Abraham Lincoln as Seen by the Mormons

ABRAHAM LINCOLN AS SEEN BY THE MORMONS

BY GEORGE U. HUBBARD

Throughout the decades which have passed since the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, the deeds and examples of his life — his fairness, his sincerity, and his firmness in pursuing any course he considered to be just — have grown into a living legend and lasting tribute to the man who was called upon to preserve the Union. And Lincoln's dealings with the Mormon people are another evidence of the truthfulness of this legend. This group of people who were hated, persecuted, and driven from their several places of settlement received from the man, Lincoln, the treatment of tolerance and impartiality which was consistent with his stated policy as President to "let them alone." In spite of the fact that most of Lincoln's time and energies were devoted to the problems of slavery and the Civil War during his tenure as President, he nevertheless took time to hear and to act in behalf of the problems of the Latter-day Saints. The number of instances of his dealings with these people were necessarily few, but they were of such a nature that he was to become loved and honored by the Latter-day Saints; and his memory is revered by them still, as it is in all the world.

Lincoln's connections with the Mormons date back to the year 1840 when they were contemporaries in the State of Illinois. The Mormons, having been driven out of Missouri during the winter of 1838-39, had settled in and around Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, thus initiating the transformation of that once swampy area on the banks of the Mississippi River into what was to be for a while the largest city in Illinois. Lincoln, at this time, was living in Springfield, was a member of the Illinois Legislature, and was very active in the affairs of the Whig party. So far as can be determined, it was the political activities of both Lincoln and the Mormons that brought them into contact with each other.

During the year 1840, the Whigs and Democrats were vying with each other for political control of Illinois. A presidential campaign was in the making for that year, and since the Mormon population constituted a large bloc of votes in a state that otherwise was rather evenly divided, both political parties openly courted their favor. Lincoln was no exception in desiring the support of the Mormons for the Whigs. Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, during one of his visits to Springfield, apparently indicated his intended support of the Whigs. As a result, Lincoln wrote a letter dated March 1,1840, to his friend, John T. Stuart, who was serving as a delegate to Congress from Illinois, in which he said, "Speed says he wrote you what Jo. Smith said about you as he passed here. We will procure the names of some of his people here and send them to you before long."

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). Photograph by Mathew B. Brady, taken on February 9, 1864.

Library of Congress

The Mormon vote at this time virtually assured the outcome of any election in Hancock County; and as a result of this unique position, the Mormons frequently, and sometimes unexpectedly, shifted their support from one party to the other in order to bargain for political favors. One incident had to do with Lincoln's unsuccessful campaign that year to become a presidential elector supporting the Whig candidates, William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. Lincoln's name was last in order on a ten-candidate ballot which consisted of six Whigs and four Democrats; and the Mormons, who had previously announced their support of Harrison as opposed to the Democratic incumbent, Martin Van Buren, suddenly decided to support both parties equally by scratching Lincoln's name from 200 of their ballots and substituting the name of James H. Ralston, a Democrat.

The following month at Springfield, Joseph Smith's charter for the incorporation of the City of Nauvoo came before the Illinois Legislature; and Lincoln, who at the time was a leading figure in the House of Representatives, responded, not with malice for the name-dropping incident, but in a manner typical of the magnanimity for which his memory is now revered. John C. Bennett, then a prominent Mormon who played a leading role in securing the passage of the charter, recorded the incident in a letter dated December 16, 1840, announcing the passage of the charter to the editors of the Mormon periodical, Times and Seasons:

Many members in this house, likewise, were warmly in our favor, and with only one or two dissenting voices, every representative appeared inclined to extend to us all such powers as they considered us justly entitled to, and voted for the law: and here I should not forget to mention that Lincoln, whose name we erased from the electoral ticket in November, (not, however, on account of any dislike to him as a man, but simply because his was the last name on the ticket, and we desired to show our friendship to the Democratic party by substituting the name of Ralston for some one of the Whigs,) had the magnanimity to vote for our act, and came forward, after the final vote, to the bar of the house, and cordially congratulated me on its passage.

In the summer of 1842, Bennett, having become disaffected with the Mormons, left Nauvoo and began spreading vicious and slanderous accounts of the depravity of the Mormon population. So extreme were his outcries, though, that their very purpose was defeated, for few people took them seriously. Lincoln noted the situation in a letter dated July 14, 1842, which he wrote to Samuel D. Marshall, an attorney practicing at Shawneetown, Illinois: "There is nothing new here. Bennett's Mormon disclosiers [sic] are making some little stir here, but not very great. Ever your friend."

It has never been determined whether Abraham Lincoln and Joseph Smith were ever personally acquainted or even if they ever saw each other, although they were contemporaries and near neighbors in the State of Illinois for five years, and both were actively engaged in political activities. Joseph Smith lived in Nauvoo from 1839 until his death in 1844, and Lincoln was a resident of Springfield, the two cities being about 135 miles apart by present-day roads. It is known that Joseph Smith visited Springfield on several occasions during this period.

Because of the activity and influence of both men in politics, it can scarcely be imagined that Lincoln did not take advantage of the opportunity to see the Mormon Prophet at the time of his trial held in Springfield on the fourth and fifth days of January, 1843. Joseph Smith was accused of having been an accomplice to the attempted assassination of ex-Governor Lilburn W. Boggs of Missouri, and the trial was being held to determine whether or not there was any justification to the demands of the Missouri authorities that Smith be turned over to them. It was a case which attracted considerable notoriety and which featured the direct participation of Governor Ford and ex-Governor Carlin of Illinois, Governor Reynolds of Missouri, and, of course, ex-Governor Boggs, as well as that of Justin Butterfield, United States attorney for the District of Illinois who served as Smith's defense counsel. But, according to Pratt, Lincoln was engaged at this time as defense attorney in a trial of Judge Thomas C. Browne in the House of Representatives in Springfield. Even so, ample opportunity seems to have existed for the coming together of these two men during this occasion although no record of their meeting has as yet been discovered.

Following the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in June, 1844, and the exodus of the Latter-day Saints from Illinois the following spring, Lincoln's connections with the Mormons took the form of public utterances in some of his political speeches. In none of these utterances, however, did he speak disrespectfully of the Mormons nor did he publicly attack their institution of polygamy. In fact his only recorded references to the Mormons, now in Utah, were made in response to remarks on the part of Stephen A. Douglas, who, during earlier years, had been known as a friend of the Mormons, but yielding to the pressures of popular opinion, was now voicing scathing denunciations of them.

The infant Republican party was advocating the extinction of those "twin relics of barbarism," slavery and polygamy, and was even receiving praise in the South on this latter issue; while the Democratic party, which stood for popular sovereignty in the territories, was being labeled by some as a protector of the Mormons and a defender of polygamy. On June 12, 1857, Douglas made his celebrated speech at Springfield, Illinois, on the subjects of Kansas, the Dred Scott decision, and Utah; and in an effort to win the support of popular opinion with regard to the Mormon question, he reported on the stories and rumors which were currently rampant concerning the situation in Utah. In so doing he vehemently denounced the Mormons. Douglas accused them of being "bound by horrid oaths and terrible penalties, to recognize and maintain the authority of Brigham Young," and also that "they will, in due time, and under the direction of their leaders, use all the means in their power to subvert the government of the United States, and resist its authority." Then followed charges of Mormon organizations and alliances with the Indian tribes for the purpose of committing robberies and murders upon citizens supporting the authority of the United States. Douglas' remedy was that "the knife must be applied to this pestiferous, disgusting cancer." He further added that should all other efforts fail, the one remedy left would be to "repeal the organic law of the territory, on the ground that they [Mormons] are alien enemies and outlaws, unfit to be citizens of a territory, much less ever become citizens of one of the free and independent states of this confederacy."

Two weeks later Lincoln responded to an opportunity to reply to the speech of Mr. Douglas. Commenting on Douglas' remarks concerning the situation in Utah, Lincoln's reply, rather than being a further denunciation of the Mormon people, seemed to be primarily a rebuttal to Douglas' doctrine of popular sovereignty which appeared to be merely a guise for the extension of slavery. Regarding the Utah problem, Lincoln's reply is here quoted:

If it prove to be true, as is probable, that the people of Utah are in open rebellion to the United States, then Judge Douglas is in favor of repealing their territorial organization, and attaching them to the adjoining States for judicial purposes. I say, too, if they are in rebellion, they ought to be somehow coerced to obedience; and I am not now prepared to admit or deny that the Judge's mode of coercing them is not as good as any. The Republicans can fall in with it without taking back anything they have ever said. To be sure, it would be a considerable backing down by Judge Douglas from his much vaunted doctrine of self-government for the territories; but this is only additional proof of what was very plain from the beginning, that that doctrine was a mere deceitful pretense for the benefit of slavery. Those who could not see that much in the Nebraska act itself, which forced Governors, and Secretaries, and Judges on the people of the territories, without their choice or consent, could not be made to see, though one should rise from the dead to testify.

But in all this, it is very plain the Judge evades the only question the Republicans have ever pressed upon the Democracy in regard to Utah. That question the Judge well knows to be this: "If the people of Utah shall peacefully form a State Constitution tolerating polygamy, will the Democracy admit them into the Union?" There is nothing in the United States Constitution or law against polygamy; and why is it not a part of the Judge's "sacred right of self-government" for that people to have it, or rather to keep it, if they choose? These questions, so far as I know, the Judge never answers. It might involve the Democracy to answer them either way, and they go unanswered.

Although he makes several references in various speeches to the admissibility of Utah and New Mexico into the Union as states, slave or free, no further allusion by Mr. Lincoln to the Mormon question itself is found until the political campaigns of 1860. Stephen A. Douglas was still advocating the partitioning of Utah as the means of achieving the destruction of Mormonism; and in a speech delivered in Bloomington, Illinois, on April 12, 1860, Lincoln again pointed out the inconsistency between Douglas' doctrine of popular sovereignty and his proposals to partition Utah in order to destroy Mormonism. Lincoln's remarks are reported as follows:

Mr. Lincoln said he supposed that the friends of popular sovereignty would say — if they dared speak out — polygamy was wrong and slavery right; and therefore one might thus be put down and the other not; and after supposing several other things of northern democrats, he proceeded to notice, what he called, Mr. Douglas's sedition law.

Lincoln also used the following anecdote in attacking Judge Douglas' proposals to partition Utah: "If I cannot rightfully murder a man, I may tie him to the tail of a kicking horse, and let him kick the man to death.

In spite of his stand of impartiality toward the Mormons in his political jousts with Douglas and against the stated opinions of his own party, Lincoln's first campaign for the Presidency of the United States was looked upon disfavorably by the Saints in Utah. Although they did not at that time possess the voting franchise, they gave what moral support they could to the Democratic party. At the Fourth of July, 1860, luncheon given for Governor Cummings and leading officials in the courthouse in Salt Lake City, one of the after-dinner toasts was to "the great Democratic Party — may they return to common sense in November next."

The reasons for the prevailing views of the Saints were primarily two-fold. First, the Republican party had gone on record as favoring the complete extinction of those "twin relics of barbarism," slavery and polygamy. The Mormons had been befriended by various prominent Democrats in the past, and, in spite of the vicious verbal attacks currently being uttered by Stephen A. Douglas, they felt that their own chances of survival would be greater should the Democrats remain in office. Secondly, the secession of several of the Southern States had been promised should Lincoln win the election. To the Mormons the election of Lincoln meant the dissolution of the Union, a nation whose creation was divinely inspired. The result would be the beginning of the bloodshed and agonies which the Prophet Joseph Smith had prophesied for this land.

It is understandable, then, that when news of the election of Lincoln finally reached Utah, public reaction was one of disappointment and apprehension rather than of jubilation. John D. Lee, in a Sunday evening church service at Harmony, Utah, borrowed a Democratic phrase by referring to Lincoln as "the Black Republican." An advertisement which appeared in the Deseret News of November 28, 1860, while probably submitted facetiously, nevertheless gives a good indication of the general tenor of the public sentiment.

This trend of public opinion against President Lincoln was promoted and nurtured by the church officials themselves following the lead of Brigham Young. To them, the combination of events which had been threatening the Union for so long were about to unleash their fury across the nation because of the election of Lincoln, and they saw him as being utterly helpless and powerless in the face of the situation.

Brigham Young, speaking in the Tabernacle on February 10, 1861, talked of the weakness of the positions of President Lincoln and of President James Buchanan before him, and referred to them mockingly as King Abraham and King James. This set the stage for the following editorial which appeared a month later in the first issue of a new volume (XI) of the Deseret News:

The commencement of a new volume at this eventful period, when Abraham the I. has, in all probability, been installed into office as successor of James the IV., to preside over those of the American States preferring him for their Chief Magistrate, all others having disolved their connection with the American Confederation, or are evidently about to do so, might be considered by some an appropriate time for the expression of sentiments in relation to passing events, and for indicating what course will be pursued in the future. To all such we have to say that no material change has come over us; we still believe as we have for many years, that the Union, about which so much has been and is being said, will go to destruction as fast as time will permit, and that nothing can save it.

Even after his inauguration, critical references to President Lincoln were made by several speakers at the general conference of the church in the session held April 6, 1861, in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. Brigham Young was as outspoken as ever in his remarks: "Our present President, what is his strength ? It is like a rope of sand, or like a rope made of water. He is as weak as water. What can he do ? Very little. Has he power to execute the laws ? No. . . ."

Apostle George A. Smith followed, and expressed his concern for the safety of the followers of Mormonism:

Abe Lincoln, the present President of the United States, that was — at any rate he occupies the seat and claims the title, and presides over a portion of the Union at Washington in name, — this man is the representative of the religious enthusiasm of the country. For the last thirty years there has been a constant stirring up and firm exertion on the part of the North to get up a crusade against slavery — to make the men who live in the Southern States turn over their slaves. . . . . . . Mr. Lincoln now is put into power by that priestly influence; and the presumption is, should he not find his hands full by the secession of the Southern States, the spirit of priestcraft would force him, in spite of his good wishes and intentions, to put to death, if it was in his power, every man that believes in the divine mission of loseph Smith, or that bears testimony of the doctrines he preached.

Fear for their own safety was also expressed by Heber C. Kimball, who said, "The South will secede from the North, and the North will secede from us,. . ."

President Lincoln's first official act regarding the Mormons was a request to Brigham Young on April 28, 1862, to raise an armed force for the protection of the overland mail and telegraph lines against hostile Indians. During the spring of that year, passengers were being attacked, mails destroyed, and stations robbed and burned along the route east of Salt Lake City and especially in the region between Fort Bridger and North Platte. Lincoln, who was anxious to secure the needed protection quickly and effectively, made his request directly to Brigham Young rather than through the regularly constituted federal authorities in Utah. The Mormon leaders were delighted with this recognition and demonstration of confidence on the part of the federal government, and their response was immediate.

Earlier that month Acting Governor Frank Fuller had made a request to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton that James Doty, local superintendent of Indian affairs, be authorized to raise "a regiment of mounted rangers from the inhabitants of the Territory" to guard the mail route. Imbedded in this communication was the implication that the existing Utah Militia, the Nauvoo Legion, was not capable of handling the assignment. Brigham Young countered with a telegram to the Utah delegate at Washington stating that "the militia of Utah are ready and able, as they ever have been, to take care of all the Indians, and are able and willing to protect the mail line if called upon to do so" Without waiting for a reply, Young, because of the urgency of the situation, had orders issued on April 24, 1862, to Captain Robert F. Burton of the Nauvoo Legion to accompany the next eastbound stage "as far as it may be deemed necessary by yourself and Captain Hooper for their safety." Fuller then changed his mind, and the following day he officially requested Lieutenant General Daniel H. Wells of the Nauvoo Legion to furnish the necessary protection. One day later a group of volunteers under the leadership of Captain Burton was on its way.

At this same time Lincoln was taking action to provide official federal authorization for the raising of a protective army. On the day that Captain Burton started out, Lincoln sent a message to Secretary of War Stanton instructing him to authorize Brigham Young to raise the necessary force. It is interesting to note that although Lincoln decided to invest this authority in Brigham Young rather than in Acting Governor Fuller, he felt the need of exercising caution in dealing with Young. His message to Stanton requested the Secretary of War to "please make an order carefully in accordance with the within."

On the evening of April 28, 1862, Brigham Young received a telegram from the War Department authorizing him to

raise, arm and equip a company of cavalry for ninety days' service, to protect the property of the telegraph and overland mail companies between Forts Bridger and Laramie, and to continue in service until the United States troops shall reach the point where their services are needed.

The order went on to state explicitly that this company would not "be required to perform any other service than that required for the protection of the mail and telegraph." Orders were issued that same evening placing Major Lot Smith in charge of a second company of men which set out within two days to relieve Burton's company.

Upon hearing of Brigham Young's prompt action, Ben Holladay, who had recently obtained control of the Central Overland California & Pike's Peak Express Company, sent a message of thanks to Young for his "prompt response to President Lincoln's request."

Despite the efforts of Brigham Young and the Nauvoo Legion in assisting the Union in the protection of the mail and telegraph route, the Mormons were to suffer additional frustrations during the year 1862. Efforts had been renewed for obtaining the admission of Utah into the Union even though it appeared at the time that the South might win the war. Not only did these efforts come to naught, but Congress passed the first of the anti-polygamy bills which President Lincoln signed into law in July, 1862.

To make matters worse, Stephen S. Harding, who was governor of Utah at this time, was not getting along well with the Mormons. He made several complaints to Washington regarding the situation. Basler reports that Lincoln received two letters from Harding and one from Secretary of State William H. Seward, all of which he forwarded to Stanton after adding a note on Seward's letter indicating his approval that "some paroled troops be sent to that territory." Stanton ordered Colonel Patrick E. Connor and a group of California volunteers to Salt Lake City for the stated purpose of protecting the overland mail. Marching from California, they entered Utah Territory in October, 1862, and after marching through the streets of Salt Lake City in a display of power, they established an encampment, Camp Douglas, east of the city at the base of the Wasatch Mountains.

This second entry of federal troops into their territory caused no small stir among the Mormons. They felt that their good intentions and efforts of loyalty to the Union had been betrayed, and Brigham Young placed the blame for the presence of the army squarely on Lincoln when he said, "Lincoln has ordered an army from California, for the order has passed over these wires."

Additional criticism of Lincoln by the Mormons followed the issuance of his preliminary emancipation proclamation on September 22, 1862, following the Union victory over Lee's forces at Antietam Creek. The frustrations which had lately come to the Mormon people seem to have found vent in the following comments from the Deseret News:

It seems that the late emancipation proclamation of President Lincoln, does not meet with universal favor, and several of the public journals in the North and West, have considered it an unconstitutional document, and speak somewhat harshly of its author. ... President Lincoln has swung loose from the constitutional moorings of his inaugural address and his messages at the opening of the two successive sessions of Congress under his administration. He is fully adrift on the current of radical fanaticism. We regret for his sake, we lament for the sake of the country, that he has been coerced by the insanity of radicals, by the denunciation of their presses, by the threats of their governors and senators.

Mormon appraisals of President Lincoln began to improve again early in 1863 as a result of Lincoln's response to a petition of the Mormons for relief from oppressive government officials in Utah. Governor Harding and certain other federal appointees in Utah were decidedly anti-Mormon, and during the previous year their public activities and personal conduct had grown increasingly offensive. Finally the Mormon citizenry of Utah could tolerate them no longer, and on March 3, 1863, a mass meeting was held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle at which time the following petition to President Lincoln was read and unanimously accepted:

THE PETITION TO PRESIDENT LINCOLNTo his Excellency, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States:

SIR:—We, your petitioners, citizens of the Territory of Utah, respectfully represent that:

Whereas, from the most reliable information in our possession, we are satisfied that his Excellency Stephen S. Harding, Governor, Charles B. Waite and Thomas J. Drake, Associate Justices, are strenuously endeavoring to create mischief and stir up strife between the people of the Territory of Utah and the troops now in Camp Douglas (situated within the limits of Great Salt Lake City,) and, of far graver import in our Nation's present difficulties, between the people of the aforesaid Territory and the Government of the United States.

Therefore, we respectfully petition your Excellency to forthwith remove the aforesaid persons from the offices they now hold, and to appoint in their places men who will attend to the duties of their offices, honor their appointments, and regard the rights of all, attending to their own affairs and leaving alone the affairs of others; and in all their conduct demeaning themselves as honorable citizens and officers worthy of commendation by yourself, our Government and all good men; and for the aforesaid removals and appointments your petitioners will most respectfully continue to pray.

Great Salt Lake City, Territory of Utah, March 3,1863

As a countermove to this petition, Colonel Connor and the military officers of Camp Douglas were joined by the non-Mormon citizenry in petitioning for the retention of Harding, Waite, and Drake in their offices and for the removal of Secretary Frank Fuller and Chief Justice John F. Kinney on the charge of being "subservient to the will of Brigham Young."

Lincoln responded to these petitions by making concessions to both sides. Governor Harding was removed from office, but Waite and Drake were retained as associate justices. In addition Fuller and Kinney were also removed from office. James Duane Doty, superintendent of Indian affairs, was appointed governor; Amos Reed, secretary; and John Titus, chief justice. Kinney's popularity among the Mormons was sufficiently high, however, that he was quickly elected by them to represent Utah in the Thirty-Eighth Congress, replacing the Honorable John M. Bernhisel.

The real turning point in the Mormon attitude toward President Lincoln occurred shortly after Lincoln's response to the petitions concerning Governor Harding. Brigham Young was anxious to obtain a statement from Lincoln indicating the future policy which he might be expected to pursue toward the Mormons. As a result, the President granted an interview to T. B. H. Stenhouse, then a Mormon in good standing, who was in Washington transacting business for the church. Nibley reports the interview as follows:

... at the insistence of President Brigham Young he [Stenhouse] called on Lincoln to ascertain what course he intended to pursue with the "Mormons" in Utah. Lincoln was silent for some moments and then said: "Stenhouse, when I was a boy on the farm in Illinois there was a great deal of timber on the farms which we had to clear away. Occasionally we would come to a log which had fallen down. It was too hard to split, too wet to burn and too heavy to move, so we plowed around it. That's what I intend to do with the Mormons. You go back and tell Brigham Young that if he will let me alone, I will let him alone."

This was precisely the kind of governmental policy which the Mormons had sought in vain for the past thirty-three years. They were granted no special favors nor privileges, but were merely given hope at last of the freedom of worshipping God in their own way without unjust interference. In a letter written June 25, 1863, to George Q. Cannon, then in England, Brigham Young displayed his delight with the report of Stenhouse's interview. Commenting on the political situation in Utah, President Young wrote,

Since Harding's departure on the 11th inst., without the least demonstration from any party, and only one individual to bid him good-bye, the transient persons here continue very quiet, and apparently without hope of being able to create any disturbance during the present Administration. They certainly will be unable to, if President Lincoln stands by his statement made to Brother Stenhouse on the 6th inst., viz: "I will let them alone if they will let me alone." We have ever been anxious to let them alone further than preaching to them the gospel and doing them good when they would permit us, and if they will cease interfering with us unjustly and unlawfully, as the President has promised, why of course they will have no pretext nor chance for collision during his rule... .

It may thus be seen that well before the end of President Lincoln's first term in office, the attitudes and opinions of the Mormons toward him had changed considerably. Lincoln was not a political weakling as at first feared, and the Union was not disintegrating. The Union armies were finally beginning to be victorious, and it appeared to be more and more certain that the Union would be preserved. Through it all, Lincoln was proving himself to be the strong, courageous leader which the situation demanded; and in spite of the presence of Colonel Connor and the federal troops, Lincoln's dealings with the Mormons were winning their respect and appreciation. After so many long and troublesome years, the Mormon people had finally found in the Presidency, a man whose policy, regardless of differences in religious philosophies, would be to let them alone whenever possible, and from whom, when action or decisions became necessary, they could expect justice and impartiality. As a result the Mormon population had become fervent supporters of Abraham Lincoln, and they were looking forward to his re-election.

The second inauguration of President Lincoln was an occasion of great jubilation in Utah. The inauguration took place on Saturday, March 4, 1865, and celebrations were held throughout all of Utah. In Salt Lake City the celebration was preceded by the following proclamation adopted by the city council on the second day of March, 1865:

CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERGREAT SALT LAKE CITY, March 2nd, 1865

Whereas, Saturday, the 4th instant, being the day of inauguration of the President of the United States, and

Whereas, also, by reason of the many recent victories of the armies of our country; therefore be it

Resolved, by the City Council of Great Salt Lake City, that we cheerfully join in the public celebration and rejoicings of that day throughout the United States, and we cordially invite the citizens, and organizations, military and civil, of the Territory, county and city, to unite on that occasion. Be it further

Resolved, that a committee of three be appointed to confer with the Grand Marshall of the day, and make the necessary arrangements to join in the general celebration.

A. O. Smoot,Mayor.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

And celebrate they did! For the first time Mormon citizenry and the federal troops at Camp Douglas were joined in a common cause, co-operating with each other, and therefore learning better to understand each other. The events of the day are vividly described by Roberts:

... in the last days of February leading citizens of Salt Lake and officers of Camp Douglas met and made the necessary arrangements for a conjoint celebration of the event. There was a procession "a mile long" through the principal streets of the city, made up of military and civil officers in carriages and mounted; California volunteers and "Mormon" militia companies of infantry; and citizens on foot and in carriages. Hon. fohn Titus, chief justice of the territory, was the orator of the day, and Hon. W. H. Hooper made the closing address. A. O. Smoot, "Mormon" mayor of Salt Lake City, and George A. Smith, of the council of the twelve apostles, met on the platform General Connor and Governor Doty. Rev. Norman Mc- Leod, from Camp Douglas, was chaplain of the day. The platform was erected in front of the old city market on First South street; the divisions of the procession were assembled chiefly in front of the platform; the audience gathered "around, and on all sides, completely filling the streets, covering the roofs and hanging out of the windows;" it was "a dense mass of humanity, silent and attentive to the proceedings." Later in the day a banquet was given at the city hall by the city council to officers from Camp Douglas, Mayor Smoot presiding. The mayor opened the banquet by proposing "the health of President Lincoln, and success to the Union armies." Captain Hempstead responded in a patriotic speech, and proposed the health of the mayor and civil authorities of Salt Lake City. There were other patriotic toasts and responses, and fireworks in the evening. "The day closed," said the Union Vedette's enthusiastic and full report of the proceedings, "after a general and patriotic jubilee, rarely, if ever before, seen in Utah." "General Connor," reported Stenhouse, of the Utah Telegraph, "was greatly moved at the sight of the tradesmen and working people who paraded through the streets, and who cheered most heartily and no doubt honestly — the patriotic, loyal sentiments that were uttered by the speakers. He wanted differences forgotten, and, with gentlemanly frankness, approached the author with extended hand and expressed the joy he felt in witnessing the loyalty of the masses of the people." He also proposed the discontinuance of the Union Vedette, the anti-"Mormon" paper, which had waged fierce war upon the "Mormon" church and its leaders, thinking that the changing conditions in Utah required its abolishment.

The happiness of the Mormon people was short-lived, however, as was that of most people throughout the nation and the world. News of Lincoln's assassination reached Salt Lake via the overland telegraph on Saturday, April 15,1865. The city immediately went into mourning, business houses were closed, and the theatrical performance scheduled for that evening was postponed. Flags flew at half-mast, buildings and carriages were draped with crepe, and preparations were made for a memorial service to be held in the Tabernacle.

At the Sunday morning service in the Tabernacle on the following day, Wilford Woodruff delivered a funeral sermon, and was followed in the afternoon by Franklin D. Richards and George Q. Cannon who also spoke in honor of Lincoln.

The special memorial service, however, had been set for Wednesday, April 19, and on this occasion the Mormon and Gentile elements were once more united in a common though tragic cause. The Tabernacle was filled with over three thousand people, civil and military, Mormon and Gentile. The following description of the occasion was quoted by Tullidge from the Union Vedette:

The vast assemblage was called to order by City Marshall Little, in the name of the mayor, immediately after the entrance of the orators, civil and military functionaries, and a large body of prominent citizens, who occupied the platform. The scene was impressive and solemn, and all seemed to partake of the deep sorrow so eloquently expressed by the speakers on the occasion. The stand was appropriately draped in mourning, and the exercises were opened by an anthem from the choir. Franklin D. Richards delivered an impressive prayer. The address of Elder Amasa M. Lyman was an earnest and eloquent outburst of feeling, and appropriate to the occasion. He spoke for forty-five minutes, and held the vast audience in unbroken silence and rapt attention.

The address did credit to Mr. Lyman's head and heart. After another anthem from the choir, Rev. Norman McLeod, Chaplain of Camp Douglas was introduced, and delivered one of the most impressive and burning eulogiums on the life, character, and public services of President Lincoln which it was ever our pleasure to hear.

The service was concluded by a benediction by Wilford Woodruff.

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