Some say Young must share blame for Utah War

The "Utah War" of 1857-58 was not caused solely by anti-Mormon bigotry or false reports from disgruntled federal officials. Some historians now say Brigham Young and the Mormons should share more blame for the standoff between Utah Territory and the federal government.

Papers asserting that opinion were delivered Thursday and Friday at the annual meeting of the Utah State Historical Society in the Salt Lake Public Library. Several workshops focused on the war, in which then-President James Buchanan sent federal troops led by Albert Sidney Johnston to put down a suspected rebellion by the Mormons. The 150th anniversary of the events approaches next year.

Historian Will Bagley, for example, said many Utah histories side too much with Mormons, and tell how "the United States sent an Army to persecute our long-suffering Mormon ancestors, and how we beat them in a fair fight ... (and) Brigham Young acted as a dedicated peacemaker throughout the entire affair."

"This history has one serious problem. It never happened," Bagley said.

According to Bagley, contemporary LDS accounts of the war told how Brigham Young was "determined to fight an apocalyptic war" against Washington with the help of Indians, hoping to end non- Mormon influence in the region, and help usher in the millennial rule of Christ. Bagley said that is different from the peacemaker of legend.

Bagley said Young was forced to negotiate for peace and to drop his well-developed plans for combat, when Shoshone and Bannock Indians in Idaho attacked the Mormon settlement of Ft. Limhi. Those confrontations ruined aid and escape routes to the north that Young had considered essential.

Historian Ardis Parshall said disagreement has long existed over whether Mormons or federal officials deserved most blame for the war. "The truth probably falls somewhere between the two extremes, and every Utah War scholar will produce his own catalog of 'whys,"' Parshall said.

"From the federal perspective, the people of Utah were out of control and required the strong hand of discipline to bring them into subjugation." She said that came as the public perceived Mormons as being more loyal to Young than to the government and courts. The public also detested the then-church policy of polygamy as threatening to families.