"The history of Utah during the Civil War can be written largely in terms of two personalities, and this E.B. Long has done. They were Brigham Young, the dynamic and commanding president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and General Patrick Edward Connor, the mercurial Irishman who commanded federal troops in Utah from 1862 to 1865...Those who like their history straight from the sources will find "The Saints and the Union" a gem...[It] is solid history, comprehensively documenting an important period in Utah and Mormon history". (Robert M. Utley, "Journal of Southern History"). "Clearly the standard history of an unusual and interesting aspect of the Civil War". (G. Thomas Edwards, "Pacific Northwest Quarterly"). "[Long] avoids the provincialism that has persistently plagued Mormon history by placing his account firmly within the broader perspective of American history...[This] is a solid, scholarly, objective work which deserves the attention of all students of Mormonism, the Civil War, and the American West". (Newell G. Bringhurst, "Journal of the West").
"Long presents a wealth of material that vividly illustrates the paranoia, suspicion, and fear - real or feigned - that characterized the poles of authority - civil, military, and religious - in Utah during the war years...By letting the major personalities in Utah speak their minds during these troubled years, E.B. Long's book provides a much greater understanding of the Civil War on the western border". (Harwood P. Hinton, "Civil War History").