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Frontier Arms of the Mormons
Utah Historical Quarterly
Vol. 42, 1974, No. 1
Frontier Arms of the Mormons
BY HARRY W. GIBSON
FIREARMS BECAME DECISIVELY important for the Mormons on the Missouri frontier of the 1830s. Those disastrous years, marked by increasingly violent confrontation with the Missourians and ending in Mormon expulsion from the state, shaped the role of guns and the attitude toward them by the Mormons for the entire frontier period. The violence, fury, and passion of those years vividly demonstrated that guns could quickly become the ultimate resource when all other law has vanished.
The weapons acquired and used by the Mormons in Missouri were as varied and individual as the smiths who made them and the frontiersmen who fired them. With mass production and large arms companies still in the future, personal weapons were essentially handmade, one-of-a-kind arms. This variety makes identification difficult because early records rarely identify an individual arm. Instead, reference is made to firelocks, horse pistols, rifles, yaugers, muskets, etc. However, even from such general words and the sparse treatment afforded firearms in contemporary accounts, a reasonably accurate description of the arms of the era is possible.
The basic arm of the Mormons, as well as others, was the singleshot, flintlock, muzzle-loading rifle. Fittings were commonly of brass or pewter, while stocks traditionally were cut from maple. Popularly called, then as now, Kentucky rifles, they were the creation of several generations of German gunsmiths in western Pennsylvania. The design was an outgrowth from an original German hunting rifle, the "jaeger," and adapted to American conditions. Barrels tended to be long, as much as four feet, but forty to fortyfour inches was average. Bore was small by contemporary standards, with .40 inches being a common size. The outstanding feature of the Kentucky rifle, endearing it to the frontiersman, was accuracy. By the use of a rifled barrel and a patched ball to ensure a tight fit in the bore, the accuracy was far superior to the common musket of the period. Where a skilled marksman could not rely on a musket to shoot within a foot of point of aim at a hundred yards, a well made Kentucky rifle would consistently hit a three-inch target at that range. Such accuracy was only achieved at the expense of easy loading and rapid firing. The musket was loaded with prepared cloth or paper cartridges and could be fired several times a minute. The Kentucky rifle required a complicated process to load, making it much slower for repeat shots. This was the major reason why the military retained the musket for general use until the 1850s.
Specific reference to Kentucky rifles was made by John D. Lee, one of the Mormons who surrendered to the Missouri Militia in 1838. He recounted giving up "his good Kentucky rifle" as well as his other weapons. Joseph Smith, as leader of the "Zion's Army" that reinforced the Missouri Mormons in 1834, referred to "firelocks" on several occasions. These were most likely Kentucky rifles. Some of these arms were cap lock weapons, but many were still the original flintlock.
Pistols were also part of the Mormon armament during the Missouri era. References are found to both pistols and "horse pistols." These terms refer specifically to a single-shot, muzzle-loading arm, probably flintlock but possibly cap lock also. Any of the early repeating weapons is definitely excluded, for these were invariably referred to by type, as pepperbox, slide gun, etc. Pistols were large, twelve to fourteen inches in length and up to two pounds in weight. Barrels were usually smooth-bored, though sometimes rifled, and fired a lead ball of .40 to .60 inches in diameter. Horse pistols were similar, though larger, heavier, and bored from .60 to .75 inches. Such pistols were meant to be carried in pairs, in holsters mounted on the front of the saddle.
At their expulsion from Jackson County, Missouri, in 1833 the Mormons numbered approximately twelve hundred individuals. The quantity of their arms can only be estimated, but it was apparently meagre for their numbers. Assuming that even as few as one-sixth were able-bodied males, there should have been at least two hundred weapons among them. Yet when the Mormons turned in their arms as a condition of surrender, only "forty-nine guns and one pistol" were delivered. Five years later, between twelve and fifteen thousand Mormons were expelled from the state. By the same ratio of arms to men, between two thousand and twenty-five hundred arms should have been surrendered. Yet records indicate that only 630 guns were relinquished. John D. Lee reported them as "hunting rifles, shotguns and a few muskets, some rude swords, homemade, and a few pistols . . . given up and hauled off by the State authorities." That these were all the arms possessed by the Mormons seems highly unlikely. Knowing on both occasions that they were surrounded by hostility and leaving one frontier for a more primitive one, the Mormons must have made every effort to keep what weapons they could. Yet in both instances the Missourians searched people and destroyed houses to locate arms. That any significant number of weapons escaped them is improbable, nor can any record be found to that effect. The strongest likelihood is that the Mormons in Missouri did not have a surplus of arms, but were able to conceal some, at least, from the Missourians.
II
Settling in Nauvoo, Illinois, by 1840 after their disastrous Missouri experiences, the Mormons were anxious to avoid further difficulties. In the belief that safety lay in power, the six years spent in Illinois were marked by numerous efforts to both broaden and strengthen the arms base.
One of the first concerns was to consolidate manpower into an effective force. By authority of the city charter of Nauvoo, a branch of the Illinois militia, called the Nauvoo Legion, was established in the city. Compulsory membership for males eighteen to forty-five years was enforced, and the legion numbered over four thousand men by 1844. The majority of the weapons of this "city army" were the personal arms of the members. Enthusiasm was high and performance was superior to the usual militia units of the day. According to an army officer witnessing a legion parade in 1842, "there are no troops in the State like them in point of enthusiasm and warlike aspect, yea warlike character."
The day following the assassination of Hyrum and Joseph Smith in 1844, two thousand well-armed Mormons, described by Governor Ford as having "a sufficiency of arms for any reasonable purpose," assembled in Nauvoo. This event alone demonstrates the seriousness with which the Mormons regarded firearms following the Missouri defeat.
Also, the addition of a unique individual to the Mormon ranks gave the legion a quality of personal weapons superior to their neighbors. The man was Jonathan Browning, a backwoods Tennessee gunsmith with genius. He made a reliable repeating rifle superior to the single-shot arms of the day. He had two designs: a revolving repeater and a slide or "harmonica" gun. The revolving rifle was like a modern revolver, except the cylinder was turned by hand for successive shots. Once charged with a ball and powder in each of its six chambers and percussion caps placed on the nipples, the loaded cylinder was put in the rifle. A special lever on the side pushed the cylinder tightly against the barrel. After firing, the cylinder was revolved to the next chamber. The obvious advantage was six quick shots. However, there was a disadvantage which made all types of revolving rifles somewhat unpopular. Besides being more difficult to manufacture, revolver cylinders were apt to fire more than one chamber at a time when the flash from the fired chamber leaked past the barrel and into other chambers. The result was disconcerting at best and usually damaged both gun and shooter. Browning's most popular design, though, was his slide or "harmonica" rifle. This type of rifle was simpler, cheaper, and more reliable. The basis of the design was a metal bar, shaped like a harmonica and holding from five to twenty-five charges of ball and powder. A lever forced the bar against the rear of the barrel. After firing, the lever was released and the slide was manually advanced to the next hole. The arms were popular since it was possible to carry extra loaded slides, and diaries and journals throughout the period contain many references to them, particularly to "fifteen-shooters." The guns were not invented by Browning, as designs for repeaters are almost as old as guns themselves. His contribution was to make a fairly reliable repeating weapon which significantly increased the fire power of this frontier army.
In addition to personal arms the Nauvoo Legion, as a unit of the Illinois militia, was entitled to a proportion of the state arms. John Bennett, a major general in the legion, was also quartermaster general of the state militia. From this influential position he secured the best in available arms for the Nauvoo Legion. These consisted of 250 stand of rifles and 3 cannons, while most other state units were generally armed with muskets. The specific model of rifle cannot be determined, but the most likely rifle available to militia units was the U.S. Model of 1817, known as the common rifle. This flintlock arm had a thirty-six inch barrel and weighed ten pounds. By contemporary standards it was an excellent weapon, and troops using it should be considered well armed.
Following the murder of the Smiths in 1844, the Mormons devoted considerable attention to acquiring arms owned neither by individuals nor the state. These were termed public arms, and were apparently owned by the church as a body. They were extremely important for the balance of the frontier period. The first mention of such arms was Brigham Young's note in September 1844: "Received some arms and ammunition from the brethren in St. Louis, by the hands of Thomas McKenzie." In April 1845 a six-pounder cannon was purchased with tithe money and added to the supply. In the same year, John Steele described moving "forty stand of muskets" and a cannon known as the "old sow" to the Temple for repairs. Where the muskets were acquired is undetermined, but from the context of the journal they were regarded as public (church) property. Early in 1845, with tentative plans for a westward move in mind, the LDS authorities directed Orson Pratt to purchase, with tithe money "six barreled pistols for self-defense, (while journeying in western wilds)." When he returned in November from New York, Pratt brought "four hundred dollars worth of Allen's revolving six-shooting pistols (alias pepperboxes)." These were an early form of repeater, consisting of several barrels grouped around a central tube. Each pull of the trigger brought a new barrel under the hammer. Although popular because they were repeaters, they were clumsy, heavy, and inaccurate. As Colt-type revolvers became more plentiful, pepperboxes gradually disappeared.
Further details of the public arms have not been located. However, the total quantity was apparently greater than previously indicated. At the evacuation of Nauvoo in 1846, Hosea Stout was given charge of the weapons. His diary records the effort to accumulate and transport these arms. In the only reference to quantity, Stout reported that he brought "about one hundred muskets and left wagon and rest for C.C. Rich" as well as "two loads of powder and other articles for use of the troops." He also noted artillery consisting of two six-pounders, one three-pounder, and one short twelve-pounder. William Hickman, another of those departing Nauvoo, recalled in his memoirs that the public arms totaled four artillery pieces and five hundred stand of small arms. Thus, although the precise number of public arms is not known, it was apparently a fairly large number and was regarded as of considerable importance.
The significance of the public arms owned by the church is further reflected in efforts to store and maintain them. As early as June 1843 an arsenal was contemplated "to be built in the city of Nauvoo, for the security of the public arms." Jonathan Dunham was appointed both superintendent of construction and armorer, and the building was in use by mid-August of that year. In association with the armory, experimental steps were taken in both powder manufacturing and artillery construction. John Kay drilled out at least one six-pounder barrel, but there is no evidence that anything more complicated was undertaken. Also, five makeshift cannons were constructed from hollow steamboat shafts for the final defense of Nauvoo in 1846. These were used only in the one engagement and then evidently abandoned. However, the quantity of references alone indicates that the care and replenishment of arms and ammunition was a serious concern in Nauvoo. Perhaps that concern was most vividly stated in the minutes of a church meeting at Quincy, Illinois, in 1839 which resolved that Theodore Turley's gunsmithing tools remain for church use while Turley went to Europe.
III
From the evacuation of Nauvoo, beginning in February 1846, until the permanent settlement in the Great Basin, the Mormons were a mobile society. Because of the frontier conditions and the frequent hostility of both man and animal, firearms were an important part of the society. The extent can be seen in both the planning and the execution of the westward move. Before his death in 1844, Joseph Smith, considering such a move, was most explicit concerning arms for an exploratory group. He required "a double barrel gun, one barrel rifle and the other smoothbore ... a pair of revolving pistols, bowie knife, and agood saber." When such a group did depart for the Great Basin in April 1847, each ablebodied man was to carry a rifle or musket and have one pound of powder and four pounds of lead. Of the nine travel orders issued by Brigham Young, two concerned firearms. First, "Every man is to have his gun and pistol in perfect order." Second, "Each man is to travel with his gun on his shoulder, loaded, and each driver have his gun so placed that he can layhold of it at a moment's warning." Other than these personal arms, the group also carried a cannon, probably the three-pounder, twenty-five extra pounds of powder, and twenty extra pounds of lead.
The importance of firearms during the period from Nauvoo to the Great Basin is further signified in the attention devoted to arms maintenance. At Winter Quarters, Nebraska, cleaning and repairing of public arms was made a social function. Dances were held with admission being the cleaning of one of the guns. Also, pay was givenfor disassembling, cleaning, and assembling of arms. Gunmaker Jonathan Browning worked in Musquito Creek near the Missouri River until 1852, repairing and building arms — apparently at the request of the LDS leaders — for the constant immigrant procession to Salt Lake City. That he also found time to develop his own business is indicated by his advertisement in the Kanesville, Iowa, Frontier Guardian during those years:
Gunsmithing
During the Mexican War of 1846 - 48 the United States army enlisted 500 men to march on a southern route to California. Brigham Young gave the order in June 1846 for his men to volunteer. One of the conditions of enlistment for this "Mormon Battalion" was that "they will be allowed to retain, as their private property, the guns and accoutrements furnished to them." This would amount to a weapon increase of 500 for the public arms. Most of the guns were flintlock muskets, probably the 1816 model. These were .69 caliber smoothbore weapons with a forty-two inch barrel and fifty-seven inch overall length. This gun was replaced in 1840 by the 1835 model musket, so the government willingly gave them to the Mormons. However, the battalion also received "a few cap-lock yaugers for sharpshooting and hunting purposes." These were U.S. Model 1841 rifles, the first percussion rifles issued to United States troops. They were .54 caliber, with a thirty-three inch barrel and forty-nine inch overall length. They became very popular on the frontier for their comparative accuracy and reliability. These arms must have been a welcome addition to the pioneer Great Basin settlements, and undoubtedly served their users well for many years.
The Mormon Battalion also provided heavier ordnance for the pioneer settlements. Several members traveled through Sutter's California settlement during their return to the Great Basin and purchased two cannons, a four- and a six-pounder, for $400. These, together with the other artillery, saw service in Indian skirmishes and the Utah War before being relegated to courthouse lawns.
The other increase in the public arms at that time came from those Mormons who journeyed to California by sea, then traveled overland to the Great Basin. Before the ship Brooklyn sailed from New York in February 1846, "a case or two of smoothbore muskets was carefully stowed between decks." The secrecy was based on a general distrust of the government's intention toward the Mormons. In Honolulu, another 150 stand of muskets was loaded, which the ship's captain promptly put under lock. However, they were distributed prior to landing at San Francisco, and presumably most of them were taken to the Great Basin.
The use of firearms by the Mormons, from the time they left Nauvoo until permanent settlement was established near the Great Salt Lake, was primarily against game animals. Although there were scattered instances of firing against other men, particularly Indians, the occurences were very infrequent. The effectiveness of the Mormon arms, like other guns of the day, became less, as the size of the animals increased and was mediocre at best. First, to kill large animals like buffalo consistently with one shot required more power than most weapons of the 1840s possessed. The exception was the plains rifle of the mountain men, made famous by the Hawken brothers, but there is no evidence the Mormons had any of these. As a result, buffalo, and to a lesser extent smaller game, was obtained by shooting the animal, then following it until it died of the wound. The second reason for mediocre performance was lack of accuracy. A smoothbore musket could barely keep all shots within a four-foot circle at one hundred yards. Rifles, such as the Mississippi, would usually place their shots within eighteen inches at that range, while a Kentucky rifle would commonly reduce the group size. However, under hunting conditions, and with less than expert marksmen, these sizes increased. Since the vital area of a deer-sized animal is about a sixteen-inch circle, the accurate range of these arms was fairly limited for hunting weapons. Poor accuracy was due in part to the lack of precision manufacturing techniques, especially of barrels. Because of crude tools and imprecise measuring instruments, only extremely skilled craftsmen could produce a truly accurate barrel. Since such craftsmen were rare, so were accurate firearms. Lesser contributions to poor accuracy were crude sights and variations in powder and loads.
As the small arms supply was being reestablished and strengthened between 1840 and 1847, some artillery was acquired to further reinforce the church-owned public arms. Several of these arms have been previously mentioned, and to better understand the strength they represented, the following brief summary is included. The cannons totaled six, consisting of one three-pounder, two sixpounders, and one twelve-pounder carronade brought from Nauvoo, and one four-pounder and an additional six-pounder from California. All were classed as field ordnance, as opposed to siege weapons. The barrels were made of bronze — though often called brass — and all were smoothbore. The term four- or six-pounder, etc., referred to the weight of projectile normally fired, although different types of projectiles might vary from this weight. Both the three- and four-pounders were obsolete as army weapons, but were useful on the frontier because of relatively light weight, long range, and small powder charge. Both could be fired to fifteen hundred yards with less than a pound of powder and weighed one thousand to twelve hundred pounds complete with carriage. The sixpounder, which is the one most frequently mentioned by the Mormons, used one and one-fourth to one and one-half pounds of powder and fired a heavier projectile to fifteen hundred yards. Complete with carriage, a six-pounder weighed almost eighteen hundred pounds. The twelve-pounder carronade was a howitzer, denoting a cannon shorter and lighter than normal for the bore size. This cannon weighed seventeen hundred pounds with carriage, yet fired a nine-pound shot to one thousand yards. The effectiveness of these arms could be devastating. A six-pounder would consistently penetrate twenty-two inches of oak at two hundred yards and nine inches at eight hundred yards. The twelve-pounder howitzer penetrated fourteen inches and six inches, respectively, at the same ranges but with a ball half again as heavy and an inch larger in diameter. Ammunition for this artillery was of several types including shot, shell, and cannister. Shot was a solid iron ball; shell was a hollow iron ball filled with explosives. A cannister was a cylinder containing over a hundred musket balls, making it, in effect, a huge shotgun shell. Thus, although the Mormons had only six cannons, these represented a formidable force both physically and psychologically.
IV
Well armed, and with vivid recollections of Missouri and Illinois, the Mormons began permanent settlement of the Great Basin in July 1847. Their determination to resist further pressures from anyone was reflected in Brigham Young's words, "If they'll give us ten years, I'll ask no odds of them." Much time and energy were spent on improving defenses from both red men and white, and the ten years were granted almost to the day.
In Salt Lake City the church-owned public arms received early attention. In August 1847 President Young ordered that all the ex-soldiers returning east to aid in the immigration turn in their surplus weapons. Howard Egan stated that "all the soldiers going brought their guns, ammunition, etc., and surrendered them into the president's hands, for the reception and safe keeping of which there will be a house built hereafter." This was followed by the construction of an additional temporary arsenal in 1849. The wood frame building was twelve feet by sixteen feet. Thomas Tanner was recommended as armorer by Brigham Young who stated, "he can make any part of a cannon, Musket, or Rifle and is qualified to repair and keep in repair all the guns that belong to the armory." The arsenal was found to be too small, and by 1852 construction began on a new armory. The territorial legislature in 1853 appropriated $3,000 for construction, with an additional $1,000 for overhaul of the cannons and repairing of the arms and accoutrements. The building was completed and in use during 1853.
The concern for the arms and the attention given them was well founded. The Indians, who often disputed domination of their land, already had many firearms. Guns had been available in the Great Basin since the eighteenth century, when the Spanish began trading arms for Indian children as slaves. Both the English and United States governments had a long history of giving firearms to friendly Indian tribes, many of whom were near the Great Basin. By trade and theft these weapons were brought into the area, to be supplemented by exchanges with trappers in the early nineteenth century. When the Mormons arrived in 1847 they found a foe which was generally well armed and often determined to resist.
As well as establishing an armory, the first settlers also rebuilt their military organization, still under the name of the Nauvoo Legion. By April 1849 it was acting as a territorial militia. Membership was compulsory for able males, with penalties for failure to respond. The legion was organized on a military basis with a lieutenant general as commander. The territory was divided into military districts, each contributing to the cohorts and regiments which composed the legion. By 1852 it numbered over two thousand men and by 1857 had increased to sixty-one hundred.
With the granting of territorial status in 1850, the Nauvoo Legion became eligible to receive a portion of the public arms from the federal government. The annual appropriation for all the states and territories was normally $200,000, divided according to population and need. Utah's share was small, $243.33. The first arm delivered was a small cannon, a twelve-pounder mountain howitzer, brought in early 1851. This was a most useful weapon for mountain fighting, since it could be transported, with ammunition, by two or three mules. With its light total weight, three-quarter pound powder charge, and one thousand yard range, this howitzer was an asset on the frontier. The value of this cannon was $471 in 1851. Since this was more than Utah's quota, further allotments were denied until the difference was equalized. According to War Department records, Utah Territory received thirty-two muskets plus the cannon by December 1854. Muskets were valued at $13, making the cannon the equivalent of thirty-four muskets. The War Department ordered in 1855 that all territories with less than 2,000 muskets issued be given arms equal to that amount. The department record for 1855 shows 1,934 muskets credited to Utah Territory, which, with the previous arms and the cannon, totals 2,000, a significant increase for Utah.
The legion members continued to rely on their personal arms for military service, particularly in the areas outside of Salt Lake City. Until the mid-1850s these were primarily the weapons brought from Illinois. Military muster rolls for 1851 - 53 list arms under such headings as rifles, pistols, muskets, and yaugers. However, by 1854, and increasingly thereafter, entries occur for the new repeating weapons appearing in the territory. By 1857 almost all muster rolls contain headings of Colts, pocket pistols, belt pistols, revolvers, and carbines. As rapidly as these new arms were developed, they could be found on the frontier.
The most popular new weapon in Utah, as well as elsewhere, was the Colt revolver. Its acceptance is well indicated by noting that almost every muster roll after 1853 reserved a column for recording Colts, whether a unit had any or not. Men liked the gun because it was based on a simple mechanism that was rugged and reliable. An early mention of this revolver was made in Carvalho's account of Fremont's 1853 expedition through Utah. Prior to 1857 Colts were mentioned frequently in diaries and journals. Hosea Stout went to court over the theft of six of them, and Ethan Pettit included Colts in his trade goods with the Indians. So dominant was this weapon that few references have been found to any other brand of revolver in Utah before the Civil War. Gun collectors have often commented that more early model Colt revolvers have been found in the Great Basin than in any other area of the United States.
A second new weapon, a breech-loaded rifle (carbine), appeared first in a muster roll for the Iron County Militia, August 5, 1852. Referred to only as carbines, they can be identified by the 1852 date as the fifteen weapons now in a Salt Lake City museum. These are Sharps carbines, 1851 models, a .52 caliber breech-loading single-shot arm which was one of the first replacements for muzzleloaders. Though not a repeater, these short, light rifles were very handy on horseback and quick to reload with their combustible linen cartridges. The museum examples are all .52 caliber, weigh about ten pounds, and have twenty-five inch barrels. Together with the Colt revolvers, these arms demonstrate how quickly improved firearms were adopted on this frontier.
Besides concern for public and private arms, the Mormons were also forced to consider their supplies of gunpowder in the 1850s. This most necessary item was usually in short supply due to the danger and expense of transporting it to Utah. Brigham Young noted in his governor's message of 1852 that although the settlements were well supplied with arms, powder was both scarce and expensive. However, the supply was sufficient for any emergency. This scarcity, together with Young's desire for local production of all goods, resulted in an early attempt at manufacturing gunpowder. As an incentive the territorial legislature offered a reward of $2,000 to the first person making 100 pounds from local materials. A $100 reward was offered for the second 100 pounds; and for each succeeding 100 pounds, to a maximum of 2,000 pounds, the bonus was $50. The total reward of $3,000 for 2,000 pounds of powder indicates the concern over the supply. In Iron County, which had more Indian difficulties than Salt Lake City in the 1850s, Robert Keys personally offered $50 to the first man producing 10 pounds of powder from local materials.
The attempt at powder manufacturing began in 1854. A Swiss chemist, Frederick Loba, was hired by Brigham Young to establish a powder mill. E.H. Henriod invested $400 in the venture and was to learn the business from Loba. A large cellar was dug at the site of present Fort Douglas for the making of saltpeter, one of the main ingredients. Sulfur was to be brought from Cove Creek, and the charcoal would be locally made. Loba, however, while waiting for the saltpeter to form, bought a small molasses works, where he turned sugar into alcohol. Friction developed between him and Young over the rate of gunpowder production and the making of whiskey. Finally, Young fired Loba who soon left the territory. No powder had been made, and this was apparently the only attempt prior to 1857.
Equally as important as gunpowder was the supply of lead for bullets. Because of its expense and to further encourage home manufacture, Brigham Young initiated a search for lead within the territory. Early discoveries were made near Minersville in 1852, but this lead contained too much silver for casting well in bullet making. Significant deposits were found near Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1855. Nathaniel Jones was sent to extract the ore, and in January, 1857, twenty-seven hundred pounds were sent to Salt Lake City.
V
As far as pioneer arms are concerned, 1857 was probably the most important year in Utah history. This was the only time the total armed capacity of the entire territory was amassed for a common goal — to oppose the entry of a federal army into Utah. The records of the attempt offer the most detailed information to be found on the arms of the Mormons.
Following the announcement in July 1857 of the dispatch of an army of occupation to Utah Territory, James Ferguson, adjutant general of the Nauvoo Legion, began gathering all available weapons and ammunition. By late in the year he estimated the following supplies to be in private hands, not part of the militia arms: 2,364 rifles, 1,159 muskets, 99 pistols, 259 Colt revolvers, 414 swords, 1,500 pounds of powder, and 3,224 pounds of lead. Ferguson added that he thought these amounts had tripled since he gathered the information. In addition, he had not estimated what people had obtained from merchants and transients since the impending invasion was announced. No total figure can be found for the militia arms, but examination of the muster rolls for the individual units indicates that some were better equipped than others. William H. Dame, commanding the Iron County units, reported he could send 200 effective men, armed with 190 rifles, 99 muskets, 17 Colt revolvers, and sufficient ammunition. Averaging the totals of men and arms from a representative sampling of the units indicates at least one weapon for each individual, although Norman Furniss found only 440 arms for 807 men in his sampling. However, if the public arms are included, there certainly were sufficient arms for the Mormon forces.
In addition to the weapons already on hand, large quantities were gathered from the more distant Mormon settlers who were recalled to Utah for the crisis. P.W. Conover was dispatched to Genoa, Nevada, to call in the settlers and bring back war material. He returned with twenty-seven hundred pounds of community ammunition and a large amount of personal arms and ammunition. The Genoa settlers maintained there was only one pound of powder and two boxes of percussion caps in the entire area after they left. Conover also went to San Francisco where he bought from donations an additional $800 worth of ammunition and twelve thousand pounds of other supplies. From the fifteen hundred San Bernardino, California, settlers came even larger quantities. Howard Egan reported delivery in February 1858 of six hundred seventyfive pounds of powder, thirty thousand percussion caps, and one hundred pounds of lead. One mail train reportedly contained five hundred Colt revolvers bound for Utah, while some non-Mormon Californians became so alarmed by the quantity going to Salt Lake they considered closing Cajon Pass to the Mormons. Converts arriving from other countries contributed arms, although most likely in a small way. The National Intelligencer for May 1857 reported that when eight hundred Mormons from England landed in Boston, most of the men had at least two pistols while many carried four.
In an effort to secure as many arms as possible, the complicated process of manufacturing revolvers was also undertaken. The Mormons were fortunate in having several excellent gunsmiths among their members. One, David Sabin, had been advertising since 1854 in the Deseret News that he manufactured revolvers for sale. Jules Remy noted in his 1855 visit to Salt Lake City that he saw gunsmiths making revolvers and revolving carbines. Sensing the coming conflict with the government, church authorities enlisted Sabin's aid. On March 21, 1857, the church noted, "commenced this morning to make revolving pistols at the public works in the new shop which had been put up from a portion of the wheel wright shop. David Sabin and William Naylor were employed at this work." The first revolver was completed in May and judged by church authorities to be "a first-rate piece of mechanism and . . . well finished." These arms were mentioned the following year in XheNeiu York Herald by William Bell, an ex-Utah merchant. He stated the arms were imitation Colt revolvers being manufactured at the public works at the rate of twenty per day. Richard Burton, in his 1860 observation of local manufacturing commented, "the imitations of Colt's revolvers can hardly be distinguished from the originals." That some revolvers were made cannot be doubted, although it is unlikely that more than a hundred were produced. Surviving arms have appeared among Colt collectors for many years, yet no serial number over 100 has been noted among the twenty revolvers that have been found. Certainly not enough were made to make any difference in the total arms picture. Interestingly, collectors have always assumed these guns were made by Jonathan Browning, since he is the only remembered Utah gunsmith of the period. There is no evidence either on the guns or in the Browning family records to indicate he made them. The only available evidence shows David Sabin as the principal maker.
The crisis of 1857 also saw renewed attempts to manufacture gunpowder. William Bell, in theNew York Herald mentioned powder was being produced in Salt Lake City by October 1857. although no other evidence can be found. In 1859, however, Eleazer Edwards of Cedar City produced 100 pounds of quality powder and received a $200 bonus. He claimed to be equipped to produce 1,000 pounds, but by then the crisis had passed and his powder was not needed.
The conflict of 1857 was settled by negotiation rather than arms, and the residents found an almost continuous federal force in their midst after 1858. Whatever discomfort this may have caused both the Mormons and the soldiers, it had at least one benefit for the territorial militia. With federal troops stationed southwest of Salt Lake City, the militia did not have to face the Indian problem alone, particularly in the northern third of the territory. For years the legion had been fighting skirmishes, mostly minor, with the Indians. Cattle had been stolen, buildings burned, and occasionally individuals were killed. The coming of federal troups made it possible to pursue the problem to a conclusion. The issue was settled on January 29, 1863, when federal troops under Col. Patrick E. Conner so decisively defeated the Bannocks and Shoshonis on the banks of Bear River that northern Utah never again suffered a serious Indian menace.
Southern Utah presented a different problem. The settlements were much farther from the federal base near Salt Lake City, and Indian raids were over and the Indians gone before soldiers could arrive. Thus, the burden of defense fell upon local militia units. There were numerous conflicts throughout the years, of which the Blackhawk War of 1865 was the most notable. Occasionally the threat became serious enough that communities were evacuated for a time, although usually it was more a matter of stolen cattle and isolated burning of buildings.
This period was also a time when firearms were undergoing the greatest change which had occured since the invention of gunpowder. Handmade, muzzle-loading single-shot arms and awkward loading revolvers were rapidly being replaced by mass-produced repeating arms using the new brass cartridges. These were improvements of a very practical nature to a frontiersman, and the weapons soon began appearing in Utah.
The record of the great change in firearms is revealed in the muster rolls of the Nauvoo Legion as well as the diaries and journals of the 1860s. By the mid-1860s, most of the muster rolls had a separate column for listing the new weapons, whether the unit had any or not. The names most frequently encountered are Sharps, Ballard, Henry, Spencer, Wesson, and Joslyn. These arms were basically similar, although there were mechanical variations among them. Except for the Ballard and Wesson, they were repeaters, which ended the frontiersman's problem of having one shot and several enemies. All used the recently developed brass case, which made powder, primer, and projectile a convenient, waterproof unit. This ended the centuries-old problems of pouring loose powder down a rifle barrel and keeping powder dry enough to fire in damp weather.
The first mention of these new arms in Utah was by J.W. Sylvester, who noted he paid seventy-five dollars for a Henry rifle and ten cents each for cartridges in 1856. The value of this weapon can be no more eloquently stated. Henrys were in demand because they held seventeen cartridges. Indians sometimes called them the "spirit gun" because they fired so many times. The Henry rifle appears in many muster rolls, and Gottfredson mentions them in several battles.
Equally popular, although holding only seven cartridges, were the Spencer repeaters. These were available in both .52 caliber and .56 caliber carbines, and had a strong admirer in Abraham Lincoln. Militia muster rolls usually grouped them with Joslyns, which used the same ammunition, so their exact number cannot be determined. However, by 1867 there were about thirty Spencers and Joslyns in the Nauvoo Legion. Several are on display in Salt Lake City.
The Ballard and the Wesson rifles which began to appear on the muster rolls were single-shot arms. They became a favorite rifle during the 1860-1900 period, because they could be chambered for more powerful cartridges than any of the repeating rifles.
The popularity of the new arms can be seen in a single militia record. The muster roll for the Pauvan Military District, 2d Cavalry, shows the following for August 1866: twenty-two Spencer/Joslyn, one Henry, ten Wesson/Ballard, nineteen Sharps, twelve yaugers, and sixty revolvers for a force of sixty-seven men. Most notable is that most of the muskets and yaugers had been replaced.
In the 1860s theDeseret News published information on tests of experimental and military weapons. Often, three or more full columns were devoted to these arms. Even though these guns were not available in Utah, the coverage is an indication of the importance of firearms.
The completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 opened a new era in Utah. For the majority of the Mormon people the coming of the railroad placed them once more into the current of American life. The thirty years that had seen these people on many frontiers had also seen great changes in the arms that sustained them. As the frontier conditions passed so did the need for those arms that for so long had meant law and survival.
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