Jerome completes his 5 year hitch

To Ft. Bridger, Salt Lake, and then his discharge from military service

Returning from my hiatus to visit family, I rejoined the path that the 10th Regiment had trod in 1857-58.

It was about 300 miles from Ft. Laramie to Green River, where the regiment paused after their encounter with the Mormons on September 24th, 1857.

The city of Green River is in the shadow of Castle Rock above the Flaming Gorge, another of the landmarks used by trappers and settlers on their journey west. I paused and took this picture from the busy main route through the city of today.

Castle Rock - from the city streets of Green River, WY

Trappers were in this area within 20 years after the Lewis and Clark expedition. An Englishman, William Ashley, is remembered for his exploits in the area, chronicled in the local museum.

 Also in the Sweetwater County Museum was this board describing the attempts by the Mormons to make life difficult for the army in 1857.

While looking at this map I realized that I had taken the easy way out, traveling I-80 rather than the longer route along the river to the north actually traveled by the wagon trains and the army. The Mormon attack on the Army supply train took place about 30 miles north of my location in Green River.
I did make a point to go to Ham's Fork near Grainger as I continued west. This was the site of the Mountain Man Rendezvous of 1834, and the stop mentioned in the 10th Regiment history where Jerome and Company D rejoined the main force on November 6, 1857. I found a graveyard nearby showing evidence of the losses suffered by settlers.

Ft. Bridger - The last station for Jerome during his army days.

• The regiment arrived at Camp Scott, near Fort Bridger, on the 20th [of November], where a winter camp was formed. The health of the regiment was reported remarkably good, but many cases of frost-bite occurred during the month.

 The regiment finally occupied Ft. Bridger a few months later.

• The regiment moved from Camp Scott to Fort Bridger March 18, 1858, in one of the most terrible snowstorms ever encountered in that valley. It remained at this post until June 15, when it marched to Salt Lake City. arriving June 26, and at the temporary site of Camp Floyd, U. T., July 7.

Wikipedia tells us more about Camp Floyd, which is located about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, near Utah Lake: 

• Established in July 1858 by a U.S. Army detachment under the command of Brevet Brig. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, Camp Floyd was named for then Secretary of War John B. Floyd. The detachment consisted of more than 3,500 military and civilian employees, including cavalry, artillery, infantry and support units. This unit, the largest single troop concentration then in the United States, was sent by President James Buchanan to stop a perceived Mormon rebellion, which came to be known as the Utah War.

Two companies of the 10th returned to Ft. Bridger, and took command of that post in August.

It's not clear to me just where Jerome was stationed during this time. All I know is that he was discharged from Ft. Bridger in February of 1860.

My visit to Ft. Bridger

I toured elements of Ft. Bridger, which was originally a trading post before the army arrived. Here are a couple of the scenes of the reconstructed outpost.

Ft. Bridger Blacksmith's Forge

Trading Post inside Stockade

It was near here that Jerome Mann spent his last days in the U.S. Army, but the rustic trading post shown here was from the years prior to the time the Army occupied the site.

Here is a bachelor officer's quarters building constructed in 1858. There were two officer's apartments in each building.

Bachelor Officers' Quarters

The enlisted men lived in less elegant barracks, of course.

Quarters for the enlisted men

Jerome left the service in February, 1860 - winter time. And here, the documented record of his movements ends. What follows is conjecture.

How, and when, did Jerome get from Ft. Bridger, Utah Territory to Smith Valley, Nevada Territory?

Since it was early February when Jerome was discharged, he might have stayed near the fort, or spent time in Salt Lake City or Camp Floyd to the south. It is estimated that there were nearly 20,000 people in the area by this time. But, an even more intriguing possibility centers around the organizers of the Pony Express.

From Wikipedia:

• William Russell, Alexander Majors and William Waddell were the three founders of the Pony Express and were already in the freighting business in the late 1850s with more than 4,000 men, 3,500 wagons and some 40,000 oxen.
  
  Russell, Majors and Waddell (RM&W) organized and put together the Pony Express in two months in the winter of 1860. The undertaking involved 120 riders, 184 stations, 400 horses and several hundred personnel during January and February 1860.

The Stagecoach Inn, near Camp Floyd, was a stop on the Stagecoach run to California, and the Pony Express stop was nearby. There were certainly employment possibilities for Jerome in the RM&W enterprises.

Or, Jerome might have joined an early wagon train passing Ft. Bridger in the late spring on its way to California via the Humboldt trail in northern Nevada. My next segment will trace this latter route, where I will also explore the birthplace of my paternal Grandmother, Mary Thomasine Rowse, in 1883.