July, laid the foundation of their present capital, and put in extensive crops for the future necessities of the incoming Saints. Others followed at short intervals, and some four thousand people became the inhabitants of the valley during that year. In 1848, nearly all that remained made their way to the new land of promise. Fortunately, the land cost them nothing, and all the money and goods saved from the wreck of their property at Nauvoo they were able to devote to other uses than acquiring a property in the soil.
This was a remarkable exode, in respect to its numbers, the motives by which they were stimulated, and the admirable manner in which it was effected; but it is still more remarkable, in a country where a ceaseless tide of emigration has been for years, and still is, surging from the east to the west, under no greater stimulus than the love of change or hope of gain, that this particular case should be singled out as "not paralleled in the history of mankind since Moses led the Israelites from Egypt." In fact, the task was comparatively an easy one. The whole history of Mormonism is a continuing illustration of the prodigious power of religious fanaticism over the mind. It required no greater effort to induce the Mormons to remove from Nauvoo to Salt Lake than from their previous homes to the gathering-place of the Saints for the time, nor so great, because the concentrated enthusiasm of the multitude easily sways and carries along individual minds. There was skill and good management in details, which enabled large masses to emigrate in safety; but the way had been fully explored. Thousands of families had previously, in small bands, performed the tedious journey to Oregon, without the stimulus of religious enthusiasm, running the gauntlet of Indian hostilities under far more discouraging circumstances, and strewing the interminable road with frequent evidences of suffering and mortality. The Mormons accomplished one half of this journey in bands too powerful to be molested by Indians, united by the same religious faith, and under the control and direction of a single will.
Perhaps the traveler who threads his way over the 
The year 1848 was one of privation and suffering prior to the maturing of the growing crops. Among other discouraging incidents, a curious kind of "cricket" made its appearance in myriads, manifesting all the destructive properties of the locust of Eastern countries. All vegetation was swept clean before its frightful progress as effectually as the grass before the scorching fury of a prairie conflagration, and the crops put in with so much toil, and on which so much depended, were fast disappearing. Suddenly, however, flocks of white gulls floated over the mountain tops, with healing in their wings, and stayed this withering destruction by feasting upon the destroyer. It is no matter for wonder that the leaders should place this in the list of miraculous interpositions in their favor, nor that the mass of the Saints should implicitly believe that the gulls were hatched into sudden maturity for the occasion; but it is a little strange that one, of the evident intelligence of Colonel Kane, should speak of these fowl as "before strangers to the valley."
The crickets and the gulls have been annual visitors since, as they were before, the bane and the antidote together; and the Mormons have been able to raise enough to supply not only their own wants, but a surplus for the emigrants to California and Oregon.
After the pioneer company reached Salt Lake Valley, and commenced a permanent settlement, another address was issued to the Saints all over the world. This address is very long, and embraces a great variety of subjects relative to the gathering of the Saints in their mountain Zion. The design of Brigham Young did not end in merely escaping from persecution—it had been foreshadowed by William Smith—it was to found an independent state; and this address develops the comprehensiveness of the plan. The Saints were not only required to assemble at the common centre, but to come provided for all possible emergencies. The following will be sufficient to give the reader an idea of its scope and compass:
"And to all the Saints in any country bordering upon the Atlantic, we would say, pursue the same course. Come immediately, and prepare to go West, bringing with you all kinds of choice seeds of grain, vegetables, fruits, shrubbery, trees, and vines—every thing that will please the eye, gladden the heart, or cheer the soul of man, that grows upon the face of the whole earth; also, the best stock of beast, bird, and fowl of every kind; also, the best tools of every description, and machinery for spinning or weaving, and dressing cotton, wool, flax, and silk, &c., &c., or models and descriptions of the same, by which they can construct them; and the same in relation to all kinds of farming utensils and husbandry, such as corn-shellers, grain-thrashers and cleaners, smut-machines, mills, and every implement and article within their knowledge that shall tend to promote the comfort, health, happiness, or prosperity of any people.
"It is very desirable that all the Saints should improve every opportunity of securing at least a copy of every valuable treatise on education—every book, map, chart, or diagram that may contain interesting, useful, and attractive matter, to gain the attention of children, and cause them to love to read; and also every historical, mathematical, philosophical, geographical, geological, astronomical, scientific, practical, and all other variety of useful and interesting writings, maps, &c., to present to the general Church Recorder when they shall arrive at their destination, from which important and interesting matter may be gleaned to compile the most valuable works on every science and subject, for the benefit of the rising generation.
"Let all Saints who love God more than their own dear selves—and none else are Saints—gather, without delay, to the place appointed, bringing their gold, their silver, their copper, their zinc, their tin, and brass, and iron, and choice steel, and ivory, and precious stones, their curiosities of science, of art, of nature, and every thing in their possession or within their reach, to build in strength and stability, to beautify, to adorn, to embellish, to delight, and to cast a fragrance over the house of the Lord; with sweet instruments of music and melody, and songs, and fragrance, and sweet odors, and beautiful colors, whether it be in precious jewels, or minerals, or choice ores, or in wisdom and knowledge, or understanding, manifested in carved work, or curious workmanship of the box, the fir, and pine-tree, or any thing that ever was, or is, or is to be, for the exaltation, glory, honor, salvation of the living and the dead for time and all eternity."
The address manifests much tact and ability, and was well calculated to promote the objects intended. It winds up with the usual high pretenses to a love of order and morality which has ever distinguished the preaching of this anomalous community:
"The kingdom of God consists in correct principles, and it mattereth not what a man's religious faith is—whether he be a Presbyterian, or a Methodist, or a Baptist, or a Latter-day Saint, or 'Mormon,' or a Campbellite, or a Catholic, or Episcopalian, or Mohammedan, or even Pagan, or any thing else. If he will bow the knee, and with his tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ, and will support good and wholesome laws for the regulation of society, we hail him as a brother, and will stand by him as he stands by us in these things; for every man's faith is a matter between his own soul and his God alone. But if he shall deny the Jesus—if he shall curse God—if he shall indulge in debauchery, and drunkenness, and crime—if he shall lie, and swear, and steal—if he shall take the name of the great God in vain, and commit all manner of abominations, he shall have no place in our midst; for we have long sought to find a people that will work righteousness—that will distribute justice equally—that will acknowledge God in all their ways—that will regard those sacred laws and ordinances which are recorded in that sacred book called the Bible, which we verily believe, and which we proclaim to the ends of the earth."
It is owing to the comprehensive views of this address being measurably carried out that we find so many of the means and appliances of civilized life in the Great Basin. Flouring-mills have been erected upon some of the numerous streams which pour down from the mountains, sufficient to meet the wants of the people; and a few saw-mills have been put up at points where the scanty timber is to be found in most abundance. Other mechanical employments are also in operation to an extent equal to the wants of such a community.
The Saints went on gathering as fast as distance and other circumstances would permit, in obedience to the injunctions of the reigning prophet. But many were poor, and, especially in Great Britain, unable to defray the expenses of so great a journey without aid from the Church. This gave rise to two institutions, "The Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company," and "The Public Works," which, in connection with "The Tithing-office," are now engines of state in the hands of the ecclesiastical despotism existing in Utah. The subject is thus alluded to in a letter from Brigham Young, dated October 14th, 1849, to Orson Pratt, then in England:
"You will learn from our general epistle the principal events occurring with us; but we have thought proper to write you more particularly in relation to some matters of general interest—in an especial manner, the perpetual emigrating fund for the poor Saints. This fund, we wish all to understand, is perpetual, and, in order to be kept good, will need constant accessions. To further this end, we expect all who are benefited by its operation will be willing to reimburse that amount as soon as they are able, facilities for which will, very soon after their arrival here, present themselves in the shape of public works."
These "Public Works" were soon after permanently established, under the direction and control of the Church. They consist of work-shops, built on Temple Block, in which various mechanical trades are carried on as systematically as in manufacturing establishments in the States. The poor emigrating Saint is, through the "Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company," furnished with the means of performing the great journey, but, when he gets to Zion, he is without food, raiment, or shelter. A house is speedily built for him, and he is placed in the "Public Works" to work out the debt, during which process he is furnished with the necessaries of life from the Tithing-office, to the amount of a moiety of the value of his labor; and as he is charged enormously for what he receives, as well as a tithe of his labor, he is in a state of almost hopeless servitude; like the frog in the well, which fell back one foot at night for every two feet hopped out in the daytime, his final extrication is hedged around with discouraging drawbacks.
The Mexican war terminated, and the members of the Mormon battalion straggled back, part of them to Utah, and part remained in California. The treaty of Gaudeloupe Hidalgo followed, and the Saints still found themselves within the dominions of the great persecuting republic, from which they had made such persevering efforts to escape. But they were by themselves, in the fastnesses of the mountains, excluded from observation, and secure, at least, from present molestation; and the next best thing to becoming a state independent of the Union, was to become an independent state of the Union. Brigham Young hastened, therefore, to organize the new State of "Deseret," under a Constitution, with the following boundaries: "Commencing at the 33d degree of north latitude, where it crosses the 108th degree of longitude, west of Greenwich; thence running south and west to the northern boundary of Mexico; thence west to, and down the main channel of the Gila River, on the northern line of Mexico, and on the northern boundary of Lower California to the Pacific Ocean; thence along the coast northwesterly to 118 degrees 30 minutes of west longitude; thence north to where said line intersects the dividing ridge of the Sierra Nevada Mountains; thence north along the summit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the dividing range of mountains that separates the waters flowing into the Columbia River from the waters running into the Great Basin; thence easterly along the dividing range of mountains that separates said waters flowing into the Columbia River on the north from the waters flowing into the Great Basin on the south, to the summit of the Wind River chain of mountains; thence southeast and south by the dividing range of mountains that separate the waters flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from the waters flowing into the Gulf of California, to the place of beginning, as set forth in a map drawn by Charles Preass, and published by order of the Senate of the United States in 1848."
The term "Deseret," in Mormon language, is said to signify the "Land of the Honey-bee;" yet, strange to say, this useful insect, typical of order and industry, is unknown in the Great Basin. One of the emigrating bands of the Saints took in three hives, one of which, with great care and management, survived the severe winter of 1849–50; but, unluckily, in the ensuing summer, this hive was found one morning some distance from its proper place, robbed of its sweets, and the poor bees scattered abroad.
The bounds of the State of Deseret would probably have been found to contain the requisite numbers for admission into the Union; but Congress wisely concluded to shear this ambitious stranger of her self-constituted proportions, and wait until the Saints should give some better evidences of good citizenship before investing them with the full panoply of state sovereignty. The present Territory of Utah was organized in 1850 under an act of Congress, soon after which Brigham Young was appointed Governor by the President.
In the summer of 1851, the Legislative Assembly was elected under the Territorial Bill, and held its first session in the following fall and winter; and from this period the laws of the United States have been nominally in operation—what the reality is in this respect will appear more fully as we proceed.
After the confusion incident to the influx of large numbers had measurably settled into something like order, Brigham Young turned his attention to temple building, which seems ever to have been the focal point of Mormon fanaticism. Temple Block, to which the index finger of the martyred Joseph had pointed from Ensign Peak in Brigham's vision, was duly set apart and consecrated for sacerdotal purposes. A tabernacle was speedily built for present use; but the Temple, without which the dead could not be baptized from Purgatory, required deliberation and time to erect upon a scale of grandeur equal to the present prosperity and anticipations of the future greatness of the Saints. A wall, surrounding the whole block, of reddish sandstone, handsomely dressed, was nearly completed on two sides up to the spring of 1853. Every step in the progress of this mighty edifice and its appurtenances has been commemorated by imposing ceremonies in the presence of multitudes. The one witnessed by the author, on the occasion of breaking ground for the foundation of the building (February 14th, 1853), will give the reader some faint idea of the modus operandi by which "Latter-day" fanaticism is kept up to its fever heat.
The day was superbly fine, the atmosphere without a cloud, and the panoramic view such as no other place can exhibit. The mountains east, west, and south were covered with snow, and glittered gloriously in the sun. The ceremonies were to commence at eleven o'clock. Before the hour a great multitude assembled, to the amount of some thousands, with a large infusion of women and children. A stake was driven down at the point intended for the centre of the building. Two large brass bands were in attendance, and discoursed good music, among which was our old acquaintance "Hail Columbia!" A wagon was stationed at an appropriate place, as a stand for those who were to conduct the exercises of the day. At the appointed time, the Governor took his station and addressed the multitude. The tenor of his remarks was: That they were now about to make a third attempt to build a Temple; that they had tried twice before, but had not been permitted to finish one and enjoy it any length of time; that it was the duty of the brethren to go on with the work, even if it should cost a million, and they knew they were to leave it the day after its completion; that, if they were destined to leave it, it would be their duty to leave it with cheerfulness; that some might wish to know what his knowledge was on the subject—whether he had had a revelation as to the site of the Temple; that, for seven years past, the very spot had been present in his mind, in dreams and visions, notwithstanding individuals had gone in different directions to hunt out a place, and if they wished him to write out the revelation, he would do so; but that no revelation or command was necessary—the people were bound to build a temple without any—they might as well ask for a revelation to build a house for themselves. He took them to task for not promptly paying their tithes; said if the tithes were paid, as they should be, there would be no need of extra contributions to go on with the building. Once, and but once, he excited a laugh in the crowd, but it was done in a way which harmonized well enough with the time and occasion. He said there were very many present who had not the rare privilege of being persecuted by mobs, &c., but that they need not give themselves any uneasiness, as their time would come yet, in some form or other.
The Governor speaks easily, has a ready flow of words, and a voice of sufficient compass for out-door speaking. He is not what would be called an eloquent or impassioned speaker in the States. He is very self-possessed, and his manner is deliberate and argumentative. He was listened to with the most profound attention, and evidently has the most unbounded influence with the people.
After the address succeeded a prayer by Elder Kimball, very much in the manner of prayers on such occasions. There were some allusions which a stranger to the Mormon creed would not have understood; for instance, he thanked the Lord, among other things, for our tabernacles. This was in reference to their doctrine, that our spirits existed as intelligent beings long before our bodies, which they call tabernacles; and that the spirits enter into these tabernacles for the purpose of having an earthly body in the resurrection. The address and prayer, with intervening music, being ended, the ceremony of excavating was commenced by the Governor, who was succeeded by the twelve apostles, each throwing up a small quantity of earth; after which the assembly was dismissed. The ceremonies were imposing, and there was an evident manifestation of the tremendous power of religious enthusiasm under the direction of a single will. I am but little learned in scientific phrenology, but I think the ready eye of one of our Fowlers would have detected the organs of veneration and marvelousness prominently developed, while the heads of the multitude were uncovered during the prayer.
It is not to be supposed that such a ceremony could pass without something of the marvelous. A gold dollar was found by the prophet-Governor while engaged in the work, which was, of course, seen by one of the twelve to drop from the clouds, and was interpreted to mean that the Saints were to be amply supplied with funds for this glorious work.