Fort Limhi: The Mormon Adventure in Oregon Territory, 1855-1858

by Bigler, David L.

• ISBN13: 9780870623240
• ISBN10: 0870623249
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr

Summary

In 1855 the Mormons established a mission at the foot of famous Lemhi Pass near Salmon River, where the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery first crossed the Continental Divide and Sacagawea was reunited with her brother. Fort Limhi was, at first, part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' outreach to the Indians throughout the West. But the mission soon assumed a critical role in Brigham Young's plans for the Saints as they faced the imminent confrontation with the U.S. government which came to be known as the Utah War. Fort Limhi: The Mormon Adventure in Oregon Territoryis an innovative account of a fascinating but forgotten story. Journals, diaries, letters and recollections of the men and women who served at the mission during the three years of its existence provide a wealth of information about native history and culture in eastern Idaho. The Mormon missionaries intentionally selected a spot that put them at the crossroads of ancient trails used by Nez Perce, Shoshone, Bannock, and Flathead bands as they battled each other and pursued their annual pilgrimages to trade, harvest salmon, and hunt buffalo. The sources also cast important light on little-known trails followed by Indians, traders, and emigrants. Ordinary western folk who survived an extraordinary exploit tell their stories in their own words, and these narratives are dramatic, compelling, ironic, enlightening, and downright fun. With its astonishing fish stories, desperate Indian battles, life-threatening chases, and heroic rides to rescue a terrified and helpless outpost, this work has all the elements of a great frontier novel. It even tells of the star-crossed love of Lewis Shurtliff and Louisa Moore, whose romance, like the story of Fort Limhi, came to a tragic ending. Historians often seemed baffled by Brigham Young's visit to Fort Limhi in 1857 while the fires of the Mormon Reformation burned in Utah and the territory's relationship with the federal government was collapsing. Young's trip was far more than a vacation for his family and advisors. As award-winning author David Bigler reveals, the Salmon River Indian Mission played a pivotal role in the resolution of the Utah War of 1857-1858. The catastrophe that ended the colony at Fort Limhi brought Utah back from the very brink of war with the United States. Fort Limhiprovides new material on the obscure fur-trade veterans and misfits who called themselves "mountaineers" (the contemporary term for that "majority of scoundrels" now known as the fearless "Mountain Men") and sheds light on their contentious relations with their Mormon neighbors. The story of Fort Limhi has long deserved a larger role in the history of Idaho and Montana. It provides new insights into the role of Mormons in the West and their Indian relations, and explains some long-standing puzzles about the Utah War of 1857-1858.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	11	(2)
Editorial Procedures	13	(2)
Foreword	15	(6)
Introduction	21	(8)
Sound an Alarm	29	(18)
Attack on Fort Limhi
``An Armed Mercenary Mob''
The Alarm Sounds
Army of Israel to the Rescue
``Frank'' Cummings Rides North
To the Remnants of Jacob	47	(24)
Fortified Mormon Outposts
The Gospel Net
The Trail North
The Fort Is Kept Very Neat & Clean
David Moore
The Mountaineers All Seemed Very Anxious to Find Out What Was Up
David Moore
A Very Handsome Piece of Table Land
David Moore
A Piece of Ground for a Preacher	71	(24)
The Building of Fort Limhi
A Trap to Catch Them In
David Moore
Knocked Down as Dead
George Washington Hill
William Clark's Son
Their Most Brutal Violence
R. H. Thompson
All Want to Learn to be Mormons
Thomas S. Smith
To Be Put in to One Bag and Sent to President Young
B. F. Cummings
First Women
We Here Found One Henry Miller
David Moore
Leaving His Buffalo Robe on the Ground
David Moore
Of Grasshoppers and Reformation	95	(20)
A Winter Journey
Bringing Several Decks of Cards Here
David Moore
Suffering among the People
B. F. Cummings
Indian Baptisms
We Tried to Head Them Off
Jacob Miller
Onely One Thing They Are Good Fore
Thomas Smith
To Be Filled with the Holy Ghost
Brigham Young
A Gathering Place for Israel	115	(20)
Brigham Young Bids for Fort Hall
Visit to Bitter Root Valley
B. F. Cummings
Homeland of the Flatheads
The Most Picturesque and Romantic Scenery
B.F. Cummings
An Express to Young
Belnap Traded for a Cow
Milton Hammond
The Blood from Our Horses Legs
Lewis Shurtliff
Brigham Young Looks North
``Utah'': To Join the Mormons in a War Against the Government Forces
Garland Hurt Lays a Snare
Gov. Brigham...Coming on	135	(26)
Brigham Young's Longest Journey
The Snake River Crossing
Young's Arrival at Fort Limhi
The Appearance of Industry and Frugality
James W. Cummings
Marrying a Chief's Daughter
I Do Not Urge It upon You
Brigham Young
Seeing the Big Mormon Chief
James W. Cummings
The Redemption of the Sons of the Forest: Amos Wright's Blessing
The Farther We went North...
Brigham Young
The North Is the Place for Us
Brigham Young
Garland Hurt's Snare Misfires
Trouble on the Frontier
One of Nature's Ladies	161	(14)
Invitation to Marry
A Butifull Vision
Lewis Shurtliff
The Chief's Daughter
It Was Me She Wanted
Lewis Shurtliff
Two Rose Trees Had Grown and Twined
Lewis Shurtliff
The Mormon Rebellion	175	(22)
James Buchanan Sends in the Troops
On the North Side of Lake Superior
Brigham Young
Fort Limhi Strengthened
The Imps of Hell
Clerk Jacob Miller
A Feeling He Would Never Return Alive
James Miller
The Saints Shall Be Free
Brigham Young
The Trial of Sylvanus Collett
The Second Fort
Military Moves on the High Plains
The Devil Is At Work Among the Lamanites	197	(22)
To Beg for Their Subsistence: Causes of Indian Unrest
A Signal from Black feet Indians
Jacob Miller
First Signs of Trouble
A Harmful Rumor
We Would Cast Lots
Lewis Shurtliff
The December Confrontation
He Went up the Travois Like a Cat
John J. Healy
``The Indians About Us Do Not Feel Just Right Toward Us''
Oliver Robinson
The Young Indians Held a War Dance
David Moore
He Was Going to Tell the Soldiers
David Moore
The Hills Were Black with Indians	219	(20)
We Could Hear the Indians Whooping
Milton Hammond
Still Alive But Very Feeble: The Ordeal of the Herders
They Were Driving the Brethren Back
Thomas S. Smith
The Search for James Miller
Fort Limhi Buries Its Dead
We Are Prepairing for a Regullar Siege
Thomas Smith
Cut Off from the Church
David Moore
Ten Men and Four Gallons of Whiskey	239	(20)
Bold, Imaginative, Restless
B. F. Ficklin
An Expedition to the Flatheads
A Time to Every Purpose	259	(22)
Something Had Transpired: Young Offers an Olive Branch
Vacate the Fort and Come Home
Brigham Young
Caliber of Mormon Troops
Horses Were Wallowing up to the Sides in Snow
Jacob Miller
``Frank'' Cummings's Luck Runs Out
We Turned and Fired on Them
B. F. Cummings
Fort Limhi Abandoned
All Began to Be Changed: Israel Moves South
The Mormons . . . Has Gained the Victory
Milton Hammond
From a Camp of U.S. Troops	281	(18)
In Collusion with the Indians: The Opening Salvo
Powell Came to the Camp of the Indians
Thomas S. Smith
Ready to Confront my Accusers
Garland Hurt
I Can Speak Confidently for the Tribes
Jacob Forney
Mormons Furnishing . . . Nez Perces Arms and Ammunition
B. F. Ficklin
Six Indians Attacked the Mormons
John W. Powell
He Was Stopped by the Mormons
Craven Jackson
The Cover Up
Conspiracy or Coincidence?	299	(16)
Sources of Disaffection
Motive and Opportunity
B. F. Ficklin
Active Participant
John W. Powell
Mystery of the Vanishing Herd
The Ficklin-Powell Duel
Epilogue	315	(14)
We Were Like the Puritans
Gilbert Belnap
The Wild Life
John W. Powell
Benjamin Franklin Ficklin
Lewis W. Shurtliff
Chief Snag and Catherine
George Washington Hill
Thomas Sasson Smith
Benjamin Franklin Cummings
The Ruins of a World
Appendix A: A Comprehensive List of Missionaries, Family Members, and Hired Hands Who Served at Fort Limhi from May 1855 to April 1858	329	(2)
Appendix B: Members of Brigham Young's Company to Fort Limhi in April--May 1857, as Recorded by James W. Cummings, Clerk of the Camp	331	(4)
Appendix C: A Report of Brigham Young's Expedition to Oregon Territory	335	(8)
Bibliography	343	(9)
Index	352