ADMINISTRATION OF POLK, 1845-1849.
James K. Polk—The War with Mexico—The First Conflict—Battle of Resaca de la Palma—Vigorous Action of the United States Government—General Scott's Plan of Campaign—Capture of Monterey—An Armistice—Capture of Saltillo—Of Victoria—Of Tampico—General Kearny's Capture of Santa Fé—Conquest of California—Wonderful March of Colonel Doniphan—Battle of Buena Vista—General Scott's March Toward the City of Mexico—Capture of Vera Cruz—American Victory at Cerro Gordo—Five American Victories in One Day—Santa Anna—Conquest of Mexico Completed—Terms of the Treaty of Peace—The New Territory Gained—The Slavery Dispute—The Wilmot Proviso—"Fifty-Four Forty or Fight"—Adjustment of the Oregon Boundary—Admission of Iowa and Wisconsin—The Smithsonian Institute—Discovery of Gold in California—The Mormons—The Presidential Election of 1848.
JAMES K. POLK.
JAMES K. POLK. (1795-1849.)
One term, 1845-1849.
James K. Polk, eleventh President, was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, November 2, 1795, and died June 15, 1849. His father removed to Tennessee when the son was quite young, and he therefore became identified with that State. He studied law, was a leading politician, and was elected to Congress in 1825, serving in that body for fourteen years. He was elected governor of Tennessee in 1839, his next advancement being to the presidency of the United States.
The President made George Bancroft, the distinguished historian, his secretary of the navy. It was he who laid the foundation of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, which was opened October 10, 1845. It is under the immediate care and supervision of the navy department and corresponds to the Military Academy at West Point.
Everybody knew that the admission of Texas meant war with Mexico, for that country would never yield, until compelled to do so, the province that had rebelled against her rule and whose independence she had persistently refused to recognize. Texas was unable to withstand the Mexican army, and her authorities urged the United States to send a force for her protection. General Zachary Taylor, who was in camp in western Louisiana, was ordered to advance into and occupy Texan territory.
Mexico had always insisted that the Nueces River was her western boundary, while Texas maintained that the Rio Grande was the dividing line. The dispute, therefore, was really over the tract of land between the two rivers. Our country proposed to settle the question by arbitration, but Mexico would not consent, claiming that the section (known as Coahuila) had never been in revolt against her authority, while Texas declared that it was a part of itself, and its Legislature so decided December 19, 1836.
General Taylor established a camp at Corpus Christi in the latter part of 1845, at the mouth of the Nueces. With nearly 5,000 troops, he marched, in January, to the Rio Grande to meet the Mexicans who were preparing to invade the disputed territory. Taylor established a depot of provisions at Point Isabel on the Gulf, and, upon reaching the Rio Grande, hastily built Fort Brown, opposite the Mexican town of Matamoras.
Some time later the Mexican forces reached Matamoras, and General Arista on the 26th of April notified Taylor that hostilities had begun. To emphasize his declaration, Captain Thornton with a company of dragoons was attacked the same day, and, after the loss of sixteen men in killed and wounded, was compelled to surrender to a much superior force. This was the first engagement of the war and was fought on ground claimed by both countries.
BATTLE OF PALO ALTO.
The Mexicans acted vigorously and soon placed Taylor's lines of communication in such danger that he hurried to Point Isabel to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy. He left Major Brown with 300 men in charge of Fort Brown. The Mexicans were exultant, believing Taylor had been frightened out of the country. But that valiant officer paused at Point Isabel only long enough to make its position secure, when he marched rapidly toward Fort Brown. Reaching Palo Alto, on the road, he found the way disputed by fully 6,000 Mexicans, who were three times as numerous as his own army. Attacking the enemy with great spirit, he routed them with the loss of a hundred men, his own loss being four killed and forty wounded.
Resuming his march toward Fort Brown, Taylor had reached a point within three miles of it, when he was brought face to face with a much larger force at Resaca de la Palma. The battle was a severe one, and for a long time was in doubt; but the tide was turned by a dashing charge of Captain May with his dragoons. Despite a destructive fire of grapeshot, the horsemen galloped over the Mexican batteries, cut down the gunners, and captured the commanding officer. Taylor then pushed on to Fort Brown and found it safe, though it had been under an almost continuous bombardment, in which Major Brown, the commandant, was killed.
ROBERT E. LEE IN ONE OF THE BATTLES OF THE MEXICAN WAR.
"Always to be found where the fighting was the fiercest."
WAR DECLARED BY CONGRESS.
News of these battles was carried north by carrier pigeons and telegraph, and the war spirit of the country was roused. Congress on the 11th of May declared that war existed by the act of the Mexican government, and $10,000,000 was placed at the disposal of the President, who was authorized to accept 50,000 volunteers. The call for them was answered by 300,000, who were eager to serve in the war.
GENERAL SCOTT'S PLAN OF CAMPAIGN.
General Scott, as head of the army, formed a careful plan of campaign for the conquest of Mexico. Of the three divisions, General Kearny, with the army of the west, was to cross the Rocky Mountains and conquer the northern Mexican provinces; General Scott himself, with the army of the centre, was to advance from the coast into the interior of the country, making the city of Mexico, the capital of the republic, his objective point; while General Taylor, with the army of occupation, was to seize and hold the Rio Grande country. The work of mustering in the troops was intrusted to General Wool, who, some time later, established himself at San Antonio, and sent many soldiers to the different commands.
CAPTURE OF MONTEREY.
Within less than two weeks after his victory at Resaca de la Palma, Taylor crossed over from Fort Brown and captured Matamoras. Then he turned up the right bank of the Rio Grande and marched into the interior. The Mexicans retreated to the fortified town of Monterey, where they were so powerful that Taylor waited for reinforcements before attacking them. His forces amounted to 6,600 by the latter part of August, and he then advanced against Monterey, which was defended by a garrison of 10,000 men.
The city was invested on the 19th of September. Two days sufficed for General Worth to capture the fortified works in the rear of the town, and on the next day the remaining defenses on that side were carried by storm. At daylight, on the 23d, the city in front was captured by assault. The Mexicans maintained a vicious defense from their adobe houses, but the Americans, charging through the streets, battered in the doors, chased the defenders from room to room and over the housetops until they flung down their arms and shouted for mercy. The commander was allowed to evacuate the city, and fell back toward the national capital.
OTHER VICTORIES.
Taylor was about to resume his advance when the enemy asked for an armistice, saying the authorities wished to negotiate for peace. Taylor agreed to an armistice of eight weeks, but the proposal was a trick of the enemy, who spent every hour of the respite in making preparations to resist the Americans' advance. Santa Anna, who was undergoing one of his periodical banishments, was called back and given the presidency. When the armistice granted by Taylor expired, the Mexicans had an army of 20,000 in the field, and, under orders from Washington, the American commander moved forward. The first town captured was Saltillo, seventy miles southwest of Monterey. It was taken by General Worth, with the advance, on the 15th of November, 1846. In the following month Victoria, in the province of Tamaulipas, was captured by General Butler, who, advancing from Monterey, united with Patterson at this place. Their intention was to move upon Tampico, on the coast, but they learned that it had surrendered to Captain Conner, commander of an American squadron. Meanwhile, General Wool, marching from San Antonio, arrived within supporting distance of Monterey. Such was the situation when General Scott reached the army and took command.
GENERAL KEARNY'S OPERATIONS.
General Kearny, in command of the army of the west, left Fort Leavenworth, in June, 1846, on the way to conquer New Mexico and California. He had a long and laborious march before him, but he reached Santa Fé on the 18th of August, and it was easily captured and garrisoned. New Mexico was powerless, and the whole province surrendered. Then Kearny, at the head of 400 dragoons, set out for the Pacific coast, but he had not gotten far on the road when he met a messenger who informed him that California had been conquered by Colonel John C. Fremont, acting in conjunction with Commodores Sloat and Stockton. Kearny sent most of his men back to Santa Fé and pushed for the Pacific coast, with a hundred dragoons. He arrived in November, and joined Fremont and Stockton.
CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA.
Fremont acquired the name of the "Pathfinder" because of his exploring expeditions in the far West. He explored a portion of the Rocky Mountains in 1842, and, in the following two years, conducted an expedition with much skill and success through the regions of Utah, the basin of the Columbia, and the passes of the Sierra Nevada. He was in charge of a third expedition in 1846, and was in California when the Mexican war broke out. He received the dispatches as if they were news to him, but there is good reason to believe that the government had sent him thither, in order that he might be on the ground and do the very work he did. He urged the pioneers to declare their independence. They ardently did so, raised the "Black Bear Flag," and gathered around Fremont, who continually defeated the superior forces of Mexicans.
The town of Monterey, eighty miles south of San Francisco, was captured by Commodore Sloat with an American squadron, and San Diego was taken soon afterward by Commodore Stockton, in command of the Pacific squadron; learning which, Fremont raised the American flag in the place of that of California, and, joining the naval commanders, advanced upon Los Angeles, which submitted without resistance. In a short time the immense province of California was conquered by what may be called a handful of Americans.
THE WONDERFUL MARCH OF COLONEL DONIPHAN.
Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan had been left at Santa Fé with his small force of dragoons. At the head of 700 men, he performed one of the most remarkable exploits of the war. Riding directly through the enemy's country for nearly a thousand miles, he reached the Rio Grande on Christmas day and won a battle; he then crossed the river and captured El Paso, and, heading for Chihuahua, was met by a Mexican force on the banks of Sacramento Creek. They outnumbered Doniphan's force four to one, and displayed the black flag, as notice that no quarter would be given. The Americans lay flat on the ground, and the first volleys passed harmlessly over their heads. The Mexicans made the mistake of believing they had been decimated by the discharge, and charged upon what they supposed were the few survivors. They were received with a withering volley, and assailed with such fierceness by the Americans that they were utterly routed. Chihuahua thus fell into the possession of Colonel Doniphan, but, since the term of the enlistment of his men had expired, he could advance no further. He then conducted them to New Orleans, where they were mustered out of service. They had marched a distance of 5,000 miles, won several victories, suffered not a single defeat, and were back again in their homes all within a year.
General Scott had landed on the coast for the purpose of marching into the interior to the national capital. In order to make his advance resistless, he withdrew the larger part of Taylor's army and united it with his own. Taylor felt he was used unjustly, for both he and Wool were threatened by Santa Anna at the head of 20,000, men, but bluff "Old Rough and Ready" made no protest and grimly prepared for the danger. The greatest number of troops he could concentrate at Saltillo was about 6,000, and, after placing garrisons there and at Monterey, he had only 4,800 remaining, but, undismayed, he marched out to meet Santa Anna. Four miles away, he reached the favorable battle ground of Buena Vista, posted his men, and awaited attack.
The Mexican commander was so confident of overwhelming the Americans that, in his message to Taylor, he assured him he would see that he was personally well treated after his surrender. General Taylor sent word that he declined to obey the summons, and the messenger who carried the message to Santa Anna added the significant words: "General Taylor never surrenders."
BATTLE OF RESACA DE LA PALMA.
Captain May leaped his steed over the parapets, followed by those of his men whose horses could do a like feat, and was among the gunners the next moment, sabering them right and left. General La Vega and a hundred of his men were made prisoners and borne back to the American lines.
The American army was placed at the upper end of a long and narrow pass in the mountains. It was flanked on one side by high cliffs and on the other by impassable ravines, which position compelled the enemy to attack him in front.
BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA.
GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT.
The battle opened early on the morning of February 23d, with the Mexicans swarming through the gorges and over the hills from San Luis Potosi. The first assault was against the American right, but it was beaten back by the Illinois troops; the next was against the centre, but it was repelled by Captain Washington's artillery; and then the left flank was vehemently assailed. A mistaken order caused an Indiana regiment to give way, and for a time the whole army was in danger; but the Mississippians and Kentuckians gallantly flung themselves into the breach, the Indiana and Illinois troops rallied, and the Mexicans were driven tumultuously back. In this brilliant exploit Colonel Jefferson Davis, with his Mississippi regiment, played a prominent part.
"A LITTLE MORE GRAPE, CAPTAIN BRAGG."
The next charge was upon Captain Bragg's battery, but that officer, in obedience to General Taylor's famous request, "A little more grape, Captain Bragg," scattered the Mexican lancers in every direction. The success was followed up by a cavalry charge, which completed the discomfiture of the enemy, who fled with the loss of 2,000 men.
Buena Vista was a superb victory for the Americans, but it cost them dear. The killed, wounded, and missing numbered nearly 800. Among the killed was Colonel Henry Clay, son of the Kentucky orator and statesman. The battle completed the work of General Taylor, who soon afterward returned to the United States. The glory he had won made him President less than two two years later.
Returning once more to General Scott, he entered upon the last campaign, March 9, 1847. Old army officers of to-day contrast the admirable manner in which he did his preliminary work with the mismanagement in the Spanish-American War of 1898. Impatience was expressed at his tardiness in getting his troops ready on the transports at New York. To all such complaints, the grim old soldier replied that he would embark when everything was ready and not a single hour before. As a consequence, his men landed at Vera Cruz in the best condition, there was not the slightest accident, and every soldier when he stepped ashore had three days' rations in his knapsack. Twelve thousand men were landed, and in three days the investment of Vera Cruz was complete. Then a Mexican train was captured and the troops had provisions in abundance.
CAPTURE OF VERA CRUZ.
The city having refused to surrender, the bombardment opened on the morning of March 22d. The water-side of Vera Cruz was defended by the castle of San Juan d'Ulloa, built a century and a half before by Spain at enormous cost. Commodore Conner assisted throughout the four days that the cannonade lasted. The success of the bombardment made the Americans confident of capturing the castle by assault, and they were preparing to do so when the authorities proposed satisfactory terms of surrender, which took place March 29th.
The direct march upon the capital now began, with General Twiggs in command of the advance. The road steadily rises from the coast and abounds in passes and mountains, which offer the best kind of natural fortifications. When Twiggs reached one of these passes, named Cerro Gordo, he found that Santa Anna had taken possession of it with 15,000 troops. The whole American army numbered only 9,000, and it looked as if they were halted in front of an impregnable position, but it must be captured or the whole campaign would have to be abandoned.
BATTLE OF CERRO GORDO.
There was no hesitation on the part of our troops, who, under the lead of the bravest and most skillful of officers, attacked with their usual energy and daring. The Mexicans made the best defense possible, but within a few hours they abandoned every position and were driven in headlong confusion from the field. They lost 3,000 prisoners, among whom were five generals, while the escape of Santa Anna was so narrow that he left his cork leg behind.
The American army pressed on to Jalapa, which made no resistance, and furnished a large amount of supplies, and Puebla, a city of 80,000 inhabitants, was occupied on the 15th of May. There the ground was high and the air cool and salubrious. The men were exhausted from their arduous campaign, and Scott decided to give them a good rest, so as to be fully prepared for the final struggle. Besides it was necessary to receive reinforcements before venturing further. Santa Anna, realizing that the critical period of the struggle was at hand, put forth every energy to collect an army to beat back the invaders.
BATTLE OF CERRO GORDO.
"Captain Lee led the way, and showed the men just what to do. They lowered the cannons by ropes down the steep cliffs and hauled them up on the opposite hillside."
Early in August the American army had been increased to 11,000 men, and, leaving a small garrison at Puebla, Scott set out for the beautiful city of Mexico. No serious resistance offered until they reached Ayotla, fifteen miles from the capital. There it was found that the regular road bristled with forts, and, although there was no doubt that all could be carried, the American commander wisely decided to move his army around to the south, where he could advance over a comparatively undefended route. Without any difficulty he reached San Augustine, which was within ten miles of the capital.
Had the positions been changed, a force ten times as great as the Americans could not have captured the city of Mexico, and yet it fell before a force only one-third as numerous as the defenders.
A DAY OF VICTORIES.
The fighting began before sunrise, August 20, 1847, and when night came five distinct victories had been won. The fortified camp of Contreras was captured in about fifteen minutes. Shortly after the fortified village of San Antonio was taken by another division of the army. Almost at the same time, a division stormed one of the fortified heights of Churubusco, while still another captured the second height. Seeing the danger of his garrisons, Santa Anna moved out of the city and attacked the Americans. The reserves immediately assailed, drove him back, and chased him to the walls of the capital, into which the whole Mexican force crowded themselves at night.
It was in accordance with the nature of Santa Anna that he should set 2,000 convicts loose that night on the promise that they would fight against the Americans. Then he stole out of the city, whose authorities sent a delegation to Scott to treat for peace. This trick had been resorted to so many times by the Mexicans, who never kept faith, that the American commander refused to listen to them. An advance was made, and in a short time the city was completely in our possession.
SANTA ANNA.
At Puebla there were 2,000 Americans in the hospital under charge of a small guard. Santa Anna attacked them, thinking that at last he had found a foe whom he could beat; but he was mistaken, for reinforcements arrived in time to drive him away. This terminated for a time the career of the treacherous Santa Anna, with whom the Mexican people were thoroughly disgusted.
It is proper to state at this point that Santa Anna while in command of the Mexican army made a direct offer to General Taylor to betray his cause for a large sum of money, and he actually received an installment, but circumstances prevented the completeness of the bargain. This miscreant was president and dictator of Mexico in 1853-55, was banished and returned several times, and was still plotting to recover his power when he died, in his eighty-second year.
The capture of the capital of Mexico completed the victorious campaign. The entrance into the city was made September 14, 1847, the American flag raised over the palace, and General Scott, with a sweep of his sword over his head, while his massive frame made a striking picture in front of the palace, proclaimed the conquest of the country. All that remained was to arrange the terms of peace.
TERMS OF PEACE.
In the following winter, American ambassadors met the Mexican congress in session at Guadalupe Hidalgo, so named from the small town where it was situated. There was a good deal of discussion over the terms; our ambassadors insisting that Mexico should surrender the northern provinces, which included the present States of California, Nevada, Utah, and the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico and portions of Colorado and Wyoming, as indemnity for the war. Mexico would not consent, and matters drifted along until the 2d of February, 1848, when the new Mexican government agreed to these terms. The treaty was modified to a slight extent by the United States Senate, adopted on the 10th of March, ratified by the Mexican congress sitting at Queretaro, May 30th, and proclaimed by President Polk on the 4th of July. Thus ended our war with Mexico.
By the terms of the treaty, the United States was to pay Mexico $15,000,000, and assume debts to the extent of $3,000,000 due to American citizens from Mexico. These sums were in payment for the immense territory ceded to us. This cession, the annexation of Texas, and a purchase south of the Gila River in 1853, added almost a million square miles to our possessions, nearly equaling the Louisiana purchase and exceeding the whole area of the United States in 1783.
It may sound strange, but it is a fact, that the governing of the new territory caused so much trouble that more than once it was seriously proposed in Congress that Mexico should be asked to take it back again. General Sherman was credited with the declaration that if the identity of the man who caused the annexation of Texas could be established, he ought to be court-martialed and shot. However, all this changed when the vast capabilities and immeasurable worth of the new countries were understood. The section speedily developed a wealth, enterprise, and industry of which no one had before dreamed.
THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
The real peril involved in the acquisition of so much territory lay in the certainty that it would revive the slavery quarrel that had been put to sleep by the Missouri Compromise, nearly thirty years before. The North demanded that slavery should be excluded from the new territory, because it was so excluded by Mexican law, and to legalize it would keep out emigrants from the free States. The South demanded the authorization of slavery, since Southern emigrants would not go thither without their slaves. Still others proposed to divide the new territory by the Missouri Compromise line. This would have cut California in two near the middle, and made one part of the province slave and the other free. Altogether, it will be seen that trouble was at hand.
Before the outbreak of the Mexican War, Congressman David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, introduced the Proviso known by his name. It was a proposal to purchase the territory from Mexico, provided slavery was excluded. The introduction of the bill produced much discussion, and it was defeated by the opposition of the South.
THE OREGON BOUNDARY DISPUTE.
Great Britain and the United States had jointly occupied Oregon for twenty years, under the agreement that the occupancy could be ended by either country under a year's notice to the other. Many angry debates took place in Congress over the question whether such notice should be given. The United States claimed a strip of territory reaching to Alaska, latitude 54° 40', while Great Britain claimed the territory south of the line to the Columbia River. Congress as usual had plenty of wordy patriots who raised the cry of "Fifty-four forty or fight," and it was repeated throughout the country. Cooler and wiser counsels prevailed, each party yielded a part of its claims, and made a middle line the boundary. A minor dispute over the course of the boundary line after it reached the Pacific islets was amicably adjusted by another treaty in 1871.
STATES ADMITTED.
It has been stated that the bill for the admission of Iowa did not become operative until 1846. It was the fourth State formed from the Louisiana purchase, and was first settled by the French at Dubuque; but the post died, and no further settlements were made until the close of the Black Hawk War of 1832, after which the population increased with great rapidity.
Wisconsin was the last State formed from the old Northwest Territory. A few weak settlements were made by the French as early as 1668, but, as in the case of Iowa, its real settlement began after the Black Hawk War.
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE.
James Smithson of England, when he died in 1829, bequeathed his large estate for the purpose of founding the Smithsonian Institution at Washington "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." In 1838, his estate, amounting to more than half a million dollars, was secured by a government agent and deposited in the mint. John Quincy Adams prepared a plan of organization, which was adopted.
The Smithsonian Institution, so named in honor of its founder, was placed under the immediate control of a board of regents, composed of the President, Vice-President, judges of the supreme court, and other principal officers of the government. It was provided that the entire sum, amounting with accrued interest to $625,000, should be loaned forever to the United States government at six per cent.; that from the proceeds, together with congressional appropriations and private gifts, proper buildings should be erected for containing a museum of natural history, a cabinet of minerals, a chemical laboratory, a gallery of art, and a library. The plan of organization was carried out, and Professor Joseph Henry of Princeton College, the real inventor of the electro-magnetic telegraph, was chosen secretary.
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA.
For many years hardy hunters and trappers had penetrated the vast wilderness of the West and Northwest in their hunt for game and peltries. Some of these were in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company, whose grounds extended as far toward the Arctic Circle as the rugged men and toughened Indians could penetrate on their snowshoes.
At points hundreds of miles apart in the gloomy solitudes were erected trading posts to which the red men brought furs to exchange for trinkets, blankets, firearms, and firewater, and whither the white trappers made their way, after an absence of months in the dismal solitudes. Further south, among the rugged mountains and beside the almost unknown streams, other men set their traps for the beaver, fox, and various fur-bearing animals. Passing the Rocky Mountains and Cascade Range they pursued their perilous avocation along the headwaters of the rivers flowing through California. They toiled amid the snows and storms of the Sierras, facing perils from the Indians, savage beasts, and the weather, for pay that often did not amount to the wages received by an ordinary day laborer.
Little did those men suspect they were walking, sleeping, and toiling over a treasure bed; that instead of tramping through snow and over ice and facing the arctic blasts and vengeful red men, if they had dug into the ground, they would have found wealth beyond estimate.
GOLD WASHING—THE SLUICE.
The priests lived in the adobe haciendas that the Spanish had erected centuries before, and, as they counted their beads and dozed in calm happiness, they became rich in flocks and the tributes received from the simple-minded red men. Sometimes they wondered in a mild way at the golden trinkets and ornaments brought in by the Indians and were puzzled to know where they came from, but it seemed never to have occurred to the good men that they could obtain the same precious metal by using the pick and shovel. The years came and passed, and red men and white men continued to walk over California without dreaming of the immeasurable riches that had been nestling for ages under their feet.
One day in February, 1848, James W. Marshall, who had come to California from New Jersey some years before, and had been doing only moderately well with such odd jobs as he could pick up, was working with a companion at building a sawmill for Colonel John A. Sutter, who had immigrated to this country from Baden in 1834. Going westward, he founded a settlement on the present site of Sacramento in 1841. He built Fort Sutter on the Sacramento, where he was visited by Fremont on his exploring expedition in 1846.
Marshall and his companion were engaged in deepening the mill-race, the former being just in front of the other. Happening to look around, he asked:
"What is that shining near your boot?"
His friend reached his hand down into the clear water and picked up a bright, yellow fragment and held it between his fingers.
"It is brass," he said; "but how bright it is!"
"It can't be brass," replied Marshall, "for there isn't a piece of brass within fifty miles of us."
The other turned it over again and again in his hand, put it in his mouth and bit it, and then held it up once more to the light. Suddenly he exclaimed:
"I believe it's gold!"
"I wonder if that's possible," said Marshall, beginning to think his companion was right; "how can we find out?"
"My wife can tell; she has made some lye from wood-ashes and will test it."
GOLD WASHING—THE CRADLE.
The man took the fragment to his wife, who was busy washing, and, at his request, she boiled it for several hours with the lye. Had it been brass—the only other metal it possibly could have been—it would have turned a greenish-black. When examined again, however, its beautiful bright lustre was undiminished. There was scarcely a doubt that it was pure gold.
The two men returned to the mill-race with pans, and washed out probably fifty dollars' worth of gold. Despite the certainty of his friend, Marshall was troubled by a fear that the fragment was neither brass nor gold, but some worthless metal of which he knew nothing. He carefully tied up all that had been gathered, mounted a fleet horse, and rode to Sutter's store, thirty miles down the American River.
Here he took Colonel Sutter into a private room and showed him what he had found, saying that he believed it to be gold. Sutter read up the account of gold in an encyclopedia, tested the substance with aqua fortis, weighed it, and decided that Marshall was right, and that the material he had found was undoubtedly gold.
It was a momentous discovery, repeated nearly a half-century later, when the same metal was found in enormous quantities in the Klondike region. Colonel Sutter and his companions tried to keep the matter a secret, but it was impossible. Marshall, being first on the ground, enriched himself, but by bad management lost all he had gained and died a poor man. Colonel Sutter tried to keep intruders off his property, but they came like the swarms of locusts that plagued Egypt. They literally overran him, and when he died, in 1880, he was without any means whatever; but California has since erected a handsome statue to his memory.
For the following ten or twenty years, it may be said, the eyes of the civilized world were upon California, and men rushed thither from every quarter of the globe. There was an endless procession of emigrant trains across the plains; the ships that fought the storms on their way around Cape Horn were crowded almost to gunwales, while thousands halved the voyage by trudging, across the Isthmus of Panama to the waiting ships on the other side. California became a mining camp and millions upon millions of gold were taken from her soil.
THE MORMONS.
By this time the Mormons engaged much public attention. Joseph Smith, of Sharon, Vermont, and Palmyra, New York, was the founder of the sect. He claimed to have found in a cave a number of engraved plates, containing the Mormon Bible, which was his guide in the formation of a new form of religious belief. Although polygamy was not commended, it was afterward added to their peculiar faith, which is that sins are remitted through baptism, and that the will of God was revealed to his prophet, Smith, as it was to be revealed to his successors.
The most grotesque farce in the name of religion is sure to find believers, and they soon gathered about Smith. The first Mormon conference was held at Fayette, N.Y., in 1830. As their number increased, they saw that the West offered the best opportunity for growth and expansion, and, when there were nearly 2,000 of them, they removed to Jackson, Missouri, where they made a settlement. Their practices angered the people, and, as soon as they could find a good pretext, the militia were called out and they were ordered to "move on."
Crossing the Mississippi into Illinois, they laid out a city which they named Nauvoo. Some of them were wealthy, and, as they held their means in common, they were able to erect a beautiful temple and numerous residences. Converts now flocked to them until they numbered fully 10,000. Their neighbors were displeased with their presence, and the feeling grew into indignation when the Mormons not only refused to obey the State laws, but defied them and passed laws of their own in open opposition. In the excitement that followed, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyram were arrested and lodged in jail at Carthage. Lynch-law was as popular in the West as it is to-day in the South, and a mob broke into the jail and killed the Smith brothers. This took place in June, 1844, and the Illinois Legislature annulled the charter of Nauvoo.
GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.
The experience of the Mormons convinced them that they would never be allowed to maintain their organization in any of the States. They, therefore, gathered up their worldly goods, and, in 1846, set out on the long journey to the far West. Reaching the Basin of Utah, they founded Great Salt Lake City, which is one of the handsomest, best governed, and cleanest (in a physical sense) cities in the world.
While referring to these peculiar people, we may as well complete their history by anticipating events that followed.
In 1857, our government attempted to extend its judicial system over Utah Territory. Brigham Young, the successor of Joseph Smith, until then had not been disturbed, and he did not mean to be interfered with by any government. He insulted the Federal judges sent thither and drove them out of the Territory, his pretext being that the objectionable character of the judges justified the step. Our government, which is always patient in such matters, could not accept this explanation, and Alfred Cumming, superintendent of Indian affairs on the Upper Missouri, was made governor of Utah and Judge Delano Eckels, of Indiana, was appointed chief justice of the Territory. Knowing that he would be resisted, Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston was sent thither to compel obedience to the laws.
The United States troops, numbering 2,500, entered the Territory in October and were attacked by the Mormons, who destroyed their supply train and compelled the men to seek winter quarters near Fort Bridges. Affairs were in this critical state when a messenger from the President, in the spring of 1858, carried a conciliatory letter to Brigham Young, which did much to soothe his ruffled feelings. Then, by-and-by, Governor Powell of Kentucky and Major McCulloch of Texas appeared with a proclamation of pardon to all who would submit to Federal authority. The Mormons were satisfied, accepted the terms, and in May, 1860, the United States troops were withdrawn from the Territory.
Since that time our government has had many difficulties in dealing with the Mormons. Although polygamy is forbidden by the laws of the States and Territories, the sect continued to practice it. In March, 1882, Congress passed what is known as the Edmunds Act, which excluded Mormons from local offices which they had hitherto wholly controlled. Many persons were indicted and punished for the practice of polygamy, while others abandoned it. Brigham Young, who had become governor of Deseret in 1849, and two years later was appointed governor of Utah, died in 1877, at which time he was president of the Mormon church. The practice of polygamy was never fully eradicated, and Utah, at this writing, is represented in the United States Senate by men who make no attempt at concealing the fact that they are polygamists.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1848.
The former Democrats and Whigs who were friendly to the Wilmot Proviso formed the Free Soil party in 1848, to which also the Abolitionists naturally attached themselves. The regular Whigs and Democrats refused to support the Wilmot Proviso, through fear of alienating the South. The Free Soilers named as their nominees Martin Van Buren, for President, and Charles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President; the Democrats selected Louis Cass, of Michigan, for President, and William O. Butler, of Kentucky, for Vice-President; the Whig candidates were General Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, for President, and Millard Fillmore, of New York, for Vice-President. At the electoral vote Zachary Taylor was elected President and Millard Fillmore Vice-President.