The Civil War Years in Utah

By any measure, the 1860s were a “complicated, divisive, conflict-laden history” (p. xvii), in Utah Territory no less than the rest of the country. There the war years were an impossible time characterized by immoveable objects and irresistible forces, interactions fueled by suspicion, insecurity, purple rhetoric, and barely disguised ambition on every side. By assembling a broader and more careful grasp of fact the author seeks to correct faith-promoting omissions in the way that the period is remembered and has been told. “No longer,” the author begins the book, “can accusations of Saints’ disloyalty be dismissed as irrelevant and unfounded charges” (p.16). The book is a chronological treatment of chiefly politically motivated conflict between Mormons at large and federal and military officials during the decade’s first half. Each chapter addresses a year between the transition closing the “Utah War” and the end of the Civil War. In this respect it naturally succeeds Moorman and Sessions’ Camp Floyd and the Mormons (Univ. of Utah Press, 1992). The author emphasizes the unalloyed conflict between federal appointees and LDS leadership, detailing the reliability and intents of key officials, anchoring local sentiment and commentary to the context of news from Eastern battlefronts.

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