New from the University Press of Colorado:
Hosea Stout: Lawman, Legislator, Mormon Defender, by
Stephen L. Prince (independent scholar). A description from the Press:
Hosea Stout witnessed and influenced many of the major civil and
political events over fifty years of LDS history, but until the
publication of his diaries, he was a relatively obscure figure to
historians. Hosea Stout: Lawman, Legislator, Mormon Defender is the first-ever biography of this devoted follower who played a significant role in Mormon and Utah history.
Stout joined the Mormons in Missouri in 1838 and followed them to
Nauvoo, where he rose quickly to become a top leader in the Nauvoo
Legion and chief of police, a position he also held at Winter Quarters.
He became the first attorney general for the Territory of Utah, was
elected to the Utah Territorial Legislature, and served as regent for
the University of Deseret (which later became the University of Utah)
and as judge advocate of the Nauvoo Legion in Utah. In 1862, Stout was
appointed US attorney for the Territory of Utah by President Abraham
Lincoln. In 1867, he became city attorney of Salt Lake City, and he was
elected to the Utah House of Representatives in 1881.
But Stout’s history also had its troubled moments. Known as a violent
man and aggressive enforcer, he was often at the center of controversy
during his days on the police force and was accused of having a
connection with deaths in Nauvoo and Utah. Ultimately, however, none of
these allegations ever found traction, and the leaders of the LDS
community, especially Brigham Young, saw to it that Stout was promoted
to roles of increasing responsibility throughout his life. When he died
in 1889, Hosea Stout left a complicated legacy of service to his state,
his church, and the members of his faith community.
More information is available
here.
