Utah War figure's gun going up for auction

For someone with a taste for either Utah history or 19th-century handguns, the October auction of a personal revolver belonging to a key Utah War figure might be tantalizing.

The .41-caliber Colt revolver represents more of its one-time owner, Maj. Gen. Stewart Van Vliet, rather than his Utah War involvement, since it was given to him more than two decades later and Van Vliet's role in the 1857-58 conflict didn't really require a weapon.

Rather, Van Vliet, the first U.S. military or government official to enter the Salt Lake Valley after the declaration of war, was a key player both in Salt Lake City and later in Washington, D.C., to help broker a peaceful resolution.

As a U.S. Army quartermaster captain in 1857, he helped outfit Col. Albert Sidney Johnston's expedition in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He then was ordered to go in advance and communicate with Brigham Young, the prophet-president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Utah Territory governor.

Quickly covering the 1,000 miles with a 30-soldier escort in light wagons, Van Vliet sought to arrange for goods and forage in the territory for Johnston's army.

"On approaching Utah, several travelers urged him to turn back, as the Mormons had threatened his life," reads his March 29, 1901, New York Times obituary. "He was so much impressed by these warnings that he left his little force 150 miles from Salt Lake City, in order not to endanger their lives, and rode into the Mormon stronghold alone.

"He was treated courteously," the obituary continued, "and the trouble was settled without bloodshed."

In Salt Lake City, he interviewed church leaders, learned of and inspected resistance measures and attended a public meeting in the Old Tabernacle where he heard recounted persecutions against the Mormons in Missouri and Illinois.

Convinced the Mormons felt justified in preparing a defense against an unwarranted military invasion and were not in open rebellion against U.S. authority, Van Vliet returned first to Johnston's traveling troops and later to Washington, where he joined efforts with Colonel Thomas L. Kane and Utah congressional delegate John M. Bernhisel, as an advocate for a peaceful reconciliation.

Van Vliet, whose 41-year tenure included service in the Second Seminole, Mexican-American and Civil wars, received the Colt revolver from the firearms manufacturer in 1880.

J.C. Devine Inc., a New Hampshire-based firearms auctioneer, is scheduled to offer the Colt Model 1877 in an auction later this fall.

e-mail: taylor@desnews.com