After a
frosty, early morning, the camp arose.
The first fifty and the band moved out of the Chariton River Camp, their
home for the past ten days, at about 9 a.m.
Other companies, including Heber C. Kimball's company, would stay behind
another day.
Early in the morning,
a search for the lost traps was conducted.
Another trap was found in a hollow tree, a quarter mile from the
camp. Some of the men found a bee hive
in another tree but only found a little bit of honey.
After they traveled
for about six miles, they came to the east fork of Shoal Creek. On the way, the roads were still soft and
bad and several wagons broke down.
Helen Mar Whitney, the daughter of Heber C. Kimball wrote: “The road lay
over a prairie, and the earth being soft and inundated with the previous rains,
all that could were obliged to walk to favor the poor animals. Our feet would sink into the deep mud at
every step, and some of us came near being minus of shoes.”
At Shoal Creek, they
crossed over the water using a bridge which had been constructed by Brother
Elisha Averett and his company of pioneers.
On the other side of the river, they found Benjamin F. Johnson's company
camped. The main body continued on for
about a mile and camped on a rise in the prairie. Others camped about five hundred feet to the east, where George
A. Smith was camping in the edge of some woods containing beautiful oak.
John D. Lee had some
success hunting. He brought in a thirty‑pound
wild turkey. William Clayton had very
sore muscles and joints during the day's journal. After he set up camp, he tried wrestling and jumping, hoping to
loosen up his sore muscles. Instead, he
over‑exerted himself without even perspiration. He then was so sick that he had to go to bed.
Elisha
Averett's company of pioneers was busy constructing two bridges over Locust
Creek. One was seventy feet long, the
other twenty feet.
Robert
Cowden Egbert and Seviah Cunningham were married.1
Watson, Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 115‑118; Brooks, The Diary of Hosea
Stout; Nibley Exodus to Greatness, 144‑45; William
Clayton’s Journal; Black, Membership of the Church 1830‑1848
There was
a slight frost overnight, but the morning was clear and pleasant. At 6 a.m., the temperature was thirty‑four
degrees. A Council meeting was held, at
which a letter was written to Elder Orson Hyde in Nauvoo. It contained news of the camp's movements
and the counsel he requested regarding the difficulties back in Nauvoo. (See March 27, 1846.) Brigham Young counseled Elder Hyde to
prepare to move the poor of Nauvoo out of the city to farms in Iowa, as far
west as possible, where they could put in a crop. Orrin Porter Rockwell was assigned to return to Nauvoo with a
load of mail. He would travel with
Shadrach Roundy and Charles Decker.
The Council decided to
move the Camp of Israel another seven miles.
Brigham Young rode ahead and found the roads to be very bad. Because many from his company were out
finding grain and work, he decided to keep his company at Shoal Creek for
another day. John Taylor's company, and
a few others, did move on. Now that the
companies were better organized, they could travel and camp as more separate
groups. Brigham Young's company of
fifty camped in a square. The guard and
the artillery arrived into camp in the afternoon and formed the west part of
the square.
Heber C. Kimball's
company arrived at Shoal Creek, but decided to continue pressing on five more
miles. They camped on the opposite bank
of the west fork of Shoal Creek, where Orson Pratt was camping.
The company at Shoal
Creek did have some good success hunting,
finding corn, and getting hired for work. Four fine turkeys were brought into camp by the hunters. John D. Lee shot at, but missed an elk. Sixty‑five bushels of corn were
purchased. Four hundred pounds of flour
and five bushels of meal were brought in from Chariton Mill. Work was found for sixteen men to split
rails. Others who remained at Shoal
Creek during the day, took teams down to the creek to browse on grass. In the evening it started to become very
windy, signaling that a new storm was on its way. The band played for some citizens for payment of eight bushels of
corn.
Eliza Partridge Lyman,
wife of Amasa M. Lyman, arrived at Chariton River. She wrote:
At the river we came
across Henry Jacob’s wagon in the mud.
His wife Zina, sick in bed on top of the load, so near the wet cover she
could hardly raise her head, a babe in her arms, but a few days old, and no
other wagon near or friend to do any thing for her except her husband.
The Lymans were
helped to reach the main camp by some men from Elder Pratt’s company.
James
Cummings and John Butler continued their journey to the Emmett Company on the
Missouri River. Their breakfast
consisted of a squirrel that had been killed the day before. A serious misfortune struck during the
night. John Butler's horse caught its
foot in a rope, causing it to fall on tree roots. The horse died because of this accident. This was a devastating blow to their plans. They decided that they would have to travel
by putting all their baggage on the remaining horse while they both traveled on
foot. The high point for their day was
when Brother Butler shot a duck which they had for supper. They were able to cover fifteen miles during
the day.
A
daughter, Isabella Jan Forsyth, was born to Thomas and Isabella Forsyth. Also born was Julia Ann West to Charlotte
West.2
Watson, Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 120‑121; Beecher, The Personal Writings
of Eliza R. Snow, 124; Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 190;
Brooks, The Diary of Hosea Stout; William Clayton’s Journal; Eliza
Marie Partridge Lyman Diaries; Holzapfel, Women of Nauvoo, 169-70
Shortly
after sunrise, before breakfast, the camp started to move on. The first fifty moved out by 7 a.m. It was a dark, dreary, and windy morning. After five miles they reached the west fork
of Shoal Creek and crossed over the creek on a bridge built by the advance
group of pioneers. This was the
location where Orson Pratt had been camping for some time. Heber C. Kimball had arrived there the day
before. Brigham Young had breakfast with
Elder Kimball in his tent. Some of the
company ended up stopping at this point while others continued on for two miles
where George Miller was camping at a creek lined with timber. This was the first time in many weeks that
Brigham Young had caught up with Bishop Miller.
Brigham Young's lead
company continued to press on. They
soon came to a long hill which required doubling the teams, causing delays and
waiting for the wagons in the rear. Heber
C. Kimball's company and the band camped on top of this bluff. Brigham Young's lead company was able to
travel much further, a total distance of twenty miles. They stopped at Hickory Grove, about one
mile east of the east fork of Locust Creek.
Some of the guard and artillery went on to Locust Creek and quickly
built some fires to warm themselves.
During their day's
journey, rain and hail fell in the morning and then a steady rain started at
noon, continuing until about 5 p.m.
This caused many wagons to become stuck in deep mud. They worked hard to double up teams to pull
wagons out of the mud. Many of the
wagons continued traveling after dark.
Willard Richards stopped three or four miles behind, separated from his
wagon that contained his tent and food.
Others shared their food with Elder Richards’ family, who spent the
night sitting in their carriage. For
this dreary night, the Camp of Israel was scattered in many groups across the
prairie.
About this time,
Eliza P. Lyman wrote:
Our beds and our
provisions were out on the prairie with D[aniel] P. Clark and wife and Pricilla
Lyman, without fire nor food for their teams.
We had to sleep as best we could, some on boxes, some on chairs, some in
wet beds. . . . I do not know why I did not freeze, for I had no bed and very
little covering.
Brigham Young
received a message from Henry G. Sherwood at
Grand River. He stated that
there was work available, but corn was scarce.
Jobs could be contracted in exchange for oxen. The roads were good and dry in that area (or they were before
this most recent rain).
The evening was rainy
and very windy, causing much discomfort in all the camps across the
prairie. Hosea Stout recorded: “The wind blew uncommonly hard and beat the
rain into the tents but we rested well.”
James
Cummings and John Butler pressed on.
They too, were severely affected by the storms which caused them to stop
at 3 p.m. They crossed a road that ran
southwest between “the barracks”3 and
Missouri. At this point they met a man
who told them they were forty miles from “the barracks” and forty miles from
Missouri. At night, they pitched their
tents in some scattered timber and built a fire to dry themselves out after
being soaked all afternoon from the rain.
Brother Butler tried to hunt, but had no luck, so they boiled some corn
for dinner.
Watson, Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 121‑123; Stanley B. Kimball, “The Iowa Trek
of 1846"; Beecher, The Personal Writings of Eliza R. Snow, 124‑125;
Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 190; “Allen Stout Journal,”
typescript, 24-5; Watson, The Orson Pratt Journals; Lyman Amasa Mason
Lyman, Pioneer, 153
Many in the camp woke
up completely soaked from rain that had leaked into the tents. The temperature in the morning stood at
thirty-nine degrees. Willard Richards
arrived into camp during the morning.
The roads were so muddy that his wagon required two yoke of oxen to haul
it in. Brigham Young's large wagon also
arrived, requiring eight yoke of oxen.
Teams were sent back to help those who were stuck in the mud across the
prairie. Moving the camp further west
on this day was totally out of the question because of the weather.
There was very little
corn in the camp and none to be found in the neighborhood, but some work was
found splitting rails. The payment was
in bacon.4
The rain continued to
fall in scattered showers throughout the day.
Brigham Young rode down by Locust Creek to search for a dryer place to
camp. The creek had risen several feet
since the day before. He also spent
time cutting wood and fixing his tent.
In the evening, the
clouds broke away allowing the moon to shine down on the camp. William Clayton was quite sick. He wrote:
“I was so distressed with pain it seemed as though I could not
live. I went to bed and put a bag of
hot salt on my chest which seemed to give me some ease but I suffered much
through the night, and it continued to rain until after midnight. We put an extra cover on our sleeping wagon,
which kept out the rain.”
James
Cummings and John Butler also halted during the day because of the
weather. Brother Butler was feeling ill
because of rheumatism.
Watson, Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 124; William Clayton's Journal; Haven,
Hollon and Rister, Western America, 265; Reed C. Durham Jr., “The Iowa
Experience: A Blessing in Disguise,” BYU Studies 21:4, 467; Brooks,
The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1:148; Watson, The Orson Pratt Journals, 334; Hartley, My Best for the
Kingdom, 190
The camp
was greeted with white frost on the ground in the morning. It was a welcome change from all of the
rain. The skies were clear and the day
warmed up to be very nice. John Taylor
rode into camp and ate breakfast at Willard Richards’ tent. Elder Taylor had spent the previous night,
five miles back on the prairie. After
breakfast, he continued on to Locust Creek.
His company was totally out of corn.
Brigham Young
received a letter from George Miller, who was back on Shoal Creek. Bishop Miller mentioned that a friend of
his, Mr. Cochran, sold a yoke of oxen to a camp member and it was discovered
later that part of the fifty dollars was counterfeit. Bishop Miller was referring Mr. Cochran to President Young to
solve the problem. President Young
wrote back to Bishop Miller expressing his surprise that Bishop Miller would
refer this man to him. He knew that Mr.
Cochran was swearing out vengeance against the camp and President Young was
displeased that Bishop Miller would even describe President Young's wagons to
the man. He condemned anyone involved
with this bogus money and he counseled Bishop Miller to settle the affair
quickly by having the oxen returned. He
then asked for Bishop Miller's company to join the main camp as soon as
possible.
Because the camp was
severely low on corn, the cattle were sent off to browse. Several brethren went throughout the camp to
collect money to purchase corn.
Stephen Markham
became injured when an axe fell out of his wagon, landing on his foot.
Hosea Stout and Jesse
Hunter took a long walk north of the camp.
He wrote: “We went over rolling
prairie of very rich soil and came to a beautiful grove of trees which had all
been killed by the fire and presented a striking sensation of destroyed
loveliness and made us think on the destruction of our enemies.” As they were walking, they ran into John
Taylor's company moving on. They were
“astonished” because they did not think anyone would move on ahead of Brigham
Young after the Bishop Miller incident.
(See March 26, 1846.)
They observed that Elder Taylor's wagons were cutting up the road so
deep that it would make it impossible for others to use it.
At 3 p.m., Brigham
Young and others rode on the prairie across the middle branch of Locust Creek
and arrived at the east fork of the Creek, where many were camping. They camped on a beautiful, high, dry and
rolling prairie, but the timbered land was very soft. He returned to Hickory Grove at sunset.
In the evening,
instructions were given to the camp to be ready to move at sunrise. President Young wrote several letters
instructing brethren to catch up with the main camp. He also wrote to the Nauvoo Trustees, asking them to send several
reams of ruled foolscap paper with the next company.
At Heber
C. Kimball's camp, the companies were instructed to hold Sacrament Meetings for
the first time since leaving Nauvoo.
Eliza R. Snow recorded: “We
attended to the ordinance for the first time since we left the City. My heart was made to rejoice in the privilege
of once more commemorating the death of him whom I desire to behold.” At 4 p.m., William Clayton called the band
together for their Sacrament Service held in front of his tent. Brother Clayton spoke for forty‑five
minutes, followed by Brother Haws.
Eliza R. Snow wrote
this poem in the front of her wagon.
She entitled it, “Song for the Camp of Israel.”
O ye! toss'd to &
fro and afflicted
Rejoice in the hope of your lot;
For you're truly the
children of Israel
But the gentiles know you not.
And it matters not
when or whither
You go, neither whom you're among
Only so that you
follow closely
Your great leader, Brigham Young.
Let the spirit of
peace & union,
And the practice of righteousness
Be your prominent
characteristics
As you go to the wilderness.
And the blessings of
heaven will attend you
Both in time & eternity
If you strictly
adhere to the counsel
Of Brigham & Heber C.
The spirit and pow'r
of Jehovah
Will be guiding your feet along:
For the Lords &
the Gods are with you,
They are number'd in Israel's throng
In the sunshine, in
storms & in tempests‑‑
In all changes console yourselves
That your sharers in
sorrow & joy are
Brigham, Heber & all the Twelve.
At the
camp of Orson Pratt and George Miller, a Sunday service was held. Elder Pratt and Bishop Miller spoke, after
which the Sacrament was blessed and passed.
In the evening, arrangements were made to send men out for corn.
James
Cummings and John Butler resumed their journey on this day. They first had to find their remaining horse
which had wandered about a mile away. Their
breakfast consisted of boiled corn and a little bacon. They walked twenty miles across very rough
country and entered Pottawatomie Indian hunting grounds.
A public
meeting was held in the temple. Orson Hyde
and Joseph Young were among the speakers.
Elder Hyde wrote to Brother Ward in England. His letter was later published in the Church periodical, Millennial
Star. He reported that the
followers of James Strang were telling “the most horrid lies that men ever did
tell in creation.” The Strangites
claimed that hundreds of Saints had joined them, but Elder Hyde discounted this
as false. He only knew of a few, former
followers of Sidney Rigdon.
Elder Hyde reported
that John E. Page had been disfellowshipped.5
Returning to Elder
Hyde's letter, he reported, “Every thing in relation to this church goes well;
many are coming to Nauvoo and being baptized daily . . . hundreds of families
are coming here from other States, and fitting out for a campaign in the wilderness.”
Watson, Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 123‑125; Watson, The Orson Pratt Journals, 334; Brooks, The Diary of
Hosea Stout, 1:148‑49; William Clayton's Journal, 13‑14;
Delila Gardner Hughes, The Life of Archibald Gardner, 32; Millennial
Star, Vol. 7 No. 10, May 15, 1846, 157‑58; Beecher, The
Personal Writings of Eliza R. Snow, 127; Hartley, My Best for the
Kingdom, 190
It rained again
during the night and continued all day.
Part of the camp still moved out on this sixteenth anniversary of the organization
of the Church. Brigham Young decided to
move some of the camp because a new pasture was needed for the cattle. Erastus Snow explained that this move was
made for two reasons, “first because there was a prospect of a long storm,” and
they had learned that it was better to be near stream bottoms than on a
ridge. “Secondly, because these bottoms
were extensive and well‑timbered and afforded Browse for our teams, which
was our only means of sustaining them.”
The first teams started moving out at about 6 a.m. By noon, the ground where Brigham Young's
company had camped was cleared except for Willard Richards’ tent and
wagons. He was not able to leave
because the creek had risen so high, making it impossible to cross.
The companies
traveled three miles, passing over the east and middle forks of Locust
Creek. They made their camp on the west
bank of the middle fork. At the east
fork, they used a bridge that had been built by the advance pioneers. They had intended to reach the west fork of
Locust Creek, but the weather caused them to halt three miles short of their
goal. Locust Creek was thickly skirted
with timber.6
The traveling was
very difficult in the pouring rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Hosea Stout recorded: “This day capped the climax of all days for
travelling. The road was the worst that
I had yet witnessed up hill and down through sloughs on spouty oak ridges and
deep marshes, raining hard, the creek rising.
The horses would sometimes sink to their bellies.” Brigham Young had to make two trips,
doubling his teams, because of the terrible, muddy roads. Patty Sessions saw Brother Brigham at work
and wrote: “Brother Brigham came up
with his company driving his team in the rain and mud to his knees; was happy
as a king.”
There was still no
corn in the camp, so the cattle were sent out to browse on trees. Back at Hickory Grove, when the weather
cleared a little bit in the afternoon, the band played for some of those who
remained. A company of men had been
sent out in the morning to finish a job splitting rails. They worked all day in the rain and joined
the camp at Locust Creek, “all dripping wet and merry.”
At Locust Creek, a
strong wind blew over a tree across Brother Tanner's wagon containing three
people. No one was injured. Many of the companies camped in a dense
forest which provided some protection from the storm. Those without this protection had many of their tents blown down. Willard Richards’ tent stakes were seen
“flying in the air.” Elder Richards worked
hard to get the stakes back in, sometimes lying flat on the ground holding the
tent while the stakes were being driven into the ground. He ended up “wet to the skin.” In the evening, another terrible storm
brought strong winds, heavy rain, hail, lightning and thunder. William Clayton wrote: “The rain beat through the wagon covers and
drenched the families and effect. It
was the most severe storm we have experienced and with such wind it seems
impossible to preserve our little clothing and provisions from being
spoiled. But in the midst of all, the
camp seems cheerful and happy and there are but few sick.” During this storm, Hosea Stout had to get
out of bed, go outside and hold his tent down until someone came to help him
secure it.
Nine or
ten wagons left Orson Pratt's camp to obtain corn in nearby settlements. In three days, they would return mostly
empty. In the evening, the storm blew
down most of the tents. The water in
Shoal Creek rose so high that it threatened to overflow its banks and flood the
camp.
Many miles
to the west, James Cummings and John Butler skipped breakfast in order to put
in some miles before the rains came.
They traveled twelve miles and then camped in some timber where they
found some Indian wickiups which had probably been used a month before.
A
conference of the church was held in the basement of the Nauvoo temple, where
the baptismal font was located. They
could not meet in the upper levels because the workmen were painting and could
not meet in the grove near the temple because of the rainy weather. Elder Hyde prayed and the conference was
quickly adjourned until the following day because of their cramped
conditions. Elder Hyde conducted a
baptism of ten people in the Mississippi River at Main Street. Included were probably: Benjamin and
Margaret Cherry, Susanna Evertson, and Mary Hadlock
The first
church conference of the followers of James Strang was held in a grove of oak
trees on the banks of White River. This
conference was more like a political convention. John E. Page and William Marks (former Nauvoo Stake President)
were in attendance. James J. Strang was
sustained as President of the Church, Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and
Translator. William Marks and Aaron
Smith were sustained as counselors.
Reuben Miller was appointed president over the Voree Stake. Several men were appointed as “missionary
Apostles” including Zenos H. Gurley (one of the later founders of the RLDS
church). John E. Page was appointed
“Chief Apostle and President of the College of Apostles.” Strang, next boldly “excommunicated” Brigham
Young and the rest of the Twelve from his church. He then pronounced a curse on the followers of Brigham Young full
of blood and gore, asking for their misery and gruesome deaths.
Sidney
Rigdon's Church of Christ held their general conference. Rigdon told of a recent vision where he saw
that thousands of honorable men of Pittsburgh, who would help with the
redemption of Zion. He also mentioned
that “the devil had sought to overthrow this kingdom.” At this conference it was agreed to purchase
a farm in Antrim Township, Pennsylvania.
Sidney Rigdon peached that “he was treading upon ground unexplored by
man, for he had no predecessor, either in ancient or modern times. He had been assailed by malice, and the
tongue of slander had poured its poisonous and vindictive tide upon his head.”
Watson, Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 125‑126; The Orson Pratt Journals,
334‑35; Brooks, The Diary of Hosea Stout, 149‑50; William
Clayton’s Journal, 14‑15; Nibley, Exodus to Greatness, 145;
Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 190; Lason, Erastus Snow, 107‑08;
Little, From Kirtland to Salt Lake City, 51; Riegel, Crown of Glory,
67‑9; “Isaac Haight Autobiography,” typescript, 30; Kimball, Heber C.
Kimball ‑ Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer, 133; Black, Membership of
the Church 1830‑1848; Messenger and Advocate (Greencastle) June 1846,
466; Wagoner, Sidney Rigdon, 380‑81
It became
very cold overnight. The morning
temperature was twenty‑nine degrees which caused the ground to
freeze. Many of the puddles had iced up
and a light snow fell. The creek rose
six feet during the night creating an island where the cattle were
located. They had plenty of grass on
this temporary island and were left there until the water level lowered. However, during the day, the water level
continued to rise to a point where the bridge was in danger of floating away. The roads were impossible to travel, but a
few men were still able to go out on a job to split rails.
Sister Marie Stewart,
wife of Rufus Putman Stewart delivered a son.
On the previous evening, Sister Stewart had walked two miles through the
dark and crossed the creek on a log.
When her labor pains started, she was taken to a vacant house where she
was shielded from the storm. While she
waited there, Brother Stewart rode on his horse through the darkness and rain
to find the midwife, Patty Sessions. Sister
Sessions mounted the horse behind Brother Stewart and the poor horse made its
way back through the mud and water, “some of the way belly deep.” They did not make it in time. While her husband was away, Sister Stewart
gave birth to her son.
Brigham Young spent
the day repairing wagons in his company.
In the afternoon, he wrote letters, including several to Nauvoo
encouraging people to help the families of the guard leave Nauvoo.
As the camp
awoke, they saw that many of the tents were still lying flat on the ground
where they had been abandoned during the storm. Many of the Saints, including the band, were running low on provisions. The band played for the camp in the evening.