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.Patrick Edward Connor (né O Connor) was born in Ireland in1820, on Saint Patrick s Day; he moved to New York City as a child,and enlisted in the regular army at the age of nineteen.He served forfive years on the Iowa frontier, returned to New York to learn themercantile business, and moved to Texas in 1846.There he joinedwith volunteers in July to fight in the Mexican War, reenlisting in theregular army when his regiment was discharged in September.Pro-moted to captain in February 1847, he fought at the Battle of BuenaVista, receiving a hand wound early in the going but continuing tolead his troops all day.He resigned his commission in May and leftfor California when gold was discovered, arriving in January 1850.Nearly killed in a boating accident, and financially strapped,Connor had many adventures in his attempts to make his fortune.Eventually he prospered, as Madsen details, establishing a surveyingcompany, a gravel company, and the Stockton waterworks; and hewas awarded the contract to build the foundation of the new statecapitol building in Sacramento.He left this project when he reenteredthe military in 1861 as a staunch Unionist despite the Confederatesympathies predominant in Stockton.He married and had three sons,only one of whom survived.Madsen avers that Connor was obvi-ously a man of courage and adventurous spirit shrewd, energetic,feisty, and independent and with natural talents for leadership andsoldiering (145). 42 The Bear River MassacreMeanwhile, back east, President Abraham Lincoln had becomeworried about the depth of California s loyalty to the Union; about thepossibility of Confederate attack from the west; and about the possi-bility that the Pacific coast and its gold could be severed from therest of the country.He requested of California one regiment of infantryand five companies of cavalry to guard the Overland Mail Route fromCarson Valley to Salt Lake City and Fort Laramie Shoshone country.Colonel George Wright, an Indian fighter in eastern Oregon andWashington, was appointed commander of the Pacific Coast Divisionand promoted to brigadier general.California s governor appointedColonel Connor to command the California Volunteers.Madsen argues that these two appointments in themselves signifyan unsubtle sea change in federal Indian policy.The appointment ofan experienced veteran like Connor, a proven man of action andresolution (153) to patrol duty, to protect a mail line harassed bypoorly armed natives; coupled with the selection of Wright, an Indianfighter, to head the Pacific division: taken together, these appoint-ments are remarkable.Union officials knew well that Connor wouldnot be content with occasional scrapes.Recruitment of volunteers began in September 1861; the newtroops settled at Camp McDougall in October.Much of Connor s re-cruiting that fall and in the following spring was done in miningcamps; his men were frequently arrested for drunken brawling.Gen-eral Wright, Connor s commanding officer, held the troops in BeniciaBarracks for the winter; meanwhile, he declared the Shoshone alongthe mail route to be in a starving condition, and parceled out pro-visions just sufficient to keep them from attacking while Connor stroops were being trained and transferred.Still, Indian agents continued to report mass starvation along theHumboldt; the Paiute and the Shoshone continued to steal cattle; andattacks on the eastern end of the route actually intensified.Indeed, inApril 1862 things were so bad that the postmaster general ordered allmail delivered by sea until the Overland Mail Route could be secured,a decision that stranded stagecoach passengers in Utah.Madsenpoints out that Shoshone destitution had reached a breaking pointthat can hardly be described in words, and is perhaps best measuredby the intensity of the attacks, a clear result of deprivation: The[mail] stations were well stocked with food and horses and served asconvenient corner grocery stores inviting starving natives to plunderthem (154). What (We Think) Happened 43Meanwhile, Utah s latest governor, John W.Dawson whose ap-pointment a distracted President Lincoln apparently forgot makingprepared to abandon his post in frustration with the recalcitrance ofthe Mormon theocracy.He reported to Washington in early 1862that an army should be sent at once.In June 1862 Wright reviewed the California troops and praisedthe industry and untiring zeal and energy of Colonel Connor.Hehas a regiment that the State may well be proud of (qtd.in Madsen146).Marching orders were sent down for Connor s troops for July5, even as most of his troops and many Californians hoped that Con-nor s Utah Column would be sent to a greater duty much farthereast than Salt Lake City a hope so great that the soldiers wouldeventually volunteer to deduct $30,000 from their pay to financetravel to Virginia.The news was not received well in Utah either, asBrigham Young insisted that Dawson s replacement, Governor FrankFuller, was neglecting Young s Utah militia as an obvious source ofprotection
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