Mormon defense

From... http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/d/DEFENSE.html

Utah's first militia was called the Nauvoo Legion after a similar organization in Illinois. Abolished by the Edmunds-Tucker Act in l887, the militia was revived in 1894 as the Utah National Guard. The state established a camp for the guard in 1928, named in honor of Brigadier General W. G. Williams. The guard has participated in aspects of every war since the Spanish-American War, including island-hopping in the Pacific and invading Europe during World War II. Camp Williams also became a sub-post and training site for Fort Douglas during World War II. Prior to the Korean War, the state stationed three Air National Guard units at the Salt Lake Airport.

From... http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/122fort/

The company paraded at the dawn of day and fired a salute very spiritedly; also at sun-up and again when the liberty pole was erected and the flag floated majestically to the breeze, another salute was fired the company having previously assembled, kneeling down and offering up their devotions to God. Afterwards there were many spirited speeches, songs, and toasts from many of the brethren. Then all were dismissed by prayer and went to perform our several camps duties.¹

¹ Excerpted from John Steele's diary reprinted in The Fortress, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Las Vegas, Nevada: Friends of the Fort, 2000); also cited in Our Pioneer Heritage.

From...  http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/bridgera.html

The Mormon War, sometime known as the "Utah War" or "Buchanan's Blunder," arose out of the loss of the postal contract by Brigham Young's express company and President Buchanan's concern that Brigham Young was intent on making Deseret, as Utah was then known, an independent state. Notwithstanding warnings from former Texas President Sam Houston that if a military force were sent to Salt Lake City, all the Army would find would be a "heap of ashes," President Buchanan determined to remove Young as territorial governor and replace him with a non-Mormon. Young, on the other hand, determined that no hostile forces were to enter the territory, and, indeed, demanded that federal forces surrender their arms and ammunitions. President Buchanan in an address to Congress noted:

From... http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~livcomo/letters/mormon.html

Camp near De-witt  7^th Oct^r 1838  To the Citizens of Howard County

Gentlemen:
This county is the theatre of a civil war, and will soon be one of desolation, unless the citizens of the adjoining counties lend immediate assistance. The infatuated Mormons have assembled in large numbers in De Witt, prepared for war, and are continually pouring in from all quarters where these detestable fanatics reside.
The war is commenced; blood has been shed. They shed it. They waylayed and fired upon a body of the citizens of Carroll County, & wounded some. They are the aggressors. They have been guilty of high treason, they have violated the laws and shed the blood of our citizens, and we think this one of the cases of emergency in which the people ought to take the execution of justice in their own hands. Speedy action is necessary. The progress of their imposition, insult and oppression ought to be checked in the beginning. The people must act together. They must act energetically.
It is now twelve O'Clock at night. The Mormons are lurking round our camp, and making preparations to attack us before day. Our number is much less than theirs, and we will have to act on the defensive until we procure more assistance.

Federal administrators assigned in the 1850s to Utah Territory, after it had been acquired from Mexico in 1848, frequently complained of harassment and abuse at the hands of the Latter‐day Saints (Mormons). Some contended the Mormons were essentially in a state of rebellion against the United States. By 1857, the cry for a settlement of the “Mormon Question” reached critical proportions. President James Buchanan appointed Alfred Cumming of Georgia, a non‐Mormon, to replace Mormon leader Brigham Young as governor of Utah. Expecting the Mormons to resist, Buchanan ordered an expeditionary force of 2,500 soldiers to the territory. Under the command of Gen. William S. Harney, the 5th Infantry Regiment, elements of the 10th Regiment, the 2nd Dragoons, and two artillery batteries marched from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on 18 July 1857, hoping to occupy Utah by fall. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston succeeded Harney as commander of the expedition, 11 September.