already the conflict had begun, and a picked part of the army was
away in the western wilds, doing nothing for any phase of the
public good. But a word further concerning the expedition in
general. The sending of troops to Utah was part of a foul scheme
to weaken the government in its impending struggle with the
secessionists. The movement has been called not inaptly
"Buchanan's blunder," but the best and wisest men may make
blunders, and whatever may be said of President Buchanan's
short-sightedness in taking this step, even his enemies do not
question his integrity in the matter. He was unjustly charged
with favoring secession; but the charge was soon disproved.

However, it was known that certain of his cabinet were in league
with the seceding states; and prominent among them was John
Floyd, secretary of war. The successful efforts of this officer
to disarm the North, while accumulating the munitions of war in
the South; to scatter the forces by locating them in widely
separated and remote stations; and in other ways to dispose of
the regular army in the manner best calculated to favor the
anticipated rebellion, are matters of history. It is also told
how, at the commencement of the rebellion, he allied himself with
the confederate forces, accepting the rank of brigadier-general.
It was through Floyd's advice that Buchanan ordered the military
expedition to Utah, ostensibly to install certain federal
officials and to repress an alleged infantile rebellion which in
fact had never come into existence, but in reality to further the
interests of the secessionists. When the history of that great
struggle with its antecedent and its consequent circumstances is
written with a pen that shall indite naught but truth, when
prejudice and partisanship are lived down, it may appear that