lenging again. Once he was made the object of an apparent attack, from which he was rescued by the timely arrival of officers of authority.1

The trip to Salt Lake City occupied a week, and on the 12th the governor entered the Mormon metropolis, escorted by the city officers and other persons of distinction in the community, and was assigned as a guest to W. C. Staines, an influential Mormon elder. There Young immediately called on him, and was received with friendly consideration. Asked by his host, when the head of the church took his leave, if Young appeared to be a tyrant, Governor Cumming replied: "No, sir. No tyrant ever had a head on his shoulders like Mr. Young. He is naturally a good man. I doubt whether many of your people sufficiently appreciate him as a leader." This was the judgment of a federal officer after a few moments' conversation with the reviler of the government and a month's coaching by Colonel Kane.

2

Three days later, Governor Cumming officially notified General Johnston of his arrival, and stated that he was everywhere recognized as governor, and "universally greeted with such respectful attentions" as were due to his office. There was no mention of any advance of the troops, nor any censure of Mormon offenders, but the general was instructed to use his forces to recover stock alleged to have been stolen from the Mormons by Indians, and to punish the latter, and he was informed that Indian Agent Hurt (who had so recently escaped from Mormon clutches) was charged by W. H. Hooper, the Mormon who had acted as secretary of state during recent months, with having incited Indians to hostility, and should be investigated! Verily, Colonel Kane's work was thoroughly performed. General Johnston replied, expressing gratification at the governor's reception, requesting to be informed when the Mormon force would be withdrawn from the route to Salt Lake City, and saying that he had inquired into Dr. Hurt's case, and had satisfied himself "that he has faithfully discharged his duty as agent, and that he has given none but good advice to the Indians."

1 "In course of time Cumming discovered how the Mormon leaders had imposed upon him and amused themselves with his credulity, and to the last hour that he was in the Territory he felt annoyed at having been so absurdly deceived, and held Brigham responsible for the mortifying joke.". -"Rocky Mountain Saints," p. 390.

2 Tullidge's "History of Salt Lake City," p. 206.

On the Sunday after his arrival Young introduced Governor Cumming to the people in the Tabernacle, and then a remarkable scene ensued. Stenhouse says that the proceedings were all arranged in advance. Cumming was acting the part of the vigilant defender of the laws, and at the same time as conciliator, doing what his authority would permit to keep the Mormon leaders free from the presence of troops and from the jurisdiction of federal judges. But he was not all-powerful in this respect. General Johnston had orders that would allow him to dispose of his forces without obedience to the governor, and the governor could not quash the indictments found by Judge Eckles's grand jury. Young's knowledge of this made him cautious in his reliance on Governor Cumming. Then, too, Young had his own people to deal with, and he would lose caste with them if he made a surrender which left Mormondom practically in federal control.

When Governor Cumming was introduced to the congregation of nearly four thousand people he made a very conciliatory address, in which, however, according to his report to Secretary Cass,1 he let them know that he had come to vindicate the national sovereignty, "and to exact an unconditional submission on their part to the dictates of the law"; but informed them that they were entitled to trial by their peers, intending to mean Mormon peers, — that he had no intention of stationing the army near their settlements, or of using a military posse until other means of arrest had failed. After this practical surrender of authority, the governor called for expressions of opinion from the audience, and he got them. That audience had been nurtured for years on the oratory of Young and Kimball and Grant, and had seen Judge Brocchus vilified by the head of the church in the same building; and the responses to Governor Cumming's invitation were of a kind to make an Eastern Gentile quail, especially one like the innocent Cumming, who thought them "a people who habitually exercised great self-control." One speaker went into a review of Mormon wrongs since the tarring of the prophet in Ohio, holding the federal government responsible, and naming as the crowning outrage the sending of a Missourian to govern them. This was too much for Cumming, and he called out, "I am a Georgian, sir, a Georgian." The congregation gave the governor the lie to his face, telling him that

1 Ex. Doc. No. 67, 1st Session, 35th Congress.

they would not believe that he was their friend until he sent the soldiers back. "It was a perfect bedlam," says an eye-witness, "and gross personal remarks were made. One man said, 'You're nothing but an office seeker.' The governor replied that he obtained his appointment honorably and had not solicited it." If all this was a piece of acting arranged by Young to show his flock that he was making no abject surrender, it was well done.2

Young's remarks on March 21 had been having their effect while Cumming was negotiating, and an exodus from the northern settlements was under way which only needed to be augmented by a movement from the valley to make good Young's declaration that they would leave their part of the territory a desert. No official order for this movement had been published, but whatever direction was given was sufficient. Peace Commissioners Powell and McCullough, in a report to the Secretary of War dated July 3, 1858, said on this subject: "We were informed by various (discontented) Mormons, who lived in the settlements north of Provo, that they had been forced to leave their homes and go to the southern part of the Territory. We were also informed that at least one-third of the persons who had removed from their homes were compelled to do so. We were told that many were dissatisfied with the Mormon church, and would leave it whenever they could with safety to themselves. We are of opinion that the leaders of the Mormon church congregated the people in order to exercise more immediate control over them." Not only were houses deserted, but growing crops were left and heavier household articles abandoned, and the roads leading to the south and through Salt Lake City were crowded day by day with loaded wagons, their even the women, often shoeless - trudging along and driving their animals before them. These refugees were, a little later, joined by Young and most of his associates, and by a large part of the inhabitants of Salt Lake City itself.

owners

It was estimated by the army officers at the time that 25,000 1 Coverdale's statement in Camp Scott letter, June 4, 1858, to New York Herald. 2"Brigham was seated beside the governor on the platform, and tried to control the unruly spirits. Governor Cumming may for the moment have been deceived by this apparent division among the Mormons, but three years later he told the author that it was all of a piece with the incidents of his passage through Echo Cañon. In his characteristic brusque way he said: 'It was all humbug, sir, all humbug; but never mind; it is all over now. If it did them good, it did not hurt me.'"-" Rocky Mountain Saints," p. 393.

of a total population of 45,000 in the Territory, took part in this movement. When they abandoned their houses they left them tinder boxes which only needed the word of command, when the troops advanced, to begin a general conflagration. By June I the refugees were collected on the western shore of Utah Lake, fifty miles south of Salt Lake City. What a picture of discomfort and positive suffering this settlement presented can be partly imagined. The town of Provo near by could accommodate but a few of the new-comers, and for dwellings the rest had recourse to covered wagons, dugouts, cabins of logs, and shanties of boards — anything that offered any protection. There was a lack of food, and it was the old life of the plains again, without the daily variety presented when the trains were moving.

In his report to Secretary Cass, dated May 2, Governor Cumming, after describing this exodus as a matter of great concern, said:

"I shall follow these people and try to rally them. Our military force could overwhelm most of these poor people, involving men, women, and children in a common fate; but there are among the Mormons many brave men accustomed to arms and horses, men who could fight desperately as guerillas; and, if the settlements are destroyed, will subject the country to an expensive and protracted war, without any compensating results. They will, I am sure, submit to 'trial by their peers,' but they will not brook the idea of trial by 'juries' composed of 'teamsters and followers of the camp,' nor any army encamped in their cities or dense settlements."

What kind of justice their idea of "trial by their peers" meant was disclosed in the judicial history of the next few years.

This report, which also recited the insults the governor had received in the Tabernacle, was sent to Congress on June 10 by President Buchanan, with a special message, setting forth that he had reason to believe that "our difficulties with the territory have terminated, and the reign of the constitution and laws been restored," and saying that there was no longer any use of calling out the authorized regiments of volunteers.

CHAPTER XV

THE PEACE COMMISSION

GOVERNOR CUMMING's report of May 2 did not reach Washington until June 9, but the President's volte-face had begun before that date, and when the situation in Utah was precisely as it was when he had assured Colonel Kane that he would send no agent to the Mormons while they continued their defiant attitude. Under date of April 6 he issued a proclamation, in which he recited the outrages on the federal officers in Utah, the warlike attitude and acts of the Mormon force, which, he pointed out, constituted rebellion and treason; declared that it was a grave mistake to suppose that the government would fail to bring them into submission; stated that the land occupied by the Mormons belonged to the United States; and disavowed any intention to interfere with their religion; and then, to save bloodshed and avoid indiscriminate punishment where all were not equally guilty, he offered "a free and full pardon to all who will submit themselves to the just authority of the federal government."

This proclamation was intrusted to two peace commissioners, L. W. Powell of Kentucky and Major Ben. McCullough of Texas. Powell had been governor of his state, and was then United States senator-elect. McCullough had seen service in Texas before the war with Mexico, and been a daring scout under Scott in the latter He was killed at the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, in 1862, in command of a Confederate corps.

war.

These commissioners were instructed by the Secretary of War to give the President's proclamation extensive circulation in Utah. Without entering into any treaty or engagements with the Mormons, they were to "bring those misguided people to their senses" by convincing them of the uselessness of resistance, and how much submission was to their interest. They might, in so doing, place themselves in communication with the Mormon leaders, and assure