Memoirs
of
John R. Young
Utah Pioneer
1847
Written by Himself
"Words are the soul's ambassadors who go
Abroad, upon her errands to and fro,
They are the chief expounders of the mind,
And correspondence kept 'twixt all mankind."They place in memory's clasp, truths we have read,
Beautiful words, of both living and dead.
Helping us cherish, and nurse as they grow,
Elysian plants, from thoughts that we sow.
Bringing to memory, and waking to life
The form, and face of a child, or wife,
The choicest treasures to mortals given,
The golden thread that leads to heaven.O, may the thoughts in this book penned,
Prove sweet, and pure, to kindred and friend,
To a child, or grandchild, as the case may be.
Loyal scions, from the ancestral tree;
Whose pulse will quicken, and brain will throb,
As they view the path the grandsire trod."
Appreciation
With pleasure I express thanks to Professor N. L. Nelson, Historian Andrew Jenson, Elder Walter J. Lewis, Sister W. Lyle Allred, and to my son, Newell K. Young, and to you, my many friends, who have given words of encouragement to
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER 1.
Birth.—Childhood Recollections.
CHAPTER 2.
Camp on Sugar Creek.—Brigham's Charge to the Exiles.—Death of a Noble Woman.—Free from Mobs
CHAPTER 3.
Petition Governors.—William C. Staines.—Captain James Allen
CHAPTER 4.
Thomas L. Kane's Description of the City of Nauvoo, and the Exiled Mormons
CHAPTER 5.
Daniel H. Wells.—Baptism for the Dead.—Lorenzo D. Young's Mission.—Wilford Woodruff.—Saved by Prayer
CHAPTER 6.
Brigham's Wise Counsels.—Joseph Toronto.—Joseph Smith, Seer and Organizer.—Prophecy of August 6, 1842
CHAPTER 7.
A Religious Commonwealth.—General Clark's Degree.—Brigham's Indian Policy.—Its Peaceable Fruits.—The Glory of the Immigrant's First View of the Valley
CHAPTER 8.
Mormon Stalwarts.—A War on the Plains.—Death of Celestia Kimball.—Two Indian Girls Tortured.—Sally's Death.—Ira Eldredge's Dog and the Wolf.—Delicious Rawhide Soup.—Eat Thistles.—The Devastating Crickets.—Delivered Wrought by the Sea Gulls
CHAPTER 9.
My First Mission.—Uncle Brigham's Counsel.—Parley P. Pratt, Teacher and Orator.—My First View of the Ocean.—San Francisco.—Tracting the City.—Scrap With a Hotel Keeper.—Labor as a Cook in the Home of Mr. McLean.—The Man who Murdered Parley P. Pratt
CHAPTER 10.
Sail for the Islands.—At Honolulu T Labor in Tin Shop.—My First Kanaka Meal.—A Home with Kiama.—Attend Native Funeral.—Meet Mr. Emerson.—Three Days Without Food.—Saved by a Donkey.—Lose my Eyesight.—Receive a Glorious Vision
CHAPTER 11.
On Oahu Again.—John Hyde's Apostasy.—I Meet Him in the Presbyterian Church.—At Waiahia
CHAPTER 12.
Hear of Parley P. Pratt's Death.—Buchanan Sends Harney to Utah.—Letter From Brigham Young
CHAPTER 13.
Praise for the Elders.—Efforts to Bring Two Natives to Utah.—Sail for Home.—Description of Steerage.—An Earnest Prayer.—Timidity of the Saints.—Baptize a New Convert at Midnight
CHAPTER 14.
Visit My Cousin.—His Tempting Offer.—Meet the Agents of Mr. Walker, the noted Filibusterer.—Baptize Mrs. Bradford
CHAPTER 15.
Start for a Thirteen-Hundred-Mile Walk.—Become Indian Scout.—Meet Jacob Hamblin, the Indian Peacemaker.—Surrounded by Indians.—Shooting a Dove, Saves our Scalps
CHAPTER 16.
Home Activities.—Counseled not to Study Law.—Called to Uintah and Dixie
CHAPTER 17.
Miss Carmichael's Parting Words.—San Francisco.—Orson Pratt's Prophecy.—Sail for Hawaii.—Delivered from the Hands of a Wicked Man.—Visit Walter M. Gibson.—View Kawaimanu
CHAPTER 18.
Conference at Wailuku.—Return to Honolulu.—Sail for Home.—Man Overboard
CHAPTER 19.
United Order.—Indian Troubles.—Mission to England
CHAPTER 20.
Transferred to the Bristol Conference.—A Remarkable Woman.—My Views of Celestial Marriage
CHAPTER 21.
A Visit to Wales.—Mrs. Simon's Good Work.—A Tribute to Joseph Fielding Smith.—A Letter from my Wife, Albina
CHAPTER 22.
Death of Jehiel McConnell.—A Letter to my Daughter.—Five Thousand Dollar Reward.—Letter from Apostle Joseph F. Smith
CHAPTER 23.
A Letter to my Son.—An Enquirer Answered.—The Sinking of the Euridice, Four Hundred Men Perish.—Letters from Home.—Two Splendid Dreams
CHAPTER 24.
Death of a Lady Apostle Woodruff Baptized in 1840, At Midnight.—Baptize an Aged Backslider.—A Letter from Apostle Wilford Woodruff.—Transferred to the London Conference
CHAPTER 25.
Visit London, the Grandest City in the World.—Meet the Claridge Family, and Leave My Testimony With Them.—Visit Portsmouth and the Home of Nellie Grant Sardys.—Labor With Elder Connelly.—Rake Hay and Receive a Gift from an English Lord
CHAPTER 26.
Conditions at Orderville.—Letter to E. M. Webb, on Politics.—Visit Winchester Cathedral.—Pass Through the Town of London.—Letter from President William Budge.—Mobbed at Albourne
CHAPTER 27.
Goodbye to England.—A Poem.—The Master's Question
CHAPTER 28.
In memory of My Wife, Albina.—"By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them"
CHAPTER 29.
In Memory of My Wife, Lydia
CHAPTER 30.
In Memory of My Wife, Tamar, and Sacred to My Wife Catherine
APPENDIX—STORIES AND RHYMES.
CHAPTER 31.
Twenty-fourth of July Musings Sent to President Joseph F. Smith.—Twenty-fourth of July Toast.—Utah.—Thrilling Eruption of Kilauea
CHAPTER 32.
A Thrilling Experience on the Plains.—The Stampede
CHAPTER 33.
A Squaw Fight
CHAPTER 34.
Crusade Against Plural Marriage
CHAPTER 35.
Salt Lake Valley in 1847.—Utah Pioneers.—A Peaceful Home
CHAPTER 36.
From the Cradle to the Grave.—Lines to Sister M. L.
CHAPTER 37.
The Young Men's Pledge.—Brigham Young's One Hundredth Birthday.—Mary's Birthday.—Some Things that I
Memoirs of John R. Young.
Chapter 1.
Birth.—Childhood Recollections.
I was born April 30, 1837, at Kirtland, Ohio. I am the third son of Lorenzo Dow and Persis Goodell Young. My parents were early numbered among the followers of the Prophet Joseph Smith; and my father, being physically strong and restless, full of spirituality, and endowed with deep human sympathy, was naturally among the foremost in all the troubles the Church passed through during the first twenty years of its existence. He suffered much in the Missouri persecutions, being one of those who participated in the Crooked River Battle, and risking his life to aid in delivering his brethren from the hands of kidnapers. His heroic part in that fight led to a price being set upon his head; in consequence, and following the counsel of his brother. Brigham Young, he, with others, fled to the State of Illinois. Of those early troubles I write what I have heard my parents and my brothers say; my own memory reaching no farther back than Nauvoo.
My earliest recollection is of suffering with the chills. How cold I would be! We must have been poor, for the food did not suit me. It rained so much I had to stay indoors, although I cried to go out.
One day father took me for a walk, to give me air and sunshine. We met Joseph and Hyrum Smith and Sidney Rigdon. Father shook hands warmly with Joseph and Hyrum, but he merely bowed to Brother Rigdon. Joseph asked if I was the child father had requested the elders to pray for. Being answered in the affirmative, the prophet removed my hat, ran his fingers through my curly locks, and said,
"Brother Lorenzo, this boy will live to aid in carrying the Gospel to the nations of the earth."
His words thrilled me like fire; and from that hour I looked forward to the day when I should be a missionary.
Not long after that, Joseph was martyred at Carthage. I remember how my mother wept, and how shocked and prostrated everybody was, when the bloodstained bodies of the Prophet and his brother were brought home. Father was away doing missionary work when that fearful tragedy took place. A little later, while attending meetings, I noticed that Uncle Brigham sat in the place where Joseph was wont to sit, and one evening, after father's return from Ohio, I heard him say, "They will now seek for Brigham's life as they did for Joseph's, just so long as he proves true to the trust God has placed upon him."
I wondered why that should be. If a man does good, and God loves him, why should men hate him? Yet the angel Moroni understood that principle, for he said to the boy Joseph, "Your name shall be had for good and evil, among all the nations of the earth"—a wonderful prophecy, and wonderfully fulfilled.
And right here we have a vivid illustration of the operation of prejudice or jealousy, so called. In 1839, the Saints, under the guidance of their Prophet leader, came to Commerce, Ill., and purchased a tract of land, principally wild woods and swamps, and on that account, very unhealthful. In five years' time, without capital, by faith and intelligent labor, the swamps had been drained, much of the forest removed, and a thousand comfortable homes had been erected. The walls of a magnificent temple adorned the central part of the new-born city; and the master spirits, who brought about the mighty change, were loved, as men are seldom loved, by the builders of those happy homes. But the dwellers round about were filled with jealousy and rage; and, aided by a few apostate members of the Church, waged a cruel war, until Joseph and Hyrum were slain, and the Saints were driven from the homes their industry had created.
In 1904 my home was at Fruitland, New Mexico.
One day Mr. Butler, editor of the "Aztec Enterprise," invited me to write for his paper my recollections of our people's leaving Nauvoo. I complied, and from memory wrote the following narrative which I wish to place on record as a gift to my children:
How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood;
How I love to cherish, and con them o'er,
The cottage, the Temple, the river and wildwood!
All sweetly remembered, though seen no more.
With malice to none,
With charity to all."
I turn the wheels of memory back to the home of my childhood. Of this terrible episode in the history of our people, others have written better than I can hope to write; nevertheless, through the eyes of a boy of nine, let me look out once more upon the tragic fate of Nauvoo, the city beautiful.
It is the month of February, 1846. The sun is shining brightly, yet the air is keen and cutting. The wheels ring as we drive over the frozen snow. In our home since early morning, all has been hurry and bustle; two wagons stand in our front yard, and my father with two other men, strangers to me, are carrying out our household goods. My mother looks pale, and when I ask her, "What is the matter?" she takes me in her arms, kisses me, and says, "We are going to leave our home, and will never see it again!"
Just then some other teams come along, and one of the brethren calls to my father to be sure to put out the fire, and to hurry up, for it is getting late. In a few minutes mother and the children are lifted tenderly into the wagon. Father next takes his place on the front seat, turns his face to the west, and his back upon the home, which it had taken seven years of sacrifice and toil to build.
At the river are three flat boats, or scows. Here and there on the banks of the river stand pale-faced mothers cuddling their little ones, while husbands and fathers quietly, yet resolutely, roll the wagons on to the boats, then with long poles push from the shore out upon the bosom of the mighty river. No farewells are uttered, no words spoken. Each man knows his duty, and performs it energetically; for they are not hirelings, these men of stout hearts and muscular arms. Nor is it a light task to guide those unwieldly scows through drifting ice, across that mile-wide river.
Today, as I recall the scene, and remember the names of some of those heroic exiles: Edwin Little, Thomas Grover, Warren Snow, William and Lige Potter, Charles Shumway, and many others whose lives are interwoven with whatever is great and enduring in our beloved commonwealth, I cannot but liken them to the brave men who faced ice and cold on Christmas night when the invincible Washington led them across the Delaware to do battle with their country's foes.
Like these, and also inspired with a new and higher ideal of liberty, our fathers and mothers knew no fear, but trusting in God they crossed the river to the dark beyond, knowing that a conflict awaited them, yet feeling beforehand as only a virile faith can make man feel, that theirs would be the victory, they left their homes in the dead of winter, seeking a better home, but when or where, they knew not!
Chapter 2.
Camp on Sugar Creek.—Brigham's Charge to the Exiles.—Death of a Noble Woman.—Garden Grove.—Free from Mobs.
God pity the exiles, when storms come down—
When snow-laden clouds hang low on the ground,
When the chill blast of winter, with frost on its breath
Sweeps through the tents, like the angel of death!
When the sharp cry of child-birth is heard on the air,
And the voice of the father breaks down in his prayer,
As he pleads with Jehovah, his loved ones to spare!
My father was among the first of the Saints who left Nauvoo and the State of Illinois to avoid the storm of persecution that religious prejudice had created against us. A general gathering place had been chosen nine miles from the river, on Sugar Creek. Here an advance company of brethren had prepared for our
On the fifteenth day of February Presidents Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball joined us; and for the next two weeks a continuous stream of wagons poured into the encampment so that by the first of March over five thousand exiles were shivering behind the meager shelter of wagon covers and tents, and the winter-stripped groves that lined the Creek. Their sufferings have never been adequately told; and to realize how cruel and ill-timed was this forced exodus one has only to be reminded that in one night nine children were born under these distressing conditions.
When it is remembered that only seven years had elapsed since twelve thousand of our people had fled "naked and peeled" from the state of Missouri, and that now the entire community of twenty thousand souls were again leaving their homes unsold, it can be easily understood that they were ill prepared to endure the hardships they were thus forced to meet.
By ascending a nearby hill we could look back upon the beautiful city and see the splendid temple we had reared in our poverty at a cost of one and a half million dollars; moreover, on a clear, calm morning we could hear:
The silvery notes of the temple bell
That we loved so deep and well;
And a pang of grief would swell the heart,
And the scalding tears in anguish start
As we silently gazed on our dear old homes.
To remove this ever present invitation to grief and sorrow, our leaders wisely resolved to make a forward move. It was believed the frost would hold up our wagons. If not, short drives could at any rate be made. Activity would relieve our severely tried hearts. I remember hearing the ringing voice of President Young as standing early in the morning in the front end of his wagon, he said:
"Attention, the camps of Israel. I propose to move forward on our journey. Let all who wish follow me; but I want none to come unless they will obey the commandments and statutes of the Lord. Cease therefore your contentions and back-biting, nor must there be swearing or profanity in our camps. Whoever finds anything must seek diligently to return it to the owner. The Sabbath day must be hallowed. In all our camp, prayers should be offered up both morning and evening. If you do these things, faith will abide in your hearts; and the angels of God will go with you, even as they went with the children of Israel when Moses led them from the land of Egypt."
This brief epitome of the rules and regulations that were to guide us, will give the thoughtful reader a key to the wonderful influence of President Young and the Twelve Apostles. The Saints were intensely religious and their peculiar faith in prophets and present and continuous revelation had stirred up the anger and prejudice of their Christian neighbors until it culminated in the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith and the expulsion of the Saints from Nauvoo. Americans, and in many instances the near and direct descendants of Revolution sires, cast out from American civilization because they believed in the visitation of angels and persisted in worshiping God according to the dictates of their own conscience.
It was on the first of March, 1846, only two weeks after leaving Nauvoo, that the Saints broke camp and moved forward in two general divisions, under the leadership respectively of Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. Their course was westward over the rolling prairies of Iowa. Only too soon did they find every hollow to be a mud hole, in which the wagons would sink to the axle. But having started, they could do no better than "double teams" and go slow. Often they would not make over three miles a day, and what added to their discomfort was the continuous rain which wet those who were walking to the skin, and even beat through the wagon covers, wetting and chilling the sick and feeble. These conditions gave rise to acts of heroism as noble as were ever recorded.
I remember one notable instance:
Orson Spencer was a graduate from an eastern college, who having studied for the ministry, became a popular preacher in the Baptist Church. Meeting with a "Mormon" elder, he became acquainted with the teachings of Joseph Smith and accepted them. Before doing so, however, he and his highly educated young wife counted the cost, laid their hearts on the altar and made the sacrifice! How few realize what it involved to become a "Mormon" in those early days! Home, friends, occupation, popularity, all that makes life pleasant, were gone. Almost over night they were strangers to their own kindred.
After leaving Nauvoo, his wife, ever delicate and frail, sank rapidly under the ever accumulating hardships. The sorrowing husband wrote imploringly to the wife's parents, asking them to receive her into their home until the Saints should find an abiding place. The answer came, "Let her renounce her degrading faith and she can come back, but never until she does."
When the letter was read to her, she asked her husband to get his Bible and to turn to the Book of Ruth and read the first chapter, sixteenth and seventeenth verses: "Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy God my God."
Not a murmur escaped her lips. The storm was severe and the wagon covers leaked. Friends held milk pans over her bed to keep her dry. In those conditions, in peace and without apparent suffering, the spirit took its flight and her body was consigned to a grave by the wayside.
A thousand times thereafter the Saints had occasion to sing:
"How many on the trackless plains
Have found an unknown grave,
Pure, faithful Saints, too good to live
In such a wicked place.
But are they left in sorrow,
Or doubt to pine away?
Oh, no, in peace they're resting
Till the Resurrection Day."
From the first of March until the 19th of April not a day passed without rain, making the roads almost impassable, and entailing a vast amount of labor with but little advancement. At this date our camps had reached Grand river. President Young called a halt and set all hands at work fencing a field and planting crops for the benefit of the poor who would follow. First an ample guard was selected to look after the stock. That left three hundred fifty-nine laboring men; of these, one hundred were selected to make rails under the direction of C. C. Rich; ten under James Allred to put up fence; forty-nine under Father John Smith, uncle of the Prophet Joseph, to build houses; twelve under Jacob Peart to dig wells; ten under A. P. Rockwood to build the bridges, and one hundred eighty under Daniel Spencer to clear land, plow, and plant.
All were thus employed, and the camp became presently like a hive of bees. There being no room for idlers, all seemed happy. This place was named Garden Grove; and Samuel Bent, Aaron Johnson, and David Fullmer were chosen to preside over those that should remain. They were instructed to divide the lands among the poor without charge; but to give to no man more than he could thoroughly cultivate. There must be no waste and no speculation. Moreover, the settlement was not regarded as more than temporary; for as soon as our leaders should find the "place," all energies were to be centered in gathering to that place. As yet, however, no one, not even Brigham Young, knew where the "place" would be; but it was talked at the camp fires that President Young had seen, in vision, a wonderful valley, so large that all our people
"For the strength of the hills we thank Thee,
Our God, our father's God."
Chapter 3.
Petition Governors.—Wm. C. Staines, Captain James Allen.
Push on, push on, ye struggling Saints,
The clouds are breaking fast.
It is no time to doubt or faint;
The Rubicon is past.Behind us storms and rivers lie;
Before the sun shines bright,
And we must win or we must die—
We cannot shun the fight.
On the 11th of April the main camps moved forward again. There being now more sunshine and the roads firmer, better progress was made; and on the 18th they reached the middle fork of Grand river. Here President Young selected another farm, and all hands were set at work fencing, plowing, and planting. This place was named Pisgah, and Wm. Huntington, E. T. Benson, and C. C. Rich were chosen to preside. The counsel given at Garden Grove was repeated here. The policies were to be the same. Brigham's whole soul was thrown into the work, and this can be as truly said of his associates, the Twelve. They were united in their counsels. They thought of everything and of everybody. They gave much thought and anxiety toward the poor who were left in Nauvoo and these farms were established for their benefit. Brigham and Heber remained at Pisgah until June 2nd, when they and the main camp pushed on again. We were now in the Pottawattamies' land, but the Indians received us kindly—I might say, even in a brotherly manner. They said, "We have plenty of grass and wood, and our Mormon brothers are welcome to all they want." This kind reception by the Red men touched a tender spot in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints. It was like a ray of sunshine in a dark day; a glimmer of light to a benighted traveler.
Before leaving Nauvoo, the Twelve had addressed petitions to the governors of every state in the union asking for an asylum for our people. Only two states deigned to reply. Governor Lucas of Iowa wrote a kind reply, expressing his personal sympathy, but advising us to leave the confines of the United States. This we did not wish to do, for we were Americans and loved our country. My grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier and served under General Washington in three campaigns. My father was proud of that record, and transmitted his feelings of loyalty to his children.
But now the nation through representatives had risen against us—we were forced to go. Senator Cass wrote that we had better go to Oregon; but to go there we had to pass through powerful tribes of Indians, and we feared lest their tomahawks should be turned against us.
However, the reception given us by the Pottawattamies encouraged us; and President Young, ever ready to grasp an inspiration and to act promptly, quietly sent a few discreet men to labor as missionaries among the Indian tribes. One of these men, Wm. C. Staines, is worthy of note. He was a young English boy, a late convert to the faith, small in body, and so deformed as to be almost a cripple; yet he had a soul and an ambition as grand and lofty as the immortal Wolfe's.
He penetrated the Indian tribes as far as the Sioux, by his sacrifices and force of character won their friendship and made impressions that opened the way for our people to pass through their lands in peace.
From Pisgah westward the country was wild, with no roads running in the direction we wished to; for we had now left civilization, and I have sometimes thought that we felt like Adam and Eve when cast out of Eden. The world indeed was before us, but the richest and loveliest part was behind us, and a flaming sword guarded it on every side so that we could not return.
However, the people were cheerful and as the weather was pleasant, camp life had an air of romance that amused the young.
On the 14th of June President Young and the main camps struck the Missouri river. As it would require some time to construct ferry boats, a place was selected on the high lands near by and named Council Bluffs. The tents were pitched in a hollow square and a brush bowery was erected in which to hold our meetings.
As we had no lumber, saw pits were erected, and men suitable for that labor having been selected, under the direction of Frederick Kesler the work of sawing planks was commenced.
In the meantime provisions were becoming scarce. Small companies were organized under the leadership of capable men, and sent down into Missouri to trade off our watches, feather beds, shawls, and any other articles that could be spared. While God did not rain manna down from Heaven for the sustenance of the impoverished Saints, still there was a Providence over them for good, for conditions had been brought about that made food cheap. The northwestern settlements of Missouri had been blest with bounteous harvests. Their cribs were full of corn, and the forests were full of hogs, with no market for either. The Missourians were therefore eager to take our beds and give us their surplus food.
Toward the close of the last day of June, Captain James Allen of the United States army, with a small escort rode into our midst. Instantly the camp was filled with a nervous, tremulous excitement. Who is he? What does he want? These were the questions that flew from lip to lip.
Soon the voice of Brigham was heard: "Attention, Israel! We want all the people to assemble in the bowery at ten o'clock tomorrow. We have matters of importance to present to them."
The shadows of evening rested down upon the camp, then the stars rose in the east and slowly ascended to the meridian of the heavens. Still the camp fires burned and men talked with bated breath wondering what the morrow would bring forth. A spirit of unrest brooded over the white city and many an eye had not closed in sleep when the golden flashes of light appeared in the east.
I am not writing these sketches from a theological standpoint, or to make converts to the Mormon faith. I was there. I heard, I saw, I suffered, and am trying to write as I felt and still feel.
At ten o'clock the people assembled in the bowery, and began services by singing Cowper's inspired hymn:
"God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform,
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Ye fearful Saints fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break
In blessings on your head."
After an earnest prayer, President Young introduced Captain James Allen, who said in substance that he had been sent by President Polk to ask for five hundred of our young men to enlist in the army and go to California to fight the Mexicans. And now let an abler pen than mine speak a few words:
"Imagination can alone picture the surprise, almost dismay, with which this startling news was received! The nation whose people had thrust them from its borders and driven them into the wilderness, now calling upon them for aid? And this in full face of the fact that their own oft reiterated appeals for help had been denied!"
Captain Allen affirmed that President Polk's heart had been touched by our sufferings and that this was done as an act of kindness! An act of kindness! Was it not rather a deep-laid plan to bring about our entire destruction? If we refused, then disarm us and the Indians would soon finish the job.
From that day to this it has been a debated question among the Mormon people as to what
After free discussion by several of the brethren President Young arose. Instantly breathless silence reigned. He was not a brilliant speaker like Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, or Amasa M. Lyman, whose masterful speeches so often charmed their assemblies; but he possessed a magnetism and forcefulness that always claimed attention. The Saints realized that he was a man of wonderful resources.
"I want to say to the brethren present that this is a surprise to me, but I believe Captain Allen to be a gentleman, and a man of honor, and I accept his pledges to be a friend to our boys. Now, I would like the brethren to enlist and make up a battalion, and go and serve your country, and if you will do this, and live your religion, I promise you in the name of Israel's God that not a man of you shall fall in battle."
That settled the matter. Brigham's promise was as good as gold; the clouds passed away, the spirit of unrest fled the camp, the people returned to their tents satisfied, and on the morrow the stars and stripes were unfurled and nailed to a liberty pole. Duzett's martial band and Pitt's celebrated brass band were hauled in wagons from camp to camp and aided, with soul stirring music, to enthuse the boys. With Brigham and the twelve as recruiting officers the matter went with a rush. In no part of our broad land were five hundred men ever more quickly enlisted than in the Mormon camps.
The charge of treason and of want of loyalty to our country was flung back into the teeth of those who uttered it. The sacrifice having now been made, the blessing was sure to follow. The raising of the Mormon battalion was an event of great importance, for while it brought about many heartaches and much individual suffering, it taught a lesson of patriotism never to be forgotten. It led to enlarged emphasis in regard to our relationship to the national government, for Latter-day Saints have ever taught that the Constitution of our country was given by inspiration, and consequently that all laws made in accordance therewith ought to be loved, honored, and obeyed.
As soon as the labor of raising the battalion was accomplished, Brigham turned the energies of his active mind to the task of pushing further west. The hope of reaching Oregon or California that season was given up; but Brigham was anxious to place the turbid waters of the Missouri between us and our old enemies. About the 1st of July the ferry boat was launched and families began crossing over into the land of the Otoes.
Boy that I was, the swimming of the cattle was an achievement of great interest. Early in the morning, so that the sun might not shine in the cattle's faces, a boatload was taken across and held on the opposite shore. Then a thousand head were driven some distance up the stream and forced into the river. Good swimmers would climb upon the backs of some of the strongest oxen, and slapping them on the sides of the faces would guide them into the current. Soon we had a string of animals reaching from one shore to the other. Of course it was lively and exciting, and called for courage and physical endurance.
In days of rest our camp would present scenes of competitive athletic sports which would have been a credit to any nation. Brigham, like Joseph, was very fond of witnessing tests of manhood, and always had near him trusted men, who could be relied upon for strength, courage, and fidelity. In the act of swimming our cattle not an animal was lost; nor were the hardy swimmers who breasted the Missouri river with them ever lost sight of thereafter.
About 3 miles southwest of the ferry a place was selected for a winter encampment and called Winter Quarters. It is now called Florence. A town was laid out, a hewn-log meetinghouse was erected, a grist mill was built, and a day school was conducted in the meetinghouse under the direction of Professor Orson Spencer of Boston. In the evening a grammar school was taught.
I remember one of the short humorous lectures given by Apostle George A. Smith, cousin of Joseph. Speaking on the beauties of simplicity in language, he told, by contrast, the following story: A young graduate called at a country hotel for entertainment and said to the hostler,
"Detach the quadruped from the vehicle, stabulate him, donate him a sufficient quantity of nutrition aliment, and when the aurora of day shall illuminate the horizon, I will award thee a pecuniary compensation."
The boy ran into the house and said, "Landlord, come out; there is a Dutchman here, and I can't understand a word he says."
As soon as it was decided to remain over winter an application was made to Otoe chiefs for permission to remain on their lands until spring. In consideration of some presents, their consent was obtained, but they did not welcome us as the Pottowattamies had done. The finest spots of meadow lands were sought out and soon the white man's scythes were cutting heavy swaths and hay stacks were looming up on all sides.
The rising of the stacks seemed to be a signal for the Indians to make raids upon our stock. Joseph F. Smith, then a lad of nine years, and two companions by the name of Aldrich were herding milk cows. At about three o'clock in the afternoon the Indians raided the herd, the herders barely escaping with their lives. Fortunately Captain Davis with his mounted scouts were nearby and recovered the cattle. From that time on our stock was closely guarded.
Trouble next began with the government Indian agent who lived at Sarpees Point. He ordered our people to move off from the Otoes' lands, and threatened to eject them by force. He even went so far as to refuse to let our people go down to the frontier settlements in Missouri without permits from him. As teams would return he would stop them by force and search the wagons under the pretext of looking for firearms, ammunition, and whiskey. As a matter of fact we needed all these things; especially arms and ammunition for defense and self protection, and as the summer passed on, many of the Saints were afflicted with malarial fevers, and alcohol was needed for medical purposes.
But Mitchell refused to allow anything of the kind to pass his post on its way to our camps. Several barrels of alcohol bought openly from merchants at St. Joseph were knocked in the head and spilt by Mitchell's orders. These oppressive acts were very humiliating-; and it required constant vigilance on the part of our leaders to keep some of our boys from resenting these open insults.
Fortunately for us, Colonel Kane was still at our camps. He wrote to his father at Philadelphia, and the judge visiting Washington ably represented our true condition to President Polk and his cabinet. The result was, Mr. Indian agent was called down and the Mormons were allowed to winter on the west bank of the Missouri river.
Many years ago I visited Hilo, a beautiful city on the Island of Hawaii. I noticed when gentlemen walked out that they always carried umbrellas with them; and when I asked them why, the reply was, that you never can tell here when it's going to rain. That's a good representation of Mormon life. We never know when a storm is brewing from the outside, nor from what quarter the wind will blow.
When the main body of the Church left Nauvoo, it was understood with the mob that the poor and destitute would be allowed to remain in peace, in the possession of their homes, until our leaders should find a place for our permanent settlement. But in this promise we were disappointed. Those who thrust us out, were not only desirous of being rid of our presence, but they sought our utter destruction, as the history of all their aggressive operations, when taken collectively, plainly shows.
See how thoughtfully they waited until the strength of our camps, the battalion was gone; till
Chapter 4.
Thomas L. Kane's Description of the City of Nauvoo, and the Exiled Mormons.
And now I wish you to read the graphic lecture of Thomas L. Kane before the Historical Society of Philadelphia:
"A few years ago, ascending the upper Mississippi in the autumn, when its waters were low, I was compelled to travel by land past the region of the rapids. My road lay through the Half Breed tract, a fine section of Iowa, which the unsettled state of its land titles had appropriated as a sanctuary for coiners, horse thieves and other outlaws. I had left my steamer at Keokuk at the foot of the lower falls, to hire a carriage and to contend for some fragments of a dirty meal with the swarming flies, the only scavengers of the locality.
"From this place to where the deep water of the river returns my eye wearied to see everywhere sordid vagabond and idle settlers, and a country marred without being improved, by their careless hands. I was descending the last hillside upon my journey, when a landscape in delightful contrast broke upon my view. Half encircled by a bend of the river, a beautiful city lay glittering in the fresh morning sun. Its bright new dwellings, set in cool green gardens ranging up around a stately dome-shaped hill, which was crowned by a noble marble edifice, whose high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. The city appeared to cover several miles, and beyond it, in the backgrounds, there rolled off a fair country chequered by the careful lines of fruitful husbandry. The unmistakable marks of industry, enterprise and educated wealth everywhere, made the scene one of singular and most striking beauty. It was a natural impulse to visit this inviting region. I procured a skiff, and rowing across the river, landed at the chief wharf of the city. No one met me there. I looked and saw no one. I could hear no one move, though the quiet everywhere was such that I heard the flies buzz and the water ripples break against the shallow beach, I walked through the solitary streets. The town lay as in a dream, under some deadening spell of loneliness, from which I almost feared to wake it, for plainly it had not slept long. There was no grass growing up in the paved ways, rains had not entirely washed away the prints of dusty footsteps, yet I went about unchecked. I went into empty workshops, rope walks and smithies. The spinner's wheel was idle, the carpenter had gone from his work bench and shavings, his unfinished sash and casings, fresh bark was in the tanner's vat, and fresh chopped light wood stood piled against the baker's oven. The blacksmith's shop was cold; but his coal heap and ladling pool and crooked water horn were all there, as if he had just gone for a holiday. No work people looked to know my errand. If I went into the garden clinking the wicket latch loudly after me, to pull the marigolds, heartease and lady-slippers and draw a drink with the water sodden well bucket and its noisy chain, or, knocking off with my stick the tall, heavyheaded dahlias and sunflowers, hunted over the beds for cucumbers and loveapples, no one called out to me from any opened window, or dog sprang forward to bark an alarm.
"I could have supposed the people hidden in the houses, but the doors were unfastened, and when, at last, I timidly entered them I found dead ashes white upon the hearths, and had to tread a tip-toe as if walking down the aisle of a country church, to avoid arousing irreverent echoes from the naked floors.
"On the outskirts of the town was the city graveyard, but there was no record of plague there, nor did it in any wise differ much from other Protestant American cemeteries. Some of the mounds were not long sodded; some of the stones were newly set. Their dates recent and their black inscriptions glossy in the mason's hardly dried lettering ink. Beyond the graveyard, out in the fields, I saw in one spot hard by where the fruited boughs of a young orchard had been roughly torn down, the still smouldering embers of a barbecue fire that had been constructed of rails from the fencing around it. It was the latest signs of life there. Fields upon fields of heavy headed yellow grain lay rotting ungathered upon the ground. No one was at hand to take in their rich harvest.
"As far as the eye could reach they stretched away, they sleeping too, in the hazy air of autumn. Only two portions of the city seemed to suggest the import of this mysterious solitude. On the eastern suburb the houses looking out upon the country showed, by their splintered woodworks and walls battered to the foundation, that they had lately been a mark of destructive cannonade, and in and around the splendid temple, which had been the chief object of my admiration, armed men were barracked, surrounded by their stacks of musketry and pieces of heavy ordnance. These challenged me to render an account of myself and why I had the temerity to cross the water without a written permit from the leader of their band. Though these men were more or less under the influence of ardent spirits, after I had explained myself as a passing stranger, they seemed anxious to gain my good opinion. They told the story of the dead city—that it had been a notable manufacturing and commercial mart, sheltering over twenty thousand persons. That they had waged war with its inhabitants for several years, and had finally been successful only a few days before my visit, in an action fought in front of the ruined suburb, after which they had driven them at the point of the sword. The defense, they said, had been obstinate, but gave way on the third day's bombardment. They boasted greatly of their prowess, especially in this battle, as they called it. But I discovered they were not of one mind, as to certain of the exploits that had distinguished it. One of which, as I remember was, that they had slain a father and his son, a boy of fifteen, not long a resident of the fated city, whom they admitted to have borne a character without reproach.
"They also conducted me inside the wall—of the curious temple, in which they said, the banished inhabitants were accustomed to celebrate the mystic rites of an unhallowed worship. They particularly pointed out to me certain features of the building, which having been the peculiar objects of a former superstitious regard, they had as a matter of duty sedulously defiled and defaced. The reputed site of certain shrines they had thus particularly noticed, and various sheltered chambers, in one of which was a deep well, constructed, they believed, with a dreadful design. Besides these, they led me to see a large and deep chiseled marble vase or basin, supported upon twelve oxen, also of marble, and of the size of life, of which they told some romantic stories. They said the deluded persons, most of whom were emigrants from a great distance, believed their Deity countenanced their reception here for a baptism of regeneration, as proxies for whomsoever they held in warm affection in the countries from which they had come. That here parents 'went into the water' for their lost children, children for their parents, widows for their spouses, and young persons for their lovers. That thus the great vase came to be for them associated with all dear and distant memories, and was therefore the object, of all others, in the building, to which they attached the greatest degree of idolatrous affection. On this account the victors had so diligently desecrated it as to render the apartment in which it was contained too noisome to abide in.
"It was after nightfall when I was ready to cross the river on my return. The wind had freshened after sunset, and the water beating roughly into my little boat, I headed higher up the stream than the point I had left in the morning, and landed where a faint glimmering light invited me to steer. Here among the dock and rushes, sheltered only by the darkness, without roof between them and the sky, I came upon a crowd of several hundred creatures, whom my movements roused from uneasy slumber upon the ground. Passing these on my way to the light I found it came from a tallow candle in a paper funnel shade such as is used by street vendors of apples and peanuts, and which flaring and fluttering away in the bleak air off the water, shone flickeringly on the emaciated features of a man in the last stage of a bilious, remittent fever. They had done their best for him. Over his head was something like a tent made of a sheet or two, and he rested on a but partially ripped open old straw mattress, with a hair sofa cushion under his head for a pillow. His gaping jaw and glazing eye told how short a time he would enjoy these luxuries, though a seemingly bewildered and excited person, who might have been his wife, seemed to find hope in occasionally forcing him to swallow awkwardly a measured sip of the tepid river water from a burned and battered bitter smelling tin coffee pot. Those who knew better had furnished the apothecary he needed, a toothless old bald head, whose manner had the repulsive dullness of a man familiar with death-scenes. He, so long as I remained, mumbled in his patient's ear a monotonous and melancholy prayer, between the pauses of which I heard the hiccup and sobbing of two little girls who were sitting upon a piece of driftwood outside. Dreadful indeed, were the sufferings of these forsaken beings, bowed and cramped by cold and sun burn, alternating as each weary day and night dragged on. They were almost all of them, the crippled victims of disease. They were there because they had no homes, nor hospitals, nor poor house, nor friends to offer them any. They could not satisfy the feeble cravings of their sick. They had not bread to quiet the fractious hunger cries of their children. Mothers and babes, daughters and grandparents, all of them alike, were bivouacked in tatters, wanting even covering to comfort those whom the sick shiver of fever was searching to the marrow.
"These were the Mormons, famishing in Lee county, Iowa, in the fourth week of the month of September, in the year of our Lord, 1846. The city, it was Nauvoo, Ills. The Mormons were the owners of that city, and the smiling country around, and those who stopped their plows, who had silenced their hammers their axes, their shuttles and their workshop wheels, those who had put out their fires, who had eaten their food, spoiled their orchards and trampled under foot their thousands of acres of unharvested grain, these were the keepers of their dwellings, the carousers in their temple, whose drunken riot insulted the ears of their dying. They were, all told, not more than six hundred forty persons who were thus lying on the river flats, but the Mormons in Nauvoo had numbered the year before over twenty thousand. Where were they? They had last been seen, carrying in mournful trains their sick and wounded, halt and blind to disappear behind the western horizon, pursuing the phantom of another home. Hardly anything else was known of them and people asked with curiosity—what had been their fate, what their fortune!"
Just a word to let the reader know of Col. Kane's first coming to our people.
One day, while we were still encamped at Council Bluffs, a delicate-looking stranger rode up on horseback. The young man was Colonel Thomas L. Kane, son of Judge Kane of Philadelphia, and brother of Dr. Kane, the celebrated Arctic explorer. Soon after reaching our camp he was stricken with fever. The best medical talent we had watched him unceasingly; and to the joy of the whole camp, he recovered. Never was watching, nursing, and praying better requited by man than he repaid to the Mormon people. As soon as his returning strength would allow, he hastened back east, and unsolicited by us delivered in his native city and in Washington some of the most truthful, vivid life scenes of the suffering of our people that have ever been published.
Chapter 5.
Daniel H. Wells.—Baptism for the Dead.—Lorenzo D. Young's Mission.—Wilford Woodruff.—Saved by Prayer.
The little band of one hundred twenty-five men who for three days defended the city of Nauvoo against fearful odds, are to me patriots and heroes, and their names and deeds should be handed down in history; for the wealth of history is the noble ideals it creates. Had there never been an angry Jewish mob, we should not have the martyr Stephen. Had there been no Gesler to hoist his cap on a liberty pole, there would have been no William Tell. Had there been no George III., there would have been no Patrick Henry nor Lafayette; and had there been no battle of Nauvoo, we should have had no Daniel H. Wells, as noble a patriot, and as true a lover of justice and liberty, as ever lived.
Daniel Hanmer Wells was one of the first settlers of Commerce, later called Nauvoo. When Joseph came in 1839 and bought land for the Church, Wells met the Prophet for the first time. He noted the intelligence and activity of the young leader. He (Wells) was studying law, and his legal attainments made him a useful man in the community. For several years thereafter he was justice of the peace, and thus became thoroughly acquainted with the people and their history. The result was that when the war-cloud broke, he shouldered his gun and for three days fought in defense of the weak and oppressed; and when they were overpowered, rather than submit to the enforced humiliation, he mounted his horse, bade adieu to his old home, and fled to the wilderness, casting his lot with the exiles, and becoming one of their staunchest leading men.
Now a few words about the ill-fated temple, that beautiful edifice which the Saints reared with so much love and sacrifice, and in which so many of our hopes and expectations centered. Like all other of our temples, it was erected for the benefit alike of the living and the dead. The Apostle Paul says, "If the dead rise not at all, then why are ye baptized for the dead?" Around that doctrine, amplified by later revelation, the Latter-day Saints have woven a social service that lays hold of the deepest affections of the heart, and in its scope is as broad as the ocean and as endless as eternity.
In the sacred font of that temple in Nauvoo, parents were baptized for their dead children, and children for their dead parents. There the husband and wife were sealed as such for eternity, and family ties were cemented to last forever. In the faith of every Latter-day Saint, the temple was therefore the holy of holies, the most sacred of all sacred places. Our enemies knew this; and fearing, that as long as the temple stood, we might be tempted to return, they resolved to destroy it.
A purse of five hundred dollars was raised by subscription and given to Joseph Agnew if he would burn it. On the night of October 6, 1848, Thomas C. Sharp and Agnew rode from Carthage to Nauvoo, twenty miles, and having a key to the front door. Sharp stood guard, while Agnew ascended to an upper floor and fired it. At sunrise the next morning there was nothing left but its four blackened walls.
Afterwards the
As soon as word of the mob's treachery reached Winter Quarters, teams were sent back to bring up the suffering remnants; and they were given all the care and attention possible under existing conditions. They received at least one comfort—they had the privilege of dying, if die they must, with sympathizing friends.
And die many of them did. As previously remarked. Winter Quarters was the Valley Forge of Mormondom. Our home was near the burying ground; and I can remember the small mournful-looking trains that so often passed our door. I also remember how poor and same-like our habitual diet was: corn bread, salt bacon, and a little milk. Mush and bacon became so nauseating that it was like taking medicine to swallow it; and the scurvy was making such inroad amongst us that it looked as if we should all be "sleeping on the hill" before spring, unless fresh food could be obtained.
While we were in this condition there happened one of these singular events which so often flit across the life of a Mormon. President Young called one day at the door of our cabin, and said to my father:
"Lorenzo, if you will hitch up your horses and go down into Missouri, the Lord will open the way, so that you can bring up a drove of hogs, and give the people fresh meat, and be a blessing to you."
As I remember, the next day father took me in the wagon, and with a "spike" or three-horse team, started on that mission. The only recollections that I have of that wonderfully productive land, were given me by that journey. The Mormons believe that Missouri embraces, in its bounds, that portion of the earth where Eden stood. Adam-Ondi-Ahman, the place where Adam gathered his children and blessed them, is situated five miles northwest from Gallatin, on Grand river.
I will now relate some incidents that took place on that trip to St. Joseph, Missouri. Soon after reaching the frontier settlements we camped for the night with a man who claimed to have been living on his ranch for sixteen years. The home was rather primitive, but the farm must have been a good one. His bins were full of corn, and his horses, cows, sheep, and hogs were fine and fat.
Father asked if he would sell a horse.
"Yes, if I can get a good price for one."
What was the grey Messenger filly worth?
"Well, that is a good animal; a wonderful traveler," and he wanted a dollar a mile for every mile that he had driven her in a day. And though we might not believe it, yet it was gospel truth, that he had driven that mare in his spring cart, thirty-five miles from sun to sun.
The next morning my father pulled out 'with a four-horse team. The Messenger fully proved one of the best animals that we ever owned. After a lapse of sixty years I tell this story to my children to show them the difference of ideas about hard driving between the people of the woolly west and the stay-at-home farmer near St. Joseph.
Upon arriving at St. Joseph we put up at Polk's Tavern. A Mormon family by the name of Lake had left Winter Quarters in search of work. One of the daughters had found employment at Mr. Polk's. Being frequently questioned, she had told much about the sufferings and the present conditions of our people. She knew my father well, and joyfully recognized him.
In the evening the bar room was full of gentlemen, all eager to learn the news and for two hours they listened almost breathless to father's talk. The next day parties approached father and offered to load him with merchandise. This he declined; but he secured the loan of one thousand dollars—I believe from a Jewish merchant—and wasted no time in getting down to business.
The first move was to buy a forty-acre field of unharvested corn. He paid four dollars an acre for the corn as it stood in the field. It was estimated to average sixty bushels to the acre. The best corn was gathered and put in bins. Heavy logs were then drawn crosswise over the field to mash down the stalks. Then a notice was posted for hogs. As a rule, they came in droves of about thirty and were bought in the bunch, at seventy-five cents a head. They would weigh from one hundred and fifty to four hundred pounds each. Father returned to Winter Quarters with a thousand head of hogs, and in this way President Young's promise to him had been realized.
We read in the good old Bible of an angel giving water to Hagar and Ishmael in the desert, when the patriarch Abraham had sent them away; and when Moses led two million Hebrew bondsmen from slavery to freedom, we read of how God rained manna down from heaven for their sustenance, and so wrought upon the elements, that for forty years their garments did not wax old. And I understand that the Hebrew children to this day remember with grateful hearts those special acts of providence.
Now, while I do not claim for the Latter-day Saints manifestations so marked as these, yet was there many a providential help given to us. What caused the quails to come in such tame flocks to our suffering camps on the west bank of the Mississippi river? They were so tame that many of them were caught by little children. And who led the Mormon maiden to Mr. Polk's tavern, and inspired her tongue to utter words of deep interest to citizens of St. Joseph, and thus prepared the way for my father to bring to our camps large quantities of food as sweet and nutritious as the quails or manna bestowed so providentially upon the camps of the Hebrews in the land of Palestine?
I remember well the place where I first saw Wilford Woodruff. It was out in the timber west of Winter Quarters. I was driving a yoke of oxen on a sledge, after a load of wood. Father and a man by the name of Campbell were chopping. The wood was oak and hickory. There were several men in the grove chopping, among them Apostle Woodruff. A cry came for help and the men ran together. Brother Woodruff had been caught by a falling tree and pinned to another one. The tree that imprisoned him was so heavy that the men could not lift it away until they had chopped it in two.
All said his breast was crushed, and they feared he was dead. Nevertheless, the brethren took off their hats, and kneeling around him, placed their hands on his body and prayed. Then some quilts were placed on the sledge and father hauled him home. I was but a boy; yet the earnestness and power of that prayer entered my soul, and gave me a testimony that has never left me.[A]
[Footnote A: President Woodruff's statement makes it plain that I am wrong. My memory has become confused. It must have been some other man that father hauled home.]
I know that the brave, resolute men who left their homes in Nauvoo rather than renounce their faith, were God-fearing men. Prayer was the balm applied by them for every ill. It was their comfort and solace from every pain. It was their first thought in the moning [sic], and the last word they breathed at night. It burst from the lips of the father and the mother at our camp fires, or from the hearth stones in our humblest dugout homes. In case of misfortune or accident, the first thought was for an Elder. The admonition of the Apostle James, as recorded in the New Testament, was engraven on the hearts of the Latter-day Saints. "If any are sick let them call in the Elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick." And I testify that our hearts were often gladdened by the reception and fulfillment of that gracious promise. In this instance our hearts were again comforted. Our people were passing through a period of sorrow and suffering. It was one of the darkest days in the history of the Church. Death was reaping a rich harvest from our stricken and depleted camps. We felt keenly the