Keywords

latter-day saints, civil war, Utah, church history, Mormons

Abstract

While peace reigns in Utah, civil war, with all its horrors, prevails among those who earnestly desired to see the soil of these valleys crimsoned with the blood of the Saints, and, if we are mistaken in the signs of the times, before the conflict between the North and South shall have ended, all they unitedly desired to see meted out to the Mormons, will be poured out without measure upon those who have initiated the war of extermination, and are now carrying it on with all the energy they severally possess. So read the lead editorial in the Salt Lake Deseret News shortly after Confederate gun boats and shore batteries blasted Fort Sumter into submission and surrender in the April 1861 outbreak of the war between the North and the South.

Original Publication Citation

“‘We Know No North, No South, No East, No West.’ Mormon Interpretations of the Civil War, 1861-1865.” Mormon Historical Studies. Vol 1 #1 (Spring 29): 51-64.