Das Exmo-Diskussionsforum

Erster Beitrag von 10 Beiträgen.
Seite erstellt am 29.3.24 um 6:51 Uhr
zur Nachrichtenliste
der Beitrag:
Verfasser: Gunar
Datum: Sonntag, den 20. Juni 2004, um 13:41 Uhr
Betrifft: Konnte die US-Armee 1857 in Utah einmarschieren, gab es Gründe?

Wieder einmal schreibt Will Bagley in der SLT eine seiner vortrefflichen Anektoden, diesmal zum so genannten Mormonenkrieg von 1857, über den Mord an einem Soldaten, über Brigham Youngs Reaktion und über die Souveränität der Justiz.

History Matters: Military might will not often conquer an entrenched theocracy

Will Bagley
HISTORY MATTERS

    Tom Barberi, my distinguished neighbor in the Sunday Salt Lake Tribune, had a brilliant proposal last week: Let’s persuade the U.S. Army to invade Utah so we can enjoy liberation and democracy. Barberi points out this would get rid of our troublesome stockpile of WMDs, our pesky laws and bring us cheap gas. We could even celebrate the Fourth of July on July 4.
    Trouble is, Tom, it can’t be done. Thereby hangs a tale.
    Imagine you’re a U.S. Army sergeant on a tough assignment to bring American rights to the citizens of a belligerent and oppressive theocracy. The theocracy and its secret police still call the shots after the Army occupies the territory, and those who resent the freedom brought by federal troops are terrorizing those who welcome it.
    Sgt. Ralph Pike, I Company, 10th Infantry, welcome to Utah Territory, 1859.
    Pike was ordered to protect the government grazing lands in Rush Valley needed to support U.S. troops at Camp Floyd (pronounced "flood"). Pike found three men trespassing on government property and ordered them to leave.
    One of them, Howard O. Spencer, lunged at him with a pitchfork.
    Pike knocked the weapon down with his musket, which struck Spencer’s skull, breaking the gun butt into three pieces and crushing Spencer’s skull.
    Army Surgeon Charles E. Brewer patched up Spencer and sent him home minus a few brain parts and head bones. Defying everyone’s expectations, Spencer survived.
    To the Army’s amazement, a local court indicted Pike for assault. Believing no one was above the law, the Army sent Pike to appear in court in Salt Lake City. The sergeant pled not guilty. During the noon recess, Pike and four soldiers walked up to 169 S. Main.
    A man came up behind him, tapped Pike’s shoulder, and said. "Is that you, Pike?" When the sergeant turned, Howard Spencer shot him.
    With a milling crowd and local terrorist Bill Hickman covering him, Spencer escaped.
    Four days later Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston announced Pike’s death, "the victim of Mormon assassination, through revenge for the proper discharge of his duty."
    Upon hearing the news, Pike’s company rioted, raiding the settlement at Cedar Fort. They burned some haystacks and shot a horse, but otherwise the Army relied on the law to bring Spencer to justice.
    How did Mormon officials react? According to the LDS Historian’s Office Journal, in May 1861 Brigham Young blessed Spencer and "set him apart to kill every poor devil that should seek to take his life and gave him permission when he came across a poor mobocrat to use him up."
    This tale refutes the pernicious myth that Utah was "invaded" by "Johnston’s Army" for no good reason in 1857.
    In truth, President James Buchanan sent the U.S. Army to Utah with orders to:
    * Establish a military district, as it had done all over the West.
    * Support federal civil and judicial officials who had been victims of a long campaign of defiance, harassment and intimidation.
    * Not to interfere with the Mormon religion.
    A U.S. president has a perfect right to order U.S. troops to any U.S. territory. How can an army invade part of a country it serves? Did federal troops "invade" Mississippi in 1962 to enforce lawful desegregation orders?
    So, Tom, Utah American soldiers could no more "invade" Utah than they could march to Mars.
    Was justice ever done for Sgt. Pike?
    Howard Spencer lived in Salt Lake for years and even joined Lot Smith’s battalion, the only Utah troops to serve in the Civil War. After 1874 he hid in Kanab, but in August 1888 U.S. Marshals nabbed him during a polygamy raid.
    Almost three decades after the killing, Spencer appeared before the bar. After a three-day trial, the jury found Spencer not guilty.
    "If this is not a case of murder, speaking from a practice of over 23 years," said Judge J. W. Judd, "then I have never seen one in a court of justice.
   -----
    Historians Hal Schindler and David Bigler told Will Bagley the story of Sgt. Pike.

Quelle

zur Nachrichtenliste
auf diesen Beitrag antworten:

nicht möglich, da das maximale Themenalter erreicht wurde.

zur Nachrichtenliste
das Themengebiet: zur Nachrichtenliste
die neuesten Beiträge in diesem Themengebiet: zur Nachrichtenliste
die neuesten Beiträge außerhalb dieses Themengebietes: zur Nachrichtenliste
zurück
www.mormonentum.de