The Mormon War: great detail on U.S. troops heading west...
Item # 700554
December 18, 1857
DAILY NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER, Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 1857
* U.S. Army march to Salt Lake City
* Mormons War - Mormonism
Page 3 has nearly three-quarters of a column taken up with: "The Utah Expedition" which is a great & very detailed travelogue on the U.S. troops venturing to Utah. We rarely find such detailed travel accounts by the military.
Four pages, large folio size, nice condition. Folder size noted is for the issue folded in half.
background: The dispatch in the December 18, 1857, Daily National Intelligencer serves as a stark, visceral record of the expedition's struggle against both man and nature, detailing the grueling march from Camp Scott toward the Great Salt Lake. Unlike standard bureaucratic reports, this "travelogue" paints a grim picture of the sub-zero temperatures and the skeletal remains of the army’s livestock, which had been decimated by the scorched-earth tactics of the Mormon "Nauvoo Legion" and the unforgiving Rocky Mountain winter. The correspondent captures the eerie silence of the high plains, punctuated only by the labor of soldiers forced to haul heavy supply wagons by hand through feet of drifting snow after their oxen perished. This level of granular detail—noting the specific geography of the mountain passes and the psychological resolve of the troops—transformed a distant military maneuver into a high-stakes survival drama for the readers back in Washington, D.C., many of whom were questioning the logistical sanity of President Buchanan's campaign.
* U.S. Army march to Salt Lake City
* Mormons War - Mormonism
Page 3 has nearly three-quarters of a column taken up with: "The Utah Expedition" which is a great & very detailed travelogue on the U.S. troops venturing to Utah. We rarely find such detailed travel accounts by the military.
Four pages, large folio size, nice condition. Folder size noted is for the issue folded in half.
background: The dispatch in the December 18, 1857, Daily National Intelligencer serves as a stark, visceral record of the expedition's struggle against both man and nature, detailing the grueling march from Camp Scott toward the Great Salt Lake. Unlike standard bureaucratic reports, this "travelogue" paints a grim picture of the sub-zero temperatures and the skeletal remains of the army’s livestock, which had been decimated by the scorched-earth tactics of the Mormon "Nauvoo Legion" and the unforgiving Rocky Mountain winter. The correspondent captures the eerie silence of the high plains, punctuated only by the labor of soldiers forced to haul heavy supply wagons by hand through feet of drifting snow after their oxen perished. This level of granular detail—noting the specific geography of the mountain passes and the psychological resolve of the troops—transformed a distant military maneuver into a high-stakes survival drama for the readers back in Washington, D.C., many of whom were questioning the logistical sanity of President Buchanan's campaign.
Category: Pre-Civil War
