which we can produce here, is all now looking toward our being able to
supply our wants in every description of excellent paper.22 [p. 5] Many
workmen are busily engaged in building a commodious theatre 80 x
144 feet, with walls 40 feet high, and so designed as to be suitable for
20. C
ongress appropriated funds for the construction of the first transcontinental telegraph in June 1860. Young contracted out the use of his mules to assist in hauling telegraph poles, though he lost nearly $5,000 on the endeavor. Utah was connected to San Francisco and New York City in mid-October 1861. See telegraph pole account, BYOF; Young to John Bernhisel, November 12, 1861, BYOF; Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 199–200.
21. By mid-September 1861, the Sweetwater telegraph station was on the verge of completion.
See “The Overland Telegraph,” San Francisco Bulletin, September 13, 1861, 3.
22. The Saints began construction of the paper mill to build an educational infrastructure within the territory. The Deseret News editorial stated, “a good paper mill, a power press and
. . . a stereotype foundry . . . are the indispensable requisites to the furnishing of our schools with approved and uniform series of books.” In 1861, the Saints held numerous paper drives, calling for rags, grass, and other materials that could be used to produce pulp. See “The Education of the Rising Generation,” Deseret News, January 25, 1860, 2; “Material for Paper Wanted,” Deseret News, July 3, 1861, 4; Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 114–115.
376
the prophet and the reformer
convening large assemblies to hear lectures, &c., when not in use for
theatrical and kindred amusements; we expect to have it sufficiently
completed to use during the coming Winter.23
Our immigration this season has been signally prospered, and have
all arrived in good season, and the great majority rejoicing much in their
escape from the tumult abroad in our land,24 and hardships pressing
with increased weight upon the poor in foreign lands.25
Your friends Presidents Kimball and Wells are enjoying usually good
health, and desire a kind remembrance to you; Pres George Q. Cannon,
now in Liverpool, was also, at latest date, in good health, and admirably
conducting the affairs of our Office in that City, and, in connection with
Presidents Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich, the operations of our
foreign missions.26
Not that I would wish you to shrink any duty dictated by your con-
science in your present field of labor, but, as heretofore, I again renew
my invitation to yourself and family to pay me, at your earliest con-
venience, a visit, to be of longer or shorter duration at your pleasure,
deeming unnecessary an assurance that you will be cordially welcomed
and hospitably entertained by myself and your many friends in Utah.
I trust that, so far as circumstances will permit, [p. 6] it will be com-
patible with your feelings to extend to our worthy friend Dr Bernhisel
the aid of such suggestions and information as your judgment may
dictate for facilitating the performance of the arduous duties again
devolved upon him as our Delegate.
A word to you, my Friend, Your present position and calling will
bring no credit to you, nor to any other man. They are afraid of you,
23. Designed by H
enry Folsom, the theater was built in downtown Salt Lake City. By October
1861, the walls had been completed; the building was completed in March 1862. “The Theater,” Deseret News, October 23, 1861, 5; “The Theater,” Deseret News, March 5, 1862, 5; Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 211–213.
24. Young expressed concern that the Civil War would make the “landing of emigration in Eastern ports . . . inexpedient or even prohibited.” See Young to George Q. Cannon, November 29, 1861, BYOF.
25. The cessation of southern cotton exports to England prompted a textile depression in Liverpool. George Q. Cannon wrote that the “slackness of the trade there” would leave
“many of the Saints disappointed who have been depending on the winter’s employment to complete the sum necessary to take them to Florence,” Nebraska. See Cannon to Young, November 23, 1861 and September 1, 1862, BYOF.
26. Apostles Cannon, Lyman, and Rich were supervising church missionary work, publishing, and finances in England and Europe. See Bitton, George Q. Cannon, 107–116.
Young to Kane, September 21, 1861
377
and will not give you your just dues. They will find out in time that the
strife they are engaged in will bring no desirable celebrity. This is for
your own eye and benefit.
Please give my kindest regards to your faithful mother and family,
your dear wife and beloved children, and accept for yourself and them
the best wishes for your welfare, of,
Truly your Friend,
Brigham Young
66
Kane to Young, November 23, 1861
In response to Young’s September 21, 1861, letter, Kane scrawled a hasty reply
from his army camp in Virginia, promising to assist Bernhisel, though caution-
ing that he could not predict his own future whereabouts. Kane agreed with
Young’s assessment that the Civil War was a divine rebuke to the nation: “We are
undergoing the punishment of our national sins.” In this, Kane likely referred
to the nation’s treatment of both Mormons and slaves. A scribal notation on the
back of the letter indicates that Young received it on January 20, 1862.
figure 66.1 Thomas L. Kane in his Civil War uniform.
Source: Courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Kane to Young, November 23, 1861
379
Source
Kane to Young, November 23, 1861, box 40, fd 13, BYOF.
Letter
My dear friend:
To give utterance to all my thoughts upon reading your letter of the
25th wd. be to load your generous heart with sorrow for days.1 I fear you
have only spoken the truth.
Of course you may rely upon me if I can serve you through
Dr. Bernhisel, but I cannot foretel where this winter I shall be. We
are undergoing the punishment of our national sins. May God forgive
us soon!
Ever yours affectionately
Thomas L. Kane
Kane Rifle Regt. Camp Pierpont Fairfax Co. Va.
Novem. 23, 1861
1. Kane was apparently referring to Y
oung’s letter of September 21, 1861.
67
Young to Kane, April 29, 1864
throuGhout the War, Young received reports on Kane’s activities from Mormons
in the east and he occasionally directed the Saints’ representatives to seek Kane’s advice. In January 1862, John Bernhisel wrote that Kane’s health had improved
and Young responded, “I was much gratified to learn that our good Friend Col.
Kane had entirely recovered from his wounds. When you again see him, please
give him my kind regards and best wishes for himself, dear family, and all his
father’s house.”1 In May, Young instructed William Hooper to visit Kane, “converse freely with him, express to him my continued kind regards . . . Please whisper in
his ear whether he thinks it possible for the Union to be broken, and ask what he
thinks about it.”2 In June 1862, Kane was seriously wounded and taken prisoner
of war at a battle in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Bernhisel initially wrote Young, “it is stated that Col Kane is dead.”3 A week later he reported i
nstead that Kane had been
“wounded in the leg” and had been “released on his parole for exchange, and is
now in Philadelphia.”4 Following this, Kane returned to the army; he led a brigade at Gettysburg, where his soldiers played a key role in the intense fighting at Culp’s Hill, one of the crucial turning points of the war’s central battle.5 Wounded again at Gettysburg, Kane resigned from the army in early November 1863.6
1. Bernhisel to Y
oung, February 28, 1862; Young to Bernhisel, March 22, 1862, BYOF.
2. Young to Hooper, May 30, 1862, BYOF.
3. Bernhisel to Young, June 13, 1862, BYOF.
4. Bernhisel to Young, June 20, 1862, BYOF.
5. For Kane’s actions at Gettysburg, see Kane to Captain Thomas H. Elliott, July 6, 1863, Kane Collection, BYU; A. Wilson Greene, “ ‘A Step All-Important and Essential to Victory’: Henry W. Slocum and the Twelfth Corps on July 1–2, 1863,” in Gary W. Gallagher, ed., Three Days at Gettysburg: Essays on Confederate and Union Leadership (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1999), 169–203.
6. Kane to Brigadier General Lorenzo Thomas, November 4, 1863, BYU.
Young to Kane, April 29, 1864
381
During the war, Young and the Mormons pressed for Utah statehood.
In 1862, they petitioned Congress for admission; Hooper and Cannon lob-
bied Congress and met with newspaper editors, including Kane’s friend
Horace Greeley, to influence public perceptions.7 However, the removal of
southern Democrats from Congress, who had sometimes opposed legisla-
tion aimed at the Saints out of a shared concern for local decision-making,
meant that the political climate had worsened for the Mormons. The
House Committee on Territories “unanimously rejected our application
for admission,” Bernhisel informed Young, attributing the rejection to the
“bitter and deep rooted prejudice” against polygamy and the “smallness
of our population.”8 In addition, Congress overwhelmingly approved, and
Lincoln signed, the Morrill Bill, which banned polygamy in the territories,
making it punishable with fines of up to $500 and a prison sentence of up
to five years. Furthermore, the legislation prohibited churches from hold-
ing more than $50,000 in real estate in a territory. Given the distraction of
the Civil War and opposition from the Mormons, however, the act was not
immediately enforced.9
Brigham Young Jr., who had been in Washington with Cannon and Hooper,
traveled to Philadelphia to see Kane in July 1862. He found Kane “in very bad
health,” following his wounds at Harrisonburg, but “well in spirits.” Kane,
who hoped to soon be appointed a Brigadier General, implored Brigham Jr.,
then on his way to England for a mission, to become an aide with the rank of
captain in the army with him for a month or two. Brigham Jr. declined the
offer.10 The next month, Cannon also visited Kane and had a “very free and
unreserved” conversation with him. Cannon
freely expressed my feelings respecting his step in connecting him-
self with the army. I said I was sorry when I heard he had done so,
as I felt that Providence had intended him to pursue a different path
to that which he had adopted. That his efforts could not save the
union unless they turned round and forsook their corruptions and
evil practices; they were sure to go down and the nation was doomed
to destruction.
7 . Hooper and Cannon to Young, June 16, 1862, BYOF.
8. Bernhisel to Young, March 21, 1862, BYOF.
9. Long, Saints and the Union, 71.
10. Brigham Young Jr., to Brigham Young, July 11, 1862, BYOF.
382
the prophet and the reformer
Kane replied that he “had no wish to outlive his country. His fathers had
led him to anticipate glorious hopes respecting the future of his country.”
Further, he told Cannon that he “viewed this war with horror—butchering
men was debasing.” Cannon recorded in his journal, “I was much pleased
with my visit, for I love Colonel Kane for the past; I find his feelings are
still unchanged.”11
At times, Kane’s wife shared the hopes of the Mormons that he would end
his combat. In March 1863, when it appeared that Kane’s nomination as a
Brigadier General would be rejected by the Senate, Elizabeth hopefully wrote,
“I hope that it all means that the Mormon prayers are granted, and mine, and
that God releases you from this work.”12
Meanwhile, in Utah, tensions between the Mormons and the federal
government mounted when the California Third Volunteer Infantry, led
by Colonel Patrick E. Connor, replaced the Mormons in guarding the
overland mail route in May 1862. Connor, who viewed the Mormons as
treasonous, stationed his 750 soldiers overlooking Salt Lake City at newly
constructed Camp Douglas, named after the Saints’ one-time ally and
later foe Stephen A. Douglas.13 Young instructed his people (especially
women) to have little interaction with the soldiers, established price con-
trols for selling goods to the army, and resented Connor’s accusations of
disloyalty. In March 1863, tensions reached a critical point when Mormon
eavesdroppers reported an army plan to arrest Young on charges of polyg-
amy. Two thousand armed Saints soon surrounded Young’s home and
guards remained there for weeks.14 That crisis blew over, but Young con-
tinued to agitate for the removal of the troops. He believed it was the
“height of nonsense” and an invitation for trouble to mix soldiers and
Saints closely.15
At this same time, animosity between Young and territorial
officials—especially Governor Stephen Harding, a Lincoln appointee—also
threatened to boil over. Harding and other officials viewed the Mormons in the
11. G
eorge Q. Cannon, journal, July 14, 1862.
12. Elizabeth W. Kane, journal, March 17, 1863, BYU.
13.Brigham D. Madsen, Glory Hunter: A Biography of Patrick Edward Connor (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1990). In later years, the antipathy between Young and Connor moderated.
14.“Minutes of a Council of the First Presidency, Twelve Apostles, and Bishops of G.S.L.C.,”
October 26 and 30, 1862, CHL; Arrington, American Moses, 295–298.
15. Young to John M. Bernhisel, March 23, 1863, BYOF.
Young to Kane, April 29, 1864
383
same light as Connor and petitioned Congress to grant the territorial officers
more power (at the expense of local Mormons) in the Utah federal courts and
over the militia. In early March, Latter-day Saints signed resolutions asking
Harding and two justices to leave the territory and urging Lincoln to remove
them from their posts.16 Young dispatched Mormon journalist Thomas B. H.
Stenhouse to lobby Lincoln and other government officials and influence east-
ern newspapermen. Lincoln told Stenhouse that “he hoped his representatives
there would behave themselves, & if the people let him alone, he would let
them alone.”17 Stenhouse also met with Kane, then on leave from the army to
recover from illness, and found him “surprised” at “recent affairs in Utah.”
Kane had relied on a “friend in the cabinet”—most likely Treasury Secretary
Salmon Chase—to protect “Utah interests.” Stenhouse commented
that Kane
“evidently keeps us in his mind, as he remarked: ‘Mr Stenhouse it is singularly
providental [ sic], that all my enemies on Utah affairs have come to either an untimely or disgraceful end.”18 In June, Lincoln tried to satisfy both sides by
appointing Harding as chief justice of Colorado Territory and removing John
F. Kinney, the Utah chief justice who had been outwardly supportive of the
Saints. A few months later, residents of Utah unanimously elected Kinney as
territorial delegate to Congress.19
In April 1864, Young sent Kane his first letter in almost three years, to be
delivered by Daniel H. Wells and Brigham Jr. on their way to Europe where
Wells would serve as the president of the European Mission. Brigham Jr.
attempted to meet with Kane in Philadelphia in July, but was unable to do so.
It is unclear whether Brigham Young Jr. then mailed the letter to Kane or not.20
Kane apparently did not respond to Young’s letter.
Source
Young to Kane, April 29, 1864, Brigham Young Letterbooks, box 6, vol.
7, 157–160.
16. Long,
Saints and the Union, 150–155.
17. Brigham Young, office journal, June 22, 1863, CHL. “If he [Lincoln] sticks to his statement there will be quiet times in Utah,” Young hoped. Young to Brigham Young Jr., June 24, 1863, BYOF.
18. Stenhouse to Young, June 7, 1863, BYOF.
19. Long, Saints and the Union, 184, 198.
20. Brigham Young Jr., journal, July 4, 1864, CHL.
384
the prophet and the reformer
figure 67.1 Brigham Young, 1864.
Source: Reproduced by permission from the Utah State Historical Society.
Letter
Great Salt Lake City,
Utah Territory,
April 29th 1864.
Col. Thomas L. Kane,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
My very Dear Friend,
As Prest. Daniel H. Wells and my son, Brigham, Junr, who are about
starting for England, anticipate the pleasure of seeing yourself and fam-
ily in Philadelphia, I gladly improve the opportunity for sending you a
few lines by favor of so trusty hands.21 Not that we have the record of
The Prophet and the Reformer Page 55