The Saints
heard Benjamin L. Clapp preach from the Winter Quarters stand. More volunteers were asked to go to St.
Joseph to retrieve goods left there by Bishop Newel K. Whitney. Twenty‑one teams were volunteered.
Brigham
Young submitted to the congregation a draft of a proposed tabernacle for Winter
Quarters. The site for the mill had
recently been moved further downstream.
Men were asked to volunteer to work on lengthening the mill race.
Major
Thomas H. Harvey, Superintendent of Indian affairs, along with Robert Mitchell
and Mr. Miller visited with Brigham Young.
Mr. Harvey reported that he had received letters from Washington D.C.
from the Indian Department. (See
September 2, 1846.) These letters
stated that the Mormons should leave the Pottawatomie Indian lands, on the east
side of the river, by spring. Harvey
wanted Brigham Young to move the people off the land during the winter. Harvey also did not like seeing the Church
on Omaha lands and asked to know why they stopped at the Missouri River. Brigham Young patiently explained that the
U.S. government asked for their best men to serve in the Mormon Battalion. It was impossible for them to move these
families because of the shortage of men.
Also, Colonel James Allen, representing the government, agreed with
their plan to stay on the lands.
President Young bluntly told the men that they would not move from
either side of the river this winter.
Major Harvey asked how long they expected to remain where they
were. President Young replied that they
would stay until they were ready to go.
Major Harvey, somewhat frustrated, asked how long that would be. President Young replied, “it might be two,
three, or four years.” He made it clear
that the Saints “would not be neither drove or pushed.” Major Harvey acknowledged that the Saints
were too strong to be forced off of the land.
After the
meeting, Brigham Young reported this visit to the rest of the Council. Willard Richards explained why others did
not meet with the Indian Agents.
“Indeed, I know not that any member knew of their presence until they
were absent, except, [President] Young.”
Elder Willard Richards was asked to write to Major Harvey, requesting
copies of these letters from the government.
William Clayton would be sent to fetch them.
Wilford
Woodruff was able to sit up in bed for the first time since his terrible
accident. (See October 15, 1846.)
Joshua S.
Holman, age fifty-two, died. He was the
husband of Rebecca W. Holman. Hannah
Smith also died. She was the daughter
of William and Elizabeth Smith. A son,
David L. Rolf, was born to Samuel and Elizabeth Rolf.
Almira
Angell, age three days, died. She was
the daughter of Truman O. and Polly Angell.1
The camp
discovered several cattle missing and was delayed until after noon. Finally, after the animals were found, the
company continued their journey. The
day was bright and pleasant and the company traveled eight miles to the head
waters of the Weldon Fork of the Grand River, north of Garden Grove.
In the
morning, Colonel Cooke became frustrated with his officers because they could
not follow any of his orders correctly.
He wrote, “A dumb spirit has possessed all for the last twenty‑four
hours. . . . All the vexations and troubles of any other three days of my life
have not equalled those of the said twenty‑four hours.” He was frustrated because he ended up making
all the arrangements himself to retrieve some cattle back at Socorro. “My attention is constantly on the stretch
for the smallest things. I have to
order and then see that it is done.”
Daniel Tyler wrote: “We found
the judgment of Colonel Cooke in traveling much better than that of [Lt.]
Smith, in fact, it was first‑class.
He never crowded the men unnecessarily.”
The
battalion was called together before their march and it was announced that
Adjutant George P. Dykes was appointed to be the new commander of Company D.2
The
enlisted men (outside of Company D) were very pleased to see this change. Henry Standage wrote: “Very glad of this change, for Lieu. Dykes
had been working against the interest of the Battalion all the way.” Others saw this reappointment as a way to
cheat Nelson Higgins out of his officer’s pay.
The
battalion marched fourteen miles. They
encountered some difficult, sandy hills and later camped in a grove of
cottonwood in present‑day Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.
During the
evening, Lt. Smith brought three hundred sheep into the camp. Henry Bigler wrote: “They were a scrubby looking lot of
sheep.” Colonel Cooke commented, “I
found [them] to be very poor‑‑about half of them lambs, almost
worthless.”
Missionary
Addison Pratt went with a group of Saints to Temarie to dedicate a new meeting
house that they had been working on.
There, he met Elder Benjamin Grouard, who had been using his joiner
skills for two weeks working on a pulpit for the new house. They administered the sacrament, ordained a
number of brethren, and confirmed eleven new converts who had been baptized
during the week by Elder Grouard.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 435‑36; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal,
3:94; Bennett, Mormons at the
Missouri, 1846‑1852, 105‑06; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern
Trails 1846‑1854, 83‑4; Tyler, A Concise History of the
Mormon Battalion, 184‑85; Journal of Henry Standage in Golder, The
March of the Mormon Battalion, 180‑81; Yurtinus, A Ram in the
Thicket, 228‑30; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer
Camp of the Saints; Ellsworth, The Journals of Addison Pratt, 294
Hosea
Stout met with his subdivision to divide the group’s hay according to the
amount of labor put into making the hay.
Eleanor
Pack Bosley, age thirty-one, died. She
was the wife of William B. Bosley. Anna
Arrowsmith also died.
After
traveling a short distance, the company came across a bridge that was in
terrible shape. They decided to stop
and fix it before taking the wagon across.
They continued on until the late afternoon and found a camp with plenty
of wood and water.
Governor
Ford and his two hundred troops were still in Nauvoo, allowing the “Jack‑Mormons”
to return to their homes. The mob held
a meeting in Carthage and passed resolutions that as soon as the State troops left,
the “Jacks” would again be expelled ‘less tenderly than before.’ These
resolutions were published in the Warsaw Signal and Quincy Whig.
The Mormon
Battalion reached a bend in the Rio Grande where it started heading to the
southwest. Mountains surrounded the
bend. It was reported that the road
ahead was good, but there would not be water for nearly eight‑five
miles. They crossed the river and saw
hundreds of merchants’ wagons. Near the
river bottom, they saw a herd of many thousand sheep. Lt. Smith was sent to try to purchase some, to make up for the
poor sheep he had bought earlier.
Colonel
Cooke received discouraging word from Antonine Leroux, a guide for General
Kearny. He reported that the Battalion
should not follow the route Kearny took.
Instead, they should take a more southerly and lengthy route where the
roads should be better. This meant that
they had about twelve hundred miles to travel.
When they reached a fork in the road, they found a sign left by Kearny
pointing to the south that said simply, “Mormon Trail.” The guide also mentioned that the battalion
was not fitted out even half as well as General Kearny was. This worried the Colonel. From the Rio Grande, it was about four
hundred miles to the Gila River. This
portion of the journey would cover much unexplored territory. Colonel Cooke sent his guides to search out
the plains ahead.
The
battalion marched about eleven miles and camped in an open grove on the river
bottom. This camp was near the present‑day
towns of Tiffany and Valverde, New Mexico.
Colonel Cooke described the landscape:
“For the last twenty‑five or thirty miles the timber on the fine
wide bottoms of the river has been quite a striking feature in the landscape,
otherwise picturesque, with lofty mountains in every direction, blue from
distance or haze and capped with snow fields.”
Daniel
Tyler wrote: “We saw a number of
Mexicans, mounted, with spurs ten to twelve inches long and rowels one to two
inches long. These were a source of
wonder to us, being the first of the kind we had ever seen.”
The
detachment had labored the past two days crossing the high 7,881-foot Raton
Pass. They had killed several wild
turkeys which provided a great dinner for the weary, sick soldiers.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 449; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The
Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861, 208; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern
Trails 1846‑1854, 85‑7; Tyler, A Concise History of the
Mormon Battalion, 185; Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 230‑32;
“Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the
Saints
Brigham
Young attended Joshua Holman’s funeral.
The Council wrote some letters to Orville M. Allen and the leaders of
the Mount Pisgah and Garden Grove settlements.
The brethren advised them to find good locations for the poor Saints in
those settlements, where they would be nearer to places where supplies could be
obtained. The supplies near Winter
Quarters were expensive and many men were traveling east towards the Des Moines
River to get provisions. Rather than
increasing the demand for supplies at Winter Quarters, it made sense for the
poor to stop in other places.
Additional teams were sent to St. Joseph, Missouri, for the goods left
there.
The
Council wrote a letter to Indian Agent, Major Thomas Harvey, under the
signature of Alpheus Cutler. The letter
authorized William Clayton as a trusted messenger to obtain copies of the
instructions to Major Harvey from Washington D.C. Major Harvey was assured that the Church supported the
government. This loyalty was shown when
the battalion was raised. By obtaining
copies of these instructions from Major Harvey, the brethren said that they
could continue to act in concert with the feeling of the government.
Wilford
Woodruff was able to dress for the first time since his serious accident of the
previous month.
A son,
Frederick Flake, was born and died. He
was the son of James M. and Agnes H. Flake.
Albert
Merrill’s family was having great difficulty away from Winter Quarters. His wife was very sick on this day and his
infant son died. He wrote: “He starved to death. His mother’s milk failed and the cows dried
up. Our sugar and delicate food gave
out and, there not being anything to have for love or money, it perished for
good.”
After the
company moved out of their camp, it was discovered that someone had been
careless and that the prairie had been set on fire. The company traveled
fifteen miles to the Thomson fork of the Grand River. The location was excellent with plenty of wood and good
water. Captain Orville Allen issued a
strong lecture that night, warning the camp against setting the prairie on
fire.
John M.
Bernhisel returned to Nauvoo after traveling to many cities in Illinois seeking
for relief for the Saints who had been driven from the city. He had been frustrated because many
expressed sympathy for the treatment that the Mormons had received, but were
still too prejudiced against them to provide relief. Nevertheless, he was able to collect about $100. He reported to Brigham Young, “Brother
Heywood and I visited the different encampments . . . for the purpose of
distributing to the most destitute, and we found some very destitute indeed,
and quite a number afflicted with chills and fever. The whole number of families now encamped over the river probably
does not exceed twenty; but they must all be removed before the cold weather
set in.”
The night
had been very cold with a heavy frost.
Word came to Colonel Cooke about hostilities between the Mexicans and
Americans. Santa Anna had been
installed as president and gave an inaugural address that referred to the
“audacious and perfidious Americans.”
There was unease among the very wealthy merchants in the area and there
was suspicion of a conspiracy to rise up and throw off the American rule. Several hundred Mexican soldiers were
rumored to be marching north from El Paso to support this uprising. Colonel Cooke discounted the rumored
conspiracy, since he considered the priests and wealthy merchants as
cowards. But Colonel Cooke was still
concerned and called the battalion together to be inspected, to make sure every
man was prepared to go into action.
The
battalion marched on for fourteen miles.
They passed over some bad bluffs with heavy sand. Their camp was established on a high plain,
covered with dead grass. Colonel Cooke
described the area:
This
district, entirely unoccupied, has the great superiority to that above (so
thickly inhabited) of forests covering perhaps one‑fourth of the bottoms;
and the mountains also, covered with cedar, are very near. . . . We passed
cactus plants ten feet high and saw a specimen of an extraordinary variety ‑‑
a bush of many small stems bearing long thorns and also the unusual fruit,
covered with a full allowance of the minute prickers.
Thomas
Dunn was glad to be in an area less inhabited.
“For many of the battalion were sinking into a bad spirit going among
the Spaniards in attending to their parties and with bad characters. But now we are out from among them and we
had better times and I hope they may continue unto the end.”
In the
afternoon, Private James Hampton died unexpectedly. When it was learned that he was dying, the battalion halted for
twenty minutes. After his death, his
body was placed in a wagon. Levi
Hancock wrote: “Thus we lose one here
and one there no man has a chance to ride unless they report themselves to the
Doct as sick and then the next thing is calomel and what to do I know not. I am called upon daily to lay hands upon the
sick.”
Colonel
Cooke reduced rations. The enlisted men
complained among themselves. Some men
believed that Colonel Cooke was doing this to raise his name in the world. They felt he wanted to boast that he
performed the trip with fewer provisions than any other man.
The
detachment followed the south bank of the Purgatorie for eight miles across
high plains. Abner Chase died of fever
and chills. He was buried in a
beautiful grove along the south side of the river.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 437‑38; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal,
3:94; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 87‑9;
“Levi Hancock Journal”; “Private Journal of Thomas Dunn”; Yurtinus, A Ram in
the Thicket, 232‑35, 272; Tyler, A Concise History of the Mormon
Battalion, 184‑86; “The Journal of Robert S. Bliss,” The Utah
Historical Quarterly, 4:76; “Albert Merrill, autobiography,” typescript,
BYU, 4; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of
the Saints, Nov 3, 1846
William
Clayton started for Trader’s Point to take the letter written the day before to
Major Thomas Harvey. Brigham Young and
Heber C. Kimball crossed the river to see Brother W.W. Phelps.
To the
west of Winter Quarters, the prairie burned and approached the city, causing
great concern. When the fire reached
the bluffs above the settlement, it died down and was extinguished. Elder Wilford Woodruff, recovering from his serious accident of the
previous month, wrote:
I this day
for the first time went out of the waggons with the assistance of two
persons. I was enabled to walk to my
tent and also to Sister Benbow’s waggon where she lay very sick. Br and Sister Benbow had been with us
several days. Sister Benbow was exceedingly
low when she came. Hardly expected she
would live. Mrs. Woodruff used every
exhertion to nurse her up that she might recover.
The
Woodruff’s little son, Joseph was also very sick.
Hosea
Stout, while feeling quite sick, went into the grove on the west to cut some
house logs. This was the first work he
had accomplished toward building his family a home.
A son,
Ezra Leonard, was born and died. He was
the son of Truman and Ortentia Leonard.3
The
company arose at 5 a.m. on this cold morning when ice was seen on the
stream. Captain Allen marched on ahead
to reach Mount Pisgah in order to purchase corn of the cattle. The rest of the company started later
on. After just one mile, they discovered
that again the prairie was on fire.
Thomas Bullock suspected arson from a disgruntled member of the camp.
The company arrived at Mount Pisgah, but continued on across the river where
they set up their camp for the night.
A
daughter, Rosetta Adeline Snow, was born to (future prophet) Lorenzo and Mary
Goddard Snow.4
A
daughter, Emily Dorcas Emmett, was born to Moses S. and Catherine Overton
Emmett.5
Little
Malinda Allison Kelly died. She was the
daughter of Private Milton and Malinda C. Kelly. The Kellys went to Pueblo as part of the first sick detachment
where their daughter was born. Sadly,
Private Milton Kelly would also die in a few days.
The mob
held a meeting at which they demanded that the “Jack‑Mormons” sell out
their property to them at a certain price or they would be expelled anyway.
During the
night, George P. Dykes, the officer of the day, passed two men on guard
duty. Dykes was generally despised by
the battalion and these two men refused to salute him. In the morning, Dykes reported the incident
to Colonel Cooke who thought the two men should be shot for disrespect. Instead, they were tied cross‑handed
to the rear of an ox wagon and forced to march the entire day in this
manner. Bitter feelings toward
Lieutenant Dykes increased because of this.
William Hyde wrote, “The present prospect seems to be that indignant
feelings are arising in the bosoms of many of the Battalion in reference to the
course Lieutenant Dykes is pursuing, which will hardly ease.”
The
battalion had a difficult eleven‑mile march over stony hills and sandy
roads. Colonel Cooke recorded, “The
last three miles of road were excessively bad‑‑many steep ascents,
with loose stone and sand.” The march
took seven to eight hours, included very hard work, pushing and pulling
wagons. Brother Thomas Woolsey returned
to the battalion. He had been with the
first sick detachment that marched to Pueblo from the Arkansas River. He and nine other men had been told to
return to the battalion after escorting their families to Pueblo. Brother Woolsey reported that Colonel
Sterling Price had given permission for these men to remain with their families
in Pueblo. He also reported that
General Doniphan and his regiment was on the march, about ninety miles behind.
The
battalion camped near a large adobe‑colored pyramid shaped rock about
thirty feet tall which some thought was the ruins of an old Nephite
structure. Colonel Cooke wrote a
description: “On a little hill which juts
into the camp stands a large rock of square proportions above thirty feet high,
inaccessible in any part; it is a sandy conglomerate and precisely the color of
the adobes; has a striking resemblance to the ruins of a church or other large
building.” A rumor was circulating that
a company of Mexican soldiers was on the way to engage the battalion.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 438‑39, 449; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal,
3:94; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861,
208; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 89‑91;
Journal of Henry Standage in Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion,
181; Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 235‑38; “The Journal of
Robert S. Bliss,” The Utah Historical Quarterly, 4:76 “Thomas Bullock
Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints, Nov 4,
1846
Brigham
Young helped Willard Richards put up his house. In the afternoon rain fell on the settlement for two hours. Wilford Woodruff’s son, Joseph, continued to
be dangerously sick. Elder Woodruff was
able to walk to his tent alone without the aid of a staff.
Indian
Agent, Thomas Harvey, allowed William Clayton to copy the communications from
the war department in Washington, D.C. regarding the Mormon’s stay on Indian
lands. Major Harvey sent a letter back
with Brother Clayton. Major Harvey mentioned
that he had seen for himself the extensive settlement being built with included
a mill. He wrote: “No white persons are permitted to settle on
the lands of the Indians without authority of the government. Your party being Mormons does not constitute
the objection, but the fact of your being their without authority of the Government.”
Hosea
Stout spent the day cutting and hauling logs.
He became very cold and wet. In
the evening, Marshal Horace Eldredge came to get Brother Stout to help him with
a domestic problem. A Brother Beers had
kicked his wife out of the tent and wanted to drag his family away against
their will. They went to the Beers’
tent but found it calm and Brother Beers was sleeping. They decided to let the matter rest until
the morning.
A son,
George Angell Davis, was born to David V. and Caroline Angell Davis.
Captain
Allen raised the camp before daylight for an early start, but he was having a
terrible problem getting the brethren to follow his leadership. Animals were lost again and the brethren
delayed going to work. Thomas Bullock
wrote: “All the preaching and talking
of the Captain profiteth nothing. The
brethren will not go, but had rather stand with their hands in their pockets
and let all the Oxen stand idle waiting to be hitched up. The delightful weather is allowed to pass
unused and let slip without making the most of it.” They finally started their journey and traveled six miles over
the rolling prairie and camped on the east side of “Mormon Grove.”
The
morning was stormy. Colonel Cooke
decided to rest the men and the animals after seventeen straight days of
marching. The men spent the day washing
in the Rio Grande and patching clothes that were worn out.
Colonel
Cooke described his camp:
My camp is
surrounded by a singularly broken and wild country. In the small open space near the mouth of a dry creek, lofty and
irregular hills and bluffs jut in on three sides, and on the fourth is a narrow
cottonwood bottom; and a high mountain rises from the opposite bank of the
river, and their blue and white tops are visible in every direction. These hills are covered with the dry yellow
grama grass and are dotted with cedars.
In the
evening Colonel Cooke mustered the soldiers and inspected their arms in case a
battle with the Mexicans would soon be necessary. Two shots should be fired as an alarm if Mexicans were seen
approaching.
John D.
Lee and his small company continued their journey back toward Winter Quarters,
bringing with them the pay of the battalion.
They were having great difficulty traveling because of poor mules. As they were journeying this day, they came
across five mules with ropes. “This was
the ram caught in the thicket as 3 of our mules were about past traveling, the
5 just made a change all around which when we had done we thanked the Lord for
this peculiar manifestation of his good will & went on our way rejoicing.”
Thomas L.
Kane continued to give support to Saints.
He wrote a letter to Brigham Young stating that he was about to obtain
official sanction for settling on the lands of the Omahas.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 439‑40; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal,
3:94; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861,
208; Bennett, Mormons at the Missouri, 1846‑1842, 107; Cooke, Exploring
Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 90‑1; Yurtinus, A Ram in the
Thicket, 238‑39; Brooks, John Doyle Lee, 103; “Thomas Bullock
Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints, Nov 5,
1846
It rained
during the night and into the morning.
George D. Grant returned from the rush bottoms to the north. He had traveled over 250 miles up the river.
William
Clayton returned from Trader’s Point with the letter from Major Harvey. Brigham Young directed that a reply be sent
under the signature of Alpheus Cutler, the president of the High Council. The brethren tried to again explain why they
were staying on Indian grounds.
The cause
of our stopping here was because our men were called into service by the U.
States, and had it not been for this fact we could more easily have been at the
foot or over the mountains than to have been where we are. . . . Most of the
fifteen hundred wagons now in camp will be off next season, for we are more
anxious to be off than any people are to have us. You must also be aware that if [the Mormon Battalion] does not
return, before the time originally appointed, that their teams may be compelled
to tarry another season.
The letter
was closed with an assurance of loyalty towards the country. “It is well known to you, Sir, and to the
U.S. that we have been driven from their borders, and yet have enlisted in her
defense, and what can be a greater proof of friendship than for a people to lay
down their lives for their country.”
William
Clayton reported that the Pottawatomie Indian’s had received $43,000 from the
government, towards payment for their lands.
Major Harvey refused to pay three Mormon Indians who had been adopted by
the Pottawatomie tribe.
Brigham
Young wrote a letter to Omaha Chief, Big Elk.
George D. Grant was appointed to take a barrel of gun powder and about
one hundred pounds of lead to the Omahas, to be used for their buffalo hunt. This act of kindness was meant to improve
relations between the two people and to help put a stop to the killing of
cattle by the Omahas. President Young
also offered to have someone repair guns for the tribe if it was needed
In the
afternoon, members of the Twelve and High Council traveled up the bluff and met
on a point overlooking the north end of the city. They discussed what to do with many rebellious men who were
breeding discontent in the Camp of Israel.
It was unanimously decided to have the Law of God put in force to deal
with them.
Henry Pearson,
age sixteen, died of dysentery. He was
the son of Ephraim J. and Rhoda Pearson.
David L. Rolfe, age five days, died.
He was the son of Samuel and Elizabeth Rolfe. Hyrum Brigham Noble, age one, also died. He was the son of Joseph B. and Mary Beman
Noble.
The
company continued their journey in the morning. They had to ascend a very steep hill that gave them
difficulties. Soon they reached the
last branch of the Grand River and made their camp for the night.
The Nauvoo
Trustees wrote a letter to Brigham Young reporting the arrival of Governor Ford
and his troops to the city. The
Trustees had not been having any success selling the Church property. “We wish to sell and wind up our business
and leave this country; we believe there are some of the worst characters in
and about Nauvoo.” They reported that
the Seventies’ library was packed up as well as the stereotype plates for the
Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants.
They explained why Almon W. Babbitt had sent some of the rescue teams
back to Winter Quarters. They felt that
the remaining poor could better be taken care of by the Trustees.
William
Pickett observed that Governor Ford went on a spree during the evening with the
mob. First, he attended a supper given
by the mob leaders to welcome him to the city.
“They are his daily companions, and drinking with them from groggery to
groggery is his only occupation at present.”
The “Jack‑Mormons”
held a meeting to consider the mob’s proposition to buy out their Nauvoo
property. It was resolved that they
would keep their property, even at the risk of being driven from the city.
The
battalion marched eleven miles over gravel bluffs, up and down many hills, in
warmer weather. The men had to make a
wagon road for more than a mile around a bend of the river. William Coray wrote: “How the Colonel expects to get to
California crossing this river through the sand I cannot imagine, but he is our
leader and follow him we will, life or death.”
They
camped near the location where General Kearny had a month earlier, left his
wagons, taking pack mules for the rest of the journey. Daniel Tyler wrote: “The prospect before us from this point was
anything but encouraging. Besides what
we had previously endured from hunger and having to help our worn‑out
animals pull the overloaded wagons, we now had before us the additional task of
having to construct a wagon road over a wild, desert and unexplored country,
where wagons had never been before.”
The road
ahead did look difficult, especially on half rations. Robert S. Bliss recorded:
“We are cheerful & happy notwithstanding we have to carry our guns,
accoutrements, napsacks, canteen, haversacks, & push our waggons all day
over hills which are not few nor far between & we expect will [be] greater
difficulties when we leave this river to cross the mountains.” He also wrote about the wildlife in the area. “We can see large bear tracks & plenty
of Beaver signs; Bro. [Elijah] Freeman brought to camp wood cut by the beavers
6 in. through & this was not half
so large as they construct their dams with.”
The thorny
cactus and bushes started to be a problem.
Guy M. Keysor explained: “The
shrubbery covering the hills is mostly green and beautiful and much of it is
very thorny. Though they are strangers
to me by name, by sight they familiarize themselves much faster than I
wish. The familiarity and annoying
acquaintance they make with my legs every day keeps my clothes in rags and
often penetrate the skin.”
The
detachment reached Willow Springs on Timpas Creek and believed that they could
go no further. Their animals were
almost broken. Suddenly a guard detail
drove thirty head of oxen into the camp.
They belonged to men hauling provisions to Santa Fe for the army. James Brown had the guard distribute the
oxen among the teams. Later, when the teamsters
rode into camp asking about their oxen, Brown responded:
If they had
any cattle in his company they could take them out. They replied that each teamster only knew his own team. After examining our teams, they claimed and
took but four of the thirty stray oxen, this still left us with the thirteen
yoke of fresh cattle which we considered a divine interposition from the kind
hand of God in our behalf, as it seemed about the only chance for deliverance
from starvation.
Some of
the men thought Captain Brown’s tactics were dishonest.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 439‑43, 448‑49; Brooks, ed., On
the Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861, 208‑09;
Cooke, Exploring Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 91‑2;
Journal of Henry Standage in Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion,
182; Tyler, A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion, 188; “The Journal
of Robert S. Bliss,” The Utah Historical Quarterly, 4:76; “Guy M. Keysor
Journal”; Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 170‑71, 239‑41;
“Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the
Saints
In the
morning William Clayton again headed to Trader’s Point to take a letter to
Major Harvey. George D. Grant left with
him, heading to Big Elk’s village with the gun powder and lead. Wilford Woodruff called on the Elders to
administer to his sick son, Joseph.
Mary
Spears, age five days, died, probably at Cutler’s Park. She was the daughter of William and Genet
Spears.
A thick
frost fell over night which looked beautiful in the morning. After they had traveled for twelve miles,
they met Lyman O. Littlefield who had come from Winter Quarters with a letter
from the Council of the Twelve. The
letter instructed him to locate the poor Saints at Mount Pisgah and Garden
Grove. Thomas Bullock and a few others
were instructed to go on to the main Camp.
The brethren in the camp met together to discuss what they should do,
given that they were between Mount Pisgah and Council Bluffs. They decided to press on, to the Nishnabotna
River and then send a company of men to get further instruction from the
Twelve.
Allen
Stout had been repairing his house and taking care of his sick family when he
learned that his father‑in‑law was on this road with a sick
family. Three of them had already
died. Brother Stout set out on foot to
meet his father‑in‑law. He
found him twenty-five miles to the east.
A
daughter, Mary Elizabeth White, was born to Samuel D. and Mary Burton White.6
Ten ladies
met with Governor Ford in his camp.
They said they were the committee of the “Anti‑Mormon ladies of
Hancock County.” They delivered a
package containing a petticoat. The
officers of the Governor’s troops met in the temple and appointed a committee
to draft resolutions to be published which would declare that these ladies did
not represent any decent portion of the community, but were employed by
“cowardly ruffians.” They also resolved
to carry the petticoat out of the camp and burn it to ashes.
The night
had been very cold, causing the water to freeze over with a quarter inch of
ice. The battalion traveled over high
hills of sand that were barely passable.
The last one they traveled over was almost a mountain and it took them
two hours. They would take one wagon up
at a time with as many men as possible on ropes, pulling the wagon. Colonel Cooke was concerned about the men and
realized that they were being pushed hard.
“Pushing and pulling through deep sand and up hill, with musket and
knapsack on, is very severe work.”
William Coray wrote: “Every man
was willing to take ten days rations on his back if the Col would leave the
wagons [behind like General Kearny did].”
Private
Milton Kelly, age thirty-eight, died.7
Elder
Addison Pratt wrote in his missionary journal:
This is the
birthday of my little daughter Frances Stephens. This is the 4th birthday that has past since I have seen her, and
more than two years since I have heard from my family. And who can tell what has happened to them
in the time. But as I am on the point
of starting for home, I trust I shall soon know the truth of many things that
have long been vailed in doubt and mystery.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 443‑44, 450‑51; Cooke, Exploring
Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 92‑3; Journal of Henry Standage
in Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion, 182; Yurtinus, A Ram in
the Thicket, 170‑71, 241‑42; “Allen Stout Journal,” typescript,
BYU, 26 ‑ p.27; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer
Camp of the Saints; Ellsworth, The Journals of Addison Pratt, 297
At a
Sunday meeting, President Brigham Young suggested that the sisters stop selling
their gold rings, silk dresses, and other prized possessions, in order to buy
provisions. Instead, he advised that
they go to work and make willow baskets that could be traded in the
settlements. The brethren were asked to
make wash boards and tables. President
Young also gave a report on the recent exchanges with Major Thomas Harvey on
Indian land issues.
Also
speaking at this public meeting was, Joseph Young, who spoke on the necessity
of prayer. Heber C Kimball preached on
economy and “how to kneed up musty flour to make it good.”
In the
afternoon, the Presidents of the Seventies met with Brigham Young in his new
house. The building had no windows yet,
but did have a complete chimney made out of brick obtained from the ruins of
the fort at Old Council Bluffs.
President
Young related a prophetic dream that he recently experienced concerning the
Rocky Mountains. Joseph Young proposed
that the Seventies take on the work to complete the mill race, and also give
one tenth to sustain the poor in their quorums.
The
Council of the Twelve met together.
They discussed and made decisions on a number of proposals. All able‑bodied men would be required
to work a half day on roads or pay thirty‑seven and a half cents for the
work. Hosea Stout was appointed to
serve as clerk to the High Council. The
bishops were asked to determine how much seed there was in the camp. A careful record would be kept regarding all
who were buried in the cemetery.
Reynolds
Cahoon entered a complaint against certain individuals who cut timber on a lot
he had claimed together with Winslow Farr.
The Council settled the matter like King Solomon: Brothers Cahoon and Farr were to cut up the
timber and haul it to the wives of the Mormon Battalion.
Wilford
Woodruff, still recovering from his accident, could not attend the meeting, but
he was able to walk to Willard Richards’ tent during the day. Sister Phoebe Woodruff spent all day and
night sitting with their son Joseph who was still dangerously ill.
During the
day, the company crossed a very deep river where Brother Gay’s wagon reach
broke. They then had to ascend some
very steep hills. They camped on the
west bank of a beautiful river.
During the
night the wind blew hard and it rained into the morning. The battalion had to take down their tents
while they were still wet. The roads
were terrible and the wind still blew hard which made it very cold. Despite their best efforts, the battalion
could only cover five miles in about four hours. Colonel Cooke commented that “it is very discouraging.”
Doctor
Sanderson went on ahead and accidentally started a forest fire on a cottonwood
bottom, near the river. In the evening,
guide Antoine Leroux returned from exploring to the southwest. He had traveled west from the Rio Grande and
found some good water holes. He
reported that the roads were almost impassable for wagons because of deep
sand. Many of the men tried to persuade
Colonel Cooke to leave the wagons. He
refused and was determined to press on with them.
The
detachment reached the Arkansas River, seven miles upstream from Bent’s
Fort. The river was only three feet
deep. Captain Brown left the company
camping there and traveled to Bent’s Fort for provisions.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 444‑46; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal,
3:94; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861,
209; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 93‑4;
Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 242‑43, 273; “Thomas Bullock Poor
Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints, Nov 8, 1846
Brigham
Young visited Willard Richards and related to him a dream he had during the
night about harvesting oats, wheat, and other grains. In the afternoon, Heber C. Kimball’s men returned from the rush
bottoms far to the north with letters from Asahel Lathrop who informed the
brethren that the cattle were doing well.
He mentioned that if more stock was sent, they would have to be moved
further north to avoid crowding and confusion.
David W.
Clark, age three weeks, died. He was
the son of David P. and Sarah E. Clark.
George A. Cummings, age eight months, died of chills and fever. He was the son of George W. and Jane Cummings.8
The camp
rested for the day because immediately after breakfast it started to rain and
continued throughout the day. Orrin
Porter Rockwell and others passed the camp during the morning, heading for
Winter Quarters.
The
battalion spent another difficult day ascending a long hill on very broken
ground. They reached the campground
where General Kearny had left the Rio Grande.9 One of the men described the landscape as
“lonesome and desolate, no insects to be seen, not so much as a bird of any
kind. No wonder for the country so
lonesome I should not think that any live thing would stay here no longer than
it would take them to git away.”
Colonel
Cooke examined the mules and found them to all be weak and nearly broken
down. There were also twenty‑six
men on the sick report, many of them had to be transported in the wagons. The rations were insufficient for the long
march ahead.
Colonel
Cooke ordered that fifty‑five men return to Santa Fe. This would be the third sick detachment to
be separated from the battalion. They
would take with them twenty‑six days of rations of flour, but he only
wanted to send back one team of oxen.
In this way he would reduce the load carried in the wagons, but would
still have the livestock.
For those
remaining with the battalion, he ordered that the tent poles be left
behind. Instead muskets would be used
to hold the tents up. He also sent back
21 camp kettles, 26 mess pans, and 31 tents.
Looking ahead, Colonel Cooke commented:
“The march undertaken is now said to be three hundred miles longer than
believed; and such is its character that, making the road as we go, ten miles
is sometimes a very hard day’s march ‑‑ equal to at least twenty‑five
miles of a good road.”
Betsy
Prescindia Huntington, almost three weeks old, died. The Huntingtons were part of the second sick detachment of the
battalion. Betsy had been born on the
way to Pueblo.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 444‑46; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal,
3:94; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861,
209; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 93‑4;
Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 170‑71, 242‑43; “Thomas
Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints
Joseph
Young was very sick. His brother
Lorenzo moved his wagon close to his house so that he could get out of his
house, into the wagon, to help take care of Joseph. Wilford Woodruff’s son, Joseph, appeared to be dying in the
afternoon and evening, but revived about midnight.
The
Presidents of the Seventies met in the evening. They assigned quorum members to visit every house, tent and wagon
within their wards to take a census.
They were also to notify every able‑bodied Seventy to work on the
mill race on Saturday.
Henry
Adams, age forty-six, died of dysentery.
Several of
the camp members had washed their tents the day before and didn’t want to take
them down because of the muddy ground.
So the company decided not to travel this day. The brethren in the camp
met during the evening to discuss the counsel sent from the Twelve to settle
away from Winter Quarters.
In the
afternoon, the third sick detachment, consisting of fifty‑five men led by
Lieutenant William Willis, departed for Santa Fe. James Pace wrote, “They left us at 3 P.M. with heavy hearts &
with feelings that could not be told nor expressed by Man or Mortal.” The rest of the battalion rested in the
camp. Colonel Cooke sent guides ahead
to explore the route to the west. The
Mormon Battalion had now been reduced from over 500 to only 340 men. Henry Standage wrote: “This does in reality make solemn times for
us, so many divisions taking place. May
the God of Heaven protect us all.”
Those who remained were healthy and ready for the gruelling desert march
that lay ahead.
The sick
detachment traveled about two miles and were visited that night by Jefferson
Hunt who spoke words of comfort to the men and administered to the sick.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 446; “Diary of Lorenzo Dow Young,” Utah
Historical Quarterly, 14:151; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The
Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861, 209; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal,
3:95; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 95‑6;
Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 170‑71, 246‑47; “Journal
Extracts of Henry W. Bigler,” Utah Historical Quarterly, 5:2:42; Tyler, A
Concise History of the Mormon Battalion, 191; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp
Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints
William
Kimball arrived from Nauvoo with fifty letters, several packages and some
newspapers.10 News arrived of Governor Ford’s visit to
Nauvoo.
In the
evening, the High Council met at Brigham Young’s house. Two probate cases were presented. In one case the $37.00 worth of property was
to go toward a child. In the other
case, the $44.47 was to be paid to those who nursed the deceased.
The Council
voted that a new cemetery be established on the second ridge west of Winter
Quarters.11
John
Cummings, age four, died of chills and fever.
He was the son of George W. and Jane Cummings.
The
company resumed their journey, leaving two families behind who wanted to stay
in a nearby settlement. After traveling
for eleven miles, the company camped on the prairie.
Colonel
Cooke wanted to leave the wagons behind and instead pack the provisions on the
mules and oxen. Henry W. Bigler
wrote: “It was laughable to witness the
antics of the frightened oxen after their packs were on them. Some of the boys said, ‘They kicked up
before and reared up behind,’ bellowing, snorting, jumping up, wheeling around,
pawing and goring the ground, but they soon became perfectly gentle.” Colonel Cooke described, “some . . .
performed antics that were irresistibly ludicrous . . . such as jumping high
from the ground in quick‑step time turning round the while‑‑a
perfect jig.”
The
battalion had to climb a rocky bluff in the morning, but it was much easier
without the loaded wagons. They marched
fourteen miles and camped on some hilly ground, a half mile from the Rio
Grande. They were in sight of the point
of the mountain at El Paso. Three men
with measles were sent back to join the sick detachment. Sister Melissa Coray, the wife of William,
could no longer ride in a wagon. She
rode on a mule all day and by night was very tired.
Captain
Brown returned to his company after traveling east to Bent’s Fort. He brought back sixty days rations of pork,
flour, rice, beans and other items. The
detachment had a wonderful feast.
Elder
Addison Pratt mourned the death of Zebe Vahine, a lady who had believed in the
gospel but her husband had not let her join the Church. Fifteen days earlier she had given birth to
a child that only lived a few days. Her
relatives, full of superstition, blamed one another for the death. Then they accused Zebe of stealing some
coconut oil. The bickerings became
terrible and soon Zebe wished for the spirits to take possession of her
body. Apparently she got her wish
because she soon became crazy. A Tahitian
priest came to cast out the spirit and said there were five devils in her. She became worse. Finally her husband came to Elder Pratt and expressed a desire to
join the Church and wanted him to administer to his wife, that he erred in
calling in the priest. Elder Pratt
insisted that the relatives first come together and work out their differences,
which they did. When he came to
administer to her, he learned that she had willingly given herself up to the
devils and he was discouraged by this news.
He administered to her, then fasted and prayed for twenty-four hours,
and blessed her again. But it had no
effect and she died.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 447‑48; Journal of Henry Standage in
Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion, 182‑83; Cooke, Exploring
Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 96‑7; Yurtinus, A Ram in the
Thicket, 247‑48, 274; Ricketts, Melissa’s Journey with the Mormon
Battalion, 44; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer
Camp of the Saints, Nov 11, 1846; E‑mail from Curtis A. Harper,
serving a mission at Winter Quarters; Ellsworth, The Journals of Addison
Pratt, 298-99
Early in
the morning, Wilford Woodruff’s fifteen‑month‑old son, Joseph was
dying of canker. Elder Woodruff
wrote:
Sister
Abbot took the main charge of him during the night as Mrs. [Phoebe] Woodruff’s strength was mostly
exhausted. He had suffered much from
convulsions during his sickness but he breathed his last and fell asleep this
morning 15 minutes before 6 o’clock.
And we took his remains to the grave at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. We truly felt that we were called to make a
great sacrifice in the loss of our son, Joseph.
Brigham
Young met with twenty‑six members of the Council of Fifty. He stated that he had foreknowledge that
they would go in safety over the mountains, despite any opposition and
obstacles that the government and others might put in their way.
In the
evening, President Young held a “house warming” party in his newly completed
home. John M. Kay sang a few songs and
the evening was spent in dancing.
Orson H.
Alsworth, age one, died of canker. He was
the son of David and Catherine Alsworth.
George Sprague, age forty-seven, died.
He was the husband of Sarah N. Sprague.
Jacob T. Utley, age nine, died of dropsy and measles. He was the son of Samuel and Maria Utley.
George Spear, age forty-seven, died. He
was the husband of Sarah Spear. A son,
Isaiah Barkdoll Lott, was born to Cornelius and Rebecca Fausett Lott.
In the
morning Shabne, a Pottawatomie Indian Chief, came into the camp with another
Indian and had breakfast. At 10:50
a.m., the camp moved on. They crossed a
little prairie and camped after three miles at Sand Stone Springs. In the evening it started to rain and
continue all night.
Colonel
Cooke awoke to an alarm that horses were heard crossing over the river. But he soon became convinced that it was
only the sound of the rapids. The
battalion traveled fifteen miles on good roads which was a welcome change. Colonel Cooke wrote, “This forenoon we
turned up on the bluff, however, at a canyon, where there was a fine view of a
rapid in the river below and apparently a good pass through the mountains to
the road on the other side.” They
camped on a bluff near present‑day Derry, New Mexico.
James S.
Brown wrote:
One day,
while passing up a brushy canyon, my place being with the advance guard, in the
rear of the road hands, I had occasion to step into the brush by the
roadside. While there, out of sight,
Col. Cooke and staff and guides came
along and stopped right opposite me, so close that I dared not move lest they
should see me. As they came up, the
colonel inquired of the guides if there were no fruit or berries that men could
live on; the reply was no, not a thing. . . . The colonel then asked if there
were no trees that had bark something like elm bark, which men could live on
for a few days; but the answer was that there was neither fruit, roots, nor
bark, that the country was a barren waste.
Upon receiving this information, the Colonel exclaimed, “What can we
do?” In response, the suggestion was that the guides did not know unless some
of the stronger men and mules were sent on a forced march to the first place in
California, where they could get a bunch of beef cattle and meet us on the
desert with them. There was some
further conversation, when it was ended by the colonel exclaiming, with a
despairing oath, “I expect the men will starve to death!”
In the
evening, several of the men organized themselves into a debating club to pass
the time. Henry W. Bigler wrote:
I took part
in the debates and although living on soup made from the carcasses of poor
given‑out oxen slightly thickened with our scanty supply of flour, we
felt well and had good times in our polemic schools and that very day an ox so
extremely poor gave out by the way. He
was killed and the meat dressed and brought to camp and dealt to the soldiers
and we only regretted we did not have full rations even of that as poor as it
was.
As the
third sick detachment was traveling back to Santa Fe, one of the oxen became stuck
in the mud. They tried to pull it out
with a rope but accidentally broke its neck.
In the evening Private John Green died.
At night they scraped a hole in the sand close to the river, wrapped him
in a blanket, and put him in the hole.
They stripped off some cottonwood bark and fitted it around the grave.
Elder
Addison Pratt sailed from Anaa to Tahiti, the first leg of his journey for home
in America. He wrote: “I shall never forget the parting with
Brother Grouard. He and I have been
yoked together in this mission for 3 and a half years.” He reflected on their trials and neglect from
their friends in America. They had only
received three letters during that long time and felt that the brethren had
forgotten about them.
We felt
that our Heavenly Father was our only friend left, and then would we seek some
lone retreat when we could box down before our God, upon the coral sands in the
shade of some lone cocoanut tree and pour out our complains before him. And he had never forsaken us, but has blest
our labours and through him we have baptized over a thousand natives, besides a
goodly number of Americans and Europeans.
And now I leave him in the field to sustain it, by the help of the Lord,
while I beg my way to my family and the body of the church . . .
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 452‑53; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal,
3:95; Nibley, Exodus to Greatness, 268; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern
Trails 1846‑1854, 97‑8; Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket,
170‑71, 357‑58; “Journal Extracts of Henry W. Bigler,” Utah
Historical Quarterly 5:2:42‑3; Bagley, Frontiersman: Abner Blackburn’s Narrative, 45; Tyler, A
Concise History of the Mormon Battalion, 191; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp
Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints, Nov 11, 1846;
Brown, Life of a Pioneer, 48; Ellsworth, The Journals of Addison
Pratt, 299-300
Brigham
Young spent the day in council meetings with many of the brethren reading
letters that had recently arrived. They
studied letters and documents regarding settling on Indian grounds and also
read letters from missionaries in England.
The
Presidents of the Seventies met and accepted reports from their quorum
members. Each quorum was instructed to
look after their poor.
Lorenzo
Dow Young spent the day sawing out and fitting a window in his log house. He also made a door and a latch. His brother, Joseph, was still very
ill. Lorenzo took turns with his wife
during the night taking care of him.
A
daughter, Melissa Jane Lambson, was born to Alfred B. and Melissa Bigler
Lambson.12
The
company stayed at the Sand Springs all day and dried out their clothes from the
previous night’s rain. In the evening,
a camp meeting was held. They were
exhorted to be clean, take care of the sick, be unified, and to not waste their
provisions.
After
following the Rio Grande for many days, it was finally time for the Mormon
Battalion to turn southwest and leave the river. Their guides left word that they had found water fifteen miles
from the river. The battalion marched
up a steep ascent, followed ridges, wound up a long valley, and traveled over a
very rocky prairie. After a long day’s
march, they finally arrived at the camp.
Colonel Cooke wrote, “The water is about one hundred feet lower than the
camp, in a rocky chasm difficult of descent for animals; the chief supply is a
natural rock‑bound well thirty feet in diameter and twenty‑four
feet deep.” They named the well,
Foster’s Hole, after Doctor Stephen Foster.13
Colonel
Cooke stood on a ledge and directed the watering of animals for two hours. Guy M. Keysor also described the hole.
This
cistern is placed at the bottom of a deep ravine surrounded by perpendicular
rocks on three sides, many of the overhanging; to get to the bottom of this
excavation, a winding course has to be taken & when at the bottom some
dozen of steps has to be taken up a natural stone stairway before we can obtain
water out the font or cistern. The water
has to be dipped out & poured in holes below in order to water stock which
makes it very tedious for large companies like ours.
There was
no wood to burn nearby, only a few bushes and Spanish bayonets.
The sick
detachment found a pair of young steers which made them cheer up. Lt. William Willis wrote, “We looked upon it
as one of the providences of our Father in heaven. Thus provided for, we pursued our march.”
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 453; “Diary of Lorenzo Dow Young,” Utah
Historical Quarterly, 14:151; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The
Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861, 209; Yurtinus, A Ram in the
Thicket, 170‑71, 257‑58; Tyler, A Concise History of the
Mormon Battalion, 191; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer
Camp of the Saints.
Brigham
Young and Heber C. Kimball helped Willard Richards put up his house during the
day. The Council wrote a letter to
Reuben Miller, who had recently returned to the Church after following James
Strang for several months. They gave
him some advice regarding his future plans to preach against James Strang.
The
Council also wrote a letter to the Nauvoo Trustees. “If we can raise a sufficient number of effective men to pass
over the mountains in time to put in summer crops, we can be prepared with
mills, houses, etc., to receive any amount of our families and saints by the
spring of 1848, and this is what we are now making all our plans to bend
to.” They asked to have all the able‑bodied
brethren fit themselves out for the campaign and to be at Winter Quarters by
the first of March. Other families
should remain in the grain country for a year or should go to the Missouri
River and raise grain there. Brigham
Young commented that it was high time that Governor Ford began to keep the
peace in Nauvoo, but he came much to late.
“Who ever saw a fly trap catch flys in winter?”
The letter
concluded with, “Many of the brethren are in comfortable habitations and many
more will be in a week or two. The
weather has been extremely mild, hitherto unknown to this country; no snow, and
till last night no frost.”
Amos
Babcock, age thirty-seven, died of consumption. He was the husband of Mary Ann Babock.14
Elizabeth Melvil, age twenty-five, died of chills and canker. She was the daughter of Alexander Melvil.
A son,
Stephen Muir was born and died. He was
the son of William S. and Jane Robb Muir.15
Brother
Tubbs caught up with the company but refused to rejoin them because they did
not wait for him. He instead pressed on
ahead. A company lead by Brother Gates
passed them and unfortunately didn’t share any provisions with the poor camp.
Allen
Stout sold everything that he could not haul, packed up his family, and started
for Council Bluffs. They traveled only
two and a half miles.
Colonel
Cooke hoped to reach the Mimbres Mountains during the day, but it turned out
that his guides did not know exactly how to get there. They did find a stream [present‑day
Macho Creek] running from the hills near a fringe of timber. Colonel Cooke commented, “I have no guide
that knows anything about the country and I fear such exploring, as we go, will
be very slow or hazardous work.” It was
decided to send out a company of guides.
Each day, one would return to give Colonel Cooke information.
Near their
camp that night, was a foundation of an ancient building that consisted of five
rooms. Fragments of earthen pottery and
broken mortars were found inside. The
rations were getting so short that Colonel Cooke ordered an old ox to be killed
which had been with the battalion for hundreds of miles. It had given out during the day and men were
sent back to get it.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 453; “Diary of Lorenzo Dow Young,” Utah
Historical Quarterly, 14:151; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The
Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861, 209; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern
Trails 1846‑1854, 99‑100; Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket,
170‑71, 257‑58; Tyler, A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion,
191; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the
Saints
Brigham
Young and Heber C. Kimball went to bid good‑bye to Bishop George Miller,
who was returning to Ponca. They told
him that they had nothing against him personally, but that they were
disappointed that he did not attend council meetings as he should have and
avoided the Church leaders.
When
President Young returned home, he found Big Elk, the Omaha chief waiting for
him. Big Elk expressed his gratitude
for the gun powder and lead sent to him.
He also returned two horses that had been found. He stated that his family was very hungry
and he hoped to be given a cow.
President Young informed him that the Omahas continued to kill their
cattle. Big Elk replied that his bad
young men were doing it and that they had been chastised for their conduct.
In the
evening, the Twelve met with the High Council.
Brigham Young was not satisfied with the method used to guard the
city. A rotation of volunteer guards
was not working. He wanted to establish
a full‑time police guard. Brigham
Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Hosea Stout were appointed to select city police.
The
Council wrote a letter to Charles C. Rich, the leader of Mount Pisgah. He was asked to appoint a High Council at
Mount Pisgah. Elder Rich should not
bear the burden of leadership alone. He
was to “select faithful men, who have got hearts of mercy and compassion
towards their brethren, and especially towards the poor ‑‑ men who
will not bear down upon the feelings of the Saints, but be as fathers and
saviors to all who are Saints.” After a
High Council had been organized and was functioning, Elder Rich was instructed
to come to Winter Quarters with his family.
Elder Rich was also informed about the plans to send a company of able‑bodied
men over the mountains in the spring.
They were to put in summer crops, build houses and mills to prepare to
receive families the following year.
Elder Rich had been collecting tithing at Mount Pisgah. The Council wrote, “It is the feelings of
the Council that you distribute it amongst those at Pisgah who are poor and
destitute and sick, etc. You will use
your judgement in regard to cases of necessity, and make as just a distribution
as possible, that the poor may be blest and their hearts made to rejoice.”
The
Council also wrote a letter to Elder Jesse C. Little, President of the Eastern
States mission. He was asked to return
to Winter Quarters, to prepare to go over the mountains in the spring. He was to appoint faithful, trustworthy men
to preside over the branches of the Church “men who have got the spirit of God
and mercy and compassion; who will defend the truth and walk uprightly as an
example to those whom they preside over.”
William I. Appleby was appointed to replace Elder Little as the
president of the mission.
Late in
the evening, Willard Richards wrote a letter to Thomas L. Kane. Elder Richards thanked Colonel Kane for his
honorable support in his petitions to the government. “Israel’s God will reward . . . you . . . for the eagle eye with
which you watched for the good of suffering virtue.” Elder Richards also informed him about the recent pressure from
Major Harvey on the Saints to move off the Omaha Indian land. This continued to be a nagging worry to the
leaders of the Church.
Julia Ann
Hooker Shumway, age thirty-eight, died of chills and fever. She was the wife of Charles Shumway.
Allen
Taylor’s company caught up with Orville Allen and his company. Allen Taylor’s camp had come from the
Mississippi in seventeen days. Orville
Allen’s company had been on the road for thirty-seven days. The Orville Allen company pressed on and
came near the Pottawatomie Indian village.
Thomas Bullock wrote: “Came to a
bad hole in sight of the Indian Town.
Met a many Indians & horses returning from Council Bluffs. . . .
Most of the prairies were burnt up and we saw them burning in three different
directions.”
Luman
Shurtliff’s rescue team arrived in Garden Grove with a company of poor from
Nauvoo. He wrote: “In 30 days we had accomplished a journey of
340 miles without means, except the Lord had furnished almost without exertion
on our part. Our teams looked well and
the teamsters had no sickness and the sick we brought were on the gain except
one sister who died soon after we arrived.”
The Mormon
Battalion rested in their camp while the guides were sent to do more
exploring. The weather was poor, with
wind and rain all day. Some snow even
fell. Thomas Dunn wrote: “This was a disagreeable day though we were
more comfortable in camp than had we been traveling.”
Some of
the men went hunting antelope and found many wild grapes upstream. A detail of men went back to retrieve a sick
ox. With much coaxing, they were able
to bring it into camp where it was then slaughtered for rations. Henry Standage wrote that it was “really the
poorest beef that can be imagined and not only is there a lack of fat, but it
is covered with sores caused by the blows received from day to day in order to
get the poor thing along through the deep sand.” In honor of the ox, the men named the creek, White Ox Creek and
the entire valley White Ox Valley.
The sick
detachment continued to journey toward Santa Fe. John Tippets wrote, “The days pass of lonesome and melancholy the
men are feeble and we git along slow and we have no way to make them
comfortable.”
Orson Hyde
published an issue of the Millennial Star. He warned the Saints about the activities of Martin Harris, one
of the Three Witnesses, who was in England as a missionary for the Strangite
Church. Apparently Martin Harris and
his missionary companions were attempting to pass themselves off as legitimate
missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Elder Hyde condemned this dishonesty and
added: “The very countenance of Harris
will show to every spiritual‑minded person who sees him, that the wrath
of God is upon him.”16
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 453‑57; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon
Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861, 209‑10; Cooke, Exploring
Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 101; Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket,
259‑61, 277; “Private Journal of Thomas Dunn,” typescript, 11; Journal of
Henry Standage in Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion, 184; “Luman
Shurtliff Autobiography,” typescript, BYU, 68; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp
Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints; Orson Hyde,
“Notices,” Millennial Star 8 (15 Nov 1846):128.
It rained
all night and into the afternoon. Orrin
Porter Rockwell returned from Mount
Pisgah. He brought in ten head of stray
cattle that he found on the way.
Mariah
Pulsipher Burgess described the trials that she had to face about this
time. “I was living in a leaky log
cabin without a floor in November when a daughter, Juliett, was born. I was never
able to leave my bed.”
In the
morning, Hosea Stout met with Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball and made out a
list of 24 names to serve in the Winter Quarters police guard.
In the
evening, a council meeting was held. A
committee was appointed to lay out the new cemetery on the second bluff west of
Winter Quarters. The Council discussed
the possibility of establishing a settlement on the east side of the Rocky
Mountains as a way‑station.
The
Council read a letter written by Willard Richards to Thomas L. Kane. Elder Richards thanked Colonel Kane for his
honorable support in his petitions to the government. “Israel’s God will reward . . . you . . . for the eagle eye with
which you watched for the good of suffering virtue.” Elder Richards also informed him about the recent pressure from
Major Harvey on the Saints to move off the Indian lands. This continued to be a nagging concern to
the leaders of the Church. He also referred
to Winter Quarters. “Many of the
families in camp, are now in small log or turf houses, just fit to ward the
winter’s blast, and many more will be like situated should the very mild
weather continue till winter’s day.” He
explained that the timber used by the Saints for their houses was taken from
the flood plains near the river. “We
consider it far better that these logs be laid in houses to shelter the widow
and orphan, than left to snag boats in the Missouri.”
Hosea
Stout met with Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball and made out a list of
twenty-four names to serve in the Winter Quarters police guard.
James
Brinkerhoff, age fourteen months, died of canker. He was the son of James and Sally Ann Brinkerhoff. Louisa Cook, age thirty-five, died of chills
and fever, twelve miles up river from Winter Quarters. She was the wife of Aaron W. Cook. Sarah Jane Grover, age one year, died of
chills. She was the daughter of Joseph
and Sally Grover. Dorothy Pierce also
died. She was the wife of Cornell Pierce.
A son, Enoch Wright, was born to Jonathan C. and Rebecca Wheeler Wright.17
Patty Sessions helped with the delivery. Also, a daughter, Susan Aseneth Robinson, was born to Joseph L.
and Susan McCord Robinson.18
It rained
during much of the day, making the ground very muddy. Thomas Bullock commented, “I was wet thro’ before
breakfast.” They camped all day on the
banks of the river. In the evening a
thunder shower rolled in.
Robert S.
Bliss wrote:
This day 4
months of our time has past and we commence our march again to our destined home
in California. We are now in one of the
most beautiful vallies I ever saw, probably 40 or 50 miles in width & how
far in length no white man knows, for we are now traveling a route our Pilots
never went it; & if we succeed in crossing the mountains on this route it
will save 400 miles travel for us. So
far we have been blessed beyond our expectations as to water & good roads.
The
battalion traveled thirteen miles to the foot of some mountains. They camped near a small swampy hole of
water which in later years was known as Cooke’s Spring. Colonel Cooke wrote: “There is an irregular enclosure of rocks
piled up (about three feet) on a hill near camp, probably a temporary defense
of some of the Indians of the country.”
There was
plenty of grass at this camp. The wood
was scarce except for brush and soap‑weed which they used for fuel.
Governor
Thomas Ford left Nauvoo, but kept forty men at the city to keep the peace. He did not attempt to arrest any of the mob
for their lawless actions. He wrote:
We did not
think it worth while to arrest any one implicated in previous riots knowing as
we did, that, as the State could not change the trial to any other county, no
one could be convicted in Hancock. In
fact the Anti-Mormons made their boats, that as they are now in the entire
possession of the juries and the civil officers of the county, no jury can be
obtained there to convict them. In this
respect the administration of justice in that county is yet fully as bad as it
ever was under the domination of the Mormons.
Watson,
ed., Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 457‑61, 482; Cooke, Exploring
Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 101‑02; “The Journal of Robert
S. Bliss,” The Utah Historical Quarterly, 4:77; “Thomas Bullock Poor
Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints; Hallwas and
Launius, Cultures in Conflict, 347; “Mariah Pulsipher autobiography,” in
K. Hales, ed., Windows, 181-82
Willard
Richards prepared a mail package for Mount Pisgah and Nauvoo. In the evening, Harrison Burgess came for
the package. He expected to leave for
Nauvoo in the morning.
Wilford
Woodruff began working again on building a home. He observed the hard work going on in Winter Quarters.
I have
never seen the Latter Day Saints in any situation where they seemed to be
passing through greater tribulations or wearing out faster than at the present
time. After being exposed to the
sufferings of a tedious journey of 10 months in tents and waggons without
houses, we are obliged to build a city of log Houses number more than one
thousand for the purpose of stoping in about three months & having to go a
great distance for timber & wood & get it out of deep ravines and
hollows which make it very hard to endure.
Alvy West,
age fifty-one, died of fever. He was
the husband of Sally West. William S.
Woodward, age thirty-seven, died of chills and fever. He was the husband of Mary C. Woodward. A son, Ariah Hussey Brower, was born to Ariah C. and Margaret
Hussey Brower.19
A son,
Joseph Stephen Southworth, was born to Chester and Mary Byington Southworth.
The
company was delayed because of a search for stray cattle, but continued their
journey at noon. They had to go three
miles around a ridge because a bridge across a creek had been recently burned
and destroyed. They supposed that it was
done purposely by a former company member who had split from the group. Thomas Bullock wrote: “We camped at dusk near a Grove. Went near a mile to fetch water, thro’ grass
from five to seven feet high.”
The
battalion marched up a winding valley, over a ridge, and down the other side to
an open prairie where they found water in a ravine. Colonel Cooke wrote: “Two
new splendid varieties of the cactus are found here: one a solid hemisphere, with ridges and horny hooks three inches
long; the other with the leaf seven inches long, also round and ridged, but
velvety and variable in color from pink and purple to nearly black.”
West of
the camp, along a sandstone outcrop, they found ruins of an ancient
settlement. Henry Standage wrote:
Close to
our camp is some traces or proof of Nephites once living here. Large entrances into the rocks and several
pestles and mortars found made of rock, also some pieces of ancient crockery
ware, showing that a people has once lived here who knew how to make such
things, whereas the Indians who now inhabit these parts do not understand such
things. We found a great many
hieroglyphics engraven in rocks, which resembled those found in Pike Co. Illinois.
I take this for good circumstantial evidence of the Divine authenticity of
the Book of Mormon.
Henry
Bigler described another item of fascination, “Here is a large flat rock with
30 holes cut in it from 12 to 14 inches deep and from 6 to 10 inches in
diameter. These we suppose were used to
catch water whenever it rained.”20 He continued, “Some of our boys found a lot
of antelope and deer skins nicely cured and stored away in some rocks near
camp, they perhaps belong to Indians, they were not disturbed, they were left
as we had found them.” As they explored
a small mountain west of camp, they found what they supposed to be a gold mine
which had been worked many years earlier.
William
Coray was fascinated by the geology in the area showing evidence of volcanic
eruptions. “We could plainly see where
the mountains have been rent from each other and thrown up at a tremendous
height there is one which Capt Hunter and myself and wives visited south which
stands full 2000 feet high slit open at the top a good way down leaving a large
cavity through which the air sucks so that it is almost impossible to stand
there.”
The second
sick detachment of the Mormon Battalion led by James Brown arrived at Pueblo
about 2 p.m. and pitched their tents near twenty newly constructed log cabins
erected by the first detachment led by Nelson Higgins. One man wrote: “The greetings which occurred between comrades and old friends,
husbands and wives, parents and children, when the two detachments met, was
quite touching. A thrill of joy ran
through the camp which none but those living martyrs can fully
comprehend.” Absalom P. Dowdle, of the
Mississippi company had been appointed by Elder William Crosby, to preside over
the Saints at Pueblo.
Reuben
Miller, former Strangite, now back in the Church, wrote a letter to Brigham
Young and Heber C. Kimball. “I have
examined myself and believe I acted in honest sincerity. . . . I come before
you in all confidence, believing as I do that God has forgiven me.” He recalled Brigham Young’s revelation to
him. “You told me I would see my error
before six months and would again return to the bosom of the Church.” He asked for permission to do missionary
activities among the Strangites.
Elder
Addison Pratt arrived in Tahiti. The
Saints took him in while he waited for a ship to America. He was frustrated to learn that a package of
letters and news from home had arrived, but were on an island called Mauii,
where he could not retrieve them. There
was a letter from his wife, a letter from Brigham Young, and a letter from the
ship Brooklyn.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 461; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 3:95‑6;
Cooke, Exploring Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 102‑03;
“Journal Extracts of Henry W. Bigler,” Utah Historical Quarterly,
5:2:43; “The Journal of Nathaniel V. Jones,” The Utah Historical Quarterly,
4:7; Journal of Henry Standage in Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion,
184; Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 362‑63; Our Pioneer
Heritage, Vol. 2, p.436; “Thomas
Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints;
Anderson, BYU Studies, 8:287;
Ellsworth, The Journals of Addison Pratt, 301-02
In the
afternoon, the Twelve and High Council met together to address some Winter
Quarters issues. Members of the High
Council were asked to take on more responsibility looking after the Church
property in the city. It was voted to
fund the historian, Willard Richards, with $100. A committee was appointed to advise the “stray sheep herd
committee” to take better care of the animals.
If any animals were found running around during they day, they should be
treated as strays.
Robert
Holeman Pixton, age six weeks, died. He
was the son of Robert and Elizabeth Pixton.
A son, Isaac Chauncey Haight, was born to Isaac C. and Eliza Snyder
Haight.21 Patty Sessions helped with the delivery,
assisted by Lydia Cook. Sister Sessions
also helped deliver a baby for Sister Brown.
A light
snow fell on the camp early in the morning.
They decided to stay at this camp all day. Oxen were sent back to help several teams catch up. In the evening, the camp assembled for a
meeting. Captain Orville Allen spoke on
the duties of the Saints. The company
agreed to sort through all their things to find items that could be taken to
the Missouri settlements to trade.
The
battalion had a difficult and long eighteen‑mile march. It took over eight hours to pull the wagons
into the next camp located on a clear stream, which disappeared into the
sand. As they neared the camp, one of
the soldiers slipped out of ranks to go hunting. He came back with an antelope that made a wonderful supper for a
number of men.
Colonel
Cooke discovered that his guides should have led the battalion through a gap in
the mountains which would have saved them fifteen miles. He thought this probably wasted two days.
Henry W.
Bigler wrote:
I am nearly
used up, being so weak and not very well.
The days are warm and the nights cool.
Our teams begin to look better although the grass is dry but we find on
examination that the stalks are juicy and we think it does not rain much here
and the grass cures on the stalks like hay and our mules and cattle are very
fond of it. I see no timber and do not
think there is much water in the country.
The Brown
company went right to work building log houses for the winter. Many of the men were still so weak that they
could only work for an hour or two.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 461‑62; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern
Trails 1846‑1854, 103‑04; “Journal Extracts of Henry W.
Bigler,” Utah Historical Quarterly, 5:2:43‑4; Yurtinus, A Ram
in the Thicket, 363‑64; “William Walker autobiography,” typescript,
BYU, 21; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of
the Saints; Patty Sessions Diary, Our Pioneer Heritage, 2:62
In the
evening, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Hosea Stout met at Albert P.
Rockwood’s tent to organize a “Regular Standing Police Guard” for Winter
Quarters. Hosea Stout was unanimously
sustained as the captain. Twenty-five
men were chosen to serve in the police guard:
Jonathan C. Wright, Phinehas H. Young, Isaac C. Haight, Peter W.
Conover, William Kimball, George W. Langley, Simeon A. Dunn, James W. Cummings,
Perrigrine Sessions, Elijah J. Sabin, George D. Grant, Edmund Ellsworth, Lyman
Whitney, Augustus Stafford, Garrett W. Mikesell, Luman H. Calkins, Ira
Eldredge, Appleton M. Harmon, Stephen Winchester Jr., Alvah L. Tippitts, Henry
Herriman, Elias Gardner, Abraham O. Smoot, John D. Parker, and Daniel Carns.
Many of
these men had also served in the “old police” in Nauvoo. Hosea Stout wrote, “Those who dreaded us
because of their wickedness there may well have the same fears now. For the same men and the same organization,
the same leader, the same circumstances to act on, will naturally produce the
same results.” President Young
instructed the new organization and mentioned that seven others would probably
be added to the force. Hosea Stout made
arrangements for guard duty to begin.
Persis
Mitchell, age eleven months, died of inflammation of the lungs. She was the daughter of Benjamin T. and
Lovina Mitchell.
John D.
Lee was nearing the end of his journey.
As he was approaching Council Bluffs, he met Sister Nancy Daly, one of
his converts on his mission to Tennessee.
He wrote, “I met with Sister Nancy Daly, an old acquaintance who wept
with joy. I presented her a handsome
strand of Mexican beads as a token of friendship.”
The
company left camp around 1 p.m. As they
traveled, they noticed a wolf on top of a ridge. They traveled over two hills, across fields that had been burned
with fire.
Overnight,
the water froze one inch thick. The
battalion had difficulty getting the wagons across the river and ended up with
a broken wagon. Colonel Cooke wrote,
“The prairie was pretty firm and very little rolling; but the march was mostly
an ascent, and we did not reach camp with the wagons until dusk; the mules were
in harness eleven hours. Here there is
only a little brush.”
They
camped by a Cow Springs, close to a road leading from the copper mines from
Janos. The spring was a small swamp of
stinking water. The guides brought back
word that they could not find water ahead.
The third
sick detachment lost two men, Elijah N. Freeman and Richard Carter. Elijah Freeman had taken ill the day before
and was being hauled in the wagon. The
men could hear his groans as they traveled.
During the day, they halted their march when they realized Elijah was
about to die. In the night, Richard
Carter died. The two men were buried
south of Socorro, next to James Hampton, who had died on November 3 as the main
companies of the battalion were traveling south. James Scott wrote of this great loss,
Sleep on!
No more shall thy peaceful slumbers be disturbed by the shrill notes of the
Reveille or the harsh commands of tyrants. . . . Rest from thy labors for a
season, and althou Thou art laid in the wild forest in a foreign land. Yet thy names shall be remembered &
recorded as Martyrs fallen a sacrifice for the sake of they brethren.
John
Tippets added, “at present it is our daily prayer that there will be no more
deaths in our midst for truly it is grievous to see our brethren left by the
side of the road.”
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 462; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The
Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861, 211‑12; Cooke, Exploring
Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 104‑05; “The Journal of Robert
S. Bliss,” The Utah Historical Quarterly, 4:78 Yurtinus, A Ram in the
Thicket, 277‑78, 364‑65; Tyler, A Concise History of the
Mormon Battalion, 191‑92; Juanita Brooks, John Doyle Lee, 103;
“Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the
Saints.
Brigham
Young and Heber C. Kimball went to visit Willard Richards, who was sick. Hosea Stout regulated the police guard,
assigning two shifts during the night, six men on each shift. Horace Eldredge wrote, “I got my little family
under the first and only roof that had sheltered them since the early
spring.”
A meeting
was held in the camp. It was decided
that their present location would be the best for those brethren who did not
have provisions to last all winter.
Everyone agreed to this plan. A
baptism was held that afternoon. Luther
Van Burklow was baptized a member of the Church and ordained an Elder. Harrison Burgess passed through the camp on
his way to deliver mail to Mt. Pisgah.
During the evening he gave counsel to those brethren who would stay
behind.
A
daughter, Mary Ann Kington, was born to Thomas Kington and his wife.
A
correspondent at Fort Leavenworth wrote to Horace Greeley, editor of the New
York Tribune. He wrote:
You may
depend upon it, Mr. Greeley, these poor creatures (the Latter‑day Saints)
have been greatly wronged, and in nothing more than the successful robbery
which slander has made of their good name. . . . I had a highly respectable man
in my quarters the other day who was at Nauvoo during the final sack of that
pretty little town, and who had acquaintances among the leaders of the mob, and
tells me that none of them even pretended to believe the charges against the
Mormons and said their own beating and robbing and killing, and burning homes,
was only because “there was no other way of clearing them out.”
Commenting
on the Mormon Battalion, he wrote, “I did not see a finer body, individually or
collectively; and their deportment was the subject of universal admirations.” The Times condemned the actions of the mob
and criticized the lack of action by Governor Ford. “The executive of Illinois was too cowardly or too indolent, or
thought himself too politic to arrest the outrage.”
It was
very cold in the morning. Colonel
Cooke’s hair froze as he washed it. He
decided not to march because the mules were in poor condition. Cooke and some guides hiked up to the top of
a hill and started a smoke fire, a signal of distress, hoping to attract
attention. Soon the signal was answered
by a Mexican trading party. Henry
Bigler wrote: “They had seen the signal
and came dashing up on their horses, frightening one of our men who happened to
be a little ways from camp, gathering wood.
He dropped his wood and ran for dear life, to the merriment of all who
witnessed it.”
The
traders were coming from the San Bernardino Ranch, 70‑80 miles
ahead. They reported that there was
only one water hole on the way there. They traded mules with the battalion, resulting in eight good
mules for the soldiers.
Colonel
Cooke held a serious consultation with his guides. He was dumbfounded as to what course to take. Cooke had orders from General Kearny to
establish a wagon road between Santa Fe and the Gila River. He was becoming convinced that this was
impossible for him to do, given the conditions of this company and mules. After some deliberation, he decided that
they should head south to Janos and then find a road toward the west.
Colonel
Cooke held a meeting with the Mormon officers and informed them of the new
plans to follow the copper mine trail to the Sonoran Mexican settlements. He also complained that rations had been
stolen. Jefferson Hunt stated that the
rations were not sufficient for the long marches. Cooke decided to increase the rations.
In the
evening, David Pettigrew and Levi Hancock visited every man in the camp,
requesting that they plead with the Lord to “direct our course for the best,
even to changing the mind of the Colonel not to go through the copper mine
country.” Henry Bigler explained: “These men were of the opinion that to go
through the country where the enemy was stationed without meeting with an
engagement would be almost impossible.”
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 462; Journal History, November 20, 1846; Brooks,
ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861,
212; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 105‑08;
Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 365‑67; “Extracts from the Journal
of Henry W. Bigler” in Utah Historical Quarterly, 5:2:44; Tyler, A
Concise History of the Mormon Battalion, 205‑06; Horace Eldredge,
autobiography in Tullidge’s Quarterly
Mag, l:407; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp
of the Saints.
Brigham
Young and Heber C. Kimball went to visit Willard Richards, who was sick. Late in the evening, John D. Lee and Howard
Egan returned from their mission to the Mormon Battalion.
Ephraim
Pearson, age sixty, died of chills and dysentery. He was the husband of Rody Pearson. Robert P. Lamb, age one, died.
He was the son of Benjamin R. and Elizabeth Lamb.
The
brethren in the company became discontented about the decision to stay
behind. Captain Allen collected the
goods that were left by the brethren who were going on and put them in the
possession of William Meeks, who would be left in charge of the company. In the afternoon, the company divided. Orville Allen, Thomas Bullock and others
headed towards Council Bluffs. They
camped on the west fork of the Nishnabotna River.
The
battalion started their march towards Sonora, Mexico, the route that the guides
convinced Colonel Cooke to take. Cooke
wrote, “After going a mile and a half
[to the southwest towards Janos] I decided to turn to the right and go
to the hole of water they had found ten miles on the way to San
Bernardino.” Daniel Tyler wrote, “He
rose from his saddle and ordered a halt.
He then said with firmness:
‘This is not my course. I was
ordered to California and . . . I will go there or die in the attempt.’ Turning
to the bugler, he said, ‘Blow the right!’” David Pettigrew cried out, “God
bless the Colonel!” Tyler wrote: “The
Colonel’s head turned and his keen, penetrating eyes glanced around to discern
whence the voice came, and then his grave, stern face for once softened and
showed signs of satisfaction.”
Most of
the men believed that the Lord had directly answered their prayers from the
night before. Nathaniel Jones
testified: “Some unforeseen power
intercepted our course, and we turned to the west across the plains, not
knowing whither we went.” William Coray
wrote: “At this time particularly, I
could see the hand of God displayed in directing our course. If we had gone to Sonora to all human
appearance, we would have lost our lives.
We being so small a force in comparison to what they could raise.”
Not all
the men rejoiced at this change of plans.
Some had looked forward to reaching the Mexican settlement where more
provisions could be obtained.
The
battalion marched on and camped in a valley, at the base of a mountain, where
they found water. In the evening,
Captain Hunter’s servant, Nathan Young, was caught illegally purchasing meat
from Quartermaster Smith’s servant.
Colonel Cooke ordered Hunter’s servant to spend the night tied to a
wagon wheel.
Joseph
William Richards, the younger brother of Franklin D. and Samuel W. Richards,
died at the age of seventeen. Daniel
Tyler later wrote that Sister Celia Hunt had “often took him nourishment and
said comforting words to him, giving him the last food he ever ate a few hours
before his death. [She spoke] of him as
among the most noble young men she ever knew.
He never complained of his lot.”
Watson,
ed., Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 462‑63; Charles Kelly
(ed.), Journals of John D. Lee, 17‑21; Cooke, Exploring
Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 108‑09; Tyler, A Concise
History of the Mormon Battalion, 207; “The Journal of Nathaniel V. Jones,” The
Utah Historical Quarterly, 4:7; Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 368‑71;
Our Pioneer Heritage, 1:472; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in
Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints
John D.
Lee and Howard Egan returned the night before from their mission to the Mormon
Battalion. They brought 282 letters, 72
packages, and the battalion pay consisting of $1277. Brother Lee wrote, “I was astonished when I looked around and saw
what serious enterprise and industry had brought to pass within 6 weeks
past. A city of at least 400 houses had
been erected in that short space of time, through the ingenuity and industry of
the Saints. No other people but the
Saints of God has ever been known to accomplish as much in so short a time.”
Brother
Lee met with President Young in the morning and reported his mission. Lee wrote, “On entering the room, he met and
blessed me with the warmth and affection of a father.”
At noon, a
meeting was held at the stand. Elder
Orson Pratt handed out the mail, filling in for Willard Richards, who was still
sick. Marshal Horace Eldredge announced
that a city ordinance was in effect that all animals must be put in a pen
during the nights. If strays were
found, a twenty-five-cent fine would be imposed. Brigham Young announced that a police force had been appointed to
protect property. Brethren were needed
to complete the mill race as soon as possible before the ground froze.
John D.
Lee was concerned about the needy state of some of the Mormon Battalion
families. He wished that the bishops
would take care of them better. He
wrote:
Were I a
bishop, I would go to those waggons that are loaded down with flour, pork, and
that have been bought with [the battalion money] and would have provision if I
had to take an ax and burst their waggons and barrels open if they would not
hand it out. The time has now come when
we must help each other, and those that do not will regret it in sorrow and
deep lamentation.
At 3 p.m.,
the meeting closed. The presidents of
the Seventies were asked to remain.
President Young asked for a report from each quorum regarding any
destitute families. A report came in
that the Omaha Indians had killed four cattle recently. In the evening, John D. Lee met with members
of the Twelve and gave a full report of his mission. He reported about the terrible treatment the soldiers had
received from Lieutenant Smith and Dr. Sanderson. President Young was outraged and saddened by this news.
A son,
Joseph Lafayette Garner, was born to Phillip and Mary Hedrick Garner.22
The
company arrived at a settlement consisting of about twenty houses. Thomas Bullock wrote, “My eyes were
gladdened.” The rain began to fall
during the night.
The
battalion marched eighteen miles ahead, winding out of a narrow valley. Colonel Cooke was frustrated with his guides. The trail to the west could not be found and
it was no known where water could be obtained ahead. At 4 p.m., a white smoke signal was seen ahead about fifteen
miles. The signal was sent up by one of
the guides, communicating that water was found ahead. However, it was too late to reach that point this day. The men had to camp without water that night
and the night’s meals had to be cooked over weeds.
Henry W.
Bigler wrote: “I ate some fruit that
grew on a weed, it tasted like dried apples.
I soon became very thirsty and oh, how sorry I was to learn there was no
water in camp and every canteen empty. . . . Others of the battalion who ate of
the fruit that grew on the weed complained of being thirsty and having a sickly
feeling.”
Robert S.
Bliss added: “The grasshoppers &
the butterflies are sporting in the sun‑beams, the mountains are spread
around us & seem to hem us in while the valley is as mild as summer.”
A new
method had been used to break the trail during the day. Daniel Tyler explained:
Here it was
decided and ordered that the men walk in double file in front of the wagons,
just far enough apart to make trails for the wheels and that at the end of an
hour’s march the leading companies and teams halt and allow the others to
precede them and take their turn at breaking the road. This gave all an equal share of the burden.
. . . It was much like tramping snow ‑‑ very hard on the men,
especially those who took the lead, as we had no road or trail to follow.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 462‑63; Charles Kelly (ed.), Journals of
John D. Lee, 1846‑1847 and 1859, 17‑21; Cooke, Exploring
Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 109‑10; Journal Extracts of
Henry W. Bigler, The Utah Historical Quarterly, 5:2:45; Tyler, A Concise
History of the Mormon Battalion, 207; “The Journal of Robert S. Bliss,” The
Utah Historical Quarterly, 4:78; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in
Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints
The
morning was cool and windy. John D. Lee
shared with the brethren a letter from some members of the Mormon Battalion to
defend his actions during his visit with them.
He did this in response to a letter sent by the officers that criticized
his behavior. Many sisters stopped by
that day to ask about their husbands who were serving in the battalion.
Brigham
Young met with several members of the High Council and discussed their duties
regarding bearing the burdens of the Church and taking care of the poor. They needed to better magnify their calling
and step forward to take the burden of these temporal affairs from the
Twelve. They were asked to “call
Bishops to an account from time to time and devise ways and means for the poor
to sustain themselves by their own labor instead of calling on the rich to hand
out what they had.” President Young
announced that he planned to totally fund the building of the mill out of his
pocket. He also mentioned that Major Harvey was
contemplating building a fort in the future near Winter Quarters. President Young prophesied, “That if we
follow council it will not be long before we will have no poor among us and
there would be thousands and tens of thousands to write, preach the gospel
& build temples.”
Hosea
Stout hauled in a load of cottonwood limbs for his horses to eat. If they ate these, they only needed about half
as much hay as they usually ate.
Thomas
Bullock was frustrated with the delays to hunt for cattle. He knew that Willard Richards and the rest
of the Twelve needed him in Winter Quarters to assist them in writing. Each day they had to hunt for lost cattle
and made very little progress on the road.
The
battalion was greeted with a spectacular sunrise. As they marched in the morning, they viewed a deceptive
mirage. Colonel Cooke described it as
“a vast luminous sea, or lake, to which the outline of the mountain gave a far
shore; and then the higher mountains became a grand city, fortified and
castellated, and with churches and spires, and the masts and sails of shipping
which rested upon the bright and placid bosom of its bay.”
They
marched toward the column of smoke created by their guides. Soon they found a road created by the
Mexican traders whom they had met earlier.
They followed this road to the water, but were disappointed because it
was a small hole with only enough water for ten men, not enough for the whole
battalion.23 Men would try to lap up the water while on
their bellies, or use their spoons to get precious drops of water in between
the rocks. The ox teams were instructed
to spend the night at this point, but the rest of the battalion marched
forward.
Henry
Standage wrote: “The Col now ordered
the bugle to sound the advance and the front guard started on again without a
drink, not knowing how far it was to the next water. . . . I made out by staying
till the rear guard had gone by to get a little muddy water, which others
begged from me before I had gone one mile.”
They came
to an unusual dry lake bed [Playas Lake], thirty miles long, and one mile
wide. Colonel Cooke wrote:
At last I
struck it and found it the most extraordianry ground that had ever been
seen. The dry bottom of a vast shallow
lake, of indurated very light‑colored clay, it was nearly as smooth and
hard as polished marble! I sent back the sergeant major to direct the wagons to
turn out of the trail to this strange plain, which was as easy as a railroad. .
. . It gave no track . . . I could hardly realize that it was not ice.
As the
cattle were crossing the dry lake, some fell through at some hollow spots and
it was very difficult to rescue them.
But still, they made great time across this dry lake bed and arrived at
a bed of springs at dark. They had
traveled almost forty miles without sufficient water for thirty‑six
hours. Many of the men did not make it
by dark and had to camp several miles behind.
Some thoughtful officers filled a keg full of water and, with a mule,
marched back to quench the thirst of many men in the rear.
The
suffering that day was incredible.
James S. Brown wrote:
That was
the hardest day for me that came in the experience of the whole journey. . .
.My thirst was intense, and it did not seem possible that I could live till
morning. It seemed that everyone was
traveling as best he could, for the rearguard passed me without taking any
notice . . . looking like death, their mouths black, their eyes sunken till it
was difficult to recognize them. Some
eyes had a stary glare, which looked as if the monster death were close at hand. Yet the men staggered on, their feet hitting
each other, tit for tat, as one was dragged past the other.
As James
S. Brown was losing his hope that day, his uncle, Alexander Stephens, came to
the rescue. His uncle had found some
water in the crevice of a rock and filled his canteen. He shared it with James Brown and he soon
revived his strength. He pressed on and
reached the camp that night. “Wretched,
wretched indeed, was the condition of the command that night. It is doubtful whether at any time in the
long march the men suffered more than they did then the forty‑eight hours
preceding.”
Orson
Spencer and Andrew Cahoon arrived in Philadelphia on the way to their mission
in England.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 463; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The
Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861, 212‑13; Charles Kelly (ed.), Journals
of John D. Lee, 1846‑1847 and 1859, 22; Cooke, Exploring
Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 110‑13; “The Journal of Robert
S. Bliss,” The Utah Historical Quarterly, 4:78; Journal of Henry
Standage in Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion, 186‑87;
Brown, Life of a Pioneer, 49‑50; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp
Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints.
In the
morning, John D. Lee met with Brigham Young.
President Young offered to send men to help Brother Lee build his
house. He also counseled Brother Lee to
send his cattle up to the rush bottoms for the winter. In the afternoon, Brother Lee followed this
counsel by sending six mules and fifteen head of cattle to the north with two
men from his family.
Two
trappers, Justine Grosclaude and Mr. Cardinal, called upon Brigham Young. They shared with him information about the
Rocky Mountains. They gave an
interesting account of Yellowstone River and sketched a map of the country west
of the Missouri and north of Ponca, above the Yellowstone. They encouraged Brigham Young to take a
northern route through present‑day Montana. Horace K. Whitney wrote, “They narrated and gave an account of
the climate, etc. which was quite
interesting indeed.” They claimed to
have settled in the area of “the Salt Lakes” for sixteen years. Mr. Grosclaude offered to pilot the Saints
over the mountains in the Spring for $200.
Mr. Cardinal wanted to hunt for the camp at the price of $200.
Hosea
Stout moved his family into their new house.
It was a twelve feet by twelve feet log home. The doors and windows had not yet been put in, and the wind blew
between the logs, which caused them to shiver all night and get little
sleep. But still, they were very happy
to be out of their tent for the first time in over nine months. With pride, he wrote: “This day was the first day that my only
living child [Louisa] now 7 months & 2 days old, ever was in a house, being
born in the wild rude and uninhabited prairies and remained so till now ‘a
perfect child of nature.’”
Brother
Stout reflected on the recent months:
During
which time we have under went almost every change of fortune that could be
imagined. One half of my family so dear
to me has been consigned to the silent grave & we who yet remain have often
been brought to the verge of death.
Often in storms & rain have I stood to hold my tent from uncovering
my sick family, expecting every moment to see them exposed to the rain & wind
which would have been certain death.
Often have I lain and contemplated my own sickness & feeble
situation, without any thing for myself and family to eat, with death staring
me in the face and could only contemplate what would become of them in case I
was called away. And worse yet, how
often have I beheld my family one by one yielding up the Ghost & bereaving
me of every earthly prospect with the melancholy reflection that there was yet
more soon to follow. How often in
sorrow & anguish have I said in my heart, “When shall my trials and
tribulations end?” But admid all these advers changes, these heart wrending
trials, not once yet have I ever regreted that I set out to follow the council
of the people of God & to obey the voice of the spirit to flee from the
land of the Gentiles.
A
daughter, Ellen C. Sanders, was born to Ellis M. and Rachel Broom Sanders. Patty Sessions helped with the delivery.24
After a
very cold night, the company arose, hunted for cattle, and traveled on by 9
a.m. They crossed the west fork of the
Nishnabotna and traveled on to Keg Creek.
The day was cold and the freezing wind was painful for the tired
travelers.
The battalion
stayed in their camp near the dry lake, waiting for the ox teams to arrive from
the last spring. Twenty‑one mules
were purchased for $716 from some Mexicans.
This group at first thought the battalion was an enemy force and started
to flee. The men also purchased dried
meat. The meat was fat and oily which made them suspect it was horse meat. Henry Bigler wrote, “but let that be as it
may, I thought it the sweetest meat I ever ate.”
That
morning, James S. Brown was carried by two men to sick call. Dr. Sanderson asked, “What is the matter
with you?” Brother Brown explained his
sickness. Dr. Sanderson replied that he
had never seen a set of men like this before.
They wouldn’t report sick until they were nearly dead. Brown answered that he could not walk. The doctor said sharply, “Not a damned word
out of you or I’ll make you walk.” He
then ordered that Brown be given a dose of castor oil and laudanum which was twice
the usual dose. When the steward did as
he was ordered, he whispered to Brown that if he did not vomit the medicine,
that he would die. Brown did this when
he was taken back to his camp, but not before the medicine made him very
sick. Men in his own company did not
recognize him because he looked so near death.
Henry G.
Boyle also was taken violently sick after he drank too much water when very
warm and thirsty. The doctor gave him
the medicine which Bolye did not swallow and instead later spit into the fire. Brother Boyle was anointed by the Elders and
by nightfall was well.25
Elder
Orson Spencer met with Thomas L. Kane, friend to the Mormons, in
Philadelphia. Colonel Kane told Elder
Spencer about his efforts in obtaining permission for the Saints to stay on
Omaha Indian lands. He relayed the news
that Lyman Wight (the missing apostle) had been among the Creek Indians where
he had caused some trouble. The Creeks
had driven him away. Lyman Wight’s
actions had been the cause of prejudice of many in the government toward the
Saints.
Colonel
Kane, a Presbyterian, explained that he had been visited by high ranking
members of his church. One of the chief
priests exclaimed, “What in the name of God are you doing! Do you mean to uphold the Mormon religion? Will you show favor to the Mormons and have
no pity upon your own denomination?”
But Colonel Kane continued to see that the Church was treated
fairly. He told Elder Spencer that many
in the Congress still feared that the Saints would “loiter near the bluffs and
not go over the Mountains at all.”
Elder Spencer assured him that they would go over the mountains as soon
as possible.
As Elder
Spencer and Colonel Kane parted, Elder Spencer left a blessing on him in the
name of the Lord. Colonel Kane shook
his hand twice and returned the same blessing to Elder Spencer.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 463‑64; Kelly, ed., Journals of John D.
Lee, 1846‑1847 and 1859, 22; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier,
The Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861, 213; Bennett, Mormons at the Missouri, 1846‑1852, 151;
Cooke, Exploring Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 113‑15;
Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 374‑76; Brown, Life of a
Pioneer, 50‑1; “Journal Extracts of Henry W. Bigler,” Utah
Historical Quarterly, 5:2:46; Tyler, A Concise History of the Mormon
Battalion, 209; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer
Camp of the Saints; Patty Sessions Diary, Our Pioneer Heritage, 2:62
The
weather turned cold. Ice was spotted
flowing on the Missouri River. Hosea
Stout wrote, “Today I sat most of the day shivering over the fire burning and
freezing in the house & a hard howling North wind blowing all day.” Eliza R. Snow, staying with the Stephen
Markham family wrote: “Brother Markham
topp’d the chimney as high as the roof & finish’d chinking the house which
prov’d very fortunate for our comfort as the weather which had been very
comfortable & fine for this season of the year became very cold and
blustering towards night & is piercingly cold today.”
The
traders, Grosclaude and Cardinal stayed in camp waiting to travel with John Kay
and Samuel Gully to George Miller’s camp, near the Ponca’s village, more than
150 miles up the Missouri. Brigham
Young was considering the idea of taking a more northern route across the
plains. He sent a letter to George
Miller that included, “The thought occurred to us that perhaps Brothers [James]
Emmett and [John] Butler might like to explore that country [Yellowstone] this
winter to see if there was a chance for a good location or any other
speculation in that vicinity and become familiar with routes.”26
In the
evening, Brigham Young and Orson Pratt met with the High Council at Horace
Eldredge’s house. Also in attendance
were all of the bishops from Winter Quarters.
President Young recognized that the Winter Quarters wards were too
large. He proposed that they be divided
and additional bishops called. The
current bishops were asked to divide the wards and nominate the new bishops.
A question
arose regarding priesthood quorums.
Several of the ordained bishops were Seventies. President Young instructed that the
Bishopric belonged to the High Priest.
Those who had been appointed bishops from among the Seventies must go
out of the Seventies Quorum and be in the High Priest’s Quorum.
The
brethren in Winter Quarters would be asked to tithe their labor. One day in ten would be for the benefit of
the poor, or an equivalent cash donation could be given to his bishop. This labor would be paid for in advance of
the other nine days.
Amy Prichard
Gardner, age forty-six, died of canker.
She was the wife of Elias Gardner.27
The
company experienced a very cold night.
A running creek was frozen in the morning. They were again delayed because of lost cattle and did not start
their journey until 3 p.m. After
traveling six miles, they camped at Mosquito Timber. Thomas Bullock wrote, “I saw the Bluffs ahead which made my soul
rejoice and be glad, in the prospect of soon being at home again.”
A son,
Noah Luman Shurtliff, was born to Luman A. and Altamire Gaylord Shurtliff.28
It was
very cold overnight. Colonel Cooke
thought it dipped down to ten or fifteen degrees. After a seven-mile march, the battalion reached Granite Pass. They believed that they had arrived at the
Continental Divide, or as they called it, the backbone of North America. This was a difficult climb. There, one of the guides went after some
grizzly bears that were spotted.
Colonel Cooke wrote, “I saw three of them far up among the rocks, standing
conspicuously and looking quite white in the sun, whilst the bold hunter was
gradually approaching them. Soon after,
he fired and in ten seconds again; then there was a confused action, and we
could see one fall and the others rushing about with loud and fierce cries that
made the mountains ring.” The bear was
rolled down the hill and butchered. The
men marched on and arrived at Animas Creek, where they found running water. They were very weary after a seventeen-mile
march that took nine hours.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 464; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The
Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861, 213‑14; Beecher, ed., The
Personal Writings of Eliza R. Snow, 146; Hartley, My Best for the
Kingdom, 222; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854,
115‑18; “Journal Extract of Henry W. Bigler,” Utah Historical
Quarterly, 5:2:46; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer
Camp of the Saints
John Kay,
Samuel Gully, and the two traders started out for Ponca Village. Brigham Young and Willard Richards met with
the High Council. President Young
ordained several men to serve as bishops in Winter Quarters. The boundaries for the new wards were discussed
and the bishops were counseled to try to keep a given city block in the same
ward.
Three
members of the High Council were released to attend to other business in the
Seventies Quorum. They were Jedediah M.
Grant, Benjamin L. Clapp and Albert P. Rockwood. The new High Council members were Isaac Morley, George W. Harris,
and Henry G. Sherwood.
Hosea
Stout worked on his house and filled in many of the cracks between the logs,
which made it a little bit warmer inside.
Dolly H.
Duncan, age thirty-five, died. She was
the wife of William A. Duncan.29
Orville M.
Allen’s company of poor Saints from Nauvoo arrived at Council Bluffs. Thomas Bullock wrote:
The boys
ran a race to the top of a hill in order to get a peep at the Missouri River. .
. . Passed by the Liberty Pole where we had a splendid view of the Missouri River.
. . .My soul rejoiced exceedingly in the prospect of my soon arriving at
home. I felt at Liberty indeed. Passed under the Bluffs to Miller’s
Settlement,30 where we
staid about an hour, endeavoring to procure food for our cattle, without
success.
They
traveled on across a prairie and over a mud slough. A new road had been constructed covered with poles which shook
and vibrated the wagons very much. Soon
they came to the Missouri River which contained running ice. They camped for the night on the east bank.
John M.
Bernhisel wrote a letter to Brigham Young reporting that Governor Ford had left
Nauvoo ten days earlier but left sixty of his troops stationed in the
city. He reported that a meeting had
been held at Carthage by the mob to consider if they should drive off the
Governor and the “Jack Mormons.” The
proposal was narrowly defeated by six votes.
The mob purchased the printing press that had been used for the Nauvoo
Eagle. They planned to publish a
paper with Dr. Galland as the editor.
Elder
Orson Spencer wrote a letter to Brigham Young from Philadelphia reporting his
recent meeting with Thomas L. Kane. He
wrote, “My own reflection upon the interview with Col. Kane is, that he is
filled with the right spirit from head to foot at present.” After Colonel Kane left the Saints, he fell
very ill again in Albany, New York and felt that he would die. He made his father, Judge Kane, pledge that
he would never suffer any evil to come upon the Saints from the government.
In closing
his letter, Elder Spencer wrote about his children.31
“Don’t forget to give a good piece of my love to six little orphan
children, somewhat south of you on Main Street; I sometimes think of the Lambs
in a stormy day because some of them had not very warm fleeces for cold
weather. Tell them I am happy and they
must be so too and I will write them before I cross the Atlantic.”
The
battalion entered a narrow flat valley and traveled over stony ground. They soon had the benefit of traveling over
a well‑worn trail. After a march
of twelve miles, they camped on a stream.32 Colonel Cooke mentioned: “The high mountain range to our right is
remarkably well wooded.”
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 464‑65, 482, 488‑91; Brooks, ed., On
the Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861, 214; Cooke, Exploring
Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 118‑19; “Thomas Bullock Poor
Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints
Sister
Jane Benbow died in the evening. Elder
Wilford Woodruff wrote: “She drew her
last breath & fell asleep and now rests from her labours and her works will
follow her. She has administered to my
wants and the wants of my brethren the Twelve in a foreign land and done much
good for which she shall not lose her reward.”33
Elder Ezra
T. Benson arrived home to Winter Quarters late in the evening from his mission
to the Eastern States.
James
Willard Cummings, age two months, died.
He was the son of James and Aura Annett Cummings. William Henry Robison, age forty-four,
died. He was the husband of Elizabeth
Squires Robison. Don Carlos Whitney,
age four, died. He was the son of
Alonzo and Henrietta Whitney. A
daughter, Mary Lowry Burnham, was born to Jacob and Mary C. Burnham. A daughter, Harriet Fairbanks, was born to
John B. and Sarah Van Wagoner Fairbanks.34
The
company retrieved water out of the Missouri River, which was about 20 feet
below its bank. As usual, they had to
search for lost cattle in the morning.
They traveled six miles up river to the ferry crossing. Thomas Bullock wrote, “[We] then went on our
way to our Camping ground at Sun down, rejoicing that we were now arrived at
the end of our journey for this Season.”
The
battalion followed a trail for three or four miles and came to a rare patch of
swampy ground. The rest of the journey
for the day was over a smooth, low table‑land. They passed many prairie dog villages and camped near some
running water. Colonel Cooke
wrote: “The oaks, first descending from
the mountains to the hills, are now beginning to be found even dotting the
valleys.” Robert Bliss thought that
they passed through “the most beautiful valleys I ever saw.” Henry Bigler added: “The country abounds with plenty of game,
hardly ever out of sight of antelope and the black‑tailed deer.”
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 465; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 3:96;
Nibley, Exodus to Greatness, 276‑77; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp
Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints; Cooke, Exploring
Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 119; “The Journal of Robert S. Bliss,”
The Utah Historical Quarterly, 4:78; “Journal Extracts of Henry W.
Bigler,” Utah Historical Quarterly 5:2:46
A case was
brought before the High Council. Nancy
H. Davison complained that her bishop “would not let her have anything to eat,
and that she had nothing to eat, nor her children anything to wear.” The bishop was withholding support because
her brother would not pay his tithing.
The Council ruled that this was no reason for her to not receive
assistance from her bishop.
Mary
Richards learned that Elder Ezra T. Benson returned from his mission to the
Eastern States. She went to visit the
Benson’s, hoping to hear news about her husband Samuel W. Richards, who had
traveled to the East before sailing to his mission in England. She was delighted to receive from Elder
Benson a package of gifts from her husband including “a work box in which was 2
letters, a satin ribbon & flowers for a bonnet, smelling bottle, 2 white
handkerchiefs, . . . and a purse containing 10 dollars.” She wrote, “It was indeed a day of rejoicing
to me to hear of the prosperity and well‑being of my dear companion. May heavens richest blessing attend
him. Where he roams & return him
safely to my bosom.”
Thomas
Bullock crossed over the Missouri River and finally arrived at the Camp of
Israel in Winter Quarters. He
immediately went to see his beloved friend and adopted father, Willard
Richards. Elder Richards gave him a
father’s blessing. Brother Bullock
wrote:
He told me
to go to work and build me a log house, as I might as well blister my hands now
as at a future period. . . . Went thro’ the City, where, nine weeks ago there
was not a foot path or a Cow track, [but] now may be seen hundreds of houses,
and hundreds in different stages of completion. [It is] impossible to distinguish the rich from the poor; the
Streets are wide and regular and [there is] every prospect of a large City
Being raised up here.
Thomas
Bullock, who had served the Church faithfully as a clerk, also met with Brigham
Young. He wrote that President Young
“told me they would not leave me behind any more, and he would take me with
him, even if he had to put me in his pocket.
I felt to rejoice at our interview.”
Dolinea
Adalia Young died. She was the daughter
of William and Adalia Young.
The
Pottawatomie High Council met at Council Point. Noah S. Buckley was called to serve on the Council.
The
battalion marched through a pass in the Guadalupe Mountains and found an old
road leading from Janos to San Bernardino.
However, they soon came to what looked like a terrible obstacle. Colonel Cooke wrote: “We came to the verge of a great descent
which led as far as the eye could read, into mountains and rocks, rough and
confused beyond description.” They
camped at some water back in the valley.
The guides were sent off to determine if there was a better way to proceed. Word came back that the trail ahead was the
only road possible, so plans were made how to attack the steep descent. Robert Bliss climbed a hill and saw that
they were “hemmed in by mountains on the west, north, and south to all
appearances.”
A
daughter, Sarah Sharp, was born to Norman and Mary Jane Sargent Sharp.35
Bennett, Mormons
at the Missouri, 1846‑1852, 122; Ward, ed., Winter Quarters,
87; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley, ed., Pioneer Camp of the
Saints; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 120‑22;
Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 378‑79; “The Journal of Robert S.
Bliss,” The Utah Historical Quarterly, 4:78‑9
In the
morning, the Saints at Winter Quarters assembled together for a Sabbath
meeting. Elder Heber C. Kimball spoke
to the Saints about their trials. “This
people no doubt considered themselves oppressed, because of poverty and
privation, but not so much as we in times passed have been; and some are almost
driven to desperation and become careless and indifferent and forget to
pray. This should not be but we should
be helps to each other and pray for one another and thereby become saviors on
Mount Zion.”
Elder Ezra
T. Benson also spoke. He had recently
returned from a mission to the Eastern States.
He recalled the Lord’s hand in the Battle of Nauvoo: “Miracles were wrought in the deliverance of
our brethren in the Battle of Nauvoo, when men stood where bullets flew around
them like hail and but few were hurt.”
A bullet had struck Brother Hyrum Kimball on the top of his head and
knocked him down. “He jumped up and
went at it again and likely knocked some sense in.”
Elder
Benson was amazed to see the city of Winter Quarters. “Now when I look around and see what has been done within three
months past plainly declares that the Lord is with Israel. No people could build up a city of this
magnitude in the same time but the Nephites.”
While in the east, Elder Benson made a trip to the nation’s capital,
Washington, D.C. He visited with the
former Postmaster General, Amos Kendall.
He said the Kendall “assured me that he would do all that was in his
power for us [the Saints] without charge.”36
Brigham
Young next addressed the congregation.
He realized that the weather was cold and windy, that the people wanted
to go home. He promised to only conduct
some necessary business. The mill race
needed to be completed quickly, before the ground froze. He had been paying laborers to do the work,
but time was now at the essence. He
asked that the bishops make work assignments for the next few days. Each day, one third of the brethren should
turn out to work on the mill race, without pay. They should be able to complete the work in three days.
At 4 p.m.,
a council meeting was held at Brigham Young’s house. Elder Ezra T. Benson gave an interesting account of his
mission. He reported that James J.
Strang and George J. Adams were still trying to pull away Church members.37
Elder
Orson Pratt read a letter from Jesse C. Little. Elder Little had seen the letter that was sent to President James
K. Polk from the Mormon Battalion members requesting that he appoint Jefferson
Hunt or Jacob B. Backenstos as the commander of the battalion. Polk replied that he did not have the power
to appoint the commander. Elder Little
also reported the Thomas L. Kane continued to have warm feelings toward the
Saints and said that he would do all in his power for them in Washington.
In the
evening, the Twelve met with the High Council at Horace S. Eldredge’s
house. Addison Everett and Thomas Lang
were ordained as bishops. President
Young instructed the bishops to see that houses were immediately built for the
widows. These sisters should stop
paying money to have houses constructed.
A report
was read regarding the organization of the Winter Quarters police guard. The Council voted to pay each of the police
seventy‑five cents per day.
Horace S. Eldredge, the city marshal, was appointed to collect a police
tax. The tax could be collected in cash
or by wood, clothing or provisions.
Prices in
the Missouri settlements were greatly inflated. The ferrymen were to be instructed to not allow any more men
cross over the river who were going to trade in Missouri. These brethren were first to be instructed
how to combat the outrageous prices.
Sister
Jane Benbow was buried. John Benbow was
too sick to go with the funeral procession to her grave.
Vincent
Shurtliff and Jacob Houtz returned from Winter Quarters with supplies and
mail. They brought back news of much
sickness in the Winter Quarters settlement.
Colonel
Cooke sent out a company of twenty‑one men to make or improve the road
ahead through the Guadalupe mountains, near the border of present‑day New
Mexico and Arizona. The wagons were
emptied and the provisions put on 140 mules that were taken down the very steep
road ahead. James S. Brown wrote: “I recall that from the lofty eminece we had
reached on our march, the descent was very abrupt and difficult, through the
rugged defiles to the west. . . . So with the pick‑axe and crow‑bar
we commenced to clear the most feasible road down by chopping away the
shrubbery and brush and removing that and the rocks.”
Henry
Standage added: “I was detailed to go
with the mules and returned at dark to the camp, very tired. The path that we travelled today was in
reality a rugged one and such as I never wish to travel again and tomorrow we
must let the empty wagons down with ropes and any way which may be thought
best.”
During the
morning Colonel Cooke met with Manuelita, the Apache chief. He tried to convince the chief that both the
Americans and the Apaches were on the same side against the Mexicans.
The men
were becoming increasingly sick in the colder weather. Few had sufficient clothing to keep warm.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 466, 67; Kelly, ed., Journals of John D. Lee,
1846‑1847 and 1859, 25‑9; Cooke, Exploring Southwestern
Trails 1846‑1854, 122‑24; Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket,
379‑81; Brown, Life of a Pioneer, 54; Journal of Henry Standage in
Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion, 188‑189; Hartley, My
Best for the Kingdom, 221
Brigham
Young and Heber C. Kimball crossed the river and went down to Trader’s
Point. The weather was quite cold and
ice was running on the river.
John D.
Lee met with several families that he was looking after, including the family
of James Pace, who was away in the Mormon Battalion. They had what could be described as a “Family Home Evening.” Brother Lee shared a message to the group
and they later prayed together. He
wrote: “The spirit of the Lord softened
and cemented our feelings together, till we were almost like angels.”
Horace and
Helen Whitney, daughter of Heber C. Kimball, moved into their new log house
which she described: “This, like the
majority of houses, was covered with sod, and the chimneys were built of the
same. The house had one door and one
window, with four panes of glass, but no floor.” The sod chimney did not work very well, especially during the
cold weather, and the smoke would fill the home. It would later be replaced with a brick chimney. Sister Whitney recalled, “I shed many unbidden tears during the
smoking period lasting a month.”
Sarah
Leavitt described her temporary living quarters: “The boys made a camp of hay and I crawled into it, glad to get
any place of shelter. I had to live
there while they built a house and suffered very much for want of proper food
and with the cold, as we could have no fire in a hay camp.”
Ezra T.
Benson wrote a letter to Charles C. Rich at Mount Pisgah. The brethren had previously requested that
Brother Rich appoint a High Council in Mount Pisgah and then to come to Winter
Quarters. When Elder Benson traveled
through Mount Pisgah, on the way back from his mission, Brother Rich explained
to him a dilemma. He was worried about
leaving Mount Pisgah without good leadership and he also worried about moving
his family during the cold winter days.
Elder Benson wrote:
Last
evening the Twelve were in Council. I
mentioned your case. They told me that
they had sent for you to come up here.
I told them that you wanted to come in the spring. It will all be right be for you to do just
as you want to do. Come now or in the
spring. I told our Prest. you were
better off for your family & stock where you are than you could be here
this winter. He said that he supposed
that you would. We all want you here
very much and I presume you will come as soon as you can.
Thomas
Bullock crossed over the river with his wagon to Winter Quarters.
Mason
Lyman Tanner, age five months, died of chills and canker. He was the son of Sidney and Louisa Tanner.
A son,
David Duboise Dibble, was born to Philo and Hannah Ann Dubois Dibble.
The empty
wagons and packs were sent off in the morning to be taken down the
mountain. Colonel Cooke wrote: “The first three‑fourths of a mile was
very bad. In one place, particularly,
the descent was steeper than I have ever known wagons to make (ropes, of
course, were used); one was very near turning over, the hind part over the fore
part.” The wagon came loose and rolled
down the mountain. It was so badly
damaged that it had to be left behind.
James S.
Brown described the event:
The wagons
were lowered for a distance of half a mile or so, men standing as best they
could on the mountain side, letting the vehicle down gradually, then holding it
till other men could get a fresh footing and lower it still further. Thus one by one the wagons were let down in
safety, all but one. By some mishap
that got adrift from the men, and to save their lives they had to let it go
until there was nothing of it but scrap iron and kindling‑wood.
Henry W.
Bigler recorded, “I think no other man but Cooke would ever have attempted to
cross such a place, but he seemed to have the spirit and energy of a Bonypart.”
The
battalion descended about one thousand feet, marched for about eight miles, and
made their camp in a valley about 150 feet wide, near plenty of water. Later, one of the interpreters reported that
he had found a route to Guadalupe Pass, that would have been a much easier way
through the mountains. Colonel Cooke
continued to be frustrated with his guides for not knowing anything about this
territory.
Henry
Standage wrote about the battalion’s food supply: “We have been eating worn out oxen for some time, working the
oxen as long as they could be made to go and then killing them for the
command. The men are literally worn out
and eating much meat as we do now, I believe makes men sluggish and feel more
like worn out beings through diseased cattle.”
The
battalion was near the present‑day New Mexico/Arizona/Mexico
boarder. Colonel Cooke described a rock
that later was known as “Cooke’s Rock”:
“At one spot there is a pass not thirty yards wide on one side. A vast rock over‑hangs the road. Just opposite, on a vertical base of solid
rock forty feet high, rests another rock of rounded cubical form of about
twenty‑five feet dimension. On
its top rests still another of spherical form about twelve or fifteen feet in
diameter.”
Kelly, ed., Journals
of John D. Lee, 1846‑1847 and 1859, 25‑9 Nibley, Exodus to
Greatness, 273; Sarah Leavitt History (1919), 36; “Journal Extracts of
Henry W. Bigler,” Utah Historical Quarterly, 5:2:46; Cooke, Exploring
Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 124‑27; Journal of Henry
Standage in Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion, 189; Brown, Life
of a Pioneer, 54‑5; “Thomas Bullock Poor Camp Journal” in Bagley,
ed., Pioneer Camp of the Saints; Arrington, Charles C. Rich, 108
1Truman O. Angell was baptized
into the Church in 1833. He helped to
build the Nauvoo Temple. In 1848 he
became the Architect for the Church.
2Nelson Higgins had been in
command of this company, but he had left with the sick detachment for Pueblo.
3The Leonard family would later
settle in Manti, Utah.
4Rosetta Adaline Snow would be a
member of the first Relief Society and first choir in Brigham City, Utah.
5Moses Simpson Emmett was the
son of James Emmett. The Moses Emmett
family would later settle in Ogden, Utah.
6The White family would later
help settle Iron County, Utah.
7Milton Kelly was a member of
Company E, and went to Pueblo with his wife as part of the first sick
detachment.
8George W. Cummings was away
with the Mormon Battalion. He was at this time in Pueblo, part of the second
sick detachment. Another son of the
Cummings would die in Winter Quarters two days later.
9This camp was located in
present‑day, Williamsburg, New Mexico.
10William Henry Kimball was
twenty years old. He would later serve
a mission to England in 1854. He drove
mail between Salt Lake City and Park City from 1870-1885 and helped settle
Parley’s Park, Utah.
11This new cemetery is the site
of present‑day Mormon Pioneer Cemetery in Florence, Nebraska. The first Winter Quarter’s cemetery was
probably just west of this cemetery.
When a house was built on the same hill, north of State Street, pioneer
graves were found while excavating for a basement. It has also been rumored that when State Street was cut into the
hill, graves were found.
12Alfred Boaz Lambson joined the
Church in 1843. He was the
brother-in-law of George A. Smith. He
arrived in Utah, in 1847 and settled in Salt Lake City.
13The hole is now called “Lost
Well” and is located at the head of Jug Canyon.
14Amos Babcock served as the
Elders Quorum President in Kirtland, Ohio.
15William Smith Muir was away
with the Mormon Battalion. He would
later work in the mines in California.
He would not rejoin his family until 1848. He later served a mission to Scotland from 1850-53.
16Martin Harris’ mission turned
out to be a failure. He soon would
withdraw from the followers of James J. Strang and helped to establish the
short-lived “Church of Christ” along with William E. McLennin in Kirtland,
Ohio. (See January 23, 1847.)
17Jonathan Calkins Wright was
baptized in 1843 by Hyrum Smith. He
served for a time as the city marshal in Nauvoo. He settled his family in Brigham City, Utah, where he served as a
counselor to Elder Lorenzo Snow in the presidency of the stake.
18Joseph Lee Robinson joined the
Church in 1836. Susan was later
baptized in 1839. He was the bishop of
the Winter Quarters 7th Ward. Joseph
later went to Utah in 1848. He later
settled in Farmington served as bishop and then served on the Davis Stake High
Council in 1877.
19The Brower family later settled
in Grantsville, Utah.
20About ten of the holes have
been observed in recent years.
21Isaac Chauncey Haight (Sr.) and
Eliza Haight joined the Church in 1839.
He served in the Nauvoo Police.
He arrived in Utah in September, 1847.
In 1853, he was called to take charge of the iron works in Iron
County. He moved to Cedar City, Utah,
where he was elected mayor. In 1855, he
was called to serve as stake president.
He later settled in Toquerville, Utah.
22Philip Garner was away with the
Mormon Battalion. He went to Pueblo
with the second sick detachment because he had fallen into a deep ravine and
broke three ribs while on guard duty.
He took his family to Utah in 1849.
Joseph Garner grew up, married Mary Maria Phillips, and settled in
Ogden, Utah.
23This was Leroux’s water hole in
the Little Hatchet Mountains.
24Ellis Mendenhall Sanders joined
the Church in 1843. He arrived in Utah,
in 1848 and later settled his family in St. George, Utah.
25Near this camp, ten years
earlier, was a treacherous massacre, known as the Johnson Massacre. An American named Johnson and seventeen
others had come from Sonora to plunder the Apaches. Juan Jose, an outlaw Apache had been robbing mails and the Mexican
government issued a proclamation that anything taken from the Apache was the
rightful property of the captors.
Johnson’s company decided to take advantage of the situation. Juan Jose was asked to bring his band,
including women and children, into their camp for a feast. Johnson concealed a bomb near some
food. About 500 Indians gathered for
the feast. At Johnson’s signal gun
powders was ignited and many Indians were mangled. The company then fired their guns on the Indians. Juan Jose was killed. Johnson’s party fled and later killed seven
of their pursuers.
26Brothers Emmett and Butler
never made this exploration.
27Amy was the mother of five
children. She joined the Church in
1842. Elias Gardner was a member of the
original pioneer company of 1847.
28Luman Shurtliff had recently
returned to Garden Grove from rescuing some poor at the Mississippi River. He would later settle his family in Weber
County.
29William Duncan would die two
months later.
30Miller’s Settlement was later
known as Kanesville.
31Their mother, Catharine
Spencer, died shortly after leaving Nauvoo.
(See March 12, 1846 in volume one.)
32Present‑day Cloverdale
Creek.
33John and Jane Benbow were among
Elder Woodruff’s converts in England. John
Benbow had provided substantial funds to help publish the Book of Mormon
in England.
34John Boylston Fairbanks joined
the Church in 1843. He settled his
family in Payson, Utah, were he was bishop for ten years and a city councilman.
35Norman Sharp had died on the
way to Pueblo with the first sick detachment.
Mary Sharp had her ten-year-old sister, Caroline Sargent, with her at
Pueblo.
36Amos Kendall was involved in
the discussions with President Polk and Elder Jesse C. Little regarding raising
the Mormon Battalion.
37George J. Adams had been sent
to Russia on a mission in 1843. After
Joseph Smith’s death, he desired to lead the Church and went east, proselyting
for Strang. Later, in 1865, after
Strang was killed, Adams appeared in Jonesport, Maine, claiming to be the
founder of the “Church of the Messiah.”
In 1866, he left with a large group of followers for the Holy Land. They created a settlement in Jaffa, but
their northeastern crops failed in the desert climate. Many died of starvation. Adams deserted the colony and the survivors
returned to the United States.