The Prophet and the Reformer

by Grow, Matthew J. ; Walker, Ronald W. ;

  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 for the labor & interest necessary to obtain it, besides a heavy current Int. on their protested notes.

  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 & shall willingly exchange our goods for U.S. gold, but his paper, & that of his

  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 not yet negoti-

  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 pro-

  pensities for making money, as far excel the Jews of “Wall St.” as

  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 this people,

  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 of the mean actions of one coun-

  try cousin lobby courtiers: I suppose may expect a few more such,

  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

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  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.

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  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.

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  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 territorial appointments

  subordinate to your own11 as I wd. desire, because

  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 delay—at any price. I have accordingly

  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 than it is at present. This is about the drift of my