6. Secret Military History

1857-0615, Religion, the Mormon Mountain Meadows Massacre.
In southern Utah in 1857, 140 men, women and children were shot, bludgeoned and stabbed in an event known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Newspapers placed blame on Mormon settlers while Brigham Young, leader of the Mormon Church, openly blamed Native Americans for the atrocity.
The few people who did survive, all under age seven, stated that the perpetrators were white men. In addition, Mormons were witnessed wearing jewelry and clothing from the massacred. To restore order, President James Buchanan sent 2,500 soldiers into Salt Lake City, territory that Young had declared as independent from the United States.
Knowing federal troops were approaching, Young called for Mormons to prepare for the anticipated war between the church and the federal government. The Mormons set fire to the plains to halt the advancing army, attacked the supply lines and burned Fort Bridger to the ground. With winter taking its toll on the starving soldiers, President Buchanan agreed to grant amnesty to the Mormons regarding all federal offenses, including murder, in return for peace and order.

1861-0615, Gender, the First Female in the US Military.
Kady Bownell 19, the 1ST Female in the USA on Active-Duty. She volunteered to join Olney-Bn-1-Varnum Regiment (Black)-Union-Army, in Rhode Island. Kady, a White woman, volunteered with her black husband. She was on Active-Duty with the unit for the entire Civil War from 1861 thru 1865.

1862-1217, Religion, GEN Grant Expels Jews from his Staff.
Union General Ulysses S. Grant lashes out at Jewish cotton speculators, who he believed were the driving force behind the black market for cotton, and issues an order expelling all Jewish people from his military.
At the time, Grant was trying to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi, the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. Grant’s army now effectively controlled much territory in western Tennessee, northern Mississippi, and parts of Kentucky and Arkansas. Grant had to deal with numerous speculators who followed his army in search of cotton. Cotton supplies were very short in the North, and these speculators could buy bales in the captured territories and sell it quickly for a good profit. In December 1862, Grant’s father came to visit him along with friends from Ohio. Grant soon realized that the friends, who were Jewish, were speculators hoping to gain access to captured cotton. Grant was furious and fired off his General Order No. 11: “The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from the department within twenty-four hours from receipt of this order.”