The President’s “Pardon”
On the 6th of April, President Buchanan signed a proclamation, “offering to the inhabitants of Utah, who shall submit to the laws, a free pardon for the seditions and treasons heretofore by them committed; warning those who still persist, after notice of this proclamation in the present rebellion against the United States, that they must expect no further lenity.” This document, which is quite lengthy, was brought to Utah with the commissioners. The authorities of the Church denied that they had been disloyal, and disputed the statements in the President’s proclamation. Nevertheless, they accepted his pardon for driving off the cattle and burning the army trains, which they stoutly maintained was done in self-defense; but the other charges they fully denied.
The fact is that President Buchanan had been roundly scored in the press, and by statesmen in our own country and abroad. The easiest way out of it, for he had committed a great blunder, was to issue a proclamation exonerating himself, and pardoning the “culprits” who dared to maintain their rights against such overwhelming odds.
Notes
[1. ] Captain John W. Gunnison, in charge of a party of topographical engineers, was murdered by Indians, with a number of his party, near Sevier Lake, in October 1853. The massacre was in revenge for the killing of one Indian and the wounding of two others, by a company of emigrants on their way to California. According to Indian practice the next company that came along was attacked as a reprisal. At the time of this deed of blood the Indians under Chief Walker were waging war on the inhabitants of Utah, that event is known in historical annals as “The Walker War.” Captain Gunnison and companions were buried at Fillmore, with respect and honor. The tragedy cast a gloom over all the “Mormon” settlements, for the leader of this company of government representatives was respected by all the people for his kindness and friendly feeling.
[2.] Colonel Alexander, the ranking officer of the advance troops was a kindly officer inclined towards establishing peace. Captain Van Vliet had come in contact with the Latter-day Saints at Winter Quarters, when they were on the plains. Another officer with these troops whose sympathy and good will went out toward the “Mormons” was Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, who led the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War. General Johnston was from the South, proud and haughty. He looked upon the “Mormons” and spoke of them as “rebels” and was inclined to treat them as such.
The spirit also prevailed among the troops that the “Mormons” were their common prey, and they constantly, while on the march, boasted with ribald jests, of what they would do when they arrived in Salt Lake City. “We were well informed as to the object of the coming of the army,” said Elder John Taylor to Vice-President Schuyler Colfax, in 1869. “We had men in all their camps, and knew what was intended. There was a continual boast among the men and officers, even before they left the Missouri River, of what they intended to do with the ‘Mormons.’ The houses were picked out that certain persons were to inhabit; farms, property, and women were to be distributed. ‘Beauty and Booty’ were their watchword. We were to have another grand ‘Mormon’ conquest, and our houses, gardens, orchards, vineyards fields, wives and daughters were to be the spoils.”
[3. ] Black’s Fork and Green River mentioned here were at that time within the borders of Utah, they are now in Wyoming, the corner in which they are located having been severed from Utah in 1863 and 1868.
[4. ] The question might be raised as to why Brigham Young would forward a communication as governor, when another had been appointed. Governor Young had not been notified that his successor had been appointed and that successor had not qualified as governor.