By Lieutenant J. W. Gunnison

Important Information:

• -This book was first published in 1852
• -Lieut. Gunnison became Captain on March 3, 1853
• -He was murdered October 26, 1853.

This book begins with a narrative on the death of the author while working with the Corps of Topographical Engineers in Utah Valley. Mrs. Gunnison was told the Mormons were responsible for her husband’s death, but became confused when she received “the kindest letter of condolence” from the Prophet, Brigham Young. Judge Drummonds responded with a five page letter giving the particulars of the event.

In November, 1853, Captain Gunnison and eight others were murdered in Utah Territory, reportedly by Indians. According to this report, twenty-six Indians of the Parvant Tribe were indicted for the crime, only eight were put on trial, some warriors, some squaws, three half-blind, and one old man. A Mormon jury found the Indian warriors not guilty and the three half-blind, guilty of manslaughter. There was no mention of what happened to the squaws. Judge Kinney quickly came to the conclusion the verdicts were found according to the mandates of the church.

Two years later, a Jewish Mormon was put on trial for the murder of a warrior of the same Parvant tribe and, while the witnesses gave a great deal of information on the murder of Captain Gunnison, nothing was conclusive. The obviously guilty Jewish Mormon was found not guilty, presumably by the law of the church.

There was another trial for the murder of Captain Gunnison and his men, this time of a favorite Indian warrior of Governor Young named Eneis. It was proven that four shots were fired by Indians and the remainder by Mormons. At about sunrise on the day of the murders, the Indians sprang out of the ambush where they had spent the night waiting in disguise and went across the river to save a Mormon who fell in the fight. At this trial, ten Mormons were named as responsible for the murders, the most well-known being William A. Hickman.

Why would the Mormons want to kill the Captain of the Topographical Engineers? Many suspected it was because the hierarchy of the church felt threatened when the Captain wrote this book. The subtitle: The Rise and Progress, Peculiar Doctrines, Present Condition, and Prospects, Derived from Personal Observation During a Residence Among Them, was long enough to spark the imagination of the guilty and build distrust.

The first chapter defines Deseret, the name assumed by the cult as being the Land of the Honey Bee, a Book of Mormon word signifying industry. As expected of a geologist, Gunnison spends paragraphs describing the hills, valleys, fertile and infertile lands. Of interest to me, the Mormons settled in the eastern part of the five hundred mile diameter Great Basin.

The first chapter is mainly topographical and helpful to those who wish to understand the layout of the land.

Gunnison was a valued assistant in the 1849-1851 surveying expedition under the direction of Captain Howard Stansbury of the United States Corps Of Topographical Engineers. Deseret, at the time, was a territory organized as a self-governed people, with the Prophet, Brigham Young, as governor. Gunnison said: the people delight in calling their system of government a Theo-Democracy and “…they stand as the Israelites of old under Moses.” He described the people as having a peaceful character, their disputes settled under the church organization, and while Gunnison listed judges, justices, high priests, and many others, in the end, he stated the entire management of the church was under the presidency, Brigham Young as seer, and his two counselors. All were to obey the Presidency in all things, and the command to gather, gather, gather in the mountains was unceasing.

Lieutenant Gunnison guesstimates there are thirty thousand people in Utah and on the frontiers of the states, ready to move to the valley the coming year. This number, he states, is increasing fast by the influx of new members from England, Wales, and the continent of Europe with every possible effort to swell the numerical strength necessary for a place in the Union. The leaders were eager for their territory to become a state.

“In five days,” Gunnison states, “a large tract was plowed, planted with potatoes, and the city-creek dammed, and irrigation ditches filled…and the city was laid out.” A fort, enclosing forty acres, was built by facing log-houses inward and picketing four gateways on each side of the square.The timbers were cut in the canyons and hauled several miles to the nascent city. Of course, the land was consecrated to the Lord. There were crops to feed the people during summer, but winter found people eating the slaughtered hides of animals found in ditches, or tore hides from the roofs of their houses. They also learned how to dig for wild roots.

In spring of 1848, a year before the arrival of the topographical engineers, crickets came down from the mountains and devoured everything in sight. Then, one early dawn, glossy white gulls, with bright red beaks and feet, swept in, filled themselves to satiety, and then disgorged the meal before starting all over again.

Gunnison felt admiration for these industrious people and confessed that many who came to the city were struck with awe at the immense results, produced in such a short time by a handful of people.

Gunnison stated the greatest kindness was shown to members of his party, but noted this change of heart was brought on by knowledge of the advantages the exploration would accrue to the Saints, as well as the government, and was not for the purpose of seizing the lands.

The Mormons were united in obedience to counsel while the people varied in habits and thinking according to their character. They felt it proper to deny certain things to exist in their doctrine when it was made public, and were willing to deny anything offensive to the Christian world at large, especially when it brought them harm. Here, he spoke of the doctrine of polygamy, also known as plurality of wives.

Many Mormons have a large number of wives. They affirm it is the duty of every man to marry at least once and women cannot enter the heavenly kingdom without a husband. This addition of wives is done through a ceremony called a sealing. The priesthood binds the marriages. The system has every appearance of good taste and propriety, but the wives often find the relationships lonesome and burdensome. They wear smiling faces while in society and give an appearance the yoke is easy.

Another method of increasing the household is adoption. This consists of, at times entire families, being taken in as part of the family of the chief. These relationships are said to extend to the world after the resurrection. Gunnison views this doctrine as an example of fanaticism overcoming the strongest feeling of independence.

In his year with the Mormons, Gunnison found that the residents curse or condemn whenever they please, and what was considered profane by the world was, in Utah, acceptable decorum. In social parties and lively meetings, the Mormons were preeminent. Gathering and evening parties were attended by the Prophet and Apostles. Their balls were opened with prayer and followed by sprightly dancing, often lasting, at least for the young, until the cock crowed. Leftovers were served as breakfast.

They called each other brother and sister, thereby creating a bond of affection. The welfare of the order became paramount to individual interest. Each person did what they do best, and they did it with all their might, while subject to the counsel of the hierarchy.

The powers of the priesthood, as stated in their newspaper, The Guardian, were the gift of faith, discerning of spirits, prophecy, revelations, visions, healing, tongues and their interpretation, wisdom, charity, and brotherly love. The Prophet was said to have the ability to read the hearts of men, his spiritual authority was complete, the people’s entire will was submissive to his behest, making him the most autocratic ruler in the world. Gunnison noted this great authority was made subservient to the public interest. His sanctity was believed to be above reproach and his every wish abjectly complied with by all over whom he presides.

Grounds were selected for a university and irrigation directed to the college plat to water the groves, walks, and botanical gardens. It was also the place for the bath and swimming houses. A large square was set aside for athletic and equestrian exercises, and an observatory for practical astronomy. Instructions were given in several departments of engineering, mechanics, and surveying. The agricultural department was liberally patronized and the spoken language of all people was thoroughly taught to the proper students. The plan was to introduce a ‘parent school’ for the heads of families, and word was that the Prophet himself planned to attend. The time for acquiring knowledge was considered to be the whole of life, a thought with which it is hard to disagree.

The administration of justice was of the most simple kind, referring to the rules of the Mosaic code. They also had their own criminal code called “The Laws of the Lord”, which was given in revelation and was not widely known. When put in force, all grave crimes were punished and atoned for by cutting off the head of the offender, as per Gunnison’s understanding. More accurately, they held the belief that without the shedding of blood there would be no remission of sin. From this belief came the practice of blood-atonement, an idea yet to evolve into action.

Gunnison describes Brigham Young as modest, retiring, and diffident in ordinary intercourse. He was shrewd and bold in his public speaking. HIs title among the Saints was, “The Lion of the Lord.”

The working of miracles and instant curing of disease was claimed to be granted to the early church. This performance of miracles became a necessary thing. Diseases were held to be demonic possessions and, by casting out the devil, the afflicted would be cured. Medicines

were forbidden by the Prophet, except for the weak in faith, who were permitted a meager diet and mild herbs. Many went to doctors and used drugs, claiming they had not yet attained a full measure of faith. It was a duty of the Saints to ask for the laying on of hands. The ague, a kind of malaria, was an exception and, for this condition, gentile doctors and their medicine were procured. (Note: Most Mormons are Gentiles, but this lower case form signifies a derogatory meaning, or kind of slang applied to non-Mormons.)

The dignity of labor was held sacred. ‘Useful’ is the motto of the Saints. Everyone is expected to work and bring in tithes. The Prophet sets an example by working at his trade as a carpenter, on his own mills, in the canyon. Priests were made without regard to their learning. Involuntary labor by negroes was a custom; those holding slaves, kept them as part of the family, as they would their wives.

The Mormon missionaries traveled from city to city, calling at houses, and talking along the wayside. If the listener was not a man of wealth, he was told the command was to gather in the mountains where the finest land was offered for a few shillings. To the peasants of Europe, this was a powerful argument. They yearned to call a parcel of land their own. We should not be surprised at the sudden conversion of whole families where the breadwinner was accustomed to work in factories, workshops, or collieries (coal mines). Thirty-five thousand were enrolled in Liverpool and ready to leave. The estimated number of Mormons in England and Wales, at that time, was three hundred thousand. All who expressed a willingness were immersed in the water of baptism.

The Saints would not, without protest, buy land, and hoped grants, sufficient to cover the cost of improvements, would be made to the settlers once it became a state. In the extensive territory of Utah, probably not one in ten thousand acres was fit for cultivation, and this from a geologist who spent much of his time surveying the territory.

When the Mormons arrived in the valley, they put a portion of land under cultivation jointly. The city was laid into numbered lots and assigned by the Presidency. A section six miles square on the south of the city was dubbed the Big Field. It was fenced at public cost and divided into five acre lots. Those who were able to work were allowed to choose from one to eight lots. In the center, a Poor Farm of forty acres was controlled by the bishops. When these lands were offered on the market, public sentiment would allow no bidders against the Presidency.

The Mormons first settled on the war-grounds of the Snake-Diggers and the Utah Indians. Wars were waged continually between the bands and disease was fast destroying them. When the Mormons branched off north and south, they encroached on hunting and fishing grounds and scared off the game. The Shoshones kept the peace, but in the winter of 1849, the Utahs became insolent, boasting of the cattle they killed and frightening women and children.

They robbed freely and often compelled farmers to escape to the fort. Peaceful overtures were disregarded and the Utah War began.

The Mormons attacked the Indians encamped near the Timpanogos. Although screened by cottonwood and thick willow clumps, they were driven out by cannons and rifles. Three days later, the Indians ran for the canyons in the mountains. Exposure and measles killed many. Old Elk, the terror of the mountains, was found dead on the trail. The squaws and children were taken to Mormon homes to be taught domestic service, but they soon deserted the white man for freedom in the snowy canyons.

The biggest transformation of Utah was brought-on by the arrival of the transcontinental railroad. At the time of Gunnison’s death, Its course had yet to be laid. Railways brought an influx of non-Mormons into the city and it provided an escape for those who sought one. It brought the end of Brigham Young’s autocratic rule, but not an end to Brigham Young or the church.

A cultural shift began at this time, prompted by the enforcement of anti-polygamy laws. Brigham Young, himself was arrested for the crime, although he had such power that it had little effect. Many elders were imprisoned. Still, the church did not change its stance until the fourth President and Prophet, Wilford Woodruff, issued his manifesto advising against any marriage prohibited by the law of the land. This manifesto was formally accepted by members of the church.