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Show 93 Some are uaying t h a t , were a call made in California for volunteers to fight the Mormons, a great many thousand could be obtained in a remarkably short time. We do not deny t h i s , s t i l l we would ask those who talk so loudly, what they think would be the cost of the equipment and the march. Paranoia was s e t t l i ng in on Salt Lake. Their enemies, i t seemed, were closing an elaborate set of pincers around them. They were rapidly becoming surrounded, and t h i s was not only t h e i r own assessment. Some members of the federal army were of the same opinion. Capt. Jesse Gove, of Johnston's command, wrote home on April 9 asking, "where are they t o go? Troops surround them on all sides. "^5 There was no ordinary way they could win a fight against the odds they believed they were set against. The sole refuge of the Mormons was their trust in God. Feeling the additional vulnerability of his military situation, Brigham Young decided to take a defensive measure. On February 21 Young, "proposed sending some men into the desert to look out habitation for this people and to plant some grain. " ^ Young had not, as yet, lost a l l faith in the military victory, but he was becoming increasingly wary of his situation every day. The searching out of the deserts,| as proposed on February 21, was only a precautionary measure. But unlike previous attempts t o locate "hiding places" in the mountains, this was a churchwide effort, not a military one, and, for the f i r s t time, it was the deserts, not the mountains which were receiving the focus as a natural defense. The White Mountain Expedition was beginning t o emerge; although, at this stage i t was only an embryo. Although military plans were being de-emphasized, the troops were s t i ll kept in readiness. Brigham Young was not one t o close any avenue available to him. He preferred to keep a l l his options open while he emphasized various |
