place. It is coming by no act of ours that the government or any other
person could take exceptions to. We would most gladly avoid it if we
could but the issue is urged upon us without any investigation on the
part of the government. They have tried and condemned us unheard
and we are left to reap the bitter fruits of the iniquity of others. Our trust
as hitherto is in the Lord of hosts and if he does not continue to vex
this nation and make them feel his sore displeasure you may consider
that we are not good at guessing. Indeed we think that the time is not
far distant when they will have all they can attend to nearer home. We
shall send our delegate as usual owing to the lighting up a little before
observed. Captain Van Vliet assisting Quarter Master to the Army will
accompany him. We feel [p. 5] that we can rely upon your aid and influ-
ence in averting the fearful storm, but if it breaks upon us it will also
break upon the whole Country and then friends will be friends in need.
Where will you find better, warmer or more sincere friends than in the
mountains. We exhort you not to trust yourself elsewhere than with us
when discord shall rend the nation asunder. For the Lord is with us,
and in him is sure protection. He is at the helm and will guide the ship
aright. Then come with all your household and receive the just recom-
pense of daring to speak, act and feel in behalf of an innocent but much
abused people.
My health is very good, also all my friends Bro’s Heber, George A,
Taylor,13 al[s] o wish a kind remembrance to you, as well as the boys
whom you so kindly treated and entertained while going upon their
missions.
May prosperity attend all your steps, and the God of Abraham, of
Moses and of Joseph multiply and strengthen you that you may be
increased and made mighty and powerful in the land.
As ever your friend,
Brigham Young
13. H
eber C. Kimball, George A. Smith, and John Taylor.
38
Kane to Young, February 17, 1858
three dAys After he dictated his September 12, 1857 letter to Kane, Young
proclaimed martial law in Utah. During the fall of 1857, Mormon soldiers
also burned Fort Bridger (which the Saints had earlier purchased from Jim
Bridger), a possible wintering place for the army; destroyed the goods car-
ried by two vital army supply trains; and torched grass prairies needed for the
Utah Expedition’s animals.1 These actions, which deeply embarrassed both
the military and President Buchanan, suggested to the nation that the Saints
were willing to engage militarily with the federal troops; the destruction of the
supplies also opened up the Mormons to a possible charge of treason.
As tensions rose in the west, Kane and his family arrived in Philadelphia on
October 3, following their summer in the Allegheny Mountains. He recalled,
“When I came down upon the world again . . . and learned the true state of
affairs at that time, I was inexpressibly shocked,” as he found a letter from
Latter-day Saint Samuel W. Richards that demonstrated “beyond question that
the Mormons were determined to resist our troops and . . . the most staid
and reliable men among them, [were] in an exceedingly unhappy and distem-
pered state of mind.” According to Elizabeth Kane’s later recollection, Thomas
was torn by events. On one hand, he “pitied the Mormons and thought them
unjustly accused.” But Kane also believed that they were behaving badly: “Like
boys in school too long oppressed, they had mutinied.”2
Even so, a little more than a month after his return, Kane traveled to
Washington and met with Buchanan, though he “really thought it was too late
in the season for me to force my way among the Mormons.” Notwithstanding
1. M
acKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 329.
2. Elizabeth Wood Kane, “The Story of the ‘Mother of the Regiment,’ ” 74, Kane
Collection, BYU.
234
the prOphet And the refOrmer
his doubts, Kane began to research the possibility of traveling to Utah that
winter. He soon realized that “other men were able at that very date to pen-
etrate to Salt Lake City.”3 Family concerns, however, diverted Kane’s attention.
As the nation plunged into a financial panic, Kane’s father-in-law and close
friend William Wood, a New York City merchant, experienced a physical and
emotional breakdown as his firm failed. Thomas and Elizabeth Kane insisted
that Wood stay with them in Philadelphia while he recovered in November
and December 1857. Perhaps as a result of this experience or the influence of
an urban religious revival, Kane converted to Christianity during this time.4
On December 8, Buchanan sent his annual message to Congress
which contained his first public statement of his Utah policy. The next day,
Buchanan’s political protégé and close adviser James C. Van Dyke urged him
to meet with Kane as a way to resolve the Utah War. As news of Mormon
resistance reached Washington at the end of the year, Buchanan understood
for the first time that the army he had sent to Utah might be in peril. At the
very least, events seemed to be unraveling. Seeking a way out, Van Dyke told
Buchanan that Kane
has much influence with the Mormons, and especially with their chief.
He thinks he can do much to accomplish an amicable peace between
them and the United States. He is willing to make an expedition to Salt
Lake this winter, even at his own expense . . . He is full of courage, and
if his judgment is correct, he may be able to avert a war of extermina-
tion against a poor deluded race.5
Kane also argued that he would be able to protect the army from any
threats posed by the Mormons. That same day, Bernhisel wrote to Kane
and requested him to write (but send in someone else’s handwriting for
security purposes) arguments to use in defense of the Saints.6 A week
later, Bernhisel wrote Young: “Colonel K. is still our friend.”7
Meanwhile, in Utah on December 15, Young delivered his annual guber-
natorial message to the legislative assembly. Advancing arguments that he
3. Kane, M
emorandum, July 1858, in MacKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 410–411.
4. Grow, Liberty to the Downtrodden, chapter 9.
5. James C. Van Dyke to James Buchanan, December 9, 1857, James Buchanan Papers,
Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
6. Bernhisel to Kane, December 9, 1857, Kane Papers, Stanford.
7. Bernhisel to Young, December 16, 1857, BYOF, in MacKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 487.
Kane to Young, February 17, 1858
235
had used in his September letter to Kane, he described Buchanan’s admin-
istration as “treasonous” and railed against the “lying editors, corrupt dema-
gogues, heartless office hunters and the ignorant rabble, incited by numbers
of the hireling clergy.” The nation’s purpose in sending the army to Utah,
Young exclaimed, was to compel “American citizens, peacefully, loyally, and
lawfully occupying American soil, to forego the dearest Constitutional rights,
to abandon their religion, to wallo
w in the mire and worship at the shrine
of modern civilization and Christianity, or be expelled from the country, or
exterminated.”8
While Young portrayed the Utah Expedition as inherently un-American,
Van Dyke and Kane worked to convince Buchanan to accept Kane’s proposal
of mediation. While eager to find a solution for the Utah problem, Buchanan
hesitated about sending Kane west. There was the possibility of embarrass-
ing himself and his administration if Kane failed or died in the process.
Two days before Christmas, Van Dyke accompanied Kane to Washington to
lobby Buchanan personally. Elizabeth cast Kane’s actions in the context of his
recent conversion to Christianity: “Tom thinks he may be of service to Him
by bringing about a peace between Utah & the U.S.”9 Van Dyke met first with
Buchanan, who skeptically called Kane’s plan a “very hazardous one, fraught
with dangers and difficulties on all sides.” Pressing him for support, Van
Dyke told Buchanan that Kane had decided to go regardless of the president’s
approval, though his success might depend on the “sanction and approbation
of the Administration.”10
Buchanan asked Van Dyke and Kane to visit Bernhisel, who expressed his
own doubts about Kane’s proposal. Traveling through the Mormons’ “outer
settlements” might endanger Kane’s life, as the Saints had “arrived at such
a point of hostility to the United States that they would sacrifice you if they
discovered your design in visiting them.” Only by arriving in Salt Lake City
could Kane’s safety be guaranteed, because of the “kind feelings of Gov. Young
and the better class of the people towards you personally.” Bernhisel, who
favored conciliation, feared that the Saints would resist the army by attack-
ing the supply trains “and by various annoyances to our army keep up a pro-
tracted war and greatly embarrass this Government.” While such an approach
might momentarily prove successful, Bernhisel and Van Dyke believed it
8. M
acKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 488–489. See also Young to E. A. Alexander, October 14, 1857, BYOF.
9. Elizabeth W. Kane, journal, December 24, 1857, Kane Collection, BYU.
10. James C. Van Dyke, Philadelphia, to Kane, March 28, 1859, Kane Collection, BYU.
236
the prOphet And the refOrmer
would “eventually prove disastrous” to the Mormons. Bernhisel suggested that
Kane’s influence with Young and other leaders made him the person most likely
to “exercise such a wholesome influence.” However, Bernhisel feared that his
comrades might attack the army as soon as spring cleared the mountain passes
of snow—and before Kane could even arrive in Utah. Contrasting the grave dan-
gers with the slim hopes, Bernhisel concluded that Kane would not be “justi-
fied in making the effort.” Van Dyke relayed Bernhisel’s few positive comments
about Kane’s influence with the Saints to the president, which “made a favorable
impression upon him [Buchanan].”11
On December 26, Kane and Van Dyke met with Buchanan at the White
House. Kane recalled that Buchanan greeted him cordially and suggested open-
ness to the plan, though he also urged Kane “to give up all thought of an enterprise which he assured him must be vain, rash and foolhardy and which promised no
other possible result than the sacrifice of his own life which would be added
to the weight of the public indignation against the unfortunate Mormons.”12
Buchanan had built a career based upon taking as few risks as possible, and
this negotiation was no exception. Nevertheless, Kane repeated his determina-
tion to travel to Utah, indicating to Buchanan that the “only question at last for him [Buchanan] to resolve was, whether in case I should succeed in reaching
Salt Lake City, I should not be provided by him with my proper means of influ-
ence there.” Buchanan agreed to the plan and offered Kane an official appoint-
ment and government compensation for expenses. Kane refused both, telling
Buchanan that such favors could compromise his influence with the Mormons.
While Kane would travel as an unofficial agent of Buchanan, Kane left the meet-
ing with the understanding that he had powers to negotiate a peace between
Young, Cumming, and the military leaders by offering pardons to the Mormons
in exchange for accepting Cumming as governor and allowing the army to create
a military camp in Utah.13
On New Year’s Eve, Buchanan provided Kane with three letters—one personal,
one intended for federal officials, and one written for Mormon leaders—expressing
his support for Kane’s mission.14 Kane also carried a letter from Bernhisel to
Young, which stated his confidence in Kane and expressed a belief that he was
11. J
ames C. Van Dyke, to Kane, March 28, 1859. Bernhisel read this account and added a note that the statements were “correct as far as I can remember.”
12. Kane, “Concerning the Mormons and Pres. Buchanan,” in Poll, “Thomas L. Kane,” 123.
13. Kane, “Concerning the Mormons and Pres. Buchanan,” in Poll, “Thomas L. Kane,” 123.
14. Buchanan to Kane, December 31, 1857, Kane Collection, BYU.
Kane to Young, February 17, 1858
237
guided by God.15 Elizabeth gave her husband a “little Bible” along with “some of
our favorite pieces of poetry.”16 She reconciled herself to Thomas’s decision by
reflecting on his recent conversion. She prayed in her journal:
Father, I feel willing now, should it prove Thy will, to yield my dear
husband to Thy hands if Thou needest him to bring peace to those lost
sheep of Israel. Lord, if I give Him to Thee cheerfully wilt Thou design
to accept it as my Thank offering for Thy infinite goodness in making
him a Christian.17
When he sailed from New York City on January 5, Kane used the name
of a former black servant who was then immigrating to California, Anthony
Osborne, and posed as a Philadelphia botanist, Dr. Osborne. Besides his
penchant for the dramatic, Kane traveled incognito because he feared his
well-known association with the Mormons would impede his journey to Utah.
Kane sailed to Panama, crossed the isthmus by railroad, and then took boats
to San Francisco and then San Pedro, California. Traveling overland, Kane
passed through San Bernardino, a once-thriving Mormon settlement and now
a hotbed of anti-Mormon feeling. He aroused suspicion while seeking to hire
men to accompany him to Utah, and narrowly escaped a lynching from an
organized committee of vigilantes.18 Before his escape, he succeeded in find-
ing a small escort of Mormons to guide him from San Bernardino; they left on
February 6 and arrived in Williams’ or Cottonwood Camp (near the Mormon
settlement at present-day Las Vegas) on February 14, where they met Apostle
Amasa Lyman and a group of Saints. Lyman then accompanied Kane, who
was suffering from sickness, to Salt Lake City.19
15. Bernhisel to Y
oung, December 31, 1857, Kane Collection, BYU.
16. Elizabeth W. Kane, journal, December 30, 1857, Kane Collection, BYU. This Bible, which contains notations Kane made during the Utah War, is housed at BYU. Kane marked certain dates on his Utah War journey by scriptural pass
ages.
17. Elizabeth W. Kane, journal, December 28, 1857, BYU.
18. On the events in San Bernardino, see Grow, Liberty to the Downtrodden, 165–167; Ebenezer Hanks to Amasa Lyman, February 6, 1858, Kane Collection, BYU; Elizabeth W. Kane, journal, June 21, 1858, and undated entry, spring 1873, BYU.
19. Amasa Lyman, journal, February 12–13, 1858, Amasa Lyman Collection, CHL. Lyman was in the region as part of Young’s effort to monitor the ascent up the Colorado River by the U.S.
Army’s Ives Expedition that had been tasked with the exploration of the Colorado River and with determining the feasibility of moving troops up the Colorado River from Fort Yuma to Utah. MacKinnon, At Sword’s Point, 416.
238
the prOphet And the refOrmer
Kane wrote the following letter to Brigham Young while in southern Utah.
Kane praised the “devotion of my Mormon friends” to Elizabeth: “Perhaps
it is God inspires them to it:—perhaps you have been praying to him for
me—perhaps I, even, do a little in that line—toward sunset, and only a
moment of two, and when you are concerned.”20 Kane copied his letter to
Young in a letter he wrote to President Buchanan on March 5, 1858.
Source
Kane to Young, February 17, 1858, in Thomas L. Kane to James
Buchanan, March 5, 1858, Kane Collection, BYU.
Letter
My dear Sir,
I trust you will recognize my handwriting. The date of my letter will
apprise you of my journey hither. That I have make it in 6 weeks from
New York, may persuade you that I am on no fool’s errand, and have no
want of confidence in my ability to convince you what is the true feeling
of our people and the President toward yourself and the good citizens of
Utah. I send this to you by Express, to urge you to postpone any military
movement of importance until we meet and have a serious interview. If
you cannot see the expediency of doing so on other grounds, I entreat
it as a favor—in requital of the services which I rendered your people
in their less prosperous days—in the name of the sincerity with which
I remain
Their friend to serve them faithfully
A. Osborne
20. Thomas L. Kane to Elizabeth W
. Kane, February 5, 1858, Kane Collection, BYU.
The Prophet and the Reformer Page 35