Description |
Morre,,, and India" Agent Garland Hurt! Associate ,ustices ,oh" Cradlebauzh and Charles E. Sinclair were to follow in ihc sprmg As the monotony of wrneer camp hfe and the worries about food and firewood came to domrnate d&v life the characters and goals of the personalities involved i: the Utah War became clearer. As is demonstrated by Elizabeth's letteri and supportmg documents Johnston, a proicssional soidler scekmg promoimn to the ra"k of bngad,er general, anhci- pied war wth the Mormons while Cummtne ihc s""er,or I 1 civilian officer, sought peaceful accommodation. in Sait Lake City the Mormon leader Bngham Young. who also weferred peace, ppared for war As the cold days dragged on, the soIdlers d~siamfort and resentment of the Mormons I". tens&d The te"s,o"s at Camp Scott were itred by the arhtude a"d xtm"s of Judge Eckels He and a "umber of cwl offtc~&, along w,th many army officers wanted confrontat,"" not compromise, with the tionno"~. I" the spring after Governor Cumming had gone to Salt Lake City to "ego&e a settlement with ihe Mormon leaders. rustice Eckels oreanized a ~oi,r+ and nnpanelled a grand pry from among the cw~l,a"s at Eckels v,lle whxh promptly n,d,cied Bngham Young and other church offx& for trezo,, As Eheabeih expiatned I" her corqondenie, the act,"" not only ppaidned the poss,bd liy of peace but endangered Governor Cumm,"g's hfe in spite of these xt~ons and the embittered mead of the soldmrs, a peaceful solut~o" was aclueved and Alfred and Elizabeth Gumming left their canvas home and headed for Salt Lake C~Q. `-- Thus, one and one-half months before the army entered Salt Lake Valley Governor Cumm,"g and his party arrived I" the Mormon crty, and Ehzabeth temporarrly cstabhshed her household in the W,lham C Statnes maniio", later know" a5 the Devereaux House As Ehzabeth Cummrng icils "5, on 26 August 1858 appionm~ately 2,500 solders, accompanred by 1,000 iiviha" employees, marched through Salt Lake C~iy Although the city was deserted except for a few Mormons who were asstgned to guard the houses, Johnston's discq,h"ed soldters did not pllage or damage the city After campng for a iew days wee of the Jordan Rwer Johnston moved his troops south along the Oqurrh Mou"tai"s to a see ,a west oi Utah Lake I" Cedar Valley where he esiabhshed a permanent garr, 50" called Camp Floyd after Seiretary of War ,oh" B Floyd In 1861 the soldteri returned East to fight on both sides I" the Civil War and Camp Floyd was abandoned Thts book C~"SLS~S of Elizabeth Cummtng 5 e,ghtee" letters f,ftee" addressed to her ~t~ter m-law A""e Ehzabeih Cummrng Smeh, two to her husband Governor Alfred Cum mmg and one to her sister-1" law Sarah Wallace Cummmg This ioiiectu," of letter2 contnbuies to our historical and iociologml underitatdrng of the irontw, the army and Mormon soc~eiy VIewed from the ox and horse drawn |