P. E. Connor and the California Volunteers

Index For This Page

This page was last updated on August 24, 2026.

P. E. Connor and the California Volunteers

Patrick Edward Connor (1820–1891) was an Irish-born Union officer who played a major role in Utah Territory during the years of the Civil War in 1862-1865. After serving in the Mexican-American War, Connor was appointed Colonel of the 3rd California Infantry Regiment, also known as the 3rd California Volunteer Infantry.

(Read the Wikipedia article about the 3rd California Infantry Regiment)

(Read the FamilySearch Wiki article about the 3rd California Infantry; includes names of officers and staff)

In 1862, Connor and roughly 1,000 California Volunteers were ordered east. While they originally hoped to fight Confederate forces in the East, the War Department assigned the volunteers with guarding the Overland Stage, emigrant trails, and transcontinental telegraph line that had just been completed in October 1861, running between Fort Churchill in Nevada and and South Pass in central Wyoming, against hostile disruptions by Indians and profiteering white marauders and freebooters.

Federal authorities distrusted Brigham Young and the LDS (Mormon) residents of Salt Lake City and Utah Territory, fearing potential disloyalty to the Union. This was in spite of the first message to the East from Salt Lake City over the newly completed transcontinental telegraph, was Brigham Young assuring President Lincoln to Mormon loyalty to the Union. Many in the East, especially in the press, still held negative feelings toward the Mormons.

Upon his arrival in Salt Lake City, Connor deliberately established Camp Douglas in October 1862 on the east bench overlooking Salt Lake City to maintain a visible military presence over the territorial government.

At the end of his tour of duty with the California Volunteers in 1866, Connor was mustered out of the army as a Brevet Major General, and settled in Utah. He helped draft early territorial mining laws, founded the town of Stockton. He also invested heavily in local railroads, mining, smelting, and a steam boat on Great Salt Lake.

The Need For Troops

After the last of the regular U. S. Army troops departed from Fort Crittenden in late July 1861, the newspapers and politicians in the East began calling for troops to be returned to Utah to control the Mormons and control the Indians, and to "protect" the Overland Mail and the Telegraph.

On September 3, 1861, Henry Martin, the newly appointed Indian Agent for Utah Territory wrote a letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, with his report of the situation in Utah. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs (or someone in his office) shared the contents of a letter with the New York Herald newspaper. In his letter, Martin stated that his department would have no difficulty in preventing the Indians from causing trouble for the emigrants, Overland Mail, or the Telegraph Line. Parts of Agent Martin's letter were printed in the New York newspaper in its September 20th issue. This report caused great excitement in the East, demanding troops be sent to Utah to end the Indian troubles and to control the Mormons. Agent Martin responded with his own letter dated October 14th, which was printed in the Deseret News, October 23, 1861. In that more recent letter, Martin stated that there was no need for troops to come to Utah to protect the Overland Mail or the Telegraph. He also stated that there was no need for the government to establish an Indian reservation in the Uinta Basin, either to protect the Indians or to prevent the Mormons from settling there. Upon his arrival in Utah, he had found its citizens to be a law-abiding and peaceful community. He also stated that the New York newspaper had misrepresented his words and that the excitement in the East was coming from parties looking for any reason to cause troubles for the Mormons, and for the Indians. Agent Martin shared his opinion that the call for troops was more for the benefit of contractors supplying the troops, and would cause "general evil to the Indians and citizens of the Territory" with the same parties hoping to pull Union troops away from the fight in the South.

Arrival In Utah

September 24, 1862
Letter from P. E. Connor to Washington, asking to be sent to fight the Confederates. "To Major General Halleck, Secretary of War, Washington City: The Third Infantry, California Volunteers, has been in service one year, and marched 600 miles; is well officered and thoroughly drilled; is of no service on the Overland Mail route, as there is cavalry sufficient for its protection in Utah District. The regiment will authorize the Paymaster to with hold $30,000 of pay now due, if Government will order it East; and it pledges Gen. Halleck never to disgrace the Flag, himself, or California. The men enlisted to fight traitors, and can do so more effectively than raw recruits; and ask that they be placed at least on the same footing in regard to transportation East. If the above sum is insufficient, will pay our own passages from San Francisco to Panama. - By request of the regiment, P. Edw. Connor, Col. Commanding. Ruby Valley, N. T. Sept. 24, 1862." (Shasta Courier, October 11, 1862)

October 20, 1862
Deseret News, October 22, 1862.

Col. Connor, with five companies of the Third Infantry, and two companies of the second cavalry, California Volunteers, arrived at Fort Crittenden from Ruby, on Friday last, the 17th inst.; but contrary to the expectations of some, he manifested no disposition to make that desolate place his headquarters; and after camping near there, as stated, over night, moved on the next morning without consulting any of the patriots there assembled to serve their country in some lucrative capacity, should opportunity present, as to what he had better do or even inquiring if their private interests would be effected there by, which, as represented, some of them took in high deduction.

(Fort Crittenden had been abandoned by the U. S. Army in late July 1861.)

On Saturday night [October 18] the command encamped near the point of the mountain on the west side of Jordan, and on Sunday night [October 19], near the bridge below the mouth of Little Cottonwood. From thence, on Monday forenoon [October 20], the troops marched into the City; coming up the State Road to first South Street, and then turned east passing the residence of Gov. Harding, where a halt was made, and the troops were drawn up in two lines—the infantry in front, making quite a military display. Governor Harding then made his appearance, and, on being introduced by the Colonel, addressed the command and others present.

At the close of the speech, three cheers were given for the country and the 'brave old flag,' and three huzzas for Governor Harding. The command then proceeded to the base of the mountain east of the City and encamped in the vicinity of the springs between Red Butte and Emigration Canyon. How long the troops will remain where they now are, the speculators who seem to be most interested in the matter have not been able as yet to ascertain, neither where Col. Connor's headquarters will for the winter be established.

The troops looked as they passed through the City like a hardy set of fellows; capable of performing any service that might be required. They were somewhat covered with dust, which was very abundant on that day. Some of their horses seemed a little jaded, and not in as good condition as might be desired for an Indian campaign.

October 25, 1862
"Salt Lake, Oct. 29. - Col. Connor with his command of eight hundred California volunteers arrived here four days since [October 25]. He has located his camp called Fort Douglas, about three miles east of this city. He has four companies of cavalry, four companies of infantry and 4 pieces of artillery." (Council Bluffs Weekly Nonpareil, November 1, 1862)

Edward Tullidge wrote in his 1886 History of Salt Lake City, that Fort Crittenden (formerly Camp Floyd) was mostly deserted by mid October 1862 when Connors' California Volunteers passed through from Nevada en route to Salt Lake City. The camp was deserted, except for civilians who had purchased the Army buildings the previous year. These civilians were disappointed that Connor refused to re-purchase the buildings of the former camp, with Conner intending to continue and find a place "within striking distance of the heart of Mormondom."

Colonel Patrick Conner first arrived in Utah in September 1862 looking for a location to set up his new headquarters. Upon his return to Camp Ruby in Nevada, Conner reported to his superior officer in Washington that Utah and the Mormons were a "community of traitors, murderers, fanatics, and whores."

On October 18, 1862, the marching column of California Volunteers, with Connor at the head, arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. (Varley, Brigham and the Brigadier, pp. 49, 62)

Throughout the following winter and spring of 1863, Connor and his men were busy protecting the Overland stage and mail route from imagined and real Indian threats. But during the summer of 1863, several men explored the canyons surrounding the Salt Lake Valley. But as the California Volunteers were exploring, so were others, and not necessarily looking for gold.

Father of Utah Mining

Connor is most famous for being the "Father of Utah Mining," sent to dilute the dominance of the LDS Church in Utah. Connor actively encouraged his volunteer soldiers, many of whom had previous prospecting experience from California, to explore the mountains surrounding Salt Lake City for precious metals. His strategy was to spark a mineral rush that would bring non-Mormon miners and settlers into the territory.

California Volunteers helped locate early strikes in Bingham Canyon, Little Cottonwood Canyon, and the Rush Valley.

In 1863, Connor established the Union Vedette, Utah’s first daily non-Mormon newspaper, published out of Camp Douglas.

"A picnic had been organized from Camp Douglas to Bingham Canyon, twenty-five miles northwest [actually southwest] of Salt Lake City; and during a ramble on the mountain-side this lady, who had a previous knowledge of minerals in California, picked up a piece of rock which she pronounced 'float' from a ledge of silver-bearing quartz. The soldiers immediately prospected for the ledge, found it, and located the first mine in Utah. General Connor furloughed his men by detachments to prospect, and in a few months locations were numerous in Bingham, Stockton, and Little Cottonwood." (John H. Beadle, The Silver Mountains of Utah, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. LIII, Oct 1876, p. 643)

Connor also discovered ore in Little Cottonwood Canyon and was later responsible for mining and smelting operations in Stockton, Utah. Small amounts of gold were found but in insufficient quantities to warrant extensive mining operations. The expenditures far exceeded the revenue.

From the Autumn of 1863 to the latter part of 1865, the period covered by the operations of General Connor and his fellow promoters, little had been accomplished though a great deal had been expended. Several claims were located; one or more smelting furnaces were erected in Rush Valley, but these enterprises failed.

(Read Connors' letters in 1863 and 1864 to his commanding officers concerning developing the mines in Utah)

More Information

Colonel Connor Filled a Varied, Dramatic Role in Utah -- Article in the Utah History Blazer, May 1995

Brigham D. Madsen, Glory Hunter: A Biography of Patrick Edward Connor (University of Utah Press, 1990)

Patrick Edward Connor -- Read the Wikipedia article

###