The Saints and Union: UTAH TERRITORY DURING THE CIVIL WAR

by E.B. Long

"The history of Utah during the Civil War can be written largely in terms of two personalities, and this E. B. Long has done. They were Brigham Young, the dynamic and commanding president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and General Patrick Edward Connor, the mercurial Irishman who commanded federal troops in Utah from 1862 to 1865. . . . Those who like their history straight from the sources will find The Saints and the Union a gem. . . . [It] is solid history, comprehensively documenting an important period in Utah and Mormon history." -- Robert M. Utley, Journal of Southern History "Clearly the standard history of an unusual and interesting aspect of the Civil War." -- G. Thomas Edwards, Pacific Northwest Quarterly "[Long] avoids the provincialism that has persistently plagued Mormon history by placing his account firmly within the broader perspective of American history. . . . [This] is a solid, scholarly, objective work which deserves the attention of all students of Mormonism, the Civil War, and the American West." -- Newell G. Bringhurst, Journal of the West "Long presents a wealth of material that vividly illustrates the paranoia, suspicion, and fear--real or feigned--that characterized the poles of authority--civil, military, and religious--in Utah during the war years. . . . By letting the major personalities in Utah speak their minds during these troubled years, E. B. Long's book provides a much greater understanding of the Civil War on the western border." -- Harwood P. Hinton, Civil War History

Genres: Religion, History

336 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1981

Reviews

[Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book tells the story of the Civil War as it played out within the Utah territory. The author makes little effort to contextualize those events through the backgrounds or lives of major actors. The author also wastes no space in the book explaining how the events in Utah affected the war more broadly (if at all). Instead, the book focuses extremely heavily on primary sources, quoting letters and newspaper articles at length on nearly every page. There is very little analysis of these sources, and the variety of sources appears relatively slim––the author relies particularly heavily on the two newspapers that were in print in Utah during most of the Civil War period.

If you want a book of block quotes describing the everyday happenings of the Utah Territory during the Civil War, this is for you. I found it difficult to get through this book, even though it comes in under 300 pages.

[Annaleah Faith Woodard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is 70% quotes. This makes the narrative a little dry. The quotes are redundant at times. I read it because I was interested in reading about the church leadership at a time the government was not so friendly to the church. It accomplished this. What I walked away with is Brigham was very dedicated to the notion the Constitution was a correct outline of how our government should be organized, but how it was being practiced was far from following that outline. It is negative towards Brigham at times.