The sagebrush covering Utah's nearly forgotten Camp Floyd looks nothing like the hallowed and often-visited green hills of Gettysburg, the cornfields of Sharpsburg, the Mississippi banks near Shiloh Chapel nor Vicksburg's red-clay bluff.
But they have something in common. The same actors used them as backdrops to stage different acts of the Civil War. Camp Floyd's run from 1858 to 1861 was more like the Civil War's prologue or "greenroom," where actors gather before a performance.
A search by the Deseret Morning News of Army histories and rosters shows that at least 59 Civil War generals — 30 for the Union and 29 for the Confederacy — earlier served as junior officers in the "Utah War" or at the Camp Floyd it created to quell a rumored Mormon rebellion.
The fort in Cedar Valley, 36 miles from Salt Lake City, was once the nation's largest military installation with 3,500 troops, nearly a third of all U.S. soldiers at the time. Only a cemetery and a commissary building remain.
Generals who rose from Camp Floyd's ranks fought in virtually every major battle of the war, from Fort Sumter to Appomattox, including 20 who faced each other at Gettysburg alone.
The Utah War
The Utah War and the Camp Floyd it created foreshadowed how the nation would try to deal with perceived rebellion, how people invaded would react and how traits of some of its soldiers later would have heroic or tragic consequences.
The Utah War began when federal judges in Utah territory convinced President James Buchanan that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints refused to subject themselves to the judges' rulings and federal law.
Buchanan appointed new territorial officials, including a governor to replace then-Gov. Brigham Young, and sent an army to ensure their installation despite perceived rebellion.
Some historians argue Buchanan tried to unite the nation by diverting attention away from slavery by focusing on polygamy — which rival Republicans were calling one of the "twin relics of barbarism" along with slavery.
Others argue he listened to Southern sympathizers — such as Secretary of War (and later Confederate Gen.) John Floyd, for whom Camp Floyd was named — who may have sought to move the military far from the South as war loomed. Others say Buchanan sought to signal that the government would deal severely with perceived rebellion.
Col. Albert Sidney Johnston (soon to be made a general) was tapped to command the force to Utah, which had started on its way before his appointment.
If Buchanan thought an army would cow Brigham Young and Mormons into peaceful submission, he was wrong (as federal leaders would later find about the South in the Civil War, too).
Young had not been told officially about appointment of new territorial officials or Johnston's Army. When travelers told him in the summer of 1857 that the army was approaching, he worried old enemies had convinced the federal government to renew persecution of Mormons.
A quartermaster for Johnston's Army, Capt. Stewart Van Vliet (later a Union general) then appeared in Salt Lake City seeking supplies for the approaching army and told Young he did not know its intentions.
Young told Van Vliet he had been slandered by lying judges and vowed to resist the army to prevent new persecution. Van Vliet returned with that word as Young sent militia to drive off army livestock and supply wagons, burn forage and to fight if necessary.
By the time Johnston caught up with lead elements of his far-strung army, they had lost scores of supply wagons and livestock to Mormons. Winter hit, and the army barely managed to limp into Fort Bridger — which Mormons also had burned.
The army survived a horrific winter on scant rations and vowed to avenge suffering caused by the Mormons. Meanwhile, Mormons were abandoning Salt Lake City, vowing to burn it if necessary rather than give it to the army.
Mediation
Meanwhile, an old friend of Young and the Mormons, Col. Thomas Kane (later a Union general who fought at Gettysburg and Chancellorsville), visited Buchanan to offer services as a mediator between the Mormons and the government.
Buchanan gave him unofficial letters sanctioning efforts, and Kane made a fast trip by ship to California and then to Utah. After meeting with Young, he took word to Johnston that Mormons would allow new territorial officials to take office but would still resist the army entering the territory.
Over the objection of Johnston, new Gov. Alfred Cumming agreed to return with Kane to Salt Lake City. Cumming was greeted and accepted as the new governor and began negotiations with Young to end the war.
Cumming and Kane soon returned to Johnston. Cumming told him he was sure any rebellion was over, if it had ever existed. But Johnston refused to disband or leave because of direct orders from the secretary of war.
Trouble ended with the arrival of two peace commissioners sent by Buchanan, Lazarus W. Powell and Ben McCulloch (later a Confederate general). They conveyed Buchanan's offer of blanket amnesty to all Mormons and peace — if the army stayed. Young allowed the army to enter the Salt Lake Valley but kept Salt Lake City abandoned and ready to burn if the army tried to seize it.
Johnston marched his army through the city in June 1858 and camped on the far side of the Jordan River. After having planned revenge for months, Johnston confided in his friend, Maj. Fitz-John Porter (later a Union general), that he "would give up his plantation for a chance to bombard the city for 15 minutes."
As the army looked for a site with sufficient forage and water for a fort, an LDS emissary suggested Cache Valley. Col. C.F. Smith, Johnston's adjutant and later a Union general, warned that Mormons should propose nothing, and as far as the army was concerned, it "would like to see every damned Mormon hung by the neck."
Johnston chose the dusty desert of Cedar Valley for Camp Floyd instead of the verdant Cache Valley, a choice bemoaned by most soldiers. Johnston himself described it as "this infernal region — it is to me worse than any imagined horrors of a Siberian exile."
The camp remained until 1861 to watch the Mormons and Indians and defend Western migration routes. Following is a look at some Camp Floyd veterans who became Civil War generals or other leaders of note.
Albert Sidney Johnston
Johnston, a Texan, was transferred from Utah to California in 1859. Historian Charles P. Roland wrote, "Like much of Johnston's previous career, his experience as commander of the Utah expedition was one of enthusiasm turned to frustration."
That same emotional pattern repeated in the Civil War. Initial enthusiasm came when Confederate President Jefferson Davis, an old friend of Johnston, made him the top-ranking general in all Confederate forces and gave him command of the West.
Frustration emerged when Johnston found he faced four large federal armies across a 500-mile front and had only a scant 50,000 men to face them. The man who loved staging plays at Camp Floyd to entertain his men then put on a production of his own, telling newspapers he had far more strength than he really did — which scared the Union into inaction for a time.
However, his forces would soon suffer defeats and be chased to the Shiloh battlefield. Before more Union armies could consolidate there, Johnston decided to attack — and caught Union forces by surprise and ill-prepared.
During the battle, Johnston rallied troops by personally leading a charge at a spot later called "the hornet's nest."
Historian Shelby Foote wrote, "Johnston came riding back, a smile on his lips. . . . There were rips and tears in his uniform and one boot sole had been cut nearly in half by a Minie bullet. He shook his foot so the dangling leather flapped. 'They didn't trip me up that time,' he said, laughing."
Then he fell over in his saddle. An aide would find he had been shot in the knee and his femoral artery was severed. His surgeon could have saved him with a tourniquet — but Johnston had sent him to help some wounded prisoners. Johnston bled to death. Union troops would rally at Shiloh, take the battlefield and send the Confederates into retreat.
Charles F. Smith
Smith, the second commander of Camp Floyd, also once commanded West Point. At the battle of Fort Donelson, he served under one of his old West Point cadets — Ulysses S. Grant. An incident there made them both heroes of the early Civil War.
As their troops surrounded Donelson, the Confederate commander sent a note seeking a commission to set surrender terms. Grant asked Smith what he thought.
Smith, the man who had frankly told Mormons that the army would like to hang them all, told Grant, "I think no terms with the traitors, by God!" Grant then demanded unconditional surrender.
U.S. Grant then became known as "Unconditional Surrender" Grant and a hero to the Union.
During a tiff between Grant and higher command after Donelson, Smith would be put in temporary command of Union forces heading toward Shiloh — meaning he and Camp Floyd's first commander, Johnston, were directly opposing each other for a while. But Grant was reinstated to command before the big battle began.
Grant took a suggestion from Smith there that had dire consequences. Smith said asking men to dig trenches to fortify positions at Shiloh would make them think the Union feared the enemy. Lack of such defenses would bring heavy casualties, and was a mistake Grant said he never repeated.
Before Shiloh, Smith skinned his leg on a sharp rowboat seat. It became infected and he was in bed sick during Shiloh — but could hear its fighting. He would die within a month.
Philip St. George Cooke
Cooke, the third and final commander of Camp Floyd, wrote the cavalry tactics manual used by both armies in the Civil War.
In the Mexican War, Cooke commanded the Mormon Battalion. Legend says he tipped his hat in honor of his old Mormon troops when he marched through Salt Lake City with Johnston's Army.
Cooke was a Virginian who chose to stay with the Union — but found most Southerners at Camp Floyd would not follow his example. Neither did his own family. A son, J.R. Cooke, and a son-in-law, Jeb Stuart, became Confederate generals.
Stuart said of Cooke's decision to stay with the Union, "He will regret it but once, and that will be continually."
Stuart did all he could to make that prediction come true. Cooke's troops were unable to stop Stuart as he made a famous, destructive ride around Gen. George McClellan's entire army near Richmond in 1862. Cooke was then relegated to duty overseeing courts martial and recruiting.
Henry Heth
Heth, a Confederate general, is remembered now mostly for the hot July morning in 1863 when he led soldiers into Gettysburg, Pa., for the simple task of seeking much-needed shoes.
He was ordered to avoid any large engagement until scattered Confederate divisions could unite. But he managed to start the war's largest battle prematurely at a bad spot for his side because he misjudged the strength of opponents whom he thought he could easily sweep aside. Then, he would not back down.
That echoed an incident in Utah four years earlier, when Heth's handling of another apparently simple task almost caused Mormons and federal troops to go to war — again — and required intervention of Buchanan to stop it.
At a federal judge's request, then-Capt. Heth took troops to Provo to guard any prisoners who might be brought to trial. Then Heth decided to help hunt down and arrest LDS bishops and local mayors accused by church critics of murder and conspiracy.
Mormons feared the army was trying to round up and kill their leaders, and Mormon militia armed for battle. Heth dug in and called for reinforcements. A second Utah War almost erupted. It cooled only when Buchanan ordered that federal judges could not order use of army troops as posses and sent troops back to Camp Floyd.
Of note, Heth also led a Freemason lodge at Camp Floyd. At Gettysburg, he would face many former brother Masons from Camp Floyd on the Union side, including Gens. Winfield Scott Hancock, Alfred Pleasanton and Alfred Torbert.
Gettysburg heroes
Camp Floyd produced many of the heroes of Gettysburg.
Gen. John Buford (a quartermaster for Johnston's Army in Utah) managed in early fighting to hold high ground there that was key to victory. Gen. John F. Reynolds, a Camp Floyd veteran, was killed bringing desperately needed reinforcements to Buford. Gen. Stephen H. Weed was killed helping to defend Little Round Top on the second day of the battle.
Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock led Union troops that repulsed the all-or-nothing Pickett's Charge. He rode along his lines steadying men as aides begged him to dismount his horse. He refused to leave the field even when wounded. (The Confederate artillery firing in support of Pickett was led by another Camp Floyd veteran, Edward Porter Alexander.)
Of Hancock, Abraham Lincoln once said, "When I go down in the morning to open my mail, I declare that I do it in fear and trembling lest I may hear that Hancock has been killed or wounded."
Hancock became the Democratic nominee for president in 1880 but lost a razor-thin race to another former Civil War general, James A. Garfield.
Union Gen. Elon J. Farnsworth, who had been a civilian forage master in Utah for Johnston's Army, would be killed at Gettysburg leading a charge into what he had told commanders was a death trap after Pickett's Charge. Being ordered forward despite his protests, Farnsworth complied and died with much of his command.
Boy general
Wesley Merritt led a division in the same Gettysburg charge that killed Farnsworth. They had much in common. They, plus George Armstrong Custer, were promoted directly from captain to general when the Union lacked competent cavalry commanders.
 | Deseret Morning News graphic Civil War generals who served at Camp FloydRequires Adobe Acrobat. |
The three were known as the "boy generals."
Merritt's first assignment out of West Point in 1860 was at Camp Floyd, where he impressed officers and became assistant adjutant general. Cooke, the camp's commander, made Merritt his aide-de-camp in Virginia during early battles.
Merritt, who first served directly under Buford in Utah, would also serve with him during the war — and replace him when he died after Gettysburg. He commanded one wing of Philip Sheridan's cavalry at the end of the war (Custer had the other). He was at Appomattox Courthouse for Robert E. Lee's surrender.
Merritt later commanded West Point. But his greatest triumph came in 1898 when he led U.S. troops in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War and accepted the surrender of Spanish forces there.
Fun facts
Camp Floyd veterans present many fun facts about Civil War service, including:
Henry H. Sibley, a Confederate general who led forces raiding New Mexico, opposed Union Gen. Edward R.S. Canby. They not only both served in the Utah War, but Canby was Sibley's best man at his wedding. In fact, the two married cousins.
William Quantrill, a teamster for Johnston's Army, became a professional gambler at Camp Floyd who was good with a gun. In the Civil War, he led Confederate irregulars in infamous Kansas massacres where women and children were killed. His troops included later outlaws Frank and Jesse James and Jim and Cole Younger.
Randolph B. Marcy's daughter, Ellen, married Gen. George McClellan, an early commander of all Union forces. Marcy, a Camp Floyd veteran, become his son-in-law's chief of staff.
Marcy earlier blocked the marriage of Ellen to A.P. Hill, then a young lieutenant who would become a Confederate general. McClellan's troops became convinced that Hill's aggressive fighting with them was because Marcy had stopped Hill from marrying Ellen. One veteran even yelled during one fierce attack, "God's sake, Nelly — why didn't you marry him?"
John S. Marmaduke was so sure he could win a horse race against a gambler in Utah that he bet the entire salary of the Second Dragoons (cavalry) at Camp Floyd. The gambler (Joaquin Johnston) had spread bogus stories that his mongrel horse had never won a race. Marmaduke thought his own horse was the fastest in the territory. Marmaduke lost the race and the money.
He lost a more serious horse race in the Civil War. As a Confederate general, he was part of "Price's Raid" into Missouri and Kansas — where Confederates won initial victories. But when the cavalry of Alfred Pleasanton (another Camp Floyd veteran) finally caught up, Confederates were defeated and Marmaduke was captured.
However, Marmaduke later became governor of Missouri — showing he could at least win a political race.
Like Albert Sidney Johnston, who was seen laughing while not knowing he was mortally wounded, much the same happened with Camp Floyd veteran and Union Gen. Jesse Reno (for whom Reno, Nev., was later named).
At the battle of South Mountain. Md., he was reported to have thought his wound was minor and even laughingly joked to a friend, "I'm dead." Soon he was. Among his troops were future Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley.
Barnard Bee once led 300 volunteers that had joined up with Johnston's Army along its long march to Utah. He would become famous later for a rallying cry that he made as a Confederate general to other volunteers at the first battle of Manassas.
To stop their retreat, he pointed to Virginians led by Thomas Jackson, and yelled, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall!" The nickname of Stonewall stuck to Jackson, but Bee was killed moments later.
While at Camp Floyd, James H. Simpson explored possible new, shorter routes to California — including mapping the path later followed by the Pony Express and stagecoaches. He named Simpson Springs after himself. He also named a pass for Gen. Johnston near Dugway, although through the years it has become known instead as "Johnson Pass" — without the "t."
Not surprisingly, Simpson spent much of the Civil War mapping enemy territory for the Union. It won him a brevet as a general, a mostly honorary distinction good in large part only for calling himself a general in correspondence.
Some other generals are worth quick notes. William Hardee, one of the top Confederate corps commanders, was nicknamed "Old Reliable," and wrote the overall battle-tactics manual used by both sides.
Kirby Smith commanded the Trans-Mississippi Department for the Confederacy (west of the Mississippi), including leading the repulse of the Red River expedition. (The Library of Congress has a picture of him as a young lieutenant at Camp Floyd using a sextant.)
Confederate Gen. "Fighting Dick" Anderson was in most major battles in the East and was a lieutenant general (three stars). Union Gen. Fitz-John Porter was a key subcommander for McClellan early in the war (as he also was for Johnston in Utah), but was court-martialed and blamed for the Union defeat at the second Bull Run (though he eventually cleared his name years later).
Union Gen. John Robinson appears to be the only officer from Camp Floyd to win the Medal of Honor, for courage in leading a charge at Laurel Hill, Va.
Camp Floyd veterans literally saw the beginning and end of the Civil War. Among those who rose from Camp Floyd's ranks to become generals, three appear to have been present when the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter — "Fighting Dick" Anderson, John Dunovant and Samuel W. Ferguson, all Confederates.
Four were at Appomattox: Wesley Merritt for the Union and Edward Porter Alexander, Henry Heth and George Steuart for the Confederacy.
Among key battles where the largest numbers of Camp Floyd veterans fought, 20 generals who rose from the Camp Floyd ranks fought at Gettysburg; 15 fought in the Seven Days battles near Richmond (many as junior officers); 14 at Antietam; 14 at Chancellorsville; 12 fought at Fredericksburg; 10 at Atlanta; and 10 at second Manassas.
E-mail: lee@desnews.com