Playing With Shadows
Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 5:21 pm
A few weeks ago, I posted about Mike Marquardt's "The Coming Storm" which was a keepsake for the Arthur H. Clark publishing companies "Playing With Shadows." This book is a part of the multi-volume Kingdom In The West, edited by Will Bagley.
I think this may be the best volume in KITW. I have always been partial to "Gold Rush Saints" and "At Swords Point," but this book is a fun to read and covers a neglected subject. The trio of Bagley, Aird, and Nichols have produced a ground breaking book and a must read for any student of the American West. I particularly liked Polly Aird's chapter on George Armstrong Hicks. Her writing is top notch. She is not only a scholar, but she is sympathetic to her subject and clear in her details.
Polly's work on Hicks is particularly important for many reasons. This is a man whose history has disturbed Mormon apologist, even to the point of having Davis Bitton write a smear piece that was published in UHQ.
I first learned of Hick's when I read Will's "Blood of the Prophets" where he details Hick's feelings toward the people involved in the massacre at Mountain Meadows and Young's relationship with them. Hick's was troubled by people claiming that Young was supportive of those involved in the massacre. Hick's could not believe that Young, a Prophet of God, could be so evil. Young seemed to ease Hick's fears when he spoke in December 1866 saying: “If any man, woman or child that ever lived has said that Brigham Young ever counseled them to commit crime of any description, they are liars in the face of heaven.” Hick's even carried the newspaper clipping of the talk with him wherever he went and quoted from it to people who claimed Young had not stopped supporting the murderers. Because of Hick's belief in Young's words, many people in Southern Utah started claiming it was Hick's who was the problem, even claiming he was a traitor to Mormonism. Hick's had enough and wrote a letter to Brigham Young detailing his concern that people claimed Young was supportive of the murderers and that Young's words given in December 1866 were "to blind the eyes of the gentiles and to satisfy a few individuals like myself." Eighteen days later, Young responded to Hick's, concerns, telling him "if you want a remedy—rope round the neck taken with a jerk would be very salutary." Hick's was shocked by Young's response, and from this point on, never trusted Young again.
As Polly points out, Hick's "manuscript [that Polly reproduces in the volume, fully edited] is 167 pages long, plus an extra page of journal notations from 1879, which he must have kept earlier and enabled him to be so exact in regard to names, dates, and events in his autobiography." This is an autobiography that can be trusted for accuracy, which is not usually the case.
To give you a taste of Hick's engaging writing, I found his description of John D. Lee and his household to be the most revealing.
"I have been told that Lee would go to where men were assembled and play the evesdroper [eavesdropper] and in a day or two would make known what he had heard and say the Lord had revealed it to him. I myself have heard [him] say that he has seen holy angels and conversed with them. Lee was a swindler in dealing, a liar in conversation, and a low sensual brute of a man. He has been the husband of 19 wives, although he had but eight when I knew him. He was undoubtedly a hypocrite in religion. His house was a great stoping place for “Gentile” strag[g]lers, and if rumer [rumor] is to [be] credited, his house was but little better than a house of ill fame. His wives were in the habbit to twitting each other of their little foibles and once while I lived at Harmony, his wives made general confession to Lee and to each other for having had sexual intercourse with Richard Darling (Rattle-snake Dick, as he was called). This man was a deserter from Camp Douglass. Lee preached Mormonism to [him]. He was baptized into the church and married one of Lee’s daughters, lived with her for six months, then stol[e] a horse, a revolver, and a suit of clothes, and then ran away while Lee was gone to S. L. City to have more wives sealed to him. I well remember Lee came home without getting the wives. He seemed much depres[s]ed, for he had prophecied that Darling would become a great man in the Kingdom of God."
Polly's incredible researching skills found in her footnotes point out that Hick's account can be verified through other sources.
I love how Hick's then points out why he was giving this detail in his autobiography about Lee. Hick's explains:
"My reasons for being so particular in describing Lee and his family are these: I wish to show the kind of society that was good enough for our Prophet, Seer, and Revelator to honor (!) with his company when making his ann[u]al tours through his kingdom."
I think this may be the best volume in KITW. I have always been partial to "Gold Rush Saints" and "At Swords Point," but this book is a fun to read and covers a neglected subject. The trio of Bagley, Aird, and Nichols have produced a ground breaking book and a must read for any student of the American West. I particularly liked Polly Aird's chapter on George Armstrong Hicks. Her writing is top notch. She is not only a scholar, but she is sympathetic to her subject and clear in her details.
Polly's work on Hicks is particularly important for many reasons. This is a man whose history has disturbed Mormon apologist, even to the point of having Davis Bitton write a smear piece that was published in UHQ.
I first learned of Hick's when I read Will's "Blood of the Prophets" where he details Hick's feelings toward the people involved in the massacre at Mountain Meadows and Young's relationship with them. Hick's was troubled by people claiming that Young was supportive of those involved in the massacre. Hick's could not believe that Young, a Prophet of God, could be so evil. Young seemed to ease Hick's fears when he spoke in December 1866 saying: “If any man, woman or child that ever lived has said that Brigham Young ever counseled them to commit crime of any description, they are liars in the face of heaven.” Hick's even carried the newspaper clipping of the talk with him wherever he went and quoted from it to people who claimed Young had not stopped supporting the murderers. Because of Hick's belief in Young's words, many people in Southern Utah started claiming it was Hick's who was the problem, even claiming he was a traitor to Mormonism. Hick's had enough and wrote a letter to Brigham Young detailing his concern that people claimed Young was supportive of the murderers and that Young's words given in December 1866 were "to blind the eyes of the gentiles and to satisfy a few individuals like myself." Eighteen days later, Young responded to Hick's, concerns, telling him "if you want a remedy—rope round the neck taken with a jerk would be very salutary." Hick's was shocked by Young's response, and from this point on, never trusted Young again.
As Polly points out, Hick's "manuscript [that Polly reproduces in the volume, fully edited] is 167 pages long, plus an extra page of journal notations from 1879, which he must have kept earlier and enabled him to be so exact in regard to names, dates, and events in his autobiography." This is an autobiography that can be trusted for accuracy, which is not usually the case.
To give you a taste of Hick's engaging writing, I found his description of John D. Lee and his household to be the most revealing.
"I have been told that Lee would go to where men were assembled and play the evesdroper [eavesdropper] and in a day or two would make known what he had heard and say the Lord had revealed it to him. I myself have heard [him] say that he has seen holy angels and conversed with them. Lee was a swindler in dealing, a liar in conversation, and a low sensual brute of a man. He has been the husband of 19 wives, although he had but eight when I knew him. He was undoubtedly a hypocrite in religion. His house was a great stoping place for “Gentile” strag[g]lers, and if rumer [rumor] is to [be] credited, his house was but little better than a house of ill fame. His wives were in the habbit to twitting each other of their little foibles and once while I lived at Harmony, his wives made general confession to Lee and to each other for having had sexual intercourse with Richard Darling (Rattle-snake Dick, as he was called). This man was a deserter from Camp Douglass. Lee preached Mormonism to [him]. He was baptized into the church and married one of Lee’s daughters, lived with her for six months, then stol[e] a horse, a revolver, and a suit of clothes, and then ran away while Lee was gone to S. L. City to have more wives sealed to him. I well remember Lee came home without getting the wives. He seemed much depres[s]ed, for he had prophecied that Darling would become a great man in the Kingdom of God."
Polly's incredible researching skills found in her footnotes point out that Hick's account can be verified through other sources.
I love how Hick's then points out why he was giving this detail in his autobiography about Lee. Hick's explains:
"My reasons for being so particular in describing Lee and his family are these: I wish to show the kind of society that was good enough for our Prophet, Seer, and Revelator to honor (!) with his company when making his ann[u]al tours through his kingdom."