New Year’s
Day 1847 was ushered into Winter Quarters by the firing of the cannon three
times on the hill above the city. The
Saints celebrated this holiday with respectable order. No other guns were fired in the city. It was a very cold day and about an inch of
new snow fell.
Wilford
Woodruff spent much of the day arranging his huge journal from 1834 to
1846. He went through it and totaled up
some interesting figures. During this
period he had traveled 61,692 miles, including four trips across the ocean,
baptized 634 people, administered to 364 sick people, blessed 194 children, had
ten mobs raise up against him, wrote 1,040 letters, and received 699 letters.
In the
afternoon, William and Diantha Clayton went to her parents home (William and Olive
Farr) and had a nice roast turkey dinner.
At 4 p.m., Brother Clayton met the band at the basket shop and played
for an hour and a half. The
basket-makers gave each band member a basket for a present. In the evening, the band played for a party
at Heber C. Kimball’s home. Brigham
Young attended and there was much dancing.
Elisa
Mitchell, age forty, died. She was the
wife of William C. Mitchell. A son,
Horace Martin Alexander, was born to Horace M. and Nancy Walker Alexander.1
John D.
Lee made the wise decision to not go out into the bitter cold. Instead he was invited by his host, Mr.
Abbott to stay the day in his warm house.
Later in the afternoon, Brother Lee went into Savannah, Missouri to do
some trading.
The anti‑Mormons
gave a “grand military and civic ball” at the Mansion House. Thomas S. Brockman, who led the mob in the
Battle of Nauvoo, hosted the celebration.
The day
was unusually warm. The battalion could
not find water for the mules until 1 p.m.
They met two families traveling east, including the family of William
Money. Mrs. Money was caring for her
five‑day‑old child. Mr.
Money reported that the water holes made by General Kearny ahead were dry and
full of sand. They also brought news of
war between the Mexicans and General Kearny’s forces. It was rumored that there were casualties on both sides. Mr. Money also mentioned that a ship from
New York (the Brooklyn) had landed at San Francisco Bay with a large
company of Mormons. He reported that
they were “well situated.”
The
battalion marched for ten miles. They camped
near the river about four and a half miles north of present‑day Dateland,
Arizona. Colonel Cooke decided to
convert some poor wagons into a boat, by lashing two wagon boxes together. He wrote:
“In this I shall put all the baggage that I can risk, and after a trial,
probably much more. The Gila is a rapid
stream of clear water, in places three or four feet deep, and here about one
hundred and fifty yards wide.” Henry Standage
commented on this scheme: “This plan
will certainly lighten the loads for the mules and enable them to travel
faster, but I am of the opinion it is very risky.” The boat was pitched and tested, but it leaked. It was hoped that it would not leak as bad
in the morning.
Little
seventeen‑month‑old Parley Hunt, a son of Captain Jefferson Hunt
died. His twin sister, Mary lived
on. Their mother, Celia Hunt had been
sent to Pueblo with the first sick detachment.
Jefferson Hunt was still with the battalion in Arizona.
On the road from Pueblo, Colorado to
Winter Quarters:
Battalion
members, John Tippets and Thomas Woolsey camped for the night on the south fork
of the Platte River, near an Indian trading fort.
About 130 former
Church members, currently following after James J. Strang, held a New Year’s
feast at which they dedicated a small log dwelling for Strang.
Samuel
Brannan, leader of the Saints who arrived in California on the Brooklyn,
wrote a letter to the brethren in England.
He reported: “Since our arrival
the colony generally has enjoyed good health.
In relation to the country and climate we have not been disappointed in
our expectations, but, like all other new countries, we found the accounts of
it much exaggerated; so much so that we would recommend to all emigrants
hereafter to provide themselves with thick clothing, instead of thin.” He mentioned that they were anxiously
waiting the arrival of the main body of Saints, believing that California would
be chosen for the gathering place.
These California Saints were busy putting in crops for the expected
emigrants to use. He believed that
Brigham Young was probably wintering in present‑day Wyoming, at the
headwaters of the Platte. He planned to
send a company in the spring to meet the main body of the Church.
He wrote
of the infamous Governor Lilburn Boggs, former governor of Missouri, who had
recently arrived at California.
“Governor Boggs is in this country, but without influence, even among
his own people that he emigrated with.
During an interview I had with him a few days since, he expressed much
dissatisfaction with the country and spoke strongly of returning back in the
spring. He says nothing about the
Mormons, whether through fear or policy I am unable to say.”
Brother
Brannan reported that prices were very high, but there was plenty of
employment, especially for mechanics.
He planned to start a newspaper the following week which had the
sanction of Colonel John C. Fremont who was the new governor of California.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 491; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal 3:111‑112;
Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861,
223; William Clayton’s Journal, p.68;
Roberts, Comprehensive History of the Church, 3:32‑3;
Cooke, Exploring Southwestern Trails 1846‑1854, 185‑87;
Journal of Henry Standage in Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion,
200; Ricketts, Melissa’s Journey with the Mormon Battalion, 59;
Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 443‑44; Van Noord, King of
Beaver Island, 64; Nibley, Exodus to Greatness, 302‑04, 324
While
William Clayton was working on the books in the Winter Quarters store, his nine‑year‑old
daughter came and told him that her mother (Ruth Clayton) needed him to come
home. Little Moroni had fallen into the
fire and was burned badly on the left side of his head and face. There were large blisters around his eye. Brother Clayton immediately applied oil to
the wounds.
Hosea
Stout wrote in his journal a long summary of the current conditions in Winter
Quarters. Most of the brethren had
moved their families into houses. The
city was divided into twenty‑two wards.
He felt that the bishops were doing their duty better than he even knew
bishops to do before. The poor were
being cared for. The Seventies Quorum
had a willow basket factory in full operation, employing between twenty and
thirty people. The herds of cattle and
flocks of sheep were wintering well.
The weather had been very mild with very little snow. “The place has the appearance of a log town,
some dirt roofs, & a number of caves or ‘dug outs’ made in the banks
sometimes called ‘Dens’ & such like names.
The town would be hard to set on fire & burnt down for there are so
many ‘dirt toped & dirt houses.’”
Lorenzo
Dow Young crossed the river and started to travel to Oregon, Missouri for
another trading excursion.
Amanda
Rogers wrote a letter to her son, Samuel Hollister Rogers, serving in the Mormon
Battalion:
My dear
Son: As I have just learned that I have
an opportunity of sending a letter over the river to the office I gladly
improve it to let you know our circumstances.
But I have hard news for you your father is dead, he died the 1st day of
October. I hardly know how to name the
disease. He and Mark went about ½ miles
to draw a load of hay, was taken sick and never was able to get back. He died the 9th day. He never complained of a headache or any
such thing, he said he thot he should get well. He had his senses perfectly well all the time. He went to sleep a little in the afternoon
every day for the five last days. I
could not wake him up until some time in the night. The last day went to sleep as usual died about 8 o'clock in the
evening. We feel very lonesome. I assure you we desire your company very
much, but as it is ordained otherwise we are willing to put up with it as it is
the way we have to get along.
As to
provisions since we have been left alone, it is much better than I
expected. We have not wanted for
bread. I do not feel that we
shall. Mark takes hold like a man since
his father died. He has built a house
with our help, quilting and sewing. He
has now gone to Missouri to work and buy some corn and such like things. Russel and Theodore have gone with him . . .
Give
yourself no uneasyness about our getting along, for I think the way will open
for us. We are on the side of the
river. The reason we are here is
because there were twelve men chosen for High counselors and your father was
one of them and this seems to be his place, and we thot it would be better for
us to stay here this winter. . . .
I have not
time to write much. The church is
building a mill and thinking of building a carding machine in the spring. The Indians and half breeds on this side of
the river are very friendly. The
Indians on the other side appear to be so but will steal everything they can
lay their hands on. . . .
Do not
forget your duty toward God. I exhort
you to be faithful till we again do meet.
I do remember you before the throne of Grace every day, for if anybody
was near my heart it is you, although you are ever so far distant from me. So be of good cheer, let this comfort your
heart.
John D.
Lee left Savannah, Missouri to start his journey back home. Mr. Abbott had been very kind. He had boarded them free of charge. The Lee company traveled seven or eight
miles and then camped in some timber.
Colonel
Cooke had 2,500 pounds of provisions, baggage, and other items placed into the
makeshift boat. The plan was for the
boat to float all the way to the Colorado River crossing. The battalion marched on for eleven miles to
a stony mound that was later called Texas Hill. By nightfall, the boat had not yet arrived and the men began to
worry. They later learned that it was
stuck on a sandbar and had to have the provisions unloaded.
The rescue
party arrived at Turley’s camp to take the sick, who had been left at Turley’s
Ranch, to Pueblo.
On the road from Pueblo, Colorado to
Winter Quarters:
Battalion
members, John Tippets and Thomas Woolsey continued their journey down the south
fork of the Platte River in present-day northeastern Colorado. Brother Tippets wrote:
We
encountered a cold wind which blew fiercely in our faces. We had to seek shelter under the bend of the
river, where we spent the rest of the day and night with a very scanty fire as
there was no wood on these plains. The
extremities of the tails of our mules were frozen. The ice on the river froze ten inches thick in twenty
minutes. We traveled now nearly two
hundred miles on the open plains, as absolute strangers to the country. We knew not what to do nor what course to
take, only to continue traveling down the Platte River.
“Diary of Lorenzo Dow
Young,” Utah Historical Quarterly, 14:153; Kelly, ed., Journals of
John D. Lee, 1846‑1847 and 1859, 48; William Clayton’s Journal,
p.68; Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 444‑45; Nibley, Exodus to
Greatness, 324; Our Pioneer Heritage, 3:167-68
Members of
the Twelve preached at various wards in Winter Quarters. Elder Wilford Woodruff preached to a ward
that met at John Van Cott’s house. Elder
Woodruff administered to two who were sick.
Mary Richards attend her ward’s meeting at the home of John Scott. Heber C. Kimball spoke on the duties of
families. He exhorted husbands to watch
over their wives and children, and to instruct them in the gospel, “not with
severity, but with meekness & forbearance.” Wives were to be subject to their husbands and should watch over
their children and set good examples for them.
William
Clayton worked in the store all day. In
the evening Heber C. Kimball, his wife Ellen, Sister Whitney and others came in
to trade. They remained until 10 p.m.
The
Seventies met in the unfinished Council House.
The High Council met in Willard Richards’ octagon house, along with
several members of the Twelve. They discussed
completing the work on the Council House.
The High Council and bishops were asked to assemble on the next day with
their tools to finish the work on the building.
A choir
practice was held in the evening, conducted by Stephen H. Goddard.
The
battalion marched for eleven miles and camped near the Gila River. Along the way, they saw petrified bones of
an animal larger than an elephant which they supposed was an ancient mammoth. Col Cooke wrote: “If this river was frequented by mammoths, their extinction seems
to have been followed by that of every other living thing. One may travel a day without seeing an
animal, a reptile, creeping thing, and insect.” There was not grass at their camp, so they cut down some
cottonwood trees for the mules to eat the bark.
Colonel
Cook was angry to find out that Company D was consuming more than their
allotted rations. At this rate, he felt
the men would starve before reaching California. The boat had not arrived, so men were sent up the river to
discover the reason for the delay. The
boat had run aground and it was doubtful that it would be coming any further.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 491‑92; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal
3:115; William Clayton’s Journal, p.69; Ward, ed., Winter Quarters,
104; Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 445‑46; “Journal Extracts of
Henry W. Bigler,” Utah Historical Quarterly, 5:2:52
The day
was “cold and blustering.” Snow fell
overnight, covering the ground. Eliza
R. Snow commented, “The weather today
will pass for winter.”
Brigham Young
and Willard Richards wrote a letter to Charles C. Rich at Mount Pisgah. They informed Elder Rich of the current
plans for the westward movement in the spring and asked him to come to Winter
Quarters to prepare to be part of this advance company.
Our Council
met at Christmas and decided to send on a Pioneer company as early as possible,
with plows, seeds, grain, etc., and make preparations for eatables at the foot
of the mountains on this side and when the grass starts we will follow as many
as can go. Your name is among the
number and we want you to go with us.
Gird up your loins, Brother Rich, put on your armor, cheer up your
heart, and being filled with Almighty faith, prepare for the battle as fast as
possible. If you are sick, be made
well. If you are weak, be made
strong. Shake yourself like a mighty
man; make the forest echo to the sound of your voice and the prairies move at
your presence. Teach the Saints wisdom
and knowledge, that they may come to understanding, and exercise themselves in
faith, patience, meekness, brotherly love, kindness hope, charity and endurance
unto the end and they shall be saved, and whether they remove from hence, this
season or next, it mattereth not, for if they abide counsel it shall be well
with them.
He was
also asked to bring the late William Huntington’s family with him to Winter
Quarters. Brigham Young also
added: “We have had quite a reformation
at this place of late, which has caused good feelings to prevail in the breasts
of the Saints. The health of the Saints
is much improved lately. The Bishops
are diligent in watching over the several wards; preaching and prayer meetings
are multiplied. . . . The weather has been very mild this season, and very
little crossing (the Mo. river) on the ice.”
Sister
Harriet Young stayed very busy while her husband, Lorenzo, was away trading in
Missouri. She wrote: “Susan washed clothes. I washed yarn. I sold 2 lb. of butter to Bro. John [Green] also 2 lb. to Sister
Powers. Sent some onions and a piece of
pork to Bro. Dunkin.”
Hosea
Stout went to Elder Richards’ house and was pleased when President Young
invited him to be in the pioneer company that would leave in the spring. A council meeting was held in the evening.
John D.
Lee dressed and weighed pork that he purchased near Savannah and then continued
his journey back toward Winter Quarters.
His company traveled eighteen miles and stayed the night at a Mr. A.
McCoy’s house. They ate dinner with the
family and then bedded down in their wagon.
Newel
Knight was very sick. He could not
arise in the morning. He said to his
wife, “Lydia, I believe I shall go to rest this winter.”
A
daughter, Margaret Mace, was born to Wandle and Margaret Merkle Mace.
The
battalion marched over a bluff and camped at the foot of a “volcanic peak of
rocks some five hundred feet high.”
[Present‑day Antelope Hill.] Several men enjoyed climbing this
hill and rolled down a huge rock which crashed to the bottom with a tremendous
noise.
There was
no grass in that area for the mules, so they were sent off to the river bottoms
to graze, guarded by forty‑two men.
Colonel Cooke also sent six men back to retrieve the supplies which were
on the failed boating experiment.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 492; Clark, Messages of the First Presidency,
1:307; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal 3:115; Kelly, ed., Journals of John
D. Lee, 1846‑1847 and 1859, 49; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon
Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861, 223; “Diary of Lorenzo
Dow Young,” Utah Historical Quarterly, 14:154; Beecher, ed., The
Personal Writings of Eliza R. Snow, 151; Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket,
446‑47; Newel Knight Autobiography in Classic Experiences, 104
Wilford
Woodruff spent the day hauling hay. He
sent three bushes of meal to Brother Mercer, who was taking care of his herd in
the rushes to the north. Hosea Stout
went to Orson Pratt’s house to arrange for $87.00 pay for the police
guard. He also received some provisions
for himself and an order for a few things in the store. He wrote:
“These things greatly relieved me for I was in want very much. I spent the remainder of the day, after
taking my wife to the store, in notifying the police to go and get their
pay.” Mary Richards also visited the
Winter Quarters store. She purchased
some cloth to make some clothes. Sister
Richards then went to the Alfred B. Lambson home to visit with Sister Melissa
B. Lambson where she had a wonderful time.
William Clayton worked in the store all day, and in the evening met with
the band.
A council
meeting was held in the evening. The
night turned bitter cold with snow and a blustery wind. Hosea Stout recorded that the wind was
“blowing from the north howling through the city & spreading a lonely gloom
on all nature which I seldom feel. This
is the first snow that really deserves the name which has fell this year.”
Margaret
Blackhurst, age forty-two, died. A
daughter, Permelia Marciana Pendleton, was born to Joseph T. and Mary
Pendleton.
A son,
Seth James Wixom, was born to Solomon and Harriet Teeples Wixom.2
John D.
Lee traveled eighteen more miles toward Winter Quarters, returning from his
trading expedition. The roads were very
bumpy because of the hard, frozen ground.
He camped for the night at a Mr. Mathews’ home. At 7 p.m., it started to snow and became
bitter cold.
Newel
Knight awoke with a severe pain in his right side and also a high fever. He believed that he did not expect to
recover.
The
battalion marched twelve miles toward the Gila Mountains. Colonel Cooke wanted to avoid the sand
bluffs, so they camped away from the Gila river. Doctor Stephen Foster returned to report that he had to abandon
all of the provisions that were loaded on the boat which had become stuck on
sand bars. Most of them were more than
thirty miles back. Because these
provisions were lost, Colonel Cooke had to reduce rations.
Many of
the men enjoyed weighing themselves on a scale. Nathaniel V. Jones recorded that he at this time weighed 128
pounds. He had lost 70 pounds since
starting the march.
The rescue
party continued to travel toward Pueblo with the few sick men from the
battalion who had been left behind at Turley’s Ranch near Taos. George D. Wilson was one of these men. He wrote on this day:
On the road
to Pueblo, not being able to eat my blood weak and my feet frozen and a pack
load to carry, at 4 oclock I sunk down exhausted in the wilderness
prairie. The cold winds blowing and no
man near but God was my friend and I lived through it. Travelled until late in the evening and
found the camp by the sound of the gun.
This was the nearest death by cold and sickness and oppressions and the
narrowest escape of my life and also like David to cursing my enemies that they
might fall into the same pit they had digged for my soul.
Wilford
Woodruff’s Journal, 3:115; Kelly, ed., Journals of John D. Lee, 1846‑1847
and 1859, 49 Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea
Stout 1844‑1861, 223; Ward, ed., Winter Quarters, 104‑05;
Yurtinus, A Ram in the Thicket, 447‑48; “The Journal of Nathaniel
V. Jones,” Utah Historical Quarterly, 4:10; William Clayton’s Journal,
69
This day
was the coldest day so far of the winter season. The temperature dipped to two degrees below zero. It was so cold that Harriet Young had to
take into the house a sheep with a young lamb.
Hosea Stout wrote: “We were very
uncomfortable all day in despite of our best fires and passed off the day to
the best advantage to be comfortable.”
Brigham
Young wrote a letter to Thomas Alvord, answering questions regarding
sealings.
When a man hears
the Gospel and obeys it and lives up to all the law of the Gospel, his wife and
children are his, in time and in eternity; but if the husband reject the Gospel
and the wife receives it, she can claim all the children that have died in
infancy, or without law, or if she can prevail on them to embrace the Gospel,
she can hold them or claim them as her children in time and in eternity.
In the
evening, Wilford Woodruff ordained Abraham O. Smoot as a bishop. Elder Woodruff had been filling in for
Brother Smoot acting as bishop of the ward while Brother Smoot was away.
The Twelve
met at Ezra T. Benson’s home and “chatted on the first or most interesting
subjects” that came before them. They
discussed the missions of Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, and John Taylor in
England, and discussed the gathering of the Saints and “the opening up of their
way from the four quarters of the Earth to the final place of their
destination.”
Cynthia
Soule Dykes, wife of George P. Dykes gave birth to a daughter, Rachel Dykes,
her twentieth child.
It was
thirteen below zero where John D. Lee was staying. He decided to not travel this day. It was considered unsafe to stray more than one mile from a warm
fire. He sold some things to help pay
for some expenses. The storm started to
abate about noon.
The
battalion traveled twelve difficult miles along the Gila River and camped at
Devil’s Point, near the Gila Mountains.
No timber could be seen on the mountain slopes nearby. The battalion rations were becoming
dangerously low. Walter Davis shot a
huge pelican and made a hat out of the gullet.
Watson, ed., Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 493‑95; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal,
3:115; Kelly, ed., Journals of John D. Lee, 1846‑1847 and 1859, 49‑50;
“Diary of Lorenzo Dow Young,” Utah Historical Quarterly, 14:154; Brooks,
ed., On the Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout 1844‑1861,
223; Tyler, A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion, 239
The
temperature fell to eight degrees below zero.
Hosea Stout wrote: “Towards day,
the howling north wind, which had not yet ceased to blow, began to howl with
renewed strength and filled our little shanty full of its cold and piercing
breath. The weather had increased in
coldness & when morning light came, I found one of those intolerable cold
clear days that bids the most industerous to cease his labours & keep
within.” Mary Richards had a difficult
day in the cold: “Had only wood enough
to make one fire. Got breakfast, which
took us til noon then being froze out with the cold, I went to sister
Jane’s. When I got there my hands &
feet ached severely. Felt quite unwell
all day from the effects of the cold.”
The Twelve
wrote a letter to Orson Hyde, John Taylor, and Parley P. Pratt in England. “We have upwards of seven hundred houses in
our miniature city, composed mostly of logs in the body, covered with puncheon,
straw and dirt, which are warm and wholesome; a few are composed of turf, willows,
straws, etc., which are very comfortable this winter, but will not endure the
thaws, rain and sunshine of spring like stone, burnt clay, or even
hickory.” The mill was nearly ready for
operation and the Council House was almost ready to received dirt on the
roof. Willard Richards’ octagon house
was described as:
a queer
looking thing, six rods east of President Young’s and very much resembling a
New England Potato heap in the time of frost. . . . Since our buildings were
completed, many of the saints have turned their attention to manufacture of
willow baskets, hundreds of dollars worth have already been completed and there
is a prospect of quite an income from this source in the spring. Other articles are also commencing, such as
washboards, half bushels, etc.
They shared
with them the current plans for a pioneer company that were discussed at the
long council meeting, at Christmas.
The Pioneer
Company of some two or three hundred, more or less, would be fitted out as early
as circumstances would possibly permit so as to be at the foot of the Mountains
somewhere in the region of Yellowstone River, perhaps at the Fork of Tongue
River, say two days ride north of the Oregon Road, and a week’s travel west of
Fort Laramie, with plows, corn, beans, etc.
prepared to raise a summer crop, for some thousand or two of the Saints
who should follow after them as soon as grazing would permit.
William
Clayton went to Sister Buel’s house for a supper of turkey. Afterwards he went to Leonard’s and played
for them with Jacob Hutchinson and
James Smithies.
John D.
Lee had a very difficult day traveling back toward Winter Quarters. It started off fine, with a little trading
in Lindon, Missouri. But after four
more miles, the front right wheel fell off his wagon and the axle‑tree
broke. To make matters worse, Charles
Decker, also in his company, ran his wagon off a fourteen‑foot high
bridge. The wagon box broke and the
goods were broken and scattered all around.
They worked until midnight loading the provisions back in a wagon.
Colonel
Cooke sent men ahead to cut a road through dense undergrowth around Devil’s
Point. The battalion marched for seven
miles. A broken wagon had to be
abandoned. The mules had to swim across
the river in order to find some grass.
The pontoon boats arrived just in time to ferry the guards across.
Levi
Hancock described the land: “It is broaken
up and it looks as if it had bin turned topsey turvy.” The companies’ provisions were weighed and
it was discovered that only nine days’ rations were on hand and they were still
at least twelve days from the first settlement in California.