Prisoners of the Utah War

   I'd like to talk about six of the prisoners who were captured during the Utah War.  Like the war itself, these stories aren't very well known, but the central figures of each went through difficult ordeals and were witnesses to small details that help us to understand the bigger story.  They tell their own stories in ways that are easy for us to understand, because we would react to similar conditions the same way.
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   The first of these was Carl Heinrich Wilcken, a seasoned soldier, a veteran of a European war that took place in the years 1848 to 1850 between Holstein and Denmark.  Holstein is now a part of Germany.  For his actions he was awarded the Iron Cross by King Frederick Wilhelm IV himself.

   After the war, Denmark attempted to draft the officers of their former enemy, so in 1857, not wanting to be drafted, he came to New York City, and unable to find a job he joined the US Army.  He was sent to Fort Leavenworth, then became a member of the Utah Expedition, assigned to the light artillery.  He was unhappy with the lack of discipline compared to his experience in Germany, and held a low opinion of his fellow soldiers.  He noted that the young West Point recruits talked a lot about what they would do in Utah, such as "hanging the leaders and appropriating to themselves their wives and daughters."

   Of the westward journey, he wrote,  "Nothing of importance occurred until we reached Ham's Fork.  Here we could see now and again little squads of men on horseback, peeping over the hills.  Sometimes they would descend into the bottoms and set the grass on fire and burn the timber.  This caused some uneasiness, as we could not turn out our horses to feed for fear they would be run off.  The grass where we were camping had all been burned before we reached there, our supply of corn was very near exhausted, and all this began to tell severely upon our animals.

  "Now and again reports would reach us that the "Mormons" had tried to run off the teams from some of the other columns, that provision trains had been burned, etc.  I could ... see that our officers began to look at things more seriously.  Cold weather was approaching, teams were poor, provisions scarce, and the heaviest and most dangerous part of the journey was before us."   <End Quote.>

   At one point his unit was camped 2 miles away from the 10th Infantry.  His captain gave him a horse and sent him there to pick up his watch, which had been given to one of the soldiers to repair.  He got the watch and, on his way back, as he was fording a stream, he decided to desert from the army and go to Salt Lake City.  

   Before I proceed further I should mention that most of these men were religious people.  They had spiritual experiences that influenced their actions.  It isn't my position to say whether these were real or just hallucinations brought on by starvation, but there isn't a lot of difference between starving and fasting, and they did plenty of both.

   In Wilcken's case, he said he heard a voice calling his name.  This was unusual because nobody out there knew his real name.  Two more times he attempted to desert, and each time the voice prevented him from doing that.  He returned to camp; that night he had a dream telling him to ask the captain permission to go hunting the next day and he would meet some friends.  

   He learned the next morning that Colonel Alexander had been out all night with 50 cavalry on patrol, and would very likely have caught and punished him.  

   Thus it was on the 7th of October that he asked permission and it was granted.  He gathered several days' food, studied a map, and set off for Fort Bridger where he was met by Thomas Callister and William Hickman, who immediately treated him with great kindness.    He was allowed to keep his gun until they reached Headquarters.  He noted that everyone seemed to be enjoying himself; there was no swearing or fighting, the exact opposite of the army he had left behind.  

   He helped drive a herd of captured cattle into Salt Lake City, joined the Mormon Church, and after the army entered Utah, he successfully continued to evade capture.  Several years later he sent to Germany for his wife and two children and lived in Utah happily ever after.  Charles Henry Wilcken became an ancestor of a man who is currently a leading contender for President of the United States.                                                                                          4:36
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   In the wilds of what is now western Wyoming, late in the evening of  October 5, 1857, three trains of 26 army supply wagons each were surprised, plundered, and burned by Mormon raiders in one of the most effective raids on the Utah Expedition.  The loss of nearly 300 tons of food and supplies dealt a crippling blow to the morale of the 1400 soldiers who had been sent west by President Buchanan to assist in the installation of a new territorial governor for Utah. 
   Captain Jesse Gove of the 10th Infantry wrote to his wife, "I hope that I may meet some of the murderers. I do think from all I can learn from the mountain men, who know them well, that they are the greatest set of villains on earth. They say that this Bill Hickman, who is one of the 70 destroying angels, has murdered more than a hundred men in this country with his own hand. We hope to meet him [before] long." 
   On the 11th of October the two younger brothers of Bill Hickman with the most patriotic of American names, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson Hickman, were captured by the 5th Infantry of the Utah Expedition near Ham's Fork.  George had just received his medical degree, and the brothers chose this awkward point in time to follow the western trails from Missouri to California.  It was during their visit with their brother that they learned of the approaching army, and apparently decided to head back home to Missouri.  
   Though neither of them was Mormon, they were accused of being Mormon spies because George was wearing a belt that was recognized as having belonged to Private Wilcken, who had gone missing and was thought to have been murdered by Mormons. They were also carrying a personal letter to Elias H. Perry, a sutler with the expedition, from Bill Hickman, their brother.
   On the 13th the Mormons stole 800 head of cattle from the army and allowed the men who had been driving the cattle to return to camp with a message, which was described as saying:
   "Bill Hickman sent word ... that if his brothers were not released within five days he would scalp a dozen soldiers for it; and [Lot] Smith and Porter [Rockwell] declared that if the command persisted in advancing they should all be slaughtered." <End Quote.>
   A few days later Jefferson, the younger Hickman brother was given a message and instructed to take it to Salt Lake while George continued to be held as sort of a hostage.  Jeff continued to carry messages between the commanders of the opposing armies for several weeks.   
   It isn't known if Jeff and George were ever reunited after this month-long ordeal, or even whether they ever saw each other again.  Thomas returned to Missouri, went to Colorado for the 1859 Gold Rush with all five of his other brothers, fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy, and had a long career as a county sheriff in Colorado.
   George was released on the 8th of November, but a reporter for the Missouri Republican reported that "Bill Hickman, who is one of the Danites, and a notorious scoundrel, has been killed by a mountain man named Baker."  He added, "I am inclined to think it is his brother who was a prisoner in Col. Alexander's camp...."  <End Quote.>

   A reporter for the New York Daily Tribune noted that "a few days after Dr. Hickman left our camp, it was whispered around among the mountain men here that 'he had not been able to make the connection,' meaning he had been cut off before he could join the Mormons at Fort Bridger."  <End Quote.>
   Sure enough, several months later some dragoons found a badly decomposed body hanging from a tree near Smith's Fork.  A journalist embedded with the army wrote, "Those who found him report that he had red whiskers and a mark, as if from a cut, on his right cheek. His skull was knocked in behind. This shows that he did not hang himself. The body had the appearance of having been hanging there some months. His eyes were eaten out by the crows, and his face was so picked and mangled that nothing more was observed that would aid in identifying the individual."  Believing the murder had been carried out by mountain men associated with the army, the reporter continued, 'There are, however, strong reasons for believing the body to be that of Dr. George W. Hickman, who was released from Col. Alexander’s camp last Fall. Dr. Hickman had a red goatee on his chin, and a whitish mustache. He had a scar on his right cheek.'"                                                                                 9:09
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   Another prisoner was Charles Becker, a teamster who was under contract with the army.  Sometime after the winter weather had hit, an attempt was made to reach Fort Hall in Idaho, but the trains had to turn back because their animals were so badly weakened by the lack of feed.  Using the best animals they had, they were only able to move a few wagons at a time, while the other oxen were allowed to recuperate.  One afternoon it was his turn to stand guard over the draft animals as they grazed.
   Towards evening he noticed some men climbing around among the rock cliffs, but thought they were army scouts.  At sundown they mounted their horses and some of them raced towards him.  He scrambled up a hill and hid.  They dismounted and crept nearer.  They called to him and said they were a Mormon raiding party, and that he must go with them to headquarters where he would be well treated.  He noted,

   "It was very encouraging to me, during all this parley, that they dodged behind their rocks as quickly as I did, whenever I pointed my gun at them.  It showed me they were as badly scared as I was.  

   "Darkness was coming on, with no help yet in sight.  I had no bedding, and the night promised to be extremely cold....  The Captain of the enemy party, whom I learned later was Captain Warren Snow, of San Pete, stepped out and pledged himself to protect me, a pledge which was faithfully kept, and then some.  He promised that I would be turned over to the headquarters of the [Nauvoo] Legion, as they call their Army....  
   "As I stepped out they all came up and shook hands with me, as though I had been a long lost brother just found.  
   "Seeing that I was barefooted inside of my shoes a young Mormon reached back under his buckskin coat and handed me a pair of heavy home-knitted new woolen socks.  I refused at first, but he insisted, saying that I would have a long night's ride, and that my feet would freeze without socks.  I thanked him and put them on, thinking that there was surely one good Mormon."  <End Quote.>
   Frostbite was a common problem on both sides of the conflict, and this gesture probably saved Becker from serious injury from it.  The cattle were driven off towards Salt Lake, and Becker was transported by muleback, then in a wagon to the Nauvoo Legion's Headquarters in a valley along the Bear River.  Those socks and a live sheep in the wagon kept him from freezing to death.  
   "General Wells got up and shook hands with me, spoke to me in a most kindly way, assuring me that I was perfectly safe.  His own cook was then ordered to prepare me something to eat.

   "After supper, while sitting around a big log fire, they asked many questions concerning Johnston's Army.  I would not answer all their questions.  James Ferguson, Adjutant General of Wells' Staff, a hot headed, impulsive Irishman, spoke up very abruptly and said, "Answer our questions more directly, or we'll find a way of forcing you to do so".  General Wells quickly answered, "Tut, tut, none of that Mr. Ferguson".  Then General Wells told me to answer the questions I thought best, and that no harm should come to me."  <End Quote.>

   Within a few days Wells learned from his own scouts that Johnston's Army had gone to Fort Bridger and settled down for the winter.  He moved his camp to Echo Canyon.  Several days later some wagons came with supplies.  Becker was sent to Salt Lake City to live with the family of Brigham Young's daughter Lena.  He was very impressed by that family.
   A few months later Becker was sorry to learn that a prisoner exchange was being planned, and he was sent with other prisoners to stay in Steptoe's old army barracks on Main Street, where they were well fed and even allowed to stroll around downtown.  
   After a few days they were sent into the mountains in February 1858.  Their travel through Echo Canyon was deliberately planned so that it would be after dark, but even then for a short distance they were blindfolded.  At last, those in charge gave them some pack animals and a package of papers, and they were pointed toward Fort Bridger, which they reached four days later.  He proceeded to Colonel Johnston and delivered the papers.  He said,

   "The Colonel asked me many questions regarding my experiences, the treatment we received, and the arrangements they had made to oppose his Army.  He also expressed his satisfaction that we had been so kindly treated."                                                                                          13:35
----o0o----

   The soldiers of the Nauvoo Legion suffered greatly from want of adequate clothing and food.  Major Joseph Taylor and his Adjutent General William Stowell were sent with three more men and a train of 10 pack animals to carry much-needed supplies to Lot Smith's men.  They also carried with them the following orders:   
          (the red part is the only part intended to be read aloud)
 Camp near Cache Cave, Oct 4th, 1857.

You will proceed with all possible dispatch without injuring your animals to the Oregon road near the bend of Bear River North by east of this place   Take close and correct observations of the country on your route   When you approach the road send scouts ahead to ascertain if the invading troups have passed that way   Should they have passed take a concealed route and get a head of them   Express to Col. Burton who is now on that road and in the vicinity of the troops and effect a junction with him so as to operate in concert   On ascertaining the locality of the troops proceed at once to annoy them in every possible way.   Use every exertion to stampede their animals and set fire to their trains.   Burn the whole country before them and on their flanks.   Keep them from sleeping by night surprises.   Blockade the road by felling trees or destroying river fords where you can.   Watch for opportunities to set fire to the grass on their windward so as if possible to envelop their trains.   Leave no grass before them that can be burned.   Keep your men concealed as much as possible and guard against surprises.   Keep scouts out at all times and communications open with Col. Burton Major McAllister and O.P. Rockwell who are opperating the same way.  Keep me advised daily of your movements and every step the troops take and in what direction.  God bless you and give you success.

		Your brother in Christ.

			Daniel H. Wells.

P.S.  If the troops have not passed or have turned in this direction follow in their rear and continue to annoy them burning any train they may leave.   Take no life but destroy their trains and stampede or drive away their cattle at every opportunity.     <End Quote.>

			D.H. Wells.

   It was the afternoon of October 4th.  There was a lot of smoke in the air as they traveled, making it difficult to see.  At one point they saw the smoke of a campfire about a mile away and headed towards it, thinking they had found Major McAllister's command.  Major Taylor recalled,

   "I told Adjutant Stowell if he would stop that I would go and see who they were.  I went down when all on a sudden I was flanked by Horsemen.  I drew my pistol and cocked it at them when somethng suggested me not to shoot, they seized my [weapons] and though my natural feelings were to die rather than give them up they dismounted me off my horse and seated me on an old mule and leading the mule they immediately marched and seized Adjutant Stowell, dismounting him of his horse and placing him on a mule.  they led us to their Camp were they manifested great rejoicing while Captain Marcy thought they had achieved a great victory in capturing two Mormons and taking them as prisoners."  

   The three men accompanying them escaped, but the mules carrying provisions were captured, and Lot Smith's company had no food for several more days.  Stowell recalled,

   "The most important papers in my possession were the orders from General Wells, dated October 4th.  They, with other papers, were in a small book that I used for my journal and which I carried in my shirt bosom.  I thought I ought to get rid of the orders, if possible, to keep them from falling into the hands of my captors.  I dropped some scraps of paper onto the ground to see if it would be noticed.  They pounced on them, picked them up, and examined them at once.

   "The detachment made a halt and demanded all the papers in the Major's and my possession.  We handed them a few papers of no consequence, and they continued the march until after dark.  

   "After dark, I took the book containing the orders out of my bosom, intending to drop it by the side of my horse.  Just as I was about to drop the book, a quiet and distinct voice said, "Keep them, they will do more good than harm."  <End Quote.>

   This surprised him; logically he couldn't see any way that disclosing the letter would do any good.  He tried to throw it away twice more, and each time he heard the same message.  Finally he decided to keep the papers.

   Taylor and Stowell were imprisoned in separate tents, and each had no information about what had happened to the other.  The next morning Taylor and Stowell were questioned by Col. Alexander.  The responses they gave are remarkably alike, so here's an account of the questioning of Stowell:

	"Where do you live?"
	"In Ogden, Utah."
	"What is your business out here?"
	"To repel a mob, Sir."
	"What are your reasons for supposing us to be a mob?"
   Stowell replied that from his experience with the Latter-day Saints, mobs were always coming after them, this time disguised as Federal troops.

   "The Colonel appeared to be very indignant but continued:

	"Are there many Mormons in the mountains?"
	"Yes, the mountains are full of them."
	"Are you acquainted with Echo?"
	"Yes, Sir."
	"Are there many encamping in Echo?"
	"Yes, Sir, a great many, and more are coming every day."
	"What is the strength of the Mormon forces?"
	"Probably from twenty-five to thirty thousand."
(Taylor answered 20 to 25,000 and observed that he could have hung his hat on Col. Alexander's eyeballs)
	"Have you much artillery?"  
	"Quite an amount, Sir, as I have seen pieces in the different settlements."

   He was asked many more questions, then marched off to the guard tent.  Sergeant Newman then examined him for papers, looking in his boots, and frisking him.  Stowell hoped he would miss the papers in his shirt, but he didn't.  Stowell describes what happened next:

   "Excitedly he asked, "What is this?"  I took out the little book and gave it to him, asking him to return it to me as it was my daily journal.  He went to headquarters at once with the book.  

   "They sent for me immediately.  On the way, I felt very downspirited, realizing that the enemy had got hold of the orders I so much dreaded having fall into their hands.  I did not know what to do."   <End Quote.>
He prayed and felt he would know what to say when the time came:

   "When I was brought into the Colonel's presence he asked, 'Are you going to carry out the orders of General Wells?'  Before I could answer, he went on, 'If so, you might as well commence to kill us.'

   "To this, I replied, if they would go back and mind their own business we would not interfere with them.  The Colonel questioned me further about going into Salt Lake Valley through Marsh Valley. I told him it would be impossible to get through as General Chauncy West was in that locality with a strong force waiting for his arrival.  He then inquired particularly about Echo Canyon, and that vicinity.  I answered that it would be impossible to get through in any direction, as I was well acquinted with Echo and knew that my people were building strong fortifications, as I had assisted with the labor.

   "I told him they had prepared great quantities of rocks on top of the mountains ready to roll off . . . to smash the enemy to pieces.  He seemed so indignant as to manifest a spirit of revenge, or frustation, and seemed much astonished at my boldness.  

   "I went on to say I knew they had the Major and me in their power and could kill us; but that would be only two and there would be plenty left." <End Quote.>

   The next morning, October 17th, Stowell was visited by a Captain Donovan, who told him the army would be spending the winter in Salt Lake City.  He said that Jesus Christ himself could not keep them out.

   Taylor and Stowell were held captive under difficult conditions: constant cold, constant hunger.  Life passed slowly and was very hard to endure.  Sergeant Newman fed them poisoned vegetable soup which they vomited after eating just a little.  

   One night Taylor had a dream in which a woman appeared to him and called him son.  He called her Grandmother.  She told him to get up and go home.  He awoke and discovered his guards were asleep and awakened Stowell but discovered he was too weak to be able to travel, but they devised a plan.  

   A few days later, during a snowstorm, as Stowell was sitting by the fire telling the guards an interesting story, Major Taylor escaped into an opening in a passing herd of cattle.  His absence wasn't noticed for about 15 minutes.  A search party with bloodhounds went looking for him but couldn't find him, and on the 4th of November he caught up with a Mormon supply train, four miles from Fort Bridger.

   A few weeks later, Stowell and another prisoner, Corporal Nicholson escaped, but after 4 days wandering in the wilderness they had to return to camp for more punishment.  

   Mr. and Mrs. Wadsworth, an apostate couple from Payson took special interest in him; Stowell survived three attempts at poisoning at their hands--once with chloroformed whiskey and twice with poisoned pies.  He was tried for treason, but freed by President Buchanan's Amnesty Proclamation, dated 6 April 1858 but brought to Utah in early June.  He returned to Utah when the Federal troops did.  

   As he rode down Echo Canyon with one of the Peace Commissioners, he remembered a dream he wrote in his diary on October 3rd in the previous year, but had forgotten until that moment.  He had written,  "I appeared to be traveling homeward through Echo Canyon on horseback in company with another man having been a prisoner among the soldiers but having escaped without any material injury."                                             22:45
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   Dr. George W. Hickman was better treated during his captivity than William Stowell, at least until his release.  

   But being a helpless prisoner, George had to listen to his guards as they went into great detail on their plans.  They intended to move through Echo Canyon, then go on down Weber Canyon to Ogden City and invade Salt Lake City from the north.  In both cities they imagined they would find plenty of eager women waiting to be rescued from polygamy.  

   I don't know how this relates to the actual plans of their commanding officers, but on the night of 3 November 1857 the army was prepared to move out.  Years later he probably described the event often to his children, and an account was written down by his son Josiah:

   "The order was for the bugle to sound at 4 a.m. and in 15 minutes every wheel would be on the roll toward Ogden and then to Salt Lake.  The horses and mules were already harnessed and tied to the wheels of wagons in feed to their knees."   <End Quote.>

   That night, George was very distressed at what was about to happen and couldn't sleep.  He recalled,

   "At 12 midnight I arose and looked out of my prison quarters, the heavens were calm and warm as a summer's night though it was early November...."  

There was no change when he looked out at 1 and 2.  

"At 3 a.m. I again looked out and the heavens were clear and warm and not a breeze to be felt." I again said to myself, "Can it be possible that the God of Heaven is sanctioning this heinious deed?" But about 3:30 a.m. a sudden wind arose for a few minutes and then subsided, but ... a few minutes later the wind arose with a sudden bluster. In a few minutes it attained almost the fury of a tornado, and in 15 or 20 minutes ... a blizzard of wind, rain and snow swept the plains. It increased its fury to snow and sleet. It was the worst storm I had ever known. The fury of the storm continued till morning. And at 6 a.m. half their mules and horses lay dead in their harnesses. Not a wheel was turned, nor could there be for routes were blockaded. "That was how God applauded their damnable crime," said my father in a quiet voice." <End Quote.>                  25:00
----o0o----

    Sometime around the 8th of November, 1857, Private George W. Clark of the Tenth Infantry  apparently switched into civilian clothes and deserted from the Army.  

   Unfortunately for him, he seems to have had a similar appearance to Bill Hickman and was probably murdered by the mountaineer Jim Baker.

   After Bill Hickman was discovered to be still at large, the murdered man was considered to be Bill's brother, Dr. George W. Hickman, long before an actual body was found hanging from a tree about the 26th of February 1858.  

   Dr. Hickman, however, did "make the connection," on the 11th of November he found his way back to Fort Bridger, went to Utah, became a Mormon, married, and eventually became my great-great grandfather. 
  25:48

--Steve Richardson