How early Mormon pioneers felt about Johnston's Army, which was billeted in Utah Territory from 1857-59, is well-known. Latter-day Saint settlers resented the United States troops, which had been sent to quell rumors of treason and uprising in the West and in general to keep an eye on the Mormons.
How Col. Albert Sidney Johnston's men felt about being in Utah Territory, how they fared in the changeable desert climate and how they spent their time is chronicled in a journal kept by Capt. Albert Tracy. The journal, illustrated by Tracy's sketches, is one of the most complete records of the "Utah War," seen from a soldier's perspective. The journal, with some of the drawings, was reprinted in 1945 as Volume 13 of the Utah Historical Quarterly. The original documents are in the New York Public Library collection.Tracy was born Albert Haddock but changed his name to honor a family friend. One of his journal entries notes the death of the man whose name he assumed and expresses great admiration for the deceased.
Tracy served in the Mexican War, distinguishing himself in the Battle of Chapultepec. He was a civilian for a time, then re-commissioned. Ultimately, he was as-signed to lead Company H, located at Fort Leavenworth. His son, Parris, was born as he trekked across the plains with Col. Johnston. He frequently reports in his journal that he has written to his wife, Sarah, that he misses her and that he has sent his pay to her.
The front part of Tracy's journal is missing, but beginning with March 24, 1858, the day-to-day routine of Camp Scott in southwest Salt Lake Valley is outlined in homey detail.
The first entry reports snowfall in the camp and the fact that "we are coming to be short of clothing. The men go about in pantaloons patched with pieces of cast-off coats of a darker blue and some of bits of blanket. For stockings, many have adopted the sleeves of coats, making an elbow, like a stovepipe, and sewing up one end for the toe. The shoes worn are, many of them, as far past description as mending."
Winter rations also were running short, and Tracy bemoaned the lack of salt. Much of the Army's store had been destroyed when wagons were lost en route to Utah. When Brigham Young learned of the need, he sent a load of salt to the camp, but Johnston spurned it. The odor of old soup in the company kettles "made up as it is from the perfectly black and rotting beef of our November slaughter, and with no sign of seasoning, compelled me absolutely to turn aside my head," Tracy wrote. "At any poor-house or jail within the limits of the land at the East, the proffer of any similar soup for human consumption would bring keeper or superintendent suddenly to indictment."
On April 23, 1858, the arrival of a provision wagon from Salt Lake, with potatoes, onions, butter and cheese for sale, created a scene "like that around a pie-and-cider wagon." A few hungry soldiers who were afraid they wouldn't get their share seized the reins of the wagon animals and "set off, full tilt, with potatoes, onions and the rest. They flew in all directions and were as speedily seized upon by the poor divils upon the outside. Had it not been for the absolute humor of the thing, it might have stood in the light of a serious breach of discipline." The miscreants were caught and turned over to the guard, but Tracy complained that he failed to get his share of potatoes, though he did tolerably with onions and "very well indeed with the butter, which was selling for only two and a half dollars per pound."
Tracy threw his pipe in the fire on May 8, determined to quit smoking "short . . . It is of no use tapering down. Short-off is the only doctrine, let your head spin as it may."
Tracy was always critical of the Mormons and was convinced they would be persuaded by the presence of Johnston's Army to come to their senses, give up their religion and conform. Describing numerous scouting excursions around Utah with his troops, he was always snide about the Mormon preparations for defense and boasted that the army would easily win in any confrontation.
One of the most vividly described events in his journal is a Feb. 28, 1858, grand review of the troops. The review was set on the grounds outside of camp, although a severe winter storm was brewing. Any sane officer, he wrote, "would have been deterred" by the look of the sky. "But Smith was obdurate and resolved that the pageant should proceed." It took a long time to get the various units lined up for review and the storm descended as they stood in ranks. "Some suffered slight freezing at the ear-tips or extremity of noses and some were so chilled as for the time almost to lose the use of hands and arms."
The roar of the wind almost drowned out the bugle's call, and it was nearly impossible to see. The officers were "dim objects, gray and ghost-like . . . and at these we saluted, agreeable to the regulation, with our sabres, doing the best we might." Snow piled up on epaulettes, and the ostrich plumes that trimmed hats were "simply a mess and shocking to behold." Only the fine past reputation of the officer's army service, Tracy wrote, probably saved him from repercussions.
The soldiers dubbed Salt Lake Valley's blustery winds "John-soons" in dubious honor of their colonel. "There is no nook or cranny but the dust will reach it and nothing you can touch but you soil it with the crushing of the particles," Tracy wrote.
At a holiday ball given Dec. 7, 1859, Tracy reported there were "but nine ladies for scores upon scores of officers. But the males `polk' and waltz together, making believe one is a lady, though in a rather dull way." He preferred playing Euchre with other officers. He bet cigars and beat his opposition "terribly."
On Christmas Day 1858, although Tracy had a chicken "with fair surroundings," he felt the day would be vastly improved by the "presence of my wife and little one." The following year, his yuledinner consisted of a roast rabbit and "pie of peaches." He spent the day visiting soldier friends and in the evening went to an entertainment. Still, his mood was a bit melancholy, and "a dream of the past and of the hearts that were" closes this entry. He didn't receive his Christmas gift from Sarah - a copy of "The Courtship of Miles Standish" - until March 30 the following year.
Tracy counted among his military "triumphs" efforts to keep civilians from selling liquor to his troops. In one instance, a man who had set up shop in a clump of shrub-bery upstream from the camp made the mistake of passing the word slyly to Tracy himself. The captain posted an extra sentinel "to prevent the demoralization possible in the best regulated camp, with bad liquor hawked at random. It was my second triumph over this sort of enemy of our peace and quietness."
On March 1, 1860, Tracy reports that "Gen. Johnson" (he refers to Johnston throughout his journal by that spelling) was being relieved of his command. The late commander, he noted, was "evidently in a state of growing intoxication" and everyone hoped the ceremonies would be short. "Within a few moments . . . the rising of the inevitable pillar of dust showed Johnson was on his way toward the slopes of the Pacific. Of Johnson, it would seem that we can say, as of Alexander, that he has missed a great opportunity."
Within a short time, the remainder of Johnston's Army was headed out of Utah. Tracy celebrated his 42nd birthday April 28, 1860, in Bellaire, Ohio "where we halt over at a very pleasant hotel."
Three days later, he was re-united in Washington, D.C., with his wife and the son who was born as he plodded his way to Utah Territory. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Tracy was again pressed into the Army, serving under Gen. John C. Fremonth in the West Virginia campaign. He advanced to colonel and retired at that rank on Nov. 4, 1865. He died June 3, 1893.