Women who followed Johnston's Army to Utah Territory in the mid-1850s fell into three general categories: housewives, hussies and heroines.
The Utah Expedition, under the leadership of Col. Albert Sidney Johnston, came to the territory in response to rumors that Latter-day Saint settlers were in a state of rebellion against the United States. The army was camped in Wyoming and Utah from 1857-59 and had a marked impact on the territory's history, although there was never any significant confrontation between the groups.The expedition's generous funding provided rations for 200 women expected to be laundresses. The provision was in keeping with the regulations of the time that allowed a washerwoman for each 19.5 soldiers. When Camp Floyd was finally established south of Salt Lake City, the washerwomen of Johnston's Army set themselves up on "Soapsuds Row." But between washdays, many of them were queens of the balls, dramatic entertainments and other social events of the camp.
There were other women who accompanied the troops, including Elizabeth Cumming, who enjoyed their protection while traveling to Utah to join her husband, Alfred Cumming, recently appointed territorial governor. The wives of some officers also braved the rigors of the long, challenging trek, and there was the usual complement of "camp followers" attracted by the concentration of men.
It was not the choice for a woman who desired the comforts of home. The military did not want them, did nothing to provide for them and discouraged their presence in camp, although it was not strictly forbidden. Many soldiers, especially those called on to "tote and carry" for the women, resented them.
William Drown, a bugler in Company A of the Second Dragoons, was assigned to aid Lizzie Tyler, the wife of an officer, and wrote: "A number of officers' ladies along, and they expect the same attendance upon the march as they receive at home in quarters. Their (belongings) are packed up every morning by the servants while the companies are standing in the hot sun . . . There is one comfort however, we have in going into a hostile country - we are sure of leaving the silk and satin aristocracy behind."
Of course, he added, "they cannot attend to themselves." He was wrong. Many of the women were not deterred by "hostile country" and stayed with the Army throughout the Utah occupation.
In an article in Volume 54 of the Utah Historical Quarterly, Audrey M. Godfrey chronicles the experiences of several of the women of Johnston's Army. Among them:
- Mrs. Cumming, who had the luxury of a "suite" of five tents outfitted with comfortable furniture. On Nov. 15, 1857, however, even she had reason to complain. It was very cold, she wrote in her journal, and she had not been able to wash for many days. The following month, temperatures fell below zero and stayed there for days at a time. Often the wind blew so severely that her relatively posh quarters were no more effective protection than the "Sibley tents" occupied by the shivering laundresses.
She writes, however, of frequent visits among the ladies of the camp "although (they) do not, of course, care to walk about in a camp unattended and as it interferes with a sociable impulse to seek out a protector every time one would visit, we see each other very little, but send frequent and polite messages - books, some treasure of a couple of turnips and the like." As rations were cut due to depredations of Mormon raiding parties that retaliated by attacking supply wagons, these little "gifts" became even more important.
- Louisa Canby, wife of Col. E.R.S. Canby, a career military man who was later assigned to establish a permanent fort at Bridger. Having cast her lot with an Army man, she faithfully followed him on each of his tours of duty. She gained the respect of his men as a woman of culture with a large collection of books and magazines, most of them sent by friends back home.
She became ill the first winter on the Utah Expedition and had to be conveyed in a camp ambulance, but as soon as she was well, she rode horseback from Bridger to Camp Floyd. She was a renowned hostess, cooking delicious meals for her husband and fellow officers. During the spring of 1858, however, she wrote home that she had gladly eaten wild garlic as soon as it appeared. She paid a dollar a dozen for eggs and $1.50 a pound for butter to give to sick men under her husband's command and was remembered kindly in many of their written accounts.
- Mrs. Marony, a servant and cook for Lt. Gove. She was a marvel of ingenuity who prepared such delicacies as canned tongue, salad, biscuits, butter, hot coffee and milk toast. Her husband transferred into Gove's unit, so she was able to care for him and their little son, Johnny, as well. Gove extolled her as "a prize. She is certainly one of the best women in the Army."
- Mrs. Martin, whose only mention in the many written accounts of the camp describe her as "flat as a tailor's press board, both before and behind."
- Jennie, the Indian wife of Tim Goodale, a mountaineer and guide. She accompanied him on the march "with astonishing patience and fortitude." She spoke good English and was a clean housekeeper, the soldiers recorded. When the Army became bogged down in snow and their food stores were depleted, her pet colt was killed to feed the men. She cried bitterly but was reconciled to the sacrifice as a necessity and looked forward to the promise of a replacement.
- Patience Loader, a Utah girl who married John Rozsa, a sergeant in Johnston's army. Of their first home at Camp Floyd, she wrote, "Mr. Rozsa got the table and two benches and bedstead made by the carpenter, all of plain lumber, no paint on them; on a straw bed, two pillows and some good warm blankets." She had six tin plates and two tin cups to set up housekeeping. A "bufalow" robe spread on the hearth covered a dirt floor. Dirt, in fact, was the one substantial commodity of Camp Floyd, which one writer described as "dust, dust, dust."
As her marriage settled in, Patience carped, "Why am I expected to do all that washing. I told him that I never had been used to do but very little washing in my life and was not able to work so hard." Her sergeant agreed to do the washing himself if they couldn't find a washerwoman to do it for them. Such women could be hired for a dollar per month for a dozen pieces of wash "and the government furnishes all the soap," he told her. For a time, however, John got up at 2 a.m. on wash day to get the wash done by 9. The couple later had a boarder who received $2 off her rent to wash and iron two days a week. Patience sometimes helped with the ironing but never stooped to washing.
Several other soldiers also married local women. Some converted to the LDS Church and stayed in Utah as permanent residents.
- Annie Lee, a camp follower of the lowest sort. Her occupation allowed her to buy nicer clothing than some of the more circumspect women of the area. She liked to attend Mormon dances in nearby Fairfield and never lacked for partners. One evening, a group of jealous Mormon women took her behind the dance hall and stripped her of her fine dress, which they took turns wearing through the evening. Ironically, her association with the Mormons made her unpopular with her Frogtown cohort of loose women, and eventually she was driven out of the camp. Later reports said she had been seen wandering the streets of Salt Lake City and she finally went to San Francisco.
- Elizabeth Harris, who, though married, was considered one of those women "too strong for the Saints." She was known to have threatened her husband's life and called him "an Irish loafing s.o.b." She had an on-the-side relationship with a man named Michael Mahon and begged him to take her away with him. On one occasion, while sitting on Mahon's lap, she boasted of giving her husband $20 to get him out of the house because she was expecting yet another guest, "her husky Pat Higgins" that night.
Regardless of their motivations, the women of the Utah Expedition became part of the history of that unhappy episode, giving it a more human dimension than if the Army had come alone.