18. MISSION TO THE EAST, 1843
Address of the Prophet on Constitutional Rights.--Orson Hyde's Call to Russia.--Prophet Explains His Position with Respect to Missouri.--Origin of Nauvoo Legion.--Political Explanation.--Departure of the Twelve for the East.--Brigham Young's Fidelity.--Phrenological Chart by O. S. Fowler.--Return of the Twelve to Nauvoo.--W. W. Sealed to Wife.--Adultery.--Governor of Missouri Again Issues Requisition for Prophet.--Endowments.
The people of Nauvoo during these exciting times were greatly agitated over the safety of their Prophet and leader. In keeping with his promise, Joseph Smith addressed the assembled multitude who anxiously awaited the words which were to fall from his lips. There were no stenographic reporters then, and Wilford Woodruff's account of what was said is without doubt the fullest and most accurate statement on record. The following is taken from his journal, wherein he recorded the words of the prophet: "I meet you with a heart full of gratitude to Almighty God, and you doubtless feel as I do. I hardly know how to express my feelings. I feel as strong as a giant. I pulled sticks with the men coming along, and with one hand I pulled up the strongest man on the road, and two could not pull me up. I continued to pull till I pulled them to Nauvoo. Notwithstanding the excitement, I feel cool and dispassionate through it all. Thank God I am now in the hands of those who preside over the municipal court, not in the hands of the Missourians. Relative to our right of habeas corpus we have full power. If there is not power in our charter and courts, then there is none in the state of Illinois, nor in Congress, nor in the constitution of the United States. Congress gave to Illinois her constitution, and Illinois has given to Nauvoo the charter which protects us in our vested rights.
"I want you to learn, O Israel! what is for the happiness and peace of this city and its people. Our enemies are determined to oppress us and deprive us of our rights and privileges as they have done in the past. If the authorities on earth will not give us that protection which the laws and the constitution of the United {185} States and of this state guarantee, then we will appeal to a higher power, to heaven, to God Almighty, for our constitutional rights.
"The Lord, in my past troubles has raised up friends to me, though they were strangers, and they would have lost their lives to deliver me from my enemies and to protect my rights in this state. I have told them to do no violence for I should be delivered by the power of God. I have brought the men who arrested me to Nauvoo, and I have treated them kindly. I have had the privilege of rewarding them, good for evil. They took me unlawfully, treated me rigorously, strove to deprive me of my right and would have carried me into Missouri to be murdered had not Providence interposed. Now they are in my hands. I took them into my home, set them at the head of the table, and placed before them the best that my home afforded. They were waited upon by my wife whom they deprived of seeing me when I was taken.
"There is a time, however, when forbearance ceases and when suffering longer without resistance is a sin. I shall not bear it any longer, I will spill the last drop of blood I have rather than endure it; and all who feel that they will not bear it any longer say, 'Aye.' The vast assembly shouted, 'Aye.' Whatever may be your feeling about the heavy hand of oppression I wish you to restrain yourself from violence against those men who have arrested me. My word is at stake, a hair of their heads shall not be harmed.
"My life is pledged to carry out this great work, I know you are ever ready to do right, you have done great things and you have manifested your love for me in rushing to my assistance on this occasion, and I bless you in the name of the Lord. I know the Almighty will bless all good men, and may you not have to suffer as I have suffered heretofore. However, I shall restrain you no longer, from this time forth. If occasion require I will lead you to battle, if you are not afraid to die and to spill your blood in your own defense you will not offend me. Be not the aggressor. Bear until they strike you on one cheek and then offer the other. They will be sure to strike that also; then defend yourself and God will bear you off victorious. If I am under the necessity of giving up our chartered rights, privileges, and freedom for which our fathers fought and bled, and which the constitution {186} of the United States as well as this state grants to us, I will do it at the point of the bayonet and sword.
"Many lawyers contend for that which is against the rights of men, and I can only excuse them because of their ignorance. Go forth, O ye lawyers! and advocate the rights of the people, for we shall rise up Washington-like and break off the fetters which bind us and we shall not be mobbed."
After discussing at some length the charter of Nauvoo and the writ of habeas corpus, he gave an interesting account of his recent arrest and of the return to Nauvoo. He explained that he had prophesied to his wife the day before his presence in the neighborhood, where the people befriended him, that they were a good people, and that he knew it by the spirit of God. "When Mr. Cyrus Walker, an attorney, came to me, those who had arrested me said that I should speak to no man and they would shoot any man who spoke to me. An old man came up and said that I should have counsel and told them he was not afraid of their pistols. My freedom began from that time."
Speaking of the law, the Prophet said: "Almighty God has taught me the true principle of law and the true meaning of the writ of habeas corpus. It is to protect the innocent and to prevent innocent men from being dragged into other states and from being punished by the avowed enemy.
"It did my soul good to witness the manifestation of your feelings and love toward me. I thank God I have the honor to lead so virtuous and honest a people, to be your law-giver as Moses was to the children of Israel. Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! to the most high God! I commend you to His grace and may the blessings of Heaven rest upon you, I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."
July 1st the trial of the Prophet came off. There were present Brigham Young, Hyrum Smith, Parley P. Pratt, Lyman Wight, and Sidney Rigdon. They were all called as witnesses and duly sworn. They recounted the history of the Missouri persecutions from the time they were driven from Jackson County until their expulsion from Far West by force of arms. "The recital of these scenes," says President Woodruff, "caused my blood to boil and the spirit of war was awakened in me, even the Gentile {187} lawyers were shocked, and in their speeches counseled the people to stand by their rights whatever the issue might be."
The Fourth of July was at hand and great preparations had been made for its celebration. About fifteen thousand people assembled in the grove. Orson Hyde addressed the vast multitude. He had lately returned from Palestine, and was then under appointment to carry the gospel to Saint Petersburg, Russia. In the afternoon the multitude of Saints was greatly augmented by three steamboat loads of visiting ladies and gentlemen from St. Louis, Quincy, and Burlington. As the visitors arrived they were escorted to the stand by the Nauvoo band, and their presence welcomed by the firing of cannon. Parley P. Pratt spoke at some length, and was followed by the Prophet Joseph, who took this occasion to speak of himself. Elder Woodruff quotes him as follows:
"If the people will give ear a moment, I will address a few words in my own defense. In the first place I will state to those who can hear me that I never spent more than six months in Missouri except the time I was in prison. While at Liberty, Missouri, I was at work for the support of my family. I never was a prisoner of war during my stay there, for I had not made war. I never took a gun, nor a pistol, nor a sword and what has been said by our enemies on that subject is false. I have always been willing to go to any governor, judge, or tribunal where justice could be had and have the matter investigated. I could not have committed treason as I had no control of affairs except in spiritual matters. I was driven from Missouri by force of arms under the exterminating order of Governor Boggs. I have always been a peaceable citizen, yet there is scarcely a crime that can be committed that is not laid at the door of Joseph Smith. I have been dragged before the courts time and again on charges that were false and every time I have been acquitted. As often as God sees fit for me to suffer I am ready, but I am as innocent of those crimes imputed as the angels in heaven. I am not an enemy to mankind, neither am I an enemy to Missouri, its governor, nor its people.
"As for the military station I hold and the reasons for holding it I have this to say: When we came here the state required us to bear arms and to do military duty. As the Church had just {188} been driven from Missouri and our people had been robbed of their property and their arms had been taken from them, they, therefore, had no arms with which to do duty, yet they were liable to a fine if they did not respond to the orders of the state in the matter of military service even though they had no arms. I advised them to organize into independent companies and to ask the state for arms. This they did. There were, however, many elders who had license to preach. They are exonerated by the law from military duties. The officers, however, would not release them on those grounds. I then told the Saints that although I was free from military duty by law in consequence of a lameness in one of my legs I would set them an example and do military duty myself. They wanted me for their leader. From these circumstances and conditions the Nauvoo Legion came into existence and I was made Lieutenant General. It was not because I was seeking for power.
"There are those who say we all vote together and that our people vote as I say, but I never tell any man how to vote nor whom to vote for. Let me make a comparison. Suppose there were a Methodist society here, and that outside of that society there were two candidates running for office. One of them says: 'If you will elect me to the gubernatorial chair I will take away the charter of your city and exterminate the Methodists.' The other says: 'If I am elected all men shall be equal before the law, and I will discriminate against no man or society.' Now whom would the Methodists vote for? Certainly not for the man who was their bitter enemy and who would not protect them in their rights. It has been so with us. Joseph Duncan said if the people would elect him he would exterminate the Mormons, take away their charter. Mr. Ford made no such threats, but manifested a disposition to give every man his rights. The people, therefore, voted for him and he was elected governor. However, he has issued writs against me twice at the demands of the Missourians; this has caused me much trouble and expense."
During these remarks much prejudice was removed. There was present a vast multitude of about fifteen thousand people, many of whom were not members of the Church. They gave the strictest attention and were edified by what they saw and heard.
{189} On the morning of July 7th, 1843, Wilford Woodruff rose early, blessed his wife and daughter, Phoebe, and in company with Brigham Young and Elder George A. Smith, started on a mission to the East to strengthen the branches of the Church there and gather funds for the Temple and the Nauvoo House. They left Morrison's landing on the steamer Rapid and arrived in St. Louis the next day. Here Elder Woodruff purchased supplies for the "Times and Seasons" and shipped them to Nauvoo. The day following the missionary party boarded the steamer Lancet and went up the Ohio to Cincinnati, where they landed on the 13th, their sixth day from Nauvoo. Enroute they obtained a view of the tomb of President Harrison.
On the night of their arrival in Cincinnati, Elder Woodruff dreamed that Joseph would again be arrested and tried in Illinois, and the same night Brigham Young dreamed that the Twelve were called home. These dreams were the preparation for coming events which cast their shadows before. The hearts of those brave men and devoted missionaries were receiving a preparation for the troublous times that were to come.
In Cincinnati Elder Woodruff made further purchases for the "Times and Seasons." From that city they went on to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, with the steamer Adelaide. They reached the place at six p. m. and immediately repaired to the Temperance Hall, where a meeting of the Saints was convened. Here they met Elders Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, and John E. Page. The last named was preaching as they entered the hall; and, contrary to the counsel of the Prophet, Elder Page was making war upon sects of the day. Next day the Twelve held a council, in which John E. Page was severely reproved by President Young for disorganizing a branch in Cincinnati which three of the Twelve had just before that time organized, and for disobeying the Prophet's counsel in the matter of preaching against religious denominations. These acts of disobedience to the counsels of his file-leaders had, no doubt, something to do with his apostasy later on.
Elder Woodruff never forgets to put in his journal the historical items of general interest and speaks of Pittsburg as a city which at that time numbered about thirty-five thousand inhabitants. The city had ninety-five churches, one hundred and twenty {190} preachers, and twenty-one denominations. The Latter-day Saints numbered there at that time seventy-five souls.
On Sunday, the 30th, six of the Twelve Apostles met in conference with the Saints in Temperance Hall. They held three meetings and imparted many valuable instructions to the Saints and visitors in attendance. Elder Woodruff took minutes of the meeting and noted especially the teachings of President Young, as he attached most importance to the words of the man standing highest in authority when giving an account of what was said on any occasion. President Young on this occasion bore a strong testimony to the divinity of the work and to the mission of the Prophet Joseph. "Who," he said, "is the author of this work? God is its author, Joseph Smith being the instrument in the hands of God. He is the greatest man on earth. No other man of this age has power to gather such a great people from all the nations of the earth and with all their peculiar dispositions cement them together. This the Prophet is doing by the power of God, as the Saints are led by the Holy Spirit in their own hearts."
July the 30th the members of the Twelve made a tour of the city. They visited the glass-works, the water-works, and other places of note and interest. Speaking of the water-works, Elder Woodruff says: "Descending the hill we had a view of the city water-works. The building was patterned after Roman architecture. The works cost two hundred thousand dollars. The building was designed by Elder Charles Beck, who was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Elder Beck was present at the visit of the Twelve to Pittsburg and showed them every courtesy. He further paid the railroad fare of the six members to Baltimore.
From there they proceeded to Philadelphia, where they arrived August 5th. The following day (Sunday) they met about three hundred Saints in conference. Elder Jedediah M. Grant was also present and opened the conference by prayer. President Young, Orson Pratt, and George A. Smith occupied the principal part of the time in both of the meetings, afternoon and evening. In the forenoon Elder Woodruff accompanied President Young and others to hear the Reverend Mr. Litz, the Millerite preacher. The reverend gentleman strongly contended that the Jews would never be restored to the land of Palestine or be gathered together.
{191} On the 8th the Twelve took a steamboat excursion, and while thus riding for their enjoyment, a number of subjects came up for discussion. Among others the question: "Is the prosperity of any religious denomination a positive evidence of the truth of its contention?" John E. Page took the affirmative, and Elder J.M. Grant the negative. President Young, who was chairman, decided in favor of the negative.
During the stay of the Twelve in this historic city, Elder Woodruff was very active in visiting the Saints, strengthening them in their faith and laying before them the purpose of their mission. At intervals in his labors he occupied himself in gathering a great variety of useful information within his reach. His journal is, indeed, an interesting history of the places visited by him in those early days. He speaks of the visit of himself, Elders Young, Pratt, Smoot, and Hessy to the state house, also of his visit to Independence Hall. "We saw," he remarks, "the room where the patriots signed the Declaration of Independence. We sat in the chair occupied by John Hancock when he signed that immortal instrument."
On the 14th, Elders Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, and William Muir parted with the Saints in Philadelphia and went by steamer to Schuylkill, then walked six miles to a Mr. Mosley's, where they preached in the evening. For several days Elder Woodruff traveled and preached in various neighborhoods of that vicinity. He visited the scene of the Battle of Brandywine.
On the 21st the party returned to Philadelphia, where they learned that the other apostles had gone on to New York. They remained two days, then followed their companions. In New York they held a conference on August 26th and 27th. At this conference many questions which are well understood doctrines of the Church were commented upon in such a manner as to show that they were not plain to the missionaries of those early days, a fact, no doubt, due to the traditions and religious teachings which men of those times brought with them into the Church. Among other things, the question was asked whether a man could be deprived of his priesthood and still retain his standing in the Church. President Young answered decidedly, "No."
On the 29th of that month Elder Woodruff went to Boston {192} with Elders Davis and Wandell. This afforded him an opportunity to visit his father and family in his old home at Farmington, Connecticut. On the 9th of September, after reaching Boston, he, with six other members of the Twelve; namely, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, John E. Page, and George A. Smith, held conference in Boylston Hall. From his notes the following is taken: "President Young said: 'The spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, is a gathering spirit, and its tendency is to gather the virtuous and good, the honest and meek of the earth, in other words the Saints of God. Now is the set time for the Lord to redeem Israel. He does not require every soul to leave his home as soon as he believes, but requires him to hearken to counsel and follow the counsel which the Lord points out to him. You say the Lord may save us as well where we are. Yes, if the Lord says so, but when He commands us to gather and we do not do it, He will not save us. You might have been baptized seventy times in any other way than that ordained of God and you would not have received the Holy Ghost. Can you get an endowment in Boston? No, only in that place which God has appointed. If you do not help to build the Temple and the Nauvoo House, if you do not help to build up Zion and the cause of God, you will not inherit the land of Zion. Be faithful or you will not be chosen; for the day of choosing is at the door. Why be afraid of sacrifice? I have given my all many times and would be willing to do so again. I would be glad to hear the Lord say to His servant Joseph, "Let my servant Brigham give all he has." I would obey in a moment if it took the last coat from my back.'"
From a discourse of Heber C. Kimball the following is taken: "We do not profess to be polished stones like some of the elders. The more we roll through the forests and get the corners knocked off the better we are. If we were polished and smooth it would deface us to have the surface chipped off. This is the case with Joseph Smith, he never professed to be smooth and polished. Rolling around among the rocks has not hurt him at all, but in the end he will be as polished as any stone, while many who were so very polished in the beginning will become badly defaced."
"Do the Saints of Boston know," said Parley P. Pratt, "that they are identified in laying the foundation of so great and mighty {193} a work that it will include all the great and glorious purposes of God which are to be fulfilled in the dispensation of the fullness of times? Millions will yet celebrate the day when the foundation of this work was laid."
The Twelve little dreamed that when they would meet again in Boston it would be on the sad 27th day of June, when the Prophet and the Patriarch would be called upon to lay down their lives at the hands of a murderous mob.
On the 12th Elder Woodruff left for Portland, Maine. The express train conveying him to his destination was thrown from the track. The engineer was killed and a lady passenger bruised; all the rest escaped in a marvelous manner. From Maine Elder Woodruff wrote an account of the wreck to the "Boston Bee" as well as to the "Times and Seasons" in Nauvoo. He occupied some several days in visiting his wife's father, Ezra Carter, and the family of Arthur and Lucy Milliken, the latter being the youngest sister of the Prophet Joseph.
After his visit he returned to Boston, where he again joined the members of this quorum. While there he and several members of the Twelve were examined phrenologically by the noted Professor O. S. Fowler. From his chart we take the following character delineation of President Woodruff:
PHRENOLOGICAL CHART.
"Wilford Woodruff: Is a man of great action, both physical and mental; does up things in a hurry; lets nothing sleep in his hands; great resolution; steamboat speed; loves his liberty; is not disposed to be subject to the will or dictation of others; has great independence; difficulties only stimulate him to increased action; goes in for the largest liberty of the mass and is a democrat of the old school; prefers utility to beauty and substance to show; highly social and fond of family and friends; has but few secrets of his own and tells the plain, unvarnished facts; fears but little danger; is not irresolute, but decides and proceeds at once to action; his first thoughts are always his best; he does his own religious thinking and does not hang his hopes upon the faith of others. He believes but little without proof; is a two edged sword--if he does not cut one way, does another. He makes positive {194} friends or positive enemies--has much severity; is sarcastic; bitter in reproaches; means to do right; fears the force of moral obligations. His jokes have more vinegar than molasses in them. He recollects and explains facts well; reasons by inference from the facts, by analogy and induction; has good talking talents, and is noted for his clear illustrations.
"Boston, September the 20th, 1843.
"(Signed) O. S. FOWLER.
"B. J. GRAY, Secretary."
Soon after this the Twelve began their return to Nauvoo. They met in Philadelphia, and on the 5th of October continued their journey homeward. The same day a large company of Saints left by rail to gather with the Saints in Illinois. On the 19th they crossed the Alleghanies by means of an incline which hoisted the car, passengers, and freight from one elevator to another until the summit, nearly fifteen hundred feet above, was reached. They were let down on the other side in the same manner. In those days this was a novel contrivance, and the mechanism employed not being so perfect as that of today was attended with many dangers. "The whole passage across the mountains was a constant scene of danger, and I called upon God in my heart to preserve our lives. Even while on the level we were running on the edge of a precipice a hundred feet above the bottom of a chasm. In conversation with a mate in the evening upon the subject of our passage across the mountains, he said that we were not aware of one-half the dangers we had encountered."
At Pittsburg Elder Woodruff took passage for St. Louis and thence up the river to Nauvoo, which he reached November 4th. On the 7th he met in council with the Twelve. He was appointed to raise five hundred dollars for the purchase of paper upon which to print the "Doctrine and Covenants." On the 11th President Hyrum Smith sealed Wilford Woodruff and Phoebe Woodruff for time and eternity according to the patriarchal order of marriage which had previously been revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith.
About this time the Prophet delivered a strong discourse on the sin of adultery and kindred crimes. The discourse was the result of the action taken in the case of John C. Bennett, who, with {195} other prominent men, had been adjudged guilty of adultery. The Saints were warned against such crimes. The Prophet thought that the example made of John C. Bennett and others was sufficient to show the fallacy of those who advocated or justified such a course. He condemned adultery in unqualified terms and warned those present against its commission.
It was also about this time that General Fryeson came to Nauvoo and met with the Prophet and Twelve to arrange for a memorial to congress in behalf of the Latter-day Saints. Affidavits on the Missouri atrocities were given by Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, P. P. Pratt, Lyman Wight, George W. Pitkin, and Sidney Rigdon.
Trouble was again fomented about this time by the Missourians. A messenger had just arrived from St. Louis informing the brethren that the governor of Missouri had issued another requisition for the Prophet. Joseph had just made a touching appeal to the Green Mountain boys of Vermont, his native state, for assistance in obtaining redress for the wrongs heaped upon the Saints in Missouri. The appeal was published in pamphlet form and sent to the authorities of the government in Washington. A few days later a man named Elliot was arrested and proven guilty of kidnapping brethren and of threatening the life of the Prophet. Notwithstanding the guilt of this man, Joseph forgave him, and he subsequently left in peace. A warrant was also issued for the arrest of Colonel Williams, the leader of the kidnapping party. He, however, gathered a mob and resisted the officers.
December 2nd on the Sabbath morning P. P. Pratt, Orson Hyde, Wilford Woodruff, and Orson Spencer received their anointings; and on December 23rd they met in Joseph Smith's home, where endowments were given to Elder Marley and wife, Orson Pratt, Mrs. Lot, Fanny Murray, Phoebe Woodruff, Bathsheba Smith, Sister Orson Spencer, and Sister Phelps.
Christmas day of 1843 was spent by Elder Woodruff with his old-time friend, A. O. Smoot. They paid a visit to the Saints who had come from Tennessee to Nauvoo. Part of that day Elder Woodruff worked upon his house and discharged many duties of a home nature. Thus another year in his life was closed. During 1843 he had traveled in thirteen states over five thousand {196} miles, held many meetings, baptized a half dozen persons, reported several sermons, endured a severe sickness, encountered dangers by rail and by water, and closed an eventful year with feelings of gratitude, and with the fullest recognition of God's tender mercies in his behalf.
{197}
19. EARLY DAYS OF 1844
Conduct of the Laws and the Marks.--Discourse on Elijah by the Prophet.--The Celestial Law.--Prophet's Candidacy for President of U. S.--Exploring Expedition to California Planned.--Joseph, Mayor of Nauvoo.--Hostility in Carthage.--Mischief Makers in Nauvoo.--The Prophet Talks on Politics.
The year 1844, a year pregnant with momentous events--events which history has magnified because of their importance to mankind in general and to the Latter-day Saints in particular, was ushered in with a cold, blustering snow storm. Characteristic of his busy life, Elder Woodruff celebrated the day by plastering and whitewashing the printing office. He was enthusiastic over his new-found occupation and gave his heart and hand to the work before him.
Into the midst of the busy, hopeful life of the Saints, there entered an element of uncertainty and of deep concern, and whispered threats against the life of the Prophet were circulated. The false charges of the apostate element were growing in intensity.
As the outgrowth of these conditions in Nauvoo at that time, there was held on the 3rd of January, in Joseph's store, a court of inquiry. The inquiry was directed to the conduct of William Law, Wilson Law, and William Marks. Of William Law Elder Woodruff writes in his journal: "He professes to believe that Joseph has instructed the police to kill him, but the truth is that the Laws have turned traitors and are breeding mischief which is intended to take the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith." On the 5th of the month a second court was held relating to the same matter. In contradistinction to the spirit of the Laws there was an enthusiastic, hopeful spirit which caused faithful men and women to look forward with fond anticipations to the completion of the Temple. Work in the house of God was then taking hold upon the feelings of men and women who had had revealed to them the relation and duties they sustain to their progenitors as well as to their posterity. The spirit of Elijah was upon the elders of the Church.
On January 21st, Elder Woodruff records the fact that Apostle {198} Parley P. Pratt had just received second anointings and that he had been instructed by the Prophet that it was his duty to have his wife sealed to him for eternity in order that his glory might be full. Elder Woodruff records the following words from the prophet: "What shall I talk about today? I discern that Brother Cahoon wishes me to speak upon the coming of Elijah. The Bible says, 'I will send you Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come, that he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the chidren and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.' The word 'turned' should read 'point' or 'seal.' But, what is the object of this important mission, or how is it to be fulfilled? The keys are to be delivered, the spirit of Elijah is to come, the gospel is to be preached, the Saints of God are to be gathered, Zion is to be built up, and the Saints are to come forth as Saviors on Mount Zion. But how are they to come as Saviors on Mount Zion? By building temples, erecting baptismal fonts and receiving in the temples all the ordinances, sealings, and anointings in behalf of our progenitors who are dead, that they may come forth in the first resurrection and be with us exalted to thrones of glory. I would to God that this Temple were now completed, that we might go forth and attend to these ordinances in their fullness! I would advise all the Saints to gather their living relatives to this place and be prepared against the day when the destroying angel shall go forth. My only trouble now is that which concerns ourselves. The Saints may be divided, broken up and scattered before we accomplish the work now in view. There are so many fools in the world for the devil to act upon that it oftimes gives him the advantage. Any person who is exalted to the highest mansion must abide the celestial law and the whole law, too, but there has been much difficulty in getting understanding into the hearts of this generation. Even the Saints are slow to understand. How many will be able to abide the celestial law, endure the trials, and receive their exaltation I am unable to say. 'Many are called, but few are chosen.'"
The Temple was still incomplete. The Presidency and the Twelve were urging the work upon it. In order that the Twelve might be prepared to administer in the ordinances of the house of God they were given their endowments and their wives sealed to {199} them for eternity. Elder Woodruff gives the exact dates when certain members of the Twelve received these ordinances. He says, in his journal, "There is at this time quite a revival throughout Nauvoo and an inquiry after the things of God by all the quorums of the Church generally."
There was a strange commingling of spirits in Nauvoo at that time. Spirits of life and death were at war, and the Prophet's approaching end was made manifest to him in a dream which he related in his office to Wilford Woodruff, Willard Richards, and W. W. Phelps. The Prophet clearly saw the coming storm of persecution which awaited him. His release from opposition was represented by his power to pass through the air and be lifted up by the power of God above the earth.
Furthermore this year was one for a presidential election. The Saints had been constantly ground between the political parties of those days. Whatever significance may be attached to the candidacy of Joseph Smith at that time for the presidency of the United States, it has since been the subject of all sorts of speculation. Elder Woodruff, in his journal, says: "A congregation of the citizens met in the room over Joseph's store to hear his views upon the affairs of government, views which he had written and which were read by W. W. Phelps. 'I would not have permitted my name to be used by my friends as a candidate for the President of the United States if we could have enjoyed, unmolested, our religious and civil rights as American citizens--the rights which the constitution guarantees to all citizens, but rights which have been denied us from the beginning. I feel it my right and privilege to obtain what influence and power I can, lawfully, for the protection of injured innocence.'"
At the close of the meeting there was a unanimous vote passed to support Joseph Smith. The Prophet had reason to appreciate the rights and liberties of mankind, of which he had been so often unlawfully and wantonly deprived.
"On the 21st of February," Elder Woodruff writes, "I met with the quorum of the Twelve at Joseph's store, and according to Joseph's counsel a company was selected to go on an exploring expedition to California, and to select a place for the building of a city. Jonathan Dunham, David Fulmer, Phineas Young, Samuel W. Richards and several others were named for the expedition." {200} The Prophet subsequently, in company with a number of his brethren, left Nauvoo on this proposed expedition, but turned back, as all know from the sad story of his last days, to be a martyr to the work he had been instrumental in establishing.
A curious circumstance of those times was the preaching of an Episcopalian minister in an adjoining room. Following the preacher, Joseph said, "The object with me is to obey and to teach others to obey God and all that He commands us to do. It matters not whether the principle be popular or unpopular, I will always maintain it though I stand alone in doing so." According to Elder Woodruff the Prophet, in 1842, predicted that within five years the Saints would be established beyond the Rocky Mountains and became a mighty people in the inter-mountain regions.
On the evening of February 25th the news of the death of Joseph Duncan and Governor Reynolds of Missouri reached Nauvoo. They were among the most persistent enemies of the Saints. The news of their death called forth a notable prophecy from Joseph Smith, who wished his words recorded that they might be remembered when they were fulfilled. He declared that in five years the Saints would be rid of their old enemies, whether they were apostates or men who were never in the Church. Five years saw the Saints located in the valleys of the mountains. Those predictions were more the voice of the spirit than any expectations of the people who were eagerly working for an early completion of the Temple.
On the 7th of March there was a large meeting of the Saints in Nauvoo. Eight thousand people had gathered by invitation to listen to the words of their Prophet and the Twelve. The latter directed their remarks more particularly to the ordinances which should take place in the house of God. "One of the great objects I had in calling this meeting," said the Prophet, "was to make a few remarks relative to the laws and ordinances of the city and to the building of the Temple. The reason I want to speak of the laws is that the officers have difficulty in administering them. We wish to have the people rule, but rule in righteousness. The laws are enacted and they can be repealed, if the people wish it, but the people should not complain of the officers. I am instructed by the city council to tell this people that if you do not like any law we have passed, we will repeal it for we are your servants. There are {201} those in this community who would oppose anything good. If you preach virtue to them they will oppose it. If a case is tried here, they want it appealed to Carthage."
In those days Carthage contained the chief enemies of the Prophet, and the town became a gathering place for those bent upon his destruction. Any movement in opposition to him or to the Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo found sympathetic support there. Justice for the Prophet in Carthage was therefore absolutely impossible. The lawyers and those encompassing his destruction took advantage of the law on a question of venue to put the object of their venom at the mercy of men whose attitude towards him was always malignant.
During these days the Prophet was the mayor of Nauvoo, and his home-town sheltered men who were seeking to encompass the Prophet and his devoted followers. Such men were indeed a very small minority, but they were able to make a great amount of noise and do endless mischief. A certain individual had undertaken to appropriate the wharfage lands at the foot of Water Street, and thus create an issue between himself and the city. Such conduct awakened antagonism between people outside of Nauvoo desiring to carry on business there in the city. Outsiders did not always discriminate between the conduct of the mischief-makers and the people at large. Everything disagreeable and annoying was laid at the door of the Latter-day Saints.
These facts will explain the Prophet's outburst of indignation when he said: "I want every fool to stay at home and let the steamboats and captains and peace officers alone. How can we prevent mobs and the shedding of innocent blood unless we strike at everything that rises up in disorder."
There were in the city secret combinations planned to thwart the purposes of Joseph and to bring confusion upon him and the great majority of the people. Among those plotting his ruin were men who professed personal friendship. "I despise," he says, "the man who betrays with a kiss. A certain man has been writing to the New York Tribune. I will not mention his name. He says much that was appropriated for the Temple has been spent for other purposes. But any man who has paid anything for the Temple can learn from the books that every farthing has been used for that building. There are many men in our midst who are trying {202} to build themselves up at our expense, and others are watching for some pretended iniquity, and make a man an offender for a word."
After an article entitled, "A Voice of Innocence from Nauvoo," was read, Brigham Young addressed in the afternoon the assemblage. "I wish to speak on the duties of lawyers," he said, "classing myself with the lawyers in the house of Israel. When any man who is a lawyer takes a course to break peace instead of promoting it, he is out of the way of his duty. A doctor of law should be a peacemaker. The great object we have before us is the completion of the Temple this season. We have felt the effects of slander and want a cure, or balm for it. I carry one with me all the time, and I want you to do the same. I will tell you what it is. It is to mind our own business and let others alone, to suffer rather than to do wrong. If anyone will take your property away let him alone and have nothing to do with him. A spirit intended to divide the Saints has been manifested in this city. We have built up this city. Would steamboats have landed here if the Saints had not come, or would speculators make anything out of our lands if we had not come to give them value? Israel is to be the head, and not the tail. All who have gone from us have gone from the head to the foot. Oppose this work and it will roll over you. When since it began did this work ever stop? What the Saints need to know is what the Lord wants of them and then have the courage to do it. If the Saints will keep the law of God, the hypocrites and the scoundrels will not be comfortable in their presence."
Closing the meeting the Prophet said, "I care but little for politics; I would not give much for the presidential chair in comparison with the office I now hold; but as men in the world have used the powers of government to oppose and persecute us, it is proper for us to use those powers for our own protection and rights. Were I President of the United States I would never say to an oppressed people, 'Your cause is just but I can do nothing for you.'"
Continuing, he spoke of the annexation of Texas, and he further believed that the United States should receive all the territory that it could. He was in favor of paying for the slaves and further believed that steps should be taken to give freedom to all colored {203} children after a fixed period. By these means he believed that much bloodshed would be averted and that in the end it would be less expensive to the country at large. "This government," he said, "will receive no suggestions from me. Those who hold the responsible places are controlled by a spirit of self-sufficiency, but they will have to meet with fear and trembling in a day to come the false position they have taken."
"The Prophet Joseph," says Elder Woodruff, in his journal, "favored the admission of Canada into the United States. He regarded all of North and South America as the land of Zion, and believed that the principles upon which the government of the United States was founded should govern as well all the various nations on this continent."
On the 8th of March, a number of leading citizens met to consider the question of vice-president on the presidential ticket.
Through all the teachings of the Prophet in those days there ran a spirit of deep concern for the completion of the Temple, so that the ordinances to be performed therein might be enjoyed by the Saints. "These ordinances," Joseph insisted, "must be performed in this life." He spoke on the land of Zion and of the days to come when there would be stakes established throughout North and South America. His words were like the sounds of a distant echo; their realization was then scarcely within the compass of the most vivid imagination. Now that stakes of Zion are spreading out into Canada, Mexico, and various states of the Union, the fulfillment of these prophetic utterances is within the understanding of all Latter-day Saints. And in view of these prophecies one may exclaim with the psalmist of old: "Go about Zion; count the towers thereof."
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20. THE MARTYRDOM OF JOSEPH AND HYRUM, 1844
Mission of the Apostles to the East.--A Warning to W. W.--A Sad Parting.--Political News of the Prophet Published.--W. W. Arrives in Boston, June 26.--The Martyrdom.--Its Announcement Reaches W. W. in Portland, Maine.--His Return to Boston.--an Epistle to the Elders and Saints in the World.--W. W. Visits His Old Home.--Return to Nauvoo.--Conditions in That City.
The fourth of March, 1844, brought to Elder Woodruff's life the satisfaction that comes to those who esteem it a divinely appointed joy to sit beneath their own vine and fig tree. He moved on that day to the new home he had erected in Illinois; and for the first time he could leave his family, while abroad preaching the gospel, in some measure of comfort and independence. He felt now, more than ever, from a material point of view, that he had prepared for the missionary service which belonged to his calling.
The opportunity for missionary service soon came. The Laws, Higbees, Fosters, Blakesley, and others came out in open rebellion against the Prophet of God, who now felt a foreboding of evil days to come. The Prophet, therefore, made a call upon the Twelve to take a mission to the Eastern States. He would not have their lives jeopardized by the enmity which was intensifying about him. Upon the Twelve rested the responsibility of the Kingdom, should he be called to lay down his life. Elder Woodruff left Nauvoo in company with George A. Smith, J. M. Grant, Ezra Thayer, and the latter's son. Of this circumstance he writes, "This was the last mission the Prophet ever gave to the Twelve Apostles in this dispensation. He wished none of us to remain by him except Willard Richards. Apostle John Taylor was later required to remain and take charge of the printing and publications. The Prophet then turned to me and said: 'Brother Woodruff, I want you to go, and if you do not you will die.' His words rested with mighty weight upon me when he spoke, and I have often thought since, in contemplation of the awful tragedy of his and Hyrum's martyrdom, how truly his {205} words would have been verified had I remained. Elder Taylor barely escaped. Willard Richards escaped the bullets altogether. He escaped, as was written of him later, 'without even a hole in his robe.' I took the parting hand of Hyrum and Joseph, at their own dwellings. Joseph stood in the entry of his door when I took his hand to bid him farewell. Brother J. M. Grant was with me. As he took me by the hand, he said: 'Brother Woodruff, you are about to start upon your mission.' I answered, 'Yes.' He looked me steadily in the eye for a time without speaking a word; he looked as though he would penetrate my very soul, and at the same time seemed unspeakably sorrowful as if weighed down by a foreboding of something dreadful. He finally spoke in a mournful voice: 'God bless you, Brother Woodruff; go in peace.' I turned and left him with a sorrowful heart, partaking of the same spirit which rested upon him. This was the last time I ever saw his face or heard his voice again--in the flesh. Sad were the last months of the Prophet's life. They were like the last days of Him who died on Calvary for the redemption of a fallen world. The Apostles of this dispensation, while not aware of the coming events in all their fullness, were yet more fully prepared for the sad event than were the Apostles of Jerusalem. Those of the latter days had been endowed with power from on high, and they did not slumber while their Prophet suffered, as did those 'in the Garden of Gethsemane.'"
After departing upon his mission, Elder Woodruff and others passed the first week in holding public meetings, and on the 18th of May held their first conference in Newark, Kendall County, Illinois. With him at this conference was George A. Smith of the Twelve. At its close they were joined by Elders Charles C. Rich, David Fulmer, and Henry Jacobs from Nauvoo. The evening following they held a political meeting over which Wilford Woodruff presided. Henry Jacobs read the views of Joseph Smith on the policy and powers of the general government. Spirited addresses were made by David Fulmer, Wilford Woodruff, and George A. Smith. The day following they rode thirty miles to Joliet, where a similar meeting was held, and where a good impression was made upon the minds of the people. In his journal he says: "We continued from place to place, holding forth in public assemblage upon political subjects, reading the {206} views of Joseph Smith and placing him before the public as a fit candidate for the presidency of the United States.
"On the first of June we held conference in Comstock, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. There were present two of the Quorum, myself and George A. Smith. There were eight high priests; S. Bent, Charles C. Richor, David Fulmer, H. Green, Z. Coltrin, Moses Smith, Ezra Thayer, and G. Coltrin; eight seventies and fourteen elders; two priests and one deacon. Charles C. Rich, in council with the officers, appointed the elders to their respective stations in the several counties of the state, and he manifested much wisdom in arranging to carry out his work both in politics and religion in the state of Michigan."
On the eighth day they held a conference in Pleasant Valley, and another in Franklin on the fifteenth. Soon after this Elder Woodruff proceeded to Boston, where he arrived on the 26th of June. On the 27th, the most sorrowful day of this dispensation, he was in company with President Brigham Young. Of this day he subsequently wrote: "The day of the martyrdom, Brigham Young and myself were seated in the railroad station at the time Joseph and Hyrum were assassinated. This was June the 27th, at quarter past five in the evening, at Carthage, Illinois. It was half-past six in Boston. As we sat in the station, Brigham was very sorrowful and depressed in spirit, not knowing the cause. This was the time when Satan struck the heaviest blow he had struck since the Son of God was crucified. We well knew afterwards why all the Twelve, wherever they were on that day and at that time, were, like the president of our Quorum, sorrowful, and burdened in spirit without knowing why."
On the 29th of June the Twelve held a conference with the Saints in Boston. They met in Franklin Hall. There were present Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, William Smith, and Lyman Wight. President Young presided. It occupied two days. The conference was well attended, and every effort was made to present the views of the Prophet and explain the character of the Latter-day Saints. The conference also received instructions in political matters.
July first, by previous appointment, a convention was held in {207} Melodian Hall. Brigham Young of Nauvoo presided. William Smith and Lyman Wight were vice presidents. Wilford Woodruff, Orson Pratt, and A. McAllister of Boston, and N. H. Felt of Salem were secretaries. Resolutions were passed and proceedings of the meeting were published in the "Boston Times" of July 2nd, 1844. An evening session of the convention was held. A number of rowdies made their appearance in the galleries. While President Young was speaking, a woman by the name of Folsom, arose and began to harangue the audience; then a rowdy, supported by a large number of kindred spirits, made such a disturbance that the police came in to quell those creating the confusion. The police, however, were overpowered by the rough element and the meeting was broken up. The convention, however, adjourned until 4 p. m. the following day, to meet at Bunker Hill. Here Heber C. Kimball and George B. Wallace were elected delegates to attend the Baltimore National Convention.
On July 2nd the Twelve met in council and made their plans to support and attend the several conferences in the various states. Elder Woodruff and his old-time friend, Milton Holmes, whom he had not seen for five years, went into Maine. "We left Boston," he says, "at seven p. m. on the 2nd and arrived at Father Carter's home in Scarboro early the next afternoon. I found my wife's father and mother and Brother Fabyan and family all well." A Brother Stoddard had already made the appointment for their conference on the 6th and 7th at Scarboro, in a Presbyterian chapel. About six hundred people assembled. There were present besides himself S. B. Stoddard, Milton Holmes, Elbridge Tufts, and Samuel Parker.
On the 9th, in company with Milton Holmes and Father Carter, Elder Woodruff visited Portland, and dined with his brother-in-law, Ezra Carter. While there he saw for the first time the announcement in the press of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. It was published in the "Boston Times." In consequence of the shocking news, he repaired at once to Boston, and the day following his arrival there he met with the Saints and gave them counsel and comfort in the hour of their bereavement. "The next day," he says in his journal, "I wrote a letter to the editor of the "Prophet," published in New York, giving a word of exhortation {208} to the Saints abroad to maintain their integrity, and to keep the faith and endurance of the Saints even unto death. The following morning we obtained information from Quincy, giving full account of the horrible affair at Carthage and the great loss which the Church had sustained.
"The governor himself acknowledged the death of Joseph and Hyrum to be a wanton murder. The state of Illinois was in commotion, and Governor Ford made Quincy his headquarters and issued a proclamation to the citizens of the state. The news of the day stated that the Mormon leaders in Nauvoo had done all they could to restrain the disciples of the martyred Prophet from vengeance. Still there was evidently a disposition on the part of the people and the troops to destroy Nauvoo, lest the Mormons should hold a fearful reckoning with the mobocratic element in desperation over the assassination of their Prophet and Patriarch. 'The wicked flee when no man pursueth.'"
On Sunday, the 14th, Elder Woodruff preached twice to the Saints in Boston, he being the only one of the Twelve then in that city. On the morning of the 16th of July he received a letter from Erastus Snow and one from John E. Page, both confirming the report of the martyrdom. The same day he received the first letter he had obtained from his wife since leaving Nauvoo. This letter contained the narration of a dream given to the Prophet Joseph a few days before his death. In the dream there was clearly indicated to him the conspiracy and treachery of William and Wilson Law, and the fact, too, that they would yet cry unto Joseph to deliver them from the grasp of the monster into whose hands they had wilfully placed themselves; and that his power to help them would be like that of Lazarus, to whom the rich man appealed. There was a gulf between them.
On the 17th of July he says, in his journal: "Elder Brigham Young arrived in Boston. I walked with him to No. 57 Temple Street and called upon Sister Vose. Brother Young took the bed and I the armchair, and then we veiled our faces and gave vent to our grief. Until now I had not shed a tear since the death of the Prophet. My soul had been nerved up like steel. After giving vent to our grief in tears we felt more composed. Brother Brigham left the city the same day, but soon returned. Elders {209} Kimball, Hyde, and Orson Pratt also came. We held a council and I was directed to write a letter to the "Prophet," edited in New York, advising the elders who had families in Nauvoo to go immediately to them, and all the elders of the Church to assemble forthwith at Nauvoo for a council. It was signed by order of the quorum of the Twelve, Brigham Young, president, and Wilford Woodruff, clerk. This order of the quorum was subsequently published in the "News," Volume 7, No. 447."
On July 18th, meeting was held in a hall on Washington Street, opposite Boylston Hall. Elder Hyde spoke on the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, and was followed by Brigham Young, who said: "Be of good cheer. The testimony is not in force while the testator liveth; when he dieth, it is enforced. So it is with Joseph. When God sends a man to do a work, all the devils in hell cannot kill him until his work is accomplished. It was thus with Joseph. He prepared all things and gave the keys to men on the earth and said, 'I am soon to be taken from you.'"
Soon after this the Twelve left for Nauvoo. Elder Woodruff started on the 20th, and two days later found himself at his native home in Farmington, Connecticut. "I found my father and stepmother alone, there was not a child with them in their decline of life to watch over them. I had twenty-four hours to stay and I happily improved the time.
"My father was sixty-seven years of age, and I might never see him again in mortality. I felt deeply impressed of late that I had something to do for my parents. As the sable shades of a serene night drew their curtain over the earth and sealed the cares of the day, we went alone to prayer. There were none but congenial spirits there. I rose and with a spirit like that of Joseph of old towards his father Jacob, opened my heart to my father, and he reciprocated my sentiments. I then laid my hands upon his head and ordained Aphek Woodruff a high priest and patriarch after the order of Melchisedek, and sealed him up unto eternal life. I shall never forget the deep satisfaction and heavenly spirit of that night beneath my father's roof. Sleep departed from me, and I was wrapped in the meditations and visions of days gone by and of days to come."
The day following he journeyed on to New York, where he {210} met Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt. When they reached Schenectady they met Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Lyman Wight. The six journeyed together until they reached Fairport, where Elder Hyde separated from them to visit his family in Kirtland.
On this journey homeward President Young requested Elder Woodruff to keep an account of the events of those times, for some day he would be called upon to give a record of them. It was during this journey that Lyman Wight testified that while he was in jail in Missouri with the prophet, that Joseph informed him that he (Joseph) would not live to see his 40th birthday, but enjoined him not to speak of it until after his words had been fulfilled. It was during this journey also that Elder Kimball had a dream. It showed the policy of the nation toward the work of God and the important part the Twelve would perform in building upon the foundation laid by the Prophet.
The Twelve arrived in Nauvoo on the sixth day of August, where they received a hearty welcome by families and friends. "When we landed in the city, a deep gloom seemed to rest over Nauvoo such as we had never before experienced."
Those were days of heartfelt anxiety. Conflicting spirits were at work in a struggle for ascendency. Selfish ambitions and sinister motives were operating among the few. The Saints, generally, were trusting themselves to an overruling Providence; they believed that at the proper time and in a manner unmistakeable, there would be some manifestation of God's watchcare over His Saints. The personal ambitions of men had gained no decided sway over the hearts and minds of the great body of the Church. The Apostles had just arrived. They were strong men, and the people felt the power of their influence. Those who were promoting their own selfish ends were likewise concerned over the arrival of the Twelve. To them the presence of these men meant more a contest for supremacy than it did an opportunity for more light and a better understanding. The humble and the God-fearing among the people possessed the key of their own safety. They were seeking a will higher than their own, and were willing when they found it to yield obedience. They knew that it was not their work. They appreciated fully the fact that they were humble instruments and therefore wanted to place themselves in harmony {211} with that divine authority which had been their guide and their anchor in bygone days. Those who were seeking the light were the first to behold it. The days following the arrival in Nauvoo of President Young and other members of the Twelve were days of great future significance in the history of the Church; every event of those days has been a land-mark in the history of God's people. What followed of importance is carefully recorded by Elder Woodruff in his journal. The contents of that journal are of supreme historical importance in the annals of the Church.
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21. THE SUCCESSION, 1844
Sidney Rigdon's Claim to Guardianship.--Rigdon's Spiritual Condition.--Comparison of Sidney Rigdon and Frederick Williams.--Remarks of Brigham Young.--Meeting on Aug. 8, 1844.--Brigham Young Follows Sidney Rigdon in Address to the People.--Members of the Twelve Speak.--Vote on Question of Leadership.
The return of the Twelve to Nauvoo at that particular time was both opportune and providential. Elder Woodruff's careful record of what was said and done gives us an insight into the condition of the city and into the feelings of the people. The minds of the Saints were agitated, their hearts were sorrowful and darkness seemed to becloud their path; they were like sheep without a shepherd, since their beloved Prophet had been taken away.
Elder John Taylor was recovering from his wounds; and on the 7th of August, 1844, the Twelve met in the forenoon in council at his home. At four o'clock in the afternoon the Twelve, the high council, and the high priests met in the Seventies' Hall. It was there that Sidney Rigdon made his appearance, he having returned from Pittsburg. On invitation of President Young he took charge of the meeting. Sidney Rigdon presented to the people his claims to the guardianship of the Church. He recounted to those present, a vision which he said he received in Pittsburg on the 27th of June, the day of the Prophet's martyrdom. This vision is given by Elder Woodruff in his journal as follows: "This was presented to my mind, not as an open vision, but rather as a continuation of the vision mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants. It was shown to me that His Church must be built up unto Joseph and that all the blessings we received must come through him. I have been ordained as spokesman to Joseph and must see that the Church is governed in a proper manner. Joseph sustains the same relationship to this Church as he has always done. No man can be a successor of Joseph. The Kingdom has to be built up to Jesus Christ through Joseph. There must still be revelation. The martyred Prophet is still the head of this Church. Every quorum should stand in {213} the order in which its members received their anointings. I have been ordained a spokesman to Joseph and was commanded to speak for him. The Church is not disorganized though our head is gone. We have a diversity of feelings on this matter. I have been called to be a spokesman unto Joseph and I want to build up the Church unto him; and if the people call me to sustain this place, I want it upon the principle that every individual shall acknowledge my right for himself. I propose to be a guardian to the people. In this matter I have discharged my duty and have done what God has commanded me to do. The people may please themselves whether they accept me or not."
It will be remembered that although Sidney Rigdon had for a long time been faithful and had passed through many persecutions and tribulations with Joseph, he had weakened and had become "weary in well doing." When he came out of Liberty jail he made an expression both presumptuous and sacrilegious by saying, in substance, that the Savior was nothing in suffering, compared with himself. Again when the Prophet gazed upon Commerce, the place where Nauvoo was built, he prophetically remarked: "It is a beautiful site but not long a resting place for the Saints." Sidney was so impetuous and so weary of suffering that in a tone of vexation he said of Joseph's words: "I thought that Joseph knew better than to prophesy evil concerning the Saints."
The foregoing remarks disclose the state of Elder Rigdon's mind and explain the interpretation which he put upon the sacrifices he had made for the gospel's sake. From these sacrifices he sought honor rather than the knowledge and spirit they contained. Elder Rigdon further manifested a weakness in his faith by his critical attitude towards the Prophet whose mind, to Sidney Rigdon's knowledge, had been so wonderfully enlightened by a divine power that enabled him to foresee future events. When Elder Rigdon, in closing his talk, remarked that the people could do as they pleased about it, he manifested a weakness of conviction and a spirit of indifference to his own claims that created an equal indifference in the minds of those who listened to his words.
Before his death, Joseph had conferred the keys of his divine authority upon the Twelve who stood next in authority to the {214} Presidency of the Church and they succeeded to the leadership when the latter for any reason became disorganized.
Before the Prophet's death Elder Rigdon became separated from the body of the Church and really abandoned his calling by his return to his former home in Pittsburg. Associated in this particular event in the history of the Church are the words of the Prophet which so perfectly portrayed, not only Sidney Rigdon's character and future life, but also the marvelous inspiration which characterized the words of the Prophet. From Church History, Volume I., page 448, the following is given:
"Brother Sidney is a man whom I love but is not capable of that pure and steadfast love for those who are his benefactors that should characterize a president of the Church of Christ. This with some other little things, such as selfishness and independence of mind, which too often manifested, destroy the confidence of those who would lay down their lives for him--these are his faults. But notwithstanding these things, he is a very great and good man; a man of great power of words, and can gain the friendship of his hearers very quickly. He is a man whom God will uphold, if he will continue faithful to his calling. O God, grant that he may for the Lord's sake. Amen."
"And again, blessed be brother Sidney, notwithstanding he shall be high and lifted up, yet he shall bow down under the yoke like unto an ass that croucheth beneath his burden, that learneth his master's will by the stroke of the rod; thus saith the Lord: yet, the Lord will have mercy on him and he shall bring forth much fruit, even as the vine of the choice grape when her clusters are ripe, before the time of the gleaning of the vintage; and the Lord shall make his heart merry as with sweet wine, because of him who putteth forth his hand, and lifteth him up out of the deep mire, and pointeth him out the way, and guideth his feet when he stumbles and humbleth him in his pride. Blessed are his generations; nevertheless one shall hunt after them as a man hunteth after an ass that has strayed in the wilderness, and straightway findeth him and bringeth him into the fold. Thus shall the Lord watch over his generation, that they may be saved, Even so, Amen."
"The man who willeth to do well, we would extol his virtues, and speak not of his faults behind his back. A man who {215} wilfully turneth away from his friend without a cause, is not easily forgiven. The kindness of a man should never be forgotten. That person who never forsaketh his trust should ever have the highest place of regard in our hearts, and our love should never fail, but increase more and more, and this is my disposition and these are my sentiments."
"Brother Frederick G. Williams is one of those men in whom I place the greatest confidence and trust, for I have found him ever full of brotherly love, and kindness. He is not a man of many words but is ever winning because of his constant mind. He shall ever have a place in my heart, and is ever entitled to my confidence. He is perfectly upright and honest and seeks with all his heart to magnify his Presidency in the Church of Christ, but often fails because of lack of confidence in himself. God grant that he may overcome all evil. Blessed be Brother Frederick for he shall never want a friend, and his generation after him shall flourish. The Lord hath appointed him an inheritance upon the land of Zion: yea, and his head shall blossom, and he shall be as an olive branch that is bowed down with fruit. Even so. Amen."
The fulfillment of these words were wonderfully brought about recently through the discovery of Sidney Rigdon's son, John W., in New York. The son, most of his life, had been separated from the Church and all its interests. The proselyting of the elders in that city awakened in him a spirit of inquiry into the doctrines which his father had so ably expounded. The son became converted to the divinity of those doctrines and espoused the teachings of the Church.
On the other hand, the posterity of Frederick Williams became numerous and faithful. In view of such divine insight into the lives of men as well as into the course of events, who can doubt? Joseph Smith stood forth in prophetic majesty like Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, Peter, James, John, and others of old.
Returning to that important meeting in the Seventies' Hall, we find recorded in Elder Woodruff's journal the words of President Young. They are given by that faithful chronicler as follows: "I do not care who leads the Church as long as the Lord directs it. One thing I must know and that is what God says about it. I have the keys, and, therefore, the means of obtaining the mind of God upon this subject. I know there are those in our {216} midst who will seek the lives of the Twelve as they did the lives of Joseph and Hyrum. We shall ordain others and give them the fulness of priesthood, so that if we are killed the priesthood shall remain. Joseph conferred upon our heads all the keys and powers belonging to the apostleship which he held before he was taken away. No man, no set of men, can get between Joseph and the Twelve in this world or in the world to come. How often Joseph has said to the Twelve: 'I have laid the foundation, and you must build thereon; for upon your shoulders the Kingdom rests.' The Twelve as a quorum will not be permitted to tarry here long, they will go abroad and bear off the Kingdom to the nations of the earth. They will baptize people faster than mobs can kill them. I would like it, were it my privilege, to take my valise and travel and preach until we had a people gathered who would be true. My private feelings would be to let the affairs of men and women alone, except to preach the gospel and to baptize people into the Kingdom of God. However, what duty places upon me I intend to fulfill."
Upon the suggestion of President Young, a special conference was appointed for the following Tuesday, August 8, at ten a. m. To this those present gave unanimous assent.
At the request of William Marks, who then presided over the stake in Nauvoo, a special meeting was held in the morning to choose a guardian for the Church. At that time Sidney Rigdon took his position in a wagon about two rods in front of the stand and talked to the people for about an hour and a half upon the choice of a guardian for the Church. Those who were present on that occasion and who were familiar with the eloquence of Sidney Rigdon, say that all his former inspiration and eloquence had vanished while setting forth his personal claims for recognition. He spoke as one who had forsaken the path of duty and had become, like many others, indifferent to his obligations in the Church.
When this meeting was dismissed, President Young made an appointment with the brethren to assemble at two p. m. that day. There were present among the assembled multitude, President Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, Willard Richards, and George A. Smith. The various quorums were assigned to their respective places around the stand. {217} After the opening exercises, President Young arose and said: "Attention all! This congregation makes me think of the days of King Benjamin when the multitude was so great that all could not hear. Let none complain of the size of this congregation, it was necessary to call you together. For the first time in the history of our lives, for the first time in this dispensation of the gospel, we are without the Prophet Joseph in our midst. I step forth, therefore, to act in my calling in connection with the Quorum of the Twelve, the Apostles of Jesus Christ of this generation--Apostles whom God has called by revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith and who are ordained and anointed to carry the keys of the Kingdom of God unto all the world.
"Hitherto the people have walked by sight and not so much by faith. We have had the Prophet as the mouthpiece of the Lord; now he is gone. He has sealed his testimony with his blood. We are called for the first time to walk by faith. Now that our Prophet and Patriarch are taken from our midst, in behalf of the Twelve I submit to the people this question: Do you want someone to guard, to guide, to lead you into the Kingdom of God as a guardian, spokesman, or something else? If so, signify it by raising your right hand. (There was no vote).
"When I came to this stand I had peculiar feelings and impressions. The faces of this people seemed to say: we want a shepherd to guide us through this world. To all who want to draw apart from the Church I say, let them do it if they choose, but they will not prosper. They will find that there is a power with the Apostles which will carry the work off victoriously and which will build up and defend the Church and Kingdom of God in all the world. What do the people want? I want the privilege of weeping and mourning for thirty days at least, and then rising up and shaking myself and telling the people what the Lord wants of them. Although my heart is too full of mourning to launch out into business transactions and into the organizations of the Church, I feel compelled this day to step forth and discharge all those duties which God has placed upon me.
"I now wish to speak of the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church is organized, and you want to know how it is organized, I will tell you. I know your feelings. Do you want me to tell you your feelings? There {218} is President Rigdon who was counselor to Joseph. I ask, where are Joseph and Hyrum? They are gone beyond the veil, and if President Rigdon wants to act as his counselor, he must go beyond the veil where he is.
"There has been much said about President Rigdon being President of the Church and leading the people--being the head, etc., etc. Brother Rigdon has come sixteen hundred miles to tell you what he wants to do for you. If the people want President Rigdon to lead them they may have him; but I say unto you that the Quorum of the Twelve have the keys of the Kingdom in all the world. The Twelve are appointed by the finger of God. Here is Brigham, have his knees ever faltered? Have his lips ever quivered? Here are Heber and the rest of the Twelve, an independent body who have the keys of the priesthood; the keys of the Kingdom of God to deliver to all the world; this is true, so help me God! They stand next to Joseph and are as the Presidency of the Church. I do not know whether my enemies will take my life or not and I do not care, for I want to be with the man I love.
"You cannot fill the office of a prophet, seer, and revelator. God must do that. You are like children without a father, and sheep without a shepherd. You must not appoint any man at your head; if you do, the Twelve must ordain him. You cannot appoint any man at your head, but if you do want any other man or men to lead you, take him or them, and we will go our way to build up the Kingdom of God in all the world.
"I know who are Joseph's friends and who are his enemies; I know where the keys of the Kingdom are, where they will eternally be. You cannot call a man to be a prophet. You cannot take Elder Rigdon and place him above the Twelve; if so, he must be ordained by them.
"I tell you there is an over-anxiety to hurry matters here. You cannot take any man and put him at the head. You would scatter the Saints to the four winds. You would sever the priesthood. So long as we remain as we are, the Heavenly Head is in constant co-operation with us; and if you go out of that course, God will have nothing to do with you.
"Again, some perhaps think that our beloved Brother Rigdon would not be honored, would not be looked to as a friend; {219} but if he does right and remains faithful, he will not act against our counsel nor we against his, but act together and be as one.
"I again repeat--no man can stand at our head except God reveals it from the heavens. I have spared no pains to learn my lesson of the Kingdom in this world and in the eternal worlds: and if it were not so, I could go and live in peace; but for the gospel and your sakes, I shall stand in my place. We are liable, all the day long, to be killed. You have never lived by faith.
"Brother Joseph, the Prophet, has laid the foundation for a great work and we will build upon it. You have never seen the quorums built one upon another. There is an almighty foundation laid and we can build a Kingdom such as there never was in the world. We can build a Kingdom faster than Satan can kill the Saints off.
"What do you want? Do you want a patriarch for the whole Church? To this we are perfectly willing. If Brother Samuel H. Smith had been living, it would have been his right and privilege, but he is dead. He is gone to Joseph and Hyrum. He is out of the reach of bullets and spears and he can associate himself with his brothers, his friends, and the Saints.
"Do you want a patriarch? Here is Brother William left. Here is Uncle John Smith, uncle to the Prophet Joseph. It is their right. The right of the patriarchal priesthood belongs to Joseph's family.
"Do you want a trustee-in-trust? Has there been a bishop who has stood in his lot yet? What is his business? To take charge of the temporal affairs so that the Twelve and the elders may go on their business. Joseph condescended to do their business for them. Joseph condescended to offer himself for Presidency of the United States, and it was a great condescension.
"Do you want a spokesman? Here are Elder Rigdon, Brother Amasa Lyman, (whom Joseph expected to take as a counselor) and myself. Do you want the Church properly organized, or do you want a spokesman. Elder Rigdon claims to be spokesman to the Prophet. Very well--he was. But can he now act in that office?
"If he wants now to be a spokesman to the Prophet he must go to the other side of the veil for the Prophet is there, but {220} Elder Rigdon is here. Why will Elder Rigdon be a fool? Who knows anything of the priesthood or of the organization of the Kingdom of God? I am plain. Does the Church want it as God organized it, or do you want to clip the power of the priesthood, and let those who have the right go and build up the Kingdom in all the world wherever the people will hear them?
"If there is a spokesman, if he is a king and priest, let him go and build up a kingdom unto himself. The Twelve are at the head of the Church. I want to live on the earth and spread truth through all the world. You Saints of Latter-days want things right. If ten thousand should rise up and say they have Joseph's shoes, I know they would be imposters. In the priesthood you have a right to build up a kingdom if you know how the Church is organized.
"Now if you want Sidney Rigdon or William Law to lead you, or any body else, you are welcome to them both, but I tell you in the name of the Lord that no man can put another between the Twelve and the Prophet Joseph. Why? Because Joseph was their file leader and he has committed into their hands the keys of the Kingdom in this last dispensation for all the world. I ask, who has stood next to Joseph? I have; and I will stand next to him. We have a head and that head is the Apostleship, the spirit and power of Joseph, and we now can begin to see the necessity of that Apostleship.
"President Rigdon was at his side, not above. No man had a right to counsel the Twelve but Joseph Smith. Think of these sayings. You cannot appoint a prophet; but if you let the Twelve remain and act in their place, the keys of the Kingdom are with them, and they can manage the affairs of the Church and direct all things aright.
"Now all this does not lessen the character of President Rigdon. Let him magnify his calling and Joseph will want him behind the veil. Let him be careful what he does lest that thread which binds us together be cut asunder. May God bless us all."
Following the remarks of President Brigham Young, Amasa Lyman spoke a few words fully sustaining President Young and the Twelve. Elder Lyman had been chosen as a counselor to the Prophet Joseph and in reference to the matter pending said: "I am gratified with the open, frank, and plain exposition {221} of President Young. He has seen the relation I bear to our deceased brother. I never did conceive that it gave me a right to stand above the Twelve. I make no exceptions, whatever, to anything he has said. President Young has stood next to the Prophet Joseph with the Twelve and I have stood next to them and will be with the Twelve forever. We have a head here. What is that head? The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles."
The words, the appearance, and the spirit of Brigham Young were so convincing and so like those of the Prophet Joseph that the people knew the voice of their new shepherd.
President Rigdon next called upon W. W. Phelps to speak for him as he could not speak for himself. Although Elder Phelps spoke at some length, he did not advocate the claims of Elder Rigdon. He sustained the right and duty of the Twelve Apostles to stand at the head, and expressed his hope that Elder Rigdon would submit to that authority.
Apostle Parley P. Pratt then spoke in support of President Young and the Twelve and said with reference to the wicked men in Nauvoo: "If there are wicked men here, it is because we support them. Stop dealing with them and they will go away. I am willing to do good to all men, especially to the household of faith. Mobs and wicked men will cease only when you cease to support them. I know we can all live and be happy--when we deal with honest men. If some men want a doctor to cure them, they will send directly for the worst man they can find. I would die a natural death rather than have a wicked doctor help me off. Cunning device and hypocritical sophistry gain an ascendency in Nauvoo, and this they have often done elsewhere in the History of the Church."
At the close of Elder Pratt's remarks President Young arose and said: "If Brother Rigdon is the person you want to lead you, vote for him; but if you do, then follow him and take his counsel hereafter as you did the counsel of Joseph; and do not say so unless you mean to follow him. I will say the same for the Twelve. Don't make a covenant to support them unless you intend to abide by their counsel. President Rigdon wants me to bring up the first question of sustaining the Twelve. If the Church wants the Twelve to stand at its head, to be the Presidency of the Church in all the world, standing next to Joseph, to {222} walk in their calling and to hold the keys of this Kingdom, manifest it by holding up the right hand. (There was a unanimous vote in favor of the proposition.) If there be any of a contrary mind, lift up your hands in like manner. (No hand went up). This supercedes the other question and the necessity of putting it to the quorums."
The remarks of President Young on this occasion clearly indicate that there was no disposition to treat unkindly or with disrespect the feelings of Elder Rigdon, or to disregard the fact of his long experience, and of his sufferings for the gospel's sake. President Young continued: "We feel as though we could take Brother Rigdon along with us. We want such a man. Let him be one with us and we one with him." Later in his remarks President Young asked the congregation if they would sustain Elder Rigdon in his relationship to the Twelve. The vote to do so was unanimous.
Of the deceased Prophet, President Young said: "You did not know whom you had amongst you. Joseph so loved this people that he gave his life for them. Hyrum loved his brother and this people unto death. Joseph and Hyrum have given their lives for the Church. Very few knew Joseph's character, who loved you unto death. He has now sealed his testimony with his blood. If the Twelve had been here, they would not have seen him given up. He should not have been given up. He was in your midst and you did not know him. He has been taken away, for the people are not worthy of him. I do not know whether my enemies will kill me or not. I would wish to be with the man I love."
The patriarch of the Church had been taken away and the office therefore left vacant. Of this matter President Young said: "We shall have a patriarch, and the right to this office is in the family of Joseph Smith. It belongs to some of his relations. Here is Uncle John. He has been ordained a patriarch. Brother Samuel would have received it, but he also has been taken away. The right is in Uncle John or in one of his brothers." The matter of selecting a patriarch was left to the Twelve for future action and for the purpose of learning the will of the Lord concerning it. At that time the Patriarch Hyrum's son, John, who now fills the office was only ten years of age. Uncle John, brother {223} to Joseph's father, was finally chosen to fill the place which he did with honor and satisfaction during the rest of his life.
Since that memorable conference all therein said by President Young and his associates is confirmed by the position taken with respect to the authority or the leadership in the Church. Notwithstanding the predictions of a migration by the Saints to the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, the leaders adhered strictly to the divine command, admonishing them to complete the Temple. By the conscientious regard for the word of God which was manifested to them from day to day they accomplished the work at hand and trusted their future movements to the guidance of their Heavenly Father. They waited upon the Lord and were taught by Him the lessons of patience as well as the lessons of faith. The conference just closed was a notable landmark in the history of the Church. Its decisions have been faithfully kept and the wisdom of those decisions, time has justified.
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22. SECOND CALL TO GREAT BRITAIN, 1844
The New Leadership.--Second Call to Great Britain.--Warning Against Leading Companies from Nauvoo.--Instructions To Finish the Temple and To Build up the City.--W. W. Visits Emma Smith and Others.--Parting Address to the Saints.
The mid-summer days of 1844 were full of uncertainties, wonderment, some misgivings, many jealousies, and considerable resistance to the newly established authority and leadership in the Church.
Joseph Smith was a wonderful man, a man with a marvelous career. The full force of his prophetic mission had not fallen upon those who were his contemporaries. A person's relationship with him in those days was no doubt a favored opportunity. His magnetism, individual force, and the personal qualities of his life impressed those with whom he was most intimately associated, those who had sincerely accepted his divine calling. It is not true, however, that the highest and best understanding of his prophetic mission could be had by personal contact. The highest and best testimony that ever came to men and women in the world respecting the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith came to them through the gift of the Holy Ghost. By that spirit men who never saw him, never felt the magnetism of his personality, were among the most devoted in their adherence to his teachings.
Those Saints who saw in Joseph Smith the instrumentality of a divine purpose, and saw above and beyond their young Prophet the glories of a new dispensation, did not hesitate at the call of a new shepherd, the accents and tones of whose voice had the ring of the same inspiration that had moved other hearts in the days gone by. Ambitions had to be reckoned with, and they are full of seduction and danger when they obscure the vision by selfish aims. There is always darkness when men stand in their own light; there is nothing that dims a man's vision so much as his own shadow. There were aspiring men who cherished the desire to put to the test their own personal influence. It is so easy for personal influence to beget pride,--pride which not only shuts off that influence, but which also makes men helpless {225} to realize its absence long after it has departed. Even after the vote of the conference had been general to sustain the new leadership, there were small factions who wandered away from the body of the Church.
At a meeting of the Twelve Apostles on the 12th of August, the subject of missionary work came up for consideration. The new movement called forth a proselyting spirit that was just as strong after Joseph's death as it was before. The American continent was considered none too large for a field of operation. It was districted for missionary purposes and presidents were appointed over the several divisions. At this meeting Elder Woodruff was chosen to preside over the European mission. One never reads of his call abroad without some feeling of regret that so faithful a chronicler of current events should be separated from the main body of the Church, and future generations deprived of the detailed narrative which he gave of the counsels, teachings, and movements of the leaders.
On Sunday, the 18th, President Young addressed a vast congregation of Saints, a synopsis of whose teachings is found in Elder Woodruff's journal. "I discover," says President Young, "a disposition in the sheep to scatter abroad now that their former shepherd has been taken from them. I do not mean to say that it will never be right for the people to leave this place, but they should wait until the proper time comes and until they can go under proper counsel. The report has gone through the city that the Twelve have secret understandings with those who are going away, and with those who are taking companies with them; and that although the Twelve will speak against it publicly, yet privately they approve such migration. If it were the last words I had to speak before going into the eternal world, I would solemnly declare that there is not one word of truth in such a report. No man has any right through consent of the Twelve to lead one soul out of this city except Lyman Wight and George Miller who have the privilege of taking the Pine Company. If they go contrary to our counsel, they will go to their own self-destruction. If men do not cease striving to be great by exalting themselves and by leading people astray, they shall fall and not rise again."
Those were great words, words remarkably fulfilled in the subsequent career of Lyman Wight who rebelled against the authority {226} of the Twelve and led a little body of people into Texas. His influence, however, soon departed. His followers scattered and he died of mountain fever. The same fate befell others who pursued the same course. It was too bad that Wight should thus obscure what had been in him in earlier days, a great loyalty and a great devotion.
Continuing, President Young said: "I wish you distinctly to understand that the counsel of the Twelve is for every family that does not belong to the Pine Company to stay in Nauvoo to build the Temple and obtain the endowments to be given therein. Do not scatter. United we stand, divided we fall. It has been whispered abroad that all who go into the wilderness with Wight and Miller will get their endowments. They cannot give an endowment in the wilderness. If we do not carry out the plan laid down by Joseph we can get no further endowments. I want this to sink deep into your hearts that you may appreciate it.
"Do the people leave here because they are afraid? If so, I tell them before God that they shall have no place to rest, but shall flee from place to place like the Jews. I would rather have the dead body of the Prophet than some men who are alive. We want to build the Temple in this place even if we have to do as the Jews did in their erection of the Temple at Jerusalem: work with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. Stay here. Plow, sow, and build. Put your plow shares into the prairie. One plow share will do more to drive off the mob than two guns.
"Do you suppose the mouth of God is closed to be opened no more? If this were true, I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for this Church. If God has ceased to speak by revelation or by the Holy Ghost, there is no salvation, but such is not so. Woe! Woe! Woe! to all who have shed the blood of the Saints and the Lord's anointed. If you have the spirit of God you can discern right from wrong. When a man is not right, even though his language is as smooth as oil, there will be many queries about him, he will not edify the body of the Saints and I give this to you as a key. Store your grain in Nauvoo, for it will be needed there while you are building the Temple.
"I want to say to the hands upon the Temple, be united; and to the committee, don't turn away any person because he is English, Irish, or Scotch. Employ every man you can, and build {227} the Temple and build your homes. I would rather pay out every cent to build up this place and receive an endowment, even were I driven the next minute without anything to take with me.
"I had a dream which I will relate here. I saw a fruit tree and went to it in search of fruit. I soon discovered that some of the main branches at the top of the tree growing from the body were dead. It seemed necessary to cut off the dead branches in order to save the tree. I asked someone to help me cut them off. He stepped on a large green limb. He was afraid it would break, so I put my shoulder under it and held it up while he cut off the dead branches. The green limb was cracked but it did not break. After we cut off the dead branches the wounds healed up and the tree grew nicely. Now let us cut off the dead branches of the Church that good fruit may grow."
The central idea now in the mind of Brigham Young and the paramount influence actuating him in those days may easily be seen in the steadfast purpose he manifested to build upon the foundation which the Prophet had already laid. He had no ambition to excel his predecessor and was therefore loyal to the Prophet, and throughout all his life he magnified his calling by sustaining the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith. A few of the leaders fell by the wayside, but those who were foremost in supporting the Prophet at the time of his martyrdom were found faithful after his death.
Elder Woodruff was no less enthusiastic in the great latter day work than he had formerly been. The men he most respected he regarded simply as instrumentalities of a divine purpose; for to his mind it was a great thing to be an instrument in the hands of God in the furtherance of a new and grand dispensation. His missionary zeal never waned and those mid-summer days of 1844 found him busily occupied making preparations for his departure to England where he was to preside over the British Mission. His wife was to accompany him, and arrangements were made to leave their son, Wilford, during their absence with his old time friend, John Benbow.
Before leaving Nauvoo, he paid a visit to Emma Smith to whose life he sought to bring consolation in the hour of her bereavement. She gave him a piece of oak for a staff. The oak had been taken from Joseph's coffin. She also presented him with {228} a pair of white cotton gloves, and to his wife she gave a handkerchief. He and Mrs. Woodruff next called upon Mary Smith, widow of Hyrum, and the mother of President Joseph F. Smith. She gave Elder Woodruff several small locks of hair taken from the heads of Joseph, Hyrum, Samuel, and Don Carlos, all brothers who had passed away into the other world. Speaking of these relics Elder Woodruff says: "I also obtained some hair of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. My purpose in getting it was that I might put a part of each of these collections in the knob of my staff as a relic of those noble men, the master spirits of the nineteenth century." These relics he held as something sacred during his life time, and they are now in the possession of his family.
"I next visited Mother Lucy Smith, the mother of the Prophet, and of a large family of sons. This noble mother and prophetess felt sorely grieved over the loss of her children, and lamented the cruel treatment she had received at the hands of an unfeeling world. She begged a blessing at my hands. I laid my hands upon her head and by the spirit of God pronounced upon her a blessing. This was August 23, 1844. I quote from that blessing as follows: 'Let thy heart be comforted in the midst of thy sorrow for thou shalt be held forever in honorable remembrance in the congregations of the righteous. Thou shalt be remembered in thy wants during the remainder of thy days; and when thou shalt be called upon to depart, thou shalt lie down in peace having seen the salvation of thy God who has laid the everlasting foundation for the deliverance of Israel through the instrumentality of thy sons.'"
That God had made her sons the instrumentality in the opening of a new dispensation gave the aged mother an abiding consolation in the midst of her grief.
On the 24th of August Elder Woodruff was set apart for his mission to Europe under the hands of the Twelve Apostles, John Taylor pronouncing the blessing. On Sunday the 25th Elder Woodruff addressed the Saints in Nauvoo, and from the synopsis he made of his remarks, the following quotation is here given: "There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding. It is through this spirit which giveth understanding that this congregation is assembled at this place. You have {229} the spirit of God and you therefore understand His ways and purposes. I have now one important declaration to make to you and that is that inasmuch as you have been anointed in heart, mind, and action in supporting your counselors, the priesthood of God, the present authorities of the Church, as you have supported the Prophet while he was alive, you will be safe and you will be blessed. You will also be protected, but if you are divided and reject the counsels of God, you will fall. Union and faithfulness are necessary for your salvation. It is true that you have been led by one of the best men that ever graced humanity or tabernacled in the flesh, but he is gone, he sealed his testimony with his blood, he loved this people unto death.
"I now call upon the people to be united in building upon the foundation which the Prophet laid during his lifetime. You have been called to suffer much for the cause in which you are engaged, but if judgment begins at the House of God, Babylon will not escape. If there is fire in the green tree, what shall happen to the dry tree. No people are better prepared for the shock that is coming to this world than are the Latter-day Saints. The real object we have is to secure the blessings which lie beyond the veil and which will be found in the first resurrection. For these blessings we are preparing ourselves.
"The fact that the Prophet sealed his testimony with his blood does not destroy the gospel or lessen the power and purposes of God. Truth has not been annihilated, neither has the priesthood found its burial. The testimony of Jesus is now in force. My counsel, therefore, is to follow the example of those who are gone and who have been faithful unto death. If you would be united, go in all your might and build that Temple and get your endowments.
"I earnestly exhort you to faithfulness and ask your faith and prayers in my behalf. I also want your forgiveness for any wrong I may have done. I bid the congregation farewell."
"The next week I went to the river with Mrs. Woodruff where we were baptized for some of our dead friends." At midnight of that day Elder Woodruff and his wife, accompanied by Chas. C. Rich, Elder Goddard, and several others ascended the walls of the Temple where they knelt in solemn prayer. Elder Woodruff, being mouth, poured out his soul to God for the successful {230} completion of the Temple. He also implored divine aid for a prosperous season for the Church.
In the completion of the Temple was centered the hope of all the devoted Latter-day Saints of those days. The leaders of the Church prayed and labored unceasingly for its completion. The spirit of apostasy in those times manifested itself most strongly in the efforts of those who sought to get away from Nauvoo, who wanted to establish in some distant place the Church anew. These dissenters argued that Nauvoo must be abandoned, and they were right in that conclusion; but Nauvoo was not to be abandoned at that time nor under their leadership. It sometimes happens in this life that greater wisdom and virtue are found in the time an event is accomplished than in the accomplishment of the event itself. The great truth of the exodus from Nauvoo was to be sought for rather in the circumstances of that exodus, than in the fact itself.
That was not the first time nor was it the last time that men, anticipating the accomplishment of some divine purpose, placed themselves in front of those appointed for the accomplishment of God's will. It sometimes requires as much virtue to refrain from doing when the time has not yet arrived, as it required to do when the command was given. It is not always easy for men to wait upon the Lord, especially when they are actuated by an overweening ambition to anticipate His purposes and be the first to undertake their accomplishment.
The men in those days who were opposing the completion of the Temple, were full of sophistries. They argued then, as men argue now, largely in harmony with their own selfish ends and overpowering ambitions. If their arguments could not be, to their minds, successfully answered, they must be right. To their minds it was evident that the Saints must sooner or later leave Nauvoo. Why build the Temple, they asked, and thus throw away the labor of their hands in the hour of its completion. They argued the folly of such a course, and some who were loosely anchored in their faith were led away by the sophistries contained in such arguments.
With the thoughtful, it was otherwise. The Temple might be destroyed even before its completion, or they might not be permitted to enjoy, at any length, its blessings after it was finished. {231} With them that was not the question. Their highest guidance was found in the observance of God's will. He had said so; if so, enough. The spirit bore testimony long before the mind had evidence of the great truth contained in God's command. The same spirit that actuated Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, actuated His faithful followers in those trying days in Nauvoo. "Thy will be done." It is hard for men who have strong wills to yield to other wills, even though it be God's will which is at variance with their own. Men were taught then, as they were taught in ancient Israel, to wait upon the Lord.
The over-anxious, the ambitious, the rebellious, would not wait upon the Lord. They went their own way; they were scattered abroad. Not having learned the lesson of self-restraint, the light and truth of the gospel became obscured in their minds, and their own will they mistook for God's will. They fell by the wayside.
A letter containing his appointment is given in his journal as follows:
"Nauvoo, August 22, 1844.
"To all Elders and Saints in Great Britain Greeting:
"We send our beloved Brother Wilford Woodruff to England to take charge of all business transactions pertaining to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, both spiritual and temporal. We wish you to give diligent heed to his counsel in all things, and as we have not the opportunity of informing you of what has transpired this season by letter, our beloved Brother will make known unto you all things. We wish the brethren to be faithful and diligent in keeping all the commandments of God, and in hearkening to the counsels of those who are sent to counsel them. Let no man or set of men think they have power of authority or the keys of the Kingdom above Apostle Wilford Woodruff whom we send unto you to instruct you in the things pertaining to life and salvation. Though our Prophet be slain for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, yet the keys of the Kingdom remain in the Church and the heavens are not closed, neither is the mouth of the Almighty sealed up that He cannot speak. The God of Israel will communicate to His disciples all things necessary for the building up of His Kingdom on the earth until {232} Israel is gathered, yea even all the blood of Abraham scattered over all the earth, Zion established, Jerusalem rebuilt, and the whole earth be filled with the glory and knowledge of God. We wish all the Saints in England to continue their gathering as usual to the land of America; and they may have the privilege of appointing a committee to visit the land of America to prepare a location for a settlement of the brethren from Europe according to their desire under the direction and counsel of Elder Wilford Woodruff; and further we would say unto the Saints in all the world that may be visited by Elder Wilford Woodruff that inasmuch as they will hearken to his counsel, they shall be blest, inasmuch as they will render him any assistance in his mission they will be doing the will of God and shall not lose their reward; and we desire that all Saints may use their efforts to sustain him in this important mission which he is called to fulfill by their faith, prayers, and brotherly love according to the grace of God; for he is qualified to teach in all things pertaining to the Church and and Kingdom of God established in these last days. Therefore, dear brethren, we would say unto you in conclusion be humble and faithful and hearken diligently unto the counsel of this our beloved brother in the Lord, Elder Wilford Woodruff, and the blessings of the Lord will attend you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
"BRIGHAM YOUNG,
"President of the Twelve,
"WILLARD RICHARDS,
"Clerk."
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23. IN THE BRITISH MISSION, 1844-45-46
Departure.--Route.--Visits Home of Solomon Mack.--A Peculiar Dream.--On the Ocean.--Copyright of Doctrine and Covenants.--Visit to Scotland.--Lemington.--Troubles in Nauvoo.--Condition of the Mission.--Preparation for His Return.
August 28th, 1844, was the day appointed for the departure of Wilford Woodruff and his companions to the British Mission. Those who were to accompany him were his wife and two children, Hyrum Clark and wife, and Captain Dan Jones and wife. He said good-by on the Temple Block at Nauvoo to his fellow members of the Twelve and started at once for Chicago whither he and his companions were conveyed by teams.
On the 8th of September, they left Chicago on the propellor, Oswego, and made their journey eastward on the Lakes. They stopped about three hours at Manatou Islands where he with others had been wrecked on the Chesapeake in September, 1841. While here they carved their names on some white stones, and also the events associated with the wreck. At midnight while on their way a fire alarm was sounded and the passengers were brought together by terror of the alarm. The flame, however, was soon extinguished and they all retired again to their rest. They continued their journey on Lake Erie, the Williams Canal, and Lake Ontario.
Elder Woodruff then went by rail to his birthplace in Farmington, Connecticut, where he paid his aged father another visit. While he was laboring among the Saints in and about Boston, his wife paid a visit to her home in Scarboro, Maine. The branches of the Church in Boston and Lowell were not in a healthy condition. He, therefore, worked zealously to bring about a reformation and to warn the Saints against some iniquities which had crept into the Church.
While in the Eastern States he visited the home of Lucy Smith's brother, Soloman Mack. The old homestead of Mother Smith awakened within him a feeling of reverence which he had for the Prophet, and for the scenes associated with his mother's home.
{234} From Vermont he went to Scarboro, Maine, to join his wife and children there. Leaving his oldest child, Phoebe, at the home of Ezra Carter, his father-in-law, he left with his wife and youngest child, Susan, for New York. The scenes of his former missionary experiences in the Eastern States were both familiar and interesting to him. He knew the inroads that are often made upon the faith of the saints when left too long without a shepherd. He encouraged, admonished, and warned them to be faithful to the covenants they had made. He makes note in his journal during this visit of October 22, 1844, the last day set by the Millerites for the second coming of Christ.
Speaking of his visit to Maine he says: "While I was at the home of my father-in-law I had a peculiar dream. Much of it was unutterable and cannot be written; indeed, I do not comprehend it myself. Among other things I was called with the Twelve to hold the keys of the Kingdom in all the world. I traveled with them over much of the earth and I also traveled through many countries alone. When I finished my journey I saw many things which I cannot write, but in the end, Joseph, the Prophet, assisted me to come where he was and pointed out to me my place and work. I immediately entered into the duties of the new calling to which I was appointed.
"The same night I had another dream. I was in the presence of the Prophet, and was conversing with him about his death. I told him I felt bad over it, and that had I known he would have been taken so soon I should have conversed with him more while he lived. I would have asked him many questions. In reply he said that it was not his fault that I did not."
Whatever the significance of these dreams may have had, they clearly indicated the loving remembrance in which he held his great leader. Around the name and memory of the man there was to him a great halo. The influence of Joseph Smith upon the life of Wilford Woodruff never waned. There was something about this modern Prophet that invited the veneration of his devoted followers who proclaimed his name and mission from the housetops of every part of the world where their duties and missions might take them.
After reaching New York on the 29th of November, he paid a visit to Elder Jedediah M. Grant who was then performing a {235} mission in Philadelphia. On his return to the former city he made preparation for his voyage to Europe. He speaks of a letter he received in New York from President Young in which the latter gives him an account of the reckless and unwarranted course of William Smith and George J. Adams. On the 8th he and his party, together with Milton Holmes and Leonard Hardy, set sail for Liverpool on the packet ship, John R. Skiddy. On the 11th they encountered a severe storm at sea, a storm which greatly terrified the passengers. "We kneeled down," he said, "and unitedly prayed that the storm might cease and that the wind might change so that we could go forward and not backward. In a short time the wind suddenly ceased and finally changed to the southwest which gave us a fair wind."
Christmas day they passed upon the ocean. On the 28th they entered the Irish Channel where they were driven about for some days by foul winds. Finally on the 3rd of January, 1845, they landed in Liverpool with feelings of thanksgiving and prayer for their safe arrival. They were twenty-seven days at sea.
The day following their arrival they were met by Elders Hedlock and Ward. They inquired into the affairs of the mission and on January 5th he addressed the people in Music Hall. They made their headquarters with a Brother William Powell, who, Elder Woodruff observes, boarded the elders for a quarter of a century.
The new year witnessed the beginning of his active work in the missionary field. Arrangements had to be made for the emigration of the saints to Nauvoo. In those days they went to New Orleans, thence up the Mississippi to Nauvoo. Conferences had to be visited, business affairs of the mission transacted, and attention given to the opening of new fields for missionary activities.
The work in the British Mission, however, did not occupy wholly the thoughts and feelings of Elder Woodruff. He had left Nauvoo in an unsettled condition, the future of that city was full of uncertainty. The work on the Temple was all important, with the conviction he had long since formed that that sacred structure must be completed. Letters from home, however, brought him encouragement and assurances. President Young {236} wrote him encouraging letters informing him of the unity and prosperity of the Church in America. He also told him of the call of parley P. Pratt to the presidency of the Eastern States Mission. He explained the plan to publish a paper in New York City.
On the 16th of March special conference was held in Manchester. Elder Woodruff was there with his two counselors, Reuben Hedlock and Thomas Ward. He mentions the fact that there were present five other high priests, thirty elders, twenty-one teachers, and four deacons. The conference there was crowded with eager listeners, both members and non-members of the Church. "The spirit of the Lord," he said, "was with us. Love and union pervaded the congregation. It was a scene that made the heart glad when we beheld in a foreign land so many Saints assembled, Saints united in the everlasting covenant. I had often thought how much I would like to see the Prophet Joseph meet with a conference of Saints in England. It was not granted, however, to the British Nation to have the Prophet of God in that land. This was one of the most interesting conferences I had ever attended abroad. It fulfilled a prophecy I had made in the House of the Lord in Kirtland in 1837 to the effect that I should attend a conference with Elder Milton Holmes in the British Isles."
These old associates of Wilford Woodruff, men tried and true, were always held in loving remembrance by him. He loved those who loved God. The names of those old-time friends lingered in his memory throughout all the years of a long, busy life.
Since he could conveniently do so, immediately after the Manchester conference, he repaired to Idle, in Yorkshire, that he might visit the last resting place of the remains of Elder Lorenzo Barnes, the first elder in this dispensation who had laid down his life in a foreign land. It was not that fact alone which brought forth this respect. The memory of Lorenzo Barnes grew out of an old-time companionship in their early associations, and especially in the journey of Zion's Camp. Of this visit to the grave of his beloved friend he writes: "Before arriving we passed through a beautiful green valley which is located on the top of a hill. The fields of grass were as green as in May, although it was now February. This gave to the landscape a charm both picturesque {237} and inspiring. As we traveled the road, we reflected that we were covering the footsteps of a departed brother who had traversed the same roadway many a time in his mission to disseminate the teachings of Jesus Christ. I felt sorrowful, I was filled with meditation. We called upon Elder Thomas Cordingly and family who cared for Elder Barnes in his last sickness. They pointed out to us the room where he spent the last hours of his mortal life.
"After taking some refreshments we walked to the churchyard where we gazed upon the peaceful, silent grave of our departed brother. My feelings were sensitive and sad. While standing over his grave I offed up a prayer to Israel's God that I too might die the death of the righteous, that my end might be as peaceful and secure as that of our departed brother."
There is an illustration in that prayer, a marked characteristic in the life of Wilford Woodruff. The burden of his thoughts, the great object of his supplication was that he might endure to the end. What the end should be was with him the great concern of his life. He envied those, if he ever envied at all, who were valiant in every crisis and who were steadfast to the death. To him there was no triumph in life like the triumph in death. He was not so concerned about worldly greatness, about the race of the swift, nor the battle of the strong; what he sought above all else was endurance, that endurance which, after all, contains the greatest virtue, as it embodies the greatest strength. Yet often men underrate the supreme value of endurance in their ambition to be great and strong.
On the 23rd of September, Elder Woodruff attended a conference in Bradford. The meetings were attended by large numbers. Elder Elijah F. Sheets, long and honorably known throughout Utah as Bishop Sheets, was then presiding over that conference. Of that occasion he writes in his journal: "The congregation was as still as death." He spoke upon the mission and teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith whose recent martyrdom had still its mournful affects upon the Saints who were sorely disappointed that they had not the opportunity in life to hear the words that dropped from the lips of him whom God had called to open the great dispensation of the last days.
"On my birthday, March 1st, 1845, I received a letter from {238} a friend. It contained a copy of a letter dated Pittsburg, January 30th, 1845, and was written by John Greenbow to his father in Kendall. The letter contained a statement to the effect that he was getting the Doctrine and Covenants stereotyped and that he would bring the plates to England for the purpose of printing, publishing, and copyrighting the book so that the Church could not print and publish it. This was a bold scheme by apostates to steal the book containing the revelations of God to the Church. There was in this proposed action, no doubt, an intention to change the wording and thus deceive the world. I regarded the receipt of the letter as nothing less than providential, an interposition of our Heavenly Father who knew the evil design of the wicked and therefore caused the letter to come into my hands. I spent the day examining the laws of England relative to copyrights."
This information aroused Elder Woodruff to immediate action, and as early as June 7, 1845, he secured the copyright of the book which was entered at Stationer's Hall, England.
On the 9th of March Elder Woodruff records the fact that he held conference in Preston where he visited the old cock-pit, where Elders Kimball and Hyde first openly declared the message of the gospel to the people of England, and where they were soon followed by Willard Richards. He with his companion also walked up and down the river where so many hundreds of the Saints had been baptized. At the Preston conference he mentions the fact that there were several branches represented with the total membership of five hundred souls. This was the first conference organized in the British Mission eight years before by Heber C. Kimball.
Throughout Elder Woodruff's journal of those times may be found minute descriptions of historical places and of public monuments. He was also deeply interested in the history of the countries which he visited, and his journal shows the special significance which historical monuments had to his mind. He further knew that his sympathy and interest in the people would be increased by knowledge of their national history and of those conditions which in the past had been foremost in shaping their character. Many an elder has, no doubt, realized the mistake of either falsely or imperfectly estimating the character of those whose {239} ear he was seeking to gain. Elder Woodruff's journal shows, however, that he greatly appreciated the superior qualities of the English people and their great contributions to the system of free governments. From the history of the English people he often found it convenient to take his text; in short, he made himself at home among the English by his knowledge of them and their institutions.
On the 13th of March he left Liverpool, on the steamer Commodore, for Scotland, whither he went to attend a conference in Glasgow. He was accompanied by his counselors Hedlock and Ward, also by Elder Banks. They reached the mouth of the Clyde River at six o'clock in the morning. The highlands were covered with snow and a severe storm was raging in Glasgow. On the way they passed the famous rock known in Scottish history as Dumbarton on which was then stationed a regiment of soldiers to protect the river Clyde. He also mentions Bell's monument erected in memory of John Bell who was the first to run a steamer up the river Clyde to Glasgow.
On the evening of their arrival, a council was held with the officers of the Church in that city. Two days later a conference was held in Felon's Hall. There, fifteen branches of the Church were represented containing a total membership of 1,065 persons. There were present also thirty-five elders, fifty-one priests, thirty-seven teachers, and twenty-four deacons. Then, as now, Scotland was the home of a large number of the blood of Israel.
While here, he paid visits to Cots Bridge, Whifflett, and Sterling. He also visited manufacturing establishments and historical places. He found special interest in those places that were so full of the memories of Bruce and of Wallace and of John Knox. The company later went to Edinburgh where they visited the Saints and the chief historical places about that city. The conference there consisted of eleven branches with the membership of 409 souls. He was particularly interested in the high cliff known as Arthur's Seat. It was there that Elder Orson Pratt who first brought the gospel to Edinburgh was wont to go that he might engage himself in meditation and prayer. This elevation affords a most excellent view of the city and its surroundings.
Leaving Edinburgh the company returned to Liverpool where a conference was held on the 30th of March, 1845. At this conference {240} there were present four high priests, eighteen elders, thirteen priests, and eight teachers. It consisted of twelve branches with a membership of 676 souls.
Liverpool was then, as it has ever since been, the headquarters of the Church in Great Britain. Preparations were made at the Liverpool conference for the general conference of the British Mission to be held April 6th in Manchester. The meetings there convened in Science Hall. It was the largest conference up to that time ever held in the British Mission. This mission at that time contained many of the finest characters ever known in the Church. The men who embraced the gospel, as a whole, in those days were strong characters whose endurance and whose will power peculiarly fitted them for the pioneer work they were soon to undertake in the development of this inter-mountain region.
Upon his return to Liverpool, Elder Woodruff sent the following epitaph to Elder E. F. Sheets to be placed upon the tombstone of Elder Lorenzo D. Barnes: "In memory of Lorenzo D. Barnes, who died on the 20th of December, 1842, aged thirty years. He was a native of the United States, an elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a member of the high priests' quorum and also Zion's Camp in A. D. 1834, and the first gospel messenger from Nauvoo who has found a grave in a foreign land.
"Sleep on, Lorenzo, but ere long from this The conquered tomb shall yield her captured prey. Then with thy Quorum shalt thou reign in bliss As king and priest for an Eternal Day."
The latter part of April he paid a visit to Newton where he examined the great vitriol works which are among the largest in the world. He also went through the great engine factory at that place where a number of the brethren were working. They were men well qualified to carry on the work in all its branches. He relates the circumstances of a peculiar tradition of a church in the vicinity of the city: "From the Newton Engine Factory I walked several miles through very pleasant scenery consisting of green fields, hedges, trees, and gardens. I visited a church {241} on the side of which was the figure of a pig in stone, and a stone was hung around its neck. According to tradition the materials for this church were drawn to another place quite a distance from where the church now stands. The pig came along and took a stone in his mouth and carried it, squealing as he went. The pig finally dropped the stone on the spot where the church now stands. The circumstance the people regarded as an omen and erected their church on its present site."
In the beginning of May he visited the churches in Preston and Blackburn and then walked with Brother Speakman to Whaley where he visited the old Abbey, the largest he had ever seen. It covered several acres of ground and was then almost in total ruin. It was built as early as one thousand A. D.
The following day they visited the Jesuit College at Stoneyhurst. On Sunday May 11th they attended the Clithero conference. Of this conference the following is taken from his journal: "Elder Speakman was called to preside in the afternoon, the Sacrament was administered and the power of God rested so abundantly upon the congregation that many were moved to tears." (This is the conference of which Brother Kimball speaks in his journal.) "I was so overwhelmed by the spirit of God and the simplicity of the people that I could scarcely speak. They were like little children, as pure-minded and innocent as angels. Many of them bore their testimony to the work of God."
On the 15th of the same month, he took a steamer for Carlisle to attend a conference there. Of the steamship and voyage he wrote. "It was newly painted from stem to stern and we could not sit down without carrying away the paint. I accordingly paid two shillings for the use of a bunk among the sailors. I had no sooner gone below than I was enveloped in the most horrid stench rising from a cargo of guano. I lay down but became as sick as death and vomited at intervals for five hours. I was strained to such a degree that blood ran out of my nose. The sailors filled the place with tobacco smoke which was more intolerable than the other stench which I had to endure. This was the most horrible night I ever passed at sea. We reached port at two o'clock in the morning. I crossed the ferry and took a canal boat to Carlisle."
{242} At the Carlisle conference six branches of the Church were represented and the membership of the conference was 165. He returned, at the close of the conference, to Liverpool by the same boat which on the return voyage, however, was loaded with sheep, horses, and cattle.
His journal at this time contains the following: "On the 24th of May, which was the seventh day of the week, at six o'clock in the morning, the last stone was laid on the Temple of the Lord at Nauvoo with shouts of joy and 'Glory to God in the Highest.' The Lord finished his work on the seventh day and rested."
On the 6th of June, 1845, President Woodruff left Liverpool for London by rail for the purpose of securing the copyright of the Doctrine and Covenants. He immediately employed a printer and published three thousand copies. This was the first edition of that book published in the British Mission.
As the 27th of June approached, President Woodruff appointed that day a day of prayer and fasting throughout all the churches of the British Isles. It was the day of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum. On the 18th of the following month there was born to him in Liverpool a son whom he named Joseph, in honor of the Prophet.
On the 13th of September he attended a conference at Manchester. That conference then numbered 1,769 souls, including 44 elders, 99 priests, 57 teachers, and 27 deacons. During the three months preceding this conference, there had been baptized into the Church in that conference a hundred and fifteen souls.
On October 5th he paid a visit to the Lemington conference. There was much prejudice at that place against the Saints. Shortly before this visit there, mobs had assembled and broken up the bannisters, stairs, benches, and tables in the building where the Saints met for worship. Of Lemington he said: "This is one of the first aristocratic towns in England. Here the nobility come together for the select society of their own class, and because of the sulphur springs at this place. The streets and buildings of the town are rich and splendid in appearance."
Of Warwick Castle in that region he says: "It is considered the most splendid castle in England and is furnished {243} with all the magnificence which art and the wealth of Earldom could bestow upon it. It is 333 feet long and is divided into a large number of rooms. The walls are hung with gorgeous tapestry, and the rooms furnished with the costliest furniture and the richest damask. Chairs, tables, and stands were inlaid with pearl, and other precious stones. Some of these articles of furniture cost seventy-five thousand dollars each. From the windows of the castle we looked out upon the stately cedars of Lebanon, upon oaks, firs, and a great variety of shrubbery. The castle is eight hundred years old. The tower is 150 feet high."
Elder Woodruff always availed himself of every opportunity to visit historic places which he describes at great length in detail.
From Warwick Castle Elder Woodruff went with his counselor, Hedlock, to Birmingham. Here they were received with great demonstration, and preparations were made for a joyous reception for the President of the Mission. Five hundred Saints awaited Elder Woodruff and his companions as they entered the door, and round after round of applause went up to greet them. There was such clapping of hands and stamping of feet that the room in which they were gathered trembled. All wished to shake the hand of their President and it was with great difficulty that he reached the stand upon entering the room. He talked to the people at some length. The manifestation of love for him, however, was not confined to Birmingham. He enjoyed the affection and enthusiasm of the Saints wherever he went.
While all this enthusiasm was manifested by the Saints in the British Mission, their brethren and sisters over the sea in the city of Nauvoo were filled with deep anxiety and fear. Mobs were gathering against the Saints and the enemy were pressing in upon them with the spirit of hatred that brought depression and sorrow to the hearts of the people in the beautiful city of Nauvoo, which was fast reaching its doom.
He called a meeting of his counselors and the leading men before whom he laid the spiritual and temporal conditions of the Church in England and gave them some idea of conditions at home. Soon thereafter he received word from President Young that the mob was growing in numbers and in violence, {244} that the only terms of peace they would accept from the Saints was their exile from the state. This condition of affairs Elder Woodruff characterizes in his journal as unjust, tyrannical, and un-American. Such news naturally depressed his spirit greatly and made his continuance in the British Mission so uncertain that he looked forward for an early release. He at once called a special conference to be held in Manchester December 14, 1845. According to the statistics he gives, there were during the eight months previous 1573 baptized. The total membership of the Church in the British Isles had now reached 11,032 exclusive of those in the Staffordshire conference which were not reported at that time. There were reported in the priesthood one Apostle, eight high priests, 392 elders, 590 priests, 311 teachers, and 188 deacons. This would make, including those of the Staffordshire conference something like 1,500 men in the mission bearing the priesthood. Those were days of marvelous activity in proselyting. Within eight years the Church had grown in that land to large proportions, and the people were constantly emigrating to America.
On Christmas Evening of that year he attended with his wife St. John's Market where high mass was held in the Catholic Church. This was the first time in his life that he had attended such services. He desired to acquaint himself with the religious ceremonies as well as the religious beliefs of others, and took advantage of opportunities to learn all he could in view of his probable return in the near future to Nauvoo.
His release soon came and he began at once to put the Church financially as well as spiritually in a safe and prosperous condition. He reported property in excess of the debts to the amount of 574 pounds and 16 shillings. This was over $2800.00. Wherever a financial trust was put upon him he regarded his duties in the matter as both sacred and important. All his life long he guarded himself against the temptations that so frequently overtake men in administering the property of others. He fully realized that financial dishonor robs men not only of the confidence of their fellow-men but of the blessings of God. He was scrupulously careful to account for every farthing entrusted to him, and his presidency, therefore, of the British Mission was {245} marked both by zeal in preaching the gospel, and by high-minded honesty in the administration of funds.
The year 1845 was now drawing to a close. During the entire year his work had been directed in a foreign land. He had personally baptized but few, had administered to something like a hundred persons, published three thousand copies of the Doctrine and Covenants, and twenty thousand copies of the Proclamation of the Twelve Apostles. He had collected three hundred pounds for the Nauvoo Temple and had been indefatigable in the management of the British Mission.
He was now released to return home. On the 3rd of January, 1846, he visited Preston. On the 10th he made a feast for a few of his brethren, and on the 15th took his family on board the ship Liverpool. He went with them 10 miles and then returned to the shore. It was planned that his wife should go with the Saints then emigrating to Nauvoo. As soon as the business of the mission could be attended to, he expected to leave, himself. He wrote a valedictory for the Millennial Star and on the 23rd of January he set sail for America and arrived in New York March 6th. The voyage was uneventful except that the second mate fell overboard and was lost at sea. He was performing some perilous duty that he did not require of his men. The voyage at that season of the year was attended by cold weather and the usual winter storms. They were forty-three days en route.
After reaching the United States, he paid a hasty visit to his old home in Connecticut where his father and step-mother were preparing to emigrate to Nauvoo. He also went to Maine where he found his daughter who had remained there during his absence. They reached Nauvoo in his father's party on the 13th of April. He says: "We stopped at Keokuk, and at two o'clock in the afternoon we began to ascend the rapids. I took my spy glass and enjoyed a view of the city and the Temple in the distance. They looked very beautiful to me."
He had been a zealous mission president. He kept a careful record. He attended with scrupulous care to all the details of the mission. He made himself familiar with the conditions in every conference. He promoted peace and good will among the Saints everywhere throughout Great Britain. He was humble {246} and unassuming. He was simply the instrumentality of God's purposes in promulgating the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was devoid of those ambitions that engender jealousy, misgivings, and hatreds. His own industrious life inspired those with whom he was associated with the same indefatigable spirit with which he was possessed. To this day the landmarks of his mission in Great Britain are pointed out to the elders who perform ministerial labors there. He is referred to as a model missionary and is a man with a record that others are happy to emulate.
{247}
24. ON THE BANKS OF THE MISSOURI, 1846
Dedication of the Temple in Nauvoo.--The Exodus to Council Bluffs.--Accident to His Father.--Reaches Mt. Pisgah.--Meets Brigham Young.--Recruiting of the Mormon Battalion.--Colonel Kane.--Departure of the Battalion.--Organizations at Winter Quarters.--A Conference with the Chiefs of the Leading Indian Tribes.--Explorations.--Remarks by President Young.
Before Elder Woodruff reached his home in Nauvoo, President Young with a number of the Saints had already commenced their memorable exodus from that city. The Saints were in a state of active preparation for their departure westward. The mob was active, determined, and vindictive. The hatred against the Saints had become so intense among the anti-Mormon element in Western Illinois that it was a source of great disquietude among the people of Nauvoo. In the midst of the persecutions, however, there had been a faithful devotion to the work on the Temple which resulted in its completion and preparation for dedication.
Under date of April 30th, 1846, Elder Woodruff's journal contains the following: "In the evening of this day I repaired to the Temple with Elder Orson Hyde and about twenty other elders of Israel. There we were all clothed in our priestly robes and dedicated the Temple of the Lord, erected to His most holy name by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Notwithstanding the predictions of false prophets and the threat of mobs that the building should never be completed nor dedicated, their words had fallen to the ground. The Temple was now finished and dedicated to Him. After the dedication, we raised our voices in a united shout of 'Hosanna to God and the Lamb!' After offering our prayers we returned to our homes, thankful for the privilege enjoyed in our evening services."
On May 1st, 1846, a public dedication of the Temple took place at which Elder Woodruff opened the services by prayer. Elder Orson Hyde made appropriate remarks and then offered the dedicatory prayer. On Sunday the 3rd the assembly room of the Temple was filled and addresses were made by Elders Hyde {248} and Woodruff. A point had been gained; under stress and strain the Temple had been completed and dedicated. More, however, than the completion of the Temple had been accomplished by the construction of that sacred edifice. Its rites and ceremonies had enlarged the vision of the Saints and broadened their conceptions of eternity. Their relations and obligations to the dead brought home to them greater responsibilities than they had ever heretofore imagined. Furthermore, they perceived the importance of a new gathering place wherein they might erect other Temples to the worship of their God. From that day to the present time, temple work has had a peculiar influence upon the lives of the Latter-day Saints. It has engendered brotherly love, a spirit of unity, and a steadfast devotion to God that perhaps nothing else in all their experience in the Church has given them. The work in Nauvoo was done; henceforth the city of the Saints was to be nothing more to them than a memory until God should determine otherwise. It brought its joys; but its history was also full of sad reminiscences, apostasy, murderous intent, and destruction.
"I was in Nauvoo," says Elder Woodruff, "on the 26th of May, 1846, for the last time, and left the city of the Saints feeling that most likely I was taking a final farewell of Nauvoo for this life. I looked back upon the Temple and City as they receded from view and asked the Lord to remember the sacrifices of His Saints."
Elder Woodruff had already left Nauvoo on the 16th and had preached his farewell sermon there on the previous Sunday. The farewell of which he now speaks followed his return to the City a few days later to obtain goods which he had left behind. There he met a company of Saints who had just arrived from Pennsylvania. Among them was Brother Sidwell who gave to Orson Hyde several hundred dollars for the Camp of Israel. He also gave a hundred dollars each for Elders Hyde and Woodruff.
The little company of which he had charge consisted of his wife and children, his father, and a few other members of the family. They had three baggage wagons, one family carriage, six yoke of oxen, six cows, four calves, one yearling, and a pair of mules, making in all twenty-five head of animals. The father was {249} aged and had no grown sons other than Wilford to assist him, so that the weight and responsibility fell upon the son.
There began now the tedious and distressing journey across the state of Iowa. The inconveniences of loaded wagons and the inclemency of the weather superseded the comforts and conveniences of well-appointed homes. On the first day out their wagon mired down in the mud; the wagon tongue and several chains were broken in the effort to extricate it. Similar accidents occurred at intervals, and on the twenty-seventh he says in his journal that while his father was trying to climb into the wagon fell to the ground. Both wheels of the wagon which was loaded with twenty-five hundred pounds ran over his legs. It was marvelous that no bones were broken.
At Farmington, Iowa, they bought a supply of flour consisting of four barrels. There they crossed the Des Moines River at the ferry. They were then twenty-five miles from Nauvoo on the 28th day of May. Several days later they overtook the Ramus Company consisting of about twenty-five wagons. On the evening of Sunday the 7th they traveled some distance when they came to a long swail which covered a distance of one and a half miles. It was wet and miry. He succeeded in getting his carriage across by dark, but in the center of the swamp his baggage wagons cut through the turf, and the wheels went down almost to the hubs. He worked most of that night in mud and water nearly knee deep and at the same time kept a watch upon the cattle. About daylight he rolled himself up in a buffalo robe and went to sleep. All day Monday they were obliged to rest and prepare for the journey the following day. His anxiety to overtake the main body of the pioneers led to this violation of his custom to refrain wholly from work on the Lord's day. Tuesday, the 9th, the company traveled twelve miles and camped with a body of Saints from Macedonia. The latter had thirty-one wagons. Here and there they were joined by scattered families of Saints who were wending their weary way westward. On the 15th of June they reached the Camp of Israel called Mt. Pisgah.
President Kimball and others of the Twelve were still ahead. Elder Charles C. Rich had been left in charge at Mt. Pisgah. There were many of his old-time friends there and the meeting brought with it reminiscences of earlier days. There was an exchange {250} of the experiences which they had undergone since Brother Woodruff had left them for his mission, more than a year before. "I encamped," he says, "on the east side of the creek near the Camp of Israel. Here I learned that Brother Noah Rogers recently from a mission to the South Sea Islands had died and was the first to find a resting place in the burial ground at Mt. Pisgah. Brother Turnbow, one of our company, lost a child today. I was present at its funeral." Lorenzo Snow was also in this company and was suffering from sickness, but found great relief in the administration of Elder Woodruff.
On the 21st he preached to a large congregation of Saints and was followed by Elders Rich, Benson, and Sherwood. That day a messenger arrived from President Young, who was at Council Bluffs. The messenger brought a call for one hundred mounted men who were to serve as dragoons and as buffalo hunters for the Camp of Israel. In response to the call, Elder Woodruff and sixty others stepped to the front. He reported the response to President Young.
On the 26th the camp was thrown into some excitement by the appearance of Captain Allen and three dragoons of the United States army. The object of their visit was to raise volunteers for the Mexican War. He was sent by Colonel Kearney who was acting under instructions from President James K. Polk. These messengers were shown every courtesy, but were asked to confer with President Young. The day following, Elder Woodruff wrote President Young a letter in advance of the messengers who were commissioned to make a call for volunteers.
When the 27th of June arrived, the anniversary of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, Elder Woodruff though in poor health at the time addressed the Saints in Pisgah. It was his farewell sermon at that place, for on the following day he took up his travels again for Council Bluffs.
"I stopped my carriage," he says, "on the top of a hill in the midst of a rolling prairie where I had an extended view of all about me. I beheld the Saints coming in all directions from hills and dales, groves and prairies with their wagons, flocks, and herds, by the thousands. It looked like the movement of a nation."
Traveling a few miles from this point of observation he met {251} Parley P. Pratt, who was returning from Council Bluffs with a message to raise a company of men to go in advance to the Rocky Mountains without their families. The Quorum of the Twelve had volunteered to go and in Elder Woodruff's breast there was a heart-felt desire to take up the proposed pioneer movement into the wilderness. He therefore hurried on with as much speed as the ox-teams could endure. They traveled more than twenty miles that day.
The day following they were overtaken by Parley P. Pratt who was returning to Council Bluffs after having delivered his message. He was accompanied by Ezra T. Benson who had recently been chosen to take the place in the Quorum of the Twelve formerly occupied by John E. Page. These brethren expressed a wish that Elder Woodruff accompany them to the Bluffs. The latter, in response, saddled his horse, and leaving his family and company, went on to join President Young and those with him at the front.
On the 4th of July they rode ten miles and breakfasted with some of the brethren whom they met. To their great surprise they were informed that President Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Willard Richards were near by on their way to Pisgah to raise volunteers for the service of the United States army. "We immediately rode down to where they were located," he says in his journal. "It was truly a happy meeting. I rejoiced to strike hands once more with those noble men. It was the first time we had met since I left Nauvoo on my mission to England soon after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum."
This changed somewhat his plan of travel, and upon the invitation of President Young, Elders Woodruff and Benson returned with him until he met his family and company with whom he journeyed to Council Bluffs which he reached on the 7th of July, 1846.
Upon his arrival at the Missouri River, he set about the task of raising volunteers for the government service. It was about this time that the Saints there were visited by Thomas L. Kane from the City of Washington. His interest in the Latter-day Saints, his deep and unfeigned sympathy for them, naturally awakened feelings of gratitude toward one whose sympathies for them were so genuine. The Colonel's description of Nauvoo, {252} and his defense generally of the Latter-day Saints, have always made his name with them a synonym of friendship. To what extent their faith and beliefs brought conviction to his soul, it will perhaps be impossible to say. It is certain, however, that the new religion awakened in him some belief that these unpopular people were perhaps after all the instrument of a divine providence in transforming the religious views of the modern world; for on the 7th of September he sought and received a patriarchal blessing under the hands of father John Smith, who at the time was living in a tent. Elder Woodruff wrote the blessing as it fell from the lips of the Patriarch and presented it to the Colonel.
It was Colonel Kane's belief, and it was so represented by him to the Saints, that President Polk was favorable to them and had really proposed the Mormon Battalion with the intention in his heart of helping them across the plains by government aid. There was, however, some skepticism, and a belief among some that the whole scheme was an anti-Mormon device, and intended to weaken the Saints in their exodus, and make them an easy prey to the Indians who might encompass the complete destruction of the Saints on the plains.
Brigham Young and other leaders were actively engaged in recruiting men for service in the Battalion. President Young had returned from Mt. Pisgah and met in council with the Twelve. Colonel Kane was present. Such tasks as these required just such enthusiasm and heart-felt conviction as men like Wilford Woodruff could give to them.
On July the 15th Elders Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, and John Taylor were appointed to a mission in Great Britain for the purpose of regulating the affairs of the Church there and of appointing a new presidency over that mission.
On the 16th of July Elder Woodruff writes: "It was a great day in the Camp of Israel. Four companies of volunteers were organized and ready for marching. They were brought together and formed in a hollow square by their captains. They were then addressed by several of the Quorum of the Twelve after which the Battalion began its march in double file over the Redemption Hill, seven miles across the Missouri River bottom to the ferry. The brethren who formed these companies left their families, teams, wagons, and cattle by the wayside not expecting {253} to meet them again for one or two years. They left their wives and children to their brethren and to the tender mercies of God, before they went. With cheerful hearts they believed that they were doing the will of their Heavenly Father. As I viewed them I felt as though I was looking upon the first Battalion of the army of Israel, engaged in the service of the United States."
Upon the departure of the Battalion, the Twelve proceeded at once to ordain Ezra T. Benson who had been called to their Quorum. That evening Elder Woodruff entertained the Apostles as his guests at supper. That body of men felt some pride in the success that had attended their efforts to enlist the Battalion. They were full of joy and were rejoicing together over the satisfaction which they felt in accomplishing that which they hoped would be of lasting benefit and honor to the Latter-day Saints.
A few days later while the Battalion of five hundred were in camp at the ferry, they were addressed by President Young, who bestowed freely upon them his blessings and his promises of safety. After that a concert was given in honor of Colonel Allen, the commander of the men, who were now ready to begin their long and perilous march to the sea.
With the departure of the Battalion, another great move in the exodus had been made. The way across the plains, however, had to be blazed and a route established for the travel of the tens of thousands who should follow the first company in quest of a home far removed from the confines of civilization, a home where the saints of God might enjoy the freedom and the rest that had been denied them ever since the organization of the Church in April, 1830.
During that period of sixteen years the Saints had been constantly fleeing from mobs and from the tyranny of oppressors. They were in a state of constant uncertainty and could find comfort and consolation only in the divine assurance that they were a peculiar people, a chosen people, destined to open a new and marvelous dispensation among the children of men.
The primitive conditions in which the Saints now found themselves along the banks of the Missouri River naturally gave rise to misgivings, murmurings, discontent, and sometimes rebellious sentiment. To maintain peace and order under such circumstances {254} was no easy task. The leaders labored early and late and urged constantly, peace, fraternity, and good will. A new burden had been imposed upon those who were left behind and who were required to provide for the welfare of the families of the soldiers. About ninety men were appointed among the Saints to act as bishops. One of their special duties was to look after the families of those who were left dependent upon the Church at large. On the 21st of the month a high council was appointed. Isaac Morley became senior member.
Preparatory to the march across the plains the coming summer, some explorations were begun. Elder Woodruff traveled along the country of the Big Pigeon River on which the camp of the Saints was established. On the 25th of July he crossed the river to the Nebraska side with his family, wagons, and household effects. On the 2nd of August the Twelve met in council and decided that Winter Quarters should be established on the site then occupied by the camp. On the evening of that day President Young and Elder Richards called at the tent of Wilford Woodruff where President Young gave him and his family some instructions on the subject of the priesthood and of the sealing power. That day was also marked by the arrival of a messenger from the Mormon Battalion that was now within thirty miles from Leavenworth.
After settling the question of a location for the winter, twelve men were selected to serve in the joint capacity of a High Council and City Council for the transaction of all business relating to the settlement of the Saints during the winter.
About this time there was a meeting of the Saints with Colonel Kane, and in it the adoption of certain resolutions of respect and gratitude to President Polk for the steps taken by him in arming five hundred men and of furnishing them an opportunity to reach the valleys of the Rocky Mountains. At this time they also urgently protested against the appointment of Lilburn W. Boggs, the former governor of Missouri, and a bitter enemy of the people, as governor of California and Oregon, a position he was anxious to occupy and one which his friends were helping him to secure.
At this time President Young informed Colonel Kane that it was the intention of the Saints to settle in the Great Basin, and {255} that as soon as they were located to apply for a territorial government. Thus their plans were early revealed to a tried and trusted friend.
The Sunday following, a meeting was held at a place prepared for worship, a place capable of seating about three hundred people. After the people were addressed by Apostle Woodruff, President Young declared that when the Latter-day Saints should finally reach their resting place, he would labor hard to build another temple. The erection of a temple whose blessings they so meagerly enjoyed in Nauvoo was constantly in the mind of the leaders who were inspired by a desire to enjoy the ordinances for the living and dead which belonged, peculiarly, to the temples of God.
In the management of the affairs at Winter Quarters, the Saints were divided into encampments and these again into subdivisions. President Young took charge of division 1. That allotted to Elder Woodruff was No 10. It consisted of thirty-six men, thirty-two wagons, nine horses, 129 oxen, 59 cows, four mules, and forty sheep. The whole of Winter Quarters consisted at this time of 549 men, 597 wagons, 229 horses, 2,110 oxen, 1,168 cows, 49 mules, and 660 sheep.
The entire population of those that located at Council Bluffs at that time is not stated in his journal.
On August 17 Orrin P. Rockwell arrived in camp and brought with him the mail from Nauvoo. The letters from home showed that the mob were still active, that some of the Saints had been whipped in a shameful manner and that there was no hope of any return to the city they loved so well. There was nothing in the information that reached them from Nauvoo to give the least encouragement to any of their number to turn back; their hope was now all directed westward.
There was naturally much suffering in the midst of all the exposure to which the Saints were subjected. Elder Woodruff records the fact that his wife suffered a great deal from sickness and it was with great difficulty that she was kept alive.
The Mormon Battalion constituted the advance-guard for the pioneer movement. It is true that they were taking a route different from that which the body of the Saints intended to follow, but the Battalion was penetrating the great and unknown {256} wilderness. Its difficulties would be their difficulties, its hardships, their hardships. All news therefore brought back from the Battalion was discussed by the Saints on the banks of the Missouri with intense interest. They had reason to be proud of their representatives in blue. The soldiers were making a good record. They were spoken highly of because of their exemplary habits, their willing service, and their powers of endurance.
He writes in his journal of August 22nd that he, in company with other members of the Twelve, crossed the river to Council Point where they found many of the people sick. They went about administering to them, and after rebuking the diseases that were afflicting the Saints, they went on to what is called Redemption Hill. Upon their return to Council Point, they found, to their great pleasure and gratification, that the exercises of the healing power with which the Lord had clothed them was resulting in the restoration of those to whom they had administered.
The leaders here were planning an exodus for the coming year. Preparations of all kinds were therefore being made for a journey of a thousand miles through the wilderness, the country of the red man. The Book of Mormon taught them who the red man was and the promises of which some day he should be a happy recipient. Their sympathy for the Indian, therefore, rested upon religious convictions which they entertained for his future, a future in which he would find redemption from the slothful and slovenly conditions of life into which he had fallen.
On the 27th the Twelve and the high council met with the representatives of two great Indian tribes. The object of the meeting was to get the permission to remain upon their lands and use the wood, grass, and water as long as they wished to stay. "We first met with the Ottos between whom and the Omahas there was a dispute as to who owned the land. The Ottos said the land was theirs. The chief with five or six others was present. We talked to him, after which he returned home. We later met in council with the Omahas. The old chief's name was Big Elk and his son, a young chief, called Young Elk. There were also present with them about sixty old men and braves of the tribe. As it was late, the council adjourned until the morrow. On the 28th we met in the morning with the Omaha chiefs. We smoked the pipe of peace and President Young then spoke to {257} them through their interpreter. He told them it was our desire to winter there; and if they wished it we would do some work for them, make them a field, repair their guns.
Big Elk replied: "My son, thou hast spoken well. I have all thou hast said in my heart. I have much I want to say. We are poor, when we go to hunt game in one place we meet the enemy and so in another, and our enemies kill us. We do not kill them. I hope we shall be friends. You may stay on these lands two years or more. Our young men may watch your cattle. We would be glad to have you trade with us. We will warn you of danger from other Indians." Much more was said by Big Elk after which the council closed and the Indians, after being fed, returned to their homes.
On September 11, 1846, the leaders rode out in search of Old Council Bluffs. They built a bridge to cross a creek, and after traveling over flats and hills they came to the object of their search about sundown. They found that there was once on that place some old barracks. Nothing was left of it except the body of the magazine with one gable end. The object of this search was to make themselves familiar with the surrounding country and to gain information.
Orson Pratt had been on a visit to the Otto and Omaha Indians, and on his return reported that it was the wish of each of these tribes to perform a war dance before the people. The Omahas were then on their way to war with the Sioux.
It was necessary to secure a certain class and a certain amount of provisions for the journey of the coming season. Bishop Whitney and several others were delegated to proceed to Saint Louis and make the necessary purchases. There was a busy life in the camp. As winter approached, men were actively engaged in putting up log cabins, making dugouts, and taking what precautions they could, under the circumstances, against the inclemency of the winter season.
The situation was so full of anxiety and attended by so many fears, that it was necessary to keep up the spirits and cultivate the hopes of the people. Amusements, chiefly dancing, were provided. These amusements gave opportunity to unruly characters to demonstrate their unworthiness. Mirth, especially {258} excessive mirth, breaks down the natural reserve of man and discloses much of his motives and especially his follies and vices.
The Saints assembled at that time were gathered from all parts of the states and from Great Britain. That community consisted of men and women of all shades of thought, all traditions, beliefs, and customs. The grave and austere, and devoted Saints mingled with the light-minded, the indifferent, and the gay. There were those that constituted the drift wood of the community. They were found piled up where the current had taken them. Some in the camp had no faith, others made no pretensions to faith. There were young men who were wild and unruly. Such conditions naturally gave the leaders much anxiety and brought to them some discouragement. They realized that it would be easy to bring disorder and confusion into their midst. Recording the remarks of President Young to the people on Sunday, Sept. 13th, Elder Woodruff quotes as follows: "I wish to say a few words upon principle. There is one thing I want you to realize and that is that God, angels and saints--Heaven and all of God's creations--are governed by law. I want the Camp of Israel to understand that we must be so governed. If Heaven were not so controlled, what sort of a place would it be? Every man would be in danger of losing his rights and of having them trampled upon. All celestial beings are governed by law and order, for the celestial law is a perfect order of things, a perfect system of light, law, intelligence, exaltation, and glory. We do not arrive at this all at once. A prophet once declared that we should have precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little until we arrive at a fullness of knowledge and glory, even a fullness which reigns in the Heavens.
"We must begin to be governed by law here before we are prepared to receive the fullness that reigns in the Heavens. We must have law and order in our midst."
Some agitation was manifested at this time in consequence of certain favors received by those who then on the banks of the Missouri River were permitted to have more than one wife. Respecting this President Young is quoted as saying: "Some young men are jealous for fear I shall receive more blessings, more wives, or some other blessings than themselves. These men have {259} never preached the gospel in their lives. If they will travel the world over in poverty as I have done and on foot with blood in their shoes and spend years and years to save the world they will cease to be jealous of the blessings that I enjoy. A woman who has the spirit of God will join herself to a good man who honors and bears the Holy Priesthood. Such a man, if he continues faithful, will be saved in eternal glory and all who are with him.
"I am determined that my affections shall be with God. I will not allow them to be placed upon things that perish. When plagues and disease get hold of our bodies we become loathsome, our beauty fades away. Our affections should be placed upon things that are noble, exalted, lasting, and glorious. I love an exalted mind, it is eternal and cannot fade. I want all my affections to be subject to God and to the principles of glory and eternal life."
A pleasure loving camp in those days had many of the same temptations that beset the pleasure loving world now. Those, then, in whose minds every thing was associated with a pleasure loving spirit attributed self gratification to the motives of their leaders who were then inculcating faith by teaching and practicing the doctrine of plural marriage.
On the 23rd of September the Saints removed their encampment from the prairie ridge where they had been located to the tableland on the bank of the Missouri River. At the latter place a townsite was laid out into blocks, 120 by 40 rods. Each block was divided into lots four by ten.
Two days later Daniel H. Wells and Elder Cutler arrived from Nauvoo. At the meeting on Sunday afternoon of the 27th they gave an account of the Battle of Nauvoo, where the Saints were engaged in resisting the encroaching mob. Three of the Saints were killed and two wounded. It was never known how many of the mob lost their lives. The skirmish resulted in a treaty which required the Saints to leave the city within five days. The little remnant of those compelled to leave was composed chiefly of men and women whose circumstances did not permit them to leave with the main body of the Church. A few remained to protect the property rights of the people who had been driven from the city. There were a few who fostered some lingering thoughts of returning to Nauvoo, or of mercenary advantages in days to come. {260} These property rights which the Saints sought to retain only excited the cupidity and murderous disposition of the mob. It was the property of the Saints they craved and bloodshed did not stand between them and the cravings of their own selfish dispositions. This lingering remnant was, therefore, inhumanely treated and driven into the wilderness without provisions and without shelter. Their distress was pitiful. The Battle of Nauvoo removed from the hearts of all the Saints the last lingering hope of any return to that city. All was gone, their property rights destroyed, and their homes passed to new ownerships. The destruction of all hope in their return to the city they loved made their undertaking in a new and perilous journey the only thing to be reckoned with.
The first Sunday in October, Orson Pratt, Amasa Lyman, and Wilford Woodruff began the organization of the new city of Winter Quarters. It was divided into 13 wards, with a bishop over each. Thus, responsibility was extended and order more firmly established throughout the Camp.
On the 15th Elder Woodruff met with one of those serious experiences recorded in his chapter of accidents. He was struck by a falling tree and disabled for a number of weeks. While he was recovering his little son Joseph was stricken with disease and died on the 12th of November.
On the 17th of that month Elder Woodruff took up again his manual labor. Writing in his journal of those times he says: "I had never seen the Latter-day Saints in any situation where they seemed to be passing through greater tribulations. After being exposed to the sufferings of a tedious journey of ten months in tents and wagons, they were obliged to build a city of log houses numbering more than one thousand. All this work had only a temporary enjoyment. We had to go a great distance for wood and timber, and it was difficult to secure from the deep ravines and hollows where we found it. The labor was hard to endure. I was endeavoring to build a log house for myself and one for my father."
Quite a number died during the winter of 1846-47, in Winter Quarters. Elder Woodruff records the death of Sister Benbow, the wife of his time-honored friend.
On the 8th of December there was born to him a son whom {261} he named Ezra who lived only a few days and was buried by the side of his brother Joseph. Thus afflictions and death visited the Saints while they were camping along the banks of the Missouri River. By the close of that year their numbers reached 3483. Christmas day was duly observed and such joy and such gratitude as were possible under the circumstances were manifested throughout the Camp.
On the 29th the Twelve met to consider the organization of a pioneer company whose duty it would be to set out for the valleys the following spring. From now on there was a feverish excitement in consequence of the preparation going on for the accomplishment of a journey whose vicissitudes they could not even imagine. Truly they had to walk in the light of faith. In turn it filled their hearts with hope and fond anticipations. Faith taught them to look on the bright side of life and anticipate the best, that they might endure cheerfully the worst that was to overtake them. Thus ended the year 1846 in the life of Wilford Woodruff.
{262}
25. DEPARTURE OF THE PIONEERS.--APRIL 7, 1847
Arrival of Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor at Winter Quarters.--Organization of the Pioneers.--Manner of Forming Camp.--Horse Feed Enroute.--Pawnee Indians.--A Practical Joke.--Crossing Loup Fork.
On the outskirts of civilization, near the banks of the Missouri River, on the 7th day of April, 1847, might have been seen a large body of men and women anxiously gazing on a band of pioneers just taking their departure from wives and children, friends and neighbors, and setting out upon a perilous journey in quest of a resting place in the Rocky Mountains. In the hearts of wives and friends there was a strange mixture of fear and faith. What the outcome would be, none could foresee; and the probabilities of danger from the hostile red man were only mitigated by the fervent faith which had served them well in the trying ordeal of other troublous times through which the Church had passed. The pioneers were missionaries whose trust in the direction and care of an over-ruling Providence was uppermost in their minds.
Just to the west of Winter Quarters, there arises one of those rolling, undulating ridges which skirt the Missouri for many miles. When the top of this elevation was reached, Elder Woodruff took a parting view of the city, and through his field glasses he could see his wife and children whose lingering gaze followed the pioneers as long as they could be seen.
The first day's journey covered a distance of seven miles from Winter Quarters. Naturally enough, many things necessary for such a journey had been forgotten; some needed counsel had been overlooked; some words of caution had not been spoken. The leaders of the pioneers not only faced the uncertainties of a long and tedious journey, but they left behind them a large number of brethren and sisters whose welfare and unity might be greatly disturbed in the absence of those trusted leaders, whose counsels had been their watchword and whose leadership seemed necessary for their safety. Under these circumstances a few days passed before the company was well on its way.
{263} In the meantime, Parley P. Pratt had just arrived from his mission to Great Britain, and the tidings which this prince of missionaries had brought from a foreign land were a matter of supreme importance to the Prophet Brigham Young who returned to Winter Quarters to greet the newly arrived missionary. During this time, Wilford Woodruff was exploring the neighboring country. The delay of President Young led him likewise to return to Winter Quarters. He was within a half mile of his home when he met the Twelve returning to the camp of the pioneers. With characteristic submission to order and discipline, he turned about without seeing his family and joined the brethren on their return.
The camp had scarcely been set in motion when news of the arrival of John Taylor from Great Britain caused the Twelve to return again to Winter Quarters. This time they were accompanied by Wilford Woodruff who succeeded in adding to his equipment another horse for the journey. These reunions in the midst of troublous times were heartfelt demonstrations of brotherly love and mutual good will. The importance of Elder Taylor's return was enhanced by the fact that he had brought with him two sextants, two barometers, two artificial horizons, one circle of reflection, and one telescope, which were highly valuable for the acquisition of important data along the journey. The next return of the leaders to the camp of the pioneers was final and the journey was taken up with renewed enthusiasm and a determination to move on unremittingly to the goal of their undertaking.
The first week of the journey was passed in reaching and crossing the Elk Horn River which flows into the Platte whose banks were soon to be, for most of the distance, the guide of the pioneers. It is a stream whose small tributaries were to give the Saints considerable trouble in their efforts to get their wagons and teams over the treacherous quicksands that were common along the banks of the Platte in eastern Nebraska.
It was during these early days that Jesse C. Little returned from the Eastern States mission. He brought with him presents for the Twelve from friends in the East. "Col. Kane had sent me a patent life preserver and a stop compass." Brothers Little, {264} Rockwood, and Reading returned to Winter Quarters next morning (April 16), and the company continued four miles up the Platte. "Before we left this morning, the camp came together and was organized as a military body into companies of hundreds, fifties, and tens. Stephen Markham and A. P. Rockwood were appointed captains of hundreds." Of this organization Brigham Young was Lieutenant General and Wilford Woodruff was appointed captain of the first ten, an appointment which characterized the man. His nervous energy, his untiring effort, his prompt and ready action naturally fitted him for the leading captain.
"The camp consisted of seventy-three wagons, one hundred and forty-three men, three women, and two children, making in all one hundred and forty-eight souls. The general orders from Brigham Young for the camp were as follows: 'The whole regiment was to journey in a compact body as they were in an Indian country, and every man was to carry his gun loaded. The caplocks were to be shut on a piece of buckskin with the caps ready to slip on in an instant in case of attacks; for flint-locks, guncotton or tow was to be put in the pan and the powder flask kept handy to prime without delay. Every man was to walk by the side of his wagon and not to leave it except sent away by order.' The object of all this caution was to prevent accident, for strict discipline was necessary while traveling through a hostile Indian country.
"On Saturday, the 17th," continues Wilford Woodruff, "some traders came down from the Pawnees and camped with us over night; they had plenty of buffalo meat dried, and gave us what we needed, and informed us that we were in two days' drive of a large band of Pawnees.
"On the following morning President Young called the captains together and gave the following instructions: 'We were to start in the morning, two wagons abreast. All who were not driving teams were to carry their guns and walk beside the wagons, and no man was to go hunting or get out of sight of the wagons. In the morning the bugle was to be blown at five o'clock and the pioneers were to arise and pray, cook, eat, and feed the horses and start at the call of the bugle at seven o'clock. In the evening the bugle was to be blown at half past eight when all were to go to prayers in their several wagons and retire by {265} nine o'clock. Each Saturday night we were to pitch what tents we had and prepare our camps for rest on the Sabbath.'
"On the morning of the 19th of April, Prof. Pratt took an observation and found the latitude to be 41 degrees 27 minutes and 5 seconds. The point of observation was on the north bend of the Platte, 10 1/2 miles north of where the Saints had crossed the river. It was while camping at this place that Elder Little overtook the Saints on his return from the Eastern States mission. On the evening of that day we camped near a grove of timber on the banks of the Platte where we formed a semi-circle. The river on one side was our defense, and one of the four wheels of each wagon was driven up to the back wheel of the wagon ahead of it, and all the horses and cattle were taken into the corral thus formed so that we might be secure against the Indians. There was a hard wind during the night and the morning was fair with a strong southwest wind which covered our wagons with sand dust."
At this season of the year, the grass was not sufficiently high and matured for suitable feed for the horses; and during the early part of the journey cottonwood trees were cut down in order that the horses might gnaw off the bark and browse from the limbs, a kind of food which the horses at this season of the year seemed to enjoy. The ration of corn for each horse was two quarts per day.
On Tuesday, the 20th, three islands in the Platte River were reached, the largest of which, including an area of about ten acres, was covered with timber. Thereafter for miles along the river there continued a chain of islands.
It was about this time that they approached the inhabited territory of the Pawnee Indians who were somewhat given to petty thefts, but not so dangerous as the Sioux. Here and there individual Indians of the Pawnee tribe would approach in concealment in the grass the horses of the pioneers and a few were stolen, presumably by the Indians. What caused the Pawness to gather in villages about 150 miles from the Missouri River was doubtless the presence of large herds of buffaloes, and the further fact that they were far removed from the outposts of civilization on that great river.
The question of food was, of course, an important consideration; {266} and the existence of game at this stage of the journey gave rise to the appointment of a body of men to be known as the hunters. Among the names given, that of Wilford Woodruff does not appear, and yet he was a skilled hunter and fisher all his subsequent life, and the part he took in the buffalo chases indicates that he was an excellent hunter in fact, if not so named.
In the spring of the year, the rain and the wind produced a sort of raw weather which created a chilly sensation and consequent discomfort. In consequence of the rains, the streams were often swollen and means for crossing them had to be improvised. It was necessary, therefore, to send men in advance of the pioneers for the purpose of constructing bridges or selecting fords and making general observations respecting the lay of the country. On the 20th they crossed a small stream called Shell Creek. From this point Elders Woodruff and Pratt went ahead for the purpose of taking observations. That night they cut down cottonwood trees from the barks of which their horses fed.
The following day the ox-teams started at 7 o'clock, an hour in advance of the horses, and in the course of the journey an Indian made his appearance on a mound about five miles distant. He was mounted on a pony. He soon disappeared but in a short time again came in sight at a full gallop. As he approached the camp he was met by the brethren who shook hands with him in a friendly manner and with the seven others who had accompanied him. They were escorted through the camp that they might learn that there were no hostile intentions among the pioneers.
"At 12:30 we came in sight of seventy horses and mules, and soon in sight of a large Pawnee village on the north side of Loup Fork, and also one on the south side of it. We drove on by the village, and soon they began to sally out to meet us. We camped in the form of a half-moon, the bank of the river forming a parallel line in front. The Indians, numbering about two hundred on the south side of the river, came down to the shore. Some waded over and about seventy-five came into camp, including the grand chief of the nation, with many war chiefs. We met them and made them presents of four pounds of tobacco, fifteen pounds of lead, powder, fish-hooks, beads, flour, salt, etc., but still they {267} were not satisfied; considering our numbers, they thought they ought to have more. When we left the ground, the Indians appeared very dissatisfied, but we harnessed up our horses and drove on to Looking-glass Creek and camped at its mouth for the night on the bank of the Loup Fork.
"After our horses were turned out, we were called together; and in consequence of the dissatisfaction of the Indians, a guard of one hundred men was called for. The Quorum of the Twelve with nearly the whole camp volunteered to stand guard, one-half of them the fore part of the night, and a half the other part. We also had a picket guard of five men with their mules at each watch.
"I was one of the picket guards. We had a hard wind with rain in the afternoon which continued a portion of the time that I was on guard. I rolled myself up in my buffalo robe and let the wind and rain beat on me. We were released at about one o'clock and went to rest. No Indians appeared during the night.
"Looking-glass Creek was crossed fifteen minutes before nine on the day following, April 22nd, and a westerly course continued and Beaver Creek reached at noon. Prof. O. Pratt took the meridian observation of the sun by the sextant for the latitude which was found to be 41 degrees 25 minutes and 13 seconds. He also made other observations.
"We crossed Beaver Creek at half past two o'clock and traveled seven miles and came to the Pawnee missionary station and camped for the night. The bluff was skirted with oaks on the north side of the road in the hills. We kept out a guard through the night as we were in danger of the Sioux on the one side and the Pawnees on the other.
"While watering the horses at the creek at the station this evening, Brother George A. Smith's horse mired, pitched forward, and jumped on him, treading upon his feet and breast, and holding him fast in the mud until I caught the horse by the bit and backed him off. I was fearful that Brother Smith was badly injured, but found that he was not."
On the morning of the 23rd, the camp enjoyed some diversion in one of those practical jokes which characterize men traveling under similar circumstances. Some of the guards during the {268} night had fallen asleep, and when awakened, found their guns taken. Col. Markham had lost his hat. Fatigue from their duties and arduous labors made it difficult for men to remain awake when nature so persistently demanded sleep.
As the company made its way along Loup Fork River, a fording place was sought, as the purpose of the pioneers was to follow up the Platte into which Loup Fork emptied. In the evening a Pawnee missionary station was reached--a station which had been abandoned. There were several good log houses and considerable land under cultivation. Here they found large lots of old and new iron, all apparently left to ruin. A quarter of a mile below the missionary village was a government station where Father Chase had been employed as a government farmer at a salary of $300 a year. When, however, Major Harvey learned that Father Chase had joined the Mormons, he was dismissed from service. The Sioux had burned the government station houses and blacksmith shop, but had spared the missionary village. Some of the hay and fodder was used by the pioneers, but none of it was carried away. Some of the plows were taken on an account which Father Chase held against the government for arrears in wages, but a strict report to the government was ordered and the things taken were regarded as the property of Father Chase.
The crossing of Loup Fork was a mile-post on the journey; and the 23rd was a day of great anxiety to those who had been looking carefully for a suitable fording place from which they might drop down again on to the banks of the Platte.
"In the morning twelve of us started on horseback to search out a ford across the dangerous and troublesome Loup Fork of the Platte River. We went down the river some distance when several men waded across. They found the water so deep, and so much quicksand that we came to the conclusion to drive up to the old Pawnee village. So we returned to the camp and harnessed up our horses. My gray horse named Titus was sick, yet I started out with him, and the camp drove up with some difficulty to the old Indian village, or a little below it.
"The men commenced searching out a ford and found the {269} whole bed of the river one body of quicksand into which if a horse or wagon stopped it would begin to sink. We had two channels to cross and a sand-bar in the middle. The deepest water was from three to four feet and very rapid and about three hundred yards across. At some places the quicksand sank both man and beast instantly; and the more they struggled to get out, the more they would sink. Of course, we avoided such places as much as possible.
"As I led the van with my ten, being captain of the first ten, it fell to my lot to make the first trial. Prof. O. Pratt, having a pair of strong horses, went forward and I followed him. I had two yoke of cattle and my horses on my carriage with about ten hundred on it. As soon as I started, I immediately saw that the cattle did but little good, being slow and in the way, we would begin to sink. I jumped out of my carriage into the water up to my waist. About ten men came to my assistance with a rope and hitched it to the oxen and helped me in getting across the first stream, though with great difficulty. We stopped on a sand-bar out in the water, but my horses and wagon began to sink. By treading the ground a little, it would become a perfect quagmire, and though we were sinking in it, the men had to leave the wagon where it was and go to the assistance of Orson Pratt, who, in trying to cross the second stream, had sunk into a bed of quicksand, and all the men had to go to his relief to get his horses and wagon out. The horses were unhitched from the wagon, and the load taken out and carried to shore; the wagon was drawn out by the men.
"I took off most of my load in a boat and went through the second stream. I got two other wagons in the same way, but it was so difficult an undertaking that the rest of the camp would not follow us, so here we found ourselves on the opposite side of the river, six men of us, to spend the night, together with our horses and wagons to guard against the whole Pawnee band, who were then camped below us on the same side of the river, and it was supposed that they numbered six hundred warriors. We divided our company, putting three on guard at a time. Brother Pack, Orson Pratt, and myself went on guard the fore part of the {270} night. Although I had been in the water the whole afternoon, I stood guard in my wet clothing one-half of the night and slept in them the other half.
"When we had guarded our part of the night we were joined by five men from the camp who crossed in a boat. They were sent by President Young to assist us, making eleven of us in all, and we divided our force accordingly. The night, however, passed off in peace, with no disturbance from the hostile Indians.
"The morning was pleasant and Prof. Pratt took an observation on the south bank of the fording place of the Loup Fork. The latitude was found to be 41 degrees, 22 minutes, and 37 seconds. The camp on the other side was now busy devising plans to cross the river. They drew together timber and rails to build two rafts and began to put them together. Some of the brethren made another trial to cross with wagons by putting on several horse and mule teams. They went a little higher up than we did and got over with much less difficulty. The more the ground was trod in the water, the smoother and harder it grew, so the whole company turned their wagons back to the ford and abandoned the raft. By unloading one-half of the baggage, they could cross in safety; and they all crossed by doubling teams and by going back and forth until all were over. Each captain with his ten assisted the others across. In this way all Israel who were present went over the Loup Fork of the Platte River in safety without hurt to man or beast; and we felt thankful to God for His mercies and rejoiced that we were on the south side of the river.
"We all loaded up our wagons and drove four miles and camped for the Sabbath on the bank of the river; and after our wagons were arranged, the Twelve took a walk on the high table lands to make observations, through their glasses, of the surrounding country."
{271}
26. PIONEER JOURNEY CONTINUED, 1847
Elijah Newman Healed.--Indians Attempt Theft.--Antelopes Killed. Encounter with Indians.--A Buffalo Hunt.--Meet Traders from Laramie.--A Decision To Keep the North Bank of the Platte.--Immense Herds of Buffaloes.--William Clayton's Mile Gage.--Letter Left for Next Company.--Description of the Rodometer.
The task of crossing Loup River had been accomplished safely and there was a general spirit of gratitude throughout the camp. The following day was the Sabbath, April 25th. Meeting was held and general instructions given respecting the observance of the Sabbath. It was on that day that Elijah Newman was baptized for the restoration of his health. He was afflicted by a black scurvy in his legs to such an extent that he could not walk except by aid of sticks and crutches. After the ordinance and confirmation, he returned to the camp without any help.
A number of hunters were appointed to go ahead of the camp in quest of game, seven to be horsemen; and ten, footmen. Here Elder Woodruff saw for the first time in his life either elk or antelope. Four of each appeared at different times on the opposite side of the river. Although he was not one of the hunters, the members of the Twelve were allowed to join those appointed. From later accounts, it will be seen that Elder Woodruff took an active part in the chase. From now on till the foothills of the Rocky Mountains were reached, a strict guard against the Indians was kept. Of the first early troubles with Indians, Elder Woodruff writes:
"Early in the morning, before the break of day, two Indians crept upon their hands and knees, approaching the camp to steal horses. They got within three years of the guard before they were discovered. The guard at first thought them to be wolves and snapped at them. They rose and ran. Two of the guards fired and four others rose out of the grass. The bugle was sounded and all arose to arms, but no more were seen then.
"I started out in the morning with the hunters. We saw eight deer and four antelopes, but caught nothing. After traveling {272} eight miles, we camped for noon. On the opposite side of the river were relics of an old Indian town. In the afternoon, we traveled seven miles and camped on Clear Creek which had a hard gravel bottom, the first of the kind we had found on the road. We killed one wild goose, and saw fresh signs of buffalo where we camped, the first we had seen. Brothers Young, Kimball, Richards, and I went on to a high bluff to view the country.
"Just at dusk, a tremendous alarm was given through the camp. The Indians had crawled up and taken Porter Rockwell and his horse and made off with them. Many men mounted their horses and rode after them with all speed, but it was soon discovered that Rockwell was in camp. Only two horses were gone. They belonged to Dr. Richards and Brother Little. About twenty men, mounted and armed, went in search of the horses.
"On the morrow we continued our journey in a southerly direction to try to get on the Platte River. We came to some beautiful green grass, saw a great many buffalo signs, but found no wood or water. We baited our horses in a green valley after twelve miles' travel.
"Just as we were starting in the afternoon, we rose to a small bluff and saw two antelopes in the valley before us. Brothers Young, Kimball, and myself were together. Brother Brown and another brother were on the other side of the hill and saw them also. Brother Brown first fired at one, and then the other man and I fired. We all hit him, but he did not fall, so we rode up and cut his throat. This was the first antelope killed. He was dressed and put on board the wagon, and we continued on and in a short time saw three more looking at us from the top of a mound. Brother Brown and I went after them, but could not get them, so we turned about ten degrees east of south and went to the creek and camped. Our cattle and horses were very dry, not finding any water during the day. We had a heavy storm of thunder, lightning, wind, and some rain which lasted about an hour.
"A rifle went off in Brother Brown's wagon by accident and the ball went through a bag of clothes, set it on fire, then through the wagon, and broke the leg of a fine horse. The result was the breaking up of one of the teams of the pioneer company.
"Brother Rockwell and three others had gone in the morning {273} again in search of the horses which the Indians were supposed to have stolen. Toward evening they returned and reported that they had been attacked by fifteen Indians, who were in ambush in the grass. They came upon them, determined to take their horses from them, but the brethren kept them off by their rifles and pistols. The Indians were armed with guns and bows. When they found that they could not scare the brethren, they professed friendship to get to them; but the brethren were resolute and determined not to move but to fight, though only four to fifteen. The Indians finally rushed upon them to catch the horses by the bits. The brethren drew their pistols upon them, determined to fight and do their best. The Indians, seeing their determination, broke and ran, but fired their guns upon the brethren. The balls whistled around them, but no one was injured. The brethren did not return the fire, not wishing to kill any of them if they could help it."
The morning of April 28th the company reached the eastern end of Grand Island. There Elder Woodruff accompanied the hunters, but a wolf and a goose were all they secured. In the evening, they camped on Wood Creek. Great numbers of deer could be seen on the island, but President Young thought it dangerous to cross over, as the Indians might be in ambush.
The morning following was very cold. The camp was moved at five o'clock; and after a drive of three miles, a stop was made for breakfast. Here the hunters explored Grand Island which they found covered by rushes and cottonwood. The grass was now in greater abundance. The cattle and horses were greatly in need of improved feed; and better grazing meant the entrance into the lands of the deer and buffalo. They saw great numbers of antelope, but could not reach them. The hunters killed four geese. Elder Woodruff killed two of them and shot one deer which he could not overtake.
On May 1st the pioneers were well into the home of the buffalo. It was a great day for the hunters and welcomed by the pioneers who were greatly in need of fresh meat. Those who knew President Woodruff's ardent love of the chase will read the experience of his first buffalo hunt with some appreciation of what that day meant to him.
{274} "This was an interesting day to the hunters of the camp of Israel. The pioneers made an early start, and after traveling six miles, camped for breakfast on the prairie in sight of a herd of buffaloes feeding on a bluff to the right of us. There were about two hundred. Three only of the hunters started out. They rode as near to them as possible and crawled along the grass, but the buffaloes became frightened and ran away. We had not traveled more than two miles farther before we discovered another large herd five miles before us. The hunters assembled and held a council. We determined to get some of the buffalo meat if possible. We traveled, however, with the camp until within a mile of the herd when a halt was made and fifteen hunters started together. Amasa Lyman and myself of the Twelve were with them. We went along together until we reached a bluff within a few rods of the herd and then divided, Brother Grover and Luke Johnson went on to the bluff, O. P. Rockwell and Brother Brown took the entire left, and so we divided into companies on the right, left, and center. I was with the company in the center of the herd.
"We all made a charge upon them from the bluffs and rushed on to the plain. The herd ran down the rough bluff into the plain, but when we reached the plain we soon overtook them, and each company singled out its game. We made choice generally of cows, then rushed up to the side of them and fired upon them with our pistols, which we found much better to carry than the rifles which were very cumbersome in running. The first we gave chase to was a cow with her calf. I rode up to her side and fired two balls, both of which took effect. The other brethren with me also fired at her until she was killed. I then ran my horse to the assistance of another party who had wounded one which was soon dispatched.
"I then saw that O. P. Rockwell had three bulls at bay on the prairie. Brother Pack and myself ran with our horses to his assistance. At the same time Brother Kimball came up. We surrounded them and commenced firing. They bolted ahead. I put spurs to my horse and ran in front and was within about a rod of them when they all pitched at me and gave me a chase for a fight. It hurried me to get out of their way. Two broke for the bluff and Brother Brown followed them; but Rockwell, Kimball, Pack, {275} and myself stayed with an old bull. I fired two balls into him, Kimball one, and Pack one. The bull fell dead. We also shot a calf that was with him. I returned to Brother Brown on the bluff and found that one of the bulls to which he had given chase was wounded and had lain down; but Brother Brown having no more powder or ball, the bull got up again and ran into the herd on the bluff before I could reach him. We now all returned to our hunting ground to gather up the buffaloes we had killed, there being three cows, three bulls, and five calves, making eleven in all.
"In the morning, Brother Solomon Hancock had gone out to hunt buffaloes on foot. As he did not return in the evening, we felt greatly concerned about him; but in the morning he returned, having killed a three year old cow which he watched during the night to keep the wolves from eating her. Three wolves came upon him. He shot one and the rest ran away. This was our first day's buffalo hunt and we considered the results quite good in as much as we were all strangers to a buffalo hunt, very few of us having ever seen one before.
"We dressed our meat and the wagons came from the camp to take it in. A part of our chase was through an immense prairie dog town nearly ten miles long by two miles wide, with burrows at nearly every rod. This was very dangerous for our horses. My horse, in fact, ran into one and nearly fell, but no harm was done to any of the hunters by the prairie dog holes."
The next day was the Sabbath, "and all were busy cooking and saving their meat." In the afternoon, the camp was moved on three miles in order that better feed might be found. While the pioneers were in camp, a herd of buffaloes came to the river to drink at a place within two miles of the camp. The hunters were anxious to give them a chase, but President Young prevailed on them not to do so. It was not a work of necessity. Here the Indians impeded the progress of the company by setting fire to the prairie, which rapidly burned a large area of country. That evening Presidents Young and Kimball went ahead several miles to examine the fire and make general observations.
On Monday, the 3rd of May, the pioneers did not move camp on account of the weakened condition of the teams. A company {276} of twenty hunters were called to go in quest of game. "We started out with two wagons. I had taken a severe cold which had settled in my side where my bones had been broken last fall, and it made me sick and I was not fit for the hunt, yet I started with the hunters. I had shaken myself up badly the Saturday before and was now feeling the effects of it."
At the same time another party were out to explore the country ahead of them, as the Indians had been burning the grass for several days. After traveling about ten miles to and fro, and seeing no game, Elders Woodruff and Lyman began a retreat for camp. "We sat down upon the edge of a bluff in sight of the camp when a company of horsemen approached, bearing a red flag. When they came within a mile of us, we trailed our guns and went down to meet them. We were informed that the party who had gone up the river had come upon a camp of about four hundred Indian warriors, and that about one hundred of them had followed the party down a ravine to cut off retreat. These horsemen had gone out to call in the hunters. On their return the horsemen came on to a herd of buffaloes. They brought in with them three calves and four antelopes.
"During the night a strong guard was kept and early in the morning the cannon was fired twice to let the Indians know the company was awake. To provide against surprises, the wagons were driven five abreast. After traveling about five miles, some wagons were seen on the opposite side of the river, going down the Platte. One of their men waded the river to find out who the pioneers were and to learn what he could of their movements. They were traders from Fort Laramie, and had been on the way sixteen days from that place.
"The grass, he informed us, was good on the south side of the river, but burned on the north side by the Indians. He consented to carry letters for us to Sarpee who lived near Winter Quarters. Here the pioneers stopped long enough to write fifty-two letters. An epistle was written to the Church at Winter Quarters; and three of the brethren accompanied the Frenchman across the Platte, where they met the other men of his company, nine in all. They informed the brethren that they had not seen an Indian since they left Laramie where there was a ferry.
{277} "We drove on three miles and let our teams graze until the brethren returned from the French traders. They made a report to the camp of what was said to them. A council of the whole company of the pioneers was then called to determine whether we should cross the Platte, or continue along the north side of the river. We were convinced that it would be better for us to cross the river on to the old traveled road to Laramie as there was good grass on that side, while the Indians were burning it off on the north side where we were traveling.
"When, however, we took into consideration the fact that other companies would soon follow and that we were the pioneers, and had not our wives and children with us, we thought it best to keep on the north banks and face the difficulties of burning prairies. A road would thus be made which would serve as a permanent route, independent of the old immigrant trail. There was the further consideration that the river would separate us from other immigrant companies that might be disposed to quarrel with us over grass or water. Besides, by the time the next company came along, the grass would be much better than on the south side of the river. A vote was called for, and the decision was unanimous that we continue along the north banks of the Platte. Col. Markham called the men together and drilled them in a military capacity. The cannon was unloaded and carried on wheels.
"The Frenchman informed us that he had never seen so many buffaloes on the route before as there were this season and that several times the traders were compelled to stop while the herds passed. We saw many deer and antelope today and a few buffaloes. At night we camped near a herd a short distance from us. We also afterwards learned that the alarm of the 3rd about the four hundred Indian warriors was a false one, and that a man had been frightened by a herd of antelope. He supposed them in the distance to be Indians."
The decision to keep the north bank of the Platte was justified by the needs of the people in the movements of subsequent companies, and the general lay of the country. Later, when the engineer applied the accuracy of his instrument to the scientific methods of road building, the old "Mormon Trail," as it was popularly called, was chosen for the Union Pacific Railroad which {278} covered that "trail" for hundreds of miles. In the years of follow there was a rush to the gold fields of California. The frontiers-men of Illinois and Missouri who had given the Saints so much trouble were among the gold seekers. It was the part of wisdom to have between them and the migrating Saints the Platte River.
On May 5th a guard was kept in advance to keep the buffaloes from mixing with the cattle. In the afternoon, one cow and five calves were killed. A wounded bull calf was brought into camp with the intention of keeping it. It was true to its instincts and bunted men and dogs about whenever it could reach them. The day following, it died.
"We stopped for the night, but found the grass on fire and had to return a mile, and then camped on the bank of the river on a spot which had escaped the flames. Some, however, took their horses on to an island near by in the river and cut down cottonwoods, from the barks of which they fed."
On the morning of the 6th, an early start was made; and the camp, after traveling three miles, stopped where the grass was better for breakfast. "This morning the herds of buffaloes were numerous on both sides of the river and the antelope were in great abundance, some of which ran into camp. A young buffalo calf also came in and followed us. We gave it some milk and left it.
"As we continued our journey, we saw many herds of buffaloes and antelopes and one large herd of elk. Two antelopes were killed in the morning. As there was much meat in the camp already, it was thought best not to kill any more game than we needed. Dr. Richards, George A. Smith, and myself walked up quite near several herds of buffaloes and examined them through our glasses. They were shedding their coats. One bull had a mass of hair swinging by his side like a loose robe. Our herd of cows started to run among the buffaloes, but President Young galloped his horse to separate them and had great difficulty in doing so. He lost a glass worth forty dollars in the chase. We continued our journey among herds of buffaloes and were not at any time out of sight of them. They had eaten the grass to such an extent that there was little remaining for the cattle, and timber was also scarce. At night we camped near a herd of buffaloes {279} that reached as far as the eye could see. This day the camp made twenty miles."
The day following was given in part for rest for the cattle and horses. The meagre supply of grass made it necessary to lay over where there was any supply of feed. A part of the day was devoted to military tactics. Such drills had a double purpose. They prepared the men for discipline in case it became necessary to defend themselves against the Indians, and it further occupied their minds and consumed energy that might otherwise have made them restless, and dissatisfied. Porter Rockwell and those who went back with him in search of the field-glass, lost the day before by President Young, were successful. Others went ahead to mark out a road. Ever since the pioneers had left the crossing at Loup Fork, they were obliged to pioneer their way. Had they chosen to take the other side of the river, they would have found a road already made for them.
"We saw today ten thousand buffaloes, and came near one herd with an unusual number of calves, yearlings, and two-year olds. We also saw several large dead ones being devoured by wolves which could be seen on every hand following the herds to eat those that died by wounds and from other causes.
"The next morning, May 8th, was very pleasant and not so cold and windy as the day before. A start was not made until 10 o'clock as the teams needed rest and feed badly. I rode forward to-day with the Twelve and others, and the buffaloes that our eyes beheld were most astonishing. Thousands upon thousands would crowd together as they came from the bluffs to the bottom-land to go to the river and sloughs to drink, until the river and land on both sides of it looked as though the face of the earth was alive and moving like the waves of the sea. Brother Kimball remarked that he had heard many buffalo tales told, but never expected to behold what his eyes now saw. The half had not been told him.
"When we stopped at noon, many of the buffaloes walked along side of our wagons so that it would have been easy to shoot them down. O. P. Rockwell did shoot one through the neck and she dropped dead. It was a two year old heifer and good meat. We {280} had great difficulty in keeping our cattle and horses from getting among the herds; and if they had got mixed, it would have been almost impossible ever to get them again.
"We traveled eleven and one-fourth miles this day until we came to the bluffs that made down to the river and then we camped for the night. Brother William Clayton had prepared a mile-gage on the hind wheel of his wagon so that the distance could be measured easily.
"Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith, and myself went on the highest bluff near by and took a survey of the surrounding country without glasses, and the scene before us, north, east, and west as far as our vision extended, looked as rough as the sea in a storm with the ridges and valley mostly sand and scarcely any green thing upon it except a little scattering grass, and the Spanish soap root, which the Mexicans used for washing. The top resembles a pineapple. I brought in one root twenty-four inches long and two inches in diameter. I pounded a little of it and found that it would fill a dish with suds like soap."
The bones of buffaloes had been more or less abundant since the company left Loup Fork. This probably indicated the eastern limit of the buffalo range. Among their bones there were frequently found skulls of human beings, probably Indians.
On Sunday the 9th the camp moved four miles and laid over for the day. Timber grew scarcer and the pioneers learned the value of the buffalo chip for making fires. At this season of the year, the cottonwood trees became green and were not fit for fires. "I wrote two letters for Brother Wolsen to take with him to Pueblo. One was to Brother Ferguson and the other to Brother Bevin. We had a meeting and a good one. The spirit of God ruled over the camp. Peace, quiet, and contentment pervaded almost every heart. The Twelve met and it was thought best for the brethren not to start for Pueblo until they arrived at Laramie. I rode with the Twelve and others four miles up the river and saw large herds of buffaloes come to water."
The tenth was cold, the thermometer standing at 33 degrees, with a moderate wind. Before leaving camp, a letter was put in a board by sawing an opening the width of the saw. It was nailed {281} to a post which was planted firmly in the earth. The letter was for the next company which was expected along in six or eight weeks. On the board were the words: "Open this box and you will find a letter; 316 miles from Winter Quarters; Pioneers; Latitude 40 degrees." The letter contained an account of the journey.
The grass was so completely eaten off that the cattle were very poor and unfit for long journeys. The movement of the buffaloes was eastward and they ate everything before them. It did not require many days, however, at this season of the year for the grass to make a considerable growth. "We passed through some miles of dead grass which we burned to give new feed for the next company. It made a great fire indeed."
Here in the midst of the journey, more than 300 miles from the Missouri River, with scant material, and few mechanical appliances, the ingenious nature of man asserted itself to meet a daily desire to know just how far the pioneers were traveling each day. William Clayton writes under date of May 8, 1847:
"I have counted the revolutions of a wagon wheel in order to get the exact distance we have traveled. The reason why I have taken this method which is somewhat tedious, is because there is generally a difference of two, and sometimes four, miles in a day's travel between my estimation and that of some others, and they have all thought I underrated it. This morning I determined to take pains in order to know for a certainty how far we would travel today. Accordingly I measured the circumference of one of the hind wheels of Brother Kimball's wagon, being the one I sleep in, in charge of Philo Johnson. I found the wheel exactly fourteen feet eight inches in circumference, not varying one eighth of an inch. I then calculated how many revolutions it would require for one mile and found it precisely 360, not varying one fraction, which somewhat astonished me. I have counted all the revolutions during the day's travel and find it to be a little over 11 1/4 miles. According to my previous calculations we were 285 miles from Winter Quarters this morning before we started, and after traveling ten miles I placed a small cedar post in the ground with these words inscribed on it with a pencil. 'From Winter Quarters 295 miles, May 8, 1847. Camp {282} all well. Wm. Clayton.' Some have estimated the day's journey at 13 and some 14 miles, which serves to convince more strongly that the distances are overrated. I have repeatedly suggested a plan of fixing machinery to a wagon wheel to tell the exact distance we travel, and many begin to be sanguine for carrying it into effect."
This tedious effort led to a mechanical contrivance which was later put into effect. Considering the circumstances of the pioneers, it was not a little extraordinary that such a rodometer should be constructed at such a time and under such circumstances. Here is a description of it: "Let a wagon wheel be of such a circumference, that 360 revolutions make one mile. (It happens that one of the requisite dimensions is now in camp.) Let this wheel act upon a screw in such a manner that six revolutions of the wagon wheel shall give the screw one revolution. Let the threads of this screw act upon a wheel of sixty cogs, which will evidently perform one revolution per mile. Let this wheel of sixty cogs, be the head of another screw, acting upon another wheel of thirty cogs; it is evident that in the movements of this second wheel, each cog will represent one mile. Now, if the cogs were numbered from 0 to 30, the number of miles traveled will be indicated during every part of the day. Let every sixth cog of the first wheel be numbered from 0 to 10, and this division will indicate the fractional parts of a mile, or tenths; while if any one should be desirous to ascertain still smaller divisional fractions, each cog between this division, will give five and one-third rods. This machinery (which may be called the double endless screw) will be simple in construction, and of very small bulk, requiring scarcely any sensible additional power, and the knowledge obtained respecting distances in traveling will certainly be very satisfactory to every traveler, especially in a country but little known. The weight of this machinery need not exceed three pounds."
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