Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Reliability Of The Physical Evidence At The Battle Of The Little Big Horn: Can The Physical Evidence Found Provide An Accurate Picture?, Albert Winkler Dr.

Faculty Publications

Often, artifacts, most importantly bullets and spent shell casings, found at the location of the Battle of the Little Big Horn have been used independently of other sources to make or refute certain theories on the encounter. Books and articles based on these finds have advanced many arguments on troop dispositions, types of weapons employed, army movements, the locations of the fighting, and the duration and intensity of combat. Yet many of these studies have not adequately addressed the question of the validity of this physical evidence. The purpose of the this article is to summarize earlier arguments on the …

Captain Medorem Crawford’S 1862 Military Escort Emigration Report, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

An 1862 report of Capt. Medorem Crawford, U.S. Army, Assistant Quartermaster. An account of a military-accompanied emigrant road expedition from Omaha, Nebraska Territory to Portland, Oregon. Includes insights into Civil War conditions on the Overland Trail.

Beyond The Exodus: Nauvoo After 1849, Rebecca A. Wiederhold, Dainan Skeem

Faculty Publications

Nauvoo, the City Beautiful, was named by Joseph Smith in 1839 when the Mormons began settling the area. After seven short years, the Saints had built a city to rival Chicago at the time. In 1844, Joseph was martyred and in 1847 the Mormons fled the city, changing the makeup of the town’s population and the direction of its growth. Emma Smith eventually returned with the remainder of her family and was beloved of the neighborhood children. Many other families not associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continued to farm the land and raise families. As …

Physical Evidence And The Battle Of The Little Bighorn: The Question Of Interpretation, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

Archaeologists have identified over a thousand shell casings and bullets at the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Many theories on the nature of the battle, the effectiveness of the weapons, and the location of the fighting have been proposed by the location of these artifacts. But there are major problems in interpretation. Only about 1% of the supposed artifacts remain, and the vast majority were plundered long ago. The artifacts are suspect because there is no way to know if they actually had anything to do with the battle or if they were added later. Any analysis …

Die Schlacht Am Little Bighorn Und Ihre Physischen Zeugnisse: Eine Frage Der Interpretation (1. Teil), Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

Over a thousand shell casings and bullets have been found at the location of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. These artifacts have led to many interpretations on the nature of the battle, but there are many problems with these theories. Many of the artifacts are suspect because some of them could have been moved, introduced later, or may not be a representative sample. Any analysis made on the bases of the remaining shell casings and bullets must be made with these limitations in mind.

This article is the first article in a two-part series. You can access the second …

Die Schlacht Am Little Bighorn Und Ihre Physischen Zeugnisse: Eine Frage Der Interpretation (2. Teil), Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

Over a thousand shell casings and bullets have been found at the location of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. These artifacts have led to many interpretations on the nature of the battle, but there are many problems with these theories. Many of the artifacts are suspect because some of them could have been moved, introduced later, or may not be a representative sample. Any analysis made on the bases of the remaining shell casings and bullets must be made with these limitations in mind.

This is the second article in a two-part series. You can access the first article …

Utah’S Role In Protecting The Mormon Trail During The Civil War, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This chapter (from the 2015 book “Far Away in the West: Reflections on the Mormon Pioneer Trail” published by the Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center) sets the stage for Utah Territory’s role protecting the Mormon Trail during the Civil War by outlining the Utah War (1857-1858). This essay begins by comparing and contracting Washington, DC’s wartime interest in the trail with that of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Utah Territory. The essay then outlines the changing parties who were responsible for the trail between 1861 and 1865 – the U.S. Army (spring-summer 1861), no one …

Henry Wirz And The Tragedy Of Andersonville: A Question Of Responsibility, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

Henry Wirz was the most controversial Swiss American. Born in Zurich, Wirz migrated to the United States and joined the Confederacy at the outbreak of the Civil War. He was assigned to oversee the military prison at Andersonville, Georgia, which had a very high death rate. Following the war, Wirz was arrested and tried for war crimes. The trial was a travesty of justice. Many of his supposed crimes were milder punishments than the Union inflicted on its own soldiers. The court allowed hearsay evidence, Wirz was no allowed to call key witnesses for his defense, and many leaders of …

The Battle Of Adobe Walls And The Red River War, 1874-5, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

Adobe Walls became the site of two major engagements between the whites and Indians, first in 1864 and ten years later in 187 4. In 1843, William Bent established a trading post near a crossing of the Canadian River in the panhandle area of north Texas. The original structure was probably constructed from wood. Two years later, in 1843, the fort was rebuilt out of adobe or sun-dried brick. It was a formidable structure that with walls about 30 feet (9 meters) high, but the fort proved to be in a dangerous area, and Indian raids soon made the location …

The Battle Of The Rosebud, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

The Battle of the Rosebud, which took place on 17 June 1876, was the largest single engagement between the United States cavalry and Indian forces in the entire history of the American West. It was a fierce encounter that lasted about six hours and involved all together several thousand cavalrymen and Indian warriors. The outcome of the contest was highly significant because it turned back a major invasion of Indian territories and freed many warriors to engage another invading force under the command of George Armstrong Custer. This led to the destruction of Custer's command at the Battle of the …

Red Cloud's War And The Indian Victory Over The United States, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

Following the American Civil War, the United States fought a major war against the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians known as Red Cloud's War, which lasted from 1866 to 1868. The conflict is noteworthy for its many raids, for its three significant battles, and because it was a costly American defeat and an important Indian victory. A prominent leader of the Native Americans was the great war chief, Red Cloud, who engineered much of their success. The conflict included several important and bloody engagements including the Hayfield and the Wagon Box Battles in 1867, and the highly significant Fetterman Massacre …

The Case For A Custer Battalion Survivor: Private Gustave Korn's Story, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

Almost all of these claims of men having survived Custer’s Massacre at the Battle of the Little Bighorn have proven to be false, Gustave Korn’s case has merit. He was with Company I of Custer’s Battalion when it was attacked and later overwhelmed by the Indians. Korn claimed that his horse was wounded, became unmanageable, and carried him away from the Custer’s Battalion before it was wiped out. The circumstantial evidence supports his claim, and many of the other men in the Seventh Cavalry believed him. Korn was also famous because he cared for Comanche, the horse that was badly …

The Germans In The Seventh U.S. Cavalry At The Battle Of The Little Bighorn, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

About 15% or 131 men assigned to the Seventh Cavalry in June 1876 were born in Germany. A total of 78 of these men fought in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and 36 of these men were killed in action. The Germans in the Seventh Cavalry enjoyed a fine reputation as good soldiers, most of them were listed as having “excellent character,” and three of them were awarded the Medal of Honor for their action at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. This article deals with many issues including these men’s backgrounds, the condition of their lives, their height …

Henry Wirz And Andersonville: The Career Of The Most Controversial Swiss American, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

Henry Wirz is the most controversial Swiss American. He was assigned to oversee the Andersonville Prison during the Civil War, and he was blamed for the high death rate in that prison even though he had no means of getting additional food and supplies to the captives. He was tried for war crimes after the Civil War. He was not allowed an adequate defense at his trial, and he was found guilty in a travesty of justice. He refused an offer of clemency if he would implicate Jefferson Davis and other high Confederate officials in a plot to kill Union …

The Swiss At The Battle Of The Little Bighorn, 1876, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

Twelve men born in Switzerland are known to have been in the Seventh Cavalry in June of 1876, at the time of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and seven of them participated in the battle. Five of these men were killed in the engagement. Much is known about the activities of some of these men, and John Lattman from Zurich left a good account of his experiences. The Swiss were slightly older than most of the men in the Seventh Cavalry, and they were about average in height as the other troopers. These Swiss showed much dedication to their …

We Know No North, No South, No East, No West: Mormon Interpretations Of The Civil War, 1861-1865, Richard Bennett

Faculty Publications

While peace reigns in Utah, civil war, with all its horrors, prevails among those who earnestly desired to see the soil of these valleys crimsoned with the blood of the Saints, and, if we are mistaken in the signs of the times, before the conflict between the North and South shall have ended, all they unitedly desired to see meted out to the Mormons, will be poured out without measure upon those who have initiated the war of extermination, and are now carrying it on with all the energy they severally possess. So read the lead editorial in the Salt …

Pronounced Clean, Comfortable, And Good Looking: The Passage Of Mormon Immigrants Through The Port Of Philadelphia, Fred E. Woods

Faculty Publications

We were pronounced clean, comfortable, and good looking. So wrote LDS voyage leader Matthias Cowley after arriving in Philadelphia with a company of foreign Saints in the mid-nineteenth century. At this time, Latter-day Saint European immigrants, obeying the call to come to Zion, were gathering to America by the thousands on the way to their Mormon Mecca in Salt Lake City. They were obeying the call to come to Zion. In 1852, the First Presidency issued the following counsel: "When a people, or individuals, hear the Gospel, obey its first principles, are baptized for the remission of sins, and receive …

The "Tabernacle Post Office" Petition For The Saints Of Kanesville, Iowa, Fred E. Woods, Maurine Carr Ward

Faculty Publications

As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. Thus spoke wise King Solomon a millennium before the birth of Christ. As America labored to give birth to a new nation, the United States Post Office Department was born when the Second Continental Congress met in 1775 at Philadelphia and agreed to appoint Benjamin Franklin as the country's first postmaster general. During the nineteenth century, America continued to grow in population as children were born and as immigrants crossed the Atlantic to the land of promise. This growth not only caused America to lengthen …

From Liverpool To Keokuk: The Mormon Maritime Migration Experience Of 1853, Fred E. Woods

Faculty Publications

In January, Fifty-three, we left our English home, Determined for the Gospel's sake, to Zion's land to come. Our family was very small, its members numbered three, Yet strong in faith of Israel's God, and full of hope were we. 'Twas not to us an easy task to bid old friends adieu, To take a long farewell of those who always had been true, To leave for aye, the cozy home we made but just before, And take a last fond look of things we should behold no more; The wind blew keen, as out we went into the cold …

The 1853 Mormon Migration Through Keokuk, Fred E. Woods, Douglas Atterberg

Faculty Publications

In May 1853, William W. Belknap, who would later serve as a major general in the Civil War and as secretary of war to President Grant, wrote to his sister, Clara, about the Mormon emigrants who were outfitting in Keokuk, Iowa, that spring and summer: "Yesterday was Sunday and I wish you had been here to go up to the Mormon Camp with me. They had preaching at three stands in three languages--English, German, and Danish. They sing --especially the Danes--very sincerely and are perfectly enthusiastic. It is a strange, strange mystery and if you were here you'd be astonished. …

How Long, Oh Lord, How Long? James E. Talmage And The Great War, Richard Bennett

Faculty Publications

What is it that is happening? A war greater in area and scale and more fearful in carnage, than any that has ever been since life on the round world began. Five months--no more--have passed since the first gun was fired, and already the list of men who were strong, healthy, capable, keen, five short months ago, and who are now stark in death, outnumbers anything of its kind in human history. And to reckon up the load of sheer blank sorrow in innumerable homes, and the actual but incidental war sufferings, short of death, or possibly worse than death, …

Two Sides Of A River: Mormon Transmigration Through Quincy, Illinois, And Hannibal, Missouri, Fred E. Woods

Faculty Publications

The infamous extermination order issued 27 October 1838 by Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs caused thousands of Latter-day Saints to flee the state and seek refuge in Illinois across the Mississippi River. Illinois, established in 1817, had high hopes for its future, but just two decades later it was smitten, like the rest of America, with the economic depression of 1837. In such a needy condition, the people Illinois welcomed the Mormon migrants for three central reasons. Financially motivated, the state viewed the Latter-day Saint influx as an opportunity to raise its population to boost the economy through the collection …

Gathering To Nauvoo: Mormon Immigration 1840-46, Fred E. Woods

Faculty Publications

The gathering of the Mormon pioneers to Utah (commencing in 1847) has received extensive attention; however, the earlier LDS immigration to Nauvoo has not been adequately treated. This paper is the inspiring story of the British Saints who traveled to Nauvoo between June 1840 and February 1846. The international call to gather was received by the Prophet Joseph Smith during the second presentation of the Restored Church, less than six months after its organization in 1830.

More Precious Than Gold: The Journey To And Through Zion In 1849-50, Fred E. Woods

Faculty Publications

The California gold rush, the first international gold rush in history, turned the world upside down, reaching its zenith in the years 1849-50. As a result of the rush during these two climactic years, the population swelled our nation's Pacific coast, entitling California to receive statehood in the fall of 1850. During these catalytic years, Latter-day Saints were journeying to the American West for a different kind of treasure. They gathered from afar to their Mormon mecca nestled in the Salt Lake Valley to fulfill their dreams of establishing Zion. Yet the California gold rush had a significant impact on …

The Star-Spangled Banner Forever Be Furled: The Mormon Exodus As Liberty, Richard Bennett

Faculty Publications

You wanted to know what we waited to move for, wrote Sidney Tanner, an early Mormon pioneer, to his family in the East. "It was to go to a land of freedom where we could enjoy the peace of society and our liberty. We did not want to live in a country where there was no peace, no liberty and its citizens [were] not allowed their rights." So much has been written about the Mormon Trail that one wonders if there is anything of consequence to be said. Surely all the prominent details are well known. And were it not …

The Idaho Territorial Penitentiary's First Female Inmate, Fred E. Woods

Faculty Publications

While doing research on the experience of Mormon polygamists incarcerated at the Idaho Penitentiary, Fred Woods became curious about a woman imprisoned there at the same time. The Idaho Penitentiary's Convict Register names "Heneba" as the first female inmate received, on May 31, 1887. Next to her name is written in parentheses "squaw." For many years it has been unclear whether "Heneba" was her first or last name and what the background of this mysterious Native American was. Information about her age at the time of her incarceration, her family life, and the details of her later years and death …

Some Reflections At Winter Quarters, Richard E. Bennett

Faculty Publications

On this Memorial Day weekend, it is altogether fitting and appropriate that we gather today at this sacred place to remember the lives of our progenitors everywhere. From Gettysburg to Hiroshima, from Arlington to Flanders Field, and from the city cemetery to the family plot, we honor our dead ancestors and friends long since stilled. Whether they died on the battle fields of war or perished in the labor of giving birth, we honor them. Whether on the trail to a new life in Oregon or a new chance in Ukraine, they all were the lifeline to our present bright …

The Ute Mode Of War In The Conflict Of 1865-1868, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

The Ute Indians of Utah rebelled in 1865 which led to war for the next three years. Throughout the conflict, small numbers of Utah warriors showed great skill in raiding white settlements of central Utah and in keeping their enemies at bay.

Justice In The Black Hawk War: The Trial Of Thomas Jose, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

During Utah’s Black Hawk War 1865-1868 there were some instances of whites murdering Indians, and these people were never brought to trial. In 1866, Thomas Jose was brought to trial for killing an Indian, and he was convicted for murder. Even though his punishment was relatively mild, the justice system was made to work in defense of the Indians.

The Circleville Massacre: A Brutal Incident In Utah's Black Hawk War, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

The Ute Indians of Utah rebelled against the white settlers of Utah, and war broke out in 1865. The Ute Indians showed skill at war, and they staged an attack on Circleville that killed four people. The white settlers became suspicious of the nearby Piute Indians and arrested them. The Indians attempted to escape and were shot down. The white settlers feared that the nearby Indians would retaliate, so they killed the women and children. Three or four small children were spared to be raised by white families.