Review
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Title: At Sword’s Point, Part 2: A Documentary History of the Utah War, 1858-1859 (Kingdom in the West: The Mormons and the American Frontier Series, Will Bagley, series editor, Vol. 11)
Author: William P. MacKinnon
Publisher: The Arthur H. Clark Company (An Imprint of the University of Oklahoma Press)
Genre: Utah War, Mormon History, US Western History, US Military History
Year Published: 2016
Number of Pages: 704
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-87062-386-8
Price: $45.00
Reviewed by Kris Wray for the Association for Mormon Letters
Another foundational book from the Kingdom in the West series! William P. MacKinnon’s decades of research into military matters and the armed conflict between the Federal Government and Latter-day Saints has turned up more fresh sources and compelling interpretations of what occurred between those two competing forces. MacKinnon’s second volume of At Sword’s Point picks up in 1858, where part one left off: tensions rising and tempers being constantly tested as the U.S. Army hovers around the Territory of the Saints.
In Part 2, the author unravels the developments of the Utah War until a deal is hesitantly struck which averts widespread bloodshed. This is done utilizing records written by a variety of participants and observers, organized in such a way as to let the story essentially unfold on its own. Will Bagley compliments MacKinnon with possibly being “the most relentless historical detective of his generation,” whose two volumes of At Sword’s Point “showcase the most important of his documentary discoveries, set in a connecting narrative of incisive analysis.” (p13) That it definitely the case.
Readers will be pleased to find fascinating details on subjects such as Captain Randolph B. Marcy’s trip to New Mexico for supplies, wherein he and his men nearly starved and froze to death; Brigham Young’s vast network of spies and information gathering tactics, which to the chagrin of the U.S Army, kept the LDS strongman well abreast of the movements of his enemies; how Young and his brethren worked to strengthen their own forces, and actually considered “using up” the Army as a viable possibility if necessity led them to it; and the tug of war stirred up among Native Americans being pressured by both the U.S. Government and the Mormons to take sides in the dispute. In addition, the desire of Federal and Latter-day Saint officials to control access and usage of the Colorado River is addressed.
Other events covered by MacKinnon the reader will be interested in are what the West Coast settlements of both Mormons and Gentiles had to do with the Utah War; The extent of the U.S. Army’s strategy to hopefully crush the Mormon rebellion from multiple sides of attack; President James Buchanan’s shifty scheming to find a resolution to the conflict; and Thomas L. Kane and Sam Houston’s manipulation of both sides to help such a resolution come to pass in a peaceful manner. The author tackles the unexpected move by Brigham Young and Mormon leaders to evacuate the Saints south, from Salt Lake City to Provo, all the while ready to burn the northern settlements. A balanced rendition of the affair is given, demonstrating the struggles the Saints themselves faced adhering to such counsel.
MacKinnon deals with the replacement of Brigham Young as Governor with the compromising Alfred Cumming, “a fish… caught and delivered to Salt Lake City” for Young to cook; the appointment of Federal Commissioners to carry out the wishes of Washington D.C.; and the arrival of the Utah Expedition under General Albert S. Johnston into a deserted Salt Lake Valley. The author provides a 23 page Conclusion at the end of the book which I wish I would have read first, as it aptly sums up what the volume covers and provides a framework for quickly understanding how it all ties together.
The 27 page Epilogue relates the aftermath of the mostly uncomfortable interactions between the Federal Government, the Army, and the Mormons, on top of some subsequent history about several of the individual characters involved. At Sword’s Point, part 2 ends with a Bibliography and good Index.
Doing respectable research on the Utah War without referencing MacKinnon’s two volume set is impossible. While At Sword’s Point may be lengthy and somewhat technical, it is edited and written in such a way that it almost reads more like a novel than your standard documentary history.
As I mentioned in my review of Part 1, this set changes the face of the subject it addresses, correcting longstanding mistakes in former historical methodologies, and sets the standard for research on the Utah War. It is a great read and highly recommended for anyone interested in the genres listed at the top of this review.