No indictments were found that spring for this offence, but the Mormons stood in great dread of continued efforts by the judge to enforce the law as he interpreted it. Of the nature of the real terms made with the Mormons, Colonel Brown says:—
"No assurances were given by the commissioners upon either of these subjects. They limited their action to tendering the President's pardon, and exhorting the Mormons to accept it. Outside the conferences, however, without the knowledge of the commissioners, assurances were given on both these subjects by the Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, which proved satisfactory to Brigham Young. The exact nature of their pledges will, perhaps, never be disclosed; but from subsequent confessions volunteered by the superintendent, who appears to have acted as the tool of the governor through the whole affair, it seems probable that they promised explicitly to exert their influence to quarter the army in Cache Valley, nearly one hundred miles north of Salt Lake City, and also to procure the removal of Judge Eckles."*
* Atlantic Monthly, April, 1859. Young told the Mormons at Provo
on June 27, 1858: "We have reason to believe that Colonel Kane, on his
arrival at the frontier, telegraphed to Washington, and that orders were
immediately sent to stop the march of the army for ten days."—Journal
of Discourses, Vol. VII, p. 57.
Captain Marcy had reached Camp Scott on June 8, with his herd of horses and mules, and Colonel Hoffman with the first division of the supply train which left Fort Laramie on March 18; on the 10th Captain Hendrickspn arrived with the remainder of the trains; and on the 13th the long-expected movement from Camp Scott to the Mormon city began. To the soldiers who had spent the winter inactive, except as regards their efforts to keep themselves from freezing, the order to advance was a welcome one. Late as was the date, there had been a snowfall at Fort Bridger only three days before, and the streams were full of water. The column was prepared therefore for bridge-making when necessary. When the little army was well under way the scene in the valley through which ran Black's Fork was an interesting one. The white walls of Bridger's Fort formed a background, with the remnants of the camp in the shape of sod chimneys, tent poles, and so forth next in front, and, slowly leaving all this, the moving soldiers, the long wagon trains, the artillery carriages and caissons, and on either flank mounted Indians riding here and there, satisfying their curiosity with this first sight of a white man's army. The news that the Mormons had abandoned their idea of resistance reached the troops the second day after they had started, and they had nothing more exciting to interest them on the way than the scenery and the Mormon fortifications. Salt Lake City was reached on the 26th, and the march through it took place that day. To the soldiers, nothing was visible to indicate any abandonment of the hostile attitude of the Mormons, much less any welcome.
Their leaders had returned to the camp at Provo, and the only civilians in the city were a few hundred who had, for special reasons, been granted permission to return. The only woman in the whole city was Mrs. Cumming. The Mormons had been ordered indoors early that morning by the guard; every flag on a public building had been taken down; every window was closed. The regimental bands and the creaking wagons alone disturbed the utter silence. The peace commissioners rode with General Johnston, and the whole force encamped on the river Jordan, just within the city limits. Two days later, owing to a lack of wood and pasturage there, they were moved about fifteen miles westward, near the foot of the mountains. Disregarding Young's expressed wishes, and any understanding he might have had with Governor Cumming, General Johnston selected Cedar Valley on Lake Utah for one of the three posts he was ordered to establish in the territory, and there his camp was pitched on July 6.
Governor Cumming prepared a proclamation to the inhabitants of the territory, announcing that all persons were pardoned who submitted to the law, and that peace was restored, and inviting the refugees to return to their homes. The governor and the peace commissioners made a trip to the Mormon camps, and addressed gatherings at Provo and Lehi. The governor bustled about everywhere, assuring every one that all the federal officers would "hold sacred the amnesty and pardon by the President of the United States, by G-d, sir, yes," and receiving from Young the sneering reply, "We know all about it, Governor." On July 4., no northward movement of the people having begun, Cumming told Young that he intended to publish his proclamation. "Do as YOU please," was the contemptuous reply; "to-morrow I shall get upon the tongue of my wagon, and tell the people that I am going home, and they can do as THEY please."*
* Tullidge's "History of Salt Lake City," p. 226.
Young did so, and that day the backward march of the people began. The real governor was the head of the church.