It rained
very hard during the night and continued until noon. Patty Sessions wrote: “I
got wet to my skin last night milking.
I went to bed with my clothes wet.
12 oclock the sun came out dried my bed and clothes, but my tears will
not dry up.”
This day was
President Brigham Young's forty‑fifth birthday. Helen Mar Whitney made mention of this event in her journal. But President Young was probably too busy
making preparations to leave Mount Pisgah to stop and celebrate this
anniversary.
Hosea Stout finally
arrived at Mount Pisgah. He gave this
description:
This place was called
Mount Pisgah and the main settlement was situated on a long ridge running North
& South. To the west was a large
deep valley or bottom land of good prairie and was now being plowed &
planted while all the adjoining glades and groves were teeming with men &
cattle engaged in the busy hum of improving and planting. The whole woods & prairie seemed alive
to business & a continue stream of emegration pouring in which looked like
the entire country would be inhabited as a city in a short time.
George W. Hickerson1 left with eight letters to Nauvoo. Ezra T. Benson paid 12 ½ cents for postage which
impressed the postmaster, Willard Richards.
This was the first time anyone had offered to pay for postage. Horace Rockwell2
arrived with twenty letters from Nauvoo.
Before leaving Mount Pisgah, Brigham Young wrote letters of authority
for William Huntington, Ezra T. Benson, and Charles C. Rich. They were given authority to regulate all
matters in the branches, to gather the Saints, and to take charge of the guns
and other public property. President
Young also read a letter from Edmund Ellsworth3
stating that people back in Nauvoo had stoned Dr. Richards’ buggy.
Sister Eliza R. Snow
noted the chilly wet weather in her journal, “The month [of June] commences
with a volley of natures tears quite cold.
D. Gleason & I are in the wagon with a kettle of coals.” She was feeling somewhat sad that she would
not be able to go on with the advance group of pioneers.
I do not know why some
are called to more self denial than others‑‑I pray that I may live
to see the time when patience & submission will be rewarded in
righteousness. . . . I prefer stopping behind for the present that every
possible means may be appropriated to liberate the Twelve from the oppression
of selfish ones who never have made sacrifices for the truth's sake- ‑yet
I find a trial to my feelings in being separated from those whom I have ever
been associated in the church.
A baby was born at
Mount Pisgah. Hyrum D Buys Jr. was born
to Hyrum and Elizabeth Buys.4
At 4 p.m., Brigham
Young's fifty began to move across the river.
The company traveled three to four miles and camped for the night on
another branch of Grand River. It
rained somewhat during the evening.
John
Butler regulated the Emmett company and obtained some meal to last the camp for
several days. Camp members repaired
wagons to get ready for the expected journey across the Missouri River, when
the main Camp of Israel would arrive at Council Bluffs.
Louisa
Pratt’s company crossed over the Des Moines River at Bonaparte. She wrote: “Across the Des Moines River the
boat was drawn by pulleys. I was in great fear that the ropes would break. We
got safely over.” Her teamster, a young
man stopped to see his mother. He had
been living with his father in Nauvoo.
His mother was very opposed to having her son drive Louisa Pratt’s wagon
to the west, even though her the young man received permission from his
father. Sister Pratt pled with the
mother and many tears were shed.
Finally the mother consented.
Sister Pratt concluded the day with:
“That night we camped where there were 40 wagons. It looked cheerful
after traveling all day over a desolate country and intolerable roads, to
salute a company of our brethren.”
There were
still hundreds of Saints in Nauvoo, preparing to leave. Sister Sally Randall5
wrote in a letter:
We expect to start in
a few days for the West. Where we shall
go I know not, but we are going into the wilderness. We go as Abraham went, not knowing whither we go, but the Lord
will go before us, and be our front and rearward. The Saints have been going steady since last February and are
still going by hundreds. They cross the
river in several places and cross day and night. . . .
You think there is no
need of going from here, but the mob are threatening continually to come upon us. We heard they were coming today but I have
not seen anything in the least, for I believe there is faith enough in the city
to keep them back until the Saints all get away. We have to make a great sacrifice in order to get away. The most of the Saints are selling out
although at a very low price. I expect
the temple will be sold. The Roman
Catholics talk of buying it.
A non-Mormon Nauvoo
resident wrote about this time to her fiance in Minnesota, commenting on the
possible sale of property to the Catholics:
Now methinks were I an
inhabitant of Hancock County, I would much rather the Mormons would have
possession than the Catholics.
Doubtless they have deep designing well laid plans and when once they
get a foothold, there is no telling what they may do connected as they are with
a foreign power.
Thomas Bullock, who
had served as a clerk for the Church, was still in Nauvoo preparing to
leave. He took his two oxen to the
woods and hauled out a log to be made into a wagon tongue. This was his first attempt to drive oxen and
he thought he did very well. A great
wind storm arrived in the evening.
Elder
Jesse C. Little, the leader of the Church in the East, in Washington to appeal
to the government for help, was frustrated with the slowness of the
process. He decided to write a dispatch
directly to President James K. Polk. He
recited the injustices which the Saints had suffered because of religion and
stated:
I come to you fully
believing that you will not suffer me to depart without rendering me some
pecuniary assistance, and be it large or small, you shall not lose your reward.
. . . Our brethren in the west are compelled to go, and we in the eastern
country are determined to go and live, and, if necessary, to suffer and die
with them. Our determinations are fixed
and cannot be changed.
He testified of the
Saints' loyalty to America and their desire to go west “under the outstretched
wings of the American eagle.” He
appealed for assistance from the President.
He believed that the Saints would answer a call to defend the country.
Watson, Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 175-77; “Patty Sessions Diary,” June 1, 1846;
Brooks, John Doyle Lee, 87; Nibley, Exodus to Greatness, 173;
Brooks, The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1:165; Sally Randall Letters in
Godfrey et al.,Women's Voices: An Untold History of the Latter‑day
Saints, 1830‑1900, 146; Beecher, The Personal Writings of Eliza R.
Snow, 135; Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 205; Willard
Richards’ Journal, June 1, 1846; Comprehensive History of the
Church, 3:72‑3; “Thomas Bullock Journal,” 64; Black, Membership of
the Church 1830‑1848; Our Pioneer Heritage, 12:366; Jenson, LDS
Biographical Encyclopedia, 4:699; Holzapfel, Women of Nauvoo, 159;
Letter from Nancy Aiton to John Felix Aiton; “Louisa Pratt autobiography” in Heart
Throbs 8:238
The
morning was cold and the day was windy.
At 10 a.m., Brigham Young rejoined his company across the river, but
returned to Mount Pisgah in the afternoon to attend to some business, including
signing the letters of authority for the presidency of Mount Pisgah.
A young Indian brave
came into camp carrying a small spotted fawn in his arms. Heber C. Kimball bought it from the Indian,
paying him one dollar in silver. Sadly,
a day or two later the fawn died.
Charles C. Rich took
his signed order to Hosea Stout to let Brother Rich take possession of the
public arms. He counseled Brother Stout
to remain at Mount Pisgah because of his family sickness and released him from
his public duty. Brother Stout
commented in his journal, “It released me from all public care and
responsibility and I felt like a free man with nothing on my mind but to
contrive how to take care of my family for the best.” Brothers Stout and Hunter went and laid a foundation of a house
on a beautiful location.
President Brigham
Young came to them and expressed his desire to have them go on with the guns
and leave their families for now. They
both pledged their support to obey him.
He found out that they were both destitute and gave them some money to
buy provisions for their families.
Brother Stout, somewhat frustrated with this flip‑flop of plans
commented:
Here again we were
entirely disconcerted and now all together gave up the idea of raising a crop and
it seemed that it was designed by some over ruling power that we should not
'sow nore reap' neither enjoy the peace and happiness of a private life
anymore. We saw nothing but a long
train of public cares and responsibility hanging over us for we knew it would
not end at the Bluffs.
President Young
delivered all of the papers belonging to the settlement to President Huntington
and then crossed back over the river at 6:45 p.m. Others also left Mount Pisgah.
About five hundred wagons would move out over the next few days. Sister Eliza Snow bid several of her friends
good-bye. Sister Kimball gave her a
little present. In the evening, a
thunder shower started, but only a little rain fell.
Thomas
Bullock helped his father‑in‑law, Brother Clayton, hunt for his
sheep in the Big Field. He returned
home after he found them. He wrote in
his journal, “Very tired having seen a country desolate, houses empty, and
inhabitants gone. Prairies deserted of
cattle and people. Such is the blasting
effect of mob misrule.” Nauvoo also
experienced a severe wind storm during the night.
A son, Nathaniel
Preston Felt, was born to Nathaniel and Eliza Felt.6
At noon,
Elder Jesse C. Little met with President Polk's adviser, Amos Kendall. Mr. Kendall informed Elder Little that the
president had received his communication written the day before and that the
president desired to meet with Elder Little on the next day, at noon.
The Cabinet met
together and discussed plans relating to conducting the war against
Mexico. They had settled on an
expedition to Mexico. A draft order was
written to Colonel Kearny of the U.S. Army, to take possession of Santa Fe and
then to go to California.
That night, President
Polk wrote in his diary: “Col. Kearny was also authorized to receive into
service as volunteers a few hundred of the Mormons who are now on their way to
California, with a view to conciliate them, attach them to our country, &
prevent them from taking part against us”
Watson, Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 177; Willard Richards’ Journal, William
Clayton’s Journal, 41; “Diary of Lorenzo Dow Young,” Utah Historical Quarterly,
14:140; The Diary of Hosea Stout June 2, 1846, 165; Beecher, The
Personal Writings of Eliza R. Snow, 135; Comprehensive History of the
Church, 3:73; Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.2, MORMON BATTALION;
“Thomas Bullock Journal,” 64; Black, Membership of the Church 1830‑1848;
Mormons at the Missouri, 44; Nibley, Exodus to Greatness, 174; Diary
of James K. Polk, 1:443‑4;
Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion, 89‑90
Elder
Willard Richards arrived at the main camp early in the morning, at 7 a.m. He continued on and crossed over the west
fork of Grand River at 9:00 a.m.
Brigham Young conducted
some business, and met in council with members of the Twelve and others at 12
p.m. They discussed a British “Joint
Stock” scheme which had been created by Reuben Hedlock and Thomas Ward, who had
been left in charge of the British Mission by Elder Wilford Woodruff. Brigham Young was very worried about this
scheme and remarked that if Elders Hedlock and Ward did not repent and turn
about, they would destroy themselves.
The Twelve were very concerned that this “Joint Stock Company” was being
associated with the Church.
Nevertheless, if investments were to be made, they felt it best that
they purchase the Great Basin for the Church on long credit.
Brigham Young's
company traveled seven miles and camped on the prairie.
Hosea
Stout traveled to the camp on the West Fork and counseled with Brigham Young
before he left. Brother Stout was
advised to move on with his family.
This would be much easier than going alone and returning later to
retrieve them. President Young sent
orders to Charles C. Rich, to provide what would be needed for the Stout family
to move on.
William Clayton
decided to move on. His teams were
scattered and disorganized, but he started with what he had. He crossed the river at 3 p.m., still
missing one yoke of oxen. He sent men
out to hunt for them, but they were not found.
Orson Pratt's wife,
Louisa was very sick with a fever.
Doctor Sprague had been hired to attend to her and give her
medicine. She was diagnosed with Typhus
fever. Elder Pratt asked the Doctor's
advise regarding taking her on the journey.
The doctor felt that the journey would not injure her and might even do
her good.
Eliza R. Snow
continued to bid farewell to her friends.
She recorded: “Sister W[hitney]
came to our wagon & sang me a beautiful song of Zion, which I rejoic'd in a
parting blessing‑‑it is a season not to be forgotten.” At about noon, Sister Snow's sister‑in‑law,
Harriet, brought Eliza to her brother's bedside. Lorenzo Snow was still very ill.
Eliza had sent medication which seemed to help a little, but he was
still very sick. She wrote: “I pray the Lord to restore him to health‑‑I
feel the worth of his unremitting kindness to myself & others.” After her visit, she walked back to her
“home.”
A daughter, Elizabeth
Horne, was born to Joseph and Mary
Horne.7
Far to the
east, on his way to Mount Pisgah, Wilford Woodruff went into the town
Bloomfield. He bought two yoke of oxen
for $50.
The
company that Mary Richards was traveling with, were following a new northern
route that bypassed Garden Grove, heading directly to Mount Pisgah. On this day, she started a letter to her
husband Samuel W. Richards, still in Nauvoo, waiting to leave on his mission to
England. Mary first expressed her
loneliness for him
Oh! would it had been
my lot to have gone with you. Me thinks
I would gladly have past through the perils of the ocean & the trials
through which I might have been called to pass could I only have been blest
with your society. But alass! for me
Providance has provided it otherwise and I must submit to my lonely fate. But forgive me, for why should I thus
complain seeing I am among Friends who are always ready to administer to my
wants & who are interested for my welfare.
She also wrote words
of encouragement:
May the Lord bless
& preserve you from the evils of temptation of this wicked world & from
the power of the adversary of your soul, that he may not be able to afflict you
but that you may be able to go forth and accomplish the work that is for you to
accomplish. Be a usefull instrument in
the hand of God in doing a great work & may the time soon come when you
shall return to the bosem of your anxious friends, is the sincere prayer of
companion.
Thomas
Bullock bought a wagon cover, nails, a tongue bolt, and other items. He took his oxen into the woods and brought
back wood for “ox bows.”
Jesse C.
Little met with the president of the United States, President James K.
Polk. President Polk stated that he
believed the Mormons were good citizens and he was willing to help them. The Mormons should be protected and he was
happy to meet with Elder Little.
President Polk wrote in his journal, “I told Mr. Little that by our
constitution the Mormons would be treated as all other American citizens were,
without regard to sect to which they belonged or the religious creed which they
professed, and that I had no prejudices towards them which could induce a
different course of treatment.”
President Polk asked
Elder Little if he thought 500 or more of the Mormons would be willing to
volunteer and enter the U.S. army.
Elder Little was certain they would.
Elder Little said he would personally go with speed to the camp and see
that the volunteers were raised.
President Polk
promised to do something for them but said he had not yet decided the
details. He said that he wished to talk
with the secretary of the navy and would get word back to Elder Little on the
next day. Polk wrote in his journal,
I told him I would see
him on to‑morrow on the subject.
I did not deem it prudent to tell him of the projected expedition into
California under the command of Col. Kearney .
. . the main object of taking
them into service would be to conciliate them, and prevent them from assuming a
hostile attitude towards the U.S. after their arrival in California.
President Polk did
issue orders that day to Colonel Stephen W. Kearny, stationed at Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas.
It is known that a
large body of Mormon emigrants are en route to California, for the purpose of
settling in that country. You are
desired to use all proper means to have a good understanding with them, to the
end that the United States may have their cooperation in taking possession of,
and holding, that country. It has been
suggested here that many of these Mormons would willingly enter into the
service of the United States, and aid us in our expedition against California. You are hereby authorized to muster into service
such as can be induced to volunteer; not, however, to a number exceeding one‑third
of your entire force. Should they enter
the service they will be paid as other volunteers, and you can allow them to
designate, so far as it can be properly done, the persons to act as officers
thereof.
Watson, Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 177‑78; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal,
3:51; William Clayton’s Journal, 41; Watson, The Journals of Orson
Pratt, 352; Brooks, The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1:165; Beecher, The
Personal Writings of Eliza R. Snow, 135; “Thomas Bullock Journal,” 65; Comprehensive
History of the Church, 3:73, 76‑7; Black, Membership of the Church
1830‑1848; Bennett, Mormons
at the Missouri, 1846‑1852; “Journal Extracts of Henry W. Bigler,” Utah
Historical Quarterly 5:2:36; Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
10:106; Diary of James K. Polk, 1:445‑56; Golder, The March of
the Mormon Battalion, 91‑2; Ward, The 1846-1848 Life Writings of
Mary Haskin Parker Richards, 72
It was a
cold and windy day. The lead camp
traveled twenty miles. They passed
through present‑day Orient, which is 28 miles northwest of Mount Pisgah.8
An
important meeting was held in the settlement.
Elder Orson Hyde and his company arrived into camp. Elder Hyde and Elder Orson Pratt urged the
congregation to sacrifice “for the general good” and asked for teams and men
for the advance company. Elder Pratt
asked, “How many are there running off instead of fitting out the Twelve? You
know [the Twelve] ought not to be divided on this important expedition.” President Huntington spoke, “I have done my
duty‑‑I had enough to fit myself out comfortable, but I gave it up
to help off the Twelve. The Widows and
the Orphans have to be left with the poor of this place. Is it not better to be left without the
Twelve than to go ourselves?”
Charles C. Rich
added, “You have heard the remarks that have been made and you know the duty
you have to do and the sacrifices you will have to make. We want several waggons. Brothers Brigham & Kimball want some
teams and the brethren here want help, not only teams and waggons, but money
also.”
The donations were
meager: Two yoke of cattle, 2 wagons, a blind mule, about twenty dollars, a
bushel of meal, and fifty pounds of flour.
William Clayton again
sent men to hunt for missing cattle.
They still could not find them.
Brother Clayton recorded:
“Towards the evening it rained and there was one of the most beautiful
rainbows I ever saw in my life. We
could see its brilliant reflection within a few rods of us.”
Log houses continued
to be built. Sister Eliza R. Snow
wrote:
Moved into a house
built of logs some peeled and some with the bark on, laid up cob fashion from 3
to 8 inches apart‑‑the roof formed by stretching the tent cloth
over the ridge pole and fastening at the bottom on the outside, which,
carpetting, blankets &c. fastened
up at the north end to prevent the wind which is almost cold as winter. We find ourselves very comfortably and commodiously
situated.
Sister Snow also
understood better, the wise decision of having many stop in Mount Pisgah. Some brethren sent for a yoke of cattle
belonging to Brother Markham. She
wrote: “I not only feel reconciled, but
rejoice that we stopped that others may have the means. Brother M[arkham] having given up all his
cattle and one wagon for the benefit of the cause.”
A
daughter, Mary Isabell Hales, was born to Charles and Julia Hales.9
Mary
Richards continued her letter to her husband Samuel W. Richards, back in
Nauvoo. She wrote that they traveled
eight miles on very muddy roads. “Very
hard traveling, the weather cold, wore my shawl & cloak all day and have
never felt warm til now. We can see
nothing but prairie for several miles.”
Samuel's brother Joseph, had spent the last two days up to his knees in
the mud along the trail. His father,
Phinehas Richards was quite sick and confined to bed.
It was a
beautiful day. Thomas Bullock cut out a
new wagon cover and helped his wife to make it. He hauled logs from the woods with his oxen which was very hard
work.
Elder
Jesse C. Little went for his appointment with President Polk, but because of
other pressing business, the meeting was postponed until the following day.
Watson, Manuscript
History of Brigham Young, 178; Kimball, Historic Sites and Markers along
the Mormon and other Great Western Trails, 29; William Clayton’s Journal,
41‑2; Beecher, The Personal Writings of Eliza R. Snow, 136;
“Thomas Bullock Journal,” 65; Comprehensive History of the Church, 3:73;
Black, Membership of the Church 1830‑1848; Mount Pisgah
Journal, June 4, 1846; Ward, The 1846-1848 Life Writings of Mary Haskin
Parker Richards, 72-3
The
weather was cold but fair. The camp
traveled fourteen miles and camped on the prairie near Shoal Creek. They had forded what they supposed was
another west branch of Grand River and found the Indian trail to Council Bluffs
at about 10 a.m. Horace Whitney
recorded that they
passed through some
very romantic spots and quite a diversity of scenery. . . . We saw the remains
of a good many Indian Wigwams which had the appearance of being constructed
some time since. They were composed of
boughs of trees curiously interwoven.
Just before reaching our place of encampment for the night we saw a
large number of them which had fallen down and were dried, and as we intended
going on a little farther before stopping, and there being nothing but prairie
before us as far as the eye could extend, everyone gathered a bundle for
firewood.10
Hosea
Stout was frustrated that Charles C. Rich didn't help him as much as he
expected. He had hoped that Brother
Rich would help him to obtain the things necessary to move on and catch up with
Brigham Young.
Near Mount Pisgah,
William Clayton finally located his cattle.
He now had eleven wagons, sixteen yoke of oxen, six cows, five horses,
and six teamsters. At 2 p.m., his
company moved out. The men took two
teams each and Brother Clayton drove the cows on foot. They traveled about six miles and at about 6
p.m., camped on a hill beyond some nice timber. Also located there was William Pitt and John Taylor's
company. Amos Fielding passed through
the camp. He was returning to Nauvoo to
leave for a mission to England. He
stayed awhile and talked with Brother Clayton.
Wilford
Woodruff traveled eight miles. A tongue
broke on one of his wagons and he stopped and put on another one.
Louisa
Pratt was camping near a creek. Her
company was organized with others into a traveling camp. The brethren met and chose a president
without consulting the women. Sister
Pratt wrote: “This evening the sisters proposed to organize themselves into a
distinct body to prove to the men that we are competent to govern ourselves. If
they see the example of separate interests, we must help carry it out.”
Thomas
Bullock tried to obtain two more yoke of oxen that the Nauvoo Trustees had
promised him, but they went back on their promise which frustrated him. They instead told him that he could have two
hundred pounds of flour and promised him some money to purchase other items.
Elder
Jesse C. Little recorded:
I visited President
Polk; he informed me that we should be protected in California, and that five
hundred or one thousand of our people should be taken into the service,
officered by our own men; said that I should have letters from him, and from
the secretary of the navy to the squadron.
I waived the president's proposal until evening, when I wrote a letter
of acceptance.11