Should Brigham Young share blame for Utah War?

Historian David L. Bigler said Mormons caused many of the problems and misunderstandings that led to the war.

Young began acting in defiance of Washington officials after they refused to consider a petition for statehood in 1856, he said. Young proclaimed that the Utah territory would soon be either a "sovereign state" or an independent nation.

Bigler said Young also launched a "reformation" among Mormons, urging rebaptism and recommitment and getting rid of gentile influences among them.

But, Bigler said, the conflicts led to some overzealous actions, including an incident in which several Mormons stole (and faked destruction of) federal court records. The federal surveyor's life was threatened by Mormons who told him the land was the Lord's, and not the federal government's.

Bigler noted that Buchanan listed the destruction of court records and threatening of federal officials as reasons for sending the Army.

Bigler said a conflict may have been inevitable because Mormons believed they lived in a theocracy ruled by God, which is not compatible within rule of a republic. He said the two systems "cannot exist or live together in peace. Instead, there will be a struggle for supremacy."

Historian William MacKinnon also submitted a paper saying run-ins Young had with an earlier 1854-55 Army expedition led by Lt. Col. Edward Steptoe led Young to vow never to allow the military to camp within Salt Lake City again.

Mormons were outraged when several officers and enlisted men wintering in Salt Lake City cavorted with or seduced LDS females, some as young as 13 years old.

He said letters showed one soldier even claimed he had an affair with a daughter-in-law of Brigham Young while her husband was away on a mission. He said the affair ended when Young threatened to kill him.

MacKinnon guessed that Young never reported such offenses to Washington out of embarrassment that his own family was involved.

As debate over the war's roots renews, Bigler said, "the story of the Utah War must be a faithful account of its causes and outcome, not an illusory rendering that encourages complacency and false pride. ... It must be as fair and balanced and, above all, as honest as admittedly flawed historians can make it."

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