Item Detail
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12875
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4
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0
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English
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Fort Douglas, 1862-1916 : Pivotal Link on the Western Frontier
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University of Utah
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Ph.D. diss.
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"The history of Fort Douglas, Utah, is a small but significant part of a larger story, the accelerating migration and settlement of western America which occurred during and after the Civil War. Unfortunately, the primary obstacle to this settlement was the American Indian who was occupying land coveted by white emigrants. The United States entered the Civil War with a very small army, decimated by the resignation of a large percentage of its officers, who accepted commissions in the Army of the Confederacy. Regular troops were recalled from frontier duty for action against the South. As a result, the Overland Mail route and emigrant trails were left unguarded from attack by hostile Indians. Presidents Lincoln and the War Department realized the importance of the Overland Mail route in maintaining contact with the Far West, insuring the loyalty of California to the Union, and continued access to the gold and silver mines of both California and Nevada. The Secretary of War called for volunteer regiments. Patrick E. Connor volunteered and was appointed Colonel of the Third California Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was assigned the task of protecting the Overland Mail route and in July of 1862 proceeded east for the purpose of establishing a military post near Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. Colonel Connor also felt that it was his duty to keep an eye on the Mormons, whose loyalty to the Union was suspect. Camp Douglas, later renamed Fort Douglas, was established on 26 October 1862 and named after the late Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. The first post buildings were dugouts covered by canvas but the next summer log and adobe buildings were erected. Over the years several construction programs have been completed and most of the native red sandstones buildings built in 1873-76 by troop labor stipp remain as beautiful and historical landmarks. The first major Indian engagement participated in by troops from Fort Douglas was the Battle of Bear River in southern Idaho, in which a large force of Shoshoni Indians were very nearly annihilated after a severe fight. Troops from Fort Douglas took part in the Powder River Campaign of 1865, the Sioux and Cheyenne War of 1876-77, the Bannock War of 1878, the Ute War of 1879-80, and finally, the Sioux outbreak which culminated in the Battle of Wounded Knee. In 1869, rails were joined at Promontory Point, Utah, and the transcontinental railroad was a reality. Fort Douglas took on new life as a result of its strategic location, since the railroad permitted the Army to rapidly deploy troops to threatened areas. Fort Douglas assumed a new role with the end of Indian Warfare. New commitments in Cuba and the Philippines, and along the Mexican border meant that troops from Fort Douglas would spend their time in training for foreign wars. The Twenty-fourth Infantry, a black regiment, departed Fort Douglas for service in Cuba and then returned to Utah for a short time before leaving for the Philippines. Three other regiments would follow. Regiments from Fort Douglas were also called upon to patrol the Mexican border during that nation's civil war. The Twentieth Infantry returned to Fort Douglas in May 1917 after an absence of four years. They were lonely years, the only activities were training camps for civilian and Utah National Guard troops. World War I changed the role of the Army; it was the end of an era; the beginning of a new age as Fort Douglas adjusted to meet new challenges." [Author's abstract]
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General Regis de Trobriand, the Mormons, and the U.S. Army at Camp Douglas, 1870-71
Gettysburg to Great Salt Lake : George R. Maxwell, Civil War Hero and Federal Marshal among the Mormons
On the Way to Somewhere Else : European Sojourners in the Mormon West, 1834-1930
Prostitution, Polygamy, and Power : Salt Lake City, 1847-1918