21. On this mission, see J
enson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:125.
Young to Kane, April 29, 1864
385
any startling events here to communicate, for here is not where such
events are, at present, transpiring; but that a few personal lines may
give assurance of our continual Kindly remembrance of our tried and
esteemed Friend, Col. Kane.
True, events whose results, in their order, will ere long fasten the
world’s attention are here developing; but while a cruel civil war is wast-
ing our nation and war and rumors of war are rife abroad these events
and their chronicling are of too quiet a character to attract the notice of
any outside of Utah, except here and there a reflecting few.
While you were with us in our Mountain home, little did many imag-
ine the signal reversion that has taken place in so brief a period. Then,
as we were pleasantly reminded by Cap. Van Vliet, the United States
had an overflowing [p. 2] Treasury and thirty millions of people.22 Then,
a fully appointed and hostile army was encamped within our borders
ready to visit our settlements with the horrors of war. (And, right here,
let me again tender you my thanks and the thanks of the whole people
for your benevolent and heroic efforts to avert so dire a clamity—which
efforts were so signally blest as to their effects toward producing so
peaceful a result.) Then, we of all citizens of the nation were looked
upon as being in the straitest position. How changed is the scene in so
brief a period! The overflowing Treasury is bankrupt to the amount of
billions, and is daily adding, at a fearful rate, an enormous total of indebt-
edness that will never be paid; while the public funds of Utah are in
excess of her disbursements. The thirty millions of people, who would
in their blindness, with comparatively few exceptions, have labored for
and rejoiced in our obliteration as a religious society, are destroying each
other and the nation in a fierce and gigantic war; while Utah, thanks to
a very merciful Providence, continues blest with the rich boon of peace.
The threatened war of 1857–8 has thickly canopied its lurid clouds over
those who would have destroyed us, while the serene light of Heaven
smiles upon our valleys and mountains, and crowns their peaks with
its halos.
But a truce to the past, for its history and lessons are common to all.
I have loaned my son Brigham the ring you courteously forwarded
to me, with the request to show it to you as a token that you are ever
warmly cherished in our Kindest remembrance.23 We are as we were
22. On V
an Vliet’s statements, see Young to Kane, September 21, 1861.
23. On this ring, see Kane to Young, February 19, 1851.
386
the prophet and the reformer
when we enjoyed the pleasure of [p. 3] your society here, and presume
you are. You are doubtless aware that, as heretofore, we should be much
pleased to have you embrace the Gospel we profess and are striving to
obey, and doubt not but what you will do so in the Spirit world, if you
do not in this time.24
As Brigham Jr., is on his way to England, to assist Prest. Wells in
his important position of President of our European mission, I take the
liberty of respectfully asking that no requests, wishes or solicitations be
made or inducements held out to him to go into the war now waging
in the States, for I cannot and shall not in the least degree consent to
his so doing,—at least not before his return from his present mission to
Europe.25
In regard to a State government, we are not particularly anxious
about it, provided you will be appointed Governor of Utah, and come
with your family and reside with us, at least long enough to favor us with
a goodly lengthened visit, if no longer; otherwise, of course, should be
pleased to enjoy our constitutional right of a voice in the choice of our
Governor and other officers arbitrarily appointed by the President.
Always pleased to hear from you at every convenient opportunity,
asking a Kind remembrance to your dear wife and children, and praying
for the welfare of yourself, family and Kindred,
I remain as ever,
Truly Your Friend,26
24. In
Latter-day Saint theology, souls reside in a “spirit world” after death and before the final judgment.
25. In July 1862, Kane had invited Brigham Jr., then en route to his first European mission, to join the army as Kane’s aide, an offer which Brigham Jr. declined. Brigham Young Jr. to Brigham Young, July 11, 1862, BYOF.
26. The letterbook copy does not contain a signature.
68
Young to Kane, April 15, 1866
thomas b. h. stenhouse was urbane, sophisticated, and media-savvy.
Among other positions, he had served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s
Office, a reporter for the Deseret News, and as editor of Salt Lake City’s pro-Mormon daily newspaper, the Daily Telegraph. He also contributed dispatches to national newspapers, including the New York Herald.1 When edi-
tor William Hepworth Dixon visited Salt Lake City, he called Stenhouse “the
man of highest culture” he met during his visit.2 Sir Richard Burton found in
Stenhouse’s “society both pleasure and profit.”3 In 1863, Stenhouse had lob-
bied in the East for Latter-day Saint political causes, including meeting with
Kane.4 In April 1866, Young again sent Stenhouse to the East to network with
leading political and business figures. Stenhouse arrived in New York on May
15 and returned mid-August.5 Along with this letter of introduction to Kane,
Stenhouse carried letters of introduction to General William T. Sherman and
to officials of the Pacific Telegraph Company.6 While in the East, Stenhouse
1. W
alker, Wayward Saints, 52–53.
2. William Hepworth Dixon, New America, vol. 1 (Leipzig: Bernard Tauchnitz, 1867), 202.
3. Richard Francis Burton, The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California (New York, 1862), 247. By contrast, when Elizabeth Kane met Stenhouse, she found him to be a “vulgar-looking reporter.” Elizabeth W. Kane, journal, June 26, 1858.
4. See Young to Kane, April 29, 1864
5. “Latest News,” Memphis Daily Avalanche, May 18, 1866, 1; Young to Brigham Young, Jr., August 11, 1866, BYOF; and “Distinguished Visitors,” Salt Lake Daily Telegraph, August 14, 1866, 2.
6. Brigham Young to J. H. Wade, president of the Pacific Telegraph Company, April 14, 1866; Young to E. Creighton, April 14, 1866; Young to Sherman, April 15, 1866, BYOF.
388
the prophet and the reformer
met with President Andrew Johnson, former Utah territorial governor Alfred
Cumming, New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett, and Sherman.7
Source
Young to Kane, April 15, 1866, Brigham Young Letterbooks, box 7, vol.
8, 296.
Letter
Great Salt Lake City
April 15th 1866.
General Thomas L. Kane.
Philadelphia, Pa.
My Dear Sir:
I beg to introduce to you T. B. H. Stenhouse Esq. the Editor of the
“Daily Telegraph” and Post Master of this City, who visits the East on
business.
>
Wherever he travels Mr S. will improve any opportunity that may
present itself of giving a faithful representation of matters of interest
here. Should your better acquaintance with men and measures dispose
you to suggest anything to Mr. S., you can do so with the greatest free-
dom and he will be much pleased to avail himself of your counsels.
We often think about you, and your name frequently arises in con-
versation, and always inspires pleasing recollections; but we would
scarcely dare say that we
all the items of news that may be interesting to you.
Accept my love, and remember me to your family and friends. May
the Lord bless you and all belonging to you.
I remain as ever your friend,
Brigham Young
7 . Walker, Wayward Saints, 53; Thomas B. H. Stenhouse to Young, July 1, 1866, BYOF.
69
Young to Kane, November 9, 1867
In november 1867, Brigham Young gave the following letter of introduction
to Heber John Richards, who was leaving Utah to study medicine in New York
City. That year, Young began calling some Mormon men (and, later, some
women) to study in eastern universities with church financial support to train
to become doctors, lawyers, and engineers.1 As Richards, the 27-year-old son
of Willard Richards, was preparing to leave, Young encouraged him: “Be dili-
gent in your studies and permit no opportunity to escape of mastering your
profession in all its detail.” If he faced persecution for his beliefs, he should
not “resent their conduct in a low, improper spirit” but should “preserve a
high minded, dignified course.”2
Richards left Salt Lake City on November 10, the day after this letter was
written; he also carried a letter of introduction from Young to Lewis A. Sayre,
a famous orthopedic surgeon and one of the founders of Bellevue Hospital
Medical College in New York City, whom Young referenced in his letter to
Kane.3 Sayre had visited Young in Salt Lake City the previous year and had
offered to “train one or two Latter-day Saint students in surgery at Bellevue.”
Later, Brigham Young Jr. visited Sayre in New York and accepted the offer.4
After Richards earned a medical degree from Bellevue, he returned to Utah.5
1. Thomas S
impson, “Mormons Study ‘Abroad’: Brigham Young’s Romance with American
Higher Education, 1867–1877,” Church History 76.4 (December 2007): 778–798.
2. See Young to Heber J. Richards, November 10, 1867, BYOF.
3. Belle A. Gemmell, “Utah Medical History: Some Reminiscences,” California and Western Medicine (January 1932): 11.
4. Simpson, “Mormons Study Abroad,” 778–798.
5. For biographical information, see Utah Since Statehood: Historical and Biographical, vol. 3
(Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1919), 521–522.
390
the prophet and the reformer
Source
Young to Kane, November 9, 1867, Brigham Young Letterbooks, box 7,
vol. 10, 483–484.
Letter
Great Salt Lake City, U T
November 9th 1867.
Genl Thos L. Kane,
Kane, Kane County.,
Pennl.
Dear Friend:—
Permit me to introduce to you Mr Heber John Richards, the son of
my cousin, the late Dr Willard Richards.
Mr H. J. Richards visits the east with the intention of studying the
art of surgery under Dr. Lewis A. Sayre of New York. He is an estimable
young man. I bespeak for him your confidence, and any attentions you
may render him will be appreciated by me.
Good surgeons are much needed here. Yesterday a young man who
resides at Logan, Cache Co. received a serious injury in the head from a
log. Logan is a hundred miles distant, and no person with sufficient skill
to treat the case could be found nearer than this city. Dr Anderson left
here on the stage last evening to visit the injured man.6 If we can get
some young men thoroughly educated in surgery, they can open schools
and train others in the profession.
We were much pleased to hear from my son John [p. 2] Willard of
the welfare of yourself and family and your circumstances.7 He had a
6. W
ashington F. Anderson (1823–1903), a member of a prominent southern family, had
moved to California as part of the gold rush in 1850 and then, following a conversion to Mormonism, to Utah in 1857. See Philip Lockley, “Washington F. Anderson: Doctor, Gold Rusher, Mormon,” Princeton University Library Chronicle 74.1 (Autumn 2012): 68–86.
7. John Willard Young possibly visited Kane while returning from a European mission. (On his mission, see John Willard Young to Brigham Young, 1866–1867 letters, BYOF.) Brigham Young ordained John Willard Young as an apostle in 1855 at the age of 11; eight years later, he also ordained Joseph A. Young and Brigham Young Jr. as apostles and later called all three to be assistant counselors in the First Presidency. Charismatic and talented, John Willard Young spent most of his life after 1863 in New York City, working on various business ventures, most of which failed and left him indebted. He became well-acquainted with Kane and often served as the intermediary in communication between his father and Kane. See
Young to Kane, November 9, 1867
391
most agreeable visit with you, and does not tire in describing your kind-
ness and attentions to him, and the pleasant time he spent in your soci-
ety. My son Brigham regrets that he was prevented from visiting you.8
We are all well, and everything is prospering. We pursue the even
tenor of our way undeterred by the malice and vindictive efforts of our
enemies to check our progress. Mr Richards will be able to give you
many details about our situation and circumstances which the limits of
this sheet will not permit me to write.
It gives me much pleasure to hear from you occasionally, when we
can find you. I shall be happy to receive a few lines from you at any time
when it may be convenient to you to write.
With love to yourself and kind regards to your family, and praying
the Lord to bless you,
I remain Your friend,
Brigham Young
T
odd Compton, “John Willard Young, Brigham Young, and the Development of Presidential Succession in the LDS Church,” Dialogue 35.4 (2002): 111–134.
8. In November 1867, Brigham Young Jr. had passed through Philadelphia on his return from presiding over the European mission in England. See Brigham Young Jr. to Brigham Young, July 31, 1867, BYOF.
70
Kane to Young, May 4, 1869
throuGhout the 1860s, Kane envisioned a variety of plans that would
take him and his family far from the backwoods of the Alleghenies. His
wife Elizabeth generally opposed his schemes.1 In 1869, however, he argued
that securing a position as a territorial governor for himself would give her
a “name” and help Elizabeth launch a career as an author. In April, Kane
traveled to Washington, D.C., along with other office-seekers hoping for an
appointment in the administration of newly inaugurated President Ulysses
S. Grant. During the Civil War, Kane had become a Republican and hoped
that Grant—a fellow Republican and Union army officer—would appoint him
as governor of Washington Territor
y. However, Kane missed the opportunity
“by one day only.” He had hoped that “visiting Utah and seeing the world,”
presumably on their way to Washington, “would be useful” for Elizabeth.2
While in Washington, D.C., Kane learned that Grant might remove the
current Utah territorial governor, Charles Durkee, and appoint “a very unfit
and unworthy person.” Durkee, whom Kane had known as a Free Soiler, had
been appointed in 1865 and had generally pursued amicable relations with the
Mormons.3 When Elizabeth received a telegraph from her husband asking for
permission to pursue the post of Utah governor, she wrote in her diary, “He
cannot be contented here, and I must bid farewell to hopes of a happy life.
Tom is not made to be happy but to dwell on cold and naked cliffs. He would
make a Xavier or Loyola or a Pascal, and I am utterly commonplace.” Indeed,
she concluded, that she did not feel “the least particle of a call to go to Utah or anywhere else.” Thomas had asked her to send a reply by telegraph quickly, so
1. G
row, Liberty to the Downtrodden, 238–239.
2. Elizabeth W. Kane, journal, April 6, 1869, BYU.
3. Kane to Durkee, April 20, 1869, draft, BYU; Kane to [Simon Cameron?], May 4, 1869, BYU.
Young to Kane, May 4, 1869
393
he would not “lose Utah as I lost the other (And Utah will be much harder to
get).” Elizabeth reluctantly consented: “I will not have to endure seeing him
die of discontent because I have chained him to my side here. I cannot pretend
to share the elevation of his soul, but I do love him.”4 Grant, however, did not
remove Durkee, leaving Kane “terribly disappointed.”5
While in Washington, Kane was invited to the White House by John
W. Forney, a newspaper editor. In the early 1850s, Kane had allowed Forney to
stay in the family home (over his father’s objections) to attempt to overcome
his alcoholism. As a result, Forney had used his newspapers to acclaim Kane’s
“philanthropic projects.” At the White House, President Grant “singled” Kane
out as a fellow Union general and “requested an invitation to visit him at his
The Prophet and the Reformer Page 56