Defending Zion: George Q. Cannon and the California Mormon Newspaper Wars of 1856-1857

by Lawrence, Jacob Robin

• ISBN13: 9780870623219
• ISBN10: 0870623214
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr

Summary

For more than a century the history of the American Frontier, particularly the West, has been the speciality of the Arthur H. Clark Company. We publish new books, both interpretive and documentary, in small, high-quality editions for the collector, researcher, and library.

Table of Contents

Foreword	11	(6)
Will Bagley
Preface and Editorial Procedures	17	(6)
Introduction	23	(6)
``A Newspaper Devoted to the Cause of Truth''	29	(26)
Prospectus of the Western Standard
I Had a Load on My Shoulders
``Two Wrongs Never Will Make a Right'': Sam Brannan and the Vigilantes	55	(32)
The Control of Public Opinion May Be in Our Hands
The Most Intense Excitement: Cannon and the Vigilantes
This Deluded People: The Western Standard vs. The Pacific
The Veriest Liar That Ever Trod the Earth
To Shoot and Hang Their Scores and Hundreds
``Hang `Em Up---Like Pirates!'': the Mormons: Saints or Sinners?	87	(30)
The Utah Land of Abominations
The Propagators of Such a Monstrous Evil
Such a Drunken Dog: the Mormon Preacher
Language So Beastly and Degraded: Brigham Young's Profanity
He Speaks from the Heart: Brigham Young's Rhetoric
``The Pusillanimous Railings of an Apostate Mormon'': the Strange Case of Elder Cannon and Mr. Hyde	117	(24)
Tyranny and Wrong, Corruption and Sorrow, Vice and Crime
The Rise, Progress and Corruptions of the Mormon Fanaticism: John Hyde in California
The Sudden Going Out of This Twinkling Star
``The Bandits of the Plains'': Red Indians, White Indians, Lamanites, and Danites	141	(28)
The Fate of the Red Man
To Join with the Indians: White Indians
The Danite Band, or the Avenging Angels
The Mysterious and Bloody Band of ``Danites''
Quite Too Many for the White Indians
Mr. Haws Has Managed to Secure the Confidence of the Indians
Desperate Men, Often Fugitives from Justice
``The Grossest form of Human Depravity'': Polygamy and the Relics of Barbarism	169	(40)
The Approaching Storm & Tempest
Mormon Elders with Their Wives and Concubines
The Coinage of a Poetical Lunatic
The Harems of the Priesthood
A Flagrant Sin against God and Nature
Let Them Wag Their Tongues of Slander
``The Best News from This Place is the Reformation'': the Reality of Rhetoric	209	(34)
To Get the Spirit of Reformation
It May Seem Strange That Reformation Is Needed
Like a Fire in My Bones
To Cut the Throats of Apostates: Blood Atonement
The Mormon Car Is Still Going Ahead
In the Spirit & Favor of God
``The Kingdom That Daniel Saw'': Autocracy, Theocracy, and Theo-Democracy in Deseret	243	(34)
A Kingdom That Will Sway the Sceptre of Power
Young and His Cut-Throat Minions
Our Duty to Crush You Out!
A Filthy and Debasing Immoral Hypocrisy
The Counsel and Commandments of God
Rebellion Has Been Its Creed and Practice
Our Departed Liberty
``The Villainous, Wholesale Calumniator'': Judge Drummond and the Friends of the Court	277	(32)
This Prostitute Sitting on the Bench
The Recent Outrages of the People of Utah
A Picture of Beastly Barbarity
A Peculating Thief and a Foul Calumniator
``The Hoary-Headed Reverend Seducer'': the Assassination of Parley P. Pratt	309	(24)
A Martyr to the Cause of Truth
The Best Act of My Life
This Heaven-daring Deed
``The Mormons Must Be Crushed Out'': War and Rumors of War	333	(32)
To Resist the Forces That May Be Sent by Uncle Sam
A Gibbet Rather than a Bed of Roses
To Find Any Man Competent to Succeed Him
Nothing Remains But an Appeal to Arms
The United States Troops Are Going to Kill Us All
The Devil's Myrmidons
Breathing a Spirit of Defiance
``A Horrible Massacre of Emigrants'': Vengeance at Mountain Meadows	365	(26)
To Be Thus Charged with an Atrocious Crime
Inflict on Them Condign Punishment
They Hate Us Yet They Fear Us
They Were Resolved to Wreak a Terrible Revenge
``Faithfully Warning the People'': Cannon's Parting Shots	391	(20)
Every Indignity and Wrong
To Debate With You the Principles of Mormonism
Until They Take Their Final Sleep
The Best and Most Effective Weapons They Have
Afterword: A Man Who Had Knocked About the World: Cannon After California	411	(16)
Appendix: The Newspapers and Their Editors	427	(12)
Alta California
Daily California American
Daily Evening Bulletin
Daily Herald
Democratic State Journal
Golden Era
Mountain Democrat
The Pacific
Spirit of the Age
Los Angeles Star
Weekly Chronicle
Bibliography	439	(18)
Index	457	(7)
The Editor	464