Utah Territory in the American Civil War

Although no battles were fought in the territory, the withdrawal of Union forces at the beginning of the war allowed the Native American tribes to start raiding the trails passing through Utah.

[3] In 1862, with the ranks of the Union army swelled by more than 100,000 volunteers, the U.S. government believed it could now spare enough men to again occupy the Utah Territory.

His soldiers, of the 3rd California Infantry, constructed a small garrison just three miles (5 km) east of the Mormon stronghold of Salt Lake City.

Connor at once engaged in an acrimonious and bitter cold war with Brigham Young and the Mormon people, whom he accused of being disloyal and immoral.

[5] The Shoshoni and other Native American tribal groups engaged in several small conflicts with incoming immigrant settlers in northern Utah and south-eastern Washington Territory (present day Idaho), particularly during the late 1850s and early 1860s.

[6] Connor encouraged his men to explore the Utah region for mineral deposits, the discovery of which he believed would bring more non-Mormons into the territory, changing the balance of political power.

[9] In 1861, President Lincoln had appointed James Duane Doty to the position of Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Utah Territory.

In 1863, Utah's territorial governor, Stephen Harding, was removed from office after public backlash from his criticism of the LDS Church and the practice of polygamy.