11 June 1858

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Kelly

Reports that nothing has been heard from the commissioners sent out by President James Buchanan to negotiate with Brigham Young, so he cannot tell her if Young has accepted the pardon offer. Moore hopes Young will fight. He expresses disdain for Young and thinks that any in the East who have sympathy for the Mormon cause are misguided.

GLC04194.09

15 July 1858

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Kelly

Informs Kelly that the common belief in the eastern United States that the Mormons have become quiet and peaceable is wrong. He attributes their continued belligerence to a belief that they can bully the government into bending to their demands, drawing on President James Buchanan's offer of a pardon. Moore denounces the Mormons, telling the story of one of their preacher's vulgar dismissal of the pardon document. Written at a camp near Cedar Valley, Utah.

GLC04194.10

29 December 1858

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Kelly

Describes a Christmas dinner party he gave, mostly for men from the Medical Corps. Two or three balls were given, but Moore chose not to attend because he considers Mormon women dumb and unattractive. Discusses the Mormon block to holding court for the trial of a man who murdered a deaf and dumb boy. Mentions a message issued by President James Buchanan and the speed with which it crossed the Rocky Mountains, and comments that it is "unnecessarily filled with Kansas." Written at Camp Floyd

GLC04194.11

February 24, 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Moore comments on local places of leisure: the theater is drawing full houses, and there are two billiard saloons and fifteen or twenty gambling houses. Mentions that "knives and pistols are freely used," and that the town helps advance surgical knowledge. Written at Camp Floyd.

GLC04194.12

17 March 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Describes Provo as the largest town in Utah next to Salt Lake City. Mentions that the U.S. Court has been in session there for ten days. Explains there have been many murders in Provo, and that the judge has been trying without success to get the Mormon grand jury to bring indictments. Discusses the Mormons' anger about the troops being encamped there.

GLC04194.13

29 March 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Kelly

Discusses his travel to Provo, Utah, on a pleasure excursion, but fear of conflict between the troops stationed there and the Mormons resulted in General Johnson [Johnston?] ordering in 1000 troops and calling Moore to duty. Mentions Bishop Johnson, a polygamist who been "implicated in the murder of the Parishes" but not yet apprehended. Reports that three men were slaughtered within a quarter of a mile of Springville, Utah, on 14 March 1857, and that no inquest was held, nor has there been any attempt to discover the murderer until the present.

GLC04194.14

14 April 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Moore reports that the Mountain Meadows Massacre in 1857, where one hundred and seventeen men, women, and children were killed, was "done to avenge the death of Parley P. Pratt." Tells how the Mormons have appropriated the property of those killed instead of selling it to benefit the children who survived. Written at Camp Floyd.

GLC04194.15

10 May 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Informs Kelly that Jacob Forney, the Indian agent, brought the sixteen children who survived the Mountain Meadows Massacre in 1857 into Salt Lake City a few days before. Explains that the children have confirmed the widely held belief that the Mormons committed the massacre and attempted to blame the Indians. Written at Camp Floyd.

GLC04194.16

6 June 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Kelly

Gives graphic details of the Mountain Meadows Massacre in 1857. Is disgusted that the Mormons "claim remuneration" for maintaining and paying ransom to the Indians for the surviving children. Reports that the Indians claim Bishop John D. Lee raped and murdered a "beautiful girl of 18 or 19" who pleaded for her life. Decries that President James Buchanan forced a pardon on the Mormons when he could have crushed them. Written at Camp Floyd.

GLC04194.17

15 June 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Discusses his deep hatred of the Mormons in inflammatory language. Mentions that the sixteen children who survived the Mountain Meadows Massacre are to be sent to their relatives in a few days. He is stunned to read in the Deseret News that the Church is arguing that the massacre solely was the work of the Indians, and that the Mormons arrived in time only to rescue the sixteen children. Written at Camp Floyd.

GLC04194.18

12 July 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Kelly

Discusses a recently discovered Mormon scheme to counterfeit United States treasury drafts. The building where the counterfeiting operation was based was within Brigham Young's compound, and Moore claims this is evidence that Young must have known of it. Written at Camp Floyd.

GLC04194.19

23 July 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary [Kelly]

Praises the Mormons for having planted fruit and shade trees around their dwellings from their earliest settlement. Reports that gentile merchants and trade from the emigrants to California has made Salt Lake City a business center. Kelly was Moore's sister.

GLC04194.20

2 August 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Describes the Mormon view of polygamy articulated by Orson Pratt and condemns polygamy. Asks why the national government permits "such a people to be not only tolerated but furnished with the means of growing rich beyond that of any portion of the people in the States?" Written at Camp Floyd.

GLC04194.21

13 August 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Reports that he left Camp Floyd, Utah, to punish Indians who were murdering emigrants on the North California road; Moore's party attacked an Indian encampment at dawn, killing twenty and driving off the rest.

GLC04194.22

10 November 1859

Scott, H.L. (Henry Lee), 1814-1886

Document signed

Title: General orders No. 5

A printed copy issued by Headquarters, New York, commending Assistant Surgeon John Moore for his immediate and kind attention to the wounded after an engagement with Indians on 14 August 1853. Includes description of the skirmish near Box Elder, which Moore also describes in a letter to his sister (GLC04194.22).

GLC04194.23

10 October 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Describes being out with dragoons in pursuit of Indians who have committed robberies on the Emigrant Road. In spite of the vigilance of the troops, "two or three small trains have been robbed and burnt, and some twelve or fifteen people, men, women, and children killed." Moore describes the Indians responsible as a small, outlaw portion of the tribe. Moore is angry that "some of the very Indians concerned in these depredations have been in the Mormon settlements while we were looking for them in distant places," and the Mormons gave no word of it. Discusses good weather and fishing.

GLC04194.24

15 November 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary [Kelly]

Reports that Judge Eckles and General Johnston had affidavits showing that the Mormons had purchased artillery pieces and placed them in Salt Lake City. Comments that he had dinner with the governor and declined an invitation from the governor's wife to meet Mormon women, as he considers them no better than "professional women in a bawdy house." Written at Camp Floyd.

GLC04194.25

14 December 1859

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Discusses cold temperatures, the dancing that goes on at the balls at camp, and the numerous stores and saloons. Condemns the 15 October 1859 seizure of the arsenal at Harper's Ferry by John Brown, and hopes it does not distract politicians from Utah. Written at Camp Floyd.

GLC04194.26

January 16, 1860

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Reports that General Albert S. Johnston sent him to make a professional visit on Bill Hickman, a Mormon who had been shot. Describes meeting Brigham Young's first wife. Disparages Young's wife and the other Mormon ladies he met. Comments on dancing halls. Reports that Mormons are making a great profit from the gentile merchants due to high rents. Mentions that Judge Eckles often takes care of families with attractive women. Moore considers Eckles "a humbug," but keeps it to himself. Written at Camp Floyd.

GLC04194.27

February 1, 1860

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Discusses lawlessness in Utah. Moore reports that an opponent of Bill Hickman, a Mormon who was shot and Moore was treating, was murdered in Hickman's home. A group of Hickman's supporters committed the crime; one took the blame and the others swore it was self-defense. Also describes the lax punishments of a man who attempted to take stolen horses to California and a man who forged United States treasury drafts (GLC04194.19). Comments on theaters. Written at Camp Floyd.

GLC04194.28

19 April 1860

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Explains that some of the troops stationed in Utah are to return to the east, but he will remain for a time. Comments that the Mormons are sad to be losing the market and the refuge from those straying from the church. Moore hopes to return east in the summer of 1861.

GLC04194.29

1 May 1860

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Reports that the troops marching east will do so in four columns. A training area for teamsters has been set up. Mentions that Judge Eckles will travel to the east at the end of the month, and disparages him for his scandalous relationships with women. Written at Camp Floyd.

GLC04194.30

30 May 1860

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Reports that he has been ordered to accompany the dragoons, who are going out to protect the Emigrant Road. He will camp near Fort Hall, or Lewis Fork of the Columbia River, in Oregon. He is to be sent because the only other doctor had been sent toward California, where the "Indians have been killing the mail and express men, as well as immigrants." Mentions the Pony Express. Written at Camp Floyd.

GLC04194.31

2 August 1860

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Kelly

Explains that two thirds of the forces with him are out constantly escorting emigrants. Many of the travelers are extremely ignorant, and some sell their weapons to the "very Indians that lay an ambuscade for them at the first canyon they pass through." Moore believes the land east of the Mississippi is superior to the western lands. Mentions that Tom Flight is currently with him and will be going out the next day "as an escort to a train of emigrants going to Oregon." Reports that Judge Cadlebaugh was not killed. Mocks the pretended humility of Judge Eckles in accepting the nomination…

GLC04194.32

22 August 1860

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Kelly

Reports that there have been "no Indian troubles" around Fort Hall yet, and that the emigration is nearly over. Estimates 3,000 people have passed over the road near him and "probably twice that number over the road through Salt Lake and Camp Floyd." The river that runs through the camp is beautiful and full of fish. Mentions fishing on the Snake River, and music and readings among the troops. Moore is studying medicine and expects to undergo his second examination when he returns.

GLC04194.33