[The following is in relation to the conflict between Albert Sydney Johnston, a Kentuckian Colonel sent on a mission to Mormonist Utah territory, partially to investigate claims regarding the Mormon-instigated Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857, and Thomas Leiper Kane, a Mormon sympathizer and advocate who had close political ties with Washington DC and would end up using his influence to prevent much of the investigation regarding the massacre. Here, we can see that the two men, ostensibly in place to work together in the Utah territory, clearly had differing sympathies and, to the surprise of no one, hated each other.]
The animosity between the two men reached absurd proportions, as they scribbled formal letters back and forth between the tents, separated by one hundred yards, Johnston refusing to meet personally with Kane, whom he considered a Mormon. Kane’s meddling was resented by the troops; one major called him an “ass” and ordered a sergeant to keep him under surveillance.
Tempers flared between the two men, prompting Kane to cryptically invite Johnston to a duel – an invitation that was, fortunately, intercepted before delivery. Averting violence in that instance, Kane continued to court disaster. Kane in turn was infuriated by his virtual “house arrest,” calling the army men “mono-maniacs.” One night, after consorting with a Mormon courier some miles from camp, Kane fired shots to alert the sentinels of his return. “A patrol of the guard was sent out immediately,” Captain Jesse Gove reported, “and one of my men shot at Mr. Kane and just missed him.”
Source:
Denton, Sally. “Camp Scott, November 16, 1857.” American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857. Vintage Books, 2004. 181. Print.
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