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"I'd Rather Have Some Roasting Ears": The Peregrinations of George Armstrong Hicks
"I'd Rather Have Some Roasting Ears": The Peregrinations of George Armstrong Hicks
By DAVIS BITTON
It was in 1878 that George Armstrong Hicks, at age forty-three, sat down and wrote his history. From the opening sentence, he had a chip on his shoulder:" I purpose writing a history of my life, it is my priviliege [sic] to do so if I choose and I have so chosen."1 Like most personal histories, it is biased and self-serving. Yet his is a voice from an element of the population seldom heard, and it reminds us of the variety of personalities and reactions among Utah's pioneer generation. He was not one of the leaders, whose perspective often shaped the writing of history, but one of the "toilers," one of the "hewers of wood and drawers of water." 2 At least this is the way he wished to portray his life experience. On the title page of his handwritten history, he wrote the familiar lines from Thomas Gray's "ElegyWritten in a Country Churchyard":
In another sense, too, Hicks provides a valuable point of view Too often we lump the people of territorial Utah into two large categories— Mormons and gentiles—the former portrayed as all devout, the latter as vehement persecutors—or, alternatively, the former as superstitious sheep, the latter as enlightened sophisticates The reality was more interesting and more complex on both sides, for there was in fact a spectrum of gentile opinion about Mormons and a range of reactions and commitment within the Mormon community.3 Hicks is a fascinating example of a Mormon who positioned himself close to the edge, just inside or just outside the boundary.
By 1878,-when he wrote his memoirs, he had been shaped by a series of difficult experiences, as we shall see, and by then had certainly read such vitriolic versions of Mormon history as T.B.H. Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints (1873).To discern Hicks's more positive attitude of earlier years,-we have only to put the spotlight on what he says—what he stipulates, in legal jargon—even after he had become alienated
Born on January 14, 1835, as the oldest son of George Barton and Martha Ann Wilson Hicks, George Armstrong Hicks -was raised a Latter-day Saint. He did not remember his parents' conversion, -which occurred in 1837,but he must have heard of it from them It was Theodore Turley who came to the region near Toronto, Canada, and spoke "with great eloquence and power," telling the people "that God had spoken from the Heavens that these were the latter days, and that the God of Heaven was about to set up his Kingdom as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet." He also promised them that "they should know for themselves if they would ask God whether the doctrine he taught was from Heaven or of men."4 The result was that George Barton Hicks, his wife, his parents, and four of his brothers joined the Mormon church. Among the missionaries who came to the area were Almon W Babbitt, "a man of great intellectual abilities," and the prophet Joseph Smith himself, -who, preaching on the farm of William Law, "in a powerful manner bore testimony that God had sent an Angel and that the Angel had given him the book of Mormon he had translated it by the power of God."5
The Hicks family left for Jackson County, Missouri, in 1838,stopping for the summer in Georgetown, Pennsylvania, where the father obtained employment as a weaver and the mother opened a confectionary shop. Upon hearing of the expulsion of the Saints from Missouri, they continued on to Commerce (the future Nauvoo), Illinois, in November 1839 Only four years old when the family arrived in Illinois, George A. would not have remembered much, if anything, about these early peregrinations, although he did remember leaving Canada.6 He was eleven -when the family left Illinois in 1846 His retrospective account of the Nauvoo years, based on the limited understanding of a child, is tinctured -with his later disillusionment. Yet it often rings true.
The first winter in Illinois, 1839-40, the Hicks family lived in "a rude log cabin...constructed without floor or window."7 Even for Canadians accustomed to cold weather, the winter was "severe. "In 1840 Father Hicks built a better log house. The population was soaring and construction booming Orchards were planted and "fine buildings were erected." But there were two "drawbacks" to the Nauvoo location: the "chills and fever," a malaria-like sickness prevalent in the swampy area; and the economic reality that "the people had little or no capital or if they had it was not thought a safe place to invest what they did have." "It was a well known fact that no place can long survive the want of cash capital, "Hicks explains "Nauvoo soon became a hard place for the poor to make a living in."8 His experience of poverty with the others in his family was genuine enough, but his adult reflections on the importance of capital to an economy stemmed in large part, as we shall see, from later painful experiences with the poverty in Utah.
Hicks recalled schools in Nauvoo, but these -were private, not public, and the teachers had to be paid "How could a weaver farmer who worked in a brickyard for an irresponsable company (the Mormons have been very fortunate in starting irresponsable companies) pay school bills or any other bills[?]" Here recognition of the financial plight that prevented his attending school combines with a bitter editorial comment based on his later accumulated grievances about business failures In any case, Mother Hicks taught her children at home in Nauvoo George's recollections show the limitations of such schooling but also pay tribute to a valiant mother: "Ignorance is the bane of society, my mother [k]new this and she taught me and her other children lessons at her knee.... She not only taught me to read and spell, but she taught me to believe in the new faith and why it was necessary to believe in it."9
The three books in the Hicks household were the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and Parley P Pratt's Voice of Warning. Anxious to encourage young George's religious development, his mother promised to give him a copy of the Book of Mormon if he would read it. "I soon got interested in the wars betwixt the Nephites and Lamanites," he recalls, "but before I got through, the book fell into a tub of soap suds and was spoiled, so I did not read it through."10 An interest in action and adventure may be quite normal for a boy, but there is no evidence that Hicks ever returned to the Book of Mormon or developed any appreciation for its pervasive religious message.
He loved to read in Pratt's Voice of Warning, however. "I think it is one of the finest religious books I ever read," he proclaimed "It is a great pity that it is not true."11 This conclusion was not that of Hicks the boy in Nauvoo, but it was reached in the course of time. One of the compelling passages in Pratt's pamphlet described the biblical image of the little stone cut from the mountain without hands, which, rolling down, shattered the great image (Dan. 2)."I asked my mother when these things should take place," Hicks recalled. "She told me that the little stone' is the Mormon Church and that the time for breaking the 'Image' is now—in a few years. That was the faith of the whole Mormon Church and my parents were not to blame for believing it. Over thirty years have passed and gone yet the 'Image' is still standing and the 'Stone' is showing signs of decay." Hicks's expectations were brittle, but his mindset was common among the Saints of the first generation.12
One of the Nauvoo developments that most galled Hicks was polygamy Flatly rejecting the claim of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that plural marriage originated after Joseph Smith's death, Hicks gives his own testimony "I know that polygamy was in the church previous to his death," he wrote "One of P P Pratt's wives made it her home at my father's house and I know that the Apostle Pratt came and visited her several times. The name of this -woman was Elizabeth Brewerton and I know Pratt had several other wives beside her for I have been to his house and saw them and knew them well."13 Hicks, who was between the ages of eight and ten at the time, tells of Joseph Smith having the wives of several leading men sealed to him. "At least it -was so -whispered around among the people and I believe the report to be true, "he wrote, passing on the hearsay evidence but giving it his endorsement.14 Hicks pronounces polygamy "the cause"—note the definite article and singular noun—"of the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the 'rock' the church 'came near splitting upon' in the days of...Nauvoo," and a practice that "is and always was disagreeable to the female member of the church." He never had a spiritual testimony of polygamy, he writes, for "it does not bring the peace of mind that accompany the other parts of the Gospel. "He flatly rejects the claim that the number of wives, or even marriage itself, had anything to do with eternal salvation Surprisingly, considering all this, he also said, "I as an individual have no particular objections to polygamy I know the laws of nature allow the practice of it and if people of mature judgment wish to practice it I have no objections."15 Hicks in 1878 was one of many Mormons, the majority, who did not practice plural marriage but recognized its origins with Joseph Smith and could not quite bring themselves to ablanket denunciation.
Retaining a sense of loyalty to his parents, to good Mormons he admired, and perhaps even to his earlier faith, Hicks in 1878 tried to have it both ways. He portrayed early Mormonism with some nostalgia. "I have seen Joseph Smith and heard him preach," he wrote. "I believe he, in the beginning of his career was all that he claimed to be, a prophet-seer and revelator, but being mortal he could not bear success. "This is the "fallen prophet" analysis, brought forth early by those who abandoned the movement or rejected later developments but also wished to preserve their own integrity by idealizing the teachings they had originally subscribed to For Hicks, Joseph Smith was "really an eloquent preacher of the gospel, "but he had fatal character flaws. "Good and truthful men" had testified that the prophet was "occasionally seen drunk," said Hicks, passing on hearsay evidence.16 The biblical figures Noah and Lot drank wine, Hicks acknowledged, but "it was certainly no credit to either of them or any of their children after them -who make a practice of drinking to excess. "As so often in memoirs, we are served a mixture of rumor, recollection, and value judgment, the latter inextricably tangled with the attitudes of the older man of 1878,a confirmed teetotaler
"I have heard my father say that he was present at the time when it is said that the mantle of Joseph fell upon Brigham Young," Hicks wrote, implying that he himself-was not present at the crucial meeting of August 8, 1844 Surprisingly, considering the strong antipathy he had developed toward Young by 1878, he reflects the faithful believer's response to the event: "I believe it, I believe the spirit of Joseph took possession of the body of Brigham and spoke to the people through him. Brigham was the man to take the lead."17
But even with some positive statements about the first two presidents of the church, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, Hicks began accumulating grievances rather early. It was not merely that Joseph Smith partook of alcohol on occasion or married plural wives, although these practices were negative enough in Hicks's view Smith also behaved as a tyrant in excommunicating the author's uncle, John Hicks, on the basis of inaccurate and inadequate evidence;18 erred in ordering the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor; and was much too fond of political power and military display. "I never read of General Peter or Colonel Paul or Major Luke, "Hicks wrote, "but on the contrary Jesus and the Apostle taught the people to 'beat their swords into plowshears [plowshares] and their spears into pruning hooks.'... I think that the Mormon leaders -were at first faithful and honest, but as they became successful they began to be lifted up in the pride of their own hearts and to forget God."19
Indeed, Hicks goes so far as to say the Mormons brought the persecution on themselves. He joins those who charged Orrin Porter Rockwell with attempting to assassinate Governor Lilburn W. Boggs of Missouri in 1842 "I know that it was commonly talked about among the people of Nauvoo," he recalls with all the probative value of hearsay, "that Rockwell did shoot Boggs and the reason he was not killed was because Rockwell put two balls in the gun and that he shot him through a glass window."20 Harold Schindler's thorough biography admits the possibility, even likelihood, of Rock-well's role, but the evidence falls short of proof. "If Rock-well did fire the fateful shot," writes Schindler, "it would appear the decision was of his own making.... In any event, only Rockwell knew the truth of the matter, and he took that with him to the grave."21 For present purposes, the important point is Hicks's willingness to pass on rumor, believe the -worst, and draw large conclusions.
A heart-rending division in the family occurred in early 1844 when four of Hick's uncles and his aged grandmother became followers of William Law, who had come out in opposition to Joseph Smith.22 Even though his own parents remained true to Joseph Smith and subsequently to the leadership of Brigham Young, this was a family fully aware of the criticism then being circulated. George Armstrong hicks adds a personal recollection. his father had rented a farm near Nauvoo that, after the author's uncle Samuel hicks had been burned out of his place at Camp Creek, provided for the two families. One night a fat hog was stolen. "The next day my father and uncle tracked the parties to Nauvoo but they did not recover the pork." Many chickens were also stolen from the Hicks farm. "I presume that many in Nauvoo thought that because my father's folks had most of them left the church and we were living on land that belonged to a gentile, we were no better than apostates and it was no harm to rob us before we followed the Laws to Wisconsin."23 Young George Hicks was about ten at the time.
Leaving Nauvoo with the body of the Saints in 1846, Father Hicks sold for four dollars two log houses, one of them filled with wheat. In a borrowed wagon, the family crossed the Mississippi River and started moving westward across Iowa George A Hicks considered the expulsion of the Saints from Nauvoo cruel, and most observers would agree that the persecutors showed little mercy But by 1878, if not before, Hicks blamed the Mormons "If the Mormons had have punished offenders among themselves and have used due diligence to assist officers of the law to catch all who were transgressors against the law we might have been living in Hancock County today and have been at peace with all mankind, but it was otherwise to be."24
During the next eight years, the Hicks family lived either in Iowa or Nebraska. In Bonaparte, Iowa, Father Hicks found employment. When he was stricken with cholera, a physician named Dr. Wyman came seven times and ministered to the patient until he began to recover. When asked how much the bill was, Wyman responded, "Hicks, if you will haul me a damned good load of wood I will be satisfied." Although the doctor called himself an infidel, or unbeliever, young George considered him a Christian, "for he 'visited the sick' and 'did unto others as he would have had them do unto him.' His heart was warm and kind he knew how to sympathize with the poor and he felt it was his duty to administer to their sufferings. I am sorry there is not more such 'infidels' in the world."25 By the time he was writing this account, George Hicks took some pride in being known as an infidel26 and, looking back, praised those who seemed most like himself.
Characteristically double-minded, Hicks also recalled the intense idealism and spiritual gifts of Mormonism in its early years. Recalling his parents' conversion, he wrote:
While not denying the healings he had witnessed, the Hicks of 1878 gives a naturalistic explanation:
In other words, the healings were genuine, but they had nothing to do with the Mormon priesthood. "It is evident that the priesthood idea has been taken from the Jews, and the heathen nations around them, "he wrote "Jesus denounced the priests of the Jews in the powerful language and in my opinion all men -who claim any priesthood from God are nothing but impostures."29 Such a rejection of the very idea of priesthood authority reflects the bitterness of Hicks's disappointments by 1878, not his attitude in 1847
Moving to the area of Council Bluffs, Iowa, in June 1847, the Hicks family prospered for about five years. Young George was afflicted with "fever and ague" each year for a number of-weeks These -were his teenage years He remembered social gatherings during the winter, dancing, and "religious exercises. "The Latter-day Saints, he writes, were "full of brotherly love and faith in the future, triumphing of the gospel dispensation." On two different occasions he began school with a teacher but, frustrated by illness, did not continue for more than a few weeks His father brought him "a great many books of romance" to read. He particularly enjoyed the Life of David Crockett.30 Unlike Ignatius Loyola, whose reading three centuries earlier of religious books in the absence of the romances he would have preferred played a crucial part in his conversion experience, Hicks eschewed religious reading in favor of romance and adventure.
Finally, in 1852, the Hicks family joined a wagon train and started for Utah It was not apleasant trip. Thirteen of the company died of cholera "I often saw the ordinance of laying on hands tried to no purpose," Hicks wrote. Buffalo meat was a staple for much of the journey, and young George, now seventeen years old, killed one of the animals himself. Even though he remained convinced that leaving Nauvoo was entirely unnecessary, Hicks allowed some of the optimistic feelings of the time to show through:
In these few lines we find a complex mix: recollections of the buoyant spirit of the gathering and of predictions about the United States; a boastful claim that the prophecy had been fulfilled; and, with a quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet (act 5,sc.2,line 10),a reluctant, tentative acknowledgment of divine guidance of the Mormon westward movement.
In Utah, the Hicks family temporarily camped in the Big Field, a common grazing area, in Salt Lake City Then, after the October church conference of 1852,they made their -way to a new settlement called Palmyra just then being established on the Spanish Fork River. They lived that -winter in a dugout, "made by digging a celler or hole in the ground and putting a roof of willows and earth over it and then making a fireplace inside."32 Most importantly for young George, they met the Henry Bryant Jolley family Elizabeth Jolley was fifteen. During the winter months George and Elizabeth attended school. A frontier Abelard and Eloise, they had a hard time keeping their minds on their class-work. "I fear there -was more love making than studying of books, "he wrote, "for young lovers make bad students of books."33 They attended balls and parties together and the next spring were married. He had just turned eighteen.
Writing in 1878, Hicks characteristically idealized the earlier phases of church history in contrast to the deplorable state of affairs later on. For him, fervor and faith characterized the new converts in Canada, the Saints in the vicinity of Winter Quarters, and the impoverished settlers in Utah County. The dances were a time of fun and laughter. The religious meetings were filled with the spirit of testimony. "Many a man and woman I have hear[d] say they knew this church to be the work of God for God had revealed it to them," Hicks wrote "I have often heard them speak with 'new tounges' and prophecy of things that would yet come to pass. The church was full of the 'first love' and the spirit which prom[p]ted them to leave their homes was notyetdead."34
Continuing his description of life in early Palmyra, Hicks describes clashes with the Indians, mixing factual narration with ridicule Brigham Young had described the Indians as "the Lord's battle axe," but, Hicks writes, "it seemed that the Devil generally got the handle in his own hands and turned the edge the wrong way which was construed by our leaders to a whip to scourge us into obedience to the will of God (Brigham Young)."35 Hicks participated with the militia in several campaigns, acted as interpreter in the negotiations, and smoked the peace pipe with one group of Indian leaders.36
In the spring of 1854 "a shower of grasshoppers" descended on the crops In 1855 the millions of eggs deposited the previous year hatched, and most of the grain was destroyed. "The 'hoppers' ate all that was green on the Spanish [Fork] River bottom except some large boxelder trees and on the benches near the river there was not a green thing to be seen. "The cynical Hicks of1878 could not resist getting off a jab:
The year 1856 brought a series of body blows to the faith of George A Hicks First, when it became apparent that irrigation caused alkali to rise to the surface and destroy the crops, Brigham Young told the people of Palmyra their settlement was poorly located and instructed them to move to Spanish Fork.38 Hicks did not challenge the rightness of this decision but did blame "the 'inspired' idiots" responsible for the original site selection "The city of Palmyra -was located by George A Smith," he -wrote, "and -we went to work in full faith under his instructions and we labored hard for three years before our leaders found out -we -were in the wrong place. "When Smith, speaking in the school house, had promised the settlers that "eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the greatness that is in store for the citizens of Palmyra," Hicks "thanked God that -we had an inspired priesthood that could tell us the future while the gentiles had to grovel in darkness."39 Of course, the fond hopes were not realized Those who had listened to "the 'inspired' raving of the 'man of God' had the 'satisfaction' of losing all their buildings for water began to raise in the cellars of the houses and we must move and lose nearly two years work. I lost a house that cost me $300 in hard labor and I never lived in it an hour."40 His respect for the church leaders was crumbling.
Of great weight in influencing his attitude -was the tragedy of the 1856 handcart companies Of these he mentions only the Martin Company, which, along with the Willie Company, experienced the worst suffering "Their leaders prophesied that the Lord would turn the storms to the right hand and the left and that they should be brought through the mountains like the children of Israel were brought through the Red Sea," Hicks wrote Because of a late departure and an unusually early onset of winter, however, the Martin Company ended disastrously, with many deaths and much suffering Ignoring extenuating circumstances or the unpredictable features of the 1856 crossings, Hicks, writing twenty-two years later, is unforgiving in his commentary on the handcart companies: "It was said that they were kept there in order to make money out of them I think B Young wished to try an experiment on human indurance [sic] and he did."41
It was the handcart tragedies more than anything else, he explains, that had the effect of"completely revolutionizing" his mind:
In Hicks's version of the traditional problem of evil, God had simply not come through in the clutches.
Already stewing with resentment, Hicks was further distressed by the Mormon Reformation of 1856-57, a revival movement that he described as "the cause of a great deal of evil and no doubt some little good. "Writing in 1878,he portrays Brigham Young as a power-hungry "atheist" who used the revival "to crush out all vestage of free thought and selfhood."43 But during the 1850s Hicks drank in the fervent preaching and even had a spiritual experience himself. At a testimony meeting where someone spoke in tongues and another person gave the interpretation, he was the next speaker.
The Hicks of 1878, unsure of the source of the power he then felt, announced that there was "a strong similarity between all religious revivals," and "man has made the distinction in all churches."45 Yet he remained a believer in spiritual things. He had witnessed many examples of speaking in tongues and interpretation. In fact, he had an experience that convinced him of the validity of this spiritual gift:
During the 1850s, in other words, young Hicks joined in the fervor but, writing some twenty years later, had second thoughts and tried to "explain away" his earlier reactions In describing the reformation, Hicks's favorite word was "fanatical," but, admitting that he himself partook of the spirit to some extent, he explained, "I am only human."47
Looking back, he was particularly troubled by three ideas associated with the preaching of 1856-57. First, he recalled, the claim that Adam was a God was preached vigorously. In his unflattering description of the doctrine, it melded naturally into the notion of possible deification of humans. "It was surprising how eagerly these fanatics grasped the idea, [that] we were all gods in embryo. "And the doctrine was used by some to support giving a kind of "divine" status to church leaders. "Father Adam was the great God of this world," said one Mormon enthusiast in Hicks's recalled version. "[H]e (Adam) was Jesus Christ's God and Jesus is Br. Joseph Smith's God and Br. Joseph is brother Brigham's God and Br. Brigham is Bishop John T. Butler's God and John T Butler is your God do you hear it breathren?" About half of the Mormon people did not believe these doctrines, Hicks estimated, "but people dare not get up and dispute them for who knows who is God or where he dwells."48
Second, polygamy was pushed to the extent that some teachers considered it "the most prominent point of their faith."49 Hicks had already described in negative terms the practice in Nauvoo Now he accumulated additional horror stories. Besieged "by men old enough to be their fathers," girls as young as thirteen -were sealed to men "three times their own age." Combined with the vigorous promulgation of plural marriage, he writes, was the granting of easy divorces. "I have heard it said," he writes while admitting his inability to confirm the rumor, "that during the two years while the 'Reformation' -was raging that there were 1,500 marriages in Utah and that the year after there were 1,700 divorces given by B. Young to dissatisfied parties." Not more than a tenth of the reformation plural marriages were still intact a year later, Hicks claims. The ten-dollar charge for a certificate of divorce must have been "a very lucrative business" for Brigham Young, Hicks thought, remembering what he paid to get such a document for his sister "O for Shame that men will suffer the love of gold to canker their souls that the[y] will take advantage of the ignorant to get gain."50 Despite these negative reactions, Hicks continued to admire some of those who practiced polygamy, including his father-in-law and his bishop in early Palmyra, Stephen Markham.51
Third, in Hicks's view, the doctrine of blood atonement—that certain sins were of sufficient gravity to require the shedding of one's own lifeblood—was used to justify the killing of apostates and enemies of the church He cites examples of extreme preaching during the Mormon Reformation.52 Against the backdrop of this heated rhetoric, unsolved murders could easily be charged to the Mormons, and Hicks joins in the chorus: "Many were the victims that fell by the hand of the destroyer, but not one in Spanish Fork City My wife and myself both saw the blood of the Parrishes at Springville two days after the murders Those were truly peralous times such as only fanatics know how to bring on a country."53 In a more sweeping allegation, he writes, "With the single exception of Spanish Fork City, I do not know a city that had an existence in Utah that has not shed the blood of from one to many victims."54 It is surely not quibbling to imagine Hicks on the -witness stand being asked the basis for his knowledge of all these cities and perhaps being asked -whether he included legal executions in his calculations. Mormons have insisted that blood atonement, by necessity a voluntary action, was never carried out in practice.55 But from the late 1850s on, anti-Mormons developed a series of indictments used over and over again when denouncing Mormonism. The concept of blood atonement, imperfectly understood, was especially calculated to arouse horror and indignation Critical of the preaching rhetoric of some church leaders during the 1850s,Hicks was drawn into another rhetorical network by 1878,that of the anti-Mormons.
Even before the Utah War of 1857-58,therefore, Hicks had accumulated several grievances. But that conflict—a series of episodes that in retrospect seem at times to be from a Gilbert and Sullivan farce—did nothing to reinforce his faith.56 In faraway England, these events caused the mind of Mormon intellectual Edward Tullidge to undergo "radical changes."57 In Utah, Hicks went through a similar transition, butonly as the events played themselves out. At first, he enthusiastically supported the effort of the Mormons to defend themselves against a perceived federal invasion—the 2,500 troops sent to Utah to protect and support a newly appointed territorial governor. Hicks's locality sent a company of militia to man the breastworks in Echo Canyon."I for one though very anxious to go out was not permit[t]ed to go because others were in better circumstances to fit themselves out. I furnished a gun and ammunition to go. As the company started away we all gave three cheers for God and liberty."58 That was in 1857.Writing in 1878,theolder Hicks was cynical:
Confident that the church leaders of 1857-58 were fanatics and fools, the Republican Hicks of1878 had his explanation
During the Utah War, the lamentable Mountain Meadows Massacre took place—the killing by some Mormons and Indians of most members of an overland company passing through the territory. Hicks was not an eyewitness, and his version of the event -was obviously colored by later experiences. But he -writes the following about a company that passed briefly through Spanish Fork about the same time as the ill-fated Fancher train:
He appears to be a -witness against the charge that the Mormons had viciously refused food needed by the train, but he confused the Dukes and the Fancher companies. Others may have done so as well, for the Dukes company, like the Fancher party, was made up largely of people from Missouri andArkansas.51
Totally incompetent as a witness to the massacre itself—he was nowhere near the scene—Hicks characteristically blamed the church authorities, specifically Brigham Young It was Young, he charged, who sent the settlers to Dixie, started "cooperation" in order to collect more tithing, and even recommended the Cotswold breed of sheep, -which turned out badly for their owners. This "devil" theory had become Hicks's convenient explanation by 1878 but, so far as we can tell, was not his stated belief in the 1850s Already festering, his defiant reaction to the church took decisive shape in the 1860s.62
In 1861,three years after the conclusion of the Utah War, Hicks moved with his family to Pond Town (Salem) in Utah County, where his father-in-law, Henry Bryant Jolley, was bishop. Still devout, Hicks hoped to obtain a recommend so that his marriage could be sealed in the Endowment House Before this could occur, however, Hicks was among those called in 1861 to settle in southern Utah—the Dixie Mission. Bishop Jolley and all his sons and sons-in-law were included in the assignment. Selling his property for about half what he had paid for it a few months earlier, Hicks joined the Jolley company and moved south in late November Betraying a negative attitude, he describes himself as having a "heavy heart" even before starting.63
The journey south-ward was no picnic. Driving cattle and sheep, the company finally reached Black Ridge and camped for the night. Unfortunately, an unusual storm brought some two feet of snow accompanied by a terrible wind of gale proportions. The draft animals wandered from camp and were not found until more than a week later. Although invited by nearby residents to settle in Harmony, Bishop Jolley insisted on carrying out his instructions "to the very letter." So they made their way southward to Washington. The ground was "dry and dusty," -wrote Hicks. "We -were at the end of our journey in a sickly and barren land with very little to go upon."64
In 1864, Hicks wrote "Once I Lived in Cottonwood," which he called "A Ballad of Our Dixie," a lyric intended to be sung to the tune of "Georgia Volunteer." In twelve stanzas, he recounts the call to settle Dixie, the miserable journey, and his disappointment with his new location. Four stanzas convey the main idea and emotion:
Although some leaders objected to its negativism, the song became popular in the settlements of southern Utah. "If the authorities feared the song would breed discontent among the hungry settlers of Dixie," writes Andrew Karl Larson, "they were mistaken It gave them a chance to face their troubles and laugh at them." In Larson's view the poem was "good-humored, hilarious cynicism" and "good-natured raillery."66
In the small settlement of Washington, Hicks was able to acquire a lot on which he erected a "brush wickup." Here a baby James W, was born to Betsy Already resenting the call that had brought him to a desolate location, Hicks now accumulated additional grievances. Apostle Erastus Snow, leader of the colonization effort, refused a request for flour, saying he could not feed everyone, and advised the settlers to plant "all the cane and cotton we could possibly manage." When the market for these crops turned out to be poor, Hicks of course blamed Snow. "I think there is no set of men except lightning rod Agents and commercial Drummers," he wrote, "that have the cheek of Mormon Apostles."67 When Brigham Young tried to improve the situation by constructing a cotton factory, Hicks admitted that the factory provided employment and "proved a great benefit to the poor of Washington County," but he complained about the quality and price of its product.68
Discouraged, Hicks then moved to Harmony, where Bishop Jolley had established himself. Again Hicks built a wickiup but it accidentally burned down Hiring out as a laborer to grub sage, he got some corn in return He planted four acres of corn, potatoes, sorghum, and other vegetables, but a cow broke through the fence, and a herd of sheep proceeded to "waste" the crops. Living on the edge of starvation, Hicks had no choice but to hire out as a laborer to better-established settlers, who, in his view, underpaid him and took advantage of him When Brigham Young encouraged the establishment of cooperatives—part of a program intended to assist the entire territory to be more self-sufficient—Hicks was confident that the motivation was greed, as the church could collect tithing more efficiently "It is my opinion," wrote Hicks, "that Brigham Young -worshiped no God but gold[,] that he would sacrifice friends, honor, fame and every thing over which he had any control for to increase his earthly wealth."69
President of the Mormon branch at Harmony -was none other than John D Lee, later executed for his role in the Mountain Meadows Massacre Although he admitted that Lee was "a good farmer and stock raiser" and even an eloquent speaker, Hicks clearly had no respect for his ecclesiastical leader He accused Lee of misquoting scriptures, he laughed at his faith promoting stories, and he branded Lee as a swindler, a liar, a sensual brute, and a hypocrite When Brigham Young, journeying southward on one of his tours through the settlements, stayed overnight with Lee—Lee was Young's son by adoption—Hicks was incensed.70
Hicks confronted Lee in meetings, tried to block Lee from obtaining a recommend for a plural marriage, and tried to prevent Lee from preaching. In an 1866 sermon Brigham Young deplored the horrible 1857 massacre, comparing it to the earlier massacre of a group of Mormons at Haun's Mill in Missouri.71 Attempting to defend himself, Lee said in a speech in Harmony that Young did not really mean what he said but was merely trying to mollify critics. Indignant, Hicks sat down in "an overflow of zeal" and wrote a letter to President Young, reporting Lee's comments and demanding that Lee be excommunicated from the church "for slandering him." Not appreciating this advice, Brigham Young replied that the massacre "was none of my business.... that any one reading my letter to him -would conclude that I myself had taken a part in the massacre and if so he would advise me to take a dose of rope around my neck 'with a jerk.'"72 That settled it for Hicks. He now became firmly convinced that Brigham Young had given the counsel that caused the massacre. The later conviction and execution of John D. Lee did not change his mind. Hicks of course did not have access to the honest scholarship of Juanita Brooks, which attributes the tragic event to wartime psychology, bellicose preaching, and headstrong local leaders but exonerates Brigham Young from direct responsibility.
We should take Hicks's telescoped account of this whole matter with some reservations His original letter to Brigham Young, dated October 11, 1867, mentions Young's sermon, reports Lee's statement that the sermon was "to blind the eyes of the Gentiles and to Satisfy a few individuals," and demands that the church president write back to Hicks and tell him "the real intentions which prom[p]ted you. "Then comes an incredible sentence: "If you are in favor of the Mountain meadows massacre I -would like to know it if you are."74 Not surprisingly, no answer was forthcoming to this insolent letter. Young had said what he wanted to in the sermon: he was horrified at the massacre and other such acts of violence, and those-who accused him of ordering it were "liars in the face of heaven." More than a year later, on December 4, 1868, some two-years after the Brigham Young sermon, Hicks wrote a second, longer letter that essentially demands the excommunication of John D.Lee.75 While complaining ofhis treatment in Harmony, Hicks describes rather clearly his own behavior that others found offensive. He carried a copy ofYoung's sermon in his pocket and read it to "a great many people." He learned a song that opened with the following -words:
Enjoying its shock value, he sang this song over and over again to anyone who would listen.When advised to desist, he continued both reading the sermon aloud and singing the provocative song. It requires little imagination to recognize that Hicks made himself a nuisance to hischurch leaders and others in thesmall community.
In 1868 John D Lee charged Hicks with fabricating a letter and ordered him out of Harmony Emma Lee, John D.'s strong-willed plural wife, called Hicks "a poor sneaking, pusillanimous pup, and always meddling in other men's matters," and she warned him that "he had better sing low and keep out of her path or she would put a load of salt in his backside." Hicks responded by charging Emma Lee with un-Christianlike conduct At a bishop's trial, Bishop James Pace concluded that both Hicks and Emma Lee -were wrong and should be rebaptized Always spirited, Emma responded by demanding that Pace perform the ceremony: "Seeing that you are so inconsiderate as to require a woman to be immersed when the water is full of snow and ice, and that, too, for defending the rights of her husband, you should pay a little of the penalty for making such a decision and perhaps if your backside gets wet in the ice water, you will be more careful how you decide again."77 Neither Emma Leenor George Hicks was rebaptized.
It was in early 1869that Brigham Young sent a response to the second Hicks letter.78 It is not quite the curt, dismissive document that Hicks describes in his memoir. Young explains that he had offered assistance to Governor Cumming to "thoroughly investigate that matter, but he [Cumming] declined to take any action. This offer I have made time and again, but it has never been accepted. "Young describes the massacre as "the horrible deed." He is confident that "the perpetrators of that tragedy will meet their reward. God will judge this matter and on that assurance I rest perfectly satisfied." If Hicks has evidence, he should take it to the proper authorities: "There are courts of law and officers in the Territory, appeal to them, they would be happy to attend to your case. "The advice that Hicks put a rope around his own neck is based on Hicks's claim that "the bloody scene passes before my mind day and night." To Young, this sounded like the guilty mind of a participant. "In such a case, if you -want a remedy— rope around the neck taken with a jerk would be very salutary. "There are two "ifs" in this recommendation: if Hicks were guilty ("in such a case"), and if he wanted a remedy. If he were innocent, on the other hand, Hicks could safely assume that the perpetrators would meet their reward.
Hicks must have had some friends and admirers, for on Independence Day 1869 he was named orator. But, dissatisfied -with the letter he had received, he was already publicly denouncing Brigham Young, accusing the church president of being "led by Green backs & not by the Spirit of the Lord." John D Lee refused to join in the celebration. He would not, he said, strike hands "with the Enemies of this Kingdom, neither Make Merry with those who defamed the Character of the Prophet Brigham." In the eyes of Lee, the bishop,"& many others -who love order & Brigham & the Kingdom," Hicks was an "apostate."79
In 1871,along with his parents-in-law, Hicks moved to Mount Carmel. Then in 1876 he moved with his family to Clinton in Spanish Fork Canyon. Later he moved into Spanish Fork. Brigham Young died in 1877, and the following year Hicks, still nursing grievances, began -writing his history, obviously a therapeutic exercise allowing him to release some of his pent-up bile
In 1885 Hicks mourned the death of his father. Of George Barton Hicks, William Creer, mayor of Spanish Fork, wrote:
George A. Hicks loved and admired his father but cannot be said to have emulated all of his qualities
If George A Hicks had been able to hunker down and bide his time, he might gradually have found things more to his liking. The leaders he most resented had died. He was in more comfortable circumstances. The Woodruff Manifesto of 1890 would officially end polygamy The establishment of the national political parties in Utah would mix up Mormons and gentiles, inevitably breaking down some of the old antagonism. Strongly attached to the Republican party, Hicks would find himself in alliance with church leaders like Joseph F. Smith and, later, Reed Smoot.
But a peaceful denouement was not in the cards until much later Hicks could still not refrain from telling the church leaders what they should do and coloring his advice with derisive comments. Sometime in the 1880s he sent a letter to Bishop G.D. Snell in Spanish Fork declaring that the church should give up polygamy The advice -was considered gratuitous if not insulting, for many polygamists -were suffering exile and imprisonment following the Edmunds Act of 1882. Hicks was cut off from the church. The excommunication was arguably invalid, for the bishop apparently did not follow standard procedure and the action was not recorded. Lacking Bishop Snell's testimony, we should probably suspend judgment, although it is worth noting that Hicks went public with his opposition by writing a play in 1886 entitled Celestial Marriage, its point of view expressed in an epigram by Thomas Moore:
In any organization having an official philosophy and program, the limits of dissent have to be determined. One might argue that, despite contrary allegations, Mormonism had allowed considerable latitude among its members
The Hicks who had denounced his branch president and Brigham Young was allowed, if he wished, to remain within the Mormon fold. But, as always, there are limits. His bishop might have tolerated private grumbling, but to raise the flag of opposition in this way could be seen as evidence of fundamental disloyalty For the next forty years Hicks lived under the impression that he had been cut off, as he put it, "for taking a stand against Polygamy and in favor of National Law."82
Hicks deplored what he considered mistreatment of apostates In his view, even William and Wilson Law, whose actions in Nauvoo led directly to the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, were unfairly treated. "A man's a man for a' that and a' that," he -wrote, quoting a popular line from Robert Burns.83 One wonders whether during this time of discontent loyalty to his parents and parents-in-law came into play, whether he ever spoke out in defense of the church against its enemies, or whether there were tugs and pulls from his wife and children.
Hicks himself was not ostracized With the establishment of the national political parties in Utah in the 1890s, Hicks became a staunch Republican and was unanimously elected chair of at least one party rally in Spanish Fork. "Protection as taught by Republicans is the only correct form of Human Government," he asserted.84 As the years went by, he taught school for four terms and served as postmaster He was a justice of the peace and a school trustee. He wrote articles for newspapers, chatted with visiting professors, and even gave a guest lecture at Brigham Young University. In 1913, at age seventyeight, he -wrote a history of early Spanish Fork reflecting his point of view as a participant in its early history.85
In the 1920s, if not before, he became more mellow. His beloved wife and companion, Betsy, died in 1922 Although no record could be found of his excommunication, Hicks -was again baptized on May 5, 1923. Senator (and Apostle) Reed Smoot played a key role and may have taken the initiative, although the First Presidency was in full support of the action On June 25, 1923, at the Hotel Utah in Salt Lake City, Smoot "reconfirmed on George A. Hicks all his former blessings together with the restoration to him of the [priesthood] position of seventy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."86 On March 24,1924, he was sealed to Betsy by proxy in the Salt Lake Temple The next year he -was ordained a high priest in the LDS church, and on June 30, 1926, he died—but not before talking to a granddaughter and signing, in his shaky hand, the following statement: "He has always been a firm believer in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."87
What did his "return" to the church really mean to him? Had the love and respect for his parents continued to -work in his mind? Had Betsy or other family members expressed a desire for the temple ceremonies that represent the fulness of blessings for Mormons? With the passage of time, as his early poverty slipped farther and farther down the stream of time and as some of those he blamed died away, did Hicks ever doubt his doubts? In the absence of a complete soulbaring statement from him, perhaps the deed should speak for itself: he had sufficient attachment to his Mormonism that he -wished to be within the fold at the end of his life, and if he and his beloved wife could be together eternally he did not -wish any inaction on his part to stand in the way. 88 In 1924, at the age of eighty-nine, he wrote a hymn entitled "My Sovereign Lord, "the first stanza of which reads:
These are not the sentiments of an infidel. In some sense, he had retained a Christian faith ("This gracious Lord is mine / He gave his life for me. ..") and was able to pen lines of pious devotion.89
On the other hand, on his headstone under the words "George A. Hicks—Poet and Moralist" is the following inscription:
Neither Christianity nor Mormonism is specifically expressed in this broad statement, but it does not pretend to state his entire position.90
One way of reading the Hicks 1878narrative, of course, is to take it as an objective account of the way things were. Such a reading will be tempting to those with a certain mindset, for instead of a varnished, faith-promoting version of early Mormon history, we are given a cynical, naturalistic interpretation. However, some observations are in order.
First, for a number of years Hicks was a faultfinder, a complainer, a blamer. There is no denying the heavy cost to him—economically, psychologically, spiritually—of being called to settle in Salem and later to migrate southward to the Dixie Mission. It is not unimportant to be reminded of the human cost paid by many foot soldiers of Mormonism, too often forgotten when the focus is entirely on top-level leaders.91 But others going through the same experiences as Hicks reacted differently. Rather than stewing and fuming, nursing a sense of victimhood, fueling their bitterness by griping sessions with other malcontents, they maintained a different perspective, a different spirit While Hicks was outraged over the handcart companies, many survivors who actually endured the experience thanked God and continued faithful.92 A different look at the hardships of the Dixie mission is provided by the detailed journal of another ordinary Mormon, Charles L Walker, who was also beset with poverty but never wavered in his faith.93
Second, not only do individuals differ in their interpretation of events but also their attitudes often change It would be interesting to follow the mutations of Hicks's thinking in the 1880s, 1890s, and the early twentieth century, but unfortunately we do not have an introspective diary covering his adult life. Nevertheless, we have been able to discern at least three George A. Hickses—the enthusiast and believer, the cynical author of a memoir in 1878, and the humble devotee of the 1920s
Actually, George A. Hicks was not of one mind even when he wrote in 1878. Rather enjoying the label "infidel," he did not want to be seen as having gone off the deep end.
This is essentially deism with a Mormon residue of graded salvation and eternal progression. Like other despisers of religion, Hicks in 1878 preferred naturalistic explanations and was fond of the notion of cause and effect One wonders whether he ever reflected on cause-effect relationships in the moral, psychological, and social world Did he think that outspoken denunciation of his leaders, including slurs against their character, would enhance affection and a desire to include him? Perhaps those he criticized, at times to their face, deserved censure More likely, there were two sides to each of these mini-dramas, and a young smart-aleck who, with partial information, showed a consistent tendency to grouse and murmur was labeled a troublemaker In any setting of group interaction his self-appointed status as carping critic -would produce similar results
However we feel about him—whether we admire him as a hero, pity him as one who failed to support the cause, or empathize with him as a fellow human being who, given his own experiences and body chemistry, did his best—all can recognize George Armstrong Hicks as a spokesman for a usually mute subset of the Mormon population. Some of them permanently left the fold, some few became shrill antagonists, some lapsed and lived quietly in relative "inactivity." And some, like Hicks, belatedly returned to the faith that had once motivated and nourished them.
NOTES
Davis Bitton is emeritus professor of history,University of Utah His most recent book, George Q Cannon: A Biography, recently won the Evans Biography Award
1 I have examined the original, handwritten version of this history in the possession of a grandson, the lateJ.Will Lewis,abound volume of numbered, lined pages,measuring 12 x 7.25 inches (30.5 x 18.4 cm), written in a legible, firm hand The typed transcription, prepared byThurma Sellers and Nina Zabriskie, fifth-generation granddaughters, Family Record and History of George Armstrong Hicks (privately printed: KerryJ Zabriskie, 1995),is conscientious, although choices inevitably had to be made,and one might take issue with some of the editors'readings Although he seldom used paragraph divisions to break up his narrative and was guilty of spelling and punctuation lapses, Hicks wrote vividly and with confidence. One imagines that, had he lived to see his history published, he would have had someone make the necessary corrections
2 Family Record and History of George Armstrong Hicks [hereafter simply Hicks],2
3 Orson F.Whitney, as cited approvingly in O N Malmquist, The First 100 Years: A History of the Salt LakeTribune, 1871-1971 (Salt Lake City:Utah State Historical Society, 1971),73;Jan Shipps,"Beyond the Stereotypes: Mormon and Non-Mormon Communities in Twentieth-Century Mormondom," in Davis Bitton and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, eds., New Views of Mormon History:A Collection of Essays in Honor of Leonard J. Arrington (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1987), 342-60 An earlier description of Mormons who did not fit the pious mold was A. C. Lambert, The Practical Realist among the Mormons: A Private Notebook (Salt Lake City:privately reproduced, 1966) "Mormons" refers to members of the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
4 Hicks, 4 Where my reading of the original is different, usually in giving Hicks the benefit of the doubt, I have made alterations in his favor and have sometimes added a full stop,or period, at the end of a sentence Since substantive issues are never involved, it seems unnecessarily punctilious to pepper the quotations with the Latin sic. Sometimes I have used this term, but usually misspellings are simply reproduced from the original
5 Richard E. Bennett, '"Plucking Not Planting': Mormonism in Eastern Canada, 1830-1850," in BrighamY Card et al., eds., The Mormon Presence in Canada (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1990), 19-34
6 Hicks,9
7 Ibid., 6
8 The precarious nature of Nauvoo's cash-poor economy has been described in Robert B Flanders, Nauvoo: Kingdom on the Mississippi (Urbana:University of Illinois Press, 1965)
9 Hicks, 6
!0 Ibid., 6-7
11 Hicks, 7 Parley P Pratt, A Voice of Warning (New York: Sandford, 1837) Editions were also brought out in 1839,1841,1842, and 1844
12 David J Whittaker, "The Book of Daniel in Early Mormon Thought," in By Study and also by Faith, ed by John Lundquist and Stephen Ricks, 2 vols (Salt Lake City: FARMS and Deseret Book, 1990), 1:155-201; Richard Lloyd Anderson, "Joseph Smith and the Millenarian Time Table," BYU Studies 3 (1961): 55-66; Grant Underwood, "Millenarianism in the Early Mormon Mind,"Journal of Mormon History 9 (1982):41-51; and Dan Erickson, As a Thief in the Night: The Mormon Quest for Millennial Deliverance (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998)
13 Hicks, 8
14 On Joseph Smith's marriages see Lawrence Foster, Religion and Sexuality:The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984);andTodd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives ofJoseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997) Reservations about Compton's work are expressed by Richard LloydAnderson, Scott H Faulring,and DanelW Bachman in Farms Review of Books 10 (1998):67-137
15 Hicks,9.
16 Ibid., 10 Cf LaMar Petersen, Hearts Made Glad: The Chargesof Intemperance against Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet (Salt Lake City:privately published, 1975)
17 Hicks, 11.On this whole question, see Richard S.VanWagoner, "The Making of a Mormon Myth: The 1844 Transfiguration of Brigham Young," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 25 (Winter 1995); Reid L Harper, "The Mantle of Joseph: Creation of a Mormon Miracle," Journal of Mormon History 22 (Fall 1996): 35-71; and Lynn Watkins Jorgenson, "The Mantle of the Prophet Joseph Passes to Brother Brigham and theTwelveApostles:A Collective SpiritualWitness," BYU Studies 36 (1996-97): 125-204 In Jorgenson's terminology, Hicks would be asecondhand witness
18 Hicks, 10-11
19 Ibid., 10
20 Ibid., 11-12
21 Harold Schindler, Orrin Porter Rockwell: Man of God, Son of Thunder (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press,1(
22 LyndonW Cook,"William Law,Nauvoo Dissenter," BYU Studies 22 (Winter 1982):49-72 Compare Law's earlier attitude in Lyndon W Cook, ed., '"Brother Joseph IsTruly aWonderful Man, He Is All We CouldWish aProphet to Be':Pre-1844 Letters ofWilliam Law," BYU Studies 20 (Winter 1980):207-18
23 Hicks, 12 Cf KennethW Godfrey, "Crime and Punishment in Mormon Nauvoo, 1839-1846," BYU Studies 32 (Winter-Spring 1992): 195-227
24 Hicks, 12
25 Ibid., 13
26 Ibid., 42
27 Ibid., 4
28 Ibid., 37-38
29 Ibid., 38
30 Ibid., 16
31 Ibid
32 Ibid., 20 Cf Elisha Warner, The History of Spanish Fork (Spanish Fork, UT: Press Publishing Company, 1930),34-50
33 Ibid "I was a student in the school of Mr [Silas] Hillman, and graduated at the end of the first quarter with 'high honors'being able to read in theTestament or the Book of Mormon without making many mistakes in the Pronounciation [sic] of words; with a very limited knowledge of arithmetic and none whatever of grammar or history"; George A Hicks, "History of Spanish Fork," 4, typescript, Special Collections, Harold B Lee Library,BrighamYoung University This history was dated byitsauthor on June 13,1913
34 Hicks,21
35 Ibid.,28.
36 By 1913 hewas able togive some credit toBrighamYoung forurging thesetders to construct a fort Hicks,"History ofSpanish Fork."
37 Hicks, 29 Cf Davis Bitton andLinda P.Wilcox, "Pestiferous Ironclads:The Grasshopper Problem in Pioneer Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly 46(Fall 1978):335-55
38 Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Publishing Co., 1941),631
39 Hicks, 20-21. "Apostle Smith made wonderful predictions in regard to the future and greatness of Palmyra, which, to put it mildly, never materialized"; Hicks, "History of Spanish Fork." On George A Smith, with recognition that he sometimes lacked sensitivity as a leader, see Merlo J Pusey, Builders of the Kingdom: George A.Smith, John Henry Smith, George Albert Smith (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1981),80-85
40 Hicks, 21 In 1913 he wrote more fully of the sandy loam that made Palmyra undesirable for farming, the efforts of the settlers to obtain permission to relocate, George A Smith's adamant refusal, and BrighamYoung's wise approval "Four long trying years we worked there under trying circumstances All the improvements we had made in those four years in the form of homes was a total loss, and all because we had listened to bad advice.The writer of this essay had just finished putting on the roof of a house in the fort when the counsel came from headquarters to leave Palmyra That house cost two hundred and fifty dollars in labor, I having hauled rock from the mountains for a foundation"; Hicks, "History of Spanish Fork," 13
41 Hicks,41 On the handcart experience in its broader setting,see LeRoy R Hafen andAnnW Hafen, Handcarts to Zion: The Story of a Unique Western Migration, 1856-1860 (Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark, 1960); a summary is LeRoy R Hafen, "Handcarts to Utah, 1856-1860," Utah Historical Quarterly 24 (October 1956):309-17
42 Hicks, 41-42 "Those poor people were not lost because they were either good or bad, but because they were the unfortunate victims of the Church leader's mistakes";Hicks,"History of Spanish Fork," 10
43 Hicks, 31-32 Howard C Searle,"The Mormon Reformation of 1856-1857" (M.S thesis, Brigham Young University, 1956); Gustive O. Larson, "The Mormon Reformation," Utah Historical Quarterly 26 (January 1958): 45-63; Paul H Peterson, "The Mormon Reformation" (Ph.D diss., Brigham Young University, 1981); Gene A Sessions, Mormon Thunder: A Documentary History ofJedediah Morgan Grant (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982);Thomas G.Alexander, "Wilford Woodruff and the Mormon Reformation of 1855-57," Dialogue:A Journal of Mormon Thought 15 (Summer 1992):25-39
44 Ibid., 32-33
45 Ibid., 33
46 Ibid., 37
47 Ibid., 33
48 Ibid See Culley K Christensen, M.D., The Adam-God Maze (Scottsdale,AZ: Independent Pubhshers, 1981); and, for the current official understanding, Arthur A Bailey,"Adam," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols (NewYork:Macmillan, 1992), 1:15-17
49 Hicks,34
50 Ibid See Eugene E Campbell and Bruce L Campbell, "Divorce among Mormon Polygamists: Extent and Explanations," Utah Historical Quarterly 46 (Winter 1978), 4-23 A calmer description of marriage during the Reformation is inWilliam G Hartley, My Bestfor the Kingdom: History and Autobiography of John Lowe Butler, a Mormon Frontiersman (Salt Lake City:Aspen Books, 1993),302-305
51 George A Hicks,"A Biographical Sketch of Stephen Markham," Special Collections, Harold B Lee Library,BrighamYoung University.
52 "The wildest bombast was preached as the Gospel of Christ"; Hicks,"History of Spanish Fork," 14. On "inflammatory rhetoric" and "rhetorical excess" see Richard D Poll and William P MacKinnon, "Causes of the Utah War Reconsidered," Journal of Mormon History 20 (Fall 1994) 24-25, 36-37; and Shirley GreenwoodJones,"BrighamYoung's Rhetoric:A Critical and Cultural Analysis of Key Sermons in Five Rhetorical Events" (Ph D diss.,University of Utah, 1992)
53 Hicks, 35 In 1857William, Beeson, and Orrin Parrish,"whose faith had grown cold and who wanted to leave the territory, were led into an ambush by George Potter...."William and Beeson were killed; Orrin escaped and tried to bring the killers to justice, but they were never brought to trial See Thomas Alexander, Utah: The Right Place (Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith and Utah State Historical Society, 1995), 125.
54 Ibid.,38
55 "Several early Church leaders, most notably BrighamYoung, taught that in acomplete theocracy the Lord could require thevoluntary shedding ofa murderer's blood—presumably by capital punishment—as part ofthe process ofAtonement forsuch grievous sin.... Since such atheocracy has notbeen operative in modern times,thepractical effect ofthe idea was itsuseasarhetorical device toheighten theawareness of Latter-day Saints of the seriousness of murder and other major sins This view is not a doctrine ofthe Church and has never been practiced by the Church at any time... Occasional acts of violence that occurred in areas where Latter-day Saints lived were typical ofthat period inthehistory ofthe American West, but they were not instances of Church-sanctioned blood Atonement." Lowell M. Snow, "Blood Atonement," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1:131
56 Norman F Furniss, The Mormon Conflict, 1850-1859 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1960); Poll andMacKinnon,"Causes ofthe UtahWar Reconsidered."
57 Ronald W Walker, Wayward Saints: The Godbeites and Brigham Young (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998),26.
58 Hicks,39
59 Ibid., 40
60 Ibid.,39.
61 A document complaining of their treatment by the Mormons was signed byWilliam C Dukes and twenty-five members of his company; LosAngeles Star, November 7, 1857.1 am indebted for this reference to Professor Lawrence Coates, Ricks College, whose detailed study identifies several trains that passed through southern Utah
62 Juanita Brooks, The Mountain Meadows Massacre (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962) A concise summary that includes conciliatory statements made in 1990 at the dedication of a memorial marker is Ronald K Esplin and Richard E Turley,Jr., "Mountain Meadows Massacre," in Encylopedia of Mormonism, 2:966-68
63 Hicks,49
64 Ibid., 50 See alsoAndrew Karl Larson, I Was Called to Dixie (privately published, 1961;reprinted St George, Utah: Dixie College Foundation, 1993); Douglas D Alder,"Writing Southern Utah History: An Appraisal and aBibliography," Journal of Mormon History 20 (Fall 1994): 156-78
65 See other verses in Thomas E Cheney, Mormon Songs from the Rocky Mountains: A Compilation of Mormon Folksongs (Austin, University ofTexas Press, 1968), 118-20 On May 1, 1870, the song was published in a Salt Lake City humor magazine called the Keepapitchinin.
66 Larson, IWas Called to Dixie, 76.See also Our Pioneer Heritage 1 (1964):595.
67 Hicks,52
68 Ibid On theWashington cotton factory, see Leonard J Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958),219-20, 318-19.
69 Hicks, 57
70 Ibid., 59
71 Journal of Discourses 11 (1867):281-82
72 Hicks, 60
73 See Brooks, The Mountain Meadows Massacre. In describing Lee as a scapegoat, Brooks agreed with Hickssstatement:"Poor Lee was made a sacrafice for the sins of many that had been too fast to follow the council of their leaders and had lost all sense of honesty"; Hicks, 59.
74 George A Hicks toBrighamYoung, October 11,1867;Edyth Romney transcription in possession of Joseph Fielding Smith Institute forLatter-day Saint History (Smith Institute),BrighamYoung University
75 George A Hicks to Brigham Young, December 4, 1868;Edyth Romney transcription in possession of Smith Institute
76 For different versions of this song see Cheney, Mormon Songs, 200-205; Austin E Fife, "Mountain Meadows Massacre," Western Folklore 12 (October 1953):229-37; andLesterA Hubbard, Ballads and Songs from Utah (Salt Lake City:University ofUtah Press,1961),445
77 Robert Glass Cleland and Juanita Brooks, eds., A Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries ofJohn D. Lee, 18481876, 2 vols (San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, 1955),2:100-102, entry forApril 11 [12], 1868.1 have capitalized theinitial letter andchanged aperiod toa comma.
78 BrighamYoung to George A Hicks, February 16,1869; Edyth Romney transcription, in possession of Smith Institute.
79 Cleland and Brooks,eds., A Mormon Chronicle, 2:122-23,entry forJuly 4, 1869
80 "Death of aVeteran,"letter dated January 19, 1885,in Deseret News. George A Hicks touts the same qualities of his father, and Creer was a friend of his,the two oncejoining to defend the church membership ofsomeone accused of dabbling in astrology Hicks,5,40
81 Printed title page: Celestial Marriage / A Drama / In five Acts / A Domestic Tragedy / Designed for the stage / (copyrighted) / By / Geo. A. Hicks. Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
82 Undated letter to Bishop Ralph D. Morgan, "Scrap Book Kept By Geo. A. Hicks For Amusement and Future Reference," microfilm, LDS Church Archives, hereafter identified as Scrap Book.
83 Hick, 5.
84 Scrap Book.
85 Hicks, "History of Spanish Fork."
86 Reed Smoot to George A Hicks,June 22, 1923, and Reed Smoot to Joseph Reece, Payson, Utah, June 25, 1923,Scrap Book
87 Signed statement in possession of Mrs Jean Groberg, a granddaughter
88 The LDS church teaches that marriages are eternal when couples remain faithful to covenants they make in LDS temples
89 Scrap Book
90 Mormonism hadalways disclaimed formal creeds, and even if there is a credo in the sense of basic beliefs, theLatter-day Saints didnotconsider these "vicious."
91 Charles S Peterson, Take upYour Mission: Mormon Colonizing along the Little Colorado River, 1870-1900 (Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1973); David E Miller, Hole-in-the-Rock: An Epic in the Colonization of the Great American West (Salt Lake City:University ofUtah Press, 1966)
92 Mormon apostle David O McKay, citing Francis Webster about the remarkable faithfulness ofthe Martin Handcart Company survivors in Relief Society Magazine (January 1948),8.
93 A. Karl Larson andKatharine Miles Larson, eds., Diary of Charles Lowell Walker, 2 vols. (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1980)
94 Hicks, 42
