Mountain Meadows                                                             Utah Historical Quarterly Spring 1967

                                                                                                                                      Pg 143

 

Mountain Meadows

Burial Detachment 1859:

TOMMY GORDON'S DIARY

 

BY A. F. CARDON

Mr. Cardon, the son of "Tommy Gordon," has previously contributed articles to the Quarterly. He is a retired government employee living presently in Los Altos, California.

 

        The spring following the Mountain Meadows Massacre saw Albert Sidney Johnston's army march through Salt Lake City and establish Camp Floyd in Cedar Valley, about 40 miles distant from Salt Lake City.1 The establishment of the camp stimulated the economy of the area by providing employment for Utah residents. Among those who applied for work was a young Mormon convert by the name of Thomas Cardon.  While working at the camp, Tommy became friends with another Frenchman serving as a clerk with the army.  A film friendship developed, and apparently because of his friend's persuasion, Tommy joined the army.  At the time of his enlistment, Tommy's English was poor and the enlistment officer understood his surname to be "Gordon," and it was so entered on the official records.  Tommy cordon's friend taught him to read and write English, and he began to keep a diary of his life as a soldier.  His first recorded adventure was when he was sent with a detachment of troopers to bury the victims of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.  The expedition started April 21, 1859.  Since Tommy had hardly started to learn English, he wrote sparingly of the trip in the form of notes of the marches. the distance traveled each day, and the sites of each camp.

 

After burying the remains the soldiers proceeded to Santa Clara and then returned to Camp Floyd. The Tommy cordon diary describes the trek and the Mountain Meadows, where "one of the most lamentable tragedies in the annals of the west" occurred.

 

TOMMY GORDON'S DIARY

 

                                                                 Dis

1859                                                          Marched     Total

 

Apr. 21        Left Camp Floyd, U.T. at 6.15' A.M.

            and arrived at Goshen at 2.20' P.1I      27

 

"22      Left camp 5.20' AM arrived at

            Nephi 12.45' P.M.                               21           48

 

"23      Left camp 5.30' A.11 arrived

            Chicken Creek 10.45' A.M.                 18           66

 

“24      Left camp 6.30' AM. arrived at

            Sevier Bridge 9.30' A.M.                     10           76

 

"25      Left camp 6.5[0]' .AM arrived

            at buttermilk creek 2.20 P M                25         101

 

26        Left camp 5.45 A.M. arrived

            at Meadow creek 12.30 P.M.               18         119

 

27        Left Camp at 6 A :M arrived at

            Cove creek 3.15 P.M                          28         147

 

28        Left Camp at 6.30 A.M. arrived

            at pine creek 9.30 A.M.                       7           154

 

29        Left Camp at 6 A.M arrived at

            Be[a]ver City 1 PM                             20         174

 

30        Lay over

 

May 1st Left Camp at 6.15 A M arrived

            at dry creek at 10 A.M. Snow water     12         186

 

2          Left Camp at 6.15 A M arrived at

            Parona [Paragonah?] 12 M 15 miles

            and at Parawine [Parowan] 1.30 P.M    20         206

 

3          Left Camp at 6 A.M. arrived at Cedar City

            12 M 17 miles Camped 3 from city                   226

 

4          Left Camp at 6.20 A M arrived at

            Iron or Cold Springs at 12.30              18         244

 

5          Left Camp at 6.15 A.M. arrived

            at Mountain 'Meadows at 12 M            16 miles 260

 

6          Lay over encamped on the ground where the Arkansas Train was massacred   Sept 10th, 1857

             helped to bury the bones that was laying overground in two graves, the first one 2500 yards North of

            the Spring and 45 yards from left hand side of road (hens grave). Second grave 150 yards north

            of first one (Womens grave) 50 yards from road on Same Side as the other 2. 

 

7          Left Camp at 6.30 A M arrived at

            Camp on the Santa Clara at 12 M         18         278

 

8          Left Camp at 7 A M arrived in camp

            Do. [ditto] at 10 A M                          8           286

9          Lay over

 

10         Do

 

11         Do California Train passed

 

12         Do

 

13         Do.

 

14         Do

 

15         Do

 

16        Left Camp at 5.30 A.M arrived at

            Mountain Meadows 3 P.M                  26

 

17        Lay over

 

18        Left Camp at 7 A.M arrived at

            Iron Springs 11 A M                           16           42

 

19        Left Camp at 6 A M arrived at

            Cedar City at 1 P M                            20           62

 

20        Left Camp at 7 A M arrived at

            Summit Creek 11 A M                         15           77

 

21        Left Camp at 6.25 arrived Red

            Creek [?] near [?] Fort at Summit

 

            Creek at 10 A.M                                 12           89

 

22        Left Camp at 6.15 A.M arrived

 

            at Little Salt Lake Valley at 11 A.M      14         103

 

 

23        Left Camp at 6.20 A.M arrived

            Indian Creek 12 M                              18         121

 

24        Left Camp at 6.35 A M arrived at

            Cove creek 12 M                                19       14[0]

 

25        Left Camp at 6.25 A M arrived

            Corn Creek 1 P.M.                              20         160

 

26        Left Camp at 5.45 A M arrived

            at camp near Cedar Springs                 20         180

 

27        Left Camp at 6 A. M. arrived

            at Round Valley 12 miles from

            Sev[i]er river 10 1/2 A M                     12         192

 

28        Left Camp at 5.25 A M arrived

            at Sev[i]er River 1 P.AZ camp 8

            miles from Bridge                                21         213

 

29        Left Camp at 6 A M arrived at

            San Pete River at 1 P.M.                     20         233

 

30        Left Camp at 6.25 A M arrived

            at Camp 5 miles from Mantua

            [Manti?] & 2 from Ephra[i]m

            Fort at 12 M.                                      17         250

 

 

 

1For the history of Camp Floyd see Thomas G. Alexander and Leonard J. Arrington, "Camp in the Sagebrush: Camp Floyd, Utah, 1858‑1861," Utah Historical Quarterly, 34

(Winter, 1966), 3‑21.i

 

2Tommy's description of the massacre site is very matter-of-fact and certainly lacks any dramatics. The historian, Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Utah, 1540‑1886 (San Francisco, 1889), 556, described the scene the troopers found as follows: "On reaching Mountain Meadows, the men found skulls and bones scattered for the space of a mile around the ravine, whence they had been dragged by wild beasts. Nearly all the bodies had been gnawed by wolves, so that few could be recognized, and their dismembered skeletons were bleached by long exposure. Many of the skulls were crushed in with the but-ends of muskets or cleft with tomahawks; others were shattered by firearms, discharged close to the head. A few remnants of apparel, torn from the backs of women and children as they ran from the clutch of their pursuers, still fluttered among the bushes, and near by were masses of human hair, matted and trodden in the mould."