History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

534
THE UTAH WAR.
where silence reigns unbroken, save for the rush of
waters and the twittering of birds, whose nests are
built in the crevices of cliffs high overhead.
Now all is astir throughout this solitude. Among
the canons and ridges appears for the first time the
gleam of sabres and rifle-barrels, and the stillness of
the valley is broken by the measured tramp of armed
men and the rumble of artillery-wagons. Up the
steep mountain sides bands of horsemen are seen
spurring to the summit, whence they can observe
the advance of the troops; while groups of half-clad
Indians stand gazing at the pageant, or gallop to and
fro with the wonderment of astonished children.
On the 26th of June, 1858, the army of Utah enters
the valley of the Great Salt Lake. The day following
is the sabbath, and the fourteenth anniversary
of the assassination of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
"We will go far enough into the wilderness," said
Brigham before the expulsion from Nauvoo, "so far
that never again will we come in conflict with our
persecutors." They had journeyed some two thousand
miles, subsisting at times on herbs and roots, seeking
but to be left alone. After years of patient toil and
self-denial they had built up their new Zion, a city in
which, whatever the faults of its denizens, there was
less of gross dissipation, of lewdness and drunkenness,
than among the gentiles. They had seen their wives
and daughters coerced by a militia rabble. They had
not as yet forgotten the days of Nauvoo and the posse
comitatus of Governor Ford. And now the posse
comitatus of Governor Cumming was debouching
from the mouth of Emigration Canon, the spot whence,
twelve years before, the president of their church had
selected for them an abiding-place.
The rays of the rising sun slant athwart the bayonets
of the 5th infantry as, forming the van of the
Union army, it approaches the outskirts of Salt Lake
City. At dusk is still heard in its streets the rumble
of caissons and baggage-wagons. But no other sound