Adventures in Mormon History

In March 1858, Thomas Kane’s efforts to end the Utah War had been fruitless.  a week with COL Albert Sidney Johnston and the U.S. Army on the plains of Wyoming. President James Buchanan had sent the Army to Utah, to remove Brigham Young as Governor and replace him with Alfred Cumming. This had led to a months-long armed standoff between the US Army and the Latter-day Saint militia. Sensing that he alone could work out a peace betwe...

On the night of 9 March 1858, Thomas L. Kane was trudging through a heavy snow storm on his self-appointed mission to End the Utah War. He had convinced Brigham Young and Church Leaders to extend an olive branch to the Army Expedition by offering them large quantities of food and supplies.  But now, over 25 feet of snow buried the mountain roads. With temperatures plummeting and winds howling, Kane found himself growing weaker whil...

In February 1858, the Latter-day Saints and the U.S. Army were in an armed standoff on the frozen plains of Wyoming.  The Army, under the command of COL Albert Sidney Johnston, were on half rations, and suffering from a lack of salt. The Latter-day Saints seemed to have the upper hand for the time being, though they faced growing threats from all sides.  In the middle of this stalemate a strange letter arrived in Salt Lake City for...

This episode continues the adventures of Thomas L. Kane, who left his home in February 1858 and set out for Salt Lake City.  His self-imposed mission was to stop the Utah War.  His plan was, as his wife Elizabeth later wrote, was somewhat hazy:  “Tom’s plan was to go in disguise to Utah by way of California, winter though it was, and make his unexpected appearance at Brigham Young’s very gates, relying upon his own mental forc...

At the crisis of the Utah War -- Arguably the most dangerous moment in the history of the Latter-day Saints -- Colonel Thomas Kane set out on a bold plan: He would travel to Utah and Wyoming, in the dead of winter, throw himself between the U.S. Army and the Latter-day Saints, and hammer out a peace agreement. Nobody -- including President James Buchanan and his own father, Judge John Kane -- believed he would succeed. Yet Thomas K...

Before Lot Smith’s raid on the Wagon Supplies, conventional wisdom in the Government and the Nation seemed to be that talk of the Latter-day Saints actually resisting the Army was just that – Talk.   But when news of the raid finally reached the states, it was shocking. Overnight, Johnston’s Army lost roughly half its supplies for the campaign. Johnston and his troops would spend a hungry, freezing winter on half-rations in the ash...

In the 1920s, an elderly and well-respected Oregon Rancher, Charlie Becker, prepared a sketch of his adventurous life, the places he had seen, the adventures he had lived, and the hardships he had overcome. He also disclosed that, as a young man, he had served as a Civilian Teamster accompanying Johnston’s Army during the Utah War.  In an unguarded moment, he allowed himself to be captured by a Latter-day Saint Raiding party. He wo...

In August of 1857, Brigham Young delivered a speech to the saints assembled in the Tabernacle.  As he contemplated the Army force marching closer to the home of the Saints, he bitterly remembered how, over the last he and the Latter-day Saints, over the last 20 years, had been brutally victimized by armed bands, from Ohio to Missouri to Illinois.  He saw the approach of federal troops as simply the latest armed force to set out to ...

In 1857, the Buchanan Administration sent an Army Expedition to Utah.  It was sure to be an arduous, difficulty journey, with many ways to suffer and few to win glory.  But who were the Soldiers marching against the Latter-day Saints?  On today’s episode, we explore the Soldiers and Teamsters, which included both selfless heroes and hopeless drunks, public servants and fugitive criminals, that made up Johnston’s Army.  

Di...

On July 24, 1857, the Latter-day Saints learned – in the middle of the 10th Anniversary Celebration – that President Buchanan had ordered an Army to the Utah Territory.  Though they did not know what the Army’s mission or the intent behind the expedition, they learned that the expedition was to be led by William Selby Harney – and the choice of Harney portended the very worst.  In his council, Brigham Young called for a vote on a r...

The Utah War is one of the strangest footnotes in American History, and almost entirely forgotten.  But it was the largest military campaign the United States undertook between the Mexican War and the Civil War.  It took a third of the entire Army (and one lone, dogged Marine) and pitted them against the Latter-day Saint Nauvoo Legion, a force that, according to Historian Bill MacKinnon, was arguably the nation’s largest and most e...

In 1923, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – the famous author of Sherlock Holmes –  embarked on a worldwide speaking tour.  But this tour was not to sell books of his famous detective.  Instead, it was to win converts to spiritual,ism – the idea that through seances, knocking, and advances in photography, the living could commune with the dead.  With hundreds of millions grieving in the years following the First World War and the Spanish Flu...

In February 1858, the United States Senate was debating a new bill from the House.  They knew that the Army, under the command of Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, was on its way to Utah to put down the reported Mormon rebellion.  Now, James Buchanan was asking Congress to approve a second Army of regular troops to Utah.  While the Republic was quickly unraveling between the North and South, everyone seemed to agree that an Army – ma...

Of all the people to go down as villains in the history of the Latter-day Saints, perhaps none were as colorful as the infamous W. W. Drummond, Federal Judge of the Utah Territory in 1855.  Arriving with a flamboyant woman whom he introduced as Mrs. Ada Drummond, the Judge immediately set out to cut away at the legal foundations of the Latter-day Saint settlements up and down the Utah territory - their probate courts, their water c...

Of all the people to go down as villains in the history of the Latter-day Saints, perhaps none were as colorful as the infamous W. W. Drummond, Federal Judge of the Utah Territory in 1855.  Arriving with a flamboyant woman whom he introduced as Mrs. Ada Drummond, the Judge immediately set out to cut away at the legal foundations of the Latter-day Saint settlements up and down the Utah territory - their probate courts, their water c...

The 1830s were a time of great religious enthusiasm across the United States and saw scores of ladies take up the call to travel from place to place, preaching faith, repentance, and the coming of judgment.  Among these women was the New Hampshire-born Nancy Towle, who traveled across the United States and the British Isles.  A fiery preacher with a will of iron, she let anyone within earshot hear her message of repentance-- a mess...

From the fall of 1838 through the Spring of 1839, Joseph Smith and other Church Leaders were confined in the Liberty Jail.  They had several attorneys defending them, including Peter Burnett, a Missouri lawyer and--incidentally-- one of the Missouri militiamen who had marched against the Latter-day Saints at Far West.  

In this episode, we discuss Peter Burnett's account of defending Joseph Smith.  Latter-day Saints a...

Latter-day Saints remember the conflict that has come to be known as the "The Mormon War” in Missouri in 1838.  Places like Haun’s Mill, Far West, Clay County witnessed violent and savage persecutions against the newly organized Church, and Latter-day Saints have worked hard to preserve the stories and the voices of the saints who lived through them. 

But what was it like to muster into the Missouri militia and move a...

Latter-day Saints are familiar with the Joseph Smith’s account of his First Vision in the year 1820.  Less well known, however, are the remarkable dreams of his father, Joseph Smith Senior.  In the years leading up to his son’s first vision, Joseph Smith Senior had seven dreams in which, as he described, a messenger came to him, instructed him, and helped prepare him for what lie ahead.  On today’s episode, we will explore Lucy Mac...