History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

ARMY SUPPLIES. 499
was now an abundant supply of grain. Neither the
famine nor the bountiful harvest which followed appear,
however, to have been known to the authorities
at Washington. The winter of 1856-7 had been unusually
severe. For six months the territory had
been shut out from the remainder of the world, no
mails having reached the eastern states. To add to
their distress, the Mormons were compelled to feed
large multitudes of emigrants, who arrived at this period
in a starving condition in the hand-cart companies.
At the time when the expedition was ordered,
there were thousands in the territory who, for more
than a year, had not had a full meal; there were thousands
of children who had endured the gnawings of
hunger until hunger had become to them a second nature.
Yet in the orders to Harney, issued while yet
the famine was at its sorest, we read: "It is not
doubted that a surplus of provisions and forage, beyond
the wants of the resident population, will be
found in the valley of Utah, and that the inhabitants,
if assured by energy and justice, will be ready to sell
them to the troops. Hence, no instructions are given
you for the extreme event of the troops being in absolute
need of such supplies, and their being withheld
by the inhabitants. The necessities of such an occasion
would furnish a law for your guidance." 37
But the sequel will show that instead of the troops
living on the Mormons, the Mormons lived on the
troops, stampeding their cattle, plundering or destroying
their provision trains, and only after all fear of
active hostilities had been removed, selling them sur-
plus grain at exorbitant rates.
was compared to the famine of Egypt. For months some families knew not
the taste of hread, and settlements in which good crops had been gathered in
former years were compelled to send their teams several hundred miles for
bran and shorts. After 1855 the Mormons stored their surplus wheat at each
harvest, until the completion of the overland railroad removed all fear of
famine.
37 Letter of Aide-de-camp George W. Lay to Harney, dated from the headquarters
of the army, New York, June 29, 1857. A copy of it will be found
in Tullidgc's Hist. S. L. City, \T1-A.