Young replied that he had had experience with military bodies in Missouri
and Illinois, and he knew what the "Mormons" could expect. The captain
tried to show President Young how useless it would be for a few "Mormons"
to resist a nation like the United States. Even if they prevented the army
from entering the valley that year, more soldiers would be sent in the
spring.

"We are aware that such will be the case," replied the president; "but when
those troops arrive they will find Utah a desert; every house will be
burned to the ground, every tree cut down, and every field laid waste."

The captain was deeply impressed, but such were really the intentions of
the Saints. They could not trust the troops, and they did not intend to
submit tamely to such scenes as they had passed through in Far West and
Nauvoo. They were not in rebellion, and if the president had simply sent
some one to investigate, he would have found out that truth; but he had
acted on the spur of the moment, and the troops were already far on the
way. If they could be checked for a time until the truth could be learned,
the danger of a conflict might be averted; but if not, then, said President
Young, and the people were with him, their homes, fields, and gardens would
be destroyed by fire and the Saints would flee to the mountains.

The army continued its march towards Utah. Col. R.T. Burton was now ordered
by Gen. Daniel H. Wells, commander of the Utah militia, to take a small
body of men and guard the emigrant trains that were coming in. The militia
to the number of 2,500 men was called into service, and in September, 1857,
Gen. Wells and staff went to Echo canyon and there made their headquarters.
Active preparations were now made to stop the enemy. Echo canyon, through
which the troops would have to pass, was fortified by trenches and the
loosening of rocks on the hill sides.