The Genteel Gentile, Letters of Elizabeth Cumming, 1857 - 1858

Genteel Gentile, page 013

Camp Scott - Utah Terry, 28 Novr 1857. 'The arrested Mormons were ortirers of the Nauvoo Legion-Major Joseph Taylor and his adjutant, William Rufus Rogers Stowell-who were captured by Captain Randolph B. Marty on Ham's Fork on CXtobei Ifo. Taylor Liter ese.iped, but btowel] remained a prisoner throughout ^Alfred (Jr.) was Captain Alfred Cummin- of the Tenih Infantry, Governor Cumming's nephew. At the age of sixteen he h.id er.icicd West Point and upon graduation had been assigned to the infantry. Later, in 1861 when Georgia seceded trom the Union, he resigned his comrrus- Confederate States. He rose to the rank of brigadier general. He "was 'Lvoiinaed three times, hvice seveveh", but he survived the Civil War. Cumming, Descendants, p. 21; Knight, Standard Uislau' of Ceatgia, 4:2129. L^ear Anne, ..-^ An express leaving & I have but a moment left in which to write-Our animals are all dead or dying, & we must stop here all winter, where there is wood & water. Alfred has made this the seat of govt. Mormons have been arrested, near here, particulars you will see in papers! Alfred fjnr) I have not yet seen! The express which takes this, takes Alfred's Proclamation & letter to B. Young, to Washington. You will see them in the papers, if this express should get there. The two or three last days of our journey here, our animals could just stand. We had no corn for them. We were passing a long desert, little or no grass-Thermometer below Zero In the day -at night, not only cold, but wind. We left about 200 animals dead; we loosed the harness & they fell on the road-some stood still in the snow-ravens all around them, the animals freezing but not dead-only motionless. The Command which 13