HISTORY OF UTAH

1540-1887

 

 

 

CHAPTER I. DISCOVERIES OF THE SPANIARDS. 1540-1777.

CHAPTER II. ADVENT OF TRAPPERS AND TRAVELLERS. 1778-1846.

CHAPTER III. THE STORY OF MORMONISM. 1820-1830.

CHAPTER IV. THE STORY OF MORMONISM. 1830-1835.

CHAPTER V. THE STORY OF MORMONISM. 1835-1840.

CHAPTER VI. THE STORY OF MORMONISM. 1840-1844.

CHAPTER VII. BRIGHAM YOUNG SUCCEEDS JOSEPH. 1844- 1845.

CHAPTER VIII. EXPULSION FROM NAUVOO. 1845-1846.

CHAPTER IX. AT THE MISSOURI. 1846- 1847.

CHAPTER X. MIGRATION TO UTAH. 1847.

CHAPTER XI. IN THE VALLEY OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE. 1848.

CHAPTER XII. IN THE VALLEY OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE. 1849.

CHAPTER XIII. SETTLEMENT AND OCCUPATION OF THE COUNTRY. 1847-1852.

CHAPTER XIV. EDUCATION, MANUFACTURES, COMMERCE, AGRICULTURE, SOCIETY. 1850-1852.

CHAPTER XV. MORMONISM AND POLYGAMY.

CHAPTER XVI. MISSIONS AND IMMIGRATION. 1830-1883.

CHAPTER XVII. UTAH AS A TERRITORY. 1849-1853.

CHAPTER XVIII. THE GOVERNMENT IN ARMS. 1853-1857.

CHAPTER XIX. THE UTAH WAR. 1857-1858.

CHAPTER XX. THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE. 1857

CHAPTER XXI. POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND INSTITUTIONAL. 1859-1862.

CHAPTER XXII. PROGRESS OF EVENTS. 1861-1869.

CHAPTER XXIII. SCHISMS AND APOSTASIES. 1844-1869.

CHAPTER XXTV. THE LAST DAYS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. 1869-1877.

CHAPTER XXV. CHURCH AND STATE. 1877-1885.

CHAPTER XXVI. SETTLEMINT, SOCIETY, AND EDUCATION. 3862-1886.

CHAPTER XXVII. AGRICULTURE, STOCK-RAISING, MANUFACTURES, AND MINING. 1852-1886.

CHAPTER XXVIII. COMMERCE AND COMMUNICATION. 1852-1885.

 

PREFACE.

In the history of Utah we come upon a new series of social phenomena, whose multiformity and unconventionality awaken the liveliest interest. We find ourselves at once outside the beaten track of conquest for gold and glory; of wholesale robberies and human slaughters for the love of Christ; of encomiendas, repartimientos, serfdoms, or other species of civilized imposition; of missionary invasion resulting in certain death to the aborigines, but in broad acres and well filled storehouses for the men of practical piety; of emigration for rich and cheap lands, or for colonization and empire alone; nor have we here a hurried scramble for wealth, or a corporation for the management of a game preserve. There is the charm of novelty about the present subject, if no other; for in our analyses of human progress we never tire of watching the behavior of various elements under various conditions.

There is only one example in the annals of America of the organization of a commonwealth upon principles of pure theocracy. There is here one example only where the founding of a state grew out of the founding of a new religion. Other instances there have been of the occupation of wild tracts on this continent by people flying before persecution, or desirous of greater religious liberty; there were the quakers, the huguenots, and the pilgrim fathers, though their spiritual interests were so soon subordinated to political necessities; religion has often played a conspicuous part in the settlement of the New World, and there has at times been present in some degree the theocratic, if not indeed the hierarchal, idea; but it has been long since the world, the old continent or the new, has witnessed anything like a new religion successfully established and set in prosperous running order upon the fullest and combined principles of theocracy, hierarchy, and patriarchy.

With this new series of phenomena, a new series of difficulties arises in attempting their elucidation: not alone the perplexities always attending unexplored fields, but formidable embarrassments which render the task at once delicate and dangerous.

If the writer is fortunate enough to escape the many pitfalls of fallacy and illusion which beset his way; if he is wise and successful enough to find and follow the exact line of equity which should be drawn between the hotly contending factions; in a word, if he is honest and capable, and speaks honestly and openly in the treatment of such a subject, he is pretty sure to offend, and bring upon himself condemnation from all parties. But where there are palpable faults on both sides of a case, the judge who unites equity with due discrimination may be sure he is not in the main far from right if he succeeds in offending both sides. Therefore, amidst the multiformity of conflicting ideas and evidence, having abandoned all hope of satisfying others, I fall back upon the next most reasonable proposition left—that of satisfying myself.

In regard to the quality of evidence I here encounter, I will say that never before has it been my lot to meet with such a mass of mendacity. The attempts of almost all who have written upon the subject seem to have been to make out a case rather than to state the facts. Of course, by any religious sect dealing largely in the supernatural, fancying itself under the direct guidance of God, its daily doings a standing miracle, commingling in all the ordinary affairs of life prophecies, special interpositions, and revelations with agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, we must expect to find much written which none but that sect can accept as true.

And in relation to opposing evidence, almost every book that has been put forth respecting the people of Utah by one not a Mormon is full of calumny, each author apparently endeavoring to surpass his predecessor in the libertinism of abuse. Most of these are written in a sensational style, and for the purpose of deriving profit by pandering to a vitiated public taste, and are wholly unreliable as to facts. Some few, more especially among those first appearing, whose data were gathered by men upon the spot, and for the purpose of destroying what they regarded as a sacrilegious and pernicious fanaticism, though as vehement in their opposition as any, make some pretensions to honesty and sincerity, and are more worthy of credit. There is much in government reports, and in the writings of the later residents in Utah, dictated by honest patriotism, and to which the historian should give careful attention. In using my authorities, I distinguish between these classes, as it is not profitable either to pass by anything illustrating principles or affecting progress, or to print pages of pure invention, palpable lies, even for the purpose of proving them such. Every work upon the subject, however, receives proper bibliographical notice.

The materials for Mormon church history are exceptionally full. Early in his career the first president appointed a historiographer, whose office has been continuous ever since. To his people he himself gave their early history, both the inner and intangible and the outer and material portions of it. Then missionaries to different posts were instructed to make a record of all pertinent doings, and lodge the same in the church archives. A sacred obligation seems to have been implied in this respect from the beginning, the Book of Mormon itself being largely descriptive of such migrations and actions as usually constitute the history of a people. And save in the matters of spiritual manifestations, which the merely secular historian cannot follow, and in speaking of their enemies, whose treatment we must admit in too many instances has been severe, the church records are truthful and reliable. In addition to this, concerning the settlement of the country, I have here, as in other sections of my historical field, visited the people in person, and gathered from them no inconsiderable stores of orig­inal and interesting information.

Upon due consideration, and with the problem fairly before me, three methods of treatment presented themselves from which to choose: first, to follow the beaten track of calumny and vituperation, heaping upon the Mormons every species of abuse, from the lofty sarcasm employed by some to the vulgar scurrility applied by others; second, to espouse the cause of the Mormons as the weaker party, and defend them from the seeming injustice to which from the first they have been subjected; third, in a spirit of equity to present both sides, leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions. The first course, however popular, would be beyond my power to follow; the second method, likewise, is not to be considered; I therefore adopt the third course, and while giving the new sect a full and respectful hearing, withhold nothing that their most violent opposers have to say against them.

Anything written at the present day which may properly be called a history of Utah must be largely a history of the Mormons, these being the first white people to settle in the country, and at present largely occupying it. As others with opposing interests and influences appear, they and the great principles thereby brought to an issue receive the most careful consideration. And I have deemed it but fair, in presenting the early history of the church, to give respectful consideration to and a sober recital of Mormon faith and experiences, common and miraculous. The story of Mormonism, therefore, beginning with chapter 3, as told in the text, is from the Mormon standpoint, and based entirely on Mormon authorities; while in the notes, and running side by side with the subject matter in the text, I give in full all anti-Mormon arguments and counter-statements, thus enabling the reader to carry along both sides at once, instead of having to consider first all that is to be said on one side, and then all that is to be said on the other

In following this plan, I only apply to the history of Utah the same principles employed in all my historical efforts, namely, to give all the facts on every side pertinent to the subject. In giving the history of the invasion and occupation of the several sections of the Pacific States from Panama, to Alaska, I have been obliged to treat of the idiosyncrasies, motives, and actions of Roman catholics, methodists, presbyterians, episcopalians, and members of the Greek church: not of the nature or validity of their respective creeds, but of their doings, praising or blaming as praise or blame were due, judged purely from a standpoint of morals and humanity according to the highest standards of the foremost civilization of the world. It was not necessary—it was wholly outside the province of the historian, and contrary to my method as practised elsewhere—to discuss the truth or falsity of their convictions, any more than when writing the history of Mexico, California, or Oregon to advance my opinions regarding the inspiration of the scriptures, the divinity of Christ, prophecies, miracles, or the immaculate conception. On all these questions, as on the doctrines of the Mormons and of other sects, I have of course my opinions, which it were not only out of place but odious to be constantly thrusting upon the attention of the reader, who is seeking for facts only.

In one respect only I deem it necessary to go a little further here: inasmuch as doctrines and beliefs enter more influentially than elsewhere into the origin and evolution of this society, I give the history of the rise and progress of those doctrines. Theirs was not an old faith, the tenets of which have been fought for and discussed for centuries, but professedly a new revelation, whose principles are for the most part unknown to the outside world, where their purity is severely questioned. The settlement of this section sprung primarily from the evolution of a new religion, with all its attendant trials and persecutions. To give their actions without their motives would leave the work obviously imperfect; to give their motives without the origin and nature of their belief would be impossible.

In conclusion, I will say that those who desire a knowledge of people and events impartially viewed, a statement of facts fairly and dispassionately presented, I am confident will find them here as elsewhere in my writings.

 

 

HISTORY OF UTAH.

CHAPTER I.

DISCOVERIES OF THE SPANIARDS. 1540-1777.

 

As Francisco Vazquez de Coronado was journeying from Culiacan to the north and east in 1540, he rested at Cibola, that is to say Zuñi, and while waiting for the main army to come forward, expeditions were sent out in various directions. One of these, consisting of twenty men under Pedro de Tobar, and attended by Father Juan de Padilla, proceeded north-westward, and after five days reached Tusayan, or the Moqui villages, which were quickly captured. Among other matters of interest, information was here given of a large river yet farther north, the people who lived upon its banks being likewise very large.

Returning to Cibola, Tobar reported what had been said concerning this river; whereupon Captain Garcia Lopez de Cardenas was sent with twelve men to explore it, Pedro de Sotomayor accompanying to chronicle the expedition. Obtaining at Tusayan, where he was well received, guides and carriers, with an ample supply of provisions, Cardenas marched for twenty days, probably in a north-westerly direction, through a desert country until he discovered the river, but from such high banks that he could not reach it. It was the river called the Tizon, and it flowed from the north-east toward the south-west. It seemed to the Spaniards when they first descried it that they were on mountains through which the river had cut a chasm only a few feet wide, but which if they might believe the natives was half a league across. In vain for several days, with their faces toward the south and west, they sought to escape from the mountains that environed them, and descend to the river, for they were suffering from thirst. At length one morning three of the lightest and most active of the party crept over the brink and descended until they were out of sight. They did not return till toward evening when they reported their failure to reach the bottom, saying that the river, and distances and objects, were all much larger than they seemed to the beholder above, rocks apparently no higher, than a man being in fact larger than the cathedral at Seville. Compelled by thirst they retired from the inhospitable stream, and finally returned to Tusayan and Cibola.

 

Probabe route of Cárdenas

 

It was not necessary in those days that a country should be discovered in order to be mapped; even now we dogmatize most about what we know least. It is. a lonely sea indeed that cannot sport mermaids and monsters; it were a pity to have so broad an extent of land without a good wide sheet of water in it; so the Conibas Regio cum Vicinis Gentibus shows a large lake, called Conibas, connecting by a very wide river apparently with a northern sea. I give herewith another map showing a lake large enough to swallow Utah and Idaho combined, and discharging its waters by two great rivers into the Pacific. This species of geography was doubtless entirely satisfactory to the wise men of this world until they came to know better about it. If the reader will look over the chapters on the Northern Mystery in my History of the Northwest Coast he may learn further of absurdities in map-making.

 

Map from Magin, 1611

 

A more extended and pronounced exploration was that of two Franciscan friars, one the visitador comisario of New Mexico, Francisco Atanasio Dominguez, and the other ministro doctrinero of Zuñi, Silvestre Velez de Escalante, who set out from Santa Fé July 29, 1776, for the purpose of discovering a direct route to Monterey, on the seaboard of Alta California. New Mexico had now been known nearly two and a half centuries; the city of Santa Fe had been founded over a century and a half, Monterey had been occupied since 1770, and yet there had been opened no direct route westward with the sea, communication between Mexico and Santa Fé being by land, the road following the Rio Grande. In his memorial of March 1773, while in Mexico, Father Junípero Serra had urged that two expeditions be made, one from Sonora to California, which was carried out the following year by Captain Anza, and one from New Mexico to the sea, which Dominguez and Escalante now proposed to undertake. Again in 1775 Anza made a similar journey, this time leaving at the junction of the Colorado and Gila Father Garces who ascended the former stream to the Mojave country, whence crossing to Mission San Gabriel he proceeded to the Tulare Valley. There he heard from the na­tives of a great river coming in from the east or north­east. Indeed it was long the prevailing opinion that there existed such a stream in that vicinity. From the Tulare country Garces returned to San Gabriel and Mojave, and thence proceeded to the villages of the Moquis. From this place he probably wrote to Santa Fé concerning the rumor of this river; for all through the journey of Dominguez and Escalante they were in search of it.

 

Map of John Harris, 1750

 

The party consisted in all of nine persons. Besides the two priests there were Juan Pedro Cisneros, alcalde mayor of Zuñi, Bernardo Miera y Pacheco, capitán miliciano of Santa Fé, and five soldiers. Having implored divine protection, on the day before named they took the road to Abiquiú, passed on to the Rio Chama, and on the 5th of August reached a point called Nieves, on the San Juan River, three leagues below the junction of the Navajo. Thence they passed down the north bank of the San Juan, crossing the several branches, until on the 10th they found themselves on a branch of the Mancos, some distance from the San Juan, and beyond the line of the present state of Colorado.5The 12th they camped on the north bank of the Rio Dolores, in latitude 38° 13', and were there joined by two natives from Abiquiú, who had deserted their homes to follow the expedition.

They now followed the general course of the Dolores until the 23d, when they left the San Pedro, which flows into the Dolores near La Sal, and crossed over north-east to Rio San Francisco, and again to the Rio San Javier on the 28th, their course being for some distance east of north.

 

Escalante's route from Santa Fe to Utah

 

Not far from their path was a rancheria of Yutas, which the Spaniards visited, endeavoring to obtain guides to the land of the Timpanogos, Timpangotzis, or Lagunas, where they had been told to look for Pueblo towns. A Laguna guide was there, but the Yutas did all in their power to dissuade the explorers from proceeding, pretending ignorance of the country and danger from the Comanches. But the 3d of September saw them again on their way. Pursuing a north-west course, the second day they crossed and camped on the north bank of the Rio San Rafael, or Colorado, in latitude 41° 4'. Their course thence was north-westerly, and on the 9th they crossed a river called San Clemente, flowing west. Signs of buffaloes were abundant, and on the 11th they killed one. Two days afterward they crossed the Rio de San Buenaventura, the boundary between the Yutas and the Comanches, in latitude 41° 19', at a place which the priests call Santa Cruz. Here were six large black poplars, on one of which they left an inscription. After resting two days they took the course of the San Buenaventura south-west ten leagues, and from a hill saw the junction of the San Clemente. Descending a little farther they found a river flowing in from the west, following which they reached a branch the 17th, naming it the San Cosme.

From this point they proceeded westward, following up the Uintah, across the Duchesne, and over the mountains, with no small difficulty, to a river which they called Purísima, and which they followed till on the 23d they came in sight of the lake which the natives called Timpanogos, but which is known now as Utah Lake.

Several reasons combined to bring the Spaniards so far to the north of what would be a direct road from Santa Fé to Monterey. First, Escalante entertained a theory that a better route to the Pacific could be found northward than toward the south. Then there was always a fascination attending this region, with its great and perpetual Northern Mystery; perhaps the Arctic Ocean came down hereabout, or at least an arm of the Anian Strait might be found; nor were forgotten the rivers spoken of by different persons on different occasions as flowing hence into the Pacific. And last of all it may be that the rumor of Pueblo villages in this quarter carried the explorers further north than otherwise they would have gone.

However this may have been, they were now of opinion that they had penetrated far enough in a northerly direction, and from this point must take a southerly course. There were here no town-builders like the Moquis and Zunis, as the priests had been led to suppose, but there were wild Indians, and the first they had seen in this vicinity. At first these savages manifested fear, but when assured that the strangers had not come to harm them, and were in no way leagued with the dreaded Comanches, they welcomed them kindly and gave them food. They were simple-minded and inoffensive, these native Yutas, very ready to guide the travellers whithersoever they would go; but they begged them to return and establish a mission in their midst; in token of which, and of their desire to adopt the Christian faith, they gave the priests a kind of hieroglyphic painting on deer­skin.

Then the Spaniards talk of the country, and of the people about them. They are in the valley and by the lake of Nuestra Senora de la Merced de los Timpanogos, and north of the river San Buenaventura are the mountains which they have just crossed, extending north-east and south-west some seventy leagues, and having a width of forty leagues. From the surrounding heights flow four rivers of medium size, discharging their waters into the lake, where thrive fish and wild fowl. The valley which surrounds this lake extends from south-east to north-west sixteen Spanish leagues; it is quite level, and has a width of ten or twelve leagues. Except the marshes on the lake borders the land is good for agriculture. Of the four rivers which water the valley the southernmost, which they call Aguas Calientes, passes through rich meadows capable of supporting two large towns. The second, three leagues from the first, flowing northerly, and which they call the San Nicolás, fertilizes enough good land to support one large town, or two smaller ones. Before reaching the lake it divides into two branches, on the banks of which grow tall poplars and alders. The third river, which is three and a half leagues to the north-east, and which they call the San Antonio de Padua, carries more water than the others, and from its rich banks, which would easily support three large towns, spring groves of larger trees. Santa Ana, they call the fourth river, which is north-west of the San Antonio, and not inferior to the others—so they are told, for they do not visit it. Besides these rivers, there are good springs of water both on plain and mountain-side; pasture lands are abundant, and in parts the fertile soil yields such quantities of flax and hemp that it seems they must have been planted there by man. On the San Buenaventura the Spaniards had been troubled by the cold; but here the climate is so delightful, the air so balmy, that it is a pleasure to breathe it, by day and by night. In the vicinity are other valleys equally delightful. Besides the products of the lake the Yutas hunt hares, and gather seeds from which they make atole. They might capture some buffaloes in the north-north-west but for the troublesome Comanches. They dwell in huts of osier, of which, likewise, many of their utensils are made; some of them wear clothes, the best of which are of the skins of rabbits and antelopes. There are in this region many people, of whom he who would know more may consult the Native Races.

The Spaniards are further told by the Yutas of a large and wonderful body of water toward the north­west, and this is what Father Escalante reports of it. “The other lake, with which this communicates,” he says, “occupies, as they told us, many leagues, and its waters are injurious and extremely salt; because the Timpanois assure us that he who wets any part of his body with this water, immediately feels an itching in the wet part. We were told that in the circuit of this lake there live a numerous and quiet nation, called Puaguampe, which means in our language Sorcerers; they speak the Comanche language, feed on herbs, and drink from various fountains or springs of good water which are about the lake; and they have their little houses of grass and earth, which latter forms the roof. They are not, so they intimated, enemies of those living on this lake, but since a certain time when the people there approached and killed a man, they do not consider them as neutral as before. On this occasion they entered by the last pass of the Sierra Blanca de los Timpanogos, which is the same in which they are, by a route north one fourth north-west, and by that same way they say the Comanches make their raids, which do not seem to be very frequent.”

Continuing their journey the 26th of September with two guides, the Spaniards bend their course south-westwardly in the direction of Monterey, through the Sevier lake and river region, which stream they call Santa Isabel. The 8th of October they are in latitude 38° 3' with Beaver River behind them. Passing on into what is now Escalante Valley they question the natives regarding a route to the sea, and as to their knowledge of Spaniards in that direction. The savages know nothing of either. Meanwhile winter is approaching, provisions are becoming low, the way to the sea must be long and difficult; therefore the friars resolve to abandon the attempt; they will continue south, turning perhaps to the east until they come to the Colorado, when they will return to Santa Fe by way of the Moqui and Zuñi villages.

Some of the party object to this abandonment of purpose. They have come far; they can surely find a way: why turn back? To determine the matter prayers are made and lots cast, the decision being against Monterey. As they turn eastward, the 11th, in latitude 36° 52', they are obliged to make bread of seeds purchased from the natives, for their supplies are wholly exhausted. Reaching the Colorado the 26th, twelve days are passed in searching for a ford, which they find at last in latitude 37°, the line dividing Utah from Arizona. Their course is now south-east, and the 16th of November they reach Oraybi, as they call the residence of the Moquis. There they are kindly received; but when for food and shelter they offer presents and religious instruction the natives refuse. Next day the Spaniards visit Xongopabi, and the day after Gualpi, at which latter place they call a meeting and propose to the natives temporal and spiritual submission. The Moquis will be friendly they say, but the further proposals they promptly decline. Thereupon the friars continue their way, reaching Zuñi November 24th and Santa Fé the 2d of January 1777.

 

Timpanogos Valley

 

 

CHAPTER II.

ADVENT OF TRAPPERS AND TRAVELLERS.

1778-1846.

 

Half a century passes, and we find United States fur hunters standing on the border of the Great Salt Lake, tasting its brackish waters, and wondering if it is an arm of the sea.

First among these, confining ourselves to authentic records, was James Bridger, to whom belongs the honor of discovery. It happened in this wise. During the winter of 1824-5 a party of trappers, who had ascended the Missouri with Henry and Ashley, found themselves on Bear River, in Cache, or Willow Valley. A discussion arose as to the probable course of Bear River, which flowed on both sides of them. A wager was made, and Bridger sent to ascertain the truth. Following the river through the mountains the first view of the great lake fell upon him, and when he went to the margin and tasted the water he found that it was salt. Then he returned and reported to his companions. All were interested to know if there emptied into this sheet other streams on which they might find beavers, and if there was an outlet; hence in the spring of 1826 four men explored the lake in skin boats.

During this memorable year of 1825, when Peter Skeen Ogden with his party of Hudson’s Bay Company trappers was on Humboldt River, and James P. Beckwourth was pursuing his daring adventures, and the region round the great lakes of Utah first became familiar to American trappers, William H. Ashley, of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, at the head of one hundred and twenty men and a train of well packed horses, came out from St Louis, through the South Pass and down by Great Salt Lake to Lake Utah. There he built a fort, and two years later brought from St Louis a six-pounder which thereafter graced its court. Ashley was a brave man, shrewd and honest; he was prosperous and commanded the respect of his men. Nor may we impute to him lack of intelligence, or of common geographical knowledge, when we find him seriously considering the project of descending the Colorado in boats, by means of which he would eventually reach St Louis. Mr Green, who gave his name to Green River, had been with Ashley the previous year; and now for three years after the establishing of Fort Ashley at Utah Lake, Green with his trappers occupied the country to the west and north.

From Great Salt Lake in August, 1826, Jedediah S. Smith sets out on a trapping and exploring tour with fifteen men. Proceeding southward he traverses Utah Lake, called for a time Ashley Lake, and after ascending Ashley River, which, as he remarks, flows into the lake through the country of the Sampatches, he bends his course to the west of south, passes over some mountains running south-east and north­west, and crosses a river which he calls Adams, in honor of the president. After ten days’ march, still in a south-westerly direction, through the country of the Pah Utes, he recrosses the same stream, and after two days comes to the junction of the Adams with what he calls the Seedskeeder, or Siskadee, river, a stream full of shallows and rapids and flowing through a sterile country. Then he reaches a fertile wooded valley which belongs to the Amajabes, or Mojaves, where the party rests fifteen days, meeting with the kindest treatment from the natives, who provide food and horses. Thence they are guided by two neophytes westward through a desert country, and reach the mission of San Gabriel in December, their appearance causing no small commotion in California. After many strange adventures, fully narrated in my History of California, Smith works his way northward up the San Joaquin Valley, and in May 1827 crosses the Sierra Nevada and returns eastward to Great Salt Lake. With Jedediah Smith, during some part of his stay in Utah, was Thomas L. Smith, whom we must immortalize in history as Pegleg Smith. He did not possess a very estimable character, as, I am sorry to say, few of his class did in those days. The leaders of American fur companies, however, were exceptions, and in points of intelligence, integrity, and daring were in no wise behind their British brethren.

From south-east to north-west a portion of Utah was traversed in the autumn of 1830 by a trapping party under William Wolfskill. The company was fitted out in New Mexico, and the great valley of California was their objective point. Wolfskill had been a partner of Ewing Young, who was then in California. Leaving Taos in September they struck north-westerly, crossing the Colorado, Grande, Green, and Sevier rivers, and then turned south to the Rio Virgen, all the time trapping on the way. Then passing down by the Mojaves they reached Los Angeles in February 1831. George C. Yount and Louis Bur ton were of the party.

During the winter of 1832-3 B. L. E. Bonneville made his camp on Salmon River, and in July following was at the Green River rendezvous. Among the several trapping parties sent by him in various directions was one under Joseph Walker, who with some thirty-six men, among them Joe Meek, went to trap on the streams falling into the Great Salt Lake.

Bonneville affirms that Walker’s intention was to pass round the Great Salt Lake and explore its borders; but George Nidever who was of Walker’s company, and at the rendezvous while preparations were made, says nothing of such purpose, and it was probably not thought of by Bonneville until afterward. Nidever had suffered severely from the cold during the previous winter, and had come to the Green River rendezvous that season for the express purpose of joining some party for California or of forming such a party himself, having been informed that the climate there was milder than in the mountains where he had been.

If the intention was, as Bonneville asserts, that this party should pass round the great lake, in their endeavor they presently found themselves in the midst of desolation, between wide sandy wastes and broad brackish waters; and to quench their thirst they hastened westward where bright snowy mountains promised cooling streams. The Ogden River region being to them so new, and the thought of California so fascinating, they permitted themselves to stray from original intentions, and cross the Sierra Nevada to Monterey. All that is known of their doings before reaching the Snowy Range is given in my History of Nevada, and their exploits after reaching California are fully narrated in that part of this series devoted to the history of the latter country.

In Winterbotham’s history published in New York in 1795 is given a map of North America showing an enormous nameless inland sea above latitude 42° with small streams running into it, and south of said parallel and east of the meridian of the inland sea is a smaller body of water with quite a large stream flowing in from the west, besides three smaller ones from the south and north. As both of these bodies of water were laid down from the imaginations of white men, or from vague and traditionary reports of the natives, it may be that only the one Great Salt Lake was originally referred to, or it may be that the original description was applied to two lakes or inland seas. The native village on one of the southern tributaries, Taguayo, refers to the habitations of the Timpanogos, and may have been derived from the Spaniards; but more probably the information was obtained through natives who themselves had received it from other natives.

In the map of William Rector, a surveyor in the service of the general government, Utah has open and easy communication with the seat by way of the valley of the Willamette River, whose tributaries drain the whole of Nevada and Utah.

Mr Finley in his map of North America claimed to have included all the late geographical discoveries, which claim we may readily allow, and also accredit him with much not yet and never to be discovered. The mountains are artistically placed, the streams made to run with remarkable regularity and directness, and they are placed in positions affording the best facilities for commerce. The lakes and rivers Timpanogos, Salado, and Buenaventura, by their position, not to say existence, show the hopeless confusion of the author’s mind.

A brief glance at the later visits of white men to Utah is all that is necessary in this place. The early emigrants to Oregon did not touch this territory, and those to California via Fort Bridger for the most part merely passed through leaving no mark. The emigrants to Oregon and California in 1841 came together by the usual route up the Platte, along the Sweet­water, and through the South Pass to Bear River Valley. When near Soda Springs those for Oregon went north to Fort Hall, while those for California followed Bear River southward until within ten miles of Great Salt Lake, when they turned westward to find Ogden River. Of the latter party were J. Bartleson, C. M. Weber, Talbot H. Green, John Bid­well, Josiah Belden, and twenty-seven others. Their adventures while in Utah were not startling. Little was known of the Salt Lake region, particularly of the country to the west of it.

Mr Belden in his Historical Statement, which I number among my most valuable manuscripts, says: “We struck Bear River some distance below where the town of Evanston now is, where the coal mines are, and the railroad passes, and followed the river down. It makes a long bend to the north there, and comes down to Salt Lake. We arrived at Soda Springs, on Bear River, and there we separated from the company of missionaries, who were going off towards Snake River or Columbia. There we lost the services of the guide Fitzpatrick. Several of our party who had started to go with us to California also left us there, having decided to go with the missionaries. Fitzpatrick advised us to give up our expedition and go with them to Fort Hall, one of the Hudson’s Bay stations, as there was no road for us to follow, nothing was known of the country, and we had nothing to guide us, and so he advised us to give up the California project. He thought it was doubtful if we ever got there, we might get caught in the snow of the mountains and perish there, and he considered it very hazardous to attempt it. Some four or five of our party withdrew and went with the missionaries. About thirty-one of us adhered to our original intention and declined to give up our expedition.”

While the party were slowly descending Bear River four of them rode over to Fort Hall to obtain if possible a “pilot to conduct us to the gap in the California Mountains, or at least to the head of Mary’s River,” and to make inquiries of Mr Grant, then in charge. No guide could be found, and Grant was not able greatly to enlighten them. The fur-trader could have told them much concerning the route to Oregon, but this way to California as an emigrant road had hardly yet been thought of.

“As we approached Salt Lake,” writes Bidwell, “we were misled quite often by the mirage. The country too was obscured by smoke. The water in Bear River became too salt for use. The sage brush on the small hillocks of the almost level plain became so magnified as to look like trees. Hoping to find water, and supposing these imaginary trees to be growing on some stream, and knowing nothing about the distance to Salt Lake, we kept pushing ahead mile after mile. Our animals almost perished for want of water while we were travelling over this salt plain, which grew softer and softer till our wagons cut into the ground five or six inches, and it became impossible to haul them. We still thought we saw timber but a short distance ahead, when the fact really was there was no timber, and we were driving straight for the Great Salt Lake.”

The truth is they had wandered from their course; they had passed Cache Valley where they intended to rest and hunt; they were frequently obliged to leave the river, turned aside by the hills. It was past mid-summer, and the sun’s rays beat heavily on the white salted plain. The signal fires of the Sho­shones illuminated the hills at night. “ In our desperation we turned north of east a little and struck Bear River again a few miles from its mouth. The water here was too salt to quench thirst; our animals would scarcely taste it, yet we had no other.” The green fresh-looking grass was stiffened with salt. Mr Belden says: “After separating from the missionaries we followed Bear River down nearly to where it enters Salt Lake, about where Corinne is now. We had some knowledge of the lake from some of the trappers who had been there. We turned off more to the west and went round the northerly end of Salt Lake. There we found a great difficulty in getting water for several days, all the water near the lake being very brackish. We had to make it into strong coffee to drink it.”

On the 20th of August the company rested while two of their number went out to explore. They found themselves encamped ten miles from the mouth of the river. Thence next day, Sunday, they took a north-west course, crossing their track of the Thursday previous; on the 23d they were in full view of Salt Lake. Men and animals were almost dying of thirst, and “ in our trouble,” says Bidwell, “we turned directly north toward some high mountains, and in the afternoon of the next day found springs of good water and plenty of grass.” This was the 27th, and here the company remained while two of their number again advanced and discovered a route to Ogden River. What befell them further on their way across to the mountains the reader will find in my History of Nevada.

In 1842 Marcus Whitman and A. L. Lovejoy, on their way from Oregon to the United States, passed through Utah from Fort Hall, by way of Uintah, Taos, and Santa Fé. For further information concerning them, and the object of their journey, I would refer the reader to my History of Oregon.

In 1843 John C. Fremont followed the emigrant trail through the south pass, and on the 6th of September stood upon an elevated peninsula on the east side of Great Salt Lake, a little north of Weber River, beside which stream his party had encamped the previous night. Fremont likens himself to Balboa discovering the Pacific; but no one else would think of doing so. He was in no sense a discoverer; and though he says he was the first to embark on that inland sea, he is again in error, trappers in skin boats having performed that feat while the pathfinder was still studying his arithmetic, as I have before mentioned. It is certainly a pleasing sight to any one, coming upon it from either side, from the cover of rolling mountains or the sands of desert plains, and under almost any circumstance the heart of the beholder is stirred within him. A number of large islands raised their rocky front out of dense sullen waters whose limit the eye could not reach, while myriads of wild fowl beat the air, making a noise “ like distant thunder.”

Black clouds gathered in the west, and soon were pouring their floods upon the explorers. Camping some distance above the mouth on Weber River, they made a corral for the animals, and threw up a small fort for their own protection. Provisions being scarce, seven of the party under François Lajeunesse were sent to Fort Hall, which place they reached with difficulty, after separation from each other and several days’ wanderings.

Leaving three men in camp, with four others, including Kit Carson who was present, Fremont on the 8th embarked in a rubber boat and dropped down to the mouth of the stream, which the party found shallow and unnavigable. Next morning they were out on the lake, fearful every moment lest their air-blown boat should collapse and let them into the saline but beautiful transparent liquid. At noon they reached one of the low near islands and landed. They found there, washed up by the waves, a dark brown bank, ten or twenty feet in breadth, composed of the skins of worms, about the size of oats, while the rocky cliffs were whitened by incrustations of salt. Ascending to the highest point attainable they took a surrounding view, and called the place Disappointment Island, because they had failed to find the fertile lands and game hoped for. Then they descended to the edge of the water, constructed lodges of drift-wood, built fires, and spent the night there, returning next day in a rough sea to their mainland camp. Thence they proceeded north to Bear River, and Fort Hall, and on to Oregon. On his return by way of Klamath and Pyramid lakes, Frémont crossed the Sierra to Sutter Fort, proceeded up the San Joaquin into Southern California, and taking the old Spanish trail to the Rio Virgen followed the Wahsatch Mountains to Utah Lake.

There was a party under Frémont in Utah also in 1845. Leaving Bent Fort in August they ascended the Arkansas, passed on to Green River, followed its left bank to the Duchesne branch, and thence crossed to the head-waters of the Timpanogos, down which stream they went to Utah Lake. Thence they passed on to Great Salt Lake, made camp near where Great Salt Lake City is situated, crossed to Antelope Island, and examined the southern portion of the lake. After this they passed by way of Pilot Peak into Nevada.

Of the six companies comprising the California immigration of 1845, numbering in all about one hundred and fifty, five touched either Utah or Nevada, the other being from Oregon. But even these it is not necessary to follow in this connection, Utah along the emigrant road being by this time well known to travellers and others. With some it was a question while on the way whether they should go to Oregon or California. Tustin, who came from Illinois in 1845, with his wife and child and an ox team, says in his manuscript Recollections: “ My intention all the way across the plains was to go on to Oregon; but when I reached the summit of the Rocky Mountains where the trail divides, I threw my lash across the near ox and struck off on the road to California.

For the Oregon and California emigrations of 1846, except when they exercised some influence on Utah, or Utah affairs, I would refer the reader to the volumes of this series treating on those states. An account of the exploration for a route from southern Oregon, over the Cascade Mountains, and by way of Klamath and Goose lakes to the Humboldt River, and thence on to the region of the Great Salt Lake by Scott and the Applegates in 1846, is given in both the History of Oregon, and the History of Nevada, to which volumes of this series the reader is referred.

 

CHAPTER III

THE STORY OF MORMONISM.

1820-1830.

 

 

A Glance Eastward—The Middle States Sixty Years Ago—Birth and Parentage of Joseph Smith—Spiritual Manifestations—Joseph Tells his Vision—And is Reviled—Moroni Appears—Persecutions —Copying the Plates—Martin Harris—Oliver Cowdery—Translation—The Book of Mormon—Aaronic Priesthood Conferred—Conversions— The Whitmer Family — The Witnesses — Spaulding Theory—Printing of the Book—Melchisedec Priesthood Conferred—Duties of Elders and Others—Church of Latter-day Saints Organized—First Miracle—First Conference—Oliver Cow­dery Ordered to the West.

 

Let us turn now to the east, where have been evolving these several years a new phase of society and a new religion, destined presently to enter in and take possession of this far-away primeval wilderness. For it is not alone by the power of things material that the land of the Yutas is to be subdued; that mysterious agency, working under pressure of high enthusiasm in the souls of men, defying exposure, cold, and hunger, defying ignominy, death, and the destruction of all corporeal things in the hope of heaven’s favors and a happy immortality, a puissance whose very breath of life is persecution, and whose highest glory is martyrdom—it is through this subtile and incomprehensible spiritual instrumentality, rather than from a desire for riches or any tangible advantage that the new Israel is to arise, the new exodus to be conducted, the new Canaan to be attained.

Sixty years ago western New York was essentially a new country, Ohio and Illinois were for the most part a wilderness, and Missouri was the United States limit, the lands beyond being held by the aborigines. There were some settlements between Lake Erie and the Mississippi River, but they were recent and rude, and the region was less civilized than savage. The people, though practically shrewd and of bright intellect, were ignorant; though having within them the elements of wealth, they were poor. There was among them much true religion, whatever that may be, yet they were all superstitious—baptists, methodists, and presbyterians; there was little to choose between them. Each sect was an abomination to the others; the others were of the devil, doomed to eternal torments, and deservedly so. The bible was accepted literally by all, every word of it, prophecies, miracles, and revelations; the same God and the same Christ satisfied all; an infidel was a thing woful and unclean. All the people reasoned. How they racked their brains in secret, and poured forth loud logic in public, not over problems involving intellectual liberty, human rights and reason, and other like insignificant matters appertaining to this world, but concerning the world to come, and more particularly such momentous questions as election, justification, baptism, and infant damnation. Then of signs and seasons, God’s ways and Satan’s ways; likewise concerning promises and prayer, and all the rest, there was a credulity most refreshing. In the old time there were prophets and apostles, there were visions and miracles; why should it not be so during these latter days? It was time for Christ to come again, time for the millennial season, and should the power of the almighty be limited? There was the arch-fanatic Miller, and his followers, predicting the end and planning accordingly. “The idea that revelation from God was unattainable in this age, or that the ancient gifts of the gospel had ceased forever, never entered my head,” writes a young quaker; and a methodist of that epoch says: “We believed in the gathering of Israel, and in the restoration of the ten tribes; we believed that Jesus would come to reign personally on the earth; we believed that there ought to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, as in former days, and that the gifts of healing and the power of God ought to be associated with the church.” These ideas, of course, were not held by all; in many respects the strictly orthodox evangelical churches taught the contrary; but there was enough of this, literal interpretation and license of thought among the people to enable them to accept in all honesty and sincerity any doctrine in harmony with these views.

Such were the people and the place, such the atmosphere and conditions under which was to spring up the germ of a new theocracy, destined in its development to accomplish the first settlement of Utah—a people and an atmosphere already sufficiently charged, one would think, with doctrines and dogmas, with vulgar folly and stupid fanaticism, with unchristian hate and disputation over the commands of God and the charity of Christ. All this must be taken into account in estimating character, and in passing judgment on credulity; men of one time and place cannot with justice be measured by the standard of other times and places.

Before entering upon the history of Mormonism, I would here remark, as I have before said in the preface to this volume, that it is my purpose to treat the subject historically, not as a social, political, or religious partisan, but historically to deal with the sect organized under the name of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as I would deal with any other body of people, thus carrying over Utah the same quality of work which I have applied to my entire field, whether in Alaska, California, or Central America. Whatever they may be, howsoever righteous or wicked, they are entitled at the hand of those desirous of knowing the truth to a dispassionate and respectful hearing, which they have never had. As a matter of course, where there is such warmth of feeling, such bitterness and animosity as is here displayed on both sides, we must expect to encounter in our evidence much exaggeration, and many untruthful statements. Most that has been written on either side is partisan—bitterly so; many of the books that have been published are full of vile and licentious abuse—disgustingly so. Some of the more palpable lies, some of the grosser scurrility and more blasphemous vulgarity, I shall omit altogether.

Again, the history of the Mormons, which is the early history of Utah, is entitled in its treatment to this consideration, as differing from that of other sections of my work, and to this only—that whereas in speaking of other and older sects, as of the catholics in Mexico and California, and of the methodists and presbyterians in Oregon, whose tenets having long been established, are well known, and have no immediate bearing aside from the general influence of religion upon the subjugation of the country, any analysis of doctrines would be out of place, such analysis in the present instance is of primary importance. Ordinarily, I say, as I have said before, that with the religious beliefs of the settlers on new lands, or of the builders of empire in any of its several phases, social and political, the historian has nothing to do, except in so far as belief influences actions and events. As to attempting to determine the truth or falsity of any creed, it is wholly outside of his province.

Since the settlement of Utah grew immediately out of the persecution of the Mormons, and since their persecutions grew out of the doctrines which they promulgated, it seems to me essential that the origin and nature of their religion should be given. And as they are supposed to know better than others what they believe and how they came so to believe, I shall let them tell their own story of the rise and progress of their religion, carrying along with it the commentaries of their opponents; that is, giving in the text the narrative proper, and in the notes further informa­tion, elucidation, and counter-statements, according to my custom. All this by no means implies, here or elsewhere in my work, that when a Mormon elder, a catholic priest, or a baptist preacher says he had a vision, felt within him some supernatural influence, or said a prayer which produced a certain result, it is proper or relevant for me to stop and dispute with him whether he really did see, feel, or experience as alleged.

As to the material facts connected with the story of Mormonism, there is but little difference between the Mormons and their opposers; but in the reception and interpretation of acts and incidents, particularly in the acceptation of miraculous assertions and spiritual manifestations, they are as widely apart as the two poles, as my text and notes clearly demonstrate. And finally, I would have it clearly understood that it is my purpose, here as elsewhere in all my historical efforts, to impart information rather than attempt to solve problems.

In Sharon, Windsor county, Vermont, on the 23d of December, 1805, was born Joseph Smith junior, presently to be called translator, revelator, seer, prophet, and founder of a latter-day dispensation. When the boy was ten years old, his father, who was a farmer, moved with his family to Palmyra, Wayne county, New York, and four years afterward took up his abode some six miles south, at Manchester, Ontario county. Six sons and three daughters comprised the family of Joseph and Lucy Smith, namely, Alvin, Hyrum, Joseph junior, Samuel Harrison, William, Don Carlos, Sophronia, Catharine, and Lucy. There was much excitement over the subject of religion in this section at the time, with no small discussion of doctrines, methodist, baptist, and the rest; and about a year later, the mother and four of the children joined the presbyterians.

But young Joseph was not satisfied with any of the current theologies, and he was greatly troubled what to do. Reading his bible one day, he came upon the passage, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” He retired to the woods and threw himself upon his knees. It was his first attempt at prayer.

While thus engaged a vision fell upon him. Suddenly he was seized by some supernatural power of evil import, which bound him body and soul. He could not think; he could not speak; thick darkness gathered round. Presently there appeared above his head a pillar of light, which slowly descended and enveloped him. Immediately he was delivered from the enemy; and in the sky he saw two bright personages, one of whom said, pointing to the other, “ This is my beloved son; hear him.” Then he asked what he should do; to which sect he should unite himself. And he was told to join none of them, that all were corrupt, all were abomination in the eyes of the Lord. When he came to himself he was still gazing earnestly up into heaven. This was in the spring of 1820, and Joseph was yet scarcely fifteen.

When the young prophet began to proclaim his vision, the wise men and preachers of the several sects laughed at him; called him a silly boy, and told him that if his mind had really been disturbed, it was the devil’s doing. “Signs and revelations,” said they, “are of by-gone times; it ill befits one so young to lie before God and in the presence of his people.” “Nevertheless,” replied Joseph, “I have had a vision.” Then they reviled him, and the boy became disheartened and was entangled again in the vanities of the world, under the heavy hand of their oppression.

But the spirit of the Lord could not thus be quenched. The young man repented, and sought and found forgiveness. Retiring to his bed, midst prayer and supplication, on the night of September 21, 1823, presently the room grew light, and a figure robed in exceeding whiteness stood by the bedside, the feet not touching the floor. And a voice was heard, saying, “I am Moroni, and am come to you, Joseph, as a messenger from God.” Then the angel told the youth that the Lord had for him a great work to do, that his name should be known to all people, and of him should be spoken both good and evil. He told him of a book written on plates of gold, and containing an account of the early inhabitants of this continent, and the gospel as delivered to them by Christ. He said that deposited with those plates were two stones in silver bows, which, fastened to a breastplate, constituted the Urim and Thummim; and that now as in ancient times the possession and use of the stones constituted a seer, and that through them the book might be translated. After offering many scriptural quotations from both the old and the new testament, and charging the young man that when the book and the breastplate were delivered to him he should show them to no one, under pain of death and destruction—the place where the plates were deposited meanwhile being clearly revealed to his mental vision—the light in the room grew dim, as Moroni ascended along a pathway of glory into heaven, and finally darkness was there as before. The visit was made three times, the last ending with the dawn, when Joseph arose greatly exhausted and went into the field to work.

His father, observing his condition, sent him home; but on the way Joseph fell in a state of unconsciousness to the ground. Soon, however, the voice of Moroni was heard, commanding him to return to his father, and tell him all that he had seen and heard. The young man obeyed. The father answered that it was of God; the son should do as the messenger had said. Then Joseph, knowing from the vision where the plates were hidden, went to the west side of a hill, called the hill Cumorah, near the town of Manchester, and beneath a large stone, part of whose top appeared above the ground, in a stone box, he found the plates, the urim and thummim, and the breastplate. But when he was about to take them out Moroni stood beside him and said, “Not yet; meet me here at this time each year for four years, and I will tell you what to do.” Joseph obeyed.

The elder Smith was poor, and the boys were sometimes obliged to hire themselves out as laborers. It was on the 22d of September, 1823, that the plates were found. The following year Alvin died, and in October 1825 Joseph went to work for Josiah Stoal, in Chenango county. This man had what he supposed to be a silver mine at Harmony, Pennsylvania, said to have been once worked by Spaniards. Thither Joseph went with the other men to dig for silver, boarding at the house of Isaac Hale. After a month’s fruitless effort Stoal was induced by Joseph to abandon the undertaking; but meanwhile the youth had fallen in love with Hale’s pretty daughter, Emma, and wished to marry her. Hale objected, owing to his continued assertions that he had seen visions, and the resulting persecutions; so Joseph took Emma to the house of Squire Tarbill, at South Bainbridge, where they were married the 18th of January, 1827, and thence returned to his father’s farm, where he worked during the following season.

Every year went Joseph to the hill Cumorah to hold communion with the heavenly messenger, and on the 22d of September, 1827, Moroni delivered to him the plates, and the urim and thummim with which to translate them, charging him on pain of dire disaster to guard them well until he should call for them. Persecutions increased when it was known that Joseph had in his possession the plates of gold, and every art that Satan could devise or put in force through the agency of wicked men was employed to wrest them from him. But almighty power and wisdom prevailed, and the sacred relics were safely kept till the day the messenger called for them, when they were delivered into his hands, Joseph meanwhile having accomplished by them all that was required of him.

And now so fierce becomes the fiery malevolence of the enemy that Joseph is obliged to fly.9 He is very poor, having absolutely nothing, until a farmer named Martin Harris has pity on him and gives him fifty dollars,10 with which he is enabled to go with his wife to her old home in Pennsylvania. Immediately after his arrival there in December, he begins copying the characters on the plates, Martin Harris coming to his assistance, and. by means of the urim and thummim manages to translate some of them, which work is continued till February 1828. Harris’ wife is exceedingly curious about the matter, and finally obtains possession through her husband of a portion of the manuscript. About this time Harris takes a copy of some of the characters to New York city, where he submits them to the examination of Professor Anthon and Dr Mitchell, who pronounce them to be Egyptian, Syriac, Chaldaic, and Arabic. Then Joseph buys of his wife’s father a small farm and goes to work on it. In February 1829 he receives a visit from his own father, at which time a revelation comes to Joseph Smith senior, through the son, calling him to faith and good works. The month following Martin Harris asks for and receives a revelation, by the mouth of the latter, regarding the plates, wherein the said Harris is told that Joseph has in his possession the plates which he claims to have, that they were delivered to him by the Lord God, who likewise gave him power to translate them, and that he, Harris, should bear witness of the same. Three months later, Harris having meanwhile acted as his scribe, Joseph is commanded to rest for a season in his work of translating until directed to take it up again.

The tenor of the book of Mormon is in this wise: Following the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel, the peoples of the earth were scattered abroad, one colony being led by the Lord across the ocean to America. Fifteen hundred years after, or six hundred years before Christ, they were destroyed for their wickedness. Of the original number was Jared, among whose descendants was the prophet Ether, who was their historian. Ether lived to witness the extinction of his nation, and under divine direction he deposited his history in a locality where it was found by a second colony, Israelites of the tribe of Joseph, who came from Jerusalem about the time of the destruction of the first colony, namely, six hundred years before Christ. Thus was America repeopled; the second colony occupied the site of the first, multiplied and became rich, and in time divided into two nations, the Nephites and the Lamanites, so called from their respective founders, Nephi and Laman. The former advanced in civilization, but the Lamanites lapsed into barbarism, and were the immediate progenitors of the American aboriginals.

The Nephites were the beloved of the Lord. To them were given visions and angels’ visits; to them the Christ appeared with gifts of gospel and prophecy. It was, indeed, the golden age of a favored people; but in a time of temptation, some three or four centuries after Christ, they fell, and were destroyed by the wicked Lamanites. The greatest prophet of the Nephites, in the period of their declension, was Mormon, their historian, who after having completed his abridgment of the records of his nation, committed it to his son Moroni, and he, that they might not fall into the hands of the Lamanites, deposited them in the hill of Cumorah, where they were found by Joseph Smith.

On the 5th of April, 1829, there comes to Joseph Smith a school-teacher, Oliver Cowdery by name, to whom the Lord had revealed himself at the house of the elder Smith, where the teacher had been boarding. Inquiring of the Lord, Joseph is told that to Oliver shall be given the same power to translate the book of Mormon, by which term the writing on the golden plates is hereafter known, and that he also shall bear witness to the truth.

Two days after the arrival of Oliver, Joseph and he begin the work systematically, the former translating while the latter writes ;17 for Oliver has a vision, meanwhile, telling him not to exercise his gift of translating at present, but simply to write at Joseph’s dictation. Continuing thus, on the 15th of May the two men go into the woods to ask God concerning baptism, found mentioned in the plates. Presently a messenger descends from heaven in a cloud of light. It is John the Baptist. And he ordains them, saying, “Upon you, my fellow-servants, in the name of messiah, I confer the priesthood of Aaron.” Baptism by immersion is directed; the power of laying-on of hands for the gift of the holy ghost is promised, but not now bestowed; then they are commanded to be baptized, each one baptizing the other, which is done, each in turn laying his hands upon the head of the other, and ordaining him to the Aaronic priesthood. As they come up out of the water the holy ghost falls upon them, and they prophesy.

Persecutions continue; brethren of Christ threaten to mob them, but Joseph’s wife’s father promises protection. Samuel Smith comes, and is converted, receiving baptism and obtaining revelations; and later Joseph’s father and mother, Martin Harris, and others. Food is several times charitably brought to the translators by Joseph Knight, senior, of Colesville, New York, concerning whom is given a revelation. In June comes David Whitmer with a request from, his father, Peter Whitmer, of Fayette, New York, that the translators should occupy his house thenceforth until the completion of their work, and brings with him a two-horse wagon to carry them and their effects. Not only is their board to be free, but one of the brothers Whitmer, of whom there are David, John, and Peter junior, will assist in the writing. Thither they go, and find all as promised; David and Peter Whitmer and Hyrum Smith are baptized, and receive revelations through Joseph, who inquires of the Lord for them by means of the urim and thummim. The people thereabout being friendly, meetings are held, and the new revelation taught, many believing, certain priests and others disputing. Three special witnesses are provided by Christ, namely, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris, to whom the plates are shown by an angel after much prayer and meditation in the woods. These are the three witnesses. And there are further eight wit­nesses, namely, Christian Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer, Peter Whitmer junior, John Whitmer, Hiram Page, Joseph Smith senior, Hyrum Smith, and Samuel H. Smith, who testify that the plates were shown to them by Joseph Smith junior, that they handled them with their hands, and saw the characters engraven thereon.

The translation of the book of Mormon being finished, Smith and Cowdery go to Palmyra, secure the copyright, and agree with Egbert B. Grandin to print five thousand copies for three thousand dollars. Meanwhile, a revelation comes to Martin Harris, at Manchester, in March, commanding him to pay for the printing of the book of Mormon, under penalty of destruction of himself and property. The title-page is not a modern production, but a literal translation from the last leaf of the plates, on the left-hand side, and running like all Hebrew writing.

And now in a chamber of Whitmer’s house Smith, Cowdery, and David Whitmer meet, and earnestly ask God to make good his promise, and confer on them the Melchisedec priesthood, which authorizes the laying-on of hands for the gift of the holy ghost. Their prayer is answered; for presently the word of the Lord comes to them, commanding that Joseph Smith should ordain Oliver Cowdery to be an elder in the church of Jesus Christ, and Oliver in like manner should so ordain Joseph, and the two should ordain others as from time to time the will of the Lord should be made known to them. But this ordination must not take place until the baptized brethren assemble and give to this act their sanction, and accept the ordained as spiritual teachers, and then only after the blessing and partaking of bread and wine. It is next revealed that twelve shall be called to be the disciples of Christ, the twelve apostles of these last days, who shall go into all the world preaching and baptizing. By the spirit of prophecy and revelation it is done. The rise of the church of Jesus Christ in these last days is on the 6th of April, 1830, at which date the church was organized under the provisions of the statutes of the state of New York by Joseph Smith junior, Hyrum Smith, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, Samuel H. Smith, and Peter Whitmer. Joseph Smith, ordained an apostle of Jesus Christ, is made by the commandment of God the first elder of this church, and Oliver Cowdery, likewise an apostle, is made the second elder. Again the first elder falls into worldly entanglements, but upon repentance and self-humbling he is delivered by an angel.

The duties of elders, priests, teachers, deacons, and members are as follow: All who desire it, with hon­esty and humility, may be baptized into the church; old covenants are at an end, all must be baptized anew. An apostle is an elder; he shall baptize, ordain other elders, priests, teachers, and deacons, administer bread and wine, emblems of the flesh and blood of Christ; he shall confirm, teach, expound, exhort, taking the lead at meetings, and conducting them as he is taught by the holy ghost. The priest’s duty is to preach, teach, expound, exhort, baptize, administer the sacrament, and visit and pray with members; he may also ordain other priests, teachers, and deacons, giving a certificate of ordination, and lead in meetings when no elder is present. The teacher’s duty is to watch over and strengthen the members, preventing evil speaking and all iniquity, to see that the meetings are regularly held, and to take the lead in them in the absence of elder or priest. The deacon’s duty is to assist the teacher; teacher and deacon may warn, expound, exhort, but neither of them shall baptize, administer the sacrament, or lay on hands. The elders are to meet in council for the transaction of church business every three months, or oftener should meetings be called. Subordinate officers will receive from the elders a license defining their authority; elders will receive their license from other elders by vote if church or conference. There shall be presidents, bishops, high counsellors, and high priests; the presiding elder shall be president of the high priesthood, and he, as well as bishops, high counsellors, and high priests, will be ordained by high council or general conference. The duty of members is to walk in holiness before the Lord according to the scriptures, to bring their children to the elders, who will lay their hands on them and bless them in the name of Jesus Christ. The bible, that is to say, the scriptures of the old and new testaments, is accepted wholly, save such corruptions as have crept in through the great and abominable church; the book of Mormon is a later revelation, supplementary thereto. Thus is organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in accordance with special revelations and commandments, and after the manner set forth in the new testament.

The first public discourse, following the meetings held in Whitmer’s house, was preached on Sunday, the 11th of April, 1830, by Oliver Cowdery, who the same day baptized in Seneca Lake several persons, among whom were Hyrum and Katherine Page, some of the Whitmers, and the Jolly family. The first miracle likewise occurred during the same month, Joseph Smith casting out a devil from Newel Knight, son of Joseph Knight, who with his family had been universalists. Newel had been a constant attendant at the meetings, and was much interested; but when he attempted to pray the devil prevented him, writhing his limbs into divers distortions, and hurling him about; the room. “I know that you can deliver me from this evil spirit,” cried Newel. Whereupon Joseph rebuked the devil in the name of Jesus Christ, and the evil spirit departed from the young man. Seeing this, others came forward and expressed their belief in the new faith, and a church was established at Colesville.

On the 1st of June the first conference as an organized church was held, there being thirty members. The meeting was opened by singing and prayer, after which they partook of the sacrament, which was followed by confirmations and further ordinations to the several offices of the priesthood. The exercises were attended by the outpouring of the holy ghost, and many prophesied, to the infinite joy and gratification of the elders. Some time after, on a Saturday previous to an appointed sabbath on which baptism was to be performed, the brethren constructed, across a stream of water, a dam, which was torn away by a mob during the night. The meeting was held, however, though amid the sneers and insults of the rabble, Oliver preaching. Present among others was Emily Coburn, Newel Knight’s wife’s sister, formerly a presbyterian. Her pastor, the Rev. Mr Shearer, arrived, and tried to persuade her to return to her father. Failing in this, he obtained from her father a power of attorney, and bore her off by force; but Emily returned. The dam was repaired, and baptism administered to some thirteen persons the following morning; whereupon fifty men surrounded Mr Knight’s house, threatening violence. The same night Joseph was arrested by a constable on a charge of disorderly conduct, and for preaching the book of Mormon. It was the purpose of the populace to capture Joseph from the constable and use him roughly, but by hard driving he escaped. At the trial which followed, an attempt was made to prove certain charges, namely, that he obtained a horse from Josiah Stoal, and a yoke of oxen from Jonathan Thompson, by saying that in a revelation he was told that he was to have them; also as touching his conduct toward two daughters of Mr Stoal; but all testified in his favor, and he was acquitted. As he was leaving the court-room, he was again arrested on a warrant from Broome county, and taken midst insults and buffetings to Colesville for trial. The old charges were renewed, and new ones preferred. Newel Knight was made to testify regarding the miracle wrought in his behalf, and a story that the prisoner had been a money digger was advanced by the prosecution. Again he was acquitted, and again escaped from the crowd outside the court-house, whose, purpose it was to tar and feather him, and ride him on a rail. These persecutions were instigated, it was said, chiefly by presbyterians.

While Joseph rested at his home at Harmony further stories were circulated, damaging to his character, this time by the methodists. One went to his father­in-law with falsehoods, and so turned him and his family against Joseph and his friends that he would no longer afford them protection or receive their doctrine. This was a heavy blow; but proceeding in August to Colesville, Joseph and Hyrum Smith and John and David Whitmer continued the work of prayer and confirmation. Fearing their old enemies, who lay in wait to attack them on their way back, they prayed that their eyes might be blinded; and so it came to pass. Then they held service and returned safely, although five dollars reward had been offered for notification of their arrival. Removing his family to Fayette, Joseph encountered further persecutions, to which was added a fresh grief. Hiram Page was going astray over a stone which he had found, and by means of which he had obtained revelations at variance with Joseph’s revelations and the rules of the new testament. It was thought best not to agitate the subject unnecessarily, before the meeting of the conference to be held on the 1st of September; but the Whitmer family and Oliver Cowdery seeming to be too greatly impressed over the things set forth by the rival stone, it was resolved to inquire of the Lord concerning the matter ; whereupon a revelation came to Oliver Cowdery, forbidding such practice; and he was to say privately to Hiram Page that Satan had deceived him, and that the things which he had written from the stone were not of God. Oliver was further commanded to go and preach the gospel to the Lamanites, the remnants of the house of Joseph living in the west, where he was to establish a church and build a city, at a point to be designated later.

“Behold, I say unto thee, Oliver, that it shall be given unto thee that thou shalt be ‘ heard by the church in all things whatsoever thou shalt teach them by the comforter concerning the revelations and com­mandments which I have given. But behold, verily, verily, I say unto thee, no one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church, excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jr, for he receiveth them even as Moses; and thou shalt be obedient unto the things which I shall give unto him, even as Aaron, to declare faithfully the commandments and the revelations with power and authority unto the church. And if thou art led at any time by the comforter to speak or teach, or at all times by the way of commandment unto the church, thou mayest do it. But thou shalt not write by way of commandment, but by wisdom; and thou shalt not command him who is at thy head and at the head of the church; for I have given him the keys of the mysteries and the revelations which are sealed, until I shall appoint unto them another in his stead.”

 

CHAPTER IV.

THE STORY OF MORMONISM.

1830-1835.

 

 

Parley Pratt’s Conversion—Mission to the Lamanites—The Mission­aries at Kirtland—Conversion of Sidney Rigdon—Mormon Suc­cess at Kirtland—The Missionaries in Missouri—Rigdon Visits Smith—Edward Partridge—The Melchisedec Priesthood Given­Smith and Rigdon Journey to Missouri — Bible Translation— Smith’s Second Visit to Missouri—Unexampled Prosperity—Causes of Persecutions—Mobocracy—The Saints are Driven from Jackson County—Treachery of Boggs—Military Organization at Kirtland —The Name Latter-day Saints—March to Missouri.

 

One evening as Hyrum Smith was driving cows along the road toward his father’s house, he was overtaken by a stranger, who inquired for Joseph Smith, translator of the book of Mormon. “He is now residing in Pennsylvania, a hundred miles away,” was the reply.

“And the father of Joseph?”

“He also is absent on a journey. That is his house yonder, and I am his son.”

The stranger then said that he was a preacher of the word; that he had just seen for the first time a copy of the wonderful book; that once it was in his hands he could not lay it down until he had devoured it, for the spirit of the Lord was upon him as he read, and he knew that it was true; the spirit of the Lord had directed him thither, and his heart was full of joy.

Hyrum gazed at him in amazement; for converts of this quality, and after this fashion, were not common in those days of poverty and sore trial. He was little more than a boy, being but twenty-three, and of that fresh, fair innocence which sits only on a youthful face beaming with high enthusiasm. But it was more than a boy’s soul that was seen through those eyes of deep and solemn earnestness; it was more than a boy’s strength of endurance that was in­dicated by the broad chest and comely, compact limbs; and more than a boy’s intelligence and powers of reasoning that the massive brow betokened.

Hyrum took the stranger to the house, and they passed the night in discourse, sleeping little. The convert’s name was Parley P. Pratt. He was a native of Burlington, New York, and born April 12, 1807. His father was a farmer of limited means and education, and though not a member of any religious society, had a respect for all. The boy had a passion for books; the bible especially he read over and over again with deep interest and enthusiasm. He early manifested strong religious feeling; mind and soul seemed all on fire as he read of the patriarchs and kings of the old testament, and of Christ and his apostles of the new. In winter at school, and in summer at work, his life passed until he was sixteen, when he went west with his father William, some two hundred miles on foot, to Oswego, two miles from which town they bargained for a thickly wooded tract of seventy acres, at four dollars an acre, paying some seventy dollars in cash. After a summer’s work for wages back near the old home, and a winter’s work clearing the forest farm, the place was lost through failure to meet the remaining payments. Another attempt to make a forest home, this time in Ohio, thirty miles west of Cleveland, was more successful; and after much toil and many hardships, he found himself, in 1827, comfortably established there, with Thankful Halsey as his wife.

Meanwhile religion ran riot through his brain. His mind, however, was of a reasoning, logical caste. “Why this difference,” he argued, “between the ancient and modern Christians, their doctrines and their practice? Had I lived and believed in the days of the apostles, and had so desired, they would have said, ‘Repent, be baptized, and receive the holy ghost.’ The scriptures are the same now as then; why should not results be the same?” In the absence of anything better, he joined the baptists, and was immersed; but he was not satisfied. In 1829 Sidney Rigdon, of whom more hereafter, preached in his neighborhood; he heard him and was refreshed. It was the ancient gospel revived—repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost. And yet there was something lacking—the authority to minister; the power which should accompany the form of apostleship. At length he and others, who had heard Rigdon, organized a society on the basis of his teachings, and Parley began to preach. The spirit working in him finally compelled him to abandon his farm and go forth to meet his destiny, he knew not whither. In this frame of mind he wandered eastward, and while his family were visiting friends, he came upon the book of Mormon and Hyrum Smith. Now did his soul find rest. Here was inspiration and revelation as of old; here was a new dispensation with attendant signs and miracles.

As he left Smith’s house the following morning, having an appointment to preach some thirty miles distant, Hyrum gave him a copy of the sacred book. Travelling on foot, and stopping-now and then to rest, he read at intervals, and found to his great joy that soon after his ascension Christ had appeared in his glorified body to the remnant of the tribe of Joseph in America, that he had administered in person to the ten lost tribes, that the gospel had been revealed and written among nations unknown to the apostles, and that thus preserved it had escaped the corruptions of the great and abominable church.

Returning to Smith’s house, Parley demanded of Hyrum baptism. They went to Whitmer’s, where they were warmly welcomed by a little branch of the church there assembled. The new convert was baptized by Cowdery, and was ordained an elder. He continued to preach in those parts with great power. Congregations were moved to tears, and many heads of families came forward and accepted the faith. Then he went to his old home. His father, mother, and some of the neighbors believed only in part; but his brother Orson, nineteen years of age, embraced with eagerness the new religion, and preached it from that time forth. Returning to Manchester, Parley for the first time met Joseph Smith, who received him warmly, and asked him to preach on Sunday, which he did, Joseph following with a discourse.

Revelations continued, now in the way of command, and now in the spirit of prophecy. In Harmony, to the first elder it was spoken: “Magnify thine office; and after thou hast sowed thy fields and secured them, go speedily unto the Churches which are in Colesville, Fayette, and Manchester, and they shall support thee; and I will bless them, both spiritually and temporally; but if they receive thee not, I will send on them a cursing instead of a blessing, and thou shalt shake the dust off thy feet against them as a testimony, and wipe thy feet by the wayside.” And to Cowdery, thus: “Oliver shall continue in bearing my name before the world, and also to the church; and he shall take neither purse nor scrip, neither staves nor even two coats.” To Emma, wife of Joseph: “Thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou art an elect lady, whom I have called; and thou shalt comfort thy husband, my servant Joseph, and shalt go with him, and be unto him as a scribe in the absence of my servant Oliver, and he shall support thee.” Emma was also further directed to make a selection of hymns to be used in church.

In the presence of six elders, at Fayette, in September 1830, came the voice of Jesus Christ, promising them every blessing, while the wicked should be destroyed. The millennium should come; but first dire destruction should fall upon the earth, and the great and abominable church should be cast down. Hiram Page renounced his stone. David Whitmer was ordered to his father’s house, there to await further instructions. Peter Whitmer junior, Parley P. Pratt, and Ziba Peterson were directed to go with Oliver and assist him in preaching the gospel to the Lamanites, that is to say, to the Indians in the west, the remnant of the tribe of Joseph. Thomas B. Marsh was promised that he should begin to preach. Miracles were limited to casting out devils and healing the sick. Wine for sacramental purposes must not be bought, but made at home.

Taking with them a copy of the revelation assign­ing to them this work, these first appointed missionaries set out, and continued their journey, preaching in the villages through which they passed, and stopping at Buffalo to instruct the Indians as to their ancestry, until they came to Kirtland, Ohio. There they remained some time, as many came forward and embraced their faith, among others Sidney Rigdon, a preaching elder in the reformed baptist church, who presided over a congregation there, a large portion of whom likewise became interested in the latter-day church.

Rigdon was a native of Pennsylvania, and was now thirty-seven years of age. He worked on his father’s farm until he was twenty-six, when he went to live with the Rev. Andrew Clark, and the same year, 1819, was licensed to preach. Thence he went to Warren, Ohio, and married; and after preaching for a time he was called to take charge of a church at Pittsburgh, where he met with success, and soon became very popular. But his mind was perplexed over the doctrines he was required to promulgate, and in 1824 he retired from his ministry. There were two friends who had likewise withdrawn from their respective churches, and with whom he conferred freely, Alexander Campbell, of his own congregation, and one Walter Scott, of the Scandinavian church of that city. Campbell had formerly lived at Bethany, Virginia, where was issued under his auspices a monthly journal called the Christian Baptist. Out of this friendship and association arose a new church, called the Campbellites, its doctrines having been published by Campbell in his paper. During the next two years Rigdon was obliged to work in a tannery to support his family; then he removed to Bainbridge, Ohio, where he again began to preach, confining himself to no creed, but leaning toward that of the Campbellites. Crowds flocked to hear him, and a church was established in a neighboring town through his instrumentality. After a year of this work he accepted a call to Mentor, thirty miles distant. Slanderous reports followed him, and a storm of persecution set in against him; but by his surpassing eloquence and deep reasoning it was not only soon allayed, but greater multitudes than ever waited on his ministrations.

Rigdon was a cogent speaker of imposing mien and impassioned address. As a man, however, his character seems to have had a tinge of insincerity. He was fickle, now and then petulant, irascible, and sometimes domineering. Later, Joseph Smith took occasion more than once to rebuke him sharply, fearing that he might assume the supremacy.

Upon hearing the arguments of Pratt and Cowdery, and investigating the book of Mormon, Rigdon was convinced that he had not been legally ordained, and that his present ministry was without the divine authority. In regard to the revival of the old dispensation, he argued thus: “If we have not familiarity enough with our creator to ask of him a sign, we are no Christians; if God will not give his creatures one, he is no better than Juggernaut.” The result was, that he and others accepted the book and its teachings, received baptism and the gift of the holy ghost, and were ordained to preach.

On one occasion Cowdery preached, followed by Rigdon. After service they went to the Chagrin River to baptize. Rigdon stood in the stream and poured forth his exhortations with eloquent fervor. One after another stepped forward until thirty had been baptized. Present upon the bank was a hard­headed lawyer, Varnem J. Card, who as he listened grew pale with emotion. Suddenly he seized the arm of a friend and whispered, “Quick, take me away, or in a moment more I shall be in that water!” One hundred and twenty-seven converts at once, the number afterward increasing to a thousand, were here gathered into the fold.

After adding to their number one Frederic Gr. Williams, the missionaries continued on their way, arriving first at Sandusky, where they gave instructions to the Indians in regard to their forefathers, as they had done at Buffalo, and thence proceeded to Cincinnati and St Louis. In passing by his old forest home, Pratt was arrested on some trivial charge, but made his escape. The winter was very severe, and it was some time before they could continue their journey. At length they set out again, wading in snow knee­deep, carrying their few effects on their backs, and having to eat corn bread and frozen raw pork; and after travelling in all fifteen hundred miles, most of the way on foot, preaching to tens of thousands by the way, and organizing hundreds into churches, they reached Independence, Missouri, in the early part of 1831. There Whitmer and Peterson went to work as tailors, while Pratt and Cowdery passed over the border, crossed the Kansas River, and began their work among the Lamanites, or Indians, thereabout.

The chief of the Delawares was sachem of ten tribes. He received the missionaries with courtesy, and set food before them. When they asked him to call a council before which they might expound their doctrines, he at first declined, then assented; whereupon Cowdery gave them an account of their ancestors, as contained in the wonderful book, a copy of which he left with the chief on taking his departure, which soon occurred; for when it was known upon the border settlements what the missionaries were doing, they were ordered out of the Indian country as disturbers of the peace. After preaching a short time in Missouri, the five brethren thought it best that one of their number should return east and report. The choice fell on Pratt. Starting out on foot, he reached St Louis, three hundred miles distant, in nine days. Thence he proceeded by steamer to Cincinnati, and from that point journeyed on foot to Strongville, forty miles from Kirtland. Overcome by fatigue and illness, he was forced to remain at this place some ten days, when he continued his journey on horseback. He was welcomed at Kirtland by hundreds of the saints, Joseph-Smith himself being present.

In December 1830 comes Sidney Rigdon to Joseph Smith at Manchester, and with him Edward Partridge, to inquire of the Lord; and they are told what they shall do; they shall preach thereabout, and also on the Ohio.

The year 1831 opens with flattering prospects. On the 2d of January a conference is held at Fayette, attended by revelations and prophecy. James Colville, a baptist minister, accepts the faith, but shortly recants, being tempted of Satan, and in fear of persecution. Smith and his wife go with Rigdon and Partridge to Kirtland, arriving there early in February, and taking up their residence with N. K. Whitney, who shows them great kindness. Among the hundred believers there at the time, certain false doctrines have crept in; these are quickly overcome, and a plan for community of goods which the family of saints had adopted is abolished. Commandment comes by revelation that a house shall be built for Joseph; that Sidney shall live as seems to him good, for his heart is pure; that Edward Partridge shall be ordained a bishop; that all but Joseph and Sidney shall go forth, two by two, into the regions westward and preach the gospel.

“And now, behold, I speak unto the church: thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not lie; thou shalt love thy wife, cleaving unto her and to none else; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor, nor do him any harm. Thou knowest my laws, given in my scriptures; he that sinneth and repenteth not shall be east out. And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support, laying the same before the bishop of my church, the residue not to be taken back, but to be used by the church in buying lands and building houses of worship, for I will consecrate of the riches of those who embrace my gospel among the gentiles unto the poor of my people who are of the house of Israel. Let him that goeth to the east tell them that shall be converted to flee to the west. And again, thou shalt not be proud; let thy garments be plain, the work of thine own hand, and cleanly. Thou shalt not be idle. And whosoever among you is sick, and has faith, shall be healed; and if he has not faith to be healed, but believe, he shall be nourished with all tenderness. If thou wilt ask, thou shalt receive revelation and knowledge. Whosoever hath faith sufficient shall never taste death. Ye shall live together in love; that whether ye live ye may live in me, or if ye die ye may die in me. So saith the Lord.”

Edward Partridge was born at Pittsfield, Massachu­setts, August 27, 1793. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to a hatter. His was an earnest, thoughtful nature, and his mind much troubled about religion. In 1828 he entered Sidney Rigdon’s Campbellite church, and in that faith remained until met by the missionaries Pratt, Cowdery, and the others, when he accepted the new revelation, and was subsequently baptized by Joseph in the Seneca River. He had a profitable business at the time; but when it was revealed that he should leave his merchandise and devote his whole time to the church, he obeyed without a murmur.

Joseph and Sidney were much together now in their revelations and rulings. A woman attempted prophesying and was rebuked. Sarcasm was employed, and scurrilous stories were printed in the newspapers; an account of a great Asiatic earthquake was headed “Mormonism in China.” Revelations during March were frequent. In one of them John Whitmer was appointed church historian; and it was revealed that he should keep the church records, write and keep a regular history, and act as secretary to Joseph, as had Oliver Cowdery formerly. Lands might be bought for immediate necessity; but remember the city to be presently built, and be prudent. And now from the shaking quakers came one Lemon Copley and accepted the gospel, though not in its fullness, as he retained somewhat of his former faith; whereupon a revelation ordered him to go with Parley P. Pratt and preach to the shakers, not according to his old ideas, but as Parley should direct.

“And again, I say unto you that whoso forbiddeth to marry is not ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man; wherefore it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. Beware of false spirits. Given May 1831.”

The saints from New York began to come in num­bers, and Bishop Partridge was ordered to look after them and attend to their requirements. It was ordered that if any had more than they required, let them give to the church; if any had less, let the church relieve their necessities. The 6th of June a conference of elders was held at Kirtland, and several received the authority of the Melchisedec priesthood. The next conference should be held in Missouri, whither Joseph and Sidney should proceed at once, and there it would be told them what to do. And to the same place others should go, two by two, each couple taking different routes and preaching by the way. Among those who went forth were Lyman Wight and John Corrill, John Murdock and Hyrum Smith by the way of Detroit, Thomas B. Marsh and Selah J. Griffin, Isaac Morley and Ezra Booth, David Whitmer and Harvey Whitlock, Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt, Solomon Hancock and Simeon Carter, Edson Fuller and Jacob Scott, Levi Hancock and Zebedee Coltrin, Reynolds Cahoon and Samuel H. Smith, Wheeler Baldwin and William Carter, Joseph Wakefield and Solomon Humphrey. With Joseph and Sidney were to go Martin Harris and Edward Partridge, taking with them a letter of recommendation from the church. “And thus, even as I have said, if ye are faithful, ye shall assemble yourselves together to rejoice upon the land of Missouri, which is the land of your inheritance, which is now the land of your enemies. Behold, I the Lord will hasten the city in its time, and will crown the faithful with joy and with rejoicing. Behold I am Jesus Christ the son of God, and I will lift them up at the last day. Amen.”

While preparing for the journey to Missouri, a letter was received from Oliver Cowdery, reporting on his missionary work, and speaking of another tribe of Lamanites, living three hundred miles west of Santa Fé, called the Navarhoes (Navajoes), who had large flocks of sheep and cattle, and who made blankets. W. W. Phelps, with his family joining the society, was commissioned to assist Oliver Cowdery in selecting, writing, and printing books for schools. Thus the move from Ohio to Missouri was begun, Joseph and his party starting from Kirtland the 19th of June, going by wagon, canal-boat, and stage to Cincinnati, by steamer to St Louis, and thence on foot to Independence, arriving about the middle of July.

“Harken, O ye elders of my church, saith the Lord your God, who have assembled yourselves together, according to my commandments, in this land, which is the land of Missouri, which is the land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the saints; wherefore this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion. And thus saith the Lord your God, if you will receive wisdom here is wisdom. Behold the place which is now called Independence is the centre place, and the spot for the temple is lying westward upon a lot which is not far from the court-house: wherefore it is wisdom that the land should be purchased by the saints; and also every tract lying westward, even unto the line running directly between jew and gentile; and also every tract bordering by the prairies, inasmuch as my disciples are enabled to buy lands.”

Further, Sidney Gilbert was made church agent, to receive money and buy lands; he was also directed to establish a store. Partridge was to partition the lands purchased among the people; Phelps was made church printer. But the last two becoming a little headstrong on entering upon their new duties, Joseph found it necessary to reprimand and warn them. Harris was held up as an example to emulate, for he had given much to the church. It was ordered that an agent be appointed to raise money in Ohio to buy lands in Missouri, and Rigdon Was commissioned to write a description of the new land of Zion for the same purpose. Ziba Peterson was dispossessed of his lands, and made to work for others, in punishment for his misdemeanors.

Thus the latter-day saints had come to the border line of civilization, and looking over it into. the west they thought here to establish themselves forever. Here was to be the temple of God; here the city of refuge; here the second advent of the savior. Meanwhile their headquarters were to be at the town of Independence.

In Kaw township, twelve miles west of Independence, the Colesville branch of the church built a log house; the visible head of the church, on the 2d of August, laying the first log, brought thither by twelve men, in honor of the twelve tribes of Israel. Next day the ground for the temple, situated a little west of Independence, was dedicated, and the day following was held the first conference in the land of Zion.

It was now commanded that Smith, Rigdon, Cowdery, and others should return east, and make more proselytes, money for the purpose to be furnished them out of the general fund. Accordingly on the 9th Joseph and ten elders started down the river in sixteen canoes, the leaders arriving at Kirtland the 27th, after having suffered hardship and mortification through disaffection among the elders. Titus Billings, who had charge of the church property there, was ordered to dispose of the lands, and prepare to remove to Missouri in the following spring, together with part of the people, and such money as could be raised. It was provided that those wishing to buy land in Zion could do so by forwarding the purchase­money. The account of the new country written by Sidney Rigdon did not please Joseph, and he was ordered to write another; if that should not prove satisfactory, he was to be deprived of office.

On the 12th of September Joseph removed to the town of Hiram, thirty miles away, and prepared to begin again the translation of the bible, with Rigdon as scribe. The farm of Isaac Morley was ordered sold, while Frederic G. Williams should retain his, for it was desirable to keep a footing at Kirtland yet for five years. The store kept by Newel K. Whitney and Sidney Gilbert should likewise be continued. A system of tithes should be established. Ezra Booth apostatized, and wrote letters against the church. Orson Hyde, clerk in Gilbert and Whitney’s store, was baptized, and later make an elder. Phelps was told to buy at Cincinnati a printing-press and type, and start a monthly paper at Independence, to be called the Evening and Morning Star, which was done. Oliver Cowdery was instructed in November to return to Missouri, and with him John Whitmer, the latter to visit the several stations, and gather further materials for church history. Newel K. Whitney was appointed bishop, to receive and account for church funds collected by the various elders. Many of the elders who went to Missouri were by this time at work in different parts of the east and the west.

On the 16th of February, 1832, while Smith and Rigdon were translating the gospel of St John, they were favored by a glorious vision from the Lord, which gave them great comfort and encouragement. The revelations about this time were frequent and lengthy, their purport being in great part to direct the movements of missionaries. Simonds Rider and Eli, Edward, and John Johnson now apostatized.

On the night of the 25th of March, Smith and Rigdon were seized by a mob, composed partly of the Campbellites, methodists, and baptists of Hiram, twelve or fifteen being apostate Mormons. The captives were roughly treated, and expected to be killed; but after they had been stripped, beaten, and well covered with tar and feathers, they were released. Smith preached and baptized as usual the next day, Sunday, but Rigdon was delirious for some time afterward. This broke up for the present the translation of the bible; Rigdon went to Kirtland, and on the 2d of April, in obedience to a revelation, Smith started for Missouri, having for his companions Whitney, Peter Whitmer, and Gause. The spirit of mobocracy was aroused throughout the entire country. Joseph even feared to go to Kirtland, and escaped by way of Warren, where he was joined by Rigdon, whence the two proceeded to Cincinnati and St Louis by way of Wheeling, Virginia, a mob following them a good part of the way. The brethren at Independence and vicinity welcomed their leaders warmly, but the unbelievers there as elsewhere hourly threatened violence. In May the first edition of the Boole of Commandments was ordered printed; the following month, published in connection with the Upper Missouri Advertiser, appeared the first number of the Evening and Morning Star, under the auspices of W. W. Phelps, whose printing-press was the only one within a hundred and twenty miles of Independence. On the 6th of May Smith, Rigdon, and Whitney again set out on their return to Kirtland. On the way Whitney broke his leg. Smith was poisoned, and that so badly that he dislocated his jaw in vomiting, and the hair upon his head became loosened; Whitney, however, laid his hands on him, and administered in the name of the Lord, and he was healed in an instant.

Some three or four hundred saints being now gathered in Missouri, most of them settled on their own inheritances in this land of Zion, besides many others scattered abroad throughout the land, who were yet to come hither, it was deemed best to give the matter of schools some attention. Parley P. Pratt was laboring in Illinois. Newel K. Whitney was directed in September to leave his business in other hands, visit the churches, collect money, and administer to the wants of the poor. The new translation of the bible . was again taken up and continued through the winter, the new testament being completed and sealed up, not to be opened till it reached Zion.

On January 23, 1833, the ceremony of washing feet is instituted after John’s gospel. Each elder washes his own feet first, after which Joseph girds himself with a towel and washes the feet of them all. “Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, in consequence of evils and designs, which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarned you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation, that inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, nor meet in the sight of your father. And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and it is not good for man. And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly.”

The first presidency is organized on the 8th of March, Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams being Smith’s councillors. Money flows in, and a council of high priests, March 23d, orders the purchasing for $11,100 of three farms at Kirtland, upon which the saints may build a stake, or support, in Zion, and the foundations of the temple are laid, for here they will remain for five years and make money until the western Zion shall be made ready and a temple built there also. On the land is a valuable quarry of stone, and good clay for bricks; they also buy a tannery. In April the school of the prophets closes, to reopen in the autumn. Shederlaomach is made by revelation a member of the united firm. It is not the will of the Lord to print any of the new translation in the Star; but when it is published, it will all go to the world together, in a volume by itself, and the new testament and the book of Mormon will be printed together. Those preparing to go to Zion should organize.

Commandment comes to lay at Kirtland the foundation of the city of the stake in Zion, with a house of the Lord, a school-house for the instruction of elders, a house for the presidency, a house of worship and for the school of the prophets, an endowment house with a room for the school of apostles, and a house in which to print the translation of the scriptures. A church is established in Medina county, Ohio, by Sidney Rigdon, who sometimes proves himself unruly. Dr Hurlbut is tried before the bishop’s council of high priests on a charge of unchristian-like conduct with the female sex, and condemned, but on confession is pardoned.

Temples are ordered built in the city of Zion, in Missouri, as follow: a house of the Lord for the presidency of the high and most holy priesthood after the order of Melchisedec; the sacred apostolic repository, for the use of the bishop; the holy evangelical house, for the high priesthood of the holy order of God; house of the Lord for the elders of Zion; house of the Lord for the presidency of the high priesthood; house of the Lord for the high priesthood after the order of Aaron; house of the Lord for the teachers in Zion; house of the Lord for the deacons in Zion; and others. There are also to be farms, barns, and dwellings. The ground secured for the purpose is a mile square, and will accommodate fifteen or twenty thousand people.

Affairs in Missouri were very prosperous. “Immigration had poured into the county of Jackson in great numbers,” says Parley P. Pratt, “and the church in that county now numbered upward of one thousand souls. These had all purchased lands and paid for them, and most of them were improving in buildings and in cultivation. Peace and plenty had crowned their labors, and the wilderness became a fruitful field, and the solitary place began to bud and blossom as the rose. They lived in peace and 'quiet, no lawsuits with each other or with the world; few or no debts were contracted, few promises broken; there were no thieves, robbers, or murderers; few or no idlers; all seemed to worship God with a ready heart. On Sundays the people assembled to preach, pray, sing, and receive the ordinances of God. Other days all seemed busy in the various pursuits of industry. In short, there has seldom, if ever, been a happier people upon the earth than the church of the saints now were.” They were for the most part small farmers, tradesmen, and mechanics, and were not without shrewdness in the management of their secular affairs.

But all this must now be changed. The saints of God must be tried as by fire. Persecutions such as never before were witnessed in these latter days, and the coming of which were foretold by Joseph, are upon them; they shall be buffeted for five years, and the end is not yet. “Political demagogues were afraid we should rule the country,” says Parley, “and religious priests and bigots felt that we were powerful rivals.” Moreover, there is no doubt that they were indiscreet; they were blinded by their prosperity; already the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world had come unto them;' now let the gentiles tremble!

And the gentiles did tremble, as they saw so rapidly increasing their unwelcome neighbors, whose compact organization gave them a strength disproportionate to their numbers. Since there was no law to stop their coming, they determined to face the issue without law.

In April the people held consultations as to the best way of disposing of the Mormons; and again about the middle of July three hundred persons met at Independence to form a plan for driving them out. A declaration, in substance as follows, was drawn up and signed by nearly all present. The citizens of Jackson county fear the effect upon society of a pretended religious sect, fanatics or knaves, settling among them, and mean to get rid of them at any hazard, and for the following reasons: They blasphemously pretend to personal intercourse with the deity, to revelations, miracles, healing the sick, casting out devils, and other delusions; they are the dregs of society, held together by the acts of designing leaders, and are idle and vicious. They are poor. They tamper with the slaves and free negroes. They declare the Indian region to be theirs by heavenly inheritance.

In answer, Parley P. Pratt asks if their supernatural pretensions are more extravagant than those of the old and new testament; if it is anywhere written that there shall be no more spiritual manifestations as of old; does the word of God or the law of man make poverty a crime? and have they not paid for all the land they occupy? They are no more dregs than their neighbors, and the charge of fraternizing with the blacks is not true; neither is that of vice or crime, as the county records will show. In regard to the lands of the Indians, no violence or injustice is contemplated; and if it were, what record of robbery, murder, and treacherous betrayal could excel that already made by the people of Missouri and others in the United States for our example?

On the 20th the people again met according to appointment. The old charges were reiterated, and the old resolutions renewed, with some additions. To put them into action the men of Jackson county sallied forth for the office of the Star, and demanded that the publication be discontinued. Compliance being refused, Phelps’ house, containing the printing-office, was torn down, materials and paper destroyed, and Bishop Partridge and Elder Allen were tarred and feathered, Meanwhile, clergymen of other denominations, and officers of the state and county, looked on, saying, “Mormons are the common enemies of mankind, and ought to be destroyed,” and “You now know what our Jackson boys can do, arid you must leave the country.

Again the mob appeared on the morning of the 23d, bearing a red flag, and demanding the departure of the Mormons. Seeing no way of escape, the elders entered into treaty with the assailants, and promised to leave the county within a certain time. Cowdery was despatched to Kirtland to consult as to what was best to be done. Meanwhile, incendiary articles appeared in the Western Monitor, printed at Fayette, Missouri. “Two years ago,” said that journal, “some two or three of this people made their appearance on the upper Missouri, and they now number some twelve hundred souls in this county.” They look at the land as theirs to inherit, by either fair means or foul; and when the officers of law and government shall be Mormon, we must go. “One of the means resorted to by them, in order to drive us to emigrate, is an indirect invitation to the free brethren of color in Illinois to come up like the rest to the land of Zion.” True, they deny this, but that is only subterfuge. So it is resolved that no more Mormons shall be permitted to come; that those here must go within a reasonable time; and that the Star printing-office shall be declared confiscated.

An appeal was made to the governor, Daniel Dunklin, for redress, and while awaiting the answer matters were continued much in the usual way. The brethren were instructed by their elders not to retaliate, but to bear all with meekness and patience. At length a letter came from the governor, assuring them of his protection, and advising them to resort to the courts for damages. The church leaders ordered that none should leave Independence except those who had signed an agreement to that effect. Four lawyers were engaged for one thousand dollars to carry the matter into the courts. No sooner was this known than the whole country rose in arms and made war upon the Mormons. On the nights of October 30th, 31st, and November 1st, armed men attacked branches of the church west of Big Blue, and at the prairie unroofed the houses and beat the men. Almost simultaneously attacks were made at other points. Stones flew freely in Independence, and houses were destroyed and the inmates wounded. Gilbert’s store was broken open, and the goods scattered in the streets. On November 2d thirty saints retired with their families and effects to a point half a mile from town. Next day four of the brethren went to Lexington for a peace warrant, but the circuit judge refused to issue one through fear of the mob. “You had better fight it out and kill the outlaws if they come upon you,” said the judge. The saints then armed, and on the 4th there was a fight, in which two gentiles and one Mormon were killed, and several on both sides wounded. One of the store-breakers was brought before the court, and during the trial the populace became so furious that Gilbert, Morley, and Corrill were thrust into jail for protection. The morning of the 5th broke with signs of yet more bloody determination on both sides. The militia were called out to preserve the peace, but this only made matters worse. The lieutenant-governor, Boggs, pretending friendship, got possession of the Mormons’ arms, and seized a number to be tried for murder. Further and yet more violent attacks were made; hope was abandoned; the now defenceless saints were forced to fly in every direction, some out into the open prairie, some up and some down the river. “The struggle was over,” writes Pratt, “our liberties were gone!” On the 7th both banks were lined with men, women, and children, with wagons, provisions, and personal effects. Cold weather came on with wind and rain, to which most of the fugitives were exposed, few of them having tents. Some took refuge in Clay county, some in Lafayette county, and elsewhere.

Throughout all these trying scenes, Governor Dunklin endeavored to uphold the law, but Boggs, lieutenant-governor, was with the assailants. Wells, attorney-general, wrote to the council for the church, the 21st, saying that if they wished to replace their houses in Jackson county the governor would send them an adequate force, and if they would organize themselves into companies, he would supply them with arms. Application was made accordingly. “It is a disgrace to the state,” writes Judge Ryland, “for such acts to happen within its limits, and the disgrace will attach to our official characters if we neglect to take proper means to insure the punishment due such offenders.” In view of this advice from the state authorities, the saints resolved to return to their homes as soon as protection should be afforded them, and it was ordered by revelation that they should do so, but with circumspection and not in haste.

All this time President Joseph Smith was at Kirtland, harassed with anxiety over affairs in Missouri, still pursuing the usual tenor of his way, and not knowing what moment like evils might befall him and his fold there. It was resolved by the first presidency that the Star should be published at Kirtland until it could be reinstated in Missouri; another journal, the Latter-day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, was also established at Kirtland, and a mission organized for Canada.

The work of proselyting continued east and west without abatement through the year 1834. Two by two and singly the elders went forth: Lyman Johnson and Milton Holmes to Canada, also Zebedee Coltrin and Henry Harriman; John S. Cartel; and Jesse Smith should go eastward together, also James Durfee and Edward Marvin. Elders Oliver Granger, Martin Harris, and Brigham Young preferred to travel alone. To redeem the farm on which stood the house of the Lord, elders Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt were sent east to solicit funds. The movements of many others of the brethren are given. Parley Pratt and Lyman Wight were instructed not to return to Missouri until men were organized into companies of ten, twenty, fifty, or one hundred. Thereupon these and others went out in various directions to raise men and means for a religio-military expedition to Missouri. There were churches now in every direction, and the brethren were scattered over a broad area.

Several appeals for redress were made by the saints at Independence to the governor of Missouri, and to the president of the United States. The president said it was a matter for the governor to regulate, and the governor did not see what could be done except through the courts. A court of inquiry was instituted, which decided, but to little purpose, that there was no insurrection on the 5th of November, 1833, and therefore the arms taken by the militia from the Mormons on that occasion must be restored to them. “And now a commandment I give unto you concerning Zion, that you shall no longer be bound as an united order to your brethren of Zion, only in this wise; after you are organized you shall be called the united order of this stake of Zion, the city of Shinehah, and your brethren, after they are or­ganized, shall be called the united order of the city of Zion.”

On the 7th of May, 1834, a military company was organized at Kirtland under the name of Zion’s camp, consisting of one hundred and fifty brethren, mostly young men, elders, priests, teachers, and deacons, with F. G. Williams paymaster and Zerubbabel Snow commissary general. They had twenty wagons loaded with arms and effects, and next day set out for Missouri, President Smith joining them, leaving Rigdon and Cowdery to look after matters in Ohio. They passed through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, reaching Missouri in June, Pratt and others still continuing their efforts en route as recruiting officers. It was an army of the Lord; they would not be known as Mormons, which was a name they hated; moreover, they would be incognito; and .the better to accomplish all these purposes, three days before they started, Sidney Rigdon proposed in conference that the name by which hereafter they would call themselves should be The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which proposal was adopted. On the way the brethren learned of the outrages which had again occurred in Jackson county.

Just before his arrival in Clay county, Missouri, a committee of citizens waited on President Smith and proposed the purchase of the lands in Jackson county from which the Mormons had been driven. The offer was declined, the president and council making the following proposal in return: Let each side choose six men, and let the twelve determine the amount of damages due to the Mormons, and also the value of the possessions of all those who do not wish to live near them in peace, and the money shall be paid within a year. The offer was not accepted.

On the 3d of July a high council of twelve was organized by the head of the church, with David Whitmer as president and W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer as assistant presidents. The twelve were: Simeon Carter, Parley P. Pratt, Wm E. McLellan, Calvin Beebe, Levi Jackman, Solomon Hancock, Christian Whitmer, Newel Knight, Orson Pratt, Lyman Wight, Thomas B. Marsh, and John Murdock. Later Phelps became president of the church in Missouri. In company with his brother Hyrum, E. G. Williams, and W. E. McLellan, President Joseph returned to Kirtland, arriving about the 1st of August.

“Nowt, that the world may know that our faith in the work and word of the Lord is firm and unshaken, and to shew all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples that our object is good, for the good of all, we come before the great family of mankind for peace, and ask their hospitality and assurance for our comfort, and the preservation of our persons and property, and solicit their charity for the great cause of God. We are well aware that many slanderous reports and ridiculous stories are in circulation against our religion and society; but as wise men will hear both sides and then judge, we sincerely hope and trust that the still small voice of truth will be heard, and our great revelations read and candidly compared with the prophecies of the bible, that the great cause of our redeemer may be supported by a liberal share of public opinion, as well as the unseen power of God. The faith and religion of the latter-day saints are founded upon the old scriptures, the book of Mormon, and direct revelation from God.”

Thus far have I given the History of Joseph Smith, in substance as written by himself in his journal and printed in the Times and Seasons, which ends here. It is taken up in the Millennial Star, in diary form, beginning with volume xv. and continuing to the day of his death.

 

CHAPTER V.

THE STORY OF MORMONISM.

1835-1840.

 

President Smith at Kirtland—First Quorum or Twelve Apostles—The Kirtland Temple Completed—Kirtland Safety Society Bank—In Zion Again—The Saints in Missouri—Apostasy—Zeal and Indiscretion—Military Organization—The War Opens—Depredations on Both Sides—Movements of Atchison, Parks, and Doniphan— Attitude of Boggs—Wight and Gilliam—Death of Patten—Danite Organization—Order Lodge—Haun Mill Tragedy—Mobs and Militia—The Tables Turned—Boggs’ Exterminating Order—Lucas and Clark at Far West—Surrender of the Mormons—Prisoners— Petitions and Memorials—Expulsion—Gathering at Quincy— Opinions.

 

Meanwhile, although the frontier of Zion was receiving such large accessions, the main body of the church was still at Kirtland, where President Smith remained for some time.

On the 14th of February, 1835, twelve apostles were chosen at Kirtland, Brigham Young, Orson Hyde, and Heber C. Kimball being of the number; likewise a little later Parley P. Pratt. Thence, the following summer, they took their departure for the east, holding conferences and ordaining and instructing elders in the churches throughout New York and New England, and the organization of the first quorum of seventies was begun. Classes for instruction, and a school of prophets were commenced, and Sidney Rigdon delivered six lectures on faith, of which Joseph Smith was author. Preaching on the steps of a Campbellite church at Mentor, Parley P. Pratt was mobbed midst music and rotten eggs.

The temple at Kirtland being finished, was dedicated on the 27th of March, 1836, and on the 3d of April Joseph and Oliver had interviews with the messiah, Moses, Elias, and Elijah, and received from them the several keys of priesthood, which insured to their possessors power unlimited in things temporal and spiritual for the accomplishment of the labors assigned by them for him to perform. The building of this structure by a few hundred persons, who, during the period between 1832 and 1836, contributed voluntarily of their money, material, or labor, the women knitting and spinning and making garments for the men who worked on the temple, was regarded with wonder throughout all northern Ohio. It was 60 by 80 feet, occupied a commanding position, and cost $40,000.

During its erection the saints incurred heavy debts for material and labor. They bought farms at high prices, making part payments, and afterward forfeiting them. They engaged in mercantile pursuits, buying merchandise in New York and elsewhere in excess of their ability to pay. They built a steam­mill, which proved a source of loss, and started a bank, but were unable to obtain a charter; they issued bills without a charter, however, in consequence of which they could not collect the money loaned, and after a brief struggle, and during a period of great apostasy, the bank failed. It was called the Kirtland Safety Society Bank, of which Rigdon was president and Smith cashier. All this time, writes Corrill, “they suffered pride to arise in their hearts, and became desirous of fine houses and fine clothes, and indulged too much in these things, supposing for a few months that they were very rich.” Upon the failure of the bank in 1838, Smith and Rigdon went to Missouri, leaving the business in the hands of others to wind up.

An endowment meeting, or solemn assembly, held in 1836 in the temple at Kirtland, is thus described by William Harris: “It was given out that those who were in attendance at that meeting should receive an endowment, or blessing, similar to that experienced by the disciples of Christ on the day of Pentecost. When the day arrived great numbers convened from the different churches in the country. They spent the day in fasting and prayer, and in washing and perfuming their bodies; they also washed their feet, and anointed their heads with what they called holy oil, and pronounced blessings. In the evening they met for the endowment. The fast was then broken.”

Midsummer of 1837 saw Parley P. Pratt in New York city, where he printed the first edition of his Voice of Warning and where he labored with great earnestness, at first under many discouragements, later with signal success. After that he went once more to Missouri. Others were going in the same direction from Kirtland and elsewhere during the entire period between 1831 and 1838. The Messenger and Advocate having been discontinued, the Elder’s Journal was started by Joseph Smith in Kirtland in October 1837.

After the émeutes which occurred in Jackson county in the autumn of 1833, as before related, the saints escaped as best they were able to Clay county, where they were kindly received. Some took up their abode in Lafayette and Van Buren counties, and a few in Ray and Clinton counties. For their lands, stock, furniture, buildings, and other property destroyed in Jackson county, they received little or no compensation; on the contrary, some who went back for their effects were caught and beaten. Nevertheless, there were three years of comparative rest for the people of God, the effect of which soon appeared in Zion’s wilderness.

The men of Missouri were quite proud of what they had done; they were satisfied on the whole with the results, and though their influence was still felt, no further violence was offered till the summer of 1836. Then the spirit of mobocracy again appeared. The Jackson-county boys had served themselves well; why should they not help their neighbors? So they crossed the river, in small squads at first, and began to stir up enmity, often insulting and plundering their victims, until the people of Clay county, fearing actions yet worse, held a meeting, and advised the saints to seek another home.

For their unrelenting hostility toward the latter-day saints, for the services rendered to their country in defying its laws and encouraging the outrages upon citizens at Independence and elsewhere during the first Mormon troubles in Missouri, Boggs was made governor of that state, Lucas major-general, and Wilson brigadier-general? After his election, as before, Boggs did not hesitate to let it be known that any reports of misconduct, however exaggerated, would, if possible, be accepted as reliable. Such reports were accordingly circulated, and without much regard to truth. Right or wrong, law or no law, and whether in accord with the letter or spirit of the constitution or government of the United States or not, the people of Missouri had determined that they would go any length before they would allow the saints to obtain political ascendency in that quarter. It was well understood that war on the Mormons, war on their civil, political, and religious rights, nay, on their presence as members of the commonwealth, or if need be on their lives, was part of the policy of the administration.

Thereupon the Mormons petitioned the legislature to assign them a place of residence, and the thinly populated region afterward known as Caldwell county was designated. Moving there, they bought the claims of most of the inhabitants, and entered several sections of government lands. Almost every member of the society thus became a landholder, some having eighty acres, and some forty. A town was laid out, called Far West, which was made the county seat; they were allowed to organize the government of the county, and to appoint from among their own people the officers. Again they found peace for a season, during which their numbers increased, while settlements were made in Daviess county and elsewhere. Those in Daviess county were on terms of amity with their gentile neigh­bors. Wight was there, and when Smith and Rigdon arrived from the east they laid out a town named Diah- man,11 which soon rivalled Gallatin, and gradually the people of Daviess, like the rest, began to war upon the Mormons.

To add to the ever-thickening troubles of the prophet, a schism broke out in the church about this time, and there were apostates and deserters, some because of disappointed ambition, and some from shame of what they now regarded as a delusion, but all carrying away with them vindictive feelings toward their former associates, whom they did not hesitate to denounce as liars, thieves, counterfeiters, and everything that is vile. Among these were Joseph’s old friends Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer, the three witnesses to the book of Mormon; Orson Hyde, Thomas B. Marsh, and W. W; Phelps also seceding.

At Far West on the 4th of July, 1838, assemble from the surrounding districts thousands of the saints, to lay the corner-stone of a temple of God, and to declare their rights as citizens of the commonwealth to safety and protection, as promised by the constitution. They are hated and despised, though they break not the laws of God; they are hunted down and killed, though they break not the laws of the land. To others their faith is odious, their words are odious, their persons and their actions are altogether detestable. They are not idlers, or drunkards, or thieves, or murderers; they are diligent in business as well as fervent in spirit, yet they are devils; they worship what they choose and in their own way, like the dissenters in Germany, the quakers in Pennsylvania, and the pilgrims from England, yet their spiritual father is Satan. And now, though thus marked for painful oppression by their fellow-citizens, they come together on the birthday of the nation to raise the banner of the nation, and under it to declare their solemn prerogative to the enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, to the maintenance of which they stand ready to pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. This they do. They raise the pole of liberty; they unfold the banner of liberty; they register their vows. Is it all in irony? Is it all a mockery? Or is it the displeasure of omnipotence, which is now displayed because of the rank injustice wrought by the sons of Belial under this sacred emblem? God knoweth. We know only that out of heaven comes fire, blasting the offering of the saints !

Sidney Rigdon delivered the oration on this occasion; and being an American citizen, and one of the founders of an American religion, it was perhaps natural for him to indulge in a little Fourth-of-July oratory; it was natural, but under the circumstances it was exceedingly impolitic. “We take God to witness,” cries Sidney, “and the holy angels to witness this day, that we warn all men, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come on us no more forever. The man or the set of men who attempt it, do it at the expense of their lives; and that mob that comes on us to disturb us, there shall be between us and them a war of extermination, for we will follow them till the last drop of their blood is spilled, or else they will have to exterminate us; for we will carry the war to their own houses, and their own families, and one party or the other shall be utterly destroyed.”

On the 8th of July there was a revelation on tithing. Early in August a conference was held at Diahman, and a military company, called the Host of Israel, was organized after the manner of the priesthood, including all males of eighteen years and over. There were captains of ten, of fifty, and of a hundred; the organization included the entire military force of the church, as had the Kirtland army previously a part of it.

At length the storm burst. The state election of 1838 was held in Daviess county at the town of Gallatin on the 6th of August. Soon after the polls were opened, William Peniston, candidate for the legislature, mounted a barrel and began to speak, attacking the Mormons with degrading epithets, calling them horse-thieves and robbers, and swearing they should not vote in that county. Samuel Brown, a Mormon, who stood by, pronounced the charges untrue, and said that, for one he should vote. Immediately Brown was struck by one Weldin, whose arm, in attempting to repeat the blow, was caught by another Mormon, named Durfee. Thereupon eight or ten men, with clubs and stones, fell upon Durfee, whose friends rallied to his assistance, and the fight became general, but with indecisive results. The Mormons voted, however, and the rest of the day passed quietly.

On the next day two or three of Peniston’s party , in order it was said to stir up the saints to violence, rode over to Far West, one after another, and reported a battle as having been fought at Gallatin, in which several of the fraternity were killed. Considerable excitement followed the announcement, and sev­eral parties went to Diahman to learn the truth of the matter. Ascertaining the facts, and being desirous of preventing further trouble, one of the brethren went to the magistrate, Adam Black, and proposed bonds on both sides to keep the peace. The proposition was accepted, Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight signing for the Mormons, and Black for the gentiles. The Mormons then returned to Far West; but the people of Daviess county, not approving the action of the magistrate, disputed Black’s right to bind them; whereupon, to appease them, Black went to the circuit judge and obtained a writ for the arrest of Smith and Wight on a charge of having forced him, by threats of violence, to sign the agreement. Brought before Judge King at Gallatin, Smith and Wight were released on their own recognizances.

Nevertheless the excitement increased. In Daviess and adjacent counties, three hundred gentiles met and armed. The Mormons say that the gentiles made prisoners, and shot and stole cattle, and the gentiles say that the Mormons did the same. Finally affairs became so alarming that Major-General Atchison concluded to call out the militia of Ray and Clay counties, under command of generals Doniphan and Parks, the latter being stationed in Daviess county. Their purposes in that quarter being thus defeated, the men of Missouri threw themselves on a small settlement of saints at Dewitt, where they were joined by a party with a six-pounder from Jackson county. Setting fire to the houses, they drove off the inmates and destroyed their property. General Parks then moved his troops to Dewitt, but found the mob too many for him. They openly defied him, would make no compromise, and swore “they would drive the Mormons from Daviess to Caldwell, and from Caldwell to hell.” General Atchison then went to Dewitt and told the Mormons that his men were so disaffected that they had better apply for protection to Governor Boggs. This official returned answer that, as they had brought the war upon themselves, they must fight their own battles, and not look to him for help. Thereupon they abandoned the place, and fled to Far West.

In order to intercept the mob General Doniphan entered Daviess county with two hundred men, and thence proceeded to Far West, where he camped for the night. In consultation with the civil and military officers of the place, who, though Mormons, were nevertheless commissioned by the state, Doniphan advised them to arm and march to Daviess county and defend their brethren there. Acting on this advice, all armed, some going to Daviess county and some remaining at Far West. The former were met by Parks, who inquired of them all particulars. Shortly afterward some families came in from beyond Grand River, who stated that they had been driven away and their houses burned by a party under C. Gilliam. Parks then ordered Colonel Wight, who held a commission under him as commander of the Mormon militia, to disperse the party, which was done, and the cannon in their possession seized, without firing a shot. Spreading into other counties, Gilliam’s men raised everywhere the cry that the Mormons were killing people and burning property.

Soon afterward the Mormon militia returned from Daviess county to Far West, where they learned that a large force under Samuel Bogart, a methodist clergy­man, was plundering and burning houses south of that point, in Ray county, and had taken three men prisoners, one only of whom was a Mormon. Elias Higbee, county judge, ordered the Mormon militia under Captain Patten to retake the prisoners. In passing through a wood Patten came without knowing it upon the encampment of Bogart, whose guard fired without warning, killing one of Patten’s men. Patten then attacked, routing Bogart’s force, but not preventing the shooting of the Mormon prisoner, though he afterward recovered. In the charge one man was killed, and Patten and one other were mortally wounded. The company captured forty wagons.

About this time arose the mysterious and much dreaded band that finally took the name of Danites, or sons of Dan, concerning which so much has been said while so little is known, some of the Mormons even denying its existence. But of this there is no question. Says Burton: “ The Danite band, a name of fear in the Mississippi Valley, is said by anti­Mormons to consist of men between the ages of sev­enteen and forty-nine. They were originally termed Daughters of Gideon, Destroying Angels—the gentiles say devils—and, finally, Sons of Dan, or Danites, from one of whom was prophesied he should be a serpent in the path. They were organized about 1837 under D. W. Patten, popularly called Captain Fearnot, for the purpose of dealing as avengers of blood with gentiles; in fact, they formed a kind of death society, desperadoes, thugs, hashshashiyun—in plain English, assassins in the name of the Lord. The Mormons declare categorically the whole and every particular to be the calumnious invention of the impostor and arch apostate, Mr John C. Bennett.”

John Hyde, a seceder, states that the Danite band, or the United Brothers of Gideon, was organized on the 4th of July, 1838, and was placed under the command of the apostle David Patten, who for the purpose assumed the name of Captain Fearnot.

It is the opinion of some that the Danite band, or Destroying Angels as again they are called, was organized at the recommendation of the governor of Missouri as a means of self-defence against persecutions in that state. Thomas B. Marsh, late president of the twelve apostles, and president of the church at Far West, but now a dissenter, having “abandoned the faith of the Mormons from a conviction of their immorality and impiety,” testifies that in October, 1838, they “had a meeting at Far West, at which they appointed a company of twelve, by the name of the Destruction Company, for the purpose of burning and destroying.”

The apostate Bennett gives a number of names by which the same society, or divisions of it, were known, such as Daughter of Zion, Big Fan, “inasmuch as it fanned out the chaff from the wheat,” Brother of Gideon, Destructive, Flying Angel. The explanation of Joseph, the prophet, was that one Doctor Sampson Arvard, who after being a short time in the church, in order to add to his importance and influence secretly initiated the order of Danites, and held meetings organizing his men into companies of tens and fifties, with Captains. Then he called the officers together and told them that they were to go forth and spoil the gentiles; but they rejected the proposal, and Arvard was cut off from the church. All the present leaders of the Mormon church deny emphatically the existence of any such band or society as a part of or having anything to do with their organization..

Meanwhile was being matured the bloody tragedy which occurred on the 30th of October near Haun’s mill, on Shoal creek, about twenty miles below Far West. Besides the Mormons living there, were a number of emigrants awaiting the cessation of hostilities before proceeding on their journey. It had been agreed between the Mormons and Missourians of that locality that they would not molest each other, but live together in peace. But the men of Caldwell and Daviess counties would not have it so. Suddenly and without warning, on the day above mentioned, mounted and to the number of two hundred and forty, they fell upon the fated settlement. While the men were at their work out of doors, the women in the house, and the children playing about the yards, the crack of a hundred rifles was heard, and before the firing ceased, eighteen of these unoffending people were stretched dead upon the ground, while many more were wounded. I will not enter upon the sickening details, which are copious and fully proven; suffice it to say, that never in savage or other warfare was there perpetrated an act more dastardly and brutal. Indeed, it was openly avowed by the men of Missouri that it was no worse to shoot a Mormon than to shoot an Indian, and killing Indians was no worse than killing wild beasts.

A somewhat singular turn affairs take at this juncture. It appears that Boggs, governor, and sworn enemy of the saints, does not like the way the war is going on. Here are his own soldiers fighting his own voters, the state forces killing the men who have put him in office! This will not do. There is bad blundering somewhere. It is the Mormons only that are to be killed and driven off, and not the free and loyal American Boggs voters. Ho, there! Let the state arms be turned against these damned saints! On what pretext? Any. Say that they are robbing, and burning, and killing right and left, and that they swear they will never stop until they have the country. Easy enough. No doubt they do kill and burn; the men of Missouri are killing them and burning; why should they not retaliate? No doubt there are thieves and bad men among them, who take advantage of the time to practise their vile calling. No doubt there are violent men among them, who swear roundly at those who are hunting them to death, who swear that they will drive them off their lands and kill them if they can. But this does not make insurrectionists and traitors of the whole society. No matter; down with the Mormons! And so Boggs, the governor, seats himself and coolly writes off to his generals to drive out or exterminate the vermin.

Thus it appears that the Missouri state militia, called out in the first instance to assist the Mormon state militia in quelling a Missouri mob, finally joins the mob against the Mormon militia. In none of their acts had the saints placed themselves in an attitude of unlawful opposition to the state authorities; on the other hand, they were doing all in their power to defend themselves and support law and order, save in the matter of retaliation.

The first the saints of Caldwell county know of the new tactics is the appearance, within half a mile of Far West, of three thousand armed men, under General Lucas, generals Wilson and Doniphan being present, and General Clark with another army being a few days’ march distant. General Lucas states that the main business there is to obtain possession of three individuals, whom he names, two of them not Mormons; and for the rest he has only to inform the saints that it is his painful duty either wholly to drive them from the state or to exterminate them. Gilliam and his comrades, who as disguised Indians and white men had been fighting the Mormons, now that the state espouses their cause, join Lucas. General Atchison was at Richmond, in Ray county, when the governor’s exterminating order was issued. “I will have nothing to do with so infamous a proceeding,” he said, and immediately resigned.

The day following his arrival General Lucas orders George M. Hinckle, colonel commanding the Mormon militia, to bring before him Joseph Smith, junior, Hyrum Smith, Lyman Wight, Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, Caleb Baldwin, and Alexander McRae, which is done, though not without charge of fraud and treachery on the part of Hinckle. A court-martial is immediately held; the prisoners are all condemned, and sentenced to be shot next morning at eight o’clock. “In the name of humanity I protest against any such cold-blooded murder,” says General Doniphan who further threatens to withdraw his men if such a course is persisted in; whereupon the sentence if not executed. 'All the Mormon troops in Far West, however, are required to give up their arms and con sider themselves prisoners of war. They are further required to execute a deed of trust pledging all Mormon property to the payment of the entire cost of the war, and to give a promise to leave the state before the coming spring.

Thus in the name of law and justice the Mormon soldiery, whose chief crime it would seem was that, in common with the rest of the militia, they had assisted the state in putting down a mob, were forced at the point of the bayonet to sign an obligation, binding not only themselves but the civilians within their settlements to defray the entire expense of the war. This proceeding was sufficiently peculiar; but, as a climax to their conduct, some of the officers and men laid hands on the Mormons’ property wherever they could find it, taking no thought of payment.

General Clark now comes forward, and entering the town of Far West, collects the saints in the public square, reads them a lecture, and selecting fifty of their number, thrusts them into prison. Next day forty-six of the fifty are taken to Richmond, and after a fortnight’s confinement half are liberated, most of the remainder being set free a week later on giving bail. Lucas then retires with his troops, leaving the country to be ravaged by armed squads that burn houses, insult women, and drive off stock ad libitum. The faint pretext of justice on the part of the state, attending forced sales and forced settlements, might as well have been dispensed with, as it was but a cloak to cover official iniquity.

It did sot seem possible to a community convicted of no crime, and living in the nineteenth century, under the flag of the world’s foremost republic, that such flagrant wrongs as the Boggs exterminating order, and the enforced treaty under which they were deprived of their property, could be carried into effect. They appealed, therefore, to the legislature demanding justice. But that body was too much with the people and with Boggs to think of justice. To make a show of decency, a committee was appointed and sent to Caldwell and Daviess counties, to look into the matter, but of course did nothing. Another was appointed with like result. Debates continued with more or less show of interest through the month of December. In January, 1839, the Mormons were plainly told that they need expect no redress at the hand of the legislature or other body of Missouri. There was no help for them; they must leave the state or be killed; of this they were assured on all sides, publicly and privately,

And now begins another painful march—painful in the thought of it, painful in the telling of it. It is midwinter; whither can they go, and how? They have homes, but they may not enjoy them; land which they have bought, houses which they have built, and barns and cattle and food, but hereabout they are hunted to death. Is it Russia or Tartary or Hindostan, that people are thus forced to fly for opinion’s sake? True, the people of the United States do not like such opinions; they do not like a religious sect that votes solid, or a class of men whom they look upon as fools and fanatics talking about taking the country, claimed as theirs by divine right; but in any event this was no way to settle the difficulty. Here are men who have been stripped in a moment of the results of years of toil—all that they have in the world gone; here are women weighed down with work and care, some whose husbands are in prison, and who are thus left to bear the heavy burden of this infliction alone; here are little children, some comfortably clad, others obliged to encounter the wind and frozen ground with bare heads and bleeding feet. 

Whither can they go? There is a small following of the prophet at Quincy, Illinois; some propose to go there, some start for other places. But what if they are not welcome at Quincy, and what can they do with such a multitude? There is no help for it, however, no other spot where the outcasts can hope for refuge at the moment. Some have horses and cattle and wagons; some have none. Some have tents and bedding; some have none. But the start is made, and the march is slowly to the eastward. In the months of February and March over one hundred and thirty families are on the west bank of the Mississippi unable to cross the river, which is full of floating ice. There they wait and suffer; they scour the country for food and clothing for the destitute; many sicken and die.

Finally they reach Quincy, and are kindly received. Not only the saints but others are there who have human hearts and human sympathies. Indeed, upon the expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri the people of Illinois took a stand in their favor. The citizens of Quincy, in particular, offered their warmest sympathy and aid, on the ground of humanity. A select committee, appointed to ascertain the facts in the case, reported, on the 27th of February, 1839, “that the strangers recently arrived here from the state of Missouri, known by the name of latter-day saints, are entitled to our sympathy and kindest regard.” The working-men of the town should be informed “that these people have no design to lower the wages of the laboring class, but to procure something to save them from starving.” Finally it was resolved: “That we recommend to all the citizens of Quincy, in all their intercourse with the strangers, that they use and observe a becoming decorum and delicacy, and be particularly careful not to indulge in any conversation or expressions calculated to wound their feelings, or in any way to reflect upon those who, by every law of humanity, are entitled to our sympathy and commiseration.”

How in regard to neighboring states? In case the people of Illinois soon tire of them, what will they then do? From Commerce, Isaac Galland writes to Robert Lucas, governor of Iowa, asking about it. The answer is such as one would expect from the average American citizen—neither better nor worse. It is such, however, as to condemn throughout all time the conduct of the people of Missouri.

During these trying times the prophet was moving about among his people, doing everything in his power to protect and encourage them. Late in September he was in the southern part of Caldwell county, whence in October he passed into Carroll county, where he soon found himself hemmed in by an enraged populace. He appealed to the people, he applied to the governor, but all to no purpose. Afterward he went to Daviess county, and then back to Far West, where he was arrested and incarcerated with the others. Shortly afterward the prisoners, now consisting of the prophet Joseph Smith, with Sidney Rigdon, Hyrum Smith, Parley P. Pratt, Lyman Wight, Amasa Lyman, and George W. Robinson, were removed to Independence; why they did not know, but because it was the hot-bed of mobocracy, they said, and peradventure they might luckily be shot or hanged. A few days later they were taken to Richmond and put in irons, and later to Liberty jail in Clay county, where they were kept confined for four months. Habeas corpus was tried, and many petitions were forwarded to the authorities on their behalf, but all to no purpose. At length they obtained a hearing in the courts, with a change of venue to Boone county where they were still to be incarcerated. Rigdon had been previously released on habeas corpus, and one night, when the guard was asleep, Smith and the others escaped and made their way to Quincy.

“I was in their hands as a prisoner,” says Smith, “about six months; but notwithstanding their determination to destroy me, with the rest of my brethren who were with me, and although at three different times we were sentenced to be shot without the least shadow of law, and had the time and place appointed for that purpose, yet through the mercy of God, in answer to the prayers of the saints, I have been preserved, and delivered out of their hands.”

Notwithstanding their enormous losses, and the extreme indigence of many, the saints were not all as destitute of credit as they were of ready means, if we may judge by their business transacted during the year 1839. Bishop Knight bought for the church part of the town of Keokuk, Iowa, situated on the west bank of the Mississippi, forty miles above Quincy, Illinois. He also purchased the whole of another town-site called Nashville, six miles above Keokuk. Four miles above Nashville was a settlement called Montrose, part of which Knight bought, together with thirty thousand acres of land.

Opposite Montrose, on the east bank of the Mississippi where was a good landing, stood a village called Commerce, where were some twenty houses. This was purchased by the saints, with the lands surrounding, and a town laid out which was named Nauvoo, “from the Hebrew, which signifies fair, very beautiful, and it actually fills the definition of the word; for nature has not formed a parallel on the banks of the Mississippi from New Orleans to Galena.” The post-office there was first called Commerce, after the Mormons had purchased the village, but the name was changed to that of Nauvoo in May, 1840? The place was started by a company from New York, but it was so sickly that when the agent for the Mormons came they were glad to sell. The Mormons drained it and made the place comparatively healthy.

On his escape from prison, Smith visited Commerce among other places, and seeing at once the advantages of its site, determined to establish there the headquarters of the church. For so great had his power now become, so extensive his following, that he might choose any spot whereon to call into existence a city, had but to point his finger and say the word to transform a wilderness into a garden. During the winter of 1840 the church leaders applied to the leg­islature of Illinois for several charters, one for the city of Nauvoo, one for agricultural and manufacturing purposes, one for a university, and one for a military body called the Nauvoo Legion. The privileges asked were very extensive, but were readily granted; for the two great political parties were pretty equal in numbers in Illinois at this time, and the leaders of the party in office, perceiving what a political power these people were, determined to secure them.

There were now saints everywhere, all over the United States, particularly throughout the western portion; there were isolated believers, and small clusters, and small and great congregations. There were, also many travelling preachers, men full of the holy ghost, or believing themselves so, who travelled without purse or scrip, whom no buffetings, insults, hunger, or blows could daunt, who feared nothing that man could do, heaven’s door being always open to them. See now the effects of these persecutions in Missouri. Twelve thousand were driven from their homes and set moving by Boggs and his generals; three fourths of them found new homes at Quincy, Nauvoo, and elsewhere; but three thousand, who, but for the persecutions, would have remained at home and tilled their lands, were preaching and proselyting, making new converts and establishing new churches wherever they went. One of their number, William Smith, was a member of the Illinois legislature. In the very midst of the war they were preaching in Jackson county, among their old enemies and spoilers, striving with all their souls to win back their Zion, their New Jerusalem. From New York, February 19, 1840, Brigham Young, H. C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, and Parley P. Pratt indited a letter to the saints at Commerce, speaking of the wonderful progress of the faith, and of their own intended departure for England.

Thus, despite persecution, the saints increased in number year by year. Before the end of 1840 there were fifteen thousand souls at Nauvoo, men, women, and children, hot all of them exiles from Missouri, but from every quarter, old believers and new converts from different parts of the United States, from Canada, and from Europe; hither came they to the city of their God, to the mountain of his holiness.

 

CHAPTER VI.

THE STORY OF MORMONISM.

1840-1844.

 

 

The City of Nauvoo—Its Temple and University—The Nauvoo Legion—The Mormons in Illinois—Evil Reports—Revelation on Polygamy—Its Reception and Practice—The Prophet a Candidate for the Presidency—The ‘Nauvoo Expositor’—Joseph Arrested—Governor Ford and his Measures—Joseph and Hyrum Proceed to Carthage—Their Imprisonment—The Governor’s Pledge—Assassination of the Prophet and his Brother—Character of Joseph Smith—Addresses of Richards and Taylor—Peaceful Attitude of the Mormons

 

 

To the saints it is indeed a place of refuge, the city of Nauvoo, the Holy City, the City of Joseph. It stands on rolling land, covering a bed of limestone yielding excellent building material, and bordered on three sides by the river which here makes a majestic curve, and is nearly two miles in width. The aborigines were not indifferent to the advantages of the spot, as the presence of their mounds testifies. In area it is three miles by four. The city is regularly laid out in streets at right angles, of convenient width, along which are scattered neat, whitewashed log cabins, also frame, brick, and stone houses, with grounds and gardens. It is incorporated by charter, and contains the best institutions of the latest civilization; in the country are hundreds of tributary farms and plantations. The population is from seven to fifteen thousand, varying with the ebb and flow of new converts and new colonizations.

Conspicuous among the buildings, and chief architectural feature of the holy city, is the temple, glistening in white limestone upon the hill-top, a shrine in the western wilderness whereat all the nations of the earth may worship, whereat all the people may inquire of God and receive his holy oracles. Next in the City of Joseph in prominence and importance is the house of Joseph, hotel and residence, called the Nauvoo House, which is to the material man as the temple to the spiritual man. Unfortunately both the one and the other are destined to an occupancy and enjoyment all too brief in view of the vast labor bestowed upon them. Besides these buildings are the Hall of Seventies, in which is a library, the Masonic Hall, and Concert Hall; also there a university and other institutions are established, though having as yet no separate edifices.

The president of the university and professor of mathematics and English literature is James Kelly, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and a ripe scholar; Orson Pratt, a man of pure mind and high order of ability, who without early education and amidst great difficulties had to achieve learning as best he could, and in truth has achieved it; professor of lan­guages, Orson Spencer, graduate of Union College and the Baptist Theological Seminary, New York; professor of church history, Sidney Rigdon, versed in history, belles-lettres, and oratory. In the board of regents we find the leading men of the church; connected with the university were four common­school wards, with three wardens to each.

In 1840 all the male members of the church between the ages of sixteen and fifty were enrolled in a military organization known as the Nauvoo Legion, which eventually numbered some four thousand men, and constituted part of the state militia; It was divided into two cohorts, and then into regiments, battalions, and companies, Lieutenant-general Joseph Smith being commander-in-chief. The organization was modelled after the Roman legion. The men were well disciplined, brave, and efficient. These troops carried their name to Utah, where they were reorganized in May 1857.

Though all are soldiers, there are no dandy warriors in their midst. Each one returns after drill to his occupation—to his farm, factory, or merchandise. Among other workshops are a porcelain factory established by a Staffordshire company, two steam saw­mills, a steam flouring-mill, a foundry, and a tool­factory. A joint-stock company is organized under the style of the Nauvoo Agricultural and Manufacturing Association. Just outside the city is a community farm, worked by the poor for their own benefit; to each family in the city is allotted one acre of ground; the system of community of property does not obtain.

Most of the people in and about Nauvoo are Mormons, but not all. The population is made up chiefly from the farming districts of the United States and the manufacturing districts of England; though uneducated, unpolished, and superstitious, they are for the most part intelligent, industrious, competent, honest, and sincere. With a shrewd head to direct, like that of the prophet, a wisdom like his to concentrate, a power like his to say to ten thousand men, do this, and it is done, with plenty of cheap, virgin land, with a collective knowledge of all arts, and with habits of economy and industry, it were a wonder if they did not rapidly accumulate property, and some of them acquire wealth. This they do, though tithed by the church, and detested by the gentiles, and they prosper in a remarkable degree. Of course, in political, as in spiritual and pecuniary affairs, the prophet’s word is law.

“Nauvoo is the best place in the world!” exclaims an enthusiastic saint. Nauvoo, the beautiful indeed! And “as to the facilities, tranquillities, and virtues of the city, they are not equalled on the globe.” Here the saints find rest. “No vice is meant to be tolerated; no grog-shops allowed; nor would we have any trouble, if it were not for our lenity in suffering the world, as I shall call them, to come in and trade, and enjoy our society, as they say.” “They are a wonderfully enterprising people,” writes a gentile. “Peace and harmony reign in the city. The drunkard is scarcely ever seen, as in other cities, neither does the awful imprecation or profane oath strike upon your ear; but while all is storm and tempest and confusion abroad respecting the Mormons, all is peace and harmony at home.”

About this time there comes to Joseph Smith a somewhat singular individual making somewhat singular advances. He is a yankee huckster of the first class, only for his merchandise, instead of patent clocks and wooden nutmegs, he offers for sale theology, medicine, and a general assortment of political and military wares. The thing is a fraud, and before long he openly announces himself as such. As his manhood is far inferior to his duplicity, so his name—the Reverend General John C. Bennett, M. D., U. S. A., president, chancellor, and master in chancery—as we may observe, is subordinate to his titles. He has ability, he has brains and fingers; but he has no soul. He comes to Joseph and says, “Hail, master!” and worships him. He professes all that the Mormons profess, and more; he does all that the Mormons do, and more. So the prophet makes him general of his legion, mayor of the city, chancellor of the university, not to mention his functions as attorney, doctor, and privy counsellor. All this is done with quick despatch; and the result is that the great man soon tires of his greatness, or thinks to become yet greater by turning renegade, and writing a book against his late friends and associates.

There is another individual of similar name, and yet more similar character, James Arlington Bennett, also called general, whom Mackay, Smucker, a reviewer in the Edinburgh, and others have mistaken for the original. The quality of impudence appears as fully in the second Bennett as in the first.

As I have before observed, the misfortunes of the saints by no means dampened their ardor, or impoverished them as a society. Some lost their all; in that case the others helped them. Old scores were cancelled, old debts forgiven. There were no great riches among them; yet he who had nothing could not be called poor amid such surroundings. Head over all, temporal and spiritual, was Joseph Smith, not only prophet and president, but general and mayor. He had now approached the summit of his career, and for a brief space was permitted to enjoy his fame, wealth, and power in some degree of quiet.

They were salutary lessons that the prophet and his people had received in Missouri, and for a time their speech and manner were less arrogant than of bld. But soon prosperity was far greater here than ever before, and as with Israel of old the chastisements of the Lord were soon forgotten. From the moment they crossed the river from Missouri into Illinois their position as men and members of the commonwealth was changed. In the one state they were regarded as fanatics, dangerous to the government and to the people, having associated assassins to do their bidding, and holding to a doctrine of divine inheritance with regard to all that country; in the other they were esteemed as hard-working and thrifty American citizens, whose votes, to the party in power, were worth as much as those of the baptist or the methodist.

Such was their past and present status in the community. They were now treated, politically and socially, with consideration, especially by politicians. Thomas Carlin, governor of Illinois, was their friend, and granted them all the privileges they asked; Robert Lucas, governor of Iowa, was their friend, and promised them the protection due to every citizen of the United States, of whatsoever religion, creed, superstition, fanaticism, craze, or whatever people might choose to call it.

But soon there came a governor, named Thomas Ford, who knew not Joseph. He was a well meaning­man enough, not blood-thirsty like Boggs, nor strong and cool-headed like Carlin, nor yet a man of positive action and opinion like Lucas; still, Ford was not a bad man, and if the saints had conducted themselves according to the wisdom of the world, they might in time, perhaps, have overcome the prejudices of the people. But prosperity seemed as fatal to them as adversity was profitable. All the best of heaven and earth was now theirs, and again Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked, revelations becoming less frequent as the cares of this world, the lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life crept in among the people.

The city charter of Nauvoo allowed the enactment of any laws not in conflict with those of the state or of the United States, and particularly that a writ of habeas corpus might be issued in all cases arising under city ordinance. In the interpretation of this provision the saints allowed themselves rather a wide latitude, even assuming authority opposed to superior powers, and sometimes questioning the validity of state documents not countersigned by the mayor of Nauvoo. The counties surrounding Hancock, in which was Nauvoo, were fearful of the prosperity of the saints, and of their political influence; there were angry words and bickerings between the opposing societies, and then blows. The old Missouri feud was kept alive by suits instituted against Smith and others. An attempt made to assassinate Governor Boggs was, of course, charged to the Mormons, and probably with truth. In fact, if we may believe their enemies, they did not deny it. Boggs had unlawfully ordered all the Mormons in Missouri killed if they did not leave the state; why had not they the same right, they argued, to break the law and kill him?

Among the reports circulated, besides those of assassination and attempted assassination, the following will serve as specimens: That the plan of Smith was to take the county, then the state, after that the United States, and finally the whole world; that any section making a move against the saints should be destroyed by the Danites; that Smith declared his prophecies superior to law, and threatened that if not let alone he would prove a second Mahomet, and send streams of blood from the Rocky Mountains to the sea.

In an address to the saints at Nauvoo, September 1, 1842, Joseph stated that on account of the enemies in pursuit of him, both in Missouri and in Illinois, he deemed it best to retire for a time, and seek safety. He ordered his debts paid as they fell due, his property to be sold if necessary to meet requirements, and exhorted all officers to be faithful to their trust. “When the storm is past I will return,” he said; “and as for perils, they seem small things to me, for the envy and wrath of man have been my common lot all the days of my life.” And again: “Verily thus saith the Lord, let the work of my temple, and all the works which I have appointed unto you, be continued and not cease. Let all the records be had in order, that they may be put in the archives of my holy temple. I will write the word of the Lord from time to time and send it to you by mail. I now close my letter for the present, for the want of more time, for the enemy is on the alert; and as the savior said, the prince of this world cometh, but he hath nothing in me.”

Five days later the prophet sent an address to the saints, mainly touching the baptism for the dead, of which more hereafter. “Now what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven; and a voice of truth out of the earth, glad tidings for the dead; a voice of gladness for the living and dead; glad tidings of great joy. And again what do we hear ? Glad tidings from Cumorah! Moroni, an angel from heaven, declaring the fulfilment of the prophets—the book to be revealed. A voice of the Lord in the wilderness of Fayette, Seneca county, declaring the three witnesses to bear record of the book. The voice of Michael on the banks of the Susquehanna, detecting the devil when he appeared as an angel of light. The voice of Peter, James, and John in the wilderness between Harmony, Susquehanna county, and Colesville, Boone county, on the Susquehanna River, declaring themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom, and of the dispensation of the fulness of times. And again, the voice of God in the chamber of old Father Whitmer, in Fayette, Seneca county, and at sundry times and in divers places, through all the travels and tribulations of this church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” .

We come now to a most momentous epoch in the history of the church, to the most important act of the prophet during the entire course of his wonderful life, to the act of all others pregnant with mighty results, if we except the primary proceedings relative to the sacred book and its translation.

Twenty years had passed since the plates of Mormon had been revealed to Joseph, during which time he had suffered divers and continued persecution. He and his followers had been reviled and spit upon from the beginning; some of them had been robbed, and beaten, hunted down, imprisoned, and slain. Yet they had prospered; the church had rapidly increased, and its members were blessed with plenty. Their neighbors spoke much evil of them and com­mitted many violent acts. The saints were exceedingly annoying; they voted solid and claimed the whole world as theirs, including Jackson county, Missouri; they were wild in their thoughts, extravagant in their pretensions, and by no means temperate in the use of their tongues; they were not always prudent; they were not always without reproach.

Just how far certain members or leaders erred, bringing evil on all, it is impossible at this day to determine. The evidence comes to us in the form of rumors, general assertions, and bold statements from the mouths of men filled with deadly hate, and cannot be altogether trusted. Some of these have said that the leaders of the church, finding their power over the minds and bodies of their female associates so greatly increased, so rapidly becoming absolute, could not resist temptation, but fell into grievous sins like Jeroboam and David, and were thereby obliged to adopt some plan either to cover or make right their conduct.

It was easy for the gentiles to make such a charge appear plausible, in view of the fact that about this time the doctrine of plurality of wives as practised and promulgated in the scriptures attracted much attention. Most of the other acts, customs, and ordinances of the old and new testaments had been adopted in common with those contained in the book of Mormon by the latter-day church; why should not this? Wives and concubines without restriction had been permitted to the worthy men of old; the holy scriptures had nowhere condemned the custom; God had at no time ordered otherwise. On the contrary, it seemed in the line of example and duty; it seemed necessary to make the holy fabric symmetrical and complete. True, it was not now in vogue with either Jews or Christians; but neither were miracles nor special revelations. Surely, if God disapproved, he would have so declared; his commands he makes clear; particularly acts heinous in nis sight he denounces loudly and with many repetitions.

Thus argued the elders. They did not consider, nor indeed care for, the fact that, viewed from the stand­point of intellectual progress, the revival of polygamy, or concubinage, in common with other practices of the half-savage Hebrews, was a retrogression, a turning back toward savagism. They found it sanctioned in the holy book in use by the most civilized nations of the earth, and they felt themselves able to make it appear plausible. If any had the right to adopt part of the bible as their rule of conduct, accepting it all as true, they claimed the right to adopt the whole of it for their rule of conduct if they chose. It was civilization, and not the holy scriptures, that forbade polygamy, and they cared very little comparatively for civilization.

Finally, on the 12th of July, 1843, while the chief men of the church were thinking the matter over, though saying little even among themselves, it is stated that there came to Joseph a revelation, the last of the prophet’s revelations of which there is any record.

“Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; as also Moses, David, and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principles and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines: Behold! and lo, I am the Lord thy God, and will answer thee, as touching this matter.

“Abraham received concubines, and they bare him. children, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness, because they were given unto him, and he abode in my law; as Isaac also, and Jacob, did none other things than that which they were commanded. David also received many wives and concubines, as also Solomon, and Moses, my servant, as also many others of my servants, from the beginning of creation until this time, and in nothing did they sin, save in those things which they received not of me.

“David’s wives and concubines were given unto him of me by the hand of Nathan, my servant, and others of the prophets who had the keys of this power; and in none of these things did he sin against me, save in the case of Uriah and his wife: and, therefore, he hath fallen from his exaltation, and received his portion; and he shall not inherit them out of the world, for I gave them unto another, saith the Lord.

“Verily, I say unto you, a commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have given unto you, that she stay herself, and partake not of that which I commanded you to offer unto her; for I did it, saith the Lord, to prove you all, as I did Abraham, and that I might require an offering at your hand by covenant and sacrifice; and let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me.

“And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto any servant Joseph, and to none else. And again, verily, I say, let mine handmaid forgive my servant Joseph his trespasses, and then shall she be forgiven her trespasses, wherein she hath trespassed against me; and I, the Lord thy God, will bless her and multiply her, and make her heart to rejoice.

“And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood: if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent; and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then he is justified; he cannot commit adultery, for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that belonging unto him, and to none else; and if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore he is justified.”

It is said that as early as 1831 the will of the Lord in this respect had been revealed to Joseph. In translating the bible he had come upon the passages relating to plural wives and concubines, and had inquired of the Lord what he should do. He was told to wait, and not make the matter public then, the peo­ple not yet having faith to receive it. It was one of the severest trials the church had yet been called upon to undergo, and the wisest circumspection was necessary lest Joseph should be repudiated by his followers as a false prophet. So. he approached persons singly, first the man of the family and then the woman. In 1841 Joseph began to take to himself plural wives, and his example was followed by some of the others. Finally, in order that all might know that he was not acting on his own responsibility alone, the revelation came, sanctioning and enforcing the system. This, as I have given it, is the orthodox and authorized explanation of the matter.

Thus came to the saints the doctrine of polygamy, first to the leaders and for a time kept secret, and finally to the whole church, as one of its most prominent tenets. For years it was known only to a few, and it was not formally promulgated until after the great exodus, when the church had become well established in the valleys of the Yutas.

There were several reasons for adopting this course. First, the hate and obloquy which would be engendered by its publication, and the widespread and bitter opposition it would meet. The work of missionaries in the field would greatly suffer. Many in the church would oppose it; women would rebel, while their sisters throughout Christendom would hold them in derision. It was all so new and strange. Even in theory it was startling enough; but put it in practice, and who could foretell the result? The very foundations of the church might thereby be broken up. If it must needs be, then let discretion be used. Let the matter be broken to the church as it is able to receive it; let the system be introduced gradually, and practised secretly; by the chief men at first, and later by all.

It was indeed a heavy load that the saints thus took upon themselves, willingly or unwillingly, in the service of God or in the service of Satan. Up to this time, though citizens of the commonwealth, they had not been in sympathy with other citizens; though religionists, they were in deadly opposition to all other religions; as a fraternity, bound by friendly compact, not alone spiritually but in temporal matters, in buying and selling, in town-building, farming, and stock-raising, in all trades and manufactures, they stood on vantage-ground. They were stronger than their immediate neighbors—stronger socially, politically, and industrially; and the people about them felt this, and while hating, feared them.

It is true, that on their first arrival in Zion they were not wealthy; neither were their neighbors. They were not highly educated or refined or cultured; neither were their neighbors. They were sometimes loud and vulgar of speech; so were their neighbors. Immorality cropped out in certain quarters; so it did among the ancient Corinthians and the men of modern Missouri; there was some thieving among them; but they were no more immoral or dishonest than their persecutors who made war on them, and as they, thought without a shadow of right.

There is no doubt that among the Mormons as among the gentiles, perhaps among the Mormon leaders as among the gentile leaders, fornication and adultery were practised. It has been so in other ages and nations, in every age and nation; it is so now, and is likely to be so till the end of the world. But when the testimony on both sides is carefully weighed, it must be admitted that the Mormons in Missouri and Illinois were, as a class, a more moral, honest, temperate, hard-working, self-denying, and thrifty people than the gentiles by whom they were surrounded. Says John D. Lee on entering the Missouri fraternity and, at the time of this remarking, by no means friendly to the saints, “The motives of the people who composed my neighborhood were pure; they were all sincere in their devotions, and tried to square their actions through life by the golden rule.

The word of a Mormon was then good for all it was pledged to or for. I was proud to be an associate with such honorable people.” And thus Colonel Kane, a disinterested observer, and not a Mormon: As compared with the other “border inhabitants of Missouri, the vile scum which our society, like the great ocean, washes upon its frontier shores,” the saints were “persons of refined and cleanly habits and decent language.”

Nevertheless the sins of the entire section must be visited on them. Were there any robberies for miles around, they were charged by their enemies upon the Mormons; were there any house-burnings or assassinations anywhere among the gentiles, it was the Danites who did it. Of all that has been laid at their door I find little proved against them. The charges are general, and preferred for the most part by irresponsible men; in answer to them they refer us to the records. On the other hand, the outrages of their enemies are easily followed; for they are not denied, but are rather gloried in by the perpetrators. To shoot a Mormon was indeed a distinction coveted by the average gentile citizen of Illinois and Missouri, and was no more regarded as a crime than the shooting of a Blackfoot or Pawnee. Of course the Mormons retaliated.

Polygamy was a heavy load in one sense; in another sense it was a bond of strength. While in the eyes of the world its open avowal placed the saints outside the pale of respectability, and made them amenable to the law, among themselves as law-breakers, openly defying the law, and placing themselves and their religion above all law, the very fact of being thus legal offenders, subject to the penalties and punishments of the law, brought the members of the society so acting into closer relationship, cementing them as a sect, and making them more dependent on each other and on their leaders. It is plain that while thus bringing upon themselves ignominy and reproach, while laying themselves open to the charge of being law-breakers, and assuming an attitude of defiance toward the laws and institutions of the country in which they lived, this bond of sympathy, of criminality if you will, particularly when made a matter of conscience, when recognized as a mandate from the almighty, higher than any human law, and in whose obedience God himself was best pleased, and would surely afford protection, could but prove in the end a bond of strength, particularly if permitted to attain age and respectability among themselves, and assume the form of a concrete principle and of sacred obligation.

If instead of falling back upon the teachings of the old testament, and adopting the questionable practices of the half-civilized Jews; if instead of taking for their models Abraham, David, and Solomon, the saints at Nauvoo had followed the advice of Paul to the saints at Ephesus, putting away fornication and all uncleanness, and walking worthy of their vocation, in all lowliness and meekness, as children of light, they would probably have remained in their beautiful city, and come into the inheritance of their Missouri Zion as had been prophesied. Had they consulted more closely the signs of the times, had they been less orthodox in their creed, less patriarchal in their practices, less biblical in their tenets, less devoted in their doctrines—in a word, had they followed more closely the path of worldly wisdom, and, like opposing Christian sects, tempered religion with civilization, giving up the worst parts of religion for the better parts of civilization, I should not now be writing their history, as one with the history of Utah.

But now was brought upon them this overwhelming issue, which howsoever it accorded with ancient scripture teachings, and as they thought with the rights of man, was opposed to public sentiment, and to the conscience of all civilized nations. Forever after they must have this mighty obstacle to contend with; forever after they must live under the ban of the Christian world; though, with unshaken faith in their prophet and his doctrine of spiritual wedlock, they might scorn the world’s opinion, and in all sincerity and singleness of heart thank God that they were accounted worthy to have all manner of evil spoken of them falsely.

During this period of probation the church deemed it advisable to deny the charge, notably by Elder Pratt in a public sermon, and also by Joseph Smith. “Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife, and one woman but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again.” In the Times and Seasons of February 1, 1844, we have a notice signed by Joseph and Hyrum Smith: “As we have lately been credibly informed that an elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by the name of Hiram Brown, has been preaching polygamy and other false and corrupt doctrines in the county of Lapeer, state of Michigan, this is to notify him and the church in general that he has been cut of from the church for his iniquity.”

Notwithstanding these solemn denials and denunciations in high places, the revelation and the practices which it sanctioned were not easily concealed. As yet, however, the calumny of the gentiles and the bickering of the saints vexed not the soul of Joseph. He was now in the zenith of his fame and power; his followers in Europe and America numbered more than a hundred thousand; his fortune was estimated at a million dollars; he was commander­in-chief of the Nauvoo Legion, a body of troops “which,” remarks an artillery officer, from his own observation, “would do honor to any body of armed militia in any of the states, and approximates very closely tor our regular forces;” he was mayor of the city; and now, as the crowning point of his earthly glory, he was announced in February 1844 as a candidate for the presidency of the United States, while Sidney Rigdon was named for vicepresident. Whether this was done for effect or in earnest is somewhat doubtful, for it appears that the prophet’s head was a little turned about this time; but it is certain that the people of Illinois and Missouri believed him to be in earnest. Addressing letters to Clay and Calhoun, near the close of 1843, he asked each of them what would be his rule of action toward the Mormons as a people should he be elected to the presidency. The reply in both cases was non-committal and unsatisfactory; whereupon Joseph issues an address setting forth his views on the government and policy of the United States, and foreshadows his own policy, in which we find many excellent features and many absurdities. “No honest man can doubt for a moment,” he says, “but the glory of American liberty is on the wane; and that calamity and confusion will sooner or later destroy the peace of the people. Speculators will urge a national bank as a savior of credit and comfort. A hireling pseudo priesthood will plausibly push abolition doctrines and doings and ‘human rights’ into congress, and into every other place where conquest smells of fame or opposition swells to popularity.”

The aspirations of the prophet, pretended or otherwise, to the highest office in the republic, together with renewed, and at this juncture exceedingly dangerous, claims, pointing toward almost universal empire, brought upon him afresh the rage of the surrounding gentile populace, and resulted in an awful tragedy, the circumstances of which I am now about to relate. “The great cause of popular fury,” writes Governor Ford shortly after the occurrence, “ was that the Mormons at several preceding elections had cast their vote as a unit; thereby making the fact apparent that no one could aspire to the honors or offices of the country, within the sphere of their influence, without their approbation and votes.”

Indeed, a myriad of evils about this time befell the church, all portending bloody destruction. There were suits and counter-suits at law; arrests and rearrests; schisms, apostasies, and expulsions; charges one against another of vice and immorality, Joseph himself being implicated. Here was one elder unlawfully trying his hand at revelations, and another preaching polygamy. Many there were whom it was necessary not only to cut off from the church, but to eradicate with their evil influences from society. Among the prophet’s most inveterate enemies were William Law, who sought to betray Smith into the hands of the Mis­sourians, and almost succeeded—Doctor Foster and Francis M. Higbee, who dealt in scandal, charging Joseph, Hyrum, Sidney, and others with seducing women, and having more wives than one. Suits of this kind brought by the brethren against each other, but more particularly by the leaders against high officials, were pending in the Nauvoo municipal court for over two years.

Early in June 1844 was issued the first number of the Nauvoo Expositor, the publishers being apostate Mormons and gentiles. The primary object of the publication was to stir up strife in the church, and aid its enemies in their work of attempted extermination. Its columns were at once filled with foul abuse of the prophet and certain elders of the church, assailing their character by means of affidavits, and charging them with all manner of public and private crimes, and abusing and misrepresenting the people. The city council met, and pronouncing the journal a nuisance, ordered its abatement. Joseph Smith being mayor, it devolved on him to see the order executed, and he issued instruction to the city marshal and the policemen accordingly. The officers of the law forthwith entered the premises, and destroyed the establishment, tearing down the presses and throwing the type into the street. For this act the proprietors obtained from the authorities of the town of Carthage, some twenty miles distant, a warrant for the arrest of Joseph Smith, which was placed in the hands of the Carthage constable to be served.

It was a proceeding not at all to the taste of the Mormons that their mayor should be summoned for misdemeanor before the magistrate of another town, and Smith refused to go. He was willing to be tried before a state tribunal. Meanwhile the offenders were brought before the municipal court of Nauvoo, on a writ of habeas corpus, and after examination were discharged. The cry was then raised throughout the country that Joseph Smith and associates, public offenders, ensconced among their troops in the stronghold of Nauvoo, defied the law, refusing to respond to the call of justice; whereupon the men of Illinois, to the number of two or three thousand, some coming even from Missouri, rallied to the support of the Carthage constable, and stood ready, as they said, not only to arrest Joe Smith, but to burn his town and kill every man, woman, and child in it.

As the forces of the enemy enlarged and grew yet more and more demonstrative in their wrath, the town prepared for defence, the Nauvoo Legion being called out and placed under arms, by instructions from Governor Ford to Joseph Smith, as general in command. This gave rise to a report’ that they were about to make a raid on the neighboring gentile settlements. In consequence of these rumors and counter-rumors the governor went to Carthage. Previous to this, frequent communications were sent to him at Springfield by Joseph Smith, informing him of the position of affairs in and around Nauvoo. The governor in his History of Illinois, referring to these times, writes: “These also were the active men in blowing up the fury of the people, in hopes that a popular movement might be set on foot, which would result in the expulsion or extermination of the Mormon voters. For this purpose public meetings had been called, inflammatory speeches had been made, exaggerated reports had been extensively circulated, committees had been appointed, who rode night and day to spread the reports and solicit the aid of neighboring counties, and at a public meeting at Warsaw resolutions were passed to expel or exterminate the Mormon population. This was not, however, a movement which was unanimously concurred in. The county contained a goodly num­ber of inhabitants in favor of peace, or who at least desired to be neutral in such a contest. These were stigmatized by the name of Jack Mormons, and there were not a few of the more furious exciters of the people who openly expressed their intention to involve them in the common expulsion or extermination.”

Thomas Ford, governor of Illinois, was as a man rather above the average politician usually chosen among these American states to fill that position. Not specially clear-headed, and having no brain power to spare, he was quite respectable and had some conscience, as is frequently the case with mediocre men. He had a good heart, too, was in no wise vindictive, and though he was in no sense a strong man, his sense of right and equity could be quite stubborn upon occasion. Small in body, he was likewise small in mind; indeed, there was a song current at the time that there was no room in his diminutive organism for such a thing as a soul. Nevertheless, though bitterly cen­sured by some of the Mormons, I do not think Ford intended to do them wrong. That he did not believe all the rumors to their discredit is clearly shown in his statement of what was told him during the days he was at Carthage. He says: “A system of excitement and agitation was artfully planned and executed with tact. It consisted in spreading reports and rumors of the most fearful character. As examples: On the morning before my arrival at Carthage, I was awakened at an early hour by the frightful report, which was asserted with confidence and apparent consternation, that the Mormons had already commenced the work of burning, destruction, and murder, and that every man capable of bearing arms was instantly wanted at Carthage for the protection of the county. We lost no time in starting; but when we arrived at Carthage we could hear no more concerning this story. Again, during the few days that the militia were encamped at Carthage, frequent applications were made to me to send a force here, and a force there, and a force all about the country, to prevent murders, robberies, and larcenies which, it was said, were threatened by the Mormons. No such forces were sent, nor were any such offences committed at that time, except the stealing of some provisions, and there was never the least proof that this was done by a Mormon.”

On the morning to which he refers, the report was brought to him with the usual alarming accompaniments of fears being expressed of frightful carnage, and the like. Hastily dressing, he assured the crowd collected outside of the house in which he had lodged that they need have no uneasiness respecting the matter, for he was very sure he could settle the difficulty peaceably. The Mormon prophet knew him well, and would trust him. What he purposed doing was to demand the surrender of Joseph Smith and others. He wished them to promise him that they would lend their assistance to protect the prisoners from violence, which they agreed to do.

After his arrival at Carthage the governor sent two men to Nauvoo as a committee to wait on Joseph Smith, informing him of his arrival, with a request that Smith would inform him in relation to the difficulties that then existed in the county. Dr J. M. Bernhisel and Elder John Taylor were appointed as a committee by Smith, and furnished with affidavits and documents in relation both to the proceedings of the Mormons and those of the mob; in addition to the general history of the transaction they took with them a duplicate of those documents which had previously been forwarded by Bishop Hunter, Elder James, and others. This committee waited on the governor, who expressed an opinion that Joseph Smith and all parties concerned in passing or executing the city law in relation to the press had better come to Carthage; however repugnant it might be to their feelings, he thought it would have a tendency to allay public excitement, and prove to the people what they professed, that they wished to be governed by law. The next day the constable and a force of ten men were despatched to Nauvoo to make the arrests. The accused were told that if they surrendered they would be protected; otherwise the whole force of the state would be called out, if necessary, to take them.

Upon the arrival of the constable and his posse, the mayor and the members of the city council declared that they were willing to surrender. Eight o’clock was the hour appointed, but the accused failed to make their appearance; whereupon the constable returned, and reported that they had fled. The governor was of opinion that the constable’s action was part of a plot to get the troops into Nauvoo and exterminate the Mormons. He called a council of officers and proposed to march, on the town with the small force under his command, but was dissuaded. He hesitated to make a further call on the militia, as the harvest was nigh and the men were needed to gather it. Meanwhile, ascertaining that the Mormons had three pieces of cannon and two hundred and fifty stand of arms belonging to the state, the possession of which gave offence to the gentiles, he demanded a surrender of the state arms, again promising protection.

On the 24th of June Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the members of the council, and all others demanded, proceeded to Carthage, gave themselves up, and were charged with riot. All entered into recognizances before the justice of the peace to appear for trial, and were released from custody. Joseph and Hyrum, however, were rearrested, and, says Ford, were charged with overt treason, having ordered out the legion to resist the posse comitatus, though, as he states, the degree of their crime would depend on circumstances. The governor’s views on this matter are worthy of note. “The overt act of treason charged against them,” he remarks, “consisted in the alleged levying of war against the state by declaring martial law in Nauvoo, and in ordering out the legion to resist the posse comitatus. Their actual guiltiness of the charge would depend upon circumstances. If their opponents had been seeking to put the law in force in good faith, and nothing more, then an array of a military force in open resistance to the posse comitatus and the militia of the state most probably would have amounted to treason. But if those opponents merely intended to use the process of the law, the militia of the state, and the posse comitatus as cat’s paws to compass the possession of their persons for the purpose of murdering them afterward, as the sequel demonstrated the fact to be, it might well be doubted whether they were guilty of treason.”

With the Nauvoo Legion at their back, the two brothers voluntarily placed themselves in the power of the governor who, demanding and accepting their surrender, though doubting their guilt, nevertheless declared that they were not his prisoners, but the prisoners of the constable and jailer. Leaving two companies to guard the jail, he disbanded the main body of his troops, and proceeding to Nauvoo, addressed the people, beseeching them to abide by the law. “They claimed,” he says, “to be a law-abiding people; and insisted that as they looked to the law alone for their protection, so were they careful themselves to observe its provisions. Upon the conclusion of my address, I proposed to take a vote on the question; whether they would strictly observe the laws, even in opposition to their prophet and leaders. The vote was unanimous in favor of this proposition.” The governor then set forth for Carthage, and such in substance is his report when viewed in the most favorable light.

It is related that as Joseph set forth to deliver himself up to the authorities he exclaimed: “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me, He was murdered in cold blood.” Nevertheless, for a moment he hesitated. Should he offer himself a willing sacrifice, or should he endeavor to escape out of their hands? Thus meditating, he crossed the river thinking to depart. On reaching the opposite bank he turned and gazed upon the beautiful city, the holy city, his own hallowed creation, the city of Joseph, with its shining temple, its busy hum of industry, and its thousand happy homes. And they were his people who were there, his very own, given to him of God; and he loved them! Were he to leave them now, to abandon them in this time of danger, they would be indeed as sheep without a shepherd, stricken, and scattered, and robbed, and butchered by the destroyer. No, he could not do it. Better die than to abandon them thus! So he recrossed the river, saying to his brother Hyrum, “Come, let us go together, and let God determine what we shall do or suffer.”

Bidding their families and friends adieu, the two brothers set out for Carthage. Their hearts were very heavy. There was dire evil abroad; the air was oppressive, and the sun shot forth malignant rays. Once more they returned to their people; once more they embraced their wives and kissed their children, as if they knew, alas! that they should never see them again.

The party reached Carthage about midnight, and on the following day the troops were formed in line, and Joseph and Hyrum passed up and down in company with the governor, who showed them every respect—either as guests or victims—introducing them as military officers under the title of general. Present were the Carthage Greys, who showed signs of mutiny, hooting at and insulting the prisoners—for such in fact they were, being committed to jail the same afternoon until discharged by due course of law.

A few hours later Joseph asked to see the governor, and next morning Ford wept to the prison. “All this is illegal,” said the former. “ It is a purely civil matter, not a question to be settled by force of arms.” “I know it,” said the governor, “but it is better so; I did not call out this force, but found it assembled; I pledge you my honor, however, and the faith and honor of the state, that no harm shall come to you while undergoing this imprisonment.” The governor took his departure on the morning of the 27th of June. Scarcely was he well out of the way when measures were taken for the consummation of a most damning deed. The prison was guarded by eight men detailed from the Carthage Greys, their company being in camp on the public square a quarter of a mile distant, while another company under Williams, also the sworn enemies of the Mormons, was encamped eight miles away, there awaiting the development of events.

It was a little after five o’clock in the evening. Joseph and Hyrum Smith were confined in an upper room. With the prisoners were John Taylor and Willard Richards, other friends having withdrawn a few moments before. At this juncture a band of a hundred and fifty armed men with painted faces appeared before the jail, and presently surrounded it. The guard shouted vociferously and fired their guns over the heads of the assailants, who paid not the slightest attention to them. I give what followed from Burton's City of the Saints, being the statement of President John Taylor, who was present and wounded on the occasion.

“I was sitting at one of the front windows of the jail, when I saw a number of men, with painted faces, coming around the corner of the jail, and aiming toward the stairs. The other brethren had seen the same, for, as I went to the door, I found Brother Hyrum Smith and Dr Richards already leaning against it. They both pressed against the door with their shoulders to prevent its being opened, as the lock and latch were comparatively useless. While in this position, the mob, who had come up stairs, and tried to open the door, probably thought it was locked, and fired a ball through the keyhole; at this Dr Richards and Brother Hyrum leaped back from the door, with their faces toward it; almost instantly another ball passed through the panel of the door, and struck Brother Hyrum on the left side of the nose, entering his face and head. At the same instant, another ball from the outside entered his back, passing through his body and striking his watch. The ball came from the back, through the jail window, opposite the door, and must, from its range, have been fired from the Carthage Greys, who were placed there ostensibly for our protection, as the balls from the fire-arms, shot close by the jail, would have entered the ceiling, we being in the second story, and there never was a time after that when Hyrum could have received the latter wound. Immediately, when the balls struck him, he fell flat on his back, crying as he fell, ‘I am a dead man!’ He never moved afterward.

“ I shall never forget the deep feeling of sympathy and regard manifested in the countenance of Brother Joseph as he drew nigh to Hyrum, and, leaning over him, exclaimed, ‘Oh! my poor, dear brother Hyrum!’ He, however, instantly arose, and with a firm, quick step, and a determined expression of countenance, approached the door, and pulling the six-shooter left by Brother Wheelock from his pocket, opened the door slightly, and snapped the pistol six successive times; only three of the barrels, however, were discharged. I afterward understood that two or three were wounded by these discharges, two of whom, I am informed, died. I had in my hands a large, strong hickory stick, brought there by Brother Markham, and left by him, which I had seized as soon as I saw the mob approach; and while Brother Joseph was firing the pistol, I stood close behind him. As soon as he had discharged it he stepped back, and I immediately took his place next to the door, while he occupied the one I had done while he was shooting. Brother Richards, at this time, had a knotty walking­stick in his hands belonging to me, and stood next to Brother Joseph, a little farther from the door, in an oblique direction, apparently to avoid the rake of the fire from the door. The firing of Brother Joseph made our assailants pause for a moment; very soon after, however, they pushed the door some distance open, and protruded and discharged their guns into the room, when I parried them off with my stick, giving another direction to the balls.

“It certainly was a terrible scene: streams of fire as thick as my arm passed by me as these men fired, and, unarmed as we were, it looked like certain death. I remember feeling as though my time had come, but I do not know when, in any critical position, I was more calm, unruffled, energetic, and acted with more promptness and decision. It certainly was far from pleasant to be so near the muzzles of those fire-arms, as they belched forth their liquid flames and deadly balls. While I was engaged in parrying the guns, Brother Joseph said, ‘That’s right, Brother Taylor, parry them off as well as you can.’ These were the last words I ever heard him speak on earth.

“Every moment the crowd at the door became more dense, as they were unquestionably pressed on by those in the rear ascending the stairs, until the whole entrance at the door was literally crowded with muskets and rifles, which, with the swearing, shouting, and demoniacal expressions of those outside the door and on the stairs, and the firing of the guns, mingled with their horrid oaths and execrations, made it look like pandemonium let loose, and was, indeed, a fit representation of the horrid deed in which they were engaged.

“After parrying the guns for some time, which now protruded thicker and farther into the room, and seeing no hope of escape or protection there, as we were now unarmed, it occurred to me that we might have some friends outside, and that there might be some chance to escape in that direction, but here there seemed to be none. As I expected them every moment to rush into the room—nothing but extreme cowardice having thus far kept them out—as the tumult and pressure increased, without any other hope, I made a spring for the window which was right in front of the jail door, where the mob was standing, and also exposed to the fire of the Carthage Greys, who were stationed some ten or twelve rods off. The weather was hot, we had our coats off, and the window was raised to admit air. As I reached the window, and was on the point of leaping out, I was struck by a ball from the door about midway of my thigh, which struck the bone and flattened out almost to the size of a quarter of a dollar, and then passed on through the fleshy part to within about half an inch of the outside. I think some prominent nerve must have been severed or injured, for, as soon as the ball struck me, I fell like a bird when shot, or an ox when struck by a butcher, and lost entirely and instantaneously all power of action or locomotion. I fell upon the window-sill, and cried out, ‘I am shot!’ Not possessing any power to move, I felt myself falling outside of the window, but immediately I fell inside, from some, at that time, unknown cause. When I struck the floor my animation seemed restored, as I have seen it sometimes in squirrels and birds after being shot. As soon as I felt the power of motion I crawled under the bed, which was in a corner of the room, not far from the window where I received my wound. While on my way and under the bed I was wounded in three other places; one ball entered a little below the left knee, and never was extracted; another entered the forepart of my left arm, a little above the wrist, and passing down by the joint, lodged in the fleshy part of my hand, about midway, a little above the upper joint of my little finger; another struck me on the fleshy part of my left hip, and tore away the flesh as large as my hand, dashing the mangled fragments of flesh and blood against the wall.

“It would seem that immediately after my attempt to leap out of the window, Joseph also did the same thing, of which circumstance I have no knowledge only from information. The first thing that I noticed was a cry that he had leaped out of the window. A cessation of firing followed, the mob rushed down stairs, and Dr. Richards went to the window. Immediately afterward I saw the doctor going toward the jail door, and as there was an iron door at the head of the stairs adjoining our door which led into the cells for criminals, it struck me that the doctor was going in there, and I said to him, ‘Stop, doctor, and take me along.’ He proceeded to the door and opened it, and then returned and dragged me along to a small cell prepared for criminals.

“Brother Richards was very much troubled, and exclaimed, ‘Oh! Brother Taylor, is it possible that they have killed both Brothers Hyrum and Joseph? it cannot surely be, and yet I saw them shoot them;’ and, elevating his hands two or three times, he exclaimed, ‘Oh Lord, my God, spare thy servants!’ He then said, ‘Brother Taylor, this is a terrible event;’ and he dragged me farther into the cell, saying, ‘I am sorry I can not do better for you;’ and, taking an old filthy mattress, he covered me with it, and said, ‘That may hide you, and you may yet live to tell the tale, but I expect they will kill me in a few moments.’ While lying in this position I suffered the most excruciating pain. Soon afterward Dr. Richards came to me, informed me that the mob had precipitately fled, and at the same time confirmed my worst fears that Joseph was assuredly dead.” It appears that Joseph, thus murderously beset and in dire extremity, rushed to the window and threw himself out, receiving in the act several shots, and with the cry, “0 Lord, my God!” fell dead to the ground. The fiends were not yet satiated; but setting up the lifeless body of the slain prophet against the well­curb, riddled it with bullets.

Where now is the God of Joseph and of Hyrum, that he should permit this most iniquitous butchery? Where are Moroni and Ether and Christ? What mean these latter-day manifestations, their truth and efficacy, if the great high priest and patriarch of the new dispensation can thus be cruelly cut off by wicked men? Practical piety is the doctrine! Prayer and faith must cease not though prayer be unanswered; and they ask where was the father when the son called in Gethsemane? It was foreordained that Joseph and Hyrum should die for the people; and the more of murder and extermination on the part of their enemies, the more praying and believing on the part of saints, and the more praise and exultation in the heavenly inheritance.

The further the credulity of a credulous people is taxed the stronger will be their faith. Many of the saints believed in Joseph; with their whole mind and soul they worshipped him. He was to them as God; he was their deity present upon earth, their savior from evil, and their guide to heaven. Whatever he did, that to his people was right; he could do no wrong, no more than king or pope, no more than Christ or Mahomet. Accordingly they obeyed him without question; and it was this belief and obedience that caused the gentiles to fear and hate. There are still open in the world easier fields than this for new religions, which might recommend themselves as a career to young men laboring under a fancied inexorable necessity.

Whatever else may be said of Joseph Smith, it must be admitted that he was a remarkable man. His course in life was by no means along a flowery path; his death was like that which too often comes to the founder of a religion. What a commentary on the human mind and the human heart, the deeds of those who live for the love of God and man, who die for the love of God and man, who severally and collectively profess the highest holiness, the highest charity, justice, and humanity, higher far than any held by other sect or nation, now or since the world began—how lovely to behold, to write and meditate upon their disputings and disruptions, their cruelties and injustice, their persecutions for opinion’s sake, their ravenous hate and bloody butcheries!

The founder of Mormonism displayed a singular genius for the work he gave himself to do. He made thousands believe in him and in his doctrines, howsoever good or evil his life, howsoever true or false his teachings. The less that can be proved the more may be asserted. Any one possessing the proper abilities may found a religion and make proselytes. His success will depend not on the truth or falsity of his statements, nor on their gross absurdity or philosophic refinement, but on the power and skill with which his propositions are promulgated. If he has not the natural and inherited genius for this work, though his be otherwise the greatest mind that ever existed, he is sure to fail. If he has the mental and physical adaptation for the work, he will succeed, whatever may be his abilities in other directions.

There was more in this instance than any consideration short of careful study makes appear: things spiritual and things temporal; the outside world and the inside workings. The prophet’s days were full of trouble. His people were often petulant, his elders quarrelsome, his most able followers cautious and captious. While the world scoffed and the neighbors used violence, his high priests were continually asking him for prophecies, and if they were not fulfilled at once and to the letter, they stood ready to apostatize. Many did apostatize; many behaved disgracefully, and brought reproach and enmity upon the cause. Moreover, Joseph was constantly in fear for his life, and though by no means desirous of death, in moments of excitement he often faced danger with apparent indifference as to the results. But without occupying further space with my own remarks, I will give the views of others, who loved or hated him and knew him personally and well.

Of his physique and character, Parley P. Pratt remarks: “President Joseph Smith was in person tall and well built, strong and active; of a light complexion, light hair, blue eyes, very little beard, and of an expression peculiar to himself, on which the eye naturally rested with interest, and was never weary of beholding. His countenance was ever mild, affable, and beaming with intelligence and benevolence, mingled with a look of interest and an unconscious smile of cheerfulness, and entirely free from all restraint, or affectation of gravity; and there was something connected with the serene and steady, penetrating glance of his eye, as if he would penetrate the deepest abyss of the human heart, gaze into eternity, penetrate the heavens, and comprehend all worlds. He possessed a noble boldness and independence of character; his manner was easy and familiar, his rebuke terrible as the lion, his benevolence unbounded as the ocean, his intelligence universal, and his language abounding in original eloquence peculiar to himself.”

And thus a female convert who arrived at Nauvoo a year or two before the prophet’s death: “The first time I ever saw Joseph Smith I recognized him from a vision that once appeared to me in a dream. His countenance was like that of an angel, and such as I had never beheld before. He was then thirty-seven years of age, of ordinary appearance in dress and manner, but with a child-like innocence of expression. His hair was of a light brown, his eyes blue, and his complexion light. His natural demeanor was quiet; his character and disposition were formed by his life-work; he was kind and considerate, taking a personal interest in all his people, and considering every one his equal.”

On the other hand, the author of Mormonism Unveiled says: “The extreme ignorance and apparent stupidity of this modern prophet were by his early followers looked upon as his greatest merit, and as furnishing the most incontestable proof of his divine mission... His followers have told us that he could not at the time he was chosen of the Lord even write his own name. But it is obvious that all these deficiencies are fully supplied by a natural genius, strong inventive powers of mind, a deep study, and an unusually correct estimate of the human passions and feelings. In short, he is now endowed with all the requisite traits of character to pursue most successfully the humbug which he has introduced. His address is easy, rather fascinating and winning, of a mild and sober deportment when not irritated. But he frequently becomes boisterous by the impertinence or curiosity of the skeptical, and assumes the bravado, instead of adhering to the meekness which he professes. His followers, of course, can discover in his very countenance all the certain indications of a divine mission.”

One more quotation will serve to show the impres­sion that Joseph Smith’s doctrines and discourse made not only on his own followers but on the gentiles, and even on gentile divines. In 1843 a methodist minister, named Prior, visited Nauvoo and was present during a sermon preached by the prophet in the temple. “I took my seat,” he remarks, “in a conspicuous place in the congregation, who were waiting in breathless silence for his appearance. While he tarried, I had plenty of time to revolve in my mind the character and common report of that truly singular personage. I fancied that I should behold a countenance sad and sorrowful, yet containing the fiery marks of rage and exasperation. I supposed that I should be enabled to discover in him some of those thoughtful and reserved features, those mystic and sarcastic glances, which I had fancied the ancient sages to possess. I expected to see that fearful faltering look of conscious shame which from what I had heard of him he might be expected to evince. He appeared at last; but how was I disappointed when, instead of the head and horns of the beast and false prophet, I beheld only the appearance of a common man, of tolerably large proportions.

“I was sadly disappointed, and thought that, although his appearance could not be wrested to indicate anything against him, yet he would manifest all I had heard of him when he began to preach. I sat uneasily and watched him closely. He commenced preaching, not from the book of Mormon, however, but from the bible; the first chapter of the first of Peter was his text. He commenced calmly, and continued dispassionately to pursue his subject, while I sat in breathless silence, waiting to hear that foul aspersion of the other sects, that diabolical disposition of revenge, and to hear that rancorous denunciation of every individual but a Mormon. I waited in vain; I listened with surprise; I sat uneasy in my seat, and could hardly persuade myself but that he had been apprised of my presence, and so ordered his discourse on my account, that I might not be able to find fault with it; for instead of a humbled jargon of half-connected sentences, and a valley of imprecations, and diabolical and malignant denunciations heaped upon the heads of all who differed from him, and the dreadful twisting and wresting of the scriptures to suit his own peculiar views, and attempt to weave a web of dark and mystic sophistry around the gospel truths, which I had anticipated, he glided along through a very interesting and elaborate discourse, with all the care and happy facility of one who was well aware of his important station and his duty to God and man.”

No event, probably, that had occurred thus far in the history of the saints gave to the cause of Mormonism so much of stability as the assassination of Joseph Smith. Not all the militia mobs in Illinois, in Missouri, or in the United States could destroy this cause, any more than could the roundheads in the seventeenth century destroy the cause of monarchy. The deed but reacted on those who committed it.

When two miles on his way from Nauvoo, the governor was met by messengers who informed him of the assassination, and, as he relates, he was “ struck with a kind of dumbness.” At1 daybreak the next morning all the bells in Carthage were ringing. It was noised abroad throughout Hancock county, he says, that the Mormons had attempted the rescue of Joseph and Hyrum; that they had been killed in order to prevent their escape, and that the governor was closely besieged at Nauvoo by the Nauvoo Legion, and could hold out only for two days. Ford was convinced that “ those whoever they were who assassinated the Smiths meditated in turn his assassination by the Mormons,” thinking that they would thus rid themselves of the Smiths and the governor, and that the result would be the expulsion of the saints, for Ford had shown a determination to defend Nauvoo, so far as lay in his power, from the threatened violence. Arriving at Carthage at ten o’clock at night, he found the citizens in flight with their families and effects, one of his companies broken up, and the Carthage Greys also disbanding, the citizens that remained being in instant fear of attack. At length he met with John Taylor and Willard Richards, who, notwithstanding the ill-usage they had received, came to the relief of the panic-stricken magistrate, and addressed a letter to their brethren at Nauvoo, exhorting them to preserve the peace, the latter stating that he had pledged his word that no violence would be used.

The letter of Richards and Taylor, signed also by Samuel H. Smith, a brother of the deceased, who a few weeks afterward died, as the Mormons relate, of a broken heart; prevented a threatened uprising of the saints.88 On the 29th of June, the day after the news was received, the legion was called out, the letter read, and the fury of the citizens allayed by addresses from Judge Phelps, Colonel Buckmaster, the governor’s aid, and others. In the afternoon the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum arrived in wagons guarded by three men. They were met by the city council, the prophet’s staff, the officers of the legion, and a vast procession of citizens, crying out “amid the most solemn lamentations and wailings that ever ascended into the ears of the Lord of hosts to be avenged of their enemies.” Arriving at the Nauvoo House, the assemblage, numbering ten thousand persons, was again addressed, and “with one united voice resolved to trust to the law for a remedy of such a high-handed assassination, and when that failed, to call upon God to avenge them of their wrongs. Ohl widows and orphans! Oh Americans, weep, for the glory of freedom has departed!”

Meanwhile the governor, fearing that the Mormons would rise in a body to execute vengeance, issued an address to the people of Illinois, in which he attempted to explain his conduct, and again called out the militia. Two officers were despatched to Nauvoo, with orders to ascertain the disposition of the citizens, and to proceed thence to Warsaw, where were the headquarters of the anti-Mormon militia, and forbid violent measures in the name of the state. On arriving at the former place they laid their instructions before the members of the municipality. A meeting of the council was summoned, and it was resolved that the saints rigidly sustain the laws and the governor, so long as they are themselves sustained in their constitutional rights; that they discountenance vengeance on the assassins of Joseph and Hyrum Smith; that instead of an appeal to arms, they appeal to the majesty of the law, and, should the law fail, they leave the matter with God; that the council pledgee itself that no aggressions shall be made by the citizens of Nauvoo, approves the course taken by the governor, and will uphold him by all honorable means. A meeting of citizens was then held in the public square; the people were addressed, the resolutions read, and all responded with a hearty amen.

The two officers then returned to Carthage and reported to the governor, who was so greatly pleased with the forbearance of the saints that he officially declared them “human beings and citizens of the state.” He caused writs to be issued for the arrest of three of the murderers—after they had taken refuge in Missouri. The assassins escaped punishment, however; and now that order was restored, the chief magistrate disbanded the militia, after what he termed “a campaign of about thirteen days.

On the afternoon of July 1st a letter was addressed by Richards, Taylor, and Phelps to the citizens of Nauvoo, and a fortnight later, an epistle signed by the same persons and also by Parley P. Pratt was despatched to all the saints throughout the world. “Be peaceable, quiet citizens, doing the works of righteousness; and as soon as the twelve and other authorities can assemble, or a majority of them, the onward course to the great gathering of Israel, and the final consummation of the dispensation of the fulness of times, will be pointed out, so that the murder of Abel, the assassination of hundreds, the righteous blood of all the holy prophets, from Abel to Joseph, sprinkled with the best blood of the son of God, as the crimson sign of remission, only carries conviction to the business and bosoms of all flesh, that the cause is just and will continue; and blessed are they that hold out faithful to the end, while apostates, consenting to the shedding of innocent blood, have no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come... Let no vain and foolish plans or imaginations scatter us abroad and divide us asunder as a people, to seek to save our lives at the expense of truth and principle, but rather let us live or die together and in the enjoyment of society and union.”

At this time the saints needed such words of advice and consolation. Some were already making preparations to return to the gentiles; some feared that their organization as a sect would soon come to an end. To reassure them, one more address was issued on August 15th, in the name of the twelve apostles, and signed by Brigham Young, the president of the apostles. The saints were told that though they were now without a prophet present in the flesh, the twelve would administer and regulate the affairs of the church; and that even if they should be taken away, there were still others who would insure the triumph of their cause throughout the world.

In 1830, as will be remembered, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in a chamber by a few humble men; in 1844 the prophet’s followers mustered scores of thousands. Speedy dissolution was now predicted by some, while others argued that as all his faults would lie buried in the tomb, while on his virtues martyrdom would shed its lustre, the progress of the sect would be yet more remarkable. The latter prediction was verified, and after the Mormons had suffered another period of persecution, Joseph Smith the martyr became a greater power in the land than Joseph Smith the prophet.

 

 

CHAPTER VII.

BRIGHAM YOUNG SUCCEEDS JOSEPH.

1844-1845.

 

The Question of Succession—Biography of Brigham Young—His Early Life—Conversion—Missionary Work—Made President of the Twelve—His Devotion to the Prophet—Sidney Rigdon and Brigham Young Rival Aspirants for the Presidency—Rigdon’s Claims —Public Meetings—Brigham Elected President of the Church— His Character—Temple-building—Fresh Disasters—The Affair at Morley.—The Men of Quincy and the Men of Carthage—The Mormons Consent to Abandon their City.

 

Upon the death of Joseph Smith, one of the questions claiming immediate attention was, Who shall be his successor? It was the first time the question had arisen in a manner to demand immediate solution, and the matter of succession was not so well determined then as now, it being at present well established that upon the death of the president of the church the apostle eldest in ordination and service takes his place.

Personal qualifications would have much to do with it; rules could be established later. The first consideration now was to keep the church from falling in pieces. None realized the situation better than Brigham Young, who soon made up his mind that he himself was the man for the emergency. Then to make it appear plain to the brethren that Grod would have him take Joseph’s place, his mind thus works: “The first thing that I thought of,” he says, “was whether Joseph had taken the keys of the kingdom with him from the earth. Brother Orson Pratt sat on my left; we were both leaning back on our chairs. Bringing my hand down on my knee, I said, ‘The keys of the kingdom are right here with the church.’” But who held the keys of the kingdom ? This was the all­absorbing question that was being discussed at Nauvoo when Brigham and the other members of the quorum arrived at that city on the 6th of August, 1844.

Brigham Young was born at Whitingham, Windham county, Vermont, on the 1st of June, 1801. His father, John, a Massachusetts farmer, served as a private soldier in the revolutionary war, and his grand­father as surgeon in the French and Indian war. In 1804 his family, which included nine children, of whom he was then the youngest, removed to Sherburn, Chenango county, New York, where for a time hardship and poverty were their lot. Concerning Brigham’s youth there is little worthy of record. Lack of means compelled him, almost without education, to earn his own livelihood, as did his brothers, finding employment as best they could. Thus, at the age of twenty-three, when he married he had learned how to work as farmer, carpenter, joiner, painter, and glazier, in the last of which occupations he was an expert craftsman.

In 1829 he removed to Mendon, Monroe county, where his father then resided; and here, for the first time, he saw the book of Mormon at the house of his brother Phineas, who had been a pastor in the reformed methodist church, but was now a convert to Mormonism.

About two years later he himself was converted by the preaching of Elder Samuel H. Smith, brother of the prophet; on the 14th of April, 1832, he was baptized, and on the same night ordained an elder, his father and all his brothers afterward becoming proselytes. During the same month he set forth to meet the prophet at Kirtland, where he found him and several of his brethren chopping wood. “Here,” says Brigham, “my joy was full at the privilege of shak­ing the hand of the prophet of God... He was happy to see us and bid us welcome. In the evening a few of the brethren came in, and we conversed together upon the things of the kingdom. He called upon me to pray. In my prayer I spoke in tongues. As soon as we rose from our knees, the brethren flocked around him, and asked his opinion... He told them it was the pure Adamic language;... it is of God, and the time will come when Brother Brigham Young will preside over this church.” In 1835 he was chosen, as will be remembered, one of the quorum of the twelve, and the following spring set forth on a missionary tour to the eastern states. Returning early in the winter, he saved the life of the prophet, and otherwise rendered good service during the great apostasy of 1836, when the church passed through its darkest hour.

Brigham was ever a devoted follower of the prophet, and at the risk of his own life, shielded him against the persecutions of apostates. At the close of 1837 he was driven by their machinations from Kirtland, and took refuge at Dublin, Indiana, where he was soon after ward joined by Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. Thence, in company with the former, he went to Missouri, arriving at Far West a short time before the massacre at Haun’s Mill. Once more Brigham was compelled to flee for his life, and now betook himself to Quincy, where he raised means to aid the destitute brethren in leaving Missouri,8 and directed the first settlement of the saints in Illinois, the prophet Joseph, Parley P. Pratt, and others being then in prison.

By revelation of July 8, 1838, it was ordered that eleven of the quorum should “ depart to go over the great waters, and there promulgate my gospel, the fulness thereof, and bear record of my name. Let them take leave of my saints in the city Far West, on the 26th day of April next; on the building spot of my house, saith the Lord.” As the twelve had been banished from Missouri and could not return with safety, many of the church dignitaries urged that the latter part of this revelation should not .be fulfilled. “But,” says Brigham, “ I felt differently, and so did those of the quorum who were with me.” The affairs of the church were now in the hands of the twelve, and their president was not the man to shrink from danger. “ The Lord had spoken, and it was their duty to obey.”

The quorum started forth, and reaching Far West toward the end of April, hid themselves in a grove. Between midnight of the 25th and dawn of the 26th they held a conference, relaid the foundation of the house of the Lord, and ordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith as apostles in place of those who had fallen from grace. “Thus,” says Brigham, “was this revelation fulfilled, concerning which our enemies said, if all the other revelations of Joseph Smith came to pass, that one should not be fulfilled.”

Upon the excommunication of Thomas B. Marsh, in 1839, the office of president of the twelve devolved by right on Brigham by reason of his seniority of membership. On the 14th of April, 1840, he was publicly accepted by the council as their head, and at the reorganization of the church councils at Nauvoo he was appointed by revelation on the 19th of January, 1843, president of the twelve travelling council.

After the founding of Nauvoo, the president, together with three others of the quorum, sailed for Liverpool, where they arrived on the 6th of April, 1840, the tenth anniversary of the organization of the church. Here he was engaged for about a year in missionary work, of which more hereafter. Taking ship for New York on the 20th of April, 1841, he reached Nauvoo on the 1st of July, and was warmly welcomed by the prophet, who a few days afterward received the following revelation: “Dear and well­beloved brother Brigham Young, verily thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Brigham, it is no more required at your hand to leave your family as in times past, for your offering is acceptable to me; I have seen your labor and toil in journeyings for my name. I therefore command you to send my word abroad, and take special care of your family from this time henceforth and forever. Amen.”

Already the mantle of the prophet was falling upon the president of the twelve; already the former had foretold his own death; but notwithstanding the revelation, Brigham was sent as a missionary to the eastern states, and at Peterborough, New Hampshire, received news of the tragedy at Carthage jail.

When Governor Ford and his militia were preparing to march on Nauvoo for the purpose of forestalling civil war, the only course open to the prophet and his followers was a removal from Illinois. In 1842 an expedition had been planned to explore the country toward or beyond the Rocky Mountains; but when Joseph Smith put himself forward as a candidate for the presidency of the United States, all other matters were for the time forgotten. Brigham claimed that had he been present the assassination would never have occurred; he would not have permitted the prophet’s departure for Carthage: rather would he have sent him to the mountains under a guard of elders. But Brigham had no reason to complain of the dispensation of providence which was now to bring his clear, strong judgment and resolute will to the front.

Prominent among the aspirants for the presidency of the church was Sidney Rigdon, one of the first and ablest to espouse the cause, and not altogether without grounds for his pretensions. He had performed much labor, had encountered many trials, and had received scanty honors, being at present nothing more than preacher, and professor of history, belles-lettres, and oratory. By revelation of January 19, 1841, he had been offered the position of counsellor to the prophet, if he would consent to humble himself. But Sidney would not humble himself. Soon after Joseph’s death, at which he was not present, he had a revelation of his own, bidding him conduct the saints to Pittsburgh. Visiting that city, he found the time not yet ripe for this measure; and meanwhile returning to Nauvoo, the 3d of August, he offered himself on the following day as a candidate for the presidency, aided by Elder Marks.

Sidney now put forth all his strength to gain influence and secure retainers. He must have Joseph’s mantle; he must have the succession, or henceforth he would be nothing. It was a momentous question, not to be disposed of in a day. To substantiate his claim, Sidney could now have visions with the best of them; on various occasions he told how the Lord had through him counselled the people to appoint him as their guardian. He requested that a meeting should be held on the following sabbath, the 8th of August, for the further consideration of the matter. But prior to this meeting Parley Pratt and two others of the twelve bade the candidate go with them to the house of John Taylor, who yet lay prostrate with his wounds. Taylor expostulated with him, but to no purpose. Sidney continued to press his claims, even assuming the sacred office, prophesying and ordaining. On the sabbath named, according to appointment, Sidney and his supporters met in the grove near the temple; but were confronted by the apostles, with Brigham at their head. Standing before them, Sidney addressed the brethren for nearly two hours. Yet he seemed to make no impression. “The Lord has not chosen him,” said, one to another. The assembly then adjourned to two o’clock, when the saints in and about Nauvoo gathered in great numbers. After singing and prayer, through the vast assemblage was heard a voice, strikingly clear, distinct, and penetrating. It was the voice of Brigham, who said: “Attention, all! For the first time in my life I am called to act as chief of the twelve; for the first time in your lives you are called to walk by faith, your prophet being no longer present in the flesh. I desire that every one present shall exercise the fullest liberty. I now ask you, and each of you, if you want to choose a guardian, a prophet, evangelist, or something else as your head to lead you. All who wish to draw away from the church, let them do it, but they will not prosper. If any want Sidney Rigdon to lead them, let them have him; but I say unto you that the keys of the kingdom are with the twelve.”

It was then put to vote, Brigham meanwhile saying, “All those who are for Joseph and Hyrum, the book of Mormon, book of Doctrine and Covenants, the temple, and Joseph’s measures, they being one party, will be called upon to manifest their principles boldly, the opposite party to enjoy the same liberty.” The result was ten votes for Sidney, the quorum with Brigham at their head getting all the rest. Elder Philips then motioned that all “who have voted for Sidney Rigdon be suspended until they can have a trial before the high council.”

The truth is, Sidney was no match for Brigham. It was a battle of the lion and the lamb; only Brigham did not know before that he was a lion, while Sidney received the truth with reluctance that he was indeed a lamb. Something more than oratory was necessary to win in this instance; and of that something, with great joy in his heart, Brigham found himself in possession. It was the combination of qualities which we find present primarily in all great men, in all leaders of men—intellectual force, mental superiority, united with personal magnetism, and physique enough to give weight to will and opinion; for Brigham Young was assuredly a great man, if by greatness we mean one who is superior to others in strength and skill, moral, intellectual, or physical. The secret of this man’s power—a power that within a few years made itself felt throughout the world—was this: he was a sincere man, or if an impostor, he was one who first imposed upon himself. He was not a hypocrite; knave, in the ordinary sense of the term, he was not; though he has been a thousand times called both. If he was a bad man, he was still a great man, and the evil that he did was done with honest purpose. He possessed great administrative ability; he was far-seeing, with a keen insight into human nature, and a thorough knowledge of the good and evil qualities of men, of their virtues and frailties. His superiority was native to him, and he was daily and hourly growing more powerful, developing a strength which surprised himself, and gaining constantly more and more confidence in himself, gaining constantly more and more the respect, fear, and obedience of those about him, until he was able to consign Sidney to the buffetings of Satan for a thousand years, while Brigham remained president and supreme ruler of the church.

Thus Brigham Young succeeded Joseph Smith. The work of the latter was done. It was a singular work, to which he was singularly adapted; the work yet to be done is no less remarkable, and a no less remarkable agent is raised up at the right moment. Matters assume now a more material turn, and a more material nature is required to master them—if coarser-grained, more practical, rougher, more dogmatical, dealing less in revelations from heaven and more in self-protection and self-advancement here on earth, so much the better for the saints. “Strike, but hear me!” Joseph with Themistocles used to cry; “I will strike, and you shall hear me,” Brigham would say.

No wonder the American Israel received Brigham as the gift of God, the Lion of the Lord, though the explanation of the new ruler himself would have been nearer that of the modern evolutionist, who would account for Brigham’s success as the survival of the fittest. It was fortunate for the saints at this juncture that their leader should be less prophet than priest and king, less idealist than business manager, political economist, and philosopher. Brigham holds communion with spiritual powers but distantly, perhaps distrustfully; at all events, he commands the spirits rather than let them command him; and the older he grows the less he has to do with them; and the less he has to do with heavenly affairs, the more his mind dwells on earthly matters. His prophecies are eminently practical; his people must have piety that will pay. And later, and all through his life, his position is a strange one. If the people about Nauvoo are troublesome, God orders him west; and then he tells him if roads are opened and canals constructed it will please him. From these practical visions come actions, and on a Sunday the great high-priest rises in the tabernacle and says: “God has spoken. He has said unto his prophet, ‘Get thee up, Brigham, and build me a city in the fertile valley to the south, where there is water, where there are fish, where the sun is strong enough to ripen the cotton plants, and give raiment as well as food to my saints on earth. Brethren willing to aid God’s work should come to me before the bishop’s meeting.’” “As the prophet takes his seat again,” says an eye-witness, “and puts on his broad-brimmed hat, a hum of applause runs around the bowery, and teams and barrows are freely promised.”

To whatsoever Brigham applied himself he directed his whole strength, provided his whole strength was necessary to the accomplishment of his purpose. There were others in the field against him, aspirants for the late prophet’s place, besides Sidney; but directing his efforts only against the most powerful of them, the president of the twelve summoned the quorum and the people, as we have seen, crushed Rigdon and his adherents by one of the master-strokes which he was now learning, declared the revelations of Rigdon to be of the devil, cut him off, cursed him, and was himself elected almost without a dissenting voice, giving all ostensibly the fullest liberty to act, yet permitting none of them to do so, and even causing ten to be tried for dissenting. Henceforth none dared to gainsay his authority; he became not only the leader of the Mormons, but their dictator; holding authority for a time as president of the twelve apostles, and finally in the capacity of the first presidency, being made president of the whole church in December 1847.

Brigham Young was now in his forty-third year, in the prime of a hale and vigorous manhood, with exuberant vitality, with marvelous energy, and with unswerving faith in his cause and in himself. In stature he was a little above medium height; in frame well-knit and compact, though in later years rotund and portly; in carriage somewhat stately; presence imposing, even at that time, and later much more so; face clean shaven now, but afterward lengthened by full beard except about the mouth; features all good, regular, well formed, sharp, and smiling, and wearing an expression of self-sufficiency, bordering on the supercilious, which later in life changed to a look of subdued sagacity which he could not conceal; deep-set, gray eyes, cold, stern, and of uncertain expression, lips thin and compressed, and a forehead broad and massive—his appearance was that of a self-reliant and strong-willed man, of one born to be master of himself and many others. In manner and address he was easy and void of affectation, deliberate in speech, conveying his original and suggestive ideas in apt though homely phrase. When in council he was cool and imperturbable, slow to decide, and in no haste to act; but when the time for action came he worked with an energy that was satisfied only with success.

Like his predecessor, he was under all circumstances naturally a brave man, possessing great physical strength, and with nerves unshaken by much excess or sickness. That he was given to strong drink has often been asserted by his enemies, but never by his friends, and rarely by impartial observers. He was always in full possession of himself, being far too wise a man to destroy himself through any indiscretion.

He was undoubtedly the man for the occasion, however, for no other could, at this juncture, save the Mormons from dissolution as a sect and as a people. If the saints had selected as their leader a man less resolute, less confident, less devoted to his cause and to his people, a man like Sidney Rigdon, for example, Mormonism would have split into half a dozen petty, factions, the strongest of which would hardly be worthy of notice.

Discussing the great Mormon leaders, Hyde, who though an apostate was one of the most impartial of writers, says: "Brigham Young is far superior to Smith in everything that constitutes a great leader. Smith was not a man of genius; his forte was tact. He only embraced opportunities that presented them­selves. He used circumstances, but did not create them. The compiling genius of Mormonism was Sidney Rigdon. Smith had boisterous impetuosity, but no foresight. Polygamy was not the result of his policy, but of his passions. Sidney gave point, direction, and apparent consistency to the Mormon system of theology. He invented its forms and many of its arguments. He and Parley Pratt were its leading orators and polemics. Had it not been for the accession of these two men, Smith would have been lost, and his schemes frustrated and abandoned. That Brigham was superior not only to Smith but also to Rigdon is evident.”

Burton says: “His manner is at once affable and impressive, simple and courteous,... shows no sign of dogmatism,...impresses a stranger with a certain sense of power; his followers are, of course, wholly fascinated by his superior strength of brain.” Temper even and placid, manner cold, but he is neither morose nor methodistic. Often reproves in violent language; powers of observation acute; has an excellent memory, and is a keen judge of character. “If he dislikes a stranger at the first interview, he never sees him again. Of his temperance and sobriety there is but one opinion. His life is ascetic; his favorite food is baked potatoes with a little buttermilk, and his drink water.”

Further: though he made his people obey him, he shared their privations. Soon we shall find him rousing his followers from the lethargy of despair, when their very hearts had died within them, and when all cheeks blanched but his; speaking words of cheer to the men, and with his own sick child in his arms, sharing his scant rations with women and children who held out their hands for bread.

For a brief space after the election of Brigham the saints had rest. The city of Nauvoo continued to thrive; a portion of the temple was finished and dedicated, the building of the Nauvoo house and council-house was progressing rapidly.

Their buildings were erected with great sacrifice of time, and amidst difficulties and discouragement in consequence of poverty. Money was exceedingly scarce. The revelation requiring tithing, made in 1838, was first practically applied in Nauvoo; the tenth day was regularly given to work on the temple; the penny subscriptions of the sisters are mentioned, which was a weekly contribution, and was intended for the purchase of glass and nails. Every effort was made to encourage manufacture, and to utilize their water-power. At a meeting of the trades delegates there was intelligent discussion as to the place becom­ing a great manufacturing centre.

In January 1845 it was proposed that a building for the high-priests should be erected, to cost $15,000, and the work was cheerfully undertaken. There were frequent entertainments given in the way of dances and public dinners in the Nauvoo mansion and in the bowery six miles out of the city. At their conference in April, thousands gathered. The temple was pushed forward, as the people were counselled to receive their endowments there as early as possible. On the 24th of May the walls were finished, and the event was duly celebrated. On the 5th of October their first meeting in the temple was held. From mites and tithings it was estimated that a million dollars had been raised. Brigham, Parley, and others of the quorum administered in the temples to hundreds of people, the services often continuing all day and night. At the end of December one thousand of the people had received the ordinances. And all this was done midst renewed persecutions, and while the people were making preparations to evacuate the city.

The masons withdrew the dispensation previously granted to Nauvoo, and to this day they refuse to admit Mormons into their order.

Fresh disaster now approached Nauvoo. The whigs and the democrats of Illinois had both sought to secure the Mormon vote, until finally they began to declare that Mormonism signified a government not in accord with that of the United States. The city charter had been repealed in January 1845, and Daniel Spencer, who had been elected to fill the remainder of the term of the murdered mayor, was deposed, as were all the other city officers; a new charter was before the legislature, but never granted. These and like measures, followed as they were by the discharge of Joseph Smith’s assassins, imparted to the gentiles renewed courage. The crimes of the whole country were laid at the door of the saints. Nauvoo was denounced as a den of counterfeiters, cattle-thieves, and assassins, the leaders of the gang being men who in the name of religion outraged all sense of decency. The saints retaliated in kind; and shortly it came about that in sections settled by Mormons gentiles feared to travel, and in sections settled by gentiles Mormons feared to travel. In view of this state of affairs, which was more like old-time feudalism than latter-day republicanism, Governor Ford made an inspection of the city, and declared that fewer thefts were committed in Nauvoo in proportion to population than in any other town in the state. The cause of this, however, may have lain in the fact that the population of Nauvoo was chiefly Mormon, and whatever might be their depredations upon the gentiles, the saints were not accustomed to steal from each other.

At a place called the Morley settlement, in Hancock county, in September 1845, the people held a meeting to devise means for the prevention of thievery. Though few definite charges were advanced, there was much said derogatory to Mormon honesty. Presently the discharge of a gun was heard, once or twice, perhaps more. It was said the shots were fired by Mormons, and that they took aim at the house in which the meeting was held. Soon the cry went abroad that the Mormons were in arms, and there were quickly volunteers at hand to help the men of Morley. A meeting was held, and it was resolved to expel the saints. At the time appointed, armed bands appeared and burned some twenty Mormon dwellings, driving the inmates into the bushes. The people of Illinois were evidently now determined to adopt the previous policy of the men of Missouri. This was not all. Word had come that forces from Nauvoo were moving to the aid of the Mormons at Morley, whereupon the gentiles throughout all that region banded, threatening to burn and drive out the saints until not one should remain. As a beginning, Buel’s flouring mill and carding machine, near Lima, the property of a Mormon, was reduced to ashes.

And now the men of Quincy, their old friends and benefactors, turned against them; and though not manifesting the deadly hate displayed in some quarters, were nevertheless resolved that the Mormons should depart from the state. On the 22d the citizens met and agreed that further efforts to live in peace with the Mormons were useless.

Indeed, the saints themselves had reached the same conclusion. It was no new idea to them, seeking a home elsewhere. It was a rough element, that by which they were surrounded, an element which brought upon them more of evil than of good. Comparatively few additions were made to their number from the bold border men of Missouri and Illinois, most of their proselytes coming from other parts of the United States and from Europe. The whole great west was open to them; even during the days of Joseph there had been talk of some happy Arcadian retreat far away from every adverse influence; and in the fertile brain of Brigham the idea assumed proportions yet broader and of more intensified form, significant of western empire and isolation somewhere in California or the Pacific isles, with himself as leader, and followers drawn from every quarter of the globe.

A general council was held on the 9th of September, at which it was resolved that a company of fifteen hundred men be selected to go to Salt Lake Valley, and a committee of five was appointed to gather information relative to the subject. There were frequent meetings of the authorities and consultations in regard to emigrating to California.

The saints would go, they said, but they must have a reasonable time in which to dispose of their property and leave the country. The meeting at Quincy, notice of which with a copy of the resolutions was sent to Nauvoo, named six months as the time within which the Mormons must depart. In answer, the council of the church replied, on the 24th of September, that they could not set forth so early in the spring, when there would be neither food for man or beast, nor even running water, but that it was their full intention to depart as soon as possible, and that they would go far enough, God helping them, forever thereafter to be free from their enemies. Meanwhile all they asked was that they should not be further molested by armed bands or suits at law, but rather assisted in selling their property and collecting their effects.

To this the men of Quincy gave assent; at the same time pledging themselves to prompt action in case of failure on the part of the saints to keep their promise, and taking measures to secure a military organization of the people of Adams county.

It was not to be expected that Carthage would remain idle while other towns were acting. A convention of delegates from nine surrounding counties was held there about the end of September, and four commissioners, among whom were Hardin, commander of the state militia, and Douglas, senator, were sent to Nauvoo to demand the departure of the Mormons. The deputation was met by the council of the twelve with the president at their head, and answer was promptly made that the removal would take place as speedily as possible. “ What guarantee will you give us?” asked Hardin. “You have our all as guarantee,” answered Brigham. “Young is right,” said Douglas. But this reply would not satisfy all the commissioners, and the twelve were requested to submit their intentions in writing, in order that they might be laid before the governor and people of the state. This was done.

The commissioners then returned home; but not even yet were the men of Carthage content. To the resolutions passed at Quincy were added others of similar nature, and the whole adopted. A plan of organization was agreed upon, and arrangements were made for calling meetings and securing volunteers, who were to select their own officers and report to the Quincy military committee. The judge of Hancock county was requested by this convention not to hold court during that autumn, for fear of collision between saints and gentiles, and the governor was recommended to station in that vicinity a small military force to keep peace during the winter.

During the height of the troubles at Nauvoo, Orson Pratt was in New York, where on the 8th of November, 1845, he addressed a farewell message to the brethren in the east, calling upon such of them as had means to sell their property, buy teams, and join the overland emigration, and those who had none to take passage in the ship Brooklyn, chartered for the purpose by Elder Samuel Brannan, and which was to sail round Cape Horn, via the Hawaiian Islands, for California. Shortly after, the Brooklyn sailed with 238 emigrants, the price of passage being $50 for adults, with $25 additional for subsistence. The details of this expedition, with names of the emigrants, their doings in California, and the departure for the Great Salt Lake of a large portion of them, is given in volume V. chapter XX. of my History of California. Upon his return to Nauvoo, Pratt brought $400 worth of Alien’s six-shooting pistols.

 

 

CHAPTER VIII

EXPULSION FROM NAUVOO.

1845-1846.

A Bust City—Meeting in the Temple—Sacrifice of Property—Detachments Move Forward—A Singular Exodus—The First Encampment —Cool Proposal from Brother Brannan—The Journey—Courage and Good Cheer—Swelling of their Numbers—The Remnant of the Saints in Nauvoo—Attitude of the Gentiles—The Mormons Attacked—Continued Hostilities—The Final Departures—The Poor Camp—A Deserted City.

 

The holy city now presented an exciting scene. Men were making ready their merchandise, and families preparing to vacate their homes. Hundreds were making tents and wagon covers out of cloth bought with anything they happened to have; companies were organized and numbered, each of which had its own wagon-shop, wheelwrights, carpenters, and cabinetmakers, who were all busily employed. Green timber was prepared for spokes and felloes, some kiln-dried, and some boiled in salt and water. At the Nauvoo house shops were established as well as at the mason’s hall and arsenal. Iron was brought from different parts of the country, and blacksmiths were at work night and day.

Some three years previous, the prophet Joseph had ordered that there should not be another general conference until it could be held in the temple. And now, on the 5th of October, 1845, five thousand persons assembled, and on the following day began the great conference, which lasted three days. The saints, however, were permitted but short enjoyment of their beautiful structure, a meagre reward for all the toil and money expended. Holiness to the Lord was the motto of it; and there was little else they could now carry hence; the hewn stone, the wood-work, and the brass they must leave behind. This building was to them as a temple “where the children of the last kingdom could come together to praise the Lord.” As they cast one last gaze on their homes and the monuments reared to their faith, they asked, “Who is the God of the gentiles? Can he be our God?”

In the same number of the Times and Seasons in which appeared a notice of this meeting was published a circular signed by Brigham Young, and ad­dressed to the brethren scattered abroad throughout America, informing them of the impending change. “ The exodus of the nations of the only true Israel from these United States to a far distant region of the west, where bigotry, intolerance, and insatiable oppression will have lost its power over them, forms a new epoch, not only in the history of the church, but of this nation.”

The arbitrary acts of the people of Illinois in forcing the departure of the saints lays them open to the grave charge, among others, of a desire to possess their property for less than its value. Houses and lots, farms and merchandise, could not be turned into money, or even into wagons and live-stock, in a moment, except at a ruinous sacrifice. Granted that the hierarchy was opposed to American institutions, that the Mormons wished to gain possession of the United States and rule the world: no one feared the immediate consummation of their pretentious hopes. Granted that among them were adulterers, thieves, and murderers: the gentiles were the stronger, and had laws by which to punish the guilty. It was not a noble sentiment which had actuated the people of Missouri; it was not a noble sentiment which now actuated the people of Illinois, thus to continue their persecutions during the preparations for departure, and drive a whole city full from their homes out upon the bleak prairie in the dead of winter.

In January 1846 the council ordered that a detachment should set forth at once, and that the remainder of the saints should follow as soon as possible. “Beloved brethren,” said their leader, “it now remains to be proven whether those of. our family and friends who are necessarily left behind for a season, to obtain an outfit through the sale of property, shall be mobbed, burned, and driven away by force. Does any American want the honor of doing it? or will any Americans suffer such acts to be done, and the disgrace of them to remain on their character, under existing circumstances. If they will, let the world know it.”

The world was soon to know it. Driven almost at the point of the sword, a large number of the saints, soon afterward followed by the president, the twelve, the high council, and other companies, gathered on the eastern bank of the Mississippi early in February.

There was but little money in circulation throughout the west at this time. Over vast wild sections skins were the only currency, and at the settlements traffic for the most part assumed the form of barter or exchange of labor. It was, therefore, exceedingly difficult, as I have said, for the saints to get their property into portable form, even after selling their lands at half or quarter their value. The gentiles, of course, could pay what they pleased, being the only buyers, and the saints being forced to sell. Moreover, there was more property thrown upon the market than could be taken at once, and the departure of so large and thrifty a portion of the population was of itself sufficient to depreciate property. The best they could do was to exchange their lands for wagons and horses and cattle, and this they did to as large an extent as possible, scouring the country for a hundred miles around in search of live-stock.

And now, putting upon their animals and vehicles such of their household effects as they could carry, in small detachments the migratory saints began to leave Nauvoo. Before them was the ice-bound river, and beyond that the wilderness.

There is no parallel in the world’s history to this migration from Nauvoo. The exodus from Egypt was from a heathen land, a land of idolaters, to a fertile region designated by the Lord for his chosen people, the land of Canaan. The pilgrim fathers in flying to America came from a bigoted and despotic people—a people making few pretensions to civil or religious liberty. It was from these same people who had fled from old-world persecutions that they might enjoy liberty of conscience in the wilds of America, from their descendants and associates, that other of their descendants, who claimed the right to differ from them in opinion and practice, were now fleeing. True, the Mormons in various ways had rendered themselves abominable to their neighbors: so had the puritan fathers to their neighbors. Before this the Mormons had been driven to the outskirts of civilization, where they had built themselves a city; this they must now abandon, and throw themselves upon the mercy of savages.

The first teams crossed about the 10th, in flat boats, which were rowed over, and which plied forth and back from early dawn until late into the night, skiffs and other river craft being also used for passengers and baggage. The cold increased. On the 16th snow fell heavily; and the river was frozen over, so that the remainder of the emigration crossed on the ice. Their first camp, the camp of the congregation, was on Sugar Creek, a few miles from Nauvoo and almost within sight of the city. All their movements were directed by Brigham, who with his family and a quorum of the twelve, John Taylor, George A. Smith, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Parley P. Pratt, and Amasa Lyman, joined the brethren on Sugar Creek on the 15th. Wilford Woodruff, who had been sent to preside over the mission to England, joined the emigration later at Mount Pisgah.

On the morning of the 17th, all the saints in camp being assembled near the bridge to receive their leader’s instructions, the president stood upright in his wagon, and cried with a loud voice, “Attention! The whole camp of Israel.” He then went on to say that as the Lord had been with them in times past, howsoever singular had been his method of proving his presence, so would he be with them in the future. His empire, the empire of his people, was established, and the powers of hell should not prevail against it.

After this, with comparatively light hearts, they broke camp, and slowly wending their way westward, disappeared at length beyond the horizon, in pursuit once more of the ever-mocking phantom of home. Whither they journeyed they were as yet uncertain. They knew only that they were to search out, probably beyond the Rocky Mountains, if not indeed among them, some isolated spot, where, far away from the land of boasted freedom, the soil, the skies, and mind and manners were free. If they were offensive to the laws, if the laws of the land were offensive to them, they would go where they might have land and laws of their own.

Considering their situation, and what they had been lately called to undergo—ignominy, insult, the loss of property, the abandonment of home—there was little complaint. It was among their opponents, and in the midst of a general recital of their wrongs, that the saints were accustomed to put on a long face and strike into a doleful strain. Among themselves there were few people more free from care, or more light-hearted and happy.

In the present instance, though all were poor and some destitute, and though man and beast were exposed to driving rain and hail, and the chill blasts of a western winter often sweeping down upon them unchecked from the limitless prairie, they made the best of it, arid instead of wasting time in useless repining, set themselves at work to make the most of their joys and the least of their sorrows. On the night of March 1st, when the first camp was pitched beyond Sugar Creek, after prayer they held a dance, and as the men of Iowa looked on they wondered how these homeless outcasts from Christian civilization could thus praise and make merry in view of their near abandoning of themselves to the mercies of savages and wild beasts. Food and raiment were provided for all; for shelter they had their tents and wagons, and after the weather had spent somewhat of its ruggedness, no extreme hardships were suffered. Without attempting long distances in a single day, they made camp rather early, and after the usual manner of emigrants, the wagons in a circle or semi­circle round the camp-fire, placed so as best to shield them from the wind and wild beasts and Indians, with the animals at a convenient distance, some staked, and some running loose, but all carefully guarded. The country through which they passed was much of it well wooded; the land was fertile and afforded abundant pastures, the grass in summer being from one to ten feet high. Provisions were cheap: corn twelve cents and wheat twenty-five to thirty cents a bushel, beef two cents a pound, and all payable in labor at what was then considered good wages, say forty or fifty cents a day.

Into the wilderness they went, journeying day after day on toward the setting sun, their hearts buoyant, their sinews strengthened by a power not of this world. Forever fades the real before the imaginary. There is nothing tougher than fanaticism. What cared they for wind and rain, for comfortless couches or aching limbs?—the kingdom of the Lord was with them. What cared they for insults and in? justice when the worst this world could do was to hasten heaven to them? So on toward the west their long train of wagons rolled, leaving each day farther and farther behind the old, cold, fanatical east, with its hard, senseless dogmas, and its merciless civilization, without murmurings, without discord, the man above any other on earth they most loved and feared riding at their head, or standing with uplifted and extended hands as his people passed by, blessing and comforting them. “We were happy and contented,” says John Taylor, “and the songs of Zion resounded from wagon to wagon, reverberating through the woods, while the echo was returned from the distant hills.”

There were brass or stringed instruments in every company, and night and morning all were called to prayers at the sound of the bugle. Camp-fires drew around them the saints when their day’s work was finished, and singing, dancing, and story-telling enlivened the hour.

As they went on their way their ranks were swelled by fresh bands, until there were brought together 3,000 wagons, 30,000 head of cattle, a great number of mules and horses, and immense flocks of sheep. Richardson Point they made their second stationary camp, the third at Chariton River, the fourth at Locust Creek, where a considerable time was spent. Then there were—so named by the saints—Garden Grove, a large timbered tract which had been burned over, Mount Pisgah, and finally Winter Quarters, in Nebraska, on the west side of the Missouri, a little above the modern Omaha, on the site of the present town of Florence. At Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah were established farming settlements for the benefit of those who were to follow. In July the main body reached the Missouri at the spot now known as Council Bluffs, and soon afterward many crossed the river in a ferry-boat of their own construction, and pitched their tents at Winter Quarters. Other large encampments were formed on both banks of the river, or at points near by, where grass was plentiful. In early autumn about 12,000 Mormons were assembled in this neighborhood, or were on their way across the plains.

Leaving here the advance portion of the emigration, let us return to Nauvoo and see how it fared with those who were still engaged in preparations for their pilgrimage. It had been stipulated, the reader will remember, that the Mormons should remove from the state in the spring, or as soon afterward as they could sell their property, and that meanwhile they should not be molested. Long before spring, thousands had crossed the Mississippi, among whom were all the more obnoxious members of the sect. Meanwhile, how had the gentiles kept their faith ?

But passing the cause, what a picture was now presented by the deserted city and its exiled inhabitants!—the former, as Colonel Kane viewed it—but which view must be regarded as ideal rather than strictly historical—with “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 background, there rolled off a fair country, checkered by the careful lines of fruitful husbandry.”

To the Nauvoo Eagle Major Warren sent notice from Carthage, on the 16th of April, that he had been directed by the governor to disband on the 1st of May the force which had been kept there ostensibly for the protection of the saints, as the time appointed for their departure would expire on that day. The day arrived, and there were yet many Mormons remaining, many who had found it impossible to remove on account of sickness, failure to dispose of their property, or other adverse fortune; whereat the men of Illinois began to bluster and threaten annihilation. Warren, who had disbanded his troops on the 1st, received an order from the governor on the following day to mus­ter them into service again. This he did; for he would, if possible, see the treaty between the Mormons and the governor faithfully carried out, and while urging the saints to haste, he endeavored to stand between them and the mob which now threatened their lives and the destruction of their property.

Major Warren appears to have performed his duty firmly and well, and to have done all that lay in his power to protect the Mormons. In a letter to the Quincy Whig, dated May 20th, he writes: “The Mormons are leaving the city with all possible despatch. During the week four hundred teams have crossed at three points, or about 1,350 souls. The demonstrations made by the Mormon people are unequivocal. They are leaving the state, and preparing to leave, with every means God and nature have placed in their hands.” It was but the lower class of people that clamored for the immediate expulsion of the remnant of the saints—the ignorant, the bigoted, the brutal, the vicious, the lawless, and profligate, those who hated their religion and coveted their lands.

On the 6th of June the people of Hancock county met at Carthage to arrange for celebrating the 4th of July. One of the citizens rose and said that since the Mormons were not all removed they could not rejoice as freemen. Mormon affairs then took precedence, and another meeting was appointed for the 12th, an invitation being sent to the gentiles at Nauvoo who had occupied the deserted dwellings of the saints. It happened that this was the day appointed for the assembling of the militia, with a view to raise volunteers for the Mexican war; and now, it was thought, was a good opportunity to show the Mormons the military strength of the county. The officers conferred, and without authority from the governor, marched their troops, some three or four hundred in number, to a place called Golden Point, five miles from Nauvoo, where they encamped, and opened communication with the city. It happened, however, at this juncture, that Colonel Markham and others had returned with teams from Council Bluffs for some of the church property, and arming a force of six or eight hundred, prepared to sally forth; the name of Colonel Markham was a terror to evil-doers, and the militia fled, no one pursuing them.

There were yet remaining, as late as August, cer­tain sturdy saints who, having committed no crime, would not consent to be driven from their homes or barred from their occupations. Among these was a party engaged in harvesting wheat at a settlement eight miles from Nauvoo, in company with one or two of the gentiles, although it was forbidden by the men of Illinois that any Mormon should show himself outside the city, except en route for the west. The harvesters were seized and beaten with clubs, whereupon the people of Nauvoo, both Mormons and gentiles, took up the matter. Some arrests were made, and the culprits taken to Nauvoo, but by writ of habeas corpus were removed to Quincy, where they met with little trouble. While in Nauvoo, a gun in the hands of a militia officer was recognized by William Pickett as belonging to one of the harvesters. Pickett took possession of the weapon, and a warrant was issued against him for theft; when an officer came to arrest him, he refused to surrender. As the Mormons stood by him in illegal attitude, the affair caused considerable excitement.

In short, from the 1st of May until the final evac­uation of the city, the men of Illinois never ceased from strife and outrage. Of the latter I will mention only two instances: “A man of near sixty years of age,” writes Major Warren in the letter just referred to, “ living about seven miles from this place, was taken from his house a few nights since, stripped of his clothing, and his back cut to pieces with a whip, for no other reason than because he was a Mormon, and too old to make a successful resistance. Conduct of this kind would disgrace a horde of savages.” In August a party consisting of Phineas H. Young, his son Brigham, and three others who were found out­side, the city, were kidnapped by a mob, hurried into the thickets, passed from one gang to another—men from Nauvoo being in hot pursuit—and for a fort­night were kept almost without food or rest, and under constant threat of death.

Fears are now entertained that, by reason of the popular feeling throughout the country, Nauvoo city will be again attacked; the gentile citizens therefore ask Governor Ford for protection, whereupon Major Parker is sent to their relief. All through August troubles continue, the anti-Mormons almost coming to blows among themselves. Before the encl of the month about six hundred men are assembled at Carthage, by order of Thomas Carlin, a special constable, ostensibly to enforce the arrest of Pickett, but in reality to enforce the expulsion of the Mormons. Major Parker orders the constable’s posse to disperse, otherwise he threatens to treat them as a mob. The constable replies that if the major should attempt to molest them in discharge of their duty he will regard him and his command as a mob and so treat them. “Now, fellow-citizens,” declares a committee selected from four counties, in a proclamation issued at Carthage, “an issue is fairly raised. On the one hand, a large body of men have assembled at Carthage, under the command of a legal officer, to assist him in performing legal duties. They are not excited—they are cool, but determined at all hazards to execute the law in Nauvoo, which has always heretofore defied it. They are resolved to go to work systematically and with ample precaution, but under a full knowledge that on their good and orderly behavior their character is staked. On the other hand, in Nauvoo is a blustering Mormon mob, who have defied the law, and who are now organized for the purpose of arresting the arm of civil power. Judge ye which is in the right.”

Intending, as it seems, to keep his word, Carlin places his men under command of Colonel Singleton, who at once throws off the mask, and on the 7th of September announces to Major Parker that the Mormons must go. On the same day a stipulation is made, granting to the saints sixty days’ extension of time, and signed by representatives on both sides. But to the terms of this stipulation the men of Illinois would not consent. They were sore disgusted, and rebelled against their leaders, causing Singleton, Parker, and others to abandon their commands, the posse being left in charge of Constable Carlin, who summoned to his aid one Thomas Brockman, a clergy­man of Brown county, and for the occasion dubbed general. On the 10th of September the posse, now more than a thousand strong, with wagons, equipments, and every preparation for a campaign, approached Nauvoo and encamped at Hunter’s farm.

At this time there were in the city not more than a hundred and fifty Mormons, and about the same number of gentiles, or, as they were termed, ‘new citizens,’ capable of bearing arms, the remainder of the population consisting of destitute women and children and of the sick. Many of the gentiles had departed, fearing a general massacre, and those who remained could not be relied upon as combatants, for they were of course unwilling to risk their lives in a conflict which, if successful, would bring them no credit. Nothing daunted, the little band, under command of colonels Daniel H. Wells and William Cutler, took up its position on the edge of a wood in the suburbs of Nauvoo, and less than a mile from the enemy’s camp.

Before hostilities commenced, a deputation from Quincy visited the camp of the assailants, and in vain attempted to dissuade them from their purpose. No sooner had they departed than fire was opened on the Mormons from a battery of six-pounders, but without effect. Here for the day matters rested. At sunrise the posse changed their position, intending to take the city by storm, but were held in check by Captain Anderson at the head of thirty-five men, termed by the saints the Spartan band. The enemy now fired some rounds of grape-shot, forcing the besieged to retire out of range; and after some further cannonading, darkness put an end to the skirmish, the Mormons throwing up breastworks during the night.

On the morning of the 12th the demand of unconditional surrender was promptly rejected; whereupon, at a given signal, several hundred men who had been stationed in ambush, on the west bank of the river, to cut off the retreat of the Mormons, appeared with red flags in their hands, thus portending massacre. The assailants now opened fire from all their batteries, and soon afterward advanced to the assault, slowly, and with the measured tramp of veterans, at their head being Constable Carlin and the Reverend Brockman, and unfurled above them—the stars and stripes. When within rifle-range of the breastworks the posse wheeled toward the south, attempting to outflank the saints and gain possession of the temple square. But this movement had been anticipated, and posted in the woods to the north of the Mormon position lay the Spartan band. Leading on his men at double-quick, Anderson suddenly con­fronted the enemy and opened a brisk fire from revolving rifles. The posse advanced no farther, but for an hour and a half held their ground bravely against the Spartan band, the expense of ammunition in proportion to casualties being greater than has yet been recorded in modern warfare. Then they retreated in excellent order to the camp. The losses of the Mormons were three killed and a few slightly wounded; the losses of the gentiles are variously stated. Among those who fell were Captain Anderson and his son, a youth of sixteen, the former dying, as he had vowed that he would die, in defence of the holy sanctuary.

The following day was the sabbath, and hostilities were not renewed; but on that morning a train of wagons, despatched by the posse for ammunition and supplies, entered the town of Quincy. It was now evident that, whether the men of Illinois intended massacre or forcible expulsion, it would cost them many lives to effect either purpose. With a view, therefore, to prevent further bloodshed, a committee of one hundred proceeded to Nauvoo and attempted mediation. At the same time the Reverend Brockman sent in his ultimatum, the terms being that the Mormons surrender their arms, and immediately cross the river or disperse, and that all should be protected from violence. There was no alternative. The armed mob in their front was daily swelling in number, while beyond the river still appeared the red flag; their own ranks, meanwhile, were being rapidly thinned by defection among the new citizens.

On the 17th of September the remnant of the Mormons crossed the Mississippi, and on the same day the gentiles took possession of Nauvoo.

It was indeed a singular spectacle, as I have said, this upon the western border of the world’s great republic in the autumn of 1846. A whole cityful, with other settlements, and thousands of thrifty agriculturists in the regions about, citizens of the United States, driven beyond the border by other citizens: not by reason of their religion alone, though this was made a pretence; not for breaking the laws, though this was made a pretence; not on account of their immorality, for the people of Illinois and Missouri were not im­maculate in this respect; nor was it altogether on account of their solid voting and growing political power, accompanied ever by the claim of general in­heritance and universal dominion, though this last had more to do with it probably than all the rest combined, notwithstanding that the spirit of liberty and the laws of the republic permitted such massing of social and political influence, and notwithstanding the obvious certainty that any of the gentile political parties now playing the role of persecutors would gladly and unscrupulously have availed themselves of such means for the accomplishment of their ends. It was all these combined, and so combined as to engender deadly hate. It gave the Mormons a power in proportion to their numbers not possessed by other sects or societies, which could not and would not endure it; a power regarded by the others as unfairly acquired, and by a way and through means not in accord with the American idea of individual equality, of equal rights and equal citizenship. In regard to all other sects within the republic, under guard of the consti­tution, religion was subordinated to politics and government; in regard to the Mormons, in spite of the constitution, politics and government were subordinated to religion.

And in regard to the late occupants of the place, the last of the Mormon host that now lay huddled to the number of 640 on the western bank of the river in sight of the city : if the first departures from Nauvoo escaped extreme hardships, not so these. It was the latter part of September, and nearly all were pros­trated with chills and fevers, there at the river bank, among the dock and rushes, poorly protected, without the shelter of a roof or anything to keep off the force of wind or rain, little ones came into life and were left motherless at birth. They had not food enough to satisfy the cravings of the sick, nor clothing fit to wear. For months thereafter there were periods when all the flour they used was of the coarsest, the wheat being ground in coffee and hand mills, which only cut the grain; others used a pestle; the finer meal was used for bread, the coarser made into hominy. Boiled wheat was now the chief diet for sick and well. For ten days they subsisted on parched corn. Some mixed their remnant of grain with the pounded bark of the slippery elm which they stripped from the trees along their route.

This encampment was about two miles above Montrose on the Mississippi, and was called the Poor Camp. Aid was solicited, and within three weeks a little over one hundred dollars was collected, mostly in Quincy, with provisions and clothing, though the prejudice against them was deep and strong. Some of the people were crowded into tents, made frequently of quilts and blankets; others in bowers made of brush; others had only wagons for shelter. They suffered from heavy thunder-storms, when the rain was bailed out with basins from their beds. Mothers huddled their children in the one dress which often was all they possessed, and shaking with ague or burning with fever, took refuge from the pitiless storms under wagons and bushes.

“While the people for the most part were ill with chills and fever,” says Wells, “quail fell into camp and were picked up with ease. This supply was looked upon as miraculous by the half-famished people. So long had they been lashed by the fierce winds of misfortune, that now they accepted with gratitude this indication of providential care.

Wagons were sent from Winter Quarters for the removal of the people from Poor Camp; and gradually all reached the various stations in which the Mormons had gathered.

Of their long journey many painful incidents are recorded. Weakened by fever or crippled with rheumatism, and with sluggish circulation, many were severely frost-bitten. Women were compelled to drive the nearly worn-out teams, while tending on their knees, perhaps, their sick children. The strength of the beasts was failing, as there were intervals when they could be kept from starving only by the browse or tender buds and branches of the cotton-wood, felled for the purpose.

At one time no less than two thousand wagons could be counted, it was said, along the three hundred miles of road that separated Nauvoo from the Mormon encampments. Many families possessed no wagons, and in the long procession might be seen vehicles of all descriptions, from the lumbering cart, under whose awning lay stretched its fever-stricken driver, to the veriest makeshifts of poverty, the wheelbarrow or the two-wheeled trundle, in which was dragged along a bundle of clothing and a sack of meal—all of this world’s goods that the owner possessed.

On arriving at the banks of the Missouri, the wagons were drawn up in double lines and in the form of squares. Between the lines, tents were pitched at intervals, space being left between each row for a passage-way, which was shaded with awnings or a lattice-work of branches, and served as a promenade for convalescents and a playground for children.

And what became of Nauvoo? The temple was destroyed by fire and tempest, and all the wood-work consumed, while the rock was utilized for miles around as foundations of houses, for door-steps, and other purposes. A French company coming in later bought the stone from those in possession, and built wine-vaults. Foundations of buildings were broken up, and houses once surrounded by carefully tended flower-gardens, pillaged of all that was valuable, were now abandoned by their ruthless destroyers. “At present,” writes Linforth, “the Icarians form the most important part of the population of Nauvoo. . .They live in a long ugly row of buildings, the architect of which and of the school-house was a cobbler.” In the house built for the prophet and his family dwelt in 1854 the prophet’s widow, his mother, and his family.

 

CHAPTER IX.

AT THE MISSOURI.

1846-1847.

Native Races of the Missouri—The Pottawattamies and the Omahas-The Mormons Welcomed as Brethren—War with Mexico—Califor­nia Territory—Mexican Boundaries—Application to the United States Government for Aid—An Offer to Serve as Soldiers Accepted—Organization of the Mormon Battalion—Departure of the Battalion—Bounty Money—March across the Continent— The Battalion in California—Matters on the Missouri.

 

Among the savages on either side of the Missouri, the Pottawattamies on the east side and the Omahas on the west side, the outcasts from Nauvoo were warmly welcomed. “My Mormon brethren,” said the chief Pied Riche, “the Pottawattamie came sad and tired into this unhealthy Missouri bottom, not many years back, when he was taken from his beautiful country beyond the Mississippi, which had abundant game and timber and clear water everywhere. Now you are driven away in the same manner from your lodges and lands there, and the graves of your people. So we have both suffered. We must help one another, and the great spirit will help us both.”

Extreme care was taken not to infringe in any way upon the rights of the Indians or the government. Brigham counselled the brethren to regard as sacred the burial customs of the natives; frequently their dead were deposited in the branches of trees, wrapped in buffalo robes and blankets, with pipes and trinkets beside them. At Cutler Park there were friendly negotiations made with Big Elk, chief of the Omahas, who said: “I am willing you should stop in my coun­try, but I am afraid of my great father at Washington.”

As the United States pretended to hold the title to the land, it was thought that the Pottawattamies had no right to convey their timber to others; so Brigham enjoined that there should be no waste of timber within these limits, but that as much as was necessary might be used. A permit for passing through their territory, and for remaining while necessary was obtained from Colonel Allen, who was acting for the United States.

Although it was late in the season when the first bands of emigrants crossed the Missouri, some of them still moved westward as far as the Pawnee villages on Grand Island, intending to select a new home before winter. But the evil tidings from Nauvoo, and the destitute condition in which other parties of the saints reached the Mormon encampments, forbade further progress, and all prepared to spend the winter on the prairie. To the Mormon encampment on the site of the present town of Council Bluffs was afterward given the name of Kanesville?

While the saints were undergoing their infelicities . at Nauvoo, war had broken out between the United States and Mexico. At that time New Mexico and California were a part of Mexico, and Utah and Nevada were a part of California.6 Journeying west from Nauvoo, California or Oregon would be reached. The latter territory was already secured to the United States; people were there from the United States, composing religious sects and political parties as jealous of their holdings as any in Missouri or Illinois. Vancouver Island6 was practically unoccupied, but the Hudson’s Bay Company would scarcely regard with favor its occupation by a large body of American citizens whose government was at that moment crowd­ing them out of the Oregon territory and across the Columbia River.

But had the Mormons known their destination, had they known what point among the mountains or beside the sea was to be their final resting-place, they would not have told it. When they turned their back on Nauvoo, the whole western coast was before them, with its multitudinous mountains and valleys, its rivers and lakes, and long line of seaboard. Of the several parts of this immense territory, ownership and right of occupation were not in every instance determined. The question of the boundary line between England’s possessions and those of the United States had stirred up no small discussion and feeling, and out of the present war with Mexico would doubtless arise some changes. It was a foregone conclusion in the minds of many, before ever the migratory saints had reached the Missouri River, that when the present troubles with Mexico were ended the United States would have California. But however this might be, the saints had a firm reliance on an overruling providence, and once adrift upon the vast untenanted west, their God and their sagacity would point out to them their future home. Thus it was that while the Mormons in the western states took the route over­land, another portion living at the east took passage round Cape Horn, the intention being that the two bodies of brethren should come together somewhere upon the Pacific slope, which indeed they did.

The national title to what is now the Pacific United States being at this time thus unsettled, and the Mormons having been driven from what was then the United States, it was considered but natural, as indeed it seemed to be a necessity, that they would take possession of such unoccupied lands in the region toward the Pacific as best suited them. But it was not necessary that they should hold possession of such lands in opposition to the government of the United States, as they have been charged with doing.

They now applied to the government at Washington for work, offering to open roads, transport military stores, or perform any other service which the government might require in this farthest west, even to assist in fighting its battles. Such occupation would be of the greatest advantage to them in this new country, where land was fertile and plenty and free, and possessing as they did large herds of cattle and horses and sheep, with no market and but little money. And on the other hand, being on the ground, accustomed to work, and having every facility at hand without long and expensive transportation, they could give more and better work for the pay than the government could obtain by any other means.

They even asked for aid direct about the time the exodus began, being represented at Washington by Elder Jesse C. Little, who, aided by Colonel Kane, Amos Kendall, and others, brought the matter before President Polk. While negotiations were yet in progress, news arrived that General Taylor had al­ready won two victories over the Mexicans; whereupon the elder addressed a petition to the president, stating that from twelve to fifteen thousand Mormons had set forth from Nauvoo for California, while some had departed by sea, and in Great Britain alone were forty thousand converts, all resolved to join the saints in their promised land. Many of them were without means; they were compelled to go; they wanted assistance either in the way of work or otherwise. The Mormons were true-hearted Americans, the memorial went on to say, and if the government would assist them in their present emergency, the petitioner stood ready to pledge himself as their representative to answer any call the government might make upon them for service on the field of battle.

Elder Little was taken at his word. At a cabinet meeting, held a day or two after his petition was presented, the president advised that the elder be sent at once to the Mormon camps, and there raise a thousand men to take possession of California in the name of the United States, while a thousand more be sent by way of Cape Horn for the same purpose, on board a United States transport. It was finally arranged that the elder, in company with Kane, should proceed westward, the latter bearing despatches to Kearny, then at Fort Leavenworth, with a view to raising a corps of about five hundred men.

On the 19th of June, Kearny issued an order to Captain James Allen of the 1st dragoons to proceed to the Mormon camp, and there raise four or five companies of volunteers, to be mustered into the service of the United States and receive the pay and rations of other infantry volunteers. They were then to be marched to Fort Leavenworth, where they would be armed; after which they would proceed to California by way of Santa Fé. They were to enlist for twelve months, after which time they were to be discharged, retaining as their own property the arms furnished them.

In pursuance of his orders, Captain Allen proceeded to Mount Pisgah, where on the 26th he made known his mission. After a conference with the church council at that point, Allen went to Council Bluffs, where on the 1st of July it was determined by President Young that the battalion should be raised. In two weeks the corps was enrolled, and mustered in on the 16th of July, the president of the church promising to look after the wants of the families of those enlisting.

Though in reality a great benefit to the brethren, there were some hardships connected with the measure. As Brigham and others were on their way from Council Bluffs to Pisgah to aid in obtaining these recruits, they passed 800 west-bound wagons. At their encampments on each side the river there was much serious illness, and as many of the teamsters had been withdrawn for this campaign, much heavy work fell upon the women and children, and the aged and infirm.

After a ball on the afternoon of the 19th, the volunteers next day bade farewell to their families and friends, and accompanied by eighty women and children, set forth on their march, on the 1st of August arriving at Fort Leavenworth. Here the men received their arms and accoutrements, and to each was given a bounty of forty dollars, most of the money being sent back to the brethren by the hands of elders Hyde, Taylor, and others, who accompanied the battalion to that point, and there bade them God speed.

About the middle of August the corps resumed its march toward Santa Fé, a distance of seven hundred miles, arriving at that place in two parties on the 9th and 12th of October. There eighty-eight men were invalided and sent back to Pueblo for the winter, and later a second detachment of fifty-five, being found unfit for service, was also ordered to Pueblo. Many of them found their way during the following year to the valley of Great Salt Lake.

From Santa Fé the remainder of the troops set forth for San Diego, a journey of more than eleven hundred miles, the entire distance between that town and the Mormon camps on the Missouri exceeding two thousand miles. Much of the route lay through a pathless desert; at few points could food be obtained in sufficient quantity for man or beast, and sometimes even water failed. Wells were sunk in the wilderness; but on one occasion, at least, the men travelled for a hundred miles without water. Before leaving Santa Fé rations were reduced, and soon afterward further reduced to one half and finally to one quarter allowance, the meat issued to the troops being the flesh of such animals as were unable to proceed further, though their hides and entrails were eagerly devoured, being gulped down with draughts of water, when water could be had. While suffering these hardships the men were compelled to carry their own knapsacks, muskets, and extra ammunition, and sometimes to push the wagons through heavy sand, or help to drag them over mountain ranges.

Passing through a New Mexican pueblo on the 24th of October, some of the men were almost as naked as on the day of their birth, except for a breech­clout, or as their colonel termed it, a ‘centre-clothing,’ tied around the loins. In this plight, near the middle of December, the battalion reached the San Pedro River, some three hundred and forty strong, and here occurred the only battle which the saints militant fought during their campaign—an encounter with a herd of wild bulls. Thence, without further adventure worthy of note, they continued their march, and reaching the Pacific coast on the 29th of January, 1847, found the stars and stripes floating peacefully over the town of San Diego.

A more detailed account of the career of the Mormon battalion will be found in my History of California. It remains only to add here that about one hundred of the men reached Salt Lake City in the winter of 1847, while some remained on the Pacific coast.

The alacrity displayed by the Mormon president in raising this battalion has been ascribed to various causes; to the fear of further persecution should the levy be refused, and to a desire of showing that, notwithstanding their maltreatment, the saints were still unswerving in their loyalty to the United States. While all this carried weight, the bounty of twenty thousand dollars was no insignificant consideration, nor the hope that this battalion might serve as vanguard to Brigham’s host, provided he carried out his partially formed purpose to settle in California.

At the close of 1846, about twelve thousand souls had assembled in the Mormon camps, a portion of them being yet stationed as far eastward as Garden Grove. Of the rest a few had made their way to some Atlantic port and taken ship for California; many had dispersed throughout the country, some of whom were now gathering at the rendezvous. Though the first bands that crossed, the Mississippi encountered no very severe hardships, as I have said, the sufferings of those who set forth later have few parallels, even among the pioneers, who, a year or two afterward, followed their track westward in search of gold.

Mount Pisgah, the next encampment west of Garden Grove, was on the middle fork of Grand River. Through this winter of 1846-7, which was one of severest struggle, there was great lack of food and clothing. They could not go on because they had no teams, most of them being employed in bringing forward the emigration from the Mississippi. Many families were entirely out of provisions, and their destitute neighbors were sorely taxed. A fatal sickness swept through the camp, and soon there were not sufficient persons to nurse the sick; frequently burials were hastened with little ceremony. In the spring of 1847, Lorenzo Snow was made president of the camp. The men were put to work wherever they could get it. Seed was planted, and the result was enough not only for themselves, but they were enabled to send supplies to the camp at Council Bluffs. Snow instituted religious ceremonies and amusements to brighten and encourage them. He describes a dance in his log cabin, where clean straw was spread over the ground floor, and the walls draped with sheets. Turnips were scooped out and in them were placed lighted candles, which, suspended from the ceiling of earth and cane, or fastened on the walls, imparted a picturesque effect. Dancing, speeches, songs, and recitations varied the exercises, which opened and closed with prayer.

On each side of the hills where now stands Council Bluffs could be seen the white canvas tents of a Mormon encampment, from which arose at sunrise the smoke of hundreds of fires. After the morning meal, the men employed themselves in tending herds, in planting grain and vegetables, or in building houses for winter. Many of them were excellent craftsmen, and could fell a tree, and split its trunk into boards, scantling, rails, posts, or whatever were needed, as readily as the most expert backwoodsmen of their day.

During the summer and autumn months of 1846, the Papillon camp, near the Little Butterfly River, in common with the others, was stricken with fever, and with a scorbutic disease which the Mormons termed the black canker. In the autumn drought, the streams that discharge into the Missouri at this point are often little better than open sewers, pestilential as open cesspools, and the river, having lost more than half its volume, flows sluggishly through its channel of slime and sedge. Of the baked mud on either bank is formed the rich soil on which lay the encampments, the site being called, in their own phrase, Misery Bottom. In the year previous the Indians in this neighborhood had lost one ninth of their number; and now that the earth was for the first time upturned by the plough, the exhalations from this rank and steaming soil were redolent of disease and death.

In the camp nearest to Papillon more than one third of the company lay sick at the beginning of August; elsewhere matters were even worse; and as the season advanced there were in some of the encampments not one who escaped the fever, the few who were able to stagger from tent to tent carrying food and water to their comrades. For several weeks it was impossible to dig graves quickly enough for the burial of the dead, and one might see in the open tents the wasted forms of women brushing away the flies from the putrefying corpses of their children.

Through all these months building was continually going on at Winter Quarters. The axe and saw were incessantly at work night and day. It was a city of mud and logs; the houses had puncheon floors and roofs of straw and dirt, or of turf and willows; they were warm and not unwholesome, but would not en­dure the thaw, rain, and sunshine.

There was a camp at Cutler Park which was moved to Winter Quarters. Great difficulty was experienced in getting flour and meal; a little grain was ground at the government mill, and the rest was obtained in Missouri, a hundred and fifty miles distant. Brigham kept everybody busy, and everything was well organized and systematically executed. Schools were soon established, officers of the church appointed, and men sent on missions. The whole machinery was apparently in as active operation as it had been at Nauvoo. The gathering continued through the summer, but it was deemed inexpedient to move forward that year. Some twelve hundred cattle were herded on the rush bottoms, about a hundred miles up the river.

The building of a water flouring mill was in process of construction, and Brigham superintended the work. As the camp journalist writes: “He sleeps with one eye open and one foot out of bed, and when anything is wanted he is on hand.” The tithing collected was distributed among the destitute at Mount Pisgah. To the gentiles who visited their camps such hospitality was extended as their means permitted, which though often scant was never stinted.

Within the camp the women attended not only to their ordinary household duties, but were busily occupied spinning, knitting, making leggings from deer and elk skins, and in weaving willow baskets for market. With cheerfulness and courage they adapted themselves to their many vicissitudes, their faith in their religion never swerving, and supported by it to a pa­tient endurance beyond human strength. Most of them had exchanged their household treasures and personal effects, even to their table and bed furniture, for stores of maize or flour, which with milk were their only articles of diet. As evening approached, the tinkling of cattle bells announced the return of the men, when the women went forth to meet them, and welcome them back to their log hut and frugal meal. Then a little later all sounds were hushed, save that on the still night arose the strains of the evening hymn and the murmur of the evening prayer, the day closing, as it had commenced, with a supplication for the blessing of the Almighty, and with heartfelt thanksgiving that he had been pleased to deliver his people from the hands of their persecutors.

During the latter part of the winter and toward the early spring matters assumed a brighter look. New-year’s day was ushered in at Winter Quarters by the firing of cannon. There were frequent assemblies for dancing, and in February several picnics were held. In inaugurating these festivities, Brigham told the people he would show them how to go forth in the dance in an acceptable manner before the Lord, and to the sound of music led the dance. A picnic lasting for three days was also given, at which three hundred of the poor were feasted.

 

CHAPTER X.

MIGRATION TO UTAH.

1847.

 

Camp Near the Missouri—Preparations at Winter Quarters—Departure of the Pioneer Band—Elkhorn Rendezvous—Route and Routine—Incidents of Journey—Approach to Zion—In the Cañon— Hosanna! Hallelujah!—Entry into the Valley of the Great Salt Lake—Ploughing and Planting—Praying and Praising—Site fob a City Chosen—Temple Block Selected—Return of Companies to Winter Quarters—Their Meeting with the Westward-bound —General Epistle op the Twelve.

 

In the spring of 1847 we find the saints still in camp in the vicinity of the Missouri. Considering what they had been called upon to undergo, they were in good health and spirits. There is nothing like the spiritual in man to stimulate and sustain the physical; and this result is equally accomplished by the most exalted piety of the true believer, or by the most stupid fanaticism or barbaric ignorance; for all of us are true believers, in our own eyes. There is nothing like religion to sustain, bear up, and carry men along under trying circumstances. They make of it a fight; and they are determined that the world, the flesh, and the devil shall not conquer.

In the present instance it was of course a miracle in their eyes that so many of their number were preserved; it was to this belief, and to the superhuman skill and wisdom of their leader, and partly to their own concert of action, that their preservation was due.

Frequent meetings had been held by the council to consider plans for further explorations by a pioneer band. A call was made for volunteers of young and able-bodied men, and in April a company was organized, with Brigham Young as lieutenant-general, Stephan Markham colonel, John Pack major, and fourteen captains. The company consisted of 143 persons, including three women, wives of Brigham Young, Lorenzo Young, and Heber C. Kimball. They had 73 wagons drawn by horses and mules, and loaded chiefly with grain and farming implements, and with provisions which were expected to last them for the return journey.

Early in April a detachment moved out of Winter Quarters for the rendezvous on the Elkhorn, and on the 14th the pioneer band, accompanied by eight members of the council, began the long journey westward in search of a site for their new Zion. If none were found, they were to plant crops and establish a settlement at some suitable spot which might serve as a base for future explorations.

The route was along the north branch of the Platte, and for more than 500 miles the country was bare of vegetation. Roused by the call of the bugle at five o’clock in the morning, they assembled for prayers; then they breakfasted, and upon a second call of the bugle at seven ‘ o’clock they started, and travelled about twenty miles for the day. At night the note of the bugle sent each to his own wagon to prayers and at nine o’clock to bed. They rested on Sunday, giving up the day to fasting and prayer. They were careful in marching to preserve order, with loaded guns and powder-horn ready. And the better to present a compact front, the wagons were kept well together, usually two abreast where the ground would permit, and the men were required to walk by the wagons.

They felled cotton-wood trees for their horses and cattle to browse upon, and at last were obliged to feed them from the grain, flour, and biscuit they carried, subsisting meanwhile themselves on game and fish. In the valley of the Platte roamed such vast herds of buffaloes that it was often necessary to send parties in advance and clear the road before the teams could pass. At night the wagons would be drawn up in a semicircle on the bank, the river forming a defence upon one side. The tongues of the wagons were on the outside, and a fore wheel of each was placed against the hind wheel of the wagon before it; all the horses and cattle were brought inside of the enclosure. The corral thus formed was oblong, with an opening at either end, where was stationed a guard. The tents were pitched outside of the corral

In crossing the Loup River on the 24th, they used a leathern boat made for this expedition, and called The Revenue Cutter. On the 4th of May letters were sent back to Winter Quarters by a trader named Charles Beaumont. On the 22d they encamped at Ancient Bluff Ruins. Here the spirits of the people reached such high hilarity that their commanding officer was obliged to rebuke them, whereupon all covenanted to humble themselves.

Early in June they reached the Black Hills byway of Fort Laramie. Here they rested for two or three weeks to build ferry-boats and recruit their animals. Grass was now plentiful; most of the brethren depended upon their rifles for food, and after having prepared sufficient dried meat for the rest of the journey, they continued on their way.

No sooner had they crossed the river than a horse­man, who had followed their trail from Laramie, rode up and begged them to halt, as near by was a large company bound for Oregon, for which he asked conveyance over the stream. The pioneers consented,, stipulating that they should receive payment in provisions. Other parties following, the larder of the saints was replenished.

Travelling rapidly, and a little to the south of what was known as the Oregon track,9 the Mormons arrived at South Pass in the latter part of June, about the time when the tide of emigration usually passed the Missouri. Thence skirting the Colorado desert and reaching the Green River country, the monotony was broken. Here the brethren were met by Elder Brannan, who had sailed from New York for California in the ship Brooklyn, the previous February, with 238 saints, as before mentioned. He reported that they were all busy making farms and raising grain on the San Joaquin River. As several of the present company were ill with mountain fever, they encamped for a few days. Thirteen battalion brethren who were out searching for stolen cattle now surprised them, and Brigham led in three hearty cheers1 Again en route, passing through the Green River country, they reached Fort Bridger. Soon after leaving this point the real difficulties of the journey commenced. Led, as the saints relate, only by the inspiration of the Almighty, Brigham and his band crossed the rugged spurs of the Uintah range, now following the rocky bed of a mountain torrent, and now cleaving their way through dense and gnarled timber until they arrived at Echo Canon, near the eastern slope of the Wasatch Mountains, where for a brief space the main body rested, the president and many others being attacked with mountain fever.

Impatient of the delay, Brigham, after a formal meeting, directed Orson Pratt to take the strongest of their number and cut through the mountains into the valley, making roads and bridges as they went. After crossing what were designated as Big and Little mountains, the party, consisting of some forty-two men having twenty-three wagons, encamped in Emigration Canon.

Thus the saints are reaching their resting-place. Their new Zion is near at hand; how near, they are as yet all unaware. But their prophet has spoken; their way is plain; and the spot for them prepared from the foundation of the earth will presently be pointed out to them. The great continental chain is penetrated. In the heart of America they are now upon the border of a new holy land, with its Desert and Dead Sea, its River Jordan, Mount of Olives, and Gallilee Lake, and a hundred other features of its prototype of Asia.

Through the western base of the mountains extends the canon, the two sides of which are serrated by a narrow stream, which along the last five miles flings itself from one side to the other a score or two of times, in places tumbling over bowlders, again quietly threading its way over a pebbly bottom, but everywhere cutting up the narrow and rugged gorge so as to make it most difficult and dangerous of passage.

The primeval silence is now broken; the primeval songs are now disturbed by sounds strange to the surrounding hills, accustomed only to the music of running water and the notes of birds and wild beasts. There is the rumbling of the caravan as it comes slowly picking its way down the dark ravine, the tramping of the horses upon the hard ground, and the grinding of the wheels among the rocks as they plunge down one bank and climb another, or thread their way along the narrow ledge overhanging an abyss, the songs of Israel meanwhile being heard, and midst the cracking of whips the shouts now and then breaking forth of a leader in Israel awe-struck by the grandeur of the scene, “Hosanna to the Lord! hosanna to the creator of all! hallelujah! hallelujah!”

Emerging from the ravine upon a bench or terrace, they behold the lighted valley, the land of promise, the place of long seeking which shall prove a place of rest, a spot whereon to plant the new Jerusalem, a spot of rare and sacred beauty. Behind them and on either hand majestic mountains rear their proud fronts heavenward, while far before them the vista opens. Over the broad plain, through the clear thin air, bathed in purple sunlight, are seen the bright waters of the lake, dotted with islands and bordered by glistening sands, the winding river, and along the creek the broad patches of green cane which look like waving corn. Raising their hats in reverence from their heads, again hosannas burst from their lips, while praise to the most high ascends from grateful hearts.

It was near this terrace, being in fact a mile and a half up the canon, that Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow, with their detachment of pioneers, encamped on the 20th of July, 1847. Next day, the ever-memorable 21st, to reach this bench, whence was viewed with such marvellous effect the warm, pulsating panorama before them, Pratt and Snow crept on their hands and knees, warned by the occasional rattle of a snake, through the thick underbrush which lined the south side of the mountain and filled the canon’s mouth, leaving their companions on the other side of the brush. After drinking in the scene to the satisfaction of their souls, they descended to the open plain, Snow on horseback, with his coat thrown loosely upon his saddle, and Pratt on foot. They journeyed westward three miles, when Snow missing his coat turned back, and Pratt continued alone. After traversing the site of the present city, and standing where later was temple block, he rejoined his comrade at the mouth of the canon. Together they then returned to camp late in the evening and told of their discoveries.

The following morning the advance company, com­posed of Orson Pratt, George A. Smith,16 and seven others, entered the valley and encamped on the bank of Canon Creek. They explored the valley toward the lake, and about three miles from the camp found two fine streams with stony bottoms, whose banks promised sufficient pasturage. Proceeding northward, they found hot springs at the base of the mountain spur. Upon their return they were greeted by the working camp five miles from the mouth of the cañon, at what was subsequently known as Parley Cañon creek. On the 23d the camp moved some two or three miles northward, the site chosen being near the two or three dwarf cotton-woods, which were the only trees within sight, and on the bank of a stream of pure water now termed City Creek, overgrown with high grass and willows. Pratt called the men together, dedicated the land to the Lord, and prayed for his blessing on the seeds about to be planted and on the labors of the saints. Before noon a committee returned a report .that they had staked off land suitable for crops; that the soil was friable, and composed of loam and gravel. The first furrow was thereupon turned by William Carter, and through the afternoon three ploughs and one harrow were at work. A dam was commenced and trenches cut to convey water to the fields. Toward evening their energetic labors were interrupted by a thunder-storm. The ground was so dry that they found it necessary to irrigate it before ploughing, some ploughs having been broken; and it was not until after the arrival of Brigham that planting was begun.

The coming of the leader had been impatiently awaited, although in their ambition to have as much as possible accomplished, the time quickly passed. Brigham was slowly following with the remainder of the company, and was still so weak as to be obliged to be carried on a bed in Wilford Wordruff’s carriage. As they reached a point on Big Mountain where the view was unbroken, the carriage was turned into proper position, and Brigham arose from his bed and surveyed the country. He says: “The spirit of light rested upon me and hovered over the valley, and I felt that there the saints would find protection and safety.” Woodruff in describing the scene says of Brigham: “He was enwrapped in vision for several minutes. He had seen the valley before in vision, and upon this occasion he saw the future glory of Zion... planted in the valley.” Then Brigham said: “ It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on.” Toward noon on the 24th they reached the encampment. Potatoes were planted in a five-acre patch of ploughed ground, and a little early corn.

Their first impressions of the valley, Lorenzo Young says, were most disheartening. But for the two or three cotton-wood trees, not a green thing was in sight. And yet Brigham speaks almost pathetically of the destruction of the willows and wild roses growing thickly on the two branches of City Creek, destroyed because the channels must be changed, and leaving nothing to vary the scenery but rugged mountains, the sage bush, and the sunflower. The ground was covered with millions of black crickets which the Indians were harvesting for their winter food. An unusual number of natives had assembled for this purpose, and after dinner gathered about the new-comers, evincing great curiosity as to their plans.

Lumber was made in the canons, or from logs drawn thence, with whip-saws, through the entire winter; afterward, on account of alarm at the apparent scarcity of timber, restrictions were put upon the manner of cutting and quantity used. Certain fines were imposed as a penalty for disobedience; for fuel only dead timber was allowed, and while there was sufficient, the restraint excited some opposition.

The next day was the sabbath; and as had been the custom at Nauvoo, two services were held, George A. Smith, followed by Heber C. Kimball and Ezra T. Benson, preaching the first sermon, and in the afternoon the meeting was addressed by Wilford Woodruff, Orson Pratt, and Willard Richards. One cause for thankfulness was that not a man or an animal had died on the journey. The sacrament was administered, and before dismissing the saints, the president bade them refrain from labor, hunting, or fishing. “You must keep the commandments of God,” he said, “or not dwell with us; and no man shall buy or sell land, but all shall have what they can cultivate free, and no man shall possess that which is not his own.”

On the 27th,28 the president, the apostles, and six others crossed a river which was afterward found to be the outlet of Utah Lake, and thence walked dry-shod over ground subsequently covered by ten feet of water to Black Rock, where all bathed in the lake, Brigham being the first to enter it. The party returned to camp on the following day, when a council was held, after which the members walked to a spot midway between the north and south forks of a neighboring creek, where Brigham stopped, and striking the ground with his cane, exclaimed, “ Here will be the temple of our God.” This was about five o’clock in the afternoon. An hour later it was agreed that a site should be laid out for a city in blocks or squares of ten acres, and in lots of an acre and a quarter, the streets to be eight rods wide, with side­walks of twenty feet.

At eight o’clock on the same evening a meeting was held on the temple square, and it was decided by vote that on that spot the temple should be built, and from that spot the city laid out.

On the 29th of July a detachment of the battalion, which had wintered at Pueblo, to the number of 150, under Captain James Brown, arrived in the valley; they were accompanied by fifty of the brethren who had started the year previous from the Mississippi. On the following evening a praise service for their safe arrival was held in the brush bowery, hastily constructed for the purpose by the battalion brethren.

During the next three weeks all were busily at work, tilling the soil, cutting and hauling timber, making, adobes, and building, ambitious to accomplish as much as possible before the main body of the pioneer band should start on its return journey to report to the brethren and to promote further emigration. The battalion brethren moved their wagons and formed a corral between the forks of City Creek. Brigham exhorted the brethren to be rebaptized, himself setting the example, and reconfirming the elders. On the 8th of August three hundred were immersed, the services commencing at six o’clock in the morning. During the month twenty-nine log houses had been built, either with roofs or ready for the usual substitute, a covering of poles and dirt. These huts were so arranged as to carry out their plan of forming a rectangular stockade, the president and Heber C. Kimball being the first to take possession of their dwellings.

On the 17th of August twenty-four pioneers and forty-six of the battalion set out on their return to Winter Quarters.

On the afternoon of the 22d a conference was held, at which it was resolved that the place should be called the City of the Great Salt Lake. The term ‘Great’ was retained for several years, until changed by legislative enactment. It was so named in contradistinction to Little Salt Lake, a term applied to a body of water some two hundred miles to the south, situated in what was later known as Iron county, near Parowan, and which has since almost disappeared. The stream connecting the two great lakes was named the Western Jordan, now called the Jordan, and the whole region whose waters flow into the lake was distinguished as the great basin. On the 26th a second company, consisting of 107 persons, started for Winter Quarters. Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball set forth on horseback a little in advance of the others, but turning back, they waved their hats with a cheery “Good-by to all who tarry,” and then rode on.

“We have accomplished more this year,” writes Wilford Woodruff, “than can be found on record concerning an equal number of men in the same time since the days of Adam. We have travelled with heavily laden wagons more than a thousand miles, over rough roads, mountains, and canons, searching out a land, a resting-place for the saints. We have laid out a city two miles square, and built a fort of hewn timber drawn seven miles from the mountains, and of sun-dried bricks or adobes, surrounding ten acres of ground, forty rods of which were covered with block-houses, besides planting about ten acres of corn and vegetables. All this we have done in a single month.”

At Winter Quarters active preparations had been making for following the pioneers at the earliest opportunity. Throughout the spring all was activity. Every one who had teams and provisions to last a year and a half was preparing to move, and assisting those who were to remain to plough and sow. Parley P. Pratt, having returned from England shortly before Brigham’s departure, was left in charge of the first companies ordered westward. On the 4th of July, 1847, they set forth for the Rocky Mountains, numbering in all 1,553 persons.

A complete organization of the people was effected, according to a revelation of the Lord made through Brigham on the 14th of January, 1847. They were divided into companies, each with one hundred wagons, and these into companies of fifty wagons, and ten wagons, every company under a captain or commander. Two fifties travelled in double columns if practicable. When a halt was called the wagons were arranged as in the march of the pioneers, forming a temporary fort, with its back opening upon the corral formed by the two semicircles. The cattle were then driven into the corral under charge of the herdsmen. When ready to march, the captain of each ten attended to his company, under the supervision of the captain of fifty. Advance parties each day selected the next camping-ground. In the absence of wood, fires were made from buffalo chips and sage brush. The wagons had projections extending over the sides, making the interior six feet wide. Hencoops were carried at the end of each wagon, and a few young pigs were brought for use in the valley. Great care was used to prevent a stampede of the animals, as they appeared to recognize the peculiarities and dangers of the new country and were easily alarmed. The organization and order in the camp was so perfect that not unfrequently half an hour after a halt the people sat down to a comfortable meal of fresh bread and broiled meat.

At the beginning of their journey, jealousy, bickering, and insubordination arose among them, and a Halt was called for the purpose of holding a council and adjusting matters. For several hundred miles they followed the trail of the pioneers, and now were ap­proaching the president and his men, who, encamped between Green River and the Sweetwater, had sent forward two messengers to ascertain the progress and condition of the company. Upon hearing of the difficulties that had arisen, Brigham sent for Pratt and. censured him severely for defects in the management of the party at the start, and for misunderstandings on the road. Pratt humbly acknowledged his faults and was forgiven. While the president and council were at prayer, the Sioux improved the occasion by stealing a number of horses, which proved a serious loss.

Pratt now returned to his command, and without special incident reached the Salt Lake settlement on the 19th of September; the companies arriving in detachments at intervals of several weeks.

Brigham’s band was scantily provisioned for the journey to Winter Quarters. The number that had already gathered at Salt Lake had drawn heavily on the pioneers’ resources, and they set out depending for subsistence on game and fish. They travelled more rapidly in returning, although most of them were compelled to walk. A few days after the Indian depredation mentioned during the council, the Mormons were attacked by a large war party of Sioux, who again carried off many horses. The meeting of the battalion and pioneer brethren with Parley Pratt’s company was an occasion of rejoicing to all. On the 7th of September the former arrived at the Sweetwater. Here, with the assembled companies, a jubilee was held and a feast of good things prepared. While the men cut down brush and constructed a bowery, the women, with great trouble, unpacked their dishes and table furniture, delighted at the opportunity of assisting at such an event. A fat heifer was killed, and whatever luxuries were in camp were now produced. A slight snow fell, but in No degree marred their merriment; the feast was followed by music and dancing, and by accounts of the pioneers’ experiences in entering upon and settling their new Zion; after prayer the company dispersed. The remnants of the banquet were left with the eastern-bound train, and as they separated each bade the other God speed. A fortnight before reaching Winter Quarters a small delegation met Brigham’s company with most welcome supplies. On the 31st of October, when within one mile of the settlement, Brigham called his men together, praised them for their good conduct, blessed and dismissed them. They drove into town in order an hour before sunset. The streets were crowded, and friends pressed forward, shaking hands as they passed through the lines.

During this season an abundant harvest had been gathered by the brethren at their encampments near the Missouri, though sickness was an ever-present guest; and many of their number who could least be spared were scattered throughout the world as missionaries in Europe, and as far westward as the Sandwich Islands, as soldiers in California, or as laborers wherever they could find a livelihood in the western states. The winter was passed quietly and in content, most of the saints preparing for their migration in the spring. Meanwhile, on the 23d of December, 1847, a general epistle of the twelve was issued to the brethren and to the gentiles. In this it was stated that they were at peace with all the world, that their mission was to extend salvation to the ends of the earth, and an invitation was extended to “all presidents, and emperors, and kings, and princes, and nobles, and governors, and rulers, and judges, and all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people under the whole heaven, to come and help us to build a house to the name of the God of Jacob, a place of peace, a city of rest, a habitation for the oppressed of every clime.” Then followed an exhortation for the saints to gather unto Zion, promising that their reward should be a hundred-fold and their rest glorious. They must bring “their gold, their silver, their copper, their zinc, their tin, and brass, and iron, and choice steel, and ivory, and precious stones; their curiosities of science,... or anything that ever was, or is, or is to be for the exaltation, glory, honor, and salvation of the living and the dead, for time and for all eternity.”

Such a gathering of saints and gentiles would of itself have constituted an earthly Zion, especially for the president and the twelve, who held virtual control over their brethren’s property. Among the gentiles one would think that such rhodomontade could not fail to bring discredit on the Mormon faith and the Mormon cause, but no such result followed. As will be mentioned later, their missions were never more prosperous than during the years when at their new stake of Zion the saints were employed, not in adorning their temple with gold, silver, and precious stones, but in building rough shanties, hewing timber, hoeing corn, and planting potatoes.

The trite maxim commencing Aequam memento was one which the saints had taken well to heart, and on few was the men’s aequa in arduis more firmly stamped than on the brow of him who, on Christmas eve, the day after his invitation to the princes and potentates of all the earth, was appointed president of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints. And while in adversity there were none more steadfast, it must be admitted there were few in whom success developed so little of pride and of vainglory. From this time forth Brigham Young was to the saints as a prophet—yea, and more than a prophet: one on whom the mantle had fallen not unworthily. By his foresight he had saved his people from dispersion, and perchance his faith from annihilation. Hounded by a mob, he had led his followers with consummate tact throughout their pilgrimage, and in a wilderness as yet almost untrodden by man had at length established for them an abiding-place.

After the departure of Brigham from Salt Lake, John Smith, the prophet’s uncle, was nominally president of the camp; but upon the arrival of John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt their precedence was acknowledged and they were placed in charge. There were no laws until the latter part of this year, though certain penalties were assigned for certain crimes and executed by the people. As there was no jail, the whipping-post was substituted, but used only two or three times. In such cases the high council tried the prisoner, and sentenced him. “President Young was decidedly opposed to whipping,” says George Q. Cannon, “but matters arose that we considered required punishment at the time.”

During this period men and women voted by ballot in matters relating to government. Women had already voted in religious meetings by the uplifted hand, but this is probably the first instance in the United States where woman suffrage was permitted. Utah at that time, however, was not a part of the United States, and before its admission as a territory the privilege was withdrawn.

On the 16th of November, 0. P. Rockwell, E. K. Fuller, A. A. Lathrop, and fifteen others set forth for California to buy cows, mules, mares, wheat, and seeds. They bought two hundred head of cows at six dollars each, with which they started from California, but lost forty head on the Mojave; being ninety days on the return trip. During the autumn, several parties of the battalion men arrived from California, bringing a quantity of wheat. Captain Grant came to Salt Lake City from Fort Hall in December to arrange for opening trade between the two points. After due discussion, the matter was referred to the headquarters of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

In regard to affairs at Pueblo and on the Missouri, I am indebted for further and later information to my esteemed friends Wilbur F. Stone and William N. Byers of Colorado. A detachment of the Mormons that wintered at Pueblo underwent many hardships, and there have been found relics in that vicinity, in the shape of furnace and cinders, significant of their industrial occupation at the time.

On the Missouri, the Indians, who at first had so heartily welcomed the saints during the year 1847, complained to the government that they were intruding on their domain. The government therefore ordered away the Mormons, but gave them permission to occupy lands on the east bank of the river for five years. There they built a town, named Kanesville, opposite Omaha, and occupied the best part of the country up and down the left bank of the river for a distance of twenty miles in each direction. Many of them lived in dugouts, that is, artificial caves made by digging out a space for occupancy in the bank of the river or on the side of a bluff. Most of them were farmers, and they had three or four grist-mills and two or three saw-mills.

The first emigrants did not stop on the east side of the river, but passed over at once on arrival, making their first settlement, as before mentioned, at Winter Quarters, situated six miles from the present city of Omaha, at the north end of the plateau, nearly all of which they ploughed up in the spring of 1847, and planted seed corn brought by those who the previous winter had returned to the Mississippi to work for wages. Hereabout they built many log houses, Brigham having a little cluster of them for his wives in a cosey nook apart from the others.

On their final departure for the west, the Mormons left a few of their number under A. J. Mitchell, who was assisted by A. J. Smith. They lived on the east side of the Missouri at first, and had a ferry across the river as early as 1851, with other ferries west, one at Loup Fork, and one on the Elkhorn. A large emigration up the river from New Orleans set in about this time. In the spring of 1852 the steamboat Saluda, having six hundred souls on board, was blown up at the mouth of the Platte.

In 1854 the lands of the Omahas, on the west side of the river, came into market, through a treaty made during the summer of that year with the natives, who ceded that section to the United States. Mitchell and Smith then moved to the western side, and changed the name of Winter Quarters to that of Florence, at the same time selling their interests on the eastern side to the gentiles, who changed the name of Kanesville to that of Council Bluffs.

 

CHAPTER XI.

IN THE VALLEY OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE.

1848.

 

Food and Raiment—Houses—Home Manufactures—The Fort—Wild Beasts—Cannon from Sutter’s Fort—Indian Children for Sale--Measles—Population—Mills and Farming Machinery—The Plaque of Crickets—They are Destroyed by Gulls—Scarcity of Provisions —The Harvest Feast—Immigration—Five Thousand Saints Gathered in the Valley—Fencing and Farming—Distribution of Lots— Organization of County Government—Association for the Extermination of Wild Beasts.

 

 

At the opening of January 1848, the saints were housed, clad, and fed in moderate comfort, and general content prevailed. The season was exceptionally mild; there were occasional light falls of snow, but not enough to interfere with ploughing and sowing, and a large tract of land was partially enclosed and planted with wheat and vegetables.

So many people were now in the valley that notwithstanding the abundant crops food at length became scarce. Families weighed out their flour and allowed themselves so much a day. The wheat was ground at a mill on City Creek, but as there was no bolting-cloth, the shorts and bran could not be separated. The beef was very poor, as most of the cattle had been worked hard while driven to the valley and after their arrival, while those turned out to range did not fatten quickly. Butter and tallow were needed. One wild steer, well fattened, was brought in from Goodyear’s rancho. A herd of deer crossing from one range of mountains to another was startled by the unexpected obstruction of the fort, and one sprang into the enclosure and was killed. Wild sago and parsnip roots constituted the vegetable food of the settlers. A few deaths occurred from poisonous roots. The bracing air and hard work stimulated appetite as stores decreased. For coffee parched barley and wheat were used, and as their sugar gave out, they substituted some of home manufacture. In the spring thistle tops were eaten, and became an important article of diet.

Anxiety began to be felt about clothing, and the hand-looms were now busily at work, although wool was scarce. As shoes wore out, moccasins were substituted, and goat, deer, and elk skins were manufactured into clothing for men and women, though most unsuitable for use in rain and snow.

At the time of Parley P. Pratt’s arrival, the city of Great Salt Lake consisted of a fort enclosing a block of ten acres, the walls of part of the buildings being of adobes and logs. There were also some tents. As additional companies came in, they extended the south divisions, which were connected with the old fort by gates. Wagon-boxes were also brought into line, and served for habitations until better accommodations were provided. The houses were built of logs, and were placed close together, the roofs slanting inward, and all the doors and windows being on the inside, with a loop-hole to each room on the outside. As everything indicated a dry climate, the roofs were made rather flat, and great inconvenience resulted. In March the rains were very heavy, and umbrellas were used to protect women and children while cook­ing, and even in bed. The clay found in the bottoms near the fort made excellent plaster, but would not stand exposure to rain, and quickly melted. All bread-stuffs were carefully gathered into the centre of the rooms, and protected with buffalo skins obtained from the Indians. The rooms in the outer lines all adjoined, and many of the families had several rooms. On the interior cross-lines rooms were built on both sides, the streets being eight rods wide.

There were serious depredations committed by wolves, foxes, and catamounts, and great annoyance occasioned by the howling of some of these animals. Further discomfort was caused by innumerable swarms of mice. Digging cavities and running about under the earthen floor, they caused the ground to tremble, and when the rain loosened the stones of the roofs, scampered off in hordes. Frequently fifty or sixty had to be caught and killed before the family could sleep.

The furniture was home-made, and very little of it at that. The table was a chest, and the bedstead was built into the corner of the house, which formed two of its sides, rails or poles forming the opposite sides; pegs were driven into the walls and rails, and the bed-cord tightly wound around them.10 The chimneys were of adobe, and sometimes there was a fire­place in the corner with a clay hearth.

In the early part of the year two brass cannon were purchased at Sutter’s Fort for the church, by the battalion brethren.

During the winter of 1847-8, some Indian children were brought to the fort to be sold. At first two were offered, but the settlers peremptorily refused to buy them.' The Indian in charge said that the children were captured in war, and would be killed at sunset if the white men did not buy them. Thereupon they purchased one of them, and the one not sold was shot. Later, several Indians came in with two more children, using the same threat; they were bought and brought up at the expense of the settlers.

Measles now appeared for the first time among the natives, who did not know where the disease came from or what to do. They assembled in large numbers at the warm springs, bathed in the waters, and died.

Public meetings were generally held near the liberty-pole in the centre of the fort; religious and secular meetings were also held in private houses. In March 1848 the population of the city was reported at 1,671, and the number of houses 423. Bridges were built over Mill Creek and Jordan River. Daniel Spencer was appointed road-master, and authorized to call on men to assist in making roads. In order that the burden might fall equally on all, a poll and property tax were instituted.

There were several mills soon in working order. A small grist-mill on City Creek was built by Charles Crismon near the pioneer garden; then there were Chase’s saw-mill and Archibald and Robert Gardiner’s on Mill Creek, and Nebeker, Riter, and Wallace’s in a canon ten miles north of the city. A carding machine was erected near Gardiner’s saw-mill by Amasa Russell, and a flouring mill during the summer by John Neff". Leffingwell constructed a threshing machine and fanning mill on City Creek, with a capacity of two hundred bushels per day. Mill-stones cut out of the basalt in the valley were of very good quality. Mill-irons, mill-stones, printing-presses, type, paper, and the carding machine were brought by the first bands of emigrants in 1848.

The spring saw everybody busy, and soon there were many flourishing gardens, containing a good variety of vegetables. In the early part of March ploughing commenced. The spring was mild and rain plentiful, and all expected an abundant harvest. But in the latter part of May, when the fields had put on their brightest green, there appeared a visitation in the form of vast swarms of crickets, black and baleful as the locust of the Dead Sea. In their track they left behind them not a blade or leaf, the appearance of the country which they traversed in countless and desolating myriads being that of a land scorched by fire. They came in a solid-phalanx, from the direction of Arsenal Hill, darkening the earth in their passage. Men, women, and children turned out en masse to combat this pest, driving them into ditches or on to piles of reeds, which they would set on fire, striving in every way, until strength was exhausted, to beat Back the devouring host. But in vain they toiled, in vain they prayed; the work of destruction ceased not, and the havoc threatened to be as complete as was that which overtook the land of Egypt in the last days of Israel’s bondage. “Think of their condition,” says Mr Cannon—“the food they brought with them almost exhausted, their grain and other seeds all planted, they themselves 1,200 miles from a settlement or place where they could get food on the east, and 800 miles from California, and the crickets eating up every green thing, and every day destroying their sole means of subsistence for the months and winter ahead.”

I said in vain they prayed. Not so. For when everything was most disheartening and all effort spent, behold, from over the lake appeared myriads of snow-white gulls, their origin and their purpose alike unknown to the new-comers! Was this another scourge God was sending them for their sins? Wait and see. Settling upon all the fields and every part of them, they pounced upon the crickets, seizing and swallowing them. They gorged themselves. Even after their stomachs were filled they still devoured them. On Sunday the people, full of thankfulness, left the fields to the birds, and on the morrow found on the edges of the ditches great piles of dead crickets that had been swallowed and thrown up by the greedy gulls. Verily, the Lord had not forgotten to be gracious!

To escape the birds, the crickets would rush into the lake or river, and thus millions were destroyed. Toward evening the gulls took flight and disappeared beyond the lake, but each day returned at sunrise, until the scourge was past. Later grasshoppers seem to have taken the place of crickets. They were of a kind popularly called iron-clad, and did much mischief.

Though the crops of this year of 1848 were thus saved from total destruction, fears were entertained that there would not be food enough for those already in the valley, and the expected arrival of large additional numbers was looked upon as a calamity. The stock of provisions was therefore husbanded with care, many living principally on roots and thistles, to which fare was sometimes added a little flour or milk. The wheat crop, however, turned out better than was expected, and pumpkins, melons, and corn yielded good returns.

On the 10th of August, however, the harvest being then gathered, a feast was held in the bowery, at which the tables were loaded with a variety of viands, vegetables, beef, and bread, butter and cheese, with cakes and pastry. Sheaves of wheat and other grain were hoisted on harvest poles; “and,” says Parley, “there was prayer and thanksgiving, congratulations, songs, speeches, music, dancing, smiling faces, and merry hearts.”

The rendezvous for westward-bound brethren in the spring of 1848 was the Elkhorn River, and thither at the end of May came the president, who organized the people and gave them instructions to be observed on the way. Good order was to be preserved in camp; there must be no shouting; prayers were to be attended to, and lights put out at 9 o’clock. Drivers of teams must walk beside their oxen, and not leave them without permission. Brigham was general super­intendent of the emigrating companies, with Daniel H. Wells as aide-de-camp, H. S. Eldredge marshal, and Hosea Stout captain of the night-guard. Moving west early in June, on the 14th the emigrants were fired on by Indians, two being wounded. At this time also there was sickness in the camp. To secure grass and water, the emigration was separated into divisions, of which there were two principal ones, under Brigham Young and H. C. Kimball, with several subdivisions.

The first letters received at Great Salt Lake City from Brigham came twelve months after his departure from the valley, and were sent on in advance from the encampments. The excitement was great as Taylor and Green rode into the city and distributed the letters, without envelopes, tied round and round with buckskin thongs, and bearing the cheering news that a large body of brethren was on the way, and bringing plenty of food.

In June and July two small parties left the city to meet the immigration, and another in August. In September Brigham and the first companies arrived; and under the organization of the president and his two counsellors, Willard Richards and Heber C. Kimball, during, the autumn months most of the brethren from Winter Quarters and other camps reached the valley.

Before the expiration of the year, there were nearly three thousand, and including the pioneers, the battalion men, and the companies that arrived under Parley, at least five thousand of the saints assembled in the valley

Thus about one fourth of the exiles from Nauvoo were for the present beyond reach of molestation. That five thousand persons, including a very large proportion of women and children, almost without money, almost without provisions, excepting the milk of their kine and the grain which they had raised near their own camps, should, almost without the loss of a life, have accomplished this journey of more than twelve hundred miles, crossing range after range of mountains, bridging rivers, and traversing deserts, while liable at any moment to be attacked by roaming bands of savages, is one of the marvels that this century has witnessed. To those who met them on the route, the strict order of their march, their coolness and rapidity in closing ranks to repel assault, their method in posting sentries around camp and corral, suggested rather the movements of a well-organized army than the migration of a people; and in truth, few armies have been better organized or more ably led than was this army of the Lord. To the skill of their leaders, and their own concert of purpose and action, was due their preservation. And now, at length, they had made good their escape from the land of their bondage to the promised land of their freedom, in which, though a wilderness, they rejoiced to dwell.

In a private letter written in September 1848, Parley writes: “How quiet, how still, how free from excitement we live! The legislation of our high council, the decision of some judge or court of the church, a meeting, a dance, a visit, an exploring tour, the arrival of a party of trappers and traders, a Mexican caravan, a party arrived from the Pacific, from the States, from Fort Bridger, a visit of Indians, or perhaps a mail from the distant world once or twice a year, is all that breaks the monotony of our busy and peaceful life... Here, too, we all are rich— there is no real poverty; all men have access to the soil, the pasture, the timber, the water power, and all the elements of wealth, without money or price.”

On his arrival in the autumn, Brigham stirred up the people to the greatest activity. Fencing material being scarce, and the city lands all appropriated, it was proposed that a large field for farming purposes adjoining the city should be selected and fenced in common. By October there were 863 applications for lots, amounting to 11,005 acres.

A united effort was made to fence the city, which was done by enclosing each ward in one field, and requiring the owner of every lot to build his proportion of the fence. No lots were allowed to be held for speculation, the intention, originally, being to assign them only to those who would occupy and improve them. The farming land nearest the city was surveyed in five-acre lots to accommodate the mechanics and artisans; next beyond were ten-acre lots, followed by forty and eighty acres, where farmers could build and reside. All these farms were enclosed in one common fence, constituting what was called the ‘big field,’ before mentioned.

The streets were kept open, but were barely wide enough for travel, as the owners cultivated the space in front of their houses. At a meeting on the 24th of September, permission was granted to build on the lots immediately, all buildings to be at least twenty feet from the sidewalk; and a few days later it was voted “ that a land record should be kept, and that $1.50 be paid for each lot; one dollar to the surveyor and fifty cents to the clerk for recording.” A council-house was ordered to be built by tithing labor; and it was suggested that water from the Big Cottonwood be brought into the city; the toll for grinding grain was to be increased, and a resolution was passed against the sale or use of ardent spirits. That all might be satisfied, the lots were to be distributed “by ballot, or casting lots, as Israel did in days of old.”

On the 1st of October Brigham called the battalion brethren together, blessed them, and thanked them for the service they had rendered. “The plan of raising a battalion to march to California,” he said, “by a call from the war department, was devised with a view to the total overthrow of this kingdom, and the destruction of every man, woman, and child.”

Winter was now at hand, and there was sore need that the saints should bestir themselves. The president and others of the church dignitaries worked indefatigably with their people, carrying mortar and making adobes, hauling timber and sawing it. There were but 450 log cabins within the stockade, and one thousand more well-filled wagons had arrived this season.

A county government was organized, and John D. Barker elected sheriff, Isaac Clark judge of probate, and Evan M. Green recorder and treasurer. Two hunting companies in December were formed, under the leadership of John D. Lee and John Pack, for the extermination of wild beasts. There were eighty-four men in all, and their efforts were successful. From the 1st of December until the end of February there were heavy snow-storms. On the coldest day the mercury fell below zero, and on the warmest marked 21° of Fahrenheit. On account of the snow in the canons it was difficult to bring in the necessary fuel. As the previous winter had been warm, the settlers were unprepared for such cold weather, and there was much suffering.