and the military force was charged with the duty of installing
the foreign appointees.

With great dispatch and under cover of secrecy, so that the Utah
rebels might be taken by surprise, the army set out on the march.
Before the troops reached the Rocky Mountains, the sworn
statement from the clerk of the supreme court of Utah denying the
charges made by Judge Drummond became public property; and about
the same time men who had come from Utah to New York direct,
published over their own signatures a declaration that all was
peaceful in and about the settlements of Utah. The public eye
began to twitch, and soon to open wide; the conviction was
growing that someone had blundered. But to retract would be a
plain confession of error; blunders must be covered up.

Let us leave the soldiers on their westward march, and ascertain
how the news of the projected invasion reached the people of
Utah, and what effect the tidings produced. Certain "Mormon"
business agents, operating in Missouri, heard of the hostile
movement. At first they were incredulous, but when the overland
mail carrier from the west delivered his pouch and obtained his
receipt, but was refused the bag of Utah mail with the
postmaster's statement that he had been ordered to hold all mail
for Utah, there seemed no room for doubt. Two of the Utahns
immediately hastened westward.

On the 24th of July, 1857, the people had assembled in
celebration of Pioneer Day. Silver Lake, a mountain gem set
amidst the snows and forests and towering peaks of the
Cottonwoods, had been selected as a fitting site for the