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Show INTRODUCTION LAST spring I left St. Louis under orders of Major- Gen eral Pope, then commanding the Department of , the Mis souri, to accompany troops from that City to Camp Douglas, which overlooks the City of the Saints in the valley of the Great Salt Lake. I started without any intention of writing a line descrip tive of my journey, further than might be contained in my private correspondence ; nor did I conceive the idea of pre paring anything for publication until several weeks after the completion of my journey, when, in a letter from my friend, to whom I have inscribed this book, I was requested to fur nish an account of my journey, and of the Mormons, for pub lication in the New Orleans Advocate, of which he is the editor. |