When Kane received Young’s December 15 letter, he sent it to Black, ask-
ing him to review it and also to show it to Buchanan before returning it.
Kane included a brief note to Buchanan: “You were good enough to ask me,
I remember, if I ever heard from Brigham Young. I am sure the enclosed
(received by me last mail) supports my reply respecting the character of the
great man’s letters. I preserve all that I receive from him with care and will
therefore be greatly indebted by your returning me this one.” Young’s letter to
Kane referred also to a letter from George A. Smith; Kane informed Buchanan
that this letter “unfortunately has not come to hand.”6 Smith’s letter described
the crime as an Indian massacre of the white wagon trains and laid partial
blame on the victims for acting in a “hostile manner” toward both local Indian
tribes and Mormons. Their actions, Smith concluded, “contributed not a little
to inspire in the minds of the people an indifference as to what the Indians
might do.” Yet, he wrote, “nobody dreamed of or anticipated so dreadful a
result.”7 These words and Kane’s explanations to the government masked the
Mormons’ actual role in the atrocity.
4. Kane to J
eremiah Black, November 1, 1859, Jeremiah Black Papers, Library of Congress.
5. Walker, Turley, and Leonard, Massacre at Mountain Meadows.
6. Kane to Jeremiah Black and James Buchanan, January 15, 1860, Jeremiah Black
Papers, LOC.
7. George A. Smith to Young, August 17, 1858, BYOF.
346
the prophet and the reformer
Nevertheless, Kane’s assurances and Young’s explanations apparently
convinced Black. Further attempts by Cradlebaugh and fellow justice Delana
Eckels to bring indictments against the perpetrators proved futile. The oncom-
ing Civil War distracted the nation from the furor over the massacre. Church
investigations continued over the next decade, and Young ordered ecclesias-
tical punishment against some of the key participants. Not until the 1870s
would additional government inquiries occur, eventually resulting in the exe-
cution of John D. Lee.8
Source
Young to Kane, December 15, 1859, Brigham Young Letterbooks, box
5, vol. 5, 325–328.
Letter
Great Salt Lake City, U. T.,
December 15, 1859,
My Dear Colonel Kane:—
A very pleasant October and an unusually rainy November have
been succeeded by a, thus far, rather wintry December, the thermom-
eter, at daylight on the 6th, indicating 6° colder weather than any previ-
ously recorded during our settlement in the mountains. Since that date
the weather has been tolerably moderate, mostly cloudy, and many are
of opinion that we shall have what is termed an “open winter.”
The Legislative Assembly, pursuant to Resolution approved by
Gov. Cumming, and also in accordance with his proclamation of like
import, convened in the Social Hall in this City, on the 12th inst., to
begin and hold its ninth annual session.9 On the first day of their ses-
sion the two Houses organized, (Hon. Daniel H. Wells, President of
the Council, Hon. John Taylor, Speaker of the House) met in joint
8. Alexander
, Latter-day Saint Investigation.
9. According to Young, he provided the Social Hall to the territorial legislature rent-free. He wrote that the Legislature was forced to provide their own “stationary, furniture, fuel, &c. or do without,” as territorial secretary John Hartnett, who normally provided these materials for them, was in the eastern United States on business. See Young to Asa Calkin, December 7, 1859, BYOF; Young to William Hooper, December 1, 1859, BYOF.
Young to Kane, December 15, 1859
347
session, and received a Message and accompanying documents from
His Excellency, the Governor, which were read and 500 copies ordered
printed.10 On the 13th, the Committees were appointed, the Message
appropriately referred, and members busily devising how to occupy the
allotted forty days to the best advantage for the prosperity and good
order of the Territory.11
You are probably better informed than we [p. 2] are in relation to
army movements, present and prospective. The troops in Utah are qui-
etly, safely, and snugly ensconced in winter quarters in Fort Bridger and
Camp Floyd, nearly all being in the last named camp.
Our friend Governor Cumming, notwithstanding his many excel-
lent qualities, his natural kindness of heart, and his innate nobleness
of disposition, still continues, in the matter of an old and well known
habit, to be his own worst enemy, much to the regret of his best friends,
however unavailing that regret may be.12 Yet he continues his efforts to
as faithfully, impartially, and justly administer in all his official duties
as he is able to do, amid continued opposition from the same cliques
and quarters, under the same reprehensible motives, as excited the late
difficulties and would most gladly, by any means, re-awaken or renew
them, no matter at whose cost, corruption and destruction, so they but
escape and thereby put money in their pockets, and gain notoriety for
their starveling names.
In addition to the foregoing, the official course and acts of our
Governor are often carped at and the patience of the citizens constantly
taxed by a mean spirited and vilely libellous and scurrilous sheet printed
in this City.13 It was, by the evidence of its own columns, established
here with the express design to deplete the Treasury of our Government
in favor of Army contractors, speculators, gamblers, debauchers, &c,
&c, the more particularly though in so doing they [p. 3] should cause
the homes of thousands of innocent American citizens to revert to their
10. Cumming addressed criminal activity around C
amp Floyd and the federal territorial
judges’ objections to the expanded powers given the probate courts. He also urged the legislature to modify the penal code to allow prisoners to work on territorial infrastructure.
“Governor’s message,” Deseret News, December 24, 1859, 5.
11. For laws passed during the 40-day session, see Acts, Resolutions, and Memorials, 9th annual session, 1859–1860 (Salt Lake City: John Davis, 1860).
12. Young was likely referring to Cumming’s heavy drinking.
13. A reference to the Valley Tan. For information, see Young to Kane, November 22, 1858.
348
the prophet and the reformer
original desolate wildness. I know of no other region where a paper con-
stantly striving to stir up strife between citizens of the same Nation, and to
induce one portion of its population to plunder and destroy another, would
be tolerated for a day. But Colonel, you are aware that great leniency is
required from some, while equally great or greater latitude is extended to
others, and we hope that our patience under most gross abuse will not be
taxed too far, nor the period of endurance be too greatly prolonged.14
Among other texts for reviving and, if possible, exceeding past
abuses, I occasionally perceive, from papers East and West, that the
massacre at the Mountain Meadows still elicits more or less noti
ce and
comment, a good share of which is not very creditable either to candor
or veracity.15 And some of the efforts made to arrive at the facts in that
case have not been characterized by that good policy, impartiality, and
observance of the people’s rights which should accompany legal pro-
ceedings in a Republican Government, else I presume the affair, long
ere this date, would have been thoroughly understood and correctly
adjudicated.
Neither yourself, nor any one acquainted with me, will require my
assurance that, had I been apprized of the intended onslaught at the
Meadows, I should have used such efforts for its prevention as the time,
distance, and my influence and facilities would have [p. 4] permitted.
The horrifying event transpired without my knowledge, except from
after report, and the recurring thought of it ever causes a shudder in my
feelings.
It is a subject exclusively within the province of judicial proceed-
ings, and I have known and still prefer to know nothing touching the
affair, until I in common with the people, learn the facts as they may
be developed before those whose right it is to investigate and adjudi-
cate thereupon.16 Colonel, you may think this a singular statement, but
14. Less
than a month after Young wrote this letter, the Valley Tan called church leaders “murderers.” Furious, Young asked his office staff “how the brethren submit to be [so] tamely insulted.” Mormon William C. Staines later threatened to “cow hide” the newspaper’s editor
“if he ever inserted another article against this people.” The Valley Tan reportedly moderated its tone as a result of the incident. Journal of Brigham Young’s Office, January 26, 1860, CHL. George Sims to Staines, February 21, 1862, BYOF.
15. For examples, see “Letter from Utah Territory,” San Francisco Evening Bulletin, October 17, 1859; “From Utah,” New York Times, July 7, 1859, 2.
16. Young was aware of public reports about the Mountain Meadows Massacre and must have received private information from some Church leaders in southern Utah. However, he
Young to Kane, December 15, 1859
349
the facts of the massacre of men, women, and children are so shock-
ing and crucifying to my feelings, that I have not suffered myself to
hear any more about them than the circumstances of conversation
compelled. But since some are prejudicially obtruding that affair upon
public notice, and it appears uncertain when it will be better under-
stood, unless we are privileged with sound, intelligent adjudicators who,
when claiming exclusive authority, will strictly adhere to the law and
evidence, I have taken the liberty to transcribe, and herewith enclose, a
letter addressed to me by Col. George A. Smith upon the subject. Col.
Smith is, and was at the time a Legislative Councillor from our southern
counties, and has had the opportunity of hearing many of the rumors
afloat in that region. So far as I am able to judge, amid the few conflict-
ing rumors I have suffered to be obtruded upon my feelings, I presume
that [p. 5] Col. Smith’s accompanying condensation, from the various
reports he deemed most worthy of notice, is the most reliable that can
be obtained, until such time as the matter can receive an impartial judi-
cial investigation.17
Such investigation could long since have transpired, and the matter
been thoroughly understood and justly disposed of, did we enjoy the
court privileges which we deem the Organic Act so plainly grants us.18
But no, our Probate Courts, instead of jurisdiction as “limited by law”
(acts of the Territorial Assembly relative to powers and jurisdiction), are
debarred by the rulings and proceedings of the District Courts, upon
every opportunity, from all action in criminal cases, and from nearly
all of any moment in civil cases, there being a studied and persistent
effort on their part to confine the Probate Courts to probate of will,
did not wish to make a thorough investigation or cooperate with federal officers until he felt there was a chance of evenhanded justice. Alexander, Latter-day Saint Investigation.
17. George A. Smith to Young, August 17, 1858, BYOF. Kane indicated that he had not received Smith’s letter as an enclosure with Young’s letter. Kane to Jeremiah Black and James Buchanan, January 15, 1860, Jeremiah Black Papers, LOC.
18. In 1852, the territorial legislature had granted probate courts the authority to handle both civil and criminal cases after federal judges Lemuel G. Brandebury and Perry E. Brocchus suddenly left their posts in 1851 and returned east, leaving most Utah counties without any judicial process. “It is rumored,” Young wrote William Hooper a few weeks after his letter to Kane, “that some in Congress intend to labor for the repeal of our Organic Act and to dismember and attach Utah to adjacent States and Territories, or place her under martial law.” See “An Act in Relation to the Judiciary,” section 44, in Acts, Resolutions, and Memorials, passed by the First Annual, and Special Sessions of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, published by Authority of the Legislative Assembly (Great Salt Lake City: Brigham H. Young, Printer, 1852), 47; Young to Hooper, January 5, 1860, BYOF.
350
the prophet and the reformer
appointment of guardians and like acts of minor import. Under these
circumstances the Probate Courts decline acting as entertainers of busi-
ness only to have it wrested from them by courts whom they honestly
deem have no superior legal authority in Territorial cases, save in the
matter of appeals and a larger area for jurisdiction, the jurisdiction of a
Probate Court being confined to one organized county, while that of a
District Court embraces several counties.19 Bayonet [p. 6] Courts20 have
not made and, so far as yet appears, are not likely to make much prog-
ress towards bringing persons, whether guilty or not guilty, before them;
and no true hearted citizen will marvel that such is the case, nor ever
wish to have it otherwise, for such a course cannot tend to an impartial
trial by one’s peers.
The Legislative Assembly and a very great majority of the people are
sanguine of the justice, propriety, benefit, and legality [of]21 our legisla-
tion in regard to the powers and jurisdiction of our Probate Courts, and
it is possible that the District Courts are candid in their interpretation of
the Organic Act, and honest in their consequent efforts to so restrict our
Probate Courts as to render them almost a nullity. But this difference of
view and action causes great hindrance in the conduct of judicial busi-
ness, and affords opportunity for many plausible allegations as to tardy
and inefficient administration of justice.22 Under these circumstances, if
19. Y
oung’s argument that the probate courts were effective and fair has been borne out by several historians. See Jay E. Powell, “Fairness in the Salt Lake County Probate Court,”
Utah Historical Quarterly 38 (Spring 1970): 256–272; Elizabeth D. Gee, “Justice for All or For the ‘Elect’?: The Utah County Probate Court, 1855–72,” Utah Historical Quarterly 48 (Spring 1980), 129–147; and Edwin B. Firmage and R. Collin Mangrum, Zion in the Courts: A Legal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1900 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988), 220–221.
20. A likely reference to Cradlebaugh’s calling out of the military i
n March 1859 to surround the Provo courthouse and his sweep into southern Utah with several hundred men. See Young to Kane, March 5, 1859.
21. There is a blank space at this point in the document.
22. Cumming urged the government to allow the probate courts to handle criminal cases to protect residents from the “bands of desperadoes” then roaming the countryside. District Attorney Alexander Wilson acknowledged that the Organic Act was “silent” on whether a probate court could try a criminal case, but he believed that its powers ought to be limited to “the probate of wills, the administration of the estates of deceased persons, and the guardianship of minors, idiots, and insane persons, and perhaps the recording of deeds, mortgages, and other evidences of titles to lands.” District courts, he continued, had the authority “to try civil and criminal cases.” See “Affairs in Utah,” Farmer’s Cabinet, May 9, 1860, 2; Alexander Wilson to Colonel C. F. Smith, March 4, 1859, in Senate Documents (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1860), 47–50.
Young to Kane, December 15, 1859
351
it will not be asking too much, nor trespassing too far upon the courtesy
of the learned Attorney General of the U.S., I shall be highly gratified
with a written statement of Judge Black’s opinion upon this question.
Dear Colonel, please accept the gratifying assurance that your untir-
ing and efficient services in behalf of the rights of mankind are [p. 7]
highly appreciated by your numerous warm friends in Utah, who ever
desire your welfare and that of your family, relatives, and friends, and
who will not shrink from efforts to promote it
Also please accept for yourself and present to your mother, your true
and noble hearted wife and beloved little ones the kindest regards of,
Truly Your Friend,
Brigham Young
60
Young to Kane, March 22, 1860
When he Wrote this letter, Young had not received a letter from Kane since July 1859.
Nevertheless, Young had instructed the Saints’ representatives in the east to maintain contact with Kane. In early January 1860, Young directed George Q. Cannon
and William Hooper to seek Kane’s assistance. To Cannon, Young wrote:
Please remember me kindly to our highly esteemed Friend, his dear
The Prophet and the Reformer Page 51