160 years ago today - Apr 28, 1862

U.S. Army Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas, by order of the Secretary of War and the President, writes to Brigham Young: "By express direction of the President of the United States you are hereby authorized to raise, arm, and equip one company of cavalry for ninety days' service. . . . to protect the property of the telegraph and overland mail companies in or about Independence Rock [now in Wyoming, on the Oregon Trail], where depredations have been committed, and will be continued in service only till the U.S. troops can reach the point where they are so much needed. . . .It will not be used for any offensive operations other than may grow out of the duty hereinbefore assigned to it." The intriguing point about this request is that it did not go to the territorial government officers but to Brigham Young, a tacit recognition of who really controlled Utah.