Lieutenant General Brigham Young

by Mervin B. Hogan

The Philalethes Society, April 1980

Reprinted from The Philalethes CD-Rom© by permission.

Everything favors those who have a special destiny; they become glorious by a sort of invincible impulse and command of fate. - Ernest Renan, The Life of Jesus.

Brigham Young petitioned Nauvoo Lodge for the degrees of Masonry on December 30, 1841 and was elected February 3, 1842. He, Willard Richards (his cousin), and David S. Hollister were the first candidates received by the newly installed Lodge and all three were initiated Thursday, April 7, 1842. Successively, the three were passed the next evening and, on Saturday, April 9, each was raised as a Master Mason. Willard Richards was a lifelong intimate confidant of Young's and made the first trek across the country with him in the original Pioneer Company of 1847.

In the paper, Utah's Memorial to Freemasonry, Young is mentioned as having the title of lieutenant general * while leading the initial party of Mormon Pioneers from Nebraska to the Great Salt Lake Valley. This title surprised several readers and I've had a number of inquiries as to its authenticity and significance.

When originally chartered by Illinois, the Nauvoo Legion was placed in command of Joseph Smith, who was commissioned a lieutenant general. This is a generally known fact and many people have seen portraits and illustrations of Smith handsomely dressed in his striking and colorful uniform, riding a spirited horse. He was a dashing figure on such martial occasions and doubtless he was well aware of the fact. He was a natural for the situation. Extremely well built, exceeding six feet in height, athletic by nature, he was in his very element all dressed up leading a parade on a prancing mount. Every viewer was impressed.

Brigham Young was stocky and stout - five feet, eight inches in height - quite heavy, and without inclination or interest in athletic competition. He had no illusions as to the kind of figure he would cut, decked out in a brilliant uniform, astride a dashing horse. There is no known evidence he gave the slightest thought to having a uniform tailored. Nevertheless he was a commissioned lieutenant general and was so appointed to succeed Joseph Smith after the latter had been murdered.

In the Mormon Archives at Salt Lake City is the original commission, which reads:

* The Royal Arch Mason, Fall, 1974, p. 200

"Thomas Ford, Governor of the State of Illinois,

"To all to whom these presents shall come - Greeting:

''Know Ye, That Brigham Young having been duly / elected to the office of Lieutenant General / of the Nauvoo Legion / of the Militia of the State of Illinois, I, Thomas Ford, Governor / of said State, for, and on behalf of the People of said State do com- /mission him Lieutenant General of the Nauvoo Legion / to take rank from the thirty first / day of August 1844. He is, therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the duties of said office, by doing and performing all manner / of things "hereunto belonging; and I do strictly require all officers and / soldiers under his command to be obedient to his orders, and he is to / obey such orders and directions as he shall receive from time to time, / from the Commander-in-Chief or his superior officer.

"In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set / my hand and caused the Great Seal of State / to be affixed. Done at Springfield this 24th / day of September in the year of our Lord / one thousand eight hundred and forty-four / and of the Independence of the United States / the sixty-ninth.

"By the governor,

(signed) Thomas Ford

(signed ) Thompson Campbell Secretary of State."

In The Oxford History of the American People (1965), the noted Harvard historian, Samuel Eliot Morison, brings Chapter 34 to a close with his evaluation of Brigham Young:

"Under their new Moses, Brigham Young, a ruthless autocrat but a leader of energy and vision, the Mormons abandoned Nauvoo in 1846 and began their great westward journey, several thousand strong ... ln July 1847 he reached the promised land, the basin of the Great Salt Lake . . . This new Canaan was an inhospitable land. Young chose it in the hope that his Saints would no longer be molested by gentiles, and because it was Mexican territory: but the Mexican War changed that.

. . . Brigham Young caused irrigation canals and ditches to be dug, appointed committees to control water for the public benefit, discarding the commonlaw doctrine of riparian rights. He set up a system of small farms, intensively cultivated and carefully fertilized. He forbade speculation in land, but respected private property and accumulated a large fortune for himself. He kept the Indians quiet by a judicious mixture of firmness and justice. He repressed heresy and schism with a heavy hand. He organized foreign and domestic missions and financed both transatlantic and transcontinental immigration. By means of a complicated hierarchy he controlled both civil and spiritual affairs with Yankee shrewdness, rough humor, and substantial justice, holding himself responsible only to God.

"For ten years there was intermittent want and starvation in Deseret, and the gold rush of 1849 to California caused unrest. Brigham Young announced ....,

'If you Elders of Israel want to go to the gold mines, go and be damned!' The wiser Saints found it more profitable to sell corn and potatoes to passing Argonauts. Yearly the community grew in numbers and wealth, a polygamous theocracy within a monogamous and democratic nation. Congress organized Deseret as Utah Territory in 1850, and President Fillmore appointed Brigham Young territorial governor.

Federal judges were driven from Utah when they refused to do his will; and when President Buchanan in 1857-58 sent an army of regulars under Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston to support a new territorial governor, the United States forces, defeated by Young's scorched earth strategy, obtained only nominal submission. In the Civil War, Utah was practically neutral. After the Civil War, Utah and the Mormons profited by prosperity and the influx of new elements. Polygamy, forbidden by federal law in 1862, gradually died out. The Latterday Saints brought comfort, happiness, and self-respect to thousands of humble folk; and Brigham Young must be included among the most successful commonwealth builders of the English speaking world."

Also from the Mormon Archives is the following example, with the original spelling retained, of one Brigham Young's military documents (each name is that of a Mason):

"General Order.

To Major General Charles C. Rich."

"You are herby authorized and required to take / into your immediate charge all the guns, equipments, / public teams and waggons, and appurtenances thereunto / belonging, now in charge of Col. Hosea Stout, or any other person, and if possible forward them to future / Head Quarters without delay, by Col. Stout or some / other trusty person, but if not - bring them with you / when you come; and see that they are properly / cleaned, oiled, & / preserved from damage, and / you are authorized to call on any or all the officers / and members of the (Nauvoo) Legion which may be necessary / to fulfill this order.

(Signed) Brigham Young Lieutenant General.

Head Quarters, Camp of Israel

Mt. Pisgah, Potawatomie Nation,

June 1, 1846

Willard Richards, Clerk and Aide."

Brigham's impressive administrative talent stands out markedly in the following communication, copied from the original in the Archives. Note particularly and detailed nature of his instructions. He strives minutely to anticipate every possible misunderstanding, every likely oversight, and leaves nothing to chance. Again, the spelling faithfully reproduces the original:

"Pioneer Camp,

Valley of the Great Salt Lake

August 2, 1847

"To General Charles C. Rich, and the Presidents and Officers of the Emigrating Company.

"Beloved brethren:

"We have delegated our beloved brother Ezra T. Benson and escort to communicate to you by / Express, the cheering intelligence that we have arrived in the most beautiful valley of the Great Salt / Lake, that every Soul who left Winter Quarters with us, is alive, and almost every one enjoying good / health. That portion of the Battalion that was at Pueblo is here with us, together with the Mississippi / Company that accompanied them; and they are generally well. We number about 450 souls, and we / know of no one, but what is pleased with our situation. We have commenced the Survey of a City / this morning. We feel that the time is fast approaching when those teams that are going to Winter / Quarters this fall should be on the way. Every individual here would be glad to tarry, if their / friends were here - but as many of the Battalion, as well as the Pioneers, have not their families here; / and do not expect that they are in your Camp, we wish to learn by Express from you the situation / of your Camp as speedily as possible. That we may be prepared to Council and act in the whole / matter, we want you should send us the name of every individual in your Camp, or in other / words a Copy of your Camp Roll; including the names, Number of Wagons, Horses, Mules, Oxen, / Cows etc., the health of your Camp, your location, prospects, etc; if your teams are worn out, if your / Camp is sick and not able to take care of themselves, if you are short of teamsters, or any other / circumstance impedes your progress, we want to know it immediately, for we have help for you; / and if your teams are in good plight, and will be able to return to Winter Quarters this Season, or / any portion of them: we want to know it - We also want the Mail, which will include all letters / and papers and packages belonging to our Camp, general and particular. Would circumstances / permit, would gladly meet you some distance from this, but our time is very much occupied / notwithstanding, we think you will see us before you see our Valley. Let all the brethren and / Sisters cheer up their hearts, and know assuredly that God has heard, and answered their prayers / and ours, and led us to a goodly land, and our Souls are satisfied therewith - brother Benson / can give you many particulars that will be gratifying and cheering to you, which we have not / time to write. And we feel to bless all the Saints.

"In behalf of the Council

(signed) Brigham Young President

(signed) Willard Richards Clerk"

The above document is written on a single sheet in an attractive, distinctive, fluent, and perfectly legible script by the amanuensis, Thomas Bullock, with the two signatures added.

The original of President Fillmore's appointment of Brigham Young as Governor of Utah is carefully preserved with other historic documents, and states:

"Millard Fillmore

"President of the

United States of America

"To all who shall see these Presents Greeting:

"Know Ye; That reposing special trust and confidence in the Integrity and Ability / of Brigham Young, of Utah, I have nominated and by and with the advice and consent of / the Senate, do appoint him, to be Governor of the Territory of Utah, / and do authorize and empower him to execute and fulfill the duties of that Office according to law, / and to have and to hold the said Office, with all the powers, privileges, and emoluments thereunto of right / appertaining, unto him, the said Brigham Young, for the term of four years from the day of the / date hereof, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States for the time being. /

"In Testimony whereof, I have caused these Letters to be made patent / and the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed.

"Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, the twenty eighth / day of September in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred / and fifty and of the Independence of the United States of / America, the seventy fifth.

(signed) Millard Fillmore

By the President:

(signed) Danl Webster

Secretary of State."

In his widely recognized work, A History of the English-speaking Peoples (1957), the renowned Mason, Sir Winston S. Churchill, closes Book Eleven, Chapter Eight - 'American Epic' - of "The Great Democracies" with the observation:

"Among the many settlements which lay dotted over the whole of the American continent the strangest perhaps was the Mormon colony at Salt Lake City. In the spring of 1847 members of this revivalist and polygamist sect started from the state of Illinois under their prophet leader, Brigham Young, to find homes free from molestation in the West. By the summer they reached the country round Salt Lake, and two hours after their arrival they had begun establishing their homes and ploughing up the soil. Within three years a flourishing community of eleven thousand souls, combining religious fervour, philoprogenitiveness and shrewd economic sense, had been established by careful planning in the Salt Lake country, and in 1850 the territory received recognition by the Federal Government under the name of Utah. The colony was established in a key position on the trail which led both to Oregon and California. The sale of food and goods to the travellers and adventurers who moved in both directions along this route brought riches to the Mormon settler, and Salt Lake City, soon tainted, it is true, by the introduction of more lawless and unbelieving elements, became one of the richest cities in America.

"With the establishment of this peculiar colony the settlement of the continent was comprehensive. The task before the Federal Government was now to organize the Far Western territory won in the Mexican War and in the compromise with Britain. From this there rose in its final and dread form the issue of bond and free."

Scipio Africanus Kenner in his Utah As It Is (1904) expresses an often heard appraisal from the Mormon view:

"The great leader was by no means an educated man and yet he was far from being an ignorant one, and he established as well as encouraged schools of all grades to the fullest extent of the possibilities. He was not an orator, yet when animated or provoked, words of appropriateness and power fell from his lips in a torrent, the listener being held as in a spell. He was acquisitive to a marked degree, but was not penurious or at all lacking in genuine generosity. Even if Mormonism had not found and held him, he would have been a man of mark, a leader, a commander perhaps in whatever community his fortunes had been cast. He could not have been kept in the ranks anywhere."

Brigham Young's record is one of admirable and monumental achievement.