while in utah, connor, as senior officer, became commander of the district of utah, department of the pacific, on august 6, 1862, establishing camp douglas at salt lake city in october, but became discontented with his assignment. his men and he wished to head to virginia where the real fighting and glory was occurring. when major general henry w. halleck (a personal friend of connor's) became the general-in-chief of the union armies, connor pleaded that his men had enlisted to fight traitors. he offered to withhold $30,000 from the regiment's pay to ship the troops to the eastern battlefields. halleck suggested that connor reconnoiter the salt lake city area. connor did so and established fort douglas in a commanding position over the city, despite the wishes of the mormons. brigham young tried through his personal representative to congress john f. kinney to displace federal troops. however, through the efforts of governor james duane doty and colonel connor, federal troops were sequestered at fort douglas by washington and the pacific theatre commanding general.