Mormon Markers Destroyed
Salt Lake Tribune 3Dec99 N1
By Christopher Smith: Salt Lake Tribune

SIMPSON'S HOLLOW, WYOMING -- Vandals destroyed commemorative signs at Simpson's Hollow in southwestern Wyoming during the past two weeks in at attack that officials speculate may have been directed at the LDS Church. The signs, valued at $1,000, were the only ones of many along the highway to be damaged.

The signs were dedicated on Independence Day weekend in 1997 by President Gordon B. Hinckley. They commemorate the so-called Utah War's only 'battle' on Oct. 5, 1857, in which Mormon militiamen intercepted and destroyed a caravan of 24 U.S. Army supply wagons meant to supply 2,500 troops under the command of Albert Sidney Johnston. The lack of supplies and winter weather delayed Johnston, who had been ordered to Utah to put down a supposed Mormon rebellion.

The delay allowed Mormon-friend Thomas L. Kane to arrive the following spring to negotiate the resignation of Brigham Young as territorial governor and the presence of U.S. Troops in Salt Lake City.