Mormon’s Defense Strategy
"[The Mormon's] strategy passed through two distinct phases. The Church's first course, followed from July to early October 1857, seems to have been one of determined resistance to Buchanan's expedition.…
Young’s Hostile Attitude Toward U.S. Troops
"In his correspondence with Colonel Alexander, Young had justified his hostile attitude toward the troops on Ham's Fork by certain legalistic quibbles. The Organic Act of the Territory, he maintained,…
Mile 1944: Route Detour to Simpson Pass
Just past Sand Springs Station (at Mile 1944), the Pony Express Bikepacking Route stays on US 50 to Fallon, NV. The road at this point heads northwest. The original Pony…
Alexander and the Soda Springs Route
"We now moved camp every day or two on account of grass. In about two weeks Colonel Alexander1 came up with one thousand soldiers, but with no orders. The Mormons…
Attack by Lot Smith
"After we had been here about a week, Oct. 4, I think it was, Lot Smith, a Mormon captain with two hundred mounted men came riding into camp, stopped awhile,…
Waiting at Ham’s Fork
"We passed the Rattlesnake Hills [or Granite Mountains] and Sweetwater Mountains and crossed the Rookies at South Pass. We drove on the west slope of the mountains till we reached…
Yoking Oxen
"Our cattle were soon driven into corral for us to yoke. Our train crew of a wagon boss, by the name of Chatham Rennick-a big, six foot two inch man,…
Southern Teamsters
"We learned that most of the men, or teamsters, and all of the train bosses were southern men and most of them were hired in the south to come to…
Changing Landscape
"This country was quite different from that we had passed over. From Leavenworth across to where we struck the Platte River near Fort Kearny, it was a fine, beautiful country…
Cattle for Utah
"Here William McCarthy, a brother of Frank McCarthy, our assistant boss, met us. He had been sent out by Majors, Russel & Waddell in charge of a herd of eight…
Freighters on Sighting Indians
"We had not been molested by Indians so far. We had met parties of twenty or thirty at diff erent times, but had been cautious. When they came riding near…
Freight Train Crossing the Platte
"We hitched on to about one-third of our wagons with fifteen yoke of cattle to each wagon, but started into the river with only three wagons. Mr. Rennick had ridden…
Teamsters in the Utah War
"On this [riverboat from St. Louis to Leavenworth] were bills posted stating that Majors, Russel & Waddell wanted several hundred young men to drive ox teams across the plains to…
Cooke’s March to Fort Bridger
"Although the expedition's desperate march to [Fort Bridger on] Black's Fork had brought it to a satisfactory haven for the winter, Johnson's command was still not safely united. One detachment…
March to Fort Bridger
"When [Colonel Albert S.] Johnson at last joined the army [at Camp Winfield in November], he saw immediately that its present location would not suffice for winter quarters. Its only…