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Show 82 tea »<ojave along with thousands of outraged Californians at their rear must have occupied the thoughts of Brigham Young to some degree, but in this first week of January he was not yet sufficiently alarmed to order troops to march south or even investigate the rumors. It will be seen, however, that Young may have considered, at least, some unusual precautions during this time. The Saints in the South were not so sanguine about the matter. They were the ones who would feel the full weight of a southern invasion, and they were getting nervous. Jacob Hamblin, reacting to rumors he picked up from returning Mormon missionaries from California and from the Indians, acted on his own. Hamblin operated the Indian mission at Fort Clara in southwestern Utah and was well acquainted with the rugged southern country. It was probably here that he picked up the same information that Jesses N. Smith had forwarded to Salt Lake City in his l e t t e r of December 27. Accordingly, in December Hamblin sent two fellow missionaries, Ira Hatch and Dudley Leavitt, to the Colorado River to ascertain the truth of the invasion rumors and line up the support of the Mojave Indians who lived near the Needles should the rumors prove true. But, unfortunately, Hatch and Leavitt found the Mojaves in a hostile s t a t e , and the two missionaries barely escaped with t h e i r l i v e s. On January 17, near the Virgin River, Hamblin came across a company of explorers led by Mormon Apostle Amasa Lyman. Lyman, who had recently l e f t his home in San Bernardino,/ was in the company of eight prominent Iron County men12 and was in the process of returning t o California to aid in the San Bernardino evacuation while making a reconnaissance under the direction of President Young to find "water and feed away from the present travelled road." 3 Brigham Young was apparently taking steps to avoid a collision between the Saints returning from California and any troops that might be on the road. Hamblin fully advised Lyman of the l a t e s t reports from the Colorado, and three days |