History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

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THE GOVERNMENT IN ARMS.
to the mountains and bid defiance to all the powers
of the government."
During the captain's visit, Brigham, with the apos-
tles, General Wells of the Nauvoo legion, and others,
asked him to walk through their grounds, and introducing
him to some of the Mormon women, showed
him the garden-spots which their hands had fashioned
out of the wilderness. " What, madam," he exclaimed
to one of the sisters, " would you consent to see this
beautiful home in ashes and this fruitful orchard destroyed?"
" I would not only consent to it," was the
answer, " but I would set fire to my home with my
own hands, and cut down every tree, and root up
every plant." On the following sabbath the captain
attended divine service at the tabernacle, when John
Taylor, after referring in his discourse to the approach
of the troops, and repeating that they should not be
allowed to enter the territor}', desired all who would
apply the torch to their dwellings, cut down their
trees, and lay waste their farms to raise their hands.
Every hand was raised in a congregation numbering
more than four thousand.
" When the time comes to
burn and lay waste our improvements," said Brigham
in a sermon delivered on the same day, " if any man
undertakes to shield his he will be treated as a traitor.
. . .Now the faint-hearted can go in peace; but should
that time come, they must not interfere. Before I
will again suffer, as I have in times gone by, there
shall not one building, nor one foot of lumber, nor a
fence, nor a tree, nor a particle of grass or hay, that
will burn, be left in reach of our enemies. I am
sworn, if driven to extremity, to utterly lay waste
this land in the name of Israel's God, and our enemies
shall find it as barren as when we came here."
Captain Van Vliet was astounded. He had expected
to find a seditious and priest-ridden community,
mouth-valiant and few in number, whom the
mere approach of the troops would tame into submission.
He found instead this handful of enthusi-