In Old Camp Floyd

In Old Camp Floyd By P. V. Cardon, Director of Utah Experiment Station, Agricultural College JOHNSTON'S Army was not wanted in Utah — its very pres- ence was irritating to the Saints, to say the least; and there were among the invaders men whose purpose was contemptible and whose behavior invited scorn. But in that army there were also other men, some of them of high purpose, who were merely doing what all soldiers are expected to do — obeying orders issued by their superiors. This fact was acknowledged by President Brigham Young and his associates during those trying times, and Church authorities always carefully distinguished between soldiers, on the one hand, and political adventurers, on the other. By thus distinguishing between men under orders and men actuated wholly by selfish mo- tives, Utah's Territorial officers approached greatness in the realm of good statesmanship. Among the soldiers in Johnston's Army who suffered through the winter made historic by the effective strategy of the Saints, was one whose name I revere and for whom I shall always retain a high regard. He was a Frenchman, known as Eugene Le Roy. I do not know his rank, but he was an officer. I do not know if he was a good soldier, but he must have been a man of character and refine- ment. I do not know what he thought of the "Mormons," whom he had come to help subdue, but I know what he did for a "Mor- mon" boy, and for this I honor him. Eugene Le Roy and the "Mormon" boy first met at old Camp Floyd, where they became endeared to each other under the peculiar circumstances which I shall relate. It will be recalled that Camp Floyd was the encampment in Cedar Valley to which Johnston's Army was assigned after it came into Utah under a peace agreement. Three years before the Army marched upon the alleged rebel- lious "Mormons," there had come to Zion from the Piedmont region of Italy a family of recent converts to the Gospel, which had been carried to them by missionaries laboring under the general direction of Lorenzo Snow. For more than seven centuries previously the ancestors of these converts had battled against persecutors in the mountain valleys of Piedmont to defend the Gospel which they believed had been handed down to them (the Vaudois or Waldenses) direct from the apostles of Christ. Against all the power of the Church of Rome, those heroic defenders of the Gospel sacrificed thousands and thousands

April. 1929 IN OLD CAMP FLOYD 475 of souls — martyrs to the faith of their fathers. No blacker chapters are to be found in the history of Europe than those which tell of Rome's efforts to exterminate the Vaudois pioneers of Protestantism. Accepting the Gospel as it was brought to them by "Mormon" missionaries, the Piedmontese family left their "Israel of the Alps," as Muston* refers to those picturesque but blood-drenched valleys, and made the arduous journey to Utah, arriving here with barely enough to live on. There were eight of them — the father and moth- er, four sons, and two daughters. The next three years of their lives, spent for the most part in Ogden's Hole, were marked by struggles common to thousands of other Saints who came to Utah with little else than their newly- found faith and the determination which that faith inspired. But through all the struggles and hardships there was compensating satis- faction in a feeling of having done right, of having quieted their former religious misgivings. Here at last the Piedmontese found themselves free to worship, without hindrance, according to the dic- tates of their consciences. Surely this freedom was worth all it cost in sacrifice of former friends and relations, and in the pain and sor- row attendant on efforts to re-establish themselves in a foreign land among strange people. Their feeling of freedom from oppression was short-lived, however; for almost before they had had a chance to settle them- selves here, there broke upon Utah the Echo Canyon War. As had happened numerous times in Piedmont through many generations, an army was marching upon peaceful valleys to destroy a people who dared to live in the light of the Gospel to which they had turned for succor. But now, instead of marching from Rome, the army came from Washington, capitol city of a great, new nation which was founded upon a belief in religious tolerance and freedom of worship. What memories must have flooded the minds of those transplanted Waldenses! What disappointment must they have felt! Were they to be denied freedom — even in America? The excitement attendant on the military maneuvers of that winter, centering along the Weber River which flows into what was then called Ogden's Hole, undoubtedly stirred to their depths the faithful souls of these immigrants. And it may easily be imagined with what relief, after dreary months, they welcomed the word that peace had been agreed upon, if not actually restored. Merely to have an army quartered nearby could have borne no unusual menace to these Waldenses, whose ancestors had known little else for hundreds of years. So let General Johnston and his *Muston, Alexis, D. D. "The Israel of the Alps: A Complete History of the Waldenses of Piedmont and Their Colonies." Blackie $ Son, London, 1866.

476 IMPROVEMENT ERA April, 19Z9 army march into Zion! As long as there was to be no more war, what mattered the mere presence of soldiers? Besides, would not these sol- diers have to be fed? Did they not spend their money freely for the goods they wanted? As for the corrupting influence of soldiers on the morals of the Saints, this constituted a menace, indeed; but it was unavoidable. It must be faced, and every effort made to counteract it, while making the most of a potential market for what the Saints had to offer in the way of labor and produce. It was in the hope of making sales or of obtaining employment that many straggling immigrants went to Camp Floyd, offering the products of their toil or the strength of their bodies. Among them was a lad of sixteen years, youngest of the four sons whose parents, four years before, had accepted the Gospel in northern Italy. This boy, bright and eager to learn, could speak as yet only in his native tongue, the French of the Waldenses. It was this fact which attracted him to the attention of an officer, Eugene Le Roy, who being a Frenchman found much pleasure in the company of the ambitious lad whose conversation was a rare treat, hardly to be expected in a land so far removed from France. Here was a voice, which, though found in a desert, recalled the beauties of Alpine valleys, lying thousands of miles away! Sincere friendship sprang up between them. The officer, eager to help the lad, used to teach him English, how to read and write it, as well as how to converse in this strange tongue. The days being all too short, these companions at night would pin blankets to the canvas of the officer's tent, which they shared, in order to prevent the light of their candles, revealing their disregard of Camp rules calling for "lights out" at nine o'clock. Under the kind and efficient guidance of his devoted tutor, the lad gained much knowledge. His diary tells, as nothing else could, how well he learned the use of proper English, and the character of the small library which he accumulated in Camp Floyd attests the refining influence of a cultured companion. The lad by inheritance possessed a will to learn; but what he learned; and how well he learned it, there among the soldiers of an invading army, speaks elo- quently for the gentlemanly qualities of his teacher. Then there was the matter of a trade by which to earn a liv- ing— the boy must be able to make his own way! So the good officer taught him the trade of watchmaker, which in later years formed the foundation of a successful business career. In camp, by following his trade, the boy earned enough to buy books and thus satisfy his hunger for knowledge. Meanwhile the lad enlisted in the Army — yes, this "Mormon"

4pr«. "29 !N OLD CAMP FLOYD 477 boy joined the Army of Utah which had been sent to subdue his people! But this was but a natural consequence of his association with Eugene Le Roy. What youth in tender, impressionable years would not have been influenced by such companionship, and im- pelled by a desire to remain always with one who was so kind and helpful. Enlistment as a soldier made it easier for him to be with his idol than if the boy had remained a civilian. During those delightful days a detachment of soldiers from Camp Floyd was ordered to Santa Clara, to protect a payroll en route from California. Incidentally, it will be remembered, Judge Cradlebaugh accompanied that detachment and while in southern Utah investigated the Mountain Meadow massacre. One of the soldiers who made that march, was the lad from Italy. Whether or not the officer, Eugene Le Roy, was with the detachment is not known to me, but I suspect he was, since the boy and the officer were almost constantly together. In any event, I have before me the boy's log of route covered by the soldiers in their march. I give it as he recorded it in a clear hand. It suggests the kind of training he had been receiving under his officer tutor. Route From Camp Floyd to Santa Clara Marches Miles 1 From Camp Floyd to the Lake 15 2 From the Lake to the Lone House 6 3 From the Lone House to Goshen 4 4 From Goshen to the next camping place 6 5 To Mountain Springs 13 6 To Willow Creek 5 7 To Nephi 8 8 To Chicken Creek 1 8 9 To Sevier River 10 1 0 To Round Valley Springs 9 1 1 To Cedar Springs _.. 1 6 12 To Pioneer Creek 5 13 To Fillmore City 9 14 To Meadow Creek 10 1 5 To Indian Farm 5 16 To Spring Creek 25 1 7 To Spring Creek 6 1 8 To Indian Creek 1 3 1 9 To Beaver Creek 8 20 To Snow Water Creek (often dry) 1 1 21 To Willow Creek ; 15 22 To Red Creek or Fort .2 23 To Parowan City 6 24 To Summit Creek 6 25 To Cedar City ___„ 12 26 To Twelve-Mile Springs : 12 27 To Iron Springs 8

478 IMPROVEMENT ERA April. 1929 28 To Printer's Settlement 8 29 To First Stream on Mountain Meadow 7 30 To Mountain Meadow Spring 4 3 1 To Santa Clara River 1 3 Soon after the return from Santa Clara, there broke upon this nation a true rebellion, and the young man from the Italian Alps found himself a soldier indeed, ordered into action to defend the land of his adoption. Within a startlingly short time, his well-writ- ten and equally well-preserved diary tells us, he was a bugler at the headquarters of General McClellan's Army of the Potomac, in its campaign of the Peninsula, marching toward Richmond. Thanks to the training the boy had received under Eugene Le Roy, there is preserved for us a first-hand, day by day, chronicle of the memorable events of 1862. No clearer record is at hand of the movements of the Army of the Potomac, of the confusion in the command of those troops, of the lack of sanitary precautions in the care of wounded, of the paucity of hospital facilities, the absence of effective, organized effort as regards convalescents, and the trials of the deserving soldiers who sought discharge. Whether Eugene Le Roy was with his pupil in battle, or whether they ever again saw each other after they were ordered to the front, there is no record. I wish there were; I wish there were some way in which I could learn what became of the man who so richly influenced that immigrant boy from Italy, and pointed the way to a life of honor and achievement. Of all the officers in the Union Army there was none whose memory is of deeper significance to me. Because that "Mormon" boy who marched away with Johnston's Army, served honorably in the Union cause, and after several years returned to Utah, where he became a good citizen, a friend and trusted counselor to all who knew him — that boy was my father, Thomas B. Cardon. Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow-men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is yet to be developed. I am young and unknown to many of you. I was born, and have ever remained, in the humble walks of life. I have no wealthy or popular relations or friends to recommend me. My case is thrown exclusively upon the independent voters of the country; and, if elected, they will have conferred a favor upon me for which I shall be unremitting in my labors to compensate. But, if the good people in their wisdom shall see fit to keep me in the back- ground, I have been too familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined. — Lincoln, to the people of Sangamon, March 9, 1832.