1st Those merchants remit this paper to the east to meet their
indebtedness, it is presented at the department, is refused—the Cr.
[credit] of our merchants impaired, & their goods gone for that
is valueless, and if ever paid to their order, a heavy drawback paid out of
it
2nd Confidence destroyed in the paper of U.S.’s officials. paper Should
any of their paper or themselves appear behind our merchants’ desks or
counter’s asking credit. Ans. “No. Gent. we are glad to see
officials, is in bad repute here.”
3rd Much of this same paper now smells bad in the bureau at
Washington, unpaid; some in the merchants hands, unpaid: and thousands
in the possession of the inhabitants of this
ated & unnegotiable; for which, they which they exchanged their labor,
attendance—time & most humble homage to Judge “Swindle’em”3 But
marshal, non-M
ormon Peter K. Dotson. However, the commission was addressed to Judge
William Drummond, who had already left the territory, and Judge George Stiles refused to open it, further irking Young. See Young to George Q. Cannon, January 31, 1857, BYOF; Young to Bernhisel, January 29, 1857, BYOF.
2. Young similarly remarked to Bernhisel “on Judge Drummond’s course, after keeping Marshall Heywood, and hundreds of our citizens dancing attendance upon him in his
Courts! manifestations of folly! then signing orders on the Government for the expenses thereof, at the same time writing the departments emphatically not to pay these—his own orders!!!” Young to Bernhisel, January 29, 1857, BYOF.
3. On Kane’s copy, but not in Young’s letterbook, “Drummond” is written above “Swindle’em.”
Young to Kane, January 31, 1857
213
this is not the darkest feature of this black case: when said Judge was
holden court at Carson Co. near 700 miles from where these expences
were incurred, he commenced a brokerage business, in which
pensities for making money,
sun light, excels the glimmering of a distant star, he purchases some of
said paper for 50c per doll.! Wonder, where & how he will get this paper
discounted? & whether he will not make 100 p.c. on his purchases?4
It seems to me, sometimes, as if I ought to use my
serve on juries before such Judges, or as witnesses, & let all such, in their courts, enjoy their paltry pittance of a salary. & their unenviable Solitude.5 [p. 3]
This is but afew
try cousin lobby courtiers: I suppose
before the present Executive leave his chair & the white house, unless
some righteous and merciful influence prevent it.
The last mails of the MacGraw Contract, viz the Octr & Novr bags
are still somewhere on the road; Mr Gerrish & another left them 7
weeks ago on the Platte: had we these matters in our own hands, we
could have an uninterrupted communication with the States &c. We
have plenty of Norwegians & Danes, that would esteem it a pleasure
to walk a 1000 miles on snow shoes, [?] when necessary, as a duty.6
4. Young was referring to financial notes that Drummond had issued to cover the cost of his court. These notes became something of a circulating currency; they declined in value when federal officials in Washington, D.C., hesitated to pay. Young was commenting on Drummond’s rumored speculation on these notes, buying them at half their face value. For a statement on the finances of Drummond’s court, see George A. Smith to Kane, January 14, 1859, Church Historian’s Office, History of the Church, vol. 29, 133–138, CHL.
5. Young may have been implying that he might be willing to have Latter-day Saints not participate in the judicial proceedings. A year earlier, Young lashed out at the large number of Mormons who milled about the federal courts, seeking the money that came from serving legal documents. Young said that there might be 150 to 200 such men in Salt Lake City alone, and his estimate did not include a similar group of men in Utah County, although he was aware of them as well. These men were “coaxing hell into our midst,” Young said, apparently referring to their cooperation with the territorial officers. To reclaim these “court house” Mormons, Young wondered if they should be called to serve missions—“at least for five years,” he said, although these “poor curses” might abandon their missions once they traveled through the alluring lands of California. Young’s remarks were more than a flourish. He asked church secretary Thomas Bullock to make a list of the offenders’ names for future action and later called many on missions. Brigham Young, Remarks, February 24, 1856, “Remarks By President Brigham Young, Tabernacle, Feb. 24, 1856,” Deseret News, March 5, 1856, 412; Heber C. Kimball to William H. Kimball, February 29, 1856, “Foreign Correspondence,” Millennial Star, 18 (June 21, 1856): 395–398; Extracts of letter, Alex Somerville to George Q. Cannon, December 1, 1856, Journal History.
6. Young and other Mormons had long complained about the quality of the federal mail service to Utah Territory. During the summer of 1856, Young organized the Y. X. Carrying
214
the prOphet And the refOrmer
Our friendly relations still continue with the Indians. We have hun-
dreds of men among them teaching them to cultivate the soil and ere
long we are hopeful many of them will be enabled to read their own his-
tory, or rather the history of their race, as well as we do, & understand it.7
We have discovered a seam of lead in one of the mountains near the
Colorado [River] & have begun to take out a little for domestic manu-
factures, to which as a people we are now turning more of our attention.8
The letter written to you on the 7th. I duplicated & sent by the
southern mail, & of the men that went out this month, one died ere
they returned.
We have procured a steam engine at St Louis for our Iron works at
Iron Co. 300 miles south: and have it thus far on the road.
We are satisfied with the appointment of Buchanan as future
President. we believe he will be a friend to the good, Prest. Fillmore
was our friend, but Buchanan will not be a whit behind.
Accept the assurance
of the continued regard & gratitude
Of your sincere Friend,
Brigham Young
Company, which successfully won the contract from the federal government to carry mail on the Independence–Salt Lake route. The politically connected displaced mail contractor, William M. F. Magraw, bitterly railed against Young in letters to political leaders, helping to prompt the Utah Expedition. Young sunk tremendous resources into the company, which he envisioned would transport goods of all kinds across the plains. The suspension of the company’s mail contract in June 1857 by President Buchanan was a devastating blow.
MacKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 56–57, 149.
7. Beginning as early as 1851, Brigham Young began establishing missions to the American Indians in Utah, first by establishing a program to teach the tribes to farm. See Arrington, American Moses, 217–219; Beverly Beeton, “Teach Them to Till the Soil: An Experiment with Indian Farms, 1850–1862,” American Indian Quarterly 3:1 (Winter 1977–1978): 299–320.
8. In April 1856, William Bringhurst and Nathaniel Jones were directed to explore Las Vegas as a potential settlement for the Saints. Young also appointed Isaac Grundy,
who was familiar with leadworks, to assist. They were instructed to “engage in manufacturing lead,” and large amounts of lead were discovered. Nevertheless, the mission broke up in March 1857.
See Nevada Mission Record, CHL; Brigham Young to Isaac Grundy, July 7, 1856, BYOF; Young to “To Whom It May Concern,” July 7, 1856, BYOF.
34
Kane to Young, circa March 1857
yOung’s JAnuAry 1857 letters to Kane arrived in the midst of a personal crisis,
as his older brother Elisha, with whom he had been exceptionally close, had
died on February 16, 1857. Like Thomas, Elisha had struggled with health prob-
lems most of his life, which were exacerbated by his Arctic voyages. Elisha’s
second book on his Arctic experiences, which Thomas edited and helped
write, had transformed him into a national hero. In December 1856, Thomas
sailed to Cuba where Elisha, returning from England, had stopped to recover
his failing health. Thomas, joined by his mother and a younger brother, cared
for Elisha until he died. While in Cuba, Kane received a letter from his wife
which copied a letter from Bernhisel. Seeking Kane’s help, Bernhisel told
him that he hoped to influence President Buchanan to “permit Gov. Young to
continue to hold over” as Utah governor, recognizing that the “senate would
not confirm his nomination.”1 Kane likely took no immediate actions, as he
accompanied Elisha’s body on a slow, highly celebrated procession home to
Philadelphia, arriving on March 12; Elisha’s body lay at Independence Hall
before its interment.2
Elisha’s death diverted Thomas’s attention partially away from Mormon
affairs during the following months. In late March, Thomas informed his fam-
ily that he hoped to organize an expedition to the Arctic to vindicate Elisha’s
1. Elizabeth W
. Kane to Thomas L. Kane, February 6, [1857], Kane Collection, BYU.
2. Chapin, Exploring Other Worlds, 190–198. A contemporary described Thomas Kane as the funeral process went through Cincinnati, writing that he “is rather below the medium height, square but delicately built, with an expansive chest. His hair is dark brown; he wears small side-whiskers, with mustache and goatee. His eye is piercing and dark. Altogether, his appearance is prepossessing, and he looks the thorough gentleman. He is apparently in delicate health. His face is at once sad and impressive.” William Elder, Biography of Elisha Kent Kane (Philadelphia, 1858), 314.
216
the prOphet And the refOrmer
theories, including the existence of an open sea at the North Pole. Convinced
that such a voyage “would kill him,” his family persuaded Thomas to give up
the plan. Elizabeth wrote in her diary, “How dreadfully he looked! . . . My poor,
poor boy!”3 Thomas slipped into depression during April and May. Elizabeth
noted, “Tom looks worse and worse as the weeks go by.”4
Nevertheless, Kane attempted to lobby the newly inaugurated Buchanan
on the Saints’ behalf during March. These attempts, however, were over-
whelmed by negative reports received by Buchanan and members of his cabi-
net in mid-March which convinced Buchanan and his key advisers that Young
needed to be replaced as governor. On March 9, Bernhisel met with Buchanan
and urged him to retain (but not reappoint) Young. In a letter to Young,
Bernhisel noted that Buchanan “appeared free from prejudice himself.”
Despite Buchanan’s apparently cordial attention, “there seems to be a deter-
mination in both houses of Congress, and throughout the length and breadth
of the land, never to admit Utah into the Union with her ‘peculiar institution,’
and I regret to say that within the last few months prejudice against us as
a people has greatly increased.” Polygamy, Bernhisel wrote, “is looked upon
with a holy horror.”5 In addition, Bernhisel had earlier reported to Young that
the Republican Party was continuing to use the polygamy issue against the
Democrats, placing pressure on Buchanan to distance the Democrats from
allegations of sympathy toward the Saints.6
Buchanan and his cabinet soon received several reports on Utah affairs,
including the memorials and resolutions from Utah’s legislative assembly;
negative letters from Utah federal officials John F. Kinney (chief justice), David H. Burr (surveyor general), and William Drummond (associate justice) calling
for Young’s replacement as governor and the installation of federal troops in
Utah; and national newspaper editorials calling for decisive action on Utah.
Bernhisel reported to Young that Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson
characterized the Utah legislative documents as “a declaration of war” as they
“breathed a defiant spirit”; Thompson warned Bernhisel “that if we got into
3. Elizabeth W
. Kane, journal, March 27, 1857, Kane Collection, BYU.
4. Elizabeth W. Kane, journal, May 2, 1857, Kane Collection, BYU.
5. Bernhisel to Young, March 17, 1857, BYOF. Buchanan typically made a good impression upon many men who met him for the first time, which one biographer attributed to a defect in one eye, which made him lean toward visitors, giving “the impression of assent and approbation.” Philip Shriver Klein, President James Buchanan: A Biography (University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962), 21.
6. Bernhisel to Young, February 17, 1857, BYOF.
Kane to Young, circa March 1857
217
trouble with the General Government that we would have nobody to blame
but ourselves.”7
Amidst this flurry of inflammatory reports, Kane attempted to discredit
some of the Utah officials in a letter to Buchanan on March 21, noting that he
had “been requested” to do so—likely a reference to his January 1857 letters
from Young. According to Kane, the officials were “in every respect unfit for
the stations which they hold.” He warned Buchanan that he would “find diffi-
culty in filling their places by appointments of your own,” as evidenced by past
presidential experience. The Saints, Kane argued, “have a country where an
honest livelihood is only obtained by a life of unremitting labor, where there
is no hope of advancement for the political adventurer, and quite as little for
the speculator.” Kane explained his own motivations to defend the Saints: “I
wish the Mormons to be contented because I wish them to be efficient citizens
of the United States.” In particular, he noted that they would prove crucial to
any future transcontinental railroad, “a possible achievement for your admin-
istration.” Finally, he urged Buchanan to recognize the complexity of the Utah
situation—a true “Gordian knot”—and asked the president to “do me the favor
to consult with me before taking order upon the affairs of Utah.”8 Kane also
wrote to Attorney General Jeremiah Black, another Pennsylvania Democrat, to
urge Young’s reappointment.9 John Taylor informed Young in mid-April that
Kane “has been using all his influence with the administration; he is a true
friend.” Kane had explained to Taylor “that he had received a letter from you
[Young] & was desirous to carry out your requests as far as possible, he did not think it prudent, however to recommend all; but seemed more desirous to first
secure the Governorship.”10
At some point, probably in late March following his letters to Bu
chanan
and Black, Kane drafted the following letter to Young, explaining that he had
focused on securing the governorship for Young, rather than recommend-
ing that all of the other territorial appointments go to Latter-day Saints.
Recognizing that Young’s position was greatly threatened and that Buchanan
was “overworked” at the beginning of his presidency, Kane wrote that he would
urge the president to delay any decisions on Utah.
7 . Bernhisel to Young, April 2, 1857, BYOF; see also MacKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 106–107.
8. Kane to Buchanan, March 21, 1857, Kane Collection, BYU.
9. William Appleby to Young, April 1, 1857, BYOF.
10. John Taylor to Young, April 18, 1857, BYOF. Kane had also given Taylor a “copy of three letters which he has written, on this subject,” which Taylor forwarded to Young.
218
the prOphet And the refOrmer
Source
Kane to Young, ca. March 1857, draft, Thomas L. Kane Papers, Stanford.
Letter
My friend:
I have to day leisure to enclose you a copy of a letter written to the
President upon receiving your letter of the [blank] I could not second
your wishes in respect of the
subordinate to
your own is in danger, and it will only be by great address that we suc-
ceed in saving it. I heard from the President (at second hand) a week
ago, and conclude either that my friends have not pressed
your matter upon his notice as forcefully as I have requested, or else
that there exists where there shd. not be a spirit of determined hostility
to your interests. The best thing that can be done at present, as I am
advised, is to procure
procured an influential friend to represent to Mr. Buchanan how com-
plicated as well as embarrassing the whole Utah question was to be
considered, and advise him not to stir in it all before his mind is less
bedevilled
The Prophet and the Reformer Page 32