AI Summary
5 min readIn the summer of 1857, the U.S. government finally did what Jim Bridger had been asking for four years: it sent the army to Utah. Brigham Young’s theocracy had controlled nearly everything in Utah Territory since 1850, and tensions between Bridger and the Mormons had been building for years. In August 1853, a Mormon judge issued an arrest warrant for Bridger, charging him with treason for allegedly selling guns to Indians who used them to kill Mormons. Mormons effectively took over his trading post, Fort Bridger, and forced him to leave. Bridger complained to officials in Washington, including Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, but they claimed they could do nothing. He and his business partner eventually sold the fort to the Mormons for a fraction of its value and settled in Missouri.
By 1857, President James Buchanan had had enough of the clashes between Brigham Young’s theocracy and federally appointed officials over court jurisdiction, polygamy, and who held authority in the territory. He appointed a new governor and ordered 2,500 soldiers under Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston to escort him to Salt Lake City and ensure Young relinquished power peacefully. It was the largest assembly of troops in the United States at that time, and the army hired Jim Bridger as its chief scout.
The Utah War and a Failed Expedition
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:35) **The Utah War Begins** - The U.S. government finally sends the army to Utah, fulfilling Jim Bridger's long-standing request, after years of tension between Bridger and the Mormons.
- 2 (04:00) **The Army Flounders and Mormon Resistance** - The army's supply train is devastated by Mormon raiders, and Bridger leads the stranded soldiers to his burned-out former fort for the winter.
- 3 (08:50) **The Frustrating Reynolds Expedition** - Bridger is hired to guide a major scientific survey of the Yellowstone region, but clashes repeatedly with a stubborn captain who ignores his advice.
- 4 (13:58) **The Bozeman Trail Dilemma** - With the Civil War raging, fortune seekers flood into Montana, and Bridger warns that the popular Bozeman Trail will lead to a full-scale war with the Sioux.
- 5 (18:43) **The Fetterman Disaster** - Colonel Carrington's raw troops are badly outnumbered and poorly equipped, and Bridger warns them not to pursue decoys beyond Lodge Trail Ridge.
- 6 (25:39) **Aftermath and Red Cloud's War** - Bridger is proven right about everything, and his mere presence at another fort protects soldiers from attack.
- 7 (28:34) **Bridger's Final Years** - The last of the great mountain men returns to Missouri, his health failing, but he remains a legendary storyteller.
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Show Notes
After the loss of his trading post, Jim Bridger guides an army column to Utah Territory to confront Brigham Young and the Mormons. Bridger leads a frustrating expedition to the Yellowstone region, and then guides the U.S. Army to northern Wyoming as it attempts to build forts along the Bozeman Trail. Bridger warns the Army about the dangers of the mission, and his fears are proved valid when warriors under war chief Red Cloud devastate an army column in the infamous Fetterman Fight.
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