In February 1858, the United States Senate was debating a new bill from the House. They knew that the Army, under the command of Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, was on its way to Utah to put down the reported Mormon rebellion. Now, James Buchanan was asking Congress to approve a second Army of regular troops to Utah. While the Republic was quickly unraveling between the North and South, everyone seemed to agree that an Army – maybe two – would teach a salutary lesson to the Mormons, a lesson they would not soon forget.
While the speeches proceeded, a lone Senator sat quickly whittling at his desk. He was dressed in a Cherokee Blanket and a Jaguar Pelt, and one observer described him as a “Magnificent Barbarian.” The Senator was Sam Houston of Texas, the former governor of the Lone Star State and the victor of the Texas War of Independence. And in February 1858, Sam Houston would take another brave and lonely stand, urging caution, restraint, and a respect for the rights of the nations’ Latter-day Saints.
On today’s episode, we remember Sam Houston in the Utah War. We explore his unusual upbringing (as a runaway, he was adopted into the Cherokee Nation), his experience in the Texas War of Independence commanding the Army that defeated the much-larger Mexican Force, and his friendship with both Apostle George A. Smith and Seth M. Blair, who had fought alongside Houston as a Major in the Texas Rangers. We discuss the different ways Houston tried to derail the Army Bill, and end with the jaw-dropping speech he gave on February 15, 1857--possibly inspired by the bloody aftermath of the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836 -- in which he warned his fellow Senators of what an all-out war against the Latter-day Saints would really look like.
For more on Sam Houston in the Utah War, please see this (excellent!) article by Michael Scott Van Wagenen, "Sam Houston and the Utah War," 76 Utah Historical Quarterly 1 (2008), available at https://issuu.com/utah10/docs/uhq_volume76_2008_number1/s/10214875.