The
pioneers started to cross over the Green River. One of the rafts did not work very well because the logs were
waterlogged. They went to work, to
construct another raft. The wind blew
hard, causing the work to be stopped in the afternoon, and only fourteen wagons
were brought across. They tried to swim
the cattle across, but had great difficulty.
The second raft was completed by the evening.
More of
the pioneers came down with Mountain Fever, including Clara Decker Young, John
Greene,1 William Clayton, Ezra T.
Benson, George A. Smith, George Wardell, and Norton Jacob. Those who had been sick the day before were
much better, so it appeared that the violent pain and fever usually only lasted
for a day. So far, about twenty of the
pioneers had taken ill with the mysterious illness.
Samuel
Brannan continued efforts to convince the brethren that California was the land
of Zion for the Saints. He told them
that John Sutter, of Sutter’s Fort, wished to have the Saints settle near him
in the Sacramento region. Brother
Brannan tried to paint a bleak picture of the Rocky Mountain region by saying
that he saw more timber on the Green River where they now were than anywhere on
his route since he left California.
Joseph
Hancock killed an antelope.
The
ferrymen crossed across fifty‑six wagons for three emigration companies
and performed $12.85 worth of blacksmithing.
Appleton Harmon wrote: “We were
all very tired and wanted rest.” They
learned that one company with thirty‑five wagons went up the river and
crossed over using one of the rafts that the pioneers had built.
The
morning was cold and windy as the second pioneer company worked to cross over
the more than five hundred wagons. The
river was about a half mile wide and shallow, but the bottoms were full of
quicksand. Perrigrine Sessions
wrote: “[We] had to drive all our
cattle several times across to tamp the quicksand so that we could cross our
wagons.” They had to double the teams
on the wagons. They traveled away from
the river, head back to the Platte.
John Taylor’s company went eight miles and Jedediah M. Grant’s company
camped three miles behind. A few
buffalo were spotted for the first time during the day. Isaac C. Haight wrote: “So we pass over rivers, hills and plains as
though all was a smooth plain.”
A son, Don
Carlos Johnson, was born to Aaron and Jane Scott Johnson.
“Jesse W. Crosby
Journal,” typescript, BYU, 34; Cook, Joseph C. Kingsbury, 117; The
Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow, 182; “Diary of Lorenzo Dow Young,” Utah
Historical Quarterly, 14:163; “Albert P. Rockwood Journal,” typescript,
BYU, 60; Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 3:222; Bagley, ed., The
Pioneer Camp of the Saints, 216; “Isaac C. Haight Journal,” typescript, 41
Forty‑seven
wagons crossed over the river during the day.
The horse and cattle were taken over the river during the morning with
some difficulty. The day was very hot
and the mosquitoes continued to be terrible.
Several trout were caught near the ferry. One weighed more than seven pounds. Thomas Bullock saw a heap of nine buffalo skulls in one place.
The Twelve
and others met in council at a nearby grove and decided to send three or four
men back to pilot the next pioneer company along their way. Each of the brethren wrote down their views
regarding what counsel should be given to the second pioneer group. Samuel Brannan continued to promote
California as the promised land. He
said that the oats grew wild and did not need to be cultivated. Clovers grew as high as a horse’s
belly. Salmon in the San Joaquin River
were 10‑12 pounds.
Captain James
Brown’s detachments of the Mormon Battalion and Mississippi Saints probably
camped at Independence Rock on this day.
Abner Blackburn noted that the rock was “a huge mass of granite which
covers several acres of ground with hundreds of names marked on its huge
sides.”
The
Perrigrine Sessions company traveled twenty miles during the day and camped
without wood and water. A storm blew
through, dropping some much needed rain water, but it also brought wind that
beat against the wagons with force.
Eliza R. Snow wrote: “The
prairie very rolling we only ascend one ridge to come in sight of another, till
about 2 o’clock when our gradual descent gave us a view of the tops of trees
which skirt the river before us.” The
companies traveled six abreast during a portion of the day. A cannon being drawn by the Edward Hunter
company was found by Charles C. Rich abandoned on the trail with the wagon
carriage broken and the tongue gone.
The wagon was repaired and the cannon was brought along. A thunder shower rolled in during the late
afternoon.
Howard Egan Diary, Pioneering
the West, 90; Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 3:222;
Bagley, ed., The Pioneer Camp of the Saints, 216‑17; Smart, ed., Mormon
Midwife, 89; The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow, 182; Bagley,
ed., Frontiersman: Abner Blackburn’s Narrative, 60
A storm
delayed the rafting over of wagons, but by the late afternoon, all of the
wagons were safely across. One of the
rafts was hauled up the east side of the river and stowed for the next pioneer
company to use. The pioneers resumed
their journey in the afternoon, traveled three miles and camped on the Green
River. The grass was good, but there
were dense swarms of mosquitoes making it miserable. Most of the camp was recovering from the strange bout of mountain
fever that struck almost half of the company.
A guide board was put up a mile from Green River that stated it was 340
miles from Fort Laramie.
Norton
Jacob recorded: “After arriving in
camp, Bro. Heber came to visit me and advised me to be baptised. So I went down to the water and Charles
Harper baptised me for the restoration of my health which was confirmed upon me
by Brethren Kimball, Doct. Richards, Markum Barney and Charles [Harper]. The administration had the desired effect
and broke my fever.”
A meeting
was held in the evening and volunteers were asked to go back, meet the second
pioneer company, and to act as guides.
Preference was given to those who had families in the next company. Those who volunteered were: Phinehas H.
Young, Aaron Farr, Eric Glines, Rodney Badger, and George Woodward.2 Brigham Young stated that he wished that a dozen men would have
volunteered. Since there were not
enough spare horses for each of them, they were given the “Revenue Cutter” wagon
to carry their provisions. They started
to make preparations to return. President
Young announced he would travel with these five men in the morning back to the
Green River, but he wanted the company to hold a Sabbath meeting in the
morning. “I want to have you pray a
little and talk a little and sing a little and have a good long meeting, all
except those who guard the teams, I want them to mind their work.”
Captain
James Brown’s detachments of the Mormon Battalion and Mississippi Saints passed
by Devil’s Gate and camped along the Sweetwater. Abner Blackburn wrote that some of the men were afraid to go
through Devil’s Gate “for fear they might land in the bad place.” Like the pioneers before them, they traveled
around the gate and over a ridge.
Brother Blackburn wrote that they came “into a most beautyful valley
carpeted with green grass and herds of buffalo and a few elk and some deer
grazing on its rich meadows.” He
marveled at the mountain of granite that ran parallel with the river without
vegetation, and remarked “The like I never seen before. They must have run short of material when it
was contracted for.”
Jim
Bridger arrived at the Mormon Ferry at 11 a.m., and presented to Thomas Grover
a letter of introduction from Brigham Young (see June 29, 1847). With him, were four more Mormon Battalion
soldiers who were on furlough and were returning to Council Bluffs. A company of eight bringing mail from Oregon
arrived near sundown with pack horses and mules. They had been traveling from Oregon since May 5. A letter was sent with Jim Bridger to be
take to Fort Laramie for the next pioneer company notifying them that the ferry
was going to be kept in operation until they arrived.
The second
company of pioneers again rejoined the trail created by Brigham Young’s company
and camped on a stream within view of the Platte River. They traveled about fourteen miles. Brother Russell found a bucket near the
trail that he had given to Heber C. Kimball.
Martin Dewitt, of the Perrigrine Sessions company, broke his arm during the
night, while wrestling. Patty Sessions
took out her stove and burned old Indian wickiups in it. Antelope was spotted by some men for the
first time.
Seventy‑three-year‑old
Sarah Lytle, Nancy Lee, Mary Lane,
Julia Woolsey, and some children started out to Winter Quarters with
Allanson Allen. Along the way, the
wagon tipped over into Mire Creek.
Sarah Lytle was terribly injured.
Her hips were disjointed and her bowles bruised. The others did not receive any
injuries. Samuel Gully, returning from
Winter Quarters, delivering the news of the accident to John D. Lee, who
immediately sent another wagon and team to bring the sisters and children back
to camp.
Roswell
Stevens, age seventy-five, died.3
Cook, Joseph C.
Kingsbury, 118‑19; The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow,
182; Bagley, ed., Frontiersman: Abner Blackburn’s Narrative, 60 Journals
of John D. Lee, 184; Appleton Milo Harmon Goes West, 38; Watson,
ed., The Orson Pratt Journals, 437; “Erastus Snow Journal Excerpts,” Improvement
Era 15:248; Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 3:223; Whitney,
History of Utah, 1:318; “Luke S. Johnson Journal,” typescript, BYU, 15;
Smart, ed., Mormon Midwife, 89; “Norton Jacob Journal,” typescript, 101
Norton
Jacob recognized Independence day in his journal by writing: “This is Uncle Sam’s day of
Independence. Well we are independent
of all the powers of the gentiles, and that’s enough for us.”
Brigham
Young, Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff, Charles Harper, and others traveled
back to the Green River with the five brethren who were heading back to help
guide the second pioneer company. They
were instructed to choose one of their number to help guide the members of the
battalion.
When they
arrived at the river, they saw thirteen horsemen on the other side with their
baggage and one of the rafts. To the
joy of the brethren, they discovered that the men were members of the Mormon
Battalion from Pueblo, led by Sergeant Thomas S. Williams, who had been sent
ahead by Amasa Lyman. They were
pursuing some thieves who had stolen a dozen horses. The thieves had gone on the Fort Bridger and they hoped to get
the horses back. They said that the
whole detachment of about 140 men (also women and children) was about a seven
days’ journey to the east. One of the
soldiers, William Walker, joined the company of five men hoping to meet his
family in the second pioneer company.4
Wilford
Woodruff wrote: “We drew up the raft
& crossed them all over but one who returned with our pilots to meet the
company. When we met it was truly a
harty greeting & shaking of hands.
They accompanied us into camp and all were glad to meet.” The pioneers greeted them with three cheers
and “shanking hands to perfection.”
Next, Brigham Young led another cheer by shouting, “Hosannah! Hosannah!
Give glory to God and the Lamb, Amen.”
All joined in the cheer.
While the
brethren were away at the river, the rest of the pioneers met for a public
worship meeting, in the circle of wagons, under the direction of the bishops in
the camp. One of Robert Crow’s oxen
died during the afternoon from eating poison weeds.
William
Clayton wrote: “On the other side the
river there is a range of singular sandy buttes perfectly destitute of
vegetation, and on the sides can be seen from here, two caves which are
probably inhabited by wild bears. The
view is pleasant and interesting.”
The men
from the battalion spent the night with the camp. Several traders passed by the camp at dusk. The Twelve met together to read letters from
Amasa Lyman and Captain James Brown.
These letters were delivered by the advance guard of the battalion. Counsel was given to Samuel Brannan
regarding the Saints in California.
Wilford
Woodruff concluded the day by writing in his journal: “But I must stop writing.
The musketoes have filled my carriage like a cloud and have fallen upon
me as though they intend to devour me.
I never saw that insect more troublesome than in certain places in this
country.”
Abner
Blackburn, of the battalion wrote:
“There was a couple of young folks5
in the company spooning and licking each other ever since we started on the
road. The whole company were tired of
it and they were persuaded to marry now and have done with it and not wait
until their journeys end.” In the
evening, a wedding was held, complete with a wedding feast afterwards followed
by a dance or ho‑down. “The banjo
and the violin made us forget the hardships of the plains.”
The
ferrymen sent back letters with Marcus Eastman, a battalion member heading back
to Council Bluffs. He and three other
battalion members were traveling with Jim Bridger. Francis M. Pomeroy bought a horse from the company for
twenty-five dollars.
It rained
for a while in the morning. After it
cleared, Patty Sessions took some of the things out of her wagon and discovered
that they were becoming damp in the wagon.
The second company of pioneers held a celebration to recognize
independence day. Parley P. Pratt, John
Taylor, and John Smith addressed the Saints in a public meeting. The leaders asked the pioneers to work together
and to be obedient. They exhorted the
Saints against being “cold and careless and neglecting to pray.” They were cautioned to never take the name
of the Lord in vain. They were warned
to not build large campfires that would attract the Pawnee Indians. It was decided that the companies would
travel separately, because it was just impossible to feed and water so many
people and animals in one place. They
would begin establishing their camps more spread out.
John Lytle
arrived from Winter Quarters and found his mother critically ill from the
results of her injuries the day before.
At noon, a public meeting was held at John D. Lee’s house. He spoke to them about their
responsibilities as Saints. Other
speakers were Joseph Busby, Brother Baird, Samuel Gully, and Absalom P.
Free. Brother John H. Redd was troubled
in his mind about going to the west. A
storm blew in and it rained during the late afternoon. A steam boat was spotted in the river, late
in the evening.
A public
meeting was held. Isaac Morley and
William W. Major spoke to the congregation.
Rain fell in torrents during the afternoon.
The Kearny
detachment of the Mormon Battalion continued traveling along the Humboldt River
toward Fort Hall. One of the men became
sick and had to be left behind, but caught up with the company in the evening.
During
their march across Nevada, battalion member Amos Cox got into trouble with
General Kearny. Private Cox was
guarding a water hole to see that no animals watered until all the men had. Sylvester Hulet recorded: “Gen. Kearny rode his horse up and started
to water it. Uncle Amos [Cox] pulled
his gun and threatened to shoot him unless he took the horse away until all the
men had all drunk and filled their canteens.
Gen. Kearny then departed but afterwards he had Uncle Amos court
martialed and strung up by the thumbs for pulling a gun on his superior
officer.”
Independence
Day was celebrated by the troops in Pueblo de Los Angeles. All of the soldiers were paraded within the
fort at sunrise. The New York band
played the “Star Spangled Banner” while the flag was being raised. Afterwards, nine cheers were shouted by all
the soldiers. “Hail Columbia” was
played and then a thirteen-gun salute was fired by the 1st Dragoons. The companies were then marched back to
their quarters and again returned at 11 a.m.
They paraded some more, this time before Indians and Mexicans. Lt. Stoneman of the 1st Dragoons read the
Declaration of Independence. Colonel
Stevenson spoke and named the fort, “Fort Moore.”6 The band played “Yankee Doodle,” followed by
a patriotic song presented by Levi Hancock, of the battalion. Colonel Stevenson offered to have the
Declaration of Independence read to the Mexicans in Spanish, but they declined
the invitation.
Independence
Day was also celebrated by the Mormon Battalion at San Diego. Five large guns were fired at sunrise from
the fort. The battalion members marched
down into the town and gave their officers a salute with their guns. The whole city participated in the
celebration. Captain Jesse Hunter and
Sergeant William Hyde returned from Los Angeles with orders for Company B to
march to Los Angeles, and to leave on July 9.
Some of the leading citizens expressed a strong desire for the battalion
to stay, but most of the men were still very anxious to be discharged. Captain Hunter was disappointed that he had
not been able to raise enough men at Los Angeles to make out a large enough
company to reenlist under his command.
Robert S. Bliss recorded in his journal:
A few days
more & we shall go
To see our
Wives & Children too
And friends
so dear we’ve left below
To save the
Church from Overthrow.
Our absence
from them has been long
But Oh the
time will soon be gone
When we
shall meet once more on Earth
And praise
the God that gave us Birth.
Elder
Lyman O. Littlefield went to find his Uncle Lyman Littlefield’s house near the
Erie Canal. He wrote:
I knocked
at my uncle’s abode and a hospitable voice bid me enter. Being seated, the scene presented within the
compass of that room, to me was of vast moment. I knew that venerable head was my uncle, that the matron at his
side was my aunt, and the young men and the one young lady at the table I felt
sure were my cousins! This was an auspicious moment, to occur on the
anniversary of our nation’s independence! The memories of childhood were
instantaneous in crowding among the most sacred recesses of recollection! My
uncle so much resembled my father! I could not wait longer for recognition! The
following conversation ensued: “Myself ‑‑
’Is your name Littlefield?’ Uncle ‑‑ ’Yes, sir.’ Myself ‑‑
’Have you relatives in the west?’ Uncle‑‑’I suppose I have a
brother somewhere in the western country.
He went away with the Mormons and I have not heard much about him for
twenty years.’ Myself ‑‑ ’What was his given name?’ Uncle ‑‑
’Waldo.’ Myself‑‑’I am well acquainted with a man out there by that
name.’ Uncle ‑‑’That must be my brother. How long have you known him?’ Myself ‑‑ ’My earliest
remembrances are of him and my mother.’ Uncle ‑‑ ’You are not his
son!’ Myself‑ ‑’I am his second son, Lyman, and was named after my
uncle, in whose habitation, and in the midst of these, my cousins, this is a
happy moment!’” “As I entered, the family was partaking of an early supper. I had not seen them since a little boy, some
twenty years previous to that meeting.
To be thus ushered into their presence filled me with emotions of
pleasure. Their joy was exhibited as if
by an electric wave. Simultaneously,
uncle, aunt and cousins sprang from the table to salute me with eager and
hurried words of welcome.
Wilford
Woodruff’s Journal, 3:223; “Luke S. Johnson’s Journal,” typescript, BYU,
15; “Charles Harper Diary,” 29; Autobiography of John Brown, 77; Watson,
ed., Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 563; Watson, ed., The Orson
Pratt Journals, 437‑38; Appleton Milo Harmon Goes West, 39;
Howard Egan Diary, Pioneering the West, 91; Kelly, ed., Journals of
John D. Lee, 185; Cook, Joseph C. Kingsbury, 119; Smart, ed., Mormon
Midwife, 90; Bagley, ed., Frontiersman: Abner Blackburn’s Narrative,
60‑1; Bagley, ed., The Pioneer Camp of the Saints, 218‑19;
“The Journal of Nathaniel V. Jones,” Utah Historical Quarterly, 4:20;
Journal of Henry Standage in Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion,
233‑34; “The Journal of Robert S. Bliss,” Utah Historical Quarterly,
4:110; “Journal Extracts of Henry W. Bigler,” Utah Historical Quarterly,
5:61; “Private Journal of Thomas Dunn,” typescript, 26; William Clayton’s Journal,
282; “Lyman Littlefield Reminiscences (1888),” 193‑95; Bigler, The
Gold Discovery Journal of Azariah Smith, 88; Ricketts, The Mormon
Battalion, 165; “Norton Jacob Journal,” typescript, 101; Schindler, Crossing
the Plains, 219
At 8 a.m.,
the pioneers continued on their journey despite the fact that many of the
brethren were still sick with the mountain fever. Orson Pratt speculated that the fever could be caused “by the
suffocating clouds of dust which rise from the sandy road, and envelope the
whole camp when in motion, and also by the sudden changes of temperature; for
during the day it is exceedingly warm, while snowy mountains which surround us
on all sides, render the air cold and uncomfortable during the absence of the
sun.”
They
followed the Green River for three and a half miles. After resting the animals, they continued on the road which
headed west away from the river. They
climbed some bluffs and then traveled over rolling hills. At 4:45, after a total of twenty miles, they
arrived at Ham’s Fork, a swift stream about 70 feet wide.7 The prickly pear cacti were in bloom, some
with yellow flowers, others with red.
Rain fell in the evening, but the storms seemed to stay close to the
mountains.
The
Wallace Company (Abraham Smoot Hundred) had a wagon break down while crossing
Wood River. This delay caused them to
camp several miles behind the main camp.
The rest of the camp reached Grand Island and discovered a guide board
left by the first pioneer company that read:
“April 29th, 30th, 1847.
Pioneers all well, short grass, rushes plenty, fine weather, watch
Indians ‑‑ 217 miles from Winter Quarters.” Jesse Crosby wrote:
The whole
camp of near 600 wagons arranged in order on a fine plain, beautifully adorned
with roses. The plant called the
prickly pear, grows spontaneously; our cattle are seen in herds in the
distance; the whole scene is grand and delightful. Good health and good spirits prevail in the camp. Our labors are more than they otherwise
would be, on account of the scarcity of men ‑‑ 500 being in the
army, and about 200 pioneers ahead of us.
The guard
met to settle up with Daniel Russell, a member of the High Council who had ten
of his cattle found in the corn field.
By the city law, he was supposed to pay a fine of ten dollars. He had appealed to the Council and they told
him to settle the matter with the guard.
Hosea Stout wrote, “So we left it to his own conscience &
magnanimity to say what was just as he was one of the council and helped make
the law.” He decided to pay ten bushels
of corn and ten bushels of buck wheat.
The guard accepted this payment.
Brigham
Young’s sister, Fanny Young Murray, wrote a letter to Gould and Laura Murray of Rochester, New York:
Brigham and
Heber with nearly two hundred of chosen men, left this place on the 14th of
April for the Rocky Mountains. We heard
from them by way of the far company, when they were fifty miles from this
place, since which, we have heard nothing, nor do we expect to until we see
them, and that may be a long time, or it may be this fall. They will probably go till they find a place
where we can rest for a little season.
She wrote
about the troubles with the Omaha Indians:
We do not
suffer anything from fear of the Indians, for we know that for their sakes we
are suffering all these things, and we are sure that the Lord our God will not
suffer them to destroy us. There has
been great destruction of life, both with man and beast, since we left Nauvoo,
but none of these things move us while we are keeping the commandments of our
Lord and Master, for we know that whether we live or die, we are His.
Fanny
wrote about Winter Quarters and the Mississippi River:
There have
been but two steamboats here this season; this makes the river appear rather
lonely, except when the fur boats are scudding down; seven were seen at once,
yesterday; we hailed them with joy -- I mean with our eyes, for it looks so
lonely to see no raft upon the water. . . . I should like to tell you how many
hundred houses we have built, but have not lately ascertained. In March there were about eight hundred, and
many have been built since. Some are
very good log houses, and others about the medium, and many poor indeed, but
better than none. The land is far from
being level here, but the hills are really beautiful -- far more so, to me,
than level land could be. If you could
sail up the river and take a peep at our town, you would say it was romantic
and even grand, notwithstanding the log huts.
Howard Egan Diary, Pioneering
the West, 91; Cook, Joseph C. Kingsbury, 119; Watson, ed., The
Orson Pratt Journals, 438‑39; Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s
Journal, 3:224; Bagley, ed., The Pioneer Camp of the Saints, 219;
Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, 1:265; The Personal Writings of
Eliza Roxcy Snow, 182; “Jesse W. Crosby Journal,” typescript, BYU, 24‑5;
Woman’s Exponent, 14:11:82
After
traveling 3 3/4 miles, the pioneers forded Ham’s Fork at a point where it was
about forty feet wide and two feet deep.
In 1 1/ 2 miles, they came to Black’s Fork and crossed it.
Wilford
Woodruff recorded: “Man & beast,
Harnesses & waggons, were all covered with dust. . . . The face of the
country is the same to day as usual Barren, Sand & Sage, with occasionally
A sprinkling of flowers some vary beutiful.”
In
thirteen more miles, they recrossed Black’s Fork and camped on the bank. The grass was good and there were many
willow trees near camp. William Clayton
wrote:
At this
place there is a fine specimen of the wild flax which grows all around. It is considered equal to any cultivated,
bears a delicate blue flower. There is
also an abundance of the rich bunch grass in the neighborhood of the river back
and many wild currants. The prairies
are lined with beautiful flowers of various colors ‑‑ chiefly blue,
red and yellow, which have a rich appearance and would serve to adorn and
beautify an eastern flower garden.
The
ferrymen took across an emigrant company with eighteen wagons. Three of the wagons left without paying the
fifty-cent fee. Another company of
twenty‑two wagons went up the river to ford it by raising their wagon
beds. The river had been falling fast,
making this method of crossing possible.