History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

WITHDRAWAL OF TROOPS.
manded, he set forth from Salt Lake City in May 1861,
about two months before his term of office expired.
He had entered that city amid a forced display of
welcome, but he left it with the sincere regrets of a
people whose hearts he had won by kind treatment. 8
In 1860 most of the troops were removed to Mexico
and Arizona, and about a year later, war between
north and south being then almost a certainty, the remainder
of the army was ordered to the eastern states.
The government stores at Camp Floyd, valued at
$4,000,000, were sold at extremely low prices, greatly
to the relief of the saints, who could now purchase pro-
visions, clothing, wagons, live-stock, and other articles
of which they were in need, at their own rates. Flour,
which had cost the nation $570 per ton, sold for less
than $11 per ton, and other stores in the same proportion;
the entire proceeds of the sale did not exceed
$100,000, or little more than two per cent of the outlay;
and of this sum $40,000 was contributed by
Brigham. 9
At the sale at Camp Floyd some of the leading
Both these authorities claim that Cumming was aided by Col Kane, who about
this time delivered a lecture before the historical society of New York on the
situation of Utah, in which he spoke of Cumming as a clear-headed, resolute,
but prudent executive, and the very man for the trying position. Stenhouse
was present at the lecture as reporter for the New York Herald, and notices
of it were widely published throughout the country.
8 Before his departure the citizens desired to show their respect by some
public demonstration, but this he declined, slipping away so quietly that Ins
departure was not known until it was published in the Deseret News of May
22d. His conduct received the approval of the territorial legislature. Utah
Jour. Legist., 1860-1', p. 161.
Gov. Cumming was a native of Georgia, his wife being the daughter of a
prominent Boston physician, and an accomplished lady. In 1836 he was mayor
of Augusta, Ga, and during the cholera epidemic of that year used his utmost
effort to save the lives of the citizens. During a portion of the Mexican war
he was attached to the staff of Gen. Scott, and was afterward appointed by
government to visit several Indian tribes in the far west. Waite's The Mormon
Prophet, 1&.
9 Through his business agent, H. B. Clawson. As Horace Greeley remarks
in his Overland Jour., 254, the live-stock would have brought much better
prices had it been driven to California, or even to Fort Leavenworth. He
states that, in 1859, 30,000 bushels of corn, which could have been bought in
Utah for $2 per bushel, were sent from the eastern states at a cost of more
than $11 per bushel. Greeley visited the territory in this year, but his observations,
apart from his account of an interview with Brigham, already mentioned,
contain little of historical value. His receptionat S. L. City is described
in the Deseret News, July 20, 1859.
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