Vol. VI.
San Francisco, Wed., July 21, 1858.
No. 88.
Letter from the Army of Utah.
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Matters in Mormondom.
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(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)
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CAMP OF THE ARMY OF UTAH.
Near Fort Bridger, W. T., June 2, 1858.
Believing that at no other point in the wide expanse of the continent would so much of interest centre during the
present summer as here, I have transferred myself and pen to this distant and desolate region, whence I shall advise
the Bulletin of the operations of the army in its efforts to subdue the Mormon hierarchy as often as opportunity
to send it a letter presents itself -- exceeding doubtful, however, whether the Mormon system of espionage will not
prove entirely too perfect to enable my communications to reach their destinations.
Start from the East -- The Overland Mail Route.
I left St. Joseph, Missouri, on the afternoon of the 1st of May, with the first train started under the Overland Mail
contract, with John M. Hockaday and others. The Utah Peace Commissioners had started six days before us, but we overhauled
them on the South Fork of the Platte, although they had the best possible outfit for traveling...
The False, Palavering Policy of Gov. Cumming.
The course pursued by Gov. Cumming -- a course which he seems to have thought it his duty to shroud in profound mystery --
the mission of Col. Thos. L. Kane to Salt Lake, and his mysterious consultations with Gov. Cumming, the appointment of
the expected Peace Commission, were disjointed events, of which the Presidential proclamation now seems to have been
the key and interpretation. You are already aware that Gov. Cumming has never acted in harmony with the judicial officers
of the Territory or with the army. Over confident in his own genius -- self-assured that he would so skilfully palaver
Brigham Young and his wives as to make the whole traitorous brood of Salt Lake docile as kittens, he has wrested his
energies in temporizing efforts to coax where it was long since apparent that coercion at the cannon's mouth was the
only suitable mode of solving the Mormon problem, and crushing out the theocracy so strangely attempted to be maintained
within the limits of a Republic! The honesty of his motives it is not for me to discuss -- but the policy of his
course as a public officer is just subject of criticism; and unless those who have studied the Mormon problem long and
seriously, and who have had sorrowful experience of its intricacies, are greatly mistaken, even Gov. Cumming's grey hairs
will probably blanch a shade whiter ere he dies, at sight of the evil which his mistaken course has entailed.
Mystery of his Movements -- Supposed Secret Instructions of the President.
To recapitulate briefly, these are the facts as they now seem to stand in regular and connected sequence: From the time
of his arrival in Utah, Gov. Cumming has wrapped himself in mystery, with a policy of his own, the secret springs of
which were carefully concealed from his associates here. It is now believed that he has been acting all along under
secret instructions from the President, of which it is more than probable that Brigham Young has information. Next,
Col. Thomas L. Kane, a sympathizer with the Mormon faith, and therefore necessarily disciple and servant of its High
Priest mysteriously disappeared from Washington, and turned up in Salt Lake City, via California, on secret mission to
Brigham Young. True, he denies having any "powers" from the President, and yet he was able to exhibit here and elsewhere,
"letters" from the President which secured at once free entrance to this camp from Salt Lake, and free egress on his
return, the confidence of Gov. Cumming, and the aid of federal officials wherever found. He was clearly an accredited
agent of the President to the arch-traitor of Salt Lake, and he possessed some talismanic power which seems to have
inclined Brigham Young to recall his oath, that no new Governor should enter the territory, and to send Kane out to
Bridger to bring Gov. Cumming in. What was this talisman? And what was the subject of the several interviews between
Kane and Cumming, which finally resulted in the journey of the latter into Salt Lake -- interviews and procedings still
conducted with the most profound secrecy from General Johnston and Judge Eckles? The Proclamation is thought to furnish
the key, and it is supposed that the President, in his agony lest the Mormons should either go to Sonora, and so render
that province impossible of acquisition, or else should compel him to accept the responsibility of forcing the people
of Salt Lake to obedience of the law, determined to send a Mormon emissary to Brother Brigham to notify him that he
would soon send out Commissioners with a bushel of printed proclamations pardoning all their past offences, provided they
would only consent to sham obedience to the law in future and so let the Federal Administration get its fingers out of
[the pie?]...
Col. Kane Re-baptized a Mormon -- More of the "Prophet's" Talk.
It may be proper here to state that Mr. James was told by Bishop Butler, of Spanish Fork, that Colonel Kane was
re-baptized and received his endowments immediately upon his arrival at Salt Lake from California.
In Provo City, on the Sunday following Cumming's visit there, Brigham, in a sermon, spoke as follows: "Governor Cumming
has been here and promised the people protection, indeed! but the poor, lousy old curse cannot protect himself, much
less anybody else. Why, I have to send a guard, armed, with him to prevent the people from cutting his throat."...
U. S. Marshal Dotsen and Gov. Cumming.
United States Marshal Dotsen -- a painstaking officer, mildly deliberate in the consideration of his duty as he is
firm and resolute in its performance -- addressed an official letter to Gov. Cumming on the 25th May, asking him to
provide him with a posse sufficient to enable him to arrest Brigham Young and others for treason and other crimes. The
Governor instead of complying with the request, addressed a letter to the Marshal, asking him when the U. S. Court will
meet again, and demanding his evidence to support the assertion that the Territory is in a state of rebellion! and
asking whether he had made efforts to serve the writs and met the "resistance" in their service without which he (the
Governor) in his Proclamation of the 21st Nov., 1857, had declared that he would not resort to a military posse. The
Marshal's letter, it should be borne in mind, said nothing whatever about a military posse....
In February last, Mr. James had an interview with Kenosh, the Chief of the Paravants band of Indians, who have for some
time past been the willing instruments of Bishop Young's murderous purposes in the South. Kenosh was on his way to Salt
Lake. James offered his hand, and was refused -- the Chief saying he would not shake hands with an American -- as they
call all Gentiles. He was dressed at the time in civilized costume, with clothing which James identified as that belonging
to a teamster. He asked Kenosh where he got the clothes. Kenosh replied that he had killed an American, and taken the
clothes from his body, and to prove this assertion showed a hole in the side of the coat and another in the pants, made
by the bullets from his rifle when he shot his victim. Kenosh proceeded to say that he had killed a good many Americans,
and had had plenty of wagons and cattle and $1,500 in money, which he had taken from Americans -- of whom he intended to
kill all he could find. He said Brigham was his father now; that Brigham talked good to him, and was the only man he
would listen to.
Pintutts having requested James to ask Brigham for some ammunition, James referred the request to Brigham's interpreter,
Dimmick Huntington, who said: "Why don't Pintutts do as Kenosh does, and then he won't be begging all the time. He is an
old fool and won't listen to what Brigham says. If he did he would be better off. There's Kenosh who does as Brigham
tells him, and has all he wants, wagons, horses, cattle and $1,500 in cash. You tell him from me that if he will turn
out with all his band as Kenosh has done, in two months he will be a rich man. James related the answer to Pintutts who
said he would prefer to beg rather than follow such advice....
(under construction)
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