Reports said it was composed chiefly of Missourians, some of whom were said to be boasting that they had helped to expel the Saints from Jackson County in that State.

Also in this train were reported to be several men from Arkansas who had been implicated in the assassination of Apostle Pratt.
But news of the crowning infamy reached him the following day,--news that had put out all thought of his great sin and his bloody secret, news of a thing so monstrous that he was unable to give it credence until it had been confirmed by other comers from the north.

President Buchanan, inspired by tales that had reached him of various deeds growing out of the reformation, and by the treatment which various Federal officers were said to have received, had decided that rebellion existed in the Territory of Utah.

He had appointed a successor to Brigham Young as governor, so the report ran, and ordered an army to march to Salt Lake City for the alleged purpose of installing the new executive.
Three days later all doubt of the truth of this story was banished.

Word then came that Brigham was about to declare martial law, and that he had promised that Buchanan's army should never enter the valley.
Now his heart beat high again, with something of the old swift fervour.
The Gentile yoke was at last to be thrown off.