"Welcome was the news in 1861 that reached the Saints composing the flourishing branches of the Church in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and other parts of the Eastern States, when amid the excitement of the breaking out of the late great Civil War between the North and the South it was announced that the Saints in Utah would send to the frontiers two hundred teams suitably equipped to aid in transporting across the Plains those not otherwise provided with means for the journey.
The company of Saints from the Boston (Mass.) Branch numbering fifty to sixty persons commenced their journey Monday June 10th, 1861, traveling to New York via Stonington, arriving at New York early the next morning by steamer, landing near Castle Gardens, thence by steam-tug to Jersey City; here they were crowded into a small waiting room in close proximity to a regiment of New York State Volunteers waiting for transportation to the seat of war. Some abuse was received by the Saints at the hands of several of the soldiers, but a heavy shower of rain coming on, together with the persuasions of some of the better minded troopers, caused the riotous soldiers to desist and go to their quarters.
At 7 p.m. the New York Saints in large numbers arrived, and by 10 p.m., with the Boston Saints forming one company, were en-route to Dunkirk, via N. Y. & Erie Railroad; and the following evening on their arrival at Elmira, Pa., the company was still further augmented by being joined by a large number of the Saints of the Philadelphia Branch, forming a company so large that many had to ride in freight or cattle cars fitted up with a single bench placed around the sides. Riding in one of these cars was a Brother James Slack, a man of powerful build, wife and family. . At night no light could be had save that of a candle furnished by the passengers who had to lay on the seats and floors. About midnight Sister Mary Slack who was lying on the floor, near the door, discovered a man near her whose actions indicated no good motive. She screamed out murder! the cry aroused her husband, who grappled with the intruder, and together they went struggling through the door. By the time Sister Slack gained the door she saw her husband, whom she recognized by a white vest he had on, falling down the embankment. Giving the alarm the train was finally brought to a stop, it then being 11:40 p.m. President John D. T. McAllister, who had charge of the company, and Brother John Blakemore and some train hands went back with torches to find the men, and the train went on to enable other trains to pass them.
In terrible anxiety Sister Slack and family traveled on with the company until 6 o'clock the next morning, when she was telegraphed to return to her husband who was too badly hurt to be moved. She started on her melancholy errand Easterward and the company proceeded onward.
At 10:15 a. m. Thursday, June 13th, they arrived at Dunkirk on the shores of Lake Erie, and were dumped, with their baggage, into the streets. The call of the government for means for transporting the troops had left but a few spare cars, and these could take but a part of the company, the remainder having to wait some 22 hours, exposed to the jeers and taunts of the drunken and others. After this wait, however, accommodations were obtained on a special, and a six hours' run brought them to Cleveland, Ohio, and fifteen minutes given them to change cars, and shortly after coming up with the main body arriving in Toledo where three hours were spent in getting ready their train ready which now consisted of two engines, eight freight and twenty passenger cars.
The feverish condition of society consequent upon the breaking out of the war was indicated to the Saints the next day, when they saw a gallows furnished with a noose and an inscription which read "Death to traitors."
Chicago, Illinois, was reached on Saturday afternoon, and here another tedious wait in a large warehouse of nearly six hours, subject to the profanity and abuse of a number of drunken men, so that it was a welcome relief to be in motion again, bound for Quincy, Ill. Sunday afternoon found the company pleasantly engaged in a large wood, making tea and chatting merrily with one another and having a general good time. The opportunity was occasioned by the breaking of the engine, causing a six-hour stop-over. Arriving at Quincy the next morning the company were transferred to the steamer "Black Hawk". Steaming down the Mississippi River to Hannibal, Missouri, where they unloaded their baggage into a large shed by the river's edge. At this place a glimpse of the realities of the war was experienced. The "Home Guards" (loyal) were at their quarters guarding a cannon captured from the secessionists and one of the rebel officers confined in a room of the depot.
Excitement filled the air and reports of the doings of large bodies of rebel troopers in the interior of the State in burning bridges, firing into railroad trains, &c., were rife.
Governor Jackson was endeavoring to carry the State out of the Union, and the people were much divided in their sentiments. Amid these scenes some of the brethren of the company ascended a hill in the rear of the town and held an impromtu meeting expressing their sentiments on the condition of the country, and times, and their hopes and desires concerning the future.
The wait at Hannibal continued until the following morning, Tuesday, June 18th, and enabled the Saints to replenish their provision baskets by the purchase of eggs fresh, hard and soft-boiled, bread, garden stuff, milk and meats.
The run of some two hundred miles from this place, Hannibal, to St. Jois, across the State of Missouri, was an exciting one, as most of the towns through which they passed were under guard, as also the railroad bridges, the presence of Union troops alone preserving the latter from destruction at the hands of the Secessionists. Nearing Chilicothe, now under martial law and presenting the appearance of a captured city, all business being suspended, streets patroled by armed soldiers, drunkenness, profanity and obscenity running riot, the train was stopped and army officers and guards inspected the train, and then stationing sentinels at each door allowed us to proceed. The cheering (?) information being imparted to us that a train a few hours previously had been fired upon, and we saw some of the bullet-riddled cars.
The road-bed was in such a horrible condition that passengers and boxes were thrown around and shaken as if on shipboard. During the night we arrived at St. Joe's, and in the heat of a sultry morning
The day was spent in getting aboard the freight, &c., which with nearly all the passengers was destined for Salt Lake City. At St. Joe's, as at other places in Missouri, was found a divided community, a secession flag having been hoisted just previous to our arrival, by its supporters, and after much excitement pulled down by the Unionists.
Suspicion and antagonism prevailed; citizens were armed and no man's life seemed secure.
Here Sister Slack and Brother J. Blakemore again joined the company and from them we learned the particulars of the sad death of Brother Slack, which cast quite a gloom over his many warm friends in the company.
After leaving our company to go to her husband's side, Sister Slack traveled East until noon and on a stretcher in the station with a quilt thrown over him swollen, bruised and cut, with his skull laid open, lay Brother Slack unconscious, unable to recognize wife or friends. In his delerium he spoke of what was coming to pass in the nation. "Why", said one of the stationmen present, "that is what Joe Smith says." Medical aid had been procured by President McAllister, and tenderly Sister Slack nursed her dying husband, while Brother Blakemore rendered unremitting and valuable aid, and his kindness is, to this day, stamped deep in the memory of the widow, as Brother Slack lived only until the next day, and was laid to rest on the hillside of Hornellsville, Steuben County, New York. The villianous author of this tragedy was never discovered."
The story of the trek continues in the Journal History of the Church excerpt, but that is all of the mention of the Slack family and their great trial. They (Mary Jones Slack, Harriet Slack, Mary Mitchell Jones, and Harriet Jones) made it to the Salt Lake Valley in September 1861, but what they did immediately after arriving I haven't discovered yet.
Conrad (my son) has used this story several times in the last few years in talks at Church. However, I wouldn't have known about this detailed description of what happened while on the train in New York if it hadn't been for my Nelson cousin, Christine (Chris) Cox, who works at the Church History Library in Salt Lake. At the time Conrad and I were trying to find the Slacks in the Mormon Overland Travel Database and we couldn't find them. I knew from Linnie Parker Gold's previous research that they had been in the Joseph Horne Company... and I asked Chris to help me find them. She sent an email with a link to this account in the Journal History of the Church and all I could do was cry as I read the detailed account of what had really happened as they crossed New York on the train. Chris then was able to add their names to that company in the database.
Next mystery to solve... to see if James Burns Slack's buried was recorded anywhere in Hornell, New York.
1 comment:
Again, thanks to those people who wrote down the story of what happened on the train!
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