Mormon Publications: 19th Century - Proclamation by the governor

Proclamation by the governor Proclamation by the governor. Citizens of Utah--We are invaded by a hostile force who are evidently assailing us to accomplish our overthrow and destruction. . . . [Great Salt Lake City], 1857]. Broadside 28 x 19cm.

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Signed at end: Given under my hand and seal at Great Salt Lake City, Territory of Utah, this fifth day of August, A.D. eighteen hundred and fifty seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty second. Brigham Young.

The Utah War had its formal beginning on July 18, 1857, when the Tenth Infantry marched out of Ft. Leavenworth. Six days later, while the Saints were celebrating the tenth anniversary of their arrival in the Valley, A. O. Smoot, O. P. Rockwell, Judson Stoddard, and Elias Smith rode in and confirmed what had been anticipated for several weeks, that the army was on its way to Utah. On August 5, 1857, Brigham Young issued his first proclamation declaring martial law and forbidding any US troops to enter the territory. This broadside, however, was given little, if any, circulation. Why this was so, and why a second proclamation was issued six weeks later, one can only speculate at this point. It would appear that during most of August the Mormon leaders had not precisely focused on a strategy for dealing with the approaching army; and after the first proclamation was struck off, they likely had second thoughts about a direct confrontation with the federal government. On August 29, Brigham Young instructed Daniel H. Wells to draft a second proclamation of martial law; but by this time news of the impending visit of Captain Stewart Van Vliet, an assistant quartermaster in the army, must have reached the Mormon leaders, prompting them to hold up any formal declarations until after his visit. Under any circumstances, Van Vliet arrived in Great Salt Lake City on September 8. Six days later he left the city to return to the army, having convinced Brigham Young that the Army intended to enter the territory, and convinced himself that the Mormons would resist any such attempt. The following day, September 15, 1857, Brigham Young reissued his proclamation of martial law. This proclamation is identical to the first, except for a rewritten sentence near the end and the change of the date.

Excerpted and edited from Peter Crawley and Chad J. Flake, A Mormon Fifty: an exhibition in the Harold B. Lee Library in conjunction with the annual conference of the Mormon History Association. (Provo, Utah, Friends of the Brigham Young University Library, 1984). Item 50, p. [36].

Used by permission of the authors.