Additional Legionnaires moved to aid the defenders. Hannibal’s saber was shattered by a Legionnaire swinging a trenching spade. Stepping inside the swing of the spade, Hannibal punched the legionnaire in the face. The hilt of the saber enhanced the force of the blow. The legionnaire staggered back and tripped over a body. Grabbing the spade, Hannibal smashed it down on the head of the Legionnaire. Examining the blade of the spade, Hannibal realized the legionnaire had sharpened the shovel to a knife edge. He hefted the shovel and swinging it from side to side waded into the Legionnaires; who shrank back from this blood splattered berserker. In awe, his men surged forward shouting a war cry “Hannibal! – Hannibal! – Hannibal!”
Colonel Grissom chose this moment to mount the main attack. Under cover of darkness and a cannon bombardment, 800 soldiers moved forward. As the defenses had been diverted to counter the attack of Company ‘A’, Grissom’s assault overran the middle section of the breastworks and began to fan out along sides of the parapet. Others dropped onto the ground below where they could fire into the back of the legionnaires. After a strong initial fight, the surrounded defenders dropped their weapons and surrendered.
Colonel Grissom began to organize his various units to consolidate the newly won breastworks and contain the prisoners. Seeing Hannibal, Grissom called him over to congratulate him for his part in the successful assault. As Hannibal approached, Grissom noting his blood soaked uniform exclaimed: “My GOD Captain, how badly are you hurt?”
Hannibal saluted, then shrugged: “Just minor injuries Colonel, most of this blood belonged to the legionnaires.” Noticing he was still holding the shovel, he said apologetically: “I used up all my bullets, then my sword broke. I took this from a legionnaire who didn’t need it anymore.” Shaking his head in amazement Grissom rejoined: “No apologies required Captain, you and your men performed magnificently.”
The next morning after breakfast the pickets reported that two riders holding a white flag were approaching. Colonel Grissom sent a lieutenant and four cavalry troopers to meet them and discovered they were two elders with a message from Brigham Young. The lieutenant brought the Elders to Colonel Grissom who accepted the letter. He offered the Elders coffee and breakfast which they politely refused. The Elder Jonathan Smith indicated that General Sheridan received a similar letter.
Brigham Young was offering a ceasefire and desired to open negotiations for the peaceful return of Utah Territory to the United States. Grissom accepted the ceasefire but indicated the final decision was up to General Sheridan. Grissom then required that the local Nauvoo legionnaires surrender their heavy weapons and return to their homes. The Elders agreed, were appreciative of the courtesy provided them, and rode back to Salt Lake City.
Two days later, General Sheridan and his army marched through the Golden Pass towards Salt Lake City. He was met at the mouth of the pass by Colonel Grissom and the 9th Cavalry Regiment, who were providing security, and escorting the Mormon Elders. Sheridan issued orders for his army to invest Salt Lake City, but not to enter. He then accompanied the 9th Cavalry Regiment to Grissom’s headquarters in a large farmhouse owned by Elder Smith.
There the peace negotiations began. Elder Smith had written authorization from the board of elders to conduct the negotiations. Sheridan examined the letter and was satisfied. Elder Smith then revealed that Brigham Young had been ousted as head of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, and was under house arrest. Elder Smith continued: “Brigham Young has accepted his responsibility for the current difficulties, and will subject himself to your judgment. The Nauvoo Legion has been ordered to cease all operations. The Legionnaires have gone home, and have been directed not to conduct any further resistance to the United States Government authority.” Elder Smith then requested that Church is immune from sanctions, and no reprisals taken against the law abiding citizenry.
General Sheridan replied: “Elder Smith, I accept your proposal with the following conditions.
First, disband the Nauvoo Legion. All armories and heavy weapons will be turned over to United States Army control.
Second, all governing officials, legionnaires, and citizens will be required to sign loyalty oaths requiring them to obey all laws of the United States of America.
Third, Brigham Young will be turned over to United States Marshals who will transport him to Washington DC for trial.
Fourth, I will establish martial law and will serve as Governor until a replacement is appointed. In the future, elections will return governance to the citizenry.
Fifth, United States Marshals and judges will be appointed to administer and enforce the laws of the United States of America.
Elder Smith along with the other Elders present agreed. The conference adjourned for the creation of the documents. The next day the surrender documents were signed. The Elders, escorted by a platoon of cavalry, US Marshals, and a stage coach drove to the home of Brigham Young. He was formerly arrested and turned over to the custody of the Marshals. Bound in handcuffs and leg chains, Brigham Young was led out to the stage coach, assisted in boarding, and driven away.
The military occupation began. General Sheridan assumed the role as the temporary Governor until Lincoln appointed his replacement. Under Sheridan’s administration life in the Utah Territory returned to normal. The construction of the Trans-Continental Railroad accelerated. Sheridan redesignated Promontory Point in the Utah Territory as the junction where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads would meet.
In the face of newspaper criticism for the use of Negro soldiers in the Utah Campaign, Sheridan transferred the Ninth Colored Regiment east into Montana to fight the Sioux and Cheyenne. As a reward for initiative, Brevet Captain Hannibal Johnson had his captaincy confirmed. With the regimental band leading the way, the 9th Colored Cavalry Regiment paraded past the reviewing stand, viewed by General Sheridan and his senior officers; and rode through the Golden Pass to their new assignment.
Chapter 17
September 1, 1868.
The Presidential campaign was in high gear. The Republicans, led by Lincoln & Grant mostly stayed off the campaign trail. Lincoln felt his first obligation was to administer the country. Grants prerogative was to bring the wars to a successful conclusion. The Democrat candidates were Winfield Scott Hancock and Roger Blair, nominated after a contentious convention held between July Fourth and July Ninth.
Originally, there were thirteen candidates, and on the first ballot, no candidate received a majority. The balloting continued with George Pendleton of Pennsylvania receiving the most votes for the first fifteen ballots. Thomas Hendricks of Indiana took the lead in the sixteenth ballot and maintained it until the nineteenth. Consistently in third place was Winfield Scott Hancock, also from Pennsylvania and a war hero. Hancock moved into second place on the sixteenth ballot. After the nineteenth ballot, Francis Blair of Missouri dropped out and suggested that he and Pendleton toss their support to Hancock. That compromise worked, and the twenty-first ballot nominated Hancock. He selected Blair to be the vice-presidential nominee, and the weary delegates selected him unanimously on the first ballot.
The Democrat Party platform was blatantly racist. The party slogan was: This is a white man’s country: Let the white man rule. Their platform had the following planks.
State’s Rights
Establish a standard greenback currency for the repayment of all public and private debt.
Reduce foreign entanglements by reducing the size of the army and navy.
No foreign wars unless Congress enacts a Declaration of War.
Reform government by eliminating useless and corrupt departments.
Limit foreign immigration.
Blair, a blatant racist, campaigned on the plague of Negro suffrage. Blair went on a national speaking tour in which he framed the contest with Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans in stark racial terms. In a speech in St Louis, Blair warned of the rule of a semi-barbarous race of blacks; who are worshipers of fetishes. He further characterize
d them as polygamists who want to subject the white women to their unbridled lust. He also was outraged that Lincoln had unleashed hordes of Negro soldiers who massacred white people in Utah Territory. Republicans countered by advising Americans not to vote for Hancock, as Blair might succeed him.
Hancock was a man of impeccable honesty. His status of a war hero drew many former Union soldiers to his candidacy. He campaigned against Lincoln’s expansionist policies. He believed that negotiations should have settled the Alabama Claims. He also charged that the Lincoln administration had baited the British to declare a war they could not win. He charged that Lincoln had created an empire, which did not bring new markets; and the expenses of defending it would bankrupt the country.
Republican surrogates followed Blair and Hancock throughout the campaign. Their message was that prosperity was at hand. The economy was vastly improved, the industry was booming in the north, and the rebuilding of cities and industry in the south had returned prosperity.
Additionally, the discovery of gold in the former British Columbia sparked a gold rush, creating optimistic expectations. Internationally, the prestige of the United States was never higher. New markets for American industrial goods were opening overseas.
With all the optimistic talk, the feeling in Republican circles as late as October was that the Democrats would win. On November 3, the voters went to the polls. The final results indicated a total of 6,055,859 men had voted. The ticket of Lincoln and Grant won with 3,187,115 or 52.6% and garnered 214 electoral votes. The ticket of Hancock and Blair collected 2,868,744 or 47.4% and 103 electoral votes.
The passage of the Fourteenth Amendment was crucial to the outcome. Over 600,000 people of color voted, which was twice the margin of victory.
Hancock lost his home state of Pennsylvania by less than 10,000 votes. Even though he had substantial personal popularity, Pennsylvania industries were expanding, and jobs were plentiful.
Hancock won New York by less than 10,000 votes. Anti-war Democrats were strong there. Hancock’s reputation as a Civil War hero, plus a state’s rights advocate won him a large following.
There were allegations of widespread voter intimidation, by the Ku Klux Klan in Louisiana and Georgia. Allegations swirled that the Klan activities prevented many of the former slaves from voting during the Presidential election. Other allegations surfaced that the local elected authorities approved of, then turned a blind eye to the intimidation which included beatings, rapes, and lynching.
Thousands of the former slaves began to understand that without the support of local governments, the federal government could not protect them. Migrations to Liberia began to increase.
Halifax, Vancouver, and Victoria
November 1868
Flag lowering and raising ceremonies occurred on the same day. British Imperial troops, in their red dress uniforms, were lined up in regimental order as the bands played God Save the Queen. The Union Jack came down the flagpole, and neatly folded into the flag container. The regiments then formed up, and with the bagpipers playing a marching tune, the soldiers marched to the harbor and began boarding their transports.
As the British soldiers left the square, American soldiers in Dress Blue entered and formed ranks. The band played the Star Spangled Banner as the Stars & Stripes rose up the flagpole. Several hours later as the British transports, escorted by Royal Navy battleships steamed out of the harbors, receiving a salute from the assembled United States Navy ironclads.
Jamaica, Granada. Barbados, Trinidad, and Tobago
Similar flag raising and lowering ceremonies happened simultaneously. This time United States Marines, in dress uniforms lowered the Stars & Stripes as the bands played the Star Spangled Banner. The Marines then marched to the docks and boarded the waiting transports. The Royal Marines in dress uniforms marched in, played God Save the Queen as they raised the Union Jack. Then, following a salute from the Royal Navy warships the American transports escorted, by United States Navy warships sailed for home. The war between Great Britain and the United States of America was officially over.
Repatriation of substantial portions of the population took place. Approximately one-third of the residents of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and one-fifth of the population in Ontario, mostly members of the United Empire Loyalists, sold their property at previously negotiated prices and moved to Ireland. There, the land was plentiful. The Irish had been tenant farmers and had lived in poverty. Following the potato famine, massive Irish immigration to the United States substantially depopulated the island.
The United Empire Loyalists purchased the land from the prior Gentry's landlords and established thriving communities. Ireland, previously an impoverished hotbed of revolution developed into a prosperous province, with a fierce loyalist population.
Thousands of Jamaicans, fearing reprisals for assisting the United States relocated to Liberia. They had the choice to go to the United States or Liberia. Most chose to go to Liberia where they could assimilate peacefully, and live without discrimination. They also eagerly anticipated the opportunity of living in a prosperous nation, dominated by blacks, who were living under a democratically elected constitutional republic.
Sioux Treaty:
Realizing that the United States was deploying overwhelming force; the Sioux and Arapaho tribes met with General Terry at Fort Laramie to negotiate a settlement. The treaty stipulated that the Black Hills, mostly located in the southwest of the Dakota Territory, be ceded to the tribes. It also prohibited white men from the settlement in, or passage through the treaty lands; without the approval of the tribes. The only exception was a mission station, where the Indian Agent, a blacksmith, and a school, which would be operated by white men, would be located. This treaty ended the Sioux conflict, and the tribes moved into the treaty lands.
The Northern Cheyenne, uneasy allies of the Sioux and Arapaho, and distrustful of the White Men, did not attend the peace conference. Sporadic raids continued, burning farms, and attacking small isolated towns.
The 9th Cavalry Regiment was ordered to hunt them down and force them onto reservations. The campaign was brutal, and the Cheyenne began to call the all colored cavalry regiment Buffalo Soldiers. With continuous pursuit and warfare lasting six months, the exhausted Cheyenne became trapped in the Montana badlands. Stuck in mountainous terrain, with food and water supplies depleted, their Chief Two Moons surrendered and agreed to move to a reservation in southeastern Montana Territory. The Indian Uprising ended.
December 9, 1868
During his State of the Union message to the 40th Congress, Abraham Lincoln urged the passage of an amendment to the Constitution. This amendment stipulated that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
A contentious debate followed. Democrats, including most Southern politicians, argued that the amendment was not needed, as the 14th Amendment already granted the former slaves the right to vote. Republicans argued that it was needed, as widespread voter intimidation suppressed the Negro vote.
After many unsuccessful attempts to amend the bill, Republican leaders in both the House of Representatives and the Senate forced a vote. The House of Representatives passed the bill on Feb. 25, 1869, by a vote of 144–44. The Senate voted on the next day and passed the bill 39–13.
Perpetuating their campaign of blatant racism in the recent Presidential election, all of the 56 Democrats in Congress voted against the proposed 15th Amendment. The proposed amendment then went to the states for ratification, where a three-fourths majority was required.
Chapter 18.
March 1, 1869, Guadalupe, Mexico.
Civil war broke out in Mexico. The former President Felix Maria Zuloaga had returned from exile in Cuba, landing with 300 soldiers just south of Brownsville, Texas. When he was President, he had the support of the Catholic Church and the conservative aristocracy. He was ousted from power
by a Juarez led coup d’état on December 28, 1862. Jaurez’s action marked the third time Zuloaga lost the Presidency in a coup d’état. For the safety of his family, he sought sanctuary in Cuba.
Following his reconciliation with Maximillian, Juarez and his Liberal Party held more than 60% of the seats in Congress. Juarez embarked on an ambitious plan to elevate the common people out of poverty. The church hierarchy and the conservatives felt threatened by the confiscation and distribution of church land, and the break-up of large estates by the Juarez led Liberal Party. Opposition grew in Congress. Feeling thwarted by the opposition of conservative politicians, Juarez ordered the opposition politicians arrested.
Envoys from the Church and the conservatives convinced Zuloaga to return, reclaim the Presidency, and oust the monarchy. With covert aid from the Spanish Viceroy in Cuba, Zuloaga and his troops were provisioned to field an army of 10,000 men. One week later, Zuloaga met with dissident landowners who provided him with an additional 7,000 troops. With his additional forces and the promised support of other landowners, Zuloaga began his march on Mexico City.
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