Situated behind a Church building of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this memorial is etched in a large granite boulder. It includes a bronze relief art bust sculpture of General Kane in period military dress. This memorial reads:
In Honorable Remembrance of
Thomas L. Kane
Jan. 27, 1822 - Dec. 26, 1883
Born and Died in Philadelphia, PA
Friend of the Latter-day Saints,
Instrument in The Hands Of God
During his life, Thomas Kane worked to abolish slavery, establish housing for the underpriviledged children, provide schools for young children and higher education for women, and lobby on behalf of American Indians. He Devoted his life to helping the downtrodden.
To the Saints, he is best remembered as their defender and friend. In 1846, he was instrumental in the creation of the Mormon Battalion. In 1858, at great personal sacrifice, he traveled to Utah to intercede in behalf of the Mormons during the Utah War. Respected by both sides, his mediation helped to avert bloodshed and establish peace. He advised Brigham Young on self-government in Utah and promoted Utah Statehood in Washington, D.C.
When this area was separated from the Hooper Ward in April 1886, President John Taylor suggested the name of Kanesville in grateful remembrance of Thomas Kane.
Erected 2000
""Friend of the Mormons"
Mormon Battalion
Kane came in contact with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during a Philadelphia conference in May 1846. Perhaps because most "Mormons" stood strongly against slavery, Kane offered them his advice and help in their conflicts with the U.S. government and in their efforts to emigrate to western territories. Jesse C. Little, presiding LDS elder in the East, was soliciting support for the Latter-day Saints' westward migration. Politically well connected through his father, Kane provided letters of recommendation and later joined Little in Washington, D.C. The two called on the secretary of state, secretary of war, and President James K. Polk. As a result of their negotiations, the United States agreed to enlist up to 500 LDS men, in five companies of 75 to 100 men each, as the Mormon Battalion, to serve in the Mexican-American War.
With the help of his father, Kane obtained U.S. government permission for the refugee Mormons to occupy Pottawattamie and Omaha Indian lands along the Missouri. After carrying dispatches relating to the land agreements and battalion criteria to Fort Leavenworth, Kane sought out Little in the Latter-day Saint encampments on the Missouri River. On July 17, 1846, a meeting was held with Kane, LDS leaders and Army Captain James Allen to create the Mormon Battalion. Kane met many leaders of the church, and became a popular figure among Mormon emigrants. Miller's Hollow, the principal Iowa settlement of the LDS group at the site of present-day Council Bluffs, was renamed Kanesville in recognition of his service.
During this stay, Kane became seriously ill with a fever, probably caused by pulmonary tuberculosis. Although good care from both an army physician from Fort Leavenworth and church members helped him recover, his health was severely impaired for the rest of his life.
Utah territory and statehood
In March 1850, in the midst of debate over establishing Utah territory, Kane delivered an important lecture before the Philadelphia Historical Society. He described the religion of the Latter-day Saints, their conflicts with other settlers, and the desolation he witnessed during a visit to the recently abandoned Nauvoo, Illinois. He also described the Saint's westward trek. One thousand copies of the lecture, with associated notes and materials, were printed and distributed, primarily to members of the U.S. Congress and influential men in the Executive Branch. The lecture was reprinted in several Mormon publications: the Frontier Guardian (August 7, 1850), and in the Millennial Star (April 15 to July 15, 1851) where it reached an even larger audience. Six months later, he defended Brigham Young in the eastern newspapers. Kane was asked to provide recommendations and information about the Mormons to President Millard Fillmore. When Utah was granted a territorial government by Congress on September 9, 1850, Fillmore asked Kane to be the first governor. He declined and recommended Young. Throughout the 1850s, he promoted Utah statehood and defended the Church's interests at every opportunity.
In a work produced in 1902, historian William Alexander Linn, evidently believing that no non-Mormon would serve as an advocate for the group, asserted that Kane was a secret member of the LDS church and dated his baptism to his 1846 stay on the Missouri River. Kane, his family, and LDS Church leaders all stated that, despite his interest in Mormons and Mormon doctrine and practices, Kane never joined the LDS church. His wife's letters and journals indicate that, to her distress, her husband was unable to state unequivocally that he was a Christian, but that he remained affiliated with his childhood Presbyterian faith.
Utah War
In the winter of 1857-1858 Kane made a strenuous 3,000+ trip from the East coast to Salt Lake City Utah. Kane helped prevent bloodshed by mediating a dispute between the Mormons and the federal government, known as the Utah War. Mormonism, the practice of plural marriage and the governance of the Utah territory were issues in the federal election of 1856. Responding to rumors and reports of Mormon misrule in Utah shortly after his inauguration in March 1857, President James Buchanan appointed a new Utah Territorial governor Alfred Cumming of Georgia, replacing Brigham Young. Responding to rumors (later proved false) that the Mormons were in rebellion against the U.S. government, Buchanan sent a 2,500 man army escort with orders to place the Governor in his office by force if necessary.
Unfortunately, Buchanan did not officially notify Young about the change in appointment, and rumors of planned U.S. army attacks on Utah communities flew just ahead of the troops. The Mormons, who had already been driven out of several states, were prepared to burn their settlements to the ground and resist yet another forced removal. The Mormons prepared to fight—activating the Nauvoo Legion (essentially all able bodied men aged 15 to 60) and began preparing for a scorched earth fighting withdrawal to southern Utah. Mormon patrols located three Army supply trains following the army troops on the Oregon/California/Mormon trail which were attacked and burned by Nauvoo Legion members led by Lot Smith. This stalled the U.S. Army advance at Fort Bridger in Wyoming for the winter of 1857-1858.
Earlier in the year, hearing of the "misunderstanding", Kane offered to mediate. As it was a heavy winter, he traveled under an alias to Utah by way of Panama, crossing the isthmus by the newly completed (1855) Panama Railroad and taking a ship north to southern California. He then went overland through San Bernardino to Salt Lake City over the strenuous southern branch of the California Trail (now interstate 15), arriving in Salt Lake City in February 1858. Kane persuaded Young to accept Buchanan's appointment of Cumming as Territorial governor, and to present no opposition to the federal troops, called Johnston's Army, acting as escort. Kane then traveled to the army's winter base at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, and persuaded Governor Cumming to travel to Salt Lake City without his military escort. Cumming was courteously received by Young and Utah residents, and was shortly installed in his new office. The army came into Utah some weeks later and was bivouacked on the then vacant land that became Camp Floyd, over 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Salt Lake City. The army left the territory in 1860 as the American Civil War pulled in nearly all frontier troops.
While in Salt Lake City, Kane received news that his father had died on April 24, 1858. He remained in Utah until May 13, when he and an LDS escort returned east across the continent to make his report to President Buchanan.
Friendship with Young
Kane became a personal friend of Brigham Young, and stayed in contact with the church leader for many years. Kane later visited Utah several times, advising Young and the Latter-day Saints in interactions with the federal government. In 1871, after the completion of railway lines to Utah, Young urged Kane and his family to visit:
"General, now that the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad is completed and the facilities for traveling have made the trip across the plains comparatively a pleasure, may we hope to see you here soon? Let me assure you there is not one among the thousands who will cross the plains this season to whom the Latter-day Saints would more cordially extend the hand of warm welcome. Those who know you cherish for you the fondest recollection, while with all, your name is held in honorable remembrance."
— Brigham Young, April 16, 1871
Kane, his wife, Elizabeth, and their two younger sons spent the winter of 1872 in Utah. They traveled throughout the territory and stayed as guests of Young at his winter home in St. George, partially in an effort to recoup Kane's failing health. During the winter, Kane and Young laid out plans for the Mormon settlement of sections of Arizona and the Sonora Valley in Mexico. Kane also interviewed Young, gathering information for a planned biography which he never completed. In turn, Young consulted Kane as an attorney on dealing with federal charges pending against him.
Statue of Thomas L. Kane, Kane Memorial Chapel, Kane, PennsylvaniaElizabeth Kane corresponded with her family during her visit to Utah. Her father, William Wood, later published selected letters as a book titled Twelve Mormon Homes, since issued in several editions. The journal Elizabeth Kane kept during her winter in St. George was edited and published in 1992 as Elizabeth Kane's St. George Journal. Kane returned to Utah upon Young's death in 1877, attending his funeral and offering condolences to Young's family and church leaders. He also oversaw the execution of Young's will, which he had prepared, ensuring an appropriate separation of church and personal property. Young had held a number of church properties in his own name due to the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act of 1862 which made it illegal for the LDS church to own property valued at more than $50,000. Ownership of these properties were transferred to his successor in the presidency, John Taylor.
Kane County, Utah was named for Thomas L. Kane, as was the Kanesville Tabernacle in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints maintains as a historic site the Thomas L. Kane Memorial Chapel, in Kane, Pennsylvania, in recognition of Kane's friendship and assistance. Kane was a founder of the Borough and is buried at the chapel. In addition, a bronze statue of Thomas L. Kane is displayed in Utah's Capitol Building, identified as a "Friend of the Mormons"." (
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