Utah war

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The Utah War was a military conflict between the Mormons in the Rocky Mountains and the US government from 1857 to 1858.

backgrounds

The President of the United States , elected in 1856 , James Buchanan , wanted to abolish polygamy . Buchanan also learned of rumors that the Mormons were breaking away from the United States and setting up their own independent state. Brigham Young was viewed as a dictator who, through the unconditional surrender of his people, had acquired unlimited power.

For these two reasons, the president decided to remove Brigham Young, president and prophet of Latter-day Saints , as governor of the Utah Territory and replace him with a non-Mormon. The choice fell on Alfred Cumming from Georgia . The president instructed the US Army to support the new governor. Brigham Young was not officially notified of this action.

Mormon response

The Utah Territory and the Mormon-Planned State of Deseret

Since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in 1830, Church members have been persecuted and repeatedly evicted from their homes and property. To protect themselves from such persecution, they had fled to the Rocky Mountains and had built their own community there in around ten years. When returning Mormon missionaries, having seen the Army formations en route to Utah and learning of their intentions, told Brigham Young, the latter called on his people to resist and declared martial law . He said the US President's action was an act of despotic arbitrariness that contravened the United States Constitution and therefore justified armed resistance.

Settlements on the edge of Deseret territory were dissolved, and Mormons were concentrated in areas in the Rocky Mountains. The motto of the " scorched earth " was adopted, that is, Salt Lake City and the other places were prepared to be completely destroyed in order to provide neither accommodation nor food for the advancing units of the Army. The population was preparing to hide in the mountains with food supplies for three years.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre

Mountain Meadows Massacre Site (2016)

At the time, there was a train of settlers in southern Utah crossing the country. The settlers were from Arkansas , the state where Latter-day Saint Apostle Parley P. Pratt was murdered that same year, 1857 . Local Mormon leaders in the Cedar City area who were also political leaders, along with local Indians, raided the wagon train and murdered all but 17 small children who were placed with Mormon families. The exact number of victims who perished there on the mountain meadows on September 11, 1857 is not known. The figures range between 120 and 150 people.

In the years that followed, the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints repeatedly asserted that they neither ordered nor approved the massacre. To this day, clear evidence is sought as to whether Brigham Young ordered the action. Various documents used for this purpose, however, also allow other interpretations, which are put forward by representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ. As the guilty leader, John D. Lee, allegedly a member of the Mormon secret society of the Danites , was sentenced to death and executed by shooting at the site of the massacre in 1877 . There is a long confession of him, published by his lawyer, in which he states, among other things, that he was only a pawn victim . On the other hand, for legal reasons and presumably for the sake of internal peace, Governor Cumming had refused to thoroughly investigate the massacre and punish those responsible, which Brigham Young asked him to do.

The site of the raid was designated a National Historic Landmark in June 2011 and the site was expanded in February 2015.

Military actions in war

The entrances to Salt Lake City were blocked and manned with posts, Mormon scouts followed the path of the army units. According to their mandate, the Mormon Nauvoo Legion hindered the advance of US troops in guerrilla actions as soon as they came within range. Meadows were burned down to leave the draft animals without food, food carts and their contents were burned, the animals chased away. As a result, the soldiers and their animals were starving, the constant attacks were getting on their nerves and winter, feared with blizzards in the Rocky Mountains, was imminent. So the US associations set up for the winter and decided to continue the operation in the spring.

Resolving the conflict

With the help of Colonel Thomas L. Kane, who both knew the Mormons and had a good reputation with the government, Brigham Young was persuaded to give in. In the spring of 1858, the US units advanced near Salt Lake City, but undertook to stay outside the city. Brigham Young passed his role as governor to Alfred Cumming on April 12, 1858.

Since then, Latter-day Saint leadership and worldly power have been in separate hands in Utah.

literature

  • David L. Bigler, Will Bagley: The Mormon Rebellion: America's First Civil War, 1857-1858. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 2012, ISBN 978-0-8061-4315-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Richard D. Poll: Utah War in Utah History to Go, State of Utah 2015, also on the Internet, see historytogo.utah.gov (English).
  2. ^ Mountain Meadows Association: Last Confession and Statement of John. D. Lee (English).
  3. ↑ Department of the Interior: Secretary Salazar Designates 14 New National Historic Landmarks , press release June 30, 2011.
    Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Utah. National Park Service , accessed July 21, 2020.