History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

MORMON TACTICS. 511
to explain their tactics, I cannot do better than quote
a few lines from a despatch addressed soon afterward
by the lieutenant-general of the Nauvoo legion to
Major Joseph Taylor, and signed, "your brother in
Christ, Daniel H. Wells." "On ascertaining the locality
or route of the troops, proceed at once to annoy
them in every possible way. Use every exertion to
stampede their animals and set fire to their trains.
Burn the whole country before them and on their
flanks. Keep them from sleeping, by night surprises;
blockade the road by felling trees or destroying the
river fords where you can. Watch for opportunities
to set fire to the grass on their windward, so as, if
possible, to envelop their trains. Leave no grass before
them that can be burned. Keep your men con-
cealed as much as possible, and guard against sur-
prise." 67
57A copy of the letter is given in Tullidge's Hist. Salt Lake City, 172. The
major was captured, and the letter delivered to Assistant Adjuant-general
Porter when 16 miles from Fort Bridger. In a postscript the major is ordered
to 'take no life.' In Lee's Mormonism Unvailed, 1S-19, is a copy of a circular
letter, dated S. L. City, Sept. 14, 1S57, and signed by Brigham Young and
Daniel H. Wells, in which a similar plan of operations is marked out. 'But
save life always,' is the injunction, 'when it is possible; we do not wish to
shed a drop of blood if it can be avoided.'