Few men have been the object of as much negative publicity as Brigham Young. Well known around the world, many overland travelers went out of their way to see Brigham Young while traveling through Utah. Those who spoke with him were generally impressed by his intelligence and shrewdness, but felt obliged to question his motivations and usually remained convinced that he was a despot. This seems to be a compromise the travelers made between their preconceptions of Young and his undeniable accomplishments in the deserts of the Great Basin.
Negative Reports about Young
Most of the negative reports about Brigham Young focused on his undeniable power in Utah. He was the Prophet and leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and in the early days of Utah’s settlement, the vast majority of people were LDS. Horace Greeley, after an interview in 1859 concluded that “Brigham Young…governs without responsibility to either law or public opinion; there is no real power here but that of ‘the Church,’ and he is practically the Church.” [1] Italian Count Enrico Besana, who visited Salt Lake City in 1868 was more inclined against the Mormons and marveled that “in the middle of a free people, the most despotic power has been born.”[2] Most Saints, of course, didn’t view Young as a despot and were free to leave Utah at any time.
Positive Reports about Young
All but the most devoted anti-Mormons found some admirable qualities about Brigham Young. German doctor Jacob Schiel met with Brigham Young in 1853. Schiel “found neither knowledge nor unusual understanding on a variety of subjects. Yet [Young] has great administrative talent…a good measure of shrewdness, and he knows his flock well.”[3] British adventurer and world traveler Sir Richard Burton was enamored with Brigham. Burton wrote that Young wasn’t anything that his enemy’s accused him of being. Further, Burton wrote that “the Prophet is no common man, and that he has none of the weakness and vanity which characterize the common uncommon man.”[4] Almost all overland travelers were impressed with Brigham Young’s organizational skill and ability.
Sincerity of Brigham Young
After having read a variety of negative reports about Young, one of the questions that overland travelers tried to answer was: “is Young sincere?” Many suspected that Young used religion to enrich himself and his cronies. Generally, travelers concluded that he was sincere, though they often bemoaned that such a capable man should believe in Mormonism. Frenchman Jules Remy, who had several lengthy conversations with Young in 1853, declared that “however deplorable the cause to which Brigham Young has devoted the resources of his genius, the honor of humanity is not disgraced, as far as he is concerned, by fraud.”[5] While Remy, and others, question Young’s choice in causes, at least they don’t question his sincerity.
Despite a very negative worldwide public perception of him, most of Brigham Young’s visitors left with at least a few positive impressions of him. He was as universally recognized as being administratively capable as he was thought a tyrant. However, he was seen as sincere and honest in his beliefs, and often thought of as wasted in the service of the LDS church.
[1] Horace Greeley, “Two Hours with Brigham Young” New York Tribune (20 August 1859), 2.
[2] Enrico Besana, “Enrico Besana: The New Road of Iron Will Destroy This Anomaly” in On the Way to Somewhere Else: European Sojourners in the Mormon West 1834-1930 ed. Michael W. Homer (Spokane, Washington: Arthur C. Clark Co., 2006), 121.
[3] Jacob Heinrich Wilhelm Schiel, “Jacob Heinrich Wilhelm Schiel: I Saw Not a Single Beautiful Woman.” in On the Way to Somewhere Else: European Sojourners in the Mormon West 1834-1930 ed. Michael W. Homer (Spokane, Washington: Arthur C. Clark Co., 2006), 63.
[4] Richard Burton, The City of the Saints (Santa Barbara, California: Narrative Press, 2003), 180.
[5] Jules Remy and Julius Brenchley, A Journey To Great Salt Lake City (London: 1861), 212.
