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Show CATHOLIC CHURCH IN UTAH General Connor Happy Reminiscences Fought His Way to the Front Ranks A Volunteer in the Mexican War Honorably Discharged Commands the Third California Infantry in the Civil War Colonel Connor Comes to Utah in 1862 Founded Camp Douglas He Wages War on the Snakes and Bannocks Ban-nocks Defeats the Arapahoes at the Tongue River. It would be unfair to the memory of a distinguished distin-guished man and a gallaait soldier, who figured conspicuously in the history of Utah in the early '60s. to omit a sketch of his career in a work pro- ; fessing to deal with the origin and expansion of Catholicism in our state. The memory of Major General Conner is held in kindly remembrance in Utah by those who know him and are yet living, and his name is mentioned with respect and admiration by those who were not ; born when he crossed the Jordan, and. with his regiment, reg-iment, camped among the foothills of the Wasatch. Like many others of his countrymen who fought ! their way to recognition and promotion in the army i and navy. Patrick Connor when, in 1S:I6, h landed with his parents in Xew York, was a penniless exile. ex-ile. The hostility to his religion and his national- ; ity was, at that time in the United States, a very serious handicap, which closed to Irishmen the avenues ave-nues leading to political, commercial and profes- sional success. Born in Ireland. March IT, lrJO. the future general gen-eral inherited the fighting blood of the great O'Connor O'Con-nor Clan. "The O'Connor fire-eaters of Kerry" and, when he was 10 years old, he enlisted as a private pri-vate in a regiment organized for active service in the Seminole campaign. After his regiment was mustered out of service in 1844. Connor returned to Xew York, from which city he went to Texas. While here, Mexico declared war against the United States, and at once the "Lone Star" state raised a detachment of volunteers, subsequently designated as Company A. First Texas Foot Riflemen, to serve for a term of three months in the Mexican war. Connor enlisted in this company, and was' made first lieutenant. At the expiration of his period of service, he joined Captain Seefield's "Independent Company of Texas Volunteers." then at Camargo, Mexico. With the volunteers he took part in the engagements of Palo Alto, De la Palma. Resaea, and in the fierce fight of Buena Vista, where he was badly wounded. He was mentioned in a dis- j patch to the war office for "conspicuous bravery in action," and on Feb. 12, 1847, was promoted cap- t it tain of his company. After the battle of Buena Vista, Captain Con- f nor, at his own request, was honorably discharged I and retired to California, where he remained till I the opening of the Civil war. When the news of the attack on Fort Sumpter f reached California, Connor at once tendered his services to the governor, and was appointed to the I command of the Third California infantry. In j May, 1S62, Colonel Connor 'was ordered with his j regiment to Utah, ostensibly to guard the trails, j to protect the mail and immigrant routes of the I Wasatch and portions of the southwestern region, and keep an eye on the Indians in general. Early in October, 1862, the Third California ir-fantry and a company of the Second California cavalry, under the command of Colonel Connor,' entered the val- j f ley of Salt Lake. j j The Colonel established his headquarter on a I bench of land east of Salt Lake City. Here his t j men broke ground for a presidio, or military fort, f and on October 24 he named his post Camp Doug- j las. His soldiers were yet engaged in the construe- tien of temporary winter quarters vhen a messen- j i ger came to the camp, reporting th-it the Snakes I and Bannocks were holding up the trails and f. slaughtering immigrants along the valley of Bear river. Connor went after them, and on January j 2i), 1SG3, he almost annihilated the Snake tribe and I put an end for all time to Indian deviltry, in the Wasatch and Salt Lake regions. . On March 30, 1S63, he was promoted Brigadier j General of Volunteers, and his command honorably I mentioned for their part in extinguishing the ris- j ing of the Shoshoniau tribes. ? Early in '65 the Indians of the region, including $ the present states of Xevada, Colorado, Utah and i parts of Dakota and Xew Mexico, showed signs of ; serious discontent. General Connors military juris- diction was enlarged to include the territory of ! these states. Soon after his appointment as "Mil- 1 (Continued on Page 5.). - ' I CATHOLIC CHURCH IN UTAH. (Continued from page 1.) itary Commander of the District of the Tlains," the A rap hoes ambushed the Overland mail route, killing kill-ing the drivers, destroying the coaches and running off the horses. At about the same time roving bands of Sioux were attacking the immigrant trains aud slaughtering women and children. General Connor, at the head of il.OOO cavalry, rode into the enemy's country, attacked the Arapa-hoes Arapa-hoes on the Tongue- river, and inflicted a meinor-.nble meinor-.nble d&f eat upon them. In this engagement the Indians lost sixty-three of their braves, their village vil-lage was burned, many of their women and children made prisoners, and COO of their horses rounded up and driven in. The General returned with his mounts to Fort Laramie, where, in obedience to orders from the war office, he sent the volunteer troops under his command about 16,000 back to their separate states, to be mustered out of service. Soon after his return to Fort Douglas lie was breveted, March 1", Major General of Volunteers, for gallant and meritorious service. On April SO. 1SGG. General Connor was mustered mus-tered out of service, declining the tender, on the part of the President, of a Colonelcy in the regular army. On his retirement from active military duty the General at once entered enthusiastically into the political and .industrial life of Ctab. lie launched the "Daily Union Vidette." a newspaper, in which he advocated the basic principles of a united patriotism for the state, and in which he endeavored to show the utter futility of propagating, propagat-ing, with the hope of eventually establishing, the theory of a theocratic government in a free coun-t coun-t ry. To counteract the teachings of the "Vidette." and educate the public to an appreciation of individual indi-vidual rights, the "Daily Telegraph" was founded. Connor now entered the mineral region, and located lo-cated the Jordan mine in Bingham Canyon, said to be the first mine opened in. the siate of Utah. He summoned and presided over the first meeting of miners in Salt Lake City, and submitted for the approval and adoption of those present a series of mining rules which, were afterwards consolidated into a law. He located the site for ihe present town of Stockton, erected the first silver-lend smelting works in our state, and threw $SO,000 of his money into mining and other enterprises calculated calcu-lated to develop the resources of Salt, Lake territory.' terri-tory.' His restless energy was not satisfied with the exploitation of the resources of the mountains, lie believed that if the. people living on the shores of the Great Salt lake could be brought into closer touch and more intimate association, it would add much to their social happiness and industrial prosperity. pros-perity. To achieve his expectations, he built the steamer "Kate Connor" and the sloop "Pioneer," the first craft of the kind which ever opened the salt waters of the lake. In the autumn of 1870, conditions called for the presence of a strong man at the head of military affairs in the state, and the Central Government, knowing their man, commissioned and appointed General Connor "Major General commanding the Liah Territory," embracing Utah. Idaho and Colorado. Colo-rado. The crisis having passed, he again retired to private life, took an active part in the social and industrial life around him, and retained to the last the good will and respect of all classes of the state and city. On the evening of December 17. 1S91, his physicians physi-cians pronounced the General to be seriously ill. lie at once sent to the bishop's residence a confidential confi-dential friend with a message for Father Kiely, the Vicar-General of the diocese. The Vicar-General immediately hastened to the bedside of the dying General, heard his confession and administered to him the last sacraments of the Catholic church. On the 19th the brave soldier and honorable man expired. ex-pired. . and two days afterwards was buried with military honors and with the rites of his church. He died as he lived, a Christian, with the resigua- tion of a devout man and the fortitude of a hero. "And to add greater honors to his age. Than man could give him. he died fearing God." An imposing mortuary shaft rises over his grave in the lonely military cemetery at Fort Douglas. Doug-las. The fort was his creation, he saw it expand from a collection of rough log shacks to the imposing im-posing group of buildings which impart dignity to the commanding plateau, and it is fit and proper that within sound of its cannon and within the shadow of its buildings, he should sleep his last sleep. |