July, Part 10: Family Field Trip to Camp Floyd

I don't even remember now how I heard about Camp Floyd, but I was fascinated by it and wanted to check it out. Camp Floyd was established in July 1858 and it consisted of 3,500 military and civilian employees. It was the single largest troop concentration then found in the United States. It was stationed in Utah by President James Buchanan to stop a perceived Mormon rebellion. Ha ha! They built 400 buildings and the population of Camp Floyd increased to 7,000 (half the population of Salt Lake City at the time). The Mormon rebellion never happened, of course, so their main duty was to protect the Pony Express and stagecoach routes. The military there stayed for three years before being recalled to serve in the Civil War. It ended up providing a huge financial benefit to the Mormon settlers in Utah. When the military left, they dismantled most of their buildings and sold $4,000,000 worth of supplies for only a few cents on the dollar.

Above: They encouraged us (made us) watch a video before starting our self-guided tour of the buildings. This is what Johnny thought of the video.

Above: Here's a close-up in case you didn't catch it. I thought the video was interesting, but it was a little long for littles.

Above: Checking out the military uniforms.

Above: Dan is game for anything!

Above: The caption says that this ring was found and that it had probably belonged to Lizzie Tyler, wife of Lieutenant Charles H. Tyler, and the only known lady of the Second Dragoons. It must have been a huge bummer for her to lose this ring.

Above: I mean, look at it. It's not a small ring. It couldn't have been inexpensive. Then again, if it was that big and they could afford it, maybe it was just one of many rings and she didn't miss it.

Above: This is the Stagecoach Inn. It housed people on their journey as they traveled by stagecoach and Pony Express across the country.

Above: I never have time to read these when I am with the kids, so I always take pictures of them in the hopes that I will read them later.

Above: Inside the Stagecoach Inn.

Above: The boys were in a silly mood expression-wise when I took pictures today.

Above: These pictures are similar, but I couldn't pick which ones to include and which to exclude because their expressions change so subtly and are so silly in each one.

Above: From 400 buildings and 7,000 people down to a visitor's center/gift shop (it was originally a store for military equipment and provisions), the Stagecoach Inn, the graveyard, and the school house. You have to wonder how different this area of Utah would be now if they hadn't torn down those buildings and evacuated to serve in the Civil War. It's located in Fairfield, Utah, and it is currently very sparsely populated and mostly farmland. History is so fascinating to me. Cause and effect, people! Things could have been so different! I also find it so cool that the U.S. government supposed the Mormons to be such a threat (they were also trying to deflect attention from the south and the issue of slavery by pointing the finger at Mormons and polygamy), and instead, they ended up boosting the economy of Utah and helping the Mormons tremendously.

Above: Isn't he the cutest?

Above: Such a happy guy. I should have him pose by all of our place name signs for our family field trips.

Above: The school was actually built in 1898 and didn't really serve Camp Floyd.

Above: The boys were tired and wouldn't come inside with me, but I sure thought it was cool!

Above: Again, the boys were done, so they didn't get out of the van. I just snapped a few pictures. This plaque was really interesting. There was no conflict while the military served here. The exact number, location, and names of the military personnel who are buried here is not exactly known because the military did not keep records of this at the time. Can you believe that!? Through research done since then, people have been able to figure out many of the people who were buried here, as well as their cause of death. It has been discovered that about half of the people buried here died someplace other than Camp Floyd. Most died of illness. If you enlarge the picture and read the names, it is pretty fascinating. Reasons for death range from dysentery, pneumonia, and consumption to alcohol poisoning, murder, and assassination!

Above: Here is the cemetery memorial. As I mentioned, my kids were pretty spent after we went to the Stagecoach Inn and the drive home was a little rough. I had to pull over at one point until everyone calmed down and stopped fighting and I took the time to clean out the van (so many kids meal wrappers...) while everyone cooled off.