Idaho semi-weekly world. (Idaho City, Boise County, Idaho Territory) 1867-1868, 1867-05-04
GEN. RUFUS INGALLS, REPORT.

GEN. RUFUS INGALLS, REPORT
The following extracts from the Official Re
port of Gen. Rufus Ingalls,, of his tour last
year, through Utah particularly and this coast
generally, will be of interest to our readers
He says:
did not deem that my orders contemplated
I should make any minute inspections at the
different posts, to ferret out and report upon
noted cases of want of integrity and capacity
ON the part of quartermasters who had been
mustered out of the service, or of those who
still remained. The object of my tour was
simply q to ascertain what changes should be
made in the routes and modes of supply" >
did, however, make many inquiries of those
best informed as to the manner in which the
duties of our department. had been performed,
during the late war, in the great far West; so
did General Babcock, aide-de-camp to the
Generalin-Chef, who was travelling on an in
SpectiOn tour over the same line with me. He
has, undoubtedly, reported many nefarious
acts of quarternasters, coninlissaries, and
commanding officers, which shall not mem
ton, for the reason that the guilty parties are
out Of service, and [ was not permitted time
to procure proper proof, If even | could have
done so, and had [ the authority so to do
They might have been prosecuted while in the
service. If any of them should be now, it
could better be done through the Attorney
General ofice. That there were many swind-
ling contracts made for hay, wood, &c. / doubt
not; heard of them at the time.
In the far West many of the commanding
officers had had little or no previous Inili-
tary experience, and it is reporteddid not hes
itate to enter into collision with their quar-
4.,,s,
advertise and 'si0b" out the purchases as to
insure profit to themselves This seems to
have been the case in Utah under General
Conner. All that could be learned of him
and his administration, however, was reported
to the Generalin-Chief by General Babcock,
who spent five or six weeks in Great Salt Lake
City, at the instance of Lieutenant General
Sherman, to investigate any cases of malfeas-
sailce on the pdrtof our forces, and to see and
report upon the actual state of feeling of the
MornOns. But as / remarked before, be-
lieye ogood will result now from prosecutions.
n
sIremained in Great Salt Lake City only
two days, engaged in inspecting Camp Douglas
and in making inquiries of President Young
and the principal business men, with all of
whom.I had been personally acquainted in
1895, having then been stationed eight
months in the city, during the overland march
Of the late Colonel Steptoe~sfWe made it our
duty thento develop new routes to California
and Oregon, as far as oursmeans permitted
The people of Utah have unquestionably
suffered much from the generally bad class Of
men appointed to the civil offices by tie Federal
Government. Doubtless, also, the M0rmons
have felt and acted iii too exclusive style to
suit the gentle world, but deceit, bullying,
ard recrlmination will not make good citizens
of them. Had it not been for the positive or
ders Of General Mcdowell L really believe
that General Conner would have forced an IN
surrecti0n with the Mdrmons in 1863-'64, at
the very time when he could least have afford
ed to send troops there, and when they did
not wish disturbance I have this from
General Mcdowell himself
| am satisfied that proper commander can
manage affairs SO that life and property will
not only be safe in Utah but that the Nor
mons Willbecome loyal and law-abiding. There
is a class of people there now bent on open
opposition to the Mormons. They excite them
by unnecessary taunts and threats, and in rare
cases of violence, which, though happening in
all large communities, they charge the perpe-
tratien and responsibility of at once upon the
people
Tie Mormon population felt deeply wronged
by the military during our recent war, but
Brigham Young assured me that his people
have been, and always will be, satisfied with
the administration of any regular officer
1he appearances OF Utah to us, from its ge-
egraphleal position on the continent, it's varied
and abundant resources, and the character IF
its main inhabitants, being sngularly fanatical
and blindly devoted to their new religion, is so
very great that the civil offices should be filed
with men of more purity of character and
greater talents. and the Territory should con-
stitute a separate military department, placed
under one of our most soldierly aud circum-
spect general officers A frst-class quarter
master and commissary should be assigned to
his staff
tn show tha rirtun of advartiSino II Is oa;d