Part 24 (1/2)

After I had commanded at Cedar City about one year I was ordered to return to Harmony and build the Harmony Fort. This order, like all other orders, came from Brigham. When I returned to Harmony and commenced building the fort, the orders were given by Brigham for the reorganization of the Danites at Cedar City. The old men were requested to resign and younger men were appointed in their places.

About the 7th of September, 1857, I went to Cedar City from my home in Harmony, by order of Brother Haight. I did not know what he wanted of me, but he had ordered me to visit him, and I obeyed. If I remember correctly, it was on Sunday evening that I went there.

When I got to Cedar City I met Haight on the public square of the town. Haight was then President of that Stake of Zion, and the highest man in the Mormon Priesthood, and next to Bishop Dame in southern Utah, and in the command of the Iron District. The word and command of Haight were the law in Cedar City at that time, and to disobey his orders was death; be they right or wrong, no Saint was to question them; it was obedience or death.

When I met Haight I asked him what he wanted with me. He said he must have a long talk with me on private and particular business.

We took blankets and went over to the old Iron Works, and lay there that night, so that we could talk in safety.

After we got to the Iron Works Haight told me about the train of emigrants. He said that the emigrants were a rough and abusive set of men. That they had, while traveling through Utah, been abusive to the Mormons. That they had insulted many of the Mormon women. That the abuses heaped upon the people by the emigrants during their trip from Provo to Cedar City had been constant and shameful; that they had burned fences and destroyed growing crops; that they had poisoned the water, so that all people and stock that drank of the water became sick, and many had died from the effects of the poison. That these vile Gentiles publicly proclaimed that they had the very pistol with which the Prophet Joseph was murdered, and had threatened to kill Brigham and all of the apostles. That, when in Cedar City, they said they would hang Brigham by the neck until he was dead, before snow fell in the Territory. They also said that Johnston was coming with his army from the East, and they were going to return from California with soldiers, as soon as possible, and desolate the land and kill every Mormon man, woman, and child they could find in Utah.

That they violated the ordinances of the town of Cedar, and had, by armed force, resisted the officers who tried to arrest them for violating the law. That after leaving Cedar City the emigrants camped in the company, or cooperative field just below Cedar City, and burned the fencing, leaving the crops open to the herds of stock. Also that they had given poisoned meat to the Corn Creek tribe of Indians, which had killed several of them, and that they and their Chief, Konosh, were on the trail of the emigrants, and would soon attack them. These things, and much more of like kind, Haight told me as we lay in the dark at the old Iron Works.

Brother Haight said that unless something was done to prevent it the emigrants would rob every one of the outlying settlements in the south, and that the whole Mormon people were liable to be butchered by the troops the emigrants would bring back with them from California. I was then told that the Council had held a meeting that day, to consider the matter, and it had been decided by the authorities to arm the Indians, give them provisions and ammunition, and send them after the emigrants. The Indians were to give them a brush, and if they killed part or all of them, so much the better.

”Brother Haight, who is your authority?” I said.

”It is the will of all in authority,” he replied. ”The emigrants have no pa.s.s to go through the country, and they are to be killed as common enemies, for the country is at war now. No man has a right to go through this country without a written pa.s.s.”

We lay and talked much of the night, and during that time Haight gave me instructions as to what to do, and how to proceed in the affair. He said he had consulted with Bishop Dame, and everyone had agreed to let the Indians use up the whole train if they could. Haight then continued:

”I expect you to carry out your orders.”

Then I knew I must obey, or die. I had no wish to disobey, for my superiors in the Church are the mouthpieces of Heaven, and it is an act of G.o.dliness to obey any and all orders given by them, without asking questions.

My orders were to go home to Harmony and see Carl s.h.i.+rts, my son- in-law, an Indian interpreter, and send him to the Indians in the south, to notify them that the Mormons and Indians were at war with the ”Mericats” (as the Indians called all whites that were not Mormons), and bring the southern Indians up and have them join with those from the north, so their force would be sufficient to make a successful attack on the emigrants.

It was agreed that Haight would send Nephi Johnson, another Indian interpreter, to stir up what other Indians he could find, so that we might have a large enough force to give the emigrants a good hush. In conclusion Haight said to me:

”These are the orders that have been agreed upon by the Council, and it is in accordance with the feelings of the entire people.

Some of the Indians are now on the warpath, and all of them must be sent out; all must go, so as to make the thing a success.”

It was then intended that the Indians should kill the emigrants, and make it an Indian ma.s.sacre, and not have any whites interfere with them. No whites were to be known in the matter; it was to be done by the Indians, so that it could be laid to them, if questions were asked. We agreed upon the whole thing, how each should act, and left the Iron Works, and went to Haight's house and got breakfast. After breakfast I made ready to start, and Haight said to me:

”Go, Brother Lee, and see that the instructions of those in authority are obeyed; and as you are dutiful in this, so shall your reward be in the Kingdom of G.o.d, for G.o.d will bless those who willingly obey counsel, and make all things fit for the people in these last days.”

At this time the Mormons were at war with the United States, and the orders to the Mormons were to kill and waste away our enemies, but lose none of our own people These emigrants were from the section of country most hostile to our people, and it was the will of every true Mormon that the enemies of the Church should be killed as fast as possible, and inasmuch as this lot had men among them that had helped kill the Prophets in the Carthage jail, the killing of them would be keeping our oaths and avenging the blood of the Prophets. I will give my talk with Brother George A. Smith.

In the latter part of the month of August, 1857, about ten days before the people of Capt. Fancher, who met their doom at Mountain Meadows, arrived at that place, Gen. George A. Smith called on me at one of my homes in Was.h.i.+ngton City, Was.h.i.+ngton County, Utah Territory, and wished me to take him round by Fort Clara, via Pinto Settlements, to Hamilton Fort and Cedar City. He said:

”I have been sent down here by Brigham, to instruct the brethren of the different settlements not to sell any of their grain to our enemies. And to tell them not to feed it to their animals, for it will all be needed by ourselves. I am also to instruct the brethren to prepare for a big fight, for the enemy is coming in force to attempt our destruction. But Johnston's army will not be allowed to approach our settlements from the east. G.o.d is on our side, and will fight our battles for us, and deliver our enemies into our hands. Brigham has received revelations from G.o.d, giving him the right and the power to call down the curse of G.o.d on all our enemies who attempt to invade our Territory. Our greatest danger lies in the people of California - a cla.s.s of reckless miners who are strangers to G.o.d and His righteousness. They are likely to come upon us from the south and destroy the small settlements. But we will try and outwit them before we suffer much damage. The people of the United States who oppose our Church are a mob, from the President down, and as such it is impossible for their armies to prevail against the Saints who have gathered here in the mountains.”

Gen. Smith held high rank as a military leader. He was one of the twelve apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and an inspired man. His orders were sacred commands, which it was my duty to obey, without question or hesitation.

The day we left Fort Clara, then the headquarters of the Indian missionaries under the presidency of Jacob Hamblin, we stopped to noon at the Clara River. While there the Indians gathered around us in numbers, and were saucy and impudent. Their chiefs asked me where I was going and whom I had with me. I told them that he was a big captain.

”Is he a Mericat captain?”

”No,” I said, ”he is a Mormon.”

The Indians then demanded to know more. They wanted to have a talk. The General told me to tell the Indians that the Mormons were their friends, and that the Americans were their enemies, and the enemies of the Mormons, too; that he wanted the Indians to remain the fast friends of the Mormons, for the Mormons were all friends to the Indians; that the Americans had a large army just east of the mountains, and intended to come over the mountains into Utah and kill all the Mormons and Indians in Utah Territory; that the Indians must get ready and remain ready for war against the Americans, keep friendly with the Mormons and do what the Mormons told them to do - that this was the will of the Great Spirit; that if the Indians were true to the Mormons and helped them against their enemies, the Mormons would keep them from want and sickness and give them guns and ammunition to hunt and kill game with, and also help the Indians against their enemies when they went into war.

This talk pleased the Indians, and they agreed to all that I asked them to do. I saw that Gen. Smith was nervous and fearful of the Indians, notwithstanding their promises of friends.h.i.+p. To relieve him of his anxiety I hitched up and started on our way as soon as I could do so without rousing the suspicions of the Indians. We had ridden along about a mile or so when Gen. Smith said: