y time. The
band played, the choirs sang, the cannon roared, while the Stars and
Stripes waved from trees and mountain peaks. Suddenly four dusty travelers
rode into the camp. They brought news from the East, and startling news it
was: the president of the United States had sent an army to Utah to
establish law and order among the "Mormons!"

In the evening the Saints were called together, and the news was told them.
President Young spoke with power. "We have transgressed no law, neither do
we intend to," said he; "but as for any nation coming to destroy this
people, God Almighty being my helper, it shall not be."

Two thousand five hundred soldiers were on the march to Utah. General
Harney was appointed commander, but he was succeeded by Colonel Albert
Sidney Johnston. With the army came the new set of officers which the
president had appointed for the territory.

In the commander's orders it was stated that the people of Utah were in
rebellion against the United States, and that it was the duty of the army
to restore the authority of the government and aid and protect the new
officers in the discharge of their duties. On the 8th of September Captain
Van Vliet arrived in Salt Lake City from the army. He told President Young
that their intentions were not to harm the people in any way. President
Young replied that he had had experience with military bodies in Missouri
and Illinois, and he knew what the "Mormons" could expect. The captain
tried to show President Young how useless it would be for a few "Mormons"
to resist a nation like the United States. Even if they prevented the army
from entering the valley that year, more soldiers would be sent in the
spring.

"We are aware that such will be the case," replied the president; "but when
those troops arrive they will find Utah a desert; every house will be
burned to the ground, every tree cut down, and every field laid waste."

The captain was deeply impressed, but such were really the intentions of
the Saints. They could not trust the troops, and they did not intend to
submit tamely to such scenes as they had passed through in Far West and
Nauvoo. They were not in rebellion, and if the president had simply sent
some one to investigate, he would have found out that truth; but he had
acted on the spur of the moment, and the troops were already far on the
way. If they could be checked for a time until the truth could be learned,
the danger of a conflict might be averte