Great Salt Lake City
April 12th 1866.
Major General W. T. Sherman
Comm'd'g Dept of the Mississippi,
St Louis, Missouri:
Dear Sir:-On the evening of the 10th instant I received a telegram from you in which it was stated that responsible officers had telegraphed you that four (4) men styled Gentiles, (i.e. American citizens not of our religious faith) had been murdered by Mormons, and that there was an apprehension of further danger to that class of citizens. You further stated in that telegram that: "I am bound to give protection to all citizens, regardless of religious faith, and shall do so. Those murderers must be punished, and if your people resort to measures of intimidation, those also must cease. All of our people must enjoy equal rights within the limits of our national domain. I know little or nothing of the causes of local trouble in Utah; but it is well for you to know that our country is now full of tried and experienced soldiers, who would be pleased, at a fair opportunity, to avenge any wrongs you may commit against our citizens even in that remote region. I will soon have regular troops in Utah and on the road leading there, when I hope we shall receive reports on which to base accurate opinions; and I send you this message, not as a threat, but as a caution that a sensible man should heed."
As I could <not> forward immediately such a reply as I wished, I telegraphed you on the 11th instant as follows:
"Your telegram of yesterday is at hand and contents duly considered. The reports that have reached you are not reliable, satisfactory evidence of which I will telegraph you as soon as the testimony of reliable Gentlemen, not Mormons, can be had -- say within twenty-four hours." To-day I telegraphed the following Message to you:
"I am under many obligations to you for your kindness in telegraphing me respecting reports which have reached you from this place, as it affords me opportunity of stating facts. As nigh as we can learn, there have been telegrams sent from here to the East which have not been reliable. Your telegram gives us some idea of their purport. There has been no such assassination as alluded to in your dispatch. On March 27th a soldier shot a gentleman named Mayfield and a Mr Brassfield came here and seduced a Mormon's wife, and was shot on the street by an unknown person; but neither I, nor the community at large, know any more about it than an inhabitant of St. Louis. Citizens who are not of our faith do not suffer from intimidation here. In no other community could men pursue the course many do here without experiencing the vengeance of a Vigilance Committee; the outrageous slanders they have circulated against us would have provoked such an out break elsewhere. There are a few speculators here who are anxious to make it appear that American citizens' lives are in danger through religious fanaticism, hoping thereby to have troops sent here to make money out of contracts. Gentiles' lives are as safe here as Mormons', and acts of violence occur more rarely in this City than any other of its size in any of the new States or Territories."
"Sir: We the undersigned residents of Great Salt Lake City, and not members of the Mormon Church, have read the above Telegram of Mr Young, and freely certify that we fully beleive that citizens of every class, who simply attend to their ligitimate business, are as free from intimidation and as fully respected in their rights in this City as in any part of the United States
F. H. Head Supt. Ind. Affairs.
Cap C. J. Bennett C.S. Vols.
Nounnan Orr & Co Bankers
I. H. Jones Merchant
J. G. Hughes Representative of Holladay & Halseys Bank
N. S. Ransohoff & Co Merchants
Ellis & Bros.
H. B. Kimball. Merchant
Bodenburg & Kahn. Merchants
Walker Bros Merchants
J. W. Calder, late Capt. Nev. Cav. Vols.
M. G. Lewis, Ex. Asst. Adgt. Genl U S. V.
Stebbins & Co. Merchants
W. Willard Smith Lt Col. 6th U. S. V. Comdg Camp Douglas
It is so commonly the case for men to be satisfied with the statement of one side of a case, especially if that statement be made over apparently responsible names, that they never take any thought about what may be said on the other side. On this account your telegram has been very gratifying as I viewed it as being, at least, an expression of willingness on your part to hear what the "Mormons" might have to say, if anything could be said by them, in their own defence.
The evidence which I send you, signed by gentlemen who are not of our faith, might have been strengthened by a great many more signatures; but I thought those which I sent would be sufficient to convince you, that if apprehensions were indulged in by any persons, they were groundless.
From our first settlement of this country up to the present time, life has never been unsafe in the Cities and villages of this Territory, the many reports to the contrary notwithstanding. We believe and practice polygamy, and this is really the head and front of our offending, and we have adopted this from conscientious motives, firmly believing it to be divinely sanctioned. We have not adopted this principle from lustful motives or to gratify libidinous desires; for had these been our reasons, we might have obtained such gratification in a more popular manner, and not brought upon ourselves the approbrium and obloquy that we have. For years after our settlement here (and it is still the case in settlements where the population is not so mixed as it is here) our wives, sisters and daughters could go to any part of our city in the evening or night without the least danger of being addressed improperly or insulted, and our people in numbers of instances retired to sleep without ever thinking of locking their doors, or being under the slightest apprehension of intrusion. But now our females never think of walking out after nightfall without being in company with some one who can protect them.
Our peculiarities of faith our enemies have not been slow to take advantage of; and they have persistently misrepresented our motives and actions. We have been accused of perpetrating the foulest crimes upon unoffending persons, both upon members of our Church as well as upon other citizens. A clique composed of a certain class is here which has for its avowed object the breaking up of our community They style themselves the regenerators of Utah. A daily paper -- the Vedette-- is published under the auspices of this party, which, by the publication of the most atrocious slanders, seeks to embitter the people and government of our country against us. Scarcely a day passes that its columns are not filled with abuse of the prominent citizens of the Territory. There is not another community on the continent which would have submitted for a week to the defamation and slanders to be circulated about them that have now for years been systematically published against us by this sheet. Yet it professes to be the organ of the Government, and the exponent of its policy; and, until a short time ago, it stated that it was published by the officers and enlisted men at Camp Douglas. Some months since it was removed from Camp Douglas, and it is now published in this City.
We are accused by it of living disloyal to the Government. This charge we indignantly deny. Nothing that we have ever endured has caused us to forget that we are American citizens. But it is not the fault of this clique that we are not disloyal. They have taken every pains to force us into entertaining, at least, lukewarm feelings towards the Government. If the design had been to create trouble, and to stir up a regular muss here, no better plan could have been hit upon than that which they have adopted. They have endeavored to convince this community that our Government hates us, that it has no sympathy for us, that it views us as aliens and enemies, and that it only endures us for the present until the plan can be arranged to destroy us! All this, and far more than this, it would make us believe, if we would lend credence to its statements. Did we believe it we could not but view the Government as hostile to us, and we would be suspicious of its every act. But we know that they who publish this paper are not the friends, but the enemies of the Government whose bread they eat, and we regard their statements accordingly. To give you a better idea of the character of this publication I will state that from the first day of its publication until the present there has never been an editor's name appended to it.
The general opinion is that the senders of the telegram to you are members of this clique, and connected with the publication of this paper. But the impunity with which they have been permitted to carry on their work of slander and misrepresentation is an evidence of the falsity of their statements respecting intimidation. They have lectured and published here to their heart's content without the least hindrance. Nobody has interfered with them, though they have accused us of every conceivable crime, and denounced us in the most abominable manner as the vilest community on the earth, and suffered no opportunity to escape of maligning us abroad.
The shooting of Brassfield has afforded them an opportunity of raising another howl about "Mormon" violence and lawlessness. In reality this man was their own victim; for they have encouraged and urged him forward to take this woman without any regard to forms. Friends of his, who saw the danger he was incurring in listening to his bad advisers and taking this woman as he did, counseled him not to have anything to do with her, until she had obtained a divorce; but he said, no; he would pay no regard to a Mormon ceremony. The woman was the second wife of her husband, and had been married to him since 1853, and had borne him several children.
While the community disclaim all knowledge of the killing of Mr Brassfield, and have no idea as to who committed the deed, yet it has not been a matter of surprise that this affair turned out so fatally. Men who have taken more wives than one in this community have viewed the marriage covenant and obligation in as sacred a light, as a man could possibly who, in any other community after his first wife had died, would marry a second time. The wives also enter into that relationship of their own choice and with as profound a coviction that it is right as if they were married to a man who had no living wife.
If Congress would pass a law inflicting a severe punishment for the crimes of adultery, seduction, &c., instead of inflicting a penalty upon men for bestowing upon woman the honoable title of wife, it would have been regarded by many as more salutary and just. In the absence of such law, a disposition frequently manifests itself in many communities, on the part of those whose relatives have been dishonored, to take the law into their own hands; and what man is there, who if his wife, sister or daughter were seduced, would not feel like punishing the scoundrel who would <commit> such a crime?
In this community there exists a strong public sentiment on the subject of the chastity of woman--so strong that a jury could not be found to convict a man who shot the seducer of his wife. Houses of ill fame are not permitted or tolerated in the least; but every man can have the opportunity to satisfy the wants and instincts of his nature in honorable marriage.
It will afford me pleasure, at any time, to furnish you impartial information respecting affairs here. Whatever may be men's opinions respecting my religious views, I can refer with confidence to the business men throughout the country, as I believe my character is pretty well known to them.
I remain Respectfully
Brigham Young
P. S/
Since commencing this your welcome telegram of the 13th has been received.
B. Y.