Ever hear of any Latter Day Saints who fought in the U.S.
Civil War? On either side?

Like the Pope in Rome, Brigham Young was publicly neutral
during that bloody conflict. Unlike the Pope, who had
followers fighting on both the Union and Confederate sides,
Brigham's Utah Territory was at least technically run by
the national government and Mormons remained out of the
national conflict.

Or did they? William Smith, younger brother of Joseph, was
a soldier in the Illinois volunteers during the war. Other
men who were either then Reorganized LDS, or who would
join up with that church after the war, fought on the
Union side. Why? Unlike Brigham, they were against slavery;
and, unlike Brigham, they were loyal to their country.

But, perhaps I'm missing listing here the Mormon soldiers
who fought for the North or the South.

Anybody recall some names?

UD

Knowing what I do of BY (armchair type stuff)... I'm pretty sure his thinking was something like this:

'If we get involved, we have about a 50% chance of being on the losing side, about a 100% chance of losing a lot of our youth.'

Not odds that anyone so far from the conflict would want;

the Mormons were 'ready to roll' with either side winning/losing the 'Civil' <how could ANY war be 'civil'????> War.


a losing proposition, from the get-go.

If the Union were permanently split apart, Brigham had a
fair chance of establishing Deseret as an independent nation;
as a slave-holding theocracy which could henceforth play
the Confederacy against the diminished USA, to gain/retain
national power and legitimacy.

But not all the Saints were in Utah in 1861-65. There were
significant congregations in St. Louis, New Orleans,
New York, Philadelphia, etc. Theoretically a southern
Mormon could have fired bullets at former Apostle William
Smith, and the two opponents could gone back to their
respective tents, to read the Book of Mormon and D&C.

There must have been at least a handful of Reb Mormons,
but I suspect that they kept that part of their personal
stories quiet after 1865.

UD

Uncle Dale Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> There must have been at least a handful of Reb Mormons,
> but I suspect that they kept that part of their personal
> stories quiet after 1865.
>

Prattville Dragoons?

UD