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Show 81 sands of volunteers could be drawn, who would ask no better employment than the extermination of the Mormons at the call of the governement."^ Many of the Mormons passing through California on their way to Utah had to travel incognito for fear of their lives. Elder William Wall, who was returning from a mission in Australia was nearly the victim of the California mob. In a deposition made out in the Church Historian's Office on December 12, 1857, Wall declared he landed at San Pedro on October 12. While in Los Angeles, he found great excitement over the Mountain Meadow massacre. It was while he was in that city that a mob attacked him, held a mock trial, and sentenced him to be hung. Not before the noose was around bis neck did a man step forward and prevail upon the mob to spare Wall, as he had not been in Utah at the time of the massacre, and he was released. In another instance, it was only through the display of "a splendid double-barrelled shotgun, 3 revolvers, a good bowie knife, and a legging knife, all in sight" that the peace was preserved. "They looked very savage at me but said nothing."9 While on the Mojave Desert in November, Wall made another suspicious discovery. On the 10th or 11th he witnessed the procession of the the U.S. Army Camel Corps under the command of Lt. Edward F. Beale. Wall reported in Salt Lake that the "camels performed well in sand in crossing the desert but they were no account at all in mud."10 Although it was not known in Utah what the Camel Corps was to be used for, it could only be viewed as an evil omen. Later newspaper accounts confirmed the use of the corps in the Utah campaign, but these reports came out too late to influence the decisions of Brigham Young in the days before the commencement of the White Mountain Expedition. 11 Church leaders were left to form their own conclusions about the events they witnessed. Reports of the army plying the Colorado and experimenting with camels on |
