The Story of the Mormons:

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As soon as the agreement to leave the state was made, the Mormons
tried hard to sell or lease the Temple, but in vain; and when the
last Mormon departed, the structure was left to the mercy of the
Hancock County "posse." Colonel Kane, in his description of his
visit to Nauvoo soon after the evacuation, says that the militia
had defiled and defaced such features as the shrines and the
baptismal font, the apartment containing the latter being
rendered "too noisome to abide in."

Had the building been permitted to stand, it would have been to
Nauvoo something on which the town could have looked as its most
remarkable feature. But early on the morning of November 19,
1848, the structure was found to be on fire, evidently the work
of an incendiary, and what the flames could eat up was soon
destroyed. The Nauvoo Patriot deplored the destruction of "a work
of art at once the most elegant in its construction, and the most
renowned in its celebrity, of any in the whole West."

When the Icarians, a band of French Socialists, settled in
Nauvoo, they undertook, in 1850, to rebuild the edifice for use
as their halls of reunion and schools. After they had expended on
this work a good deal of time and labor, the city was visited by
a cyclone on May 27 of that year, which left standing only a part
of the west wall. Out of the stone the Icarians then built a
school house, but nothing original now remains on the site except
the old well.

The Nauvoo of to-day is a town of only 1321 inhabitants. The
people are largely of German origin, and the leading occupation
is fruit growing. The site of the Temple is occupied by two
modern buildings. A part of Nauvoo House is still standing, as
are Brigham Young's former residence, Joseph Smith's "new
mansion," and other houses which Mormons occupied.

The Mormons in Iowa were no more popular with their non-Mormon
neighbors there than were those in Illinois, and after the
murders by the Hodges, and other crimes charged to the brethren,
a mass meeting of Lee County inhabitants was held, which adopted
resolutions declaring that the Mormons and the old settlers could
not live together and that the Mormons must depart, citizens
being requested to aid in this movement by exchanging property
with the emigrants. In 1847 the last of these objectionable
citizens left the county.

BOOK V. The Migration To Utah

CHAPTER I. Preparations For The Long March

Two things may be accepted as facts with regard to the migration
of the Mormons westward from Illinois: first, that they would not
have moved had they not been compelled to; and second, that they
did not know definitely where they were going when they started.
Although Joseph Smith showed an uncertainty of his position by
his instruction that the Twelve should look for a place in
California or Oregon to which his people might move, he
considered this removal so remote a possibility that he was at
the same time beginning his campaign for the presidency of the
United States. As late as the spring of 1845, removal was
considered by the leaders as only an alternative. In April,
Brigham Young, Willard Richards, the two Pratts, and others
issued an address to President Polk, which was sent to the
governors of all the states but Illinois and Missouri, setting
forth their previous trials, and containing this declaration:--
"In the name of Israel's God, and by virtue of multiplied ties of
country and kindred, we ask your friendly interposition in our
favor. Will it be too much for us to ask you to convene a special
session of Congress and furnish us an asylum where we can enjoy
our rights of conscience and religion unmolested? Or will you, in
special message to that body when convened, recommend a
remonstrance against such unhallowed acts of oppression and
expatriation as this people have continued to receive from the
states of Missouri and Illinois? Or will you favor us by your
personal influence and by your official rank? Or will you express
your views concerning what is called the Great Western Measure of
colonizing the Latter-Day Saints in Oregon, the Northwestern
Territory, or some location remote from the states, where the
hand of oppression will not crush every noble principle and
extinguish every patriotic feeling?" After the publication of the
correspondence between the Hardin commission and the Mormon
authorities, Orson Pratt issued an appeal "to American citizens,"
in which, referring to what he called the proposed "banishment"
of the Mormons, he said: "Ye fathers of the Revolution! Ye
patriots of '76! Is it for this ye toiled and suffered and bled?
. . . Must they be driven from this renowned republic to seek an
asylum among other nations, or wander as hopeless exiles among
the red men of the western wilds? Americans, will ye suffer this?
Editors, will ye not speak? Fellow-citizens, will ye not awake?"*

* Millennial Star, Vol. VI, p. 193.

Their destination could not have been determined in advance,
because so little was known of the Far West. The territory now
embraced in the boundaries of California and Utah was then under
Mexican government, and "California" was, in common use, a name
covering the Pacific coast and a stretch of land extending
indefinitely eastward. Oregon had been heard of a good deal, and
it, as well as Vancouver Island, had been spoken of as a possible
goal if a westward migration became necessary. Lorenzo Snow, in
describing the westward start, said: "On the first of March, the
ground covered with snow, we broke encampment about noon, and
soon nearly four hundred wagons were moving to--WE KNEW NOT
WHERE." *

* "Biography of Lorenzo Snow," p. 86.

The first step taken by the Mormon authorities to explain the
removal to their people was an explanation made at a conference
in the new Temple, three days after the correspondence with the
commission closed. P. P. Pratt stated to the conference that the
removal meant that the Lord designed to lead them to a wider
field of action, where no one could say that they crowded their
neighbors. In such a place they could, in five years, become
richer than they then were, and could build a bigger and a better
Temple. "It has cost us," said he, "more for sickness, defence
against mob exactions, persecutions, and to purchase lands in
this place, than as much improvement will cost in another." It
was then voted unanimously that the Saints would move en masse to
the West, and that every man would give all the help he could to
assist the poorer members of the community in making the
journey.*

* Millennial Star, Vol. VI, p. 196. Wilford Woodruff, in an
appeal to the Saints in Great Britain, asked them to buy Mormon
books in order to assist the Presidency with funds with which to
take the poor Saints with them westward.

Brigham Young next issued an address to the church at large,
stating that even the Mormon Bible had foretold what might be the
conduct of the American nation toward "the Israel of the last
days," and urging all to prepare to make the journey. A
conference of Mormons in New York City on November 12, 1845,
attended by brethren from New York State, New Jersey, and
Connecticut, voted that "the church in this city move, one and
all, west of the Rocky Mountains between this and next season,
either by land or by water."

Active preparations for the removal began in and around Nauvoo at
once. All who had property began trading it for articles that
would be needed on the journey. Real estate was traded or sold
for what it would bring, and the Eagle was full of advertisements
of property to sell, including the Mansion House, Masonic Hall,
and the Armory. The Mormons would load in wagons what furniture
they could not take West with them, and trade it in the
neighborhood for things more useful. The church authorities
advertised for one thousand yokes of oxen and all the cattle and
mules that might be offered, oxen bringing from $40 to $50 a
yoke. The necessary outfit for a family of five was calculated to
be one wagon, three yokes of cattle, two cows, two beef cattle,
three sheep, one thousand pounds of flour, twenty pounds of
sugar, a tent and bedding, seeds, farming tools, and a rifle--all
estimated to cost about $250. Three or four hundred Mormons were
sent to more distant points in Illinois and Iowa for draft
animals, and, when the Western procession started, they boasted
that they owned the best cattle and horses in the country.

In the city the men were organized into companies, each of which
included such workmen as wagonmakers, blacksmiths, and
carpenters, and the task of making wagons, tents, etc., was
hurried to the utmost. "Nauvoo was constituted into one great
wagon shop," wrote John Taylor. If any members of the community
were not skilled in the work now in demand, they were sent to St.
Louis, Galena, Burlington, or some other of the larger towns, to
find profitable employment during the winter, and thus add to the
moving fund.

On January 20, 1846, the High Council issued a circular
announcing that, early in March, a company of hardy young men,
with some families, would be sent into the Western country, with
farming utensils and seed, to put in a crop and erect houses for
others who would follow as soon as the grass was high enough for
pasture.

This circular contained also the following declaration:--

"We venture to say that our brethren have made no counterfeit
money; and if any miller has received $1500 base coin in a week
from us, let him testify. If any land agent of the general
government has received wagon loads of base coin from us in
payment for lands, let him say so. Or if he has received any at
all, let him tell it. These witnesses against us have spun a long
yarn."

This referred to the charges of counterfeiting, which had
resulted in the indictment of some of the Twelve at Springfield,
and which hastened the first departures across the river. That
counterfeiting was common in the Western country at that time is
a matter of history, and the Mormons themselves had accused such
leading members of their church as Cowdery of being engaged in
the business. The persons indicted at Springfield were never
tried, so that the question of their guilt cannot be decided.
Tullidge's pro-Mormon "Life of Brigham Young" mentions an
incident which occurred when the refugees had gone only as far as
the Chariton River in Iowa, which both admits that they had
counterfeit money among them, and shows the mild view which a
Bishop of the church took of the offence of passing it:-- "About
this time also an attempt was made to pass counterfeit money. It
was the case of a young man who bought from a Mr. Cochran a yoke
of oxen, a cow and a chain for $50. Bishop Miller wrote to
Brigham to excuse the young man, but to help Cochran to
restitution. The President was roused to great anger, the Bishop
was severely rebuked, and the anathemas of the leader from that
time were thundered against thieves and 'bogus men,' and passers
of bogus money .... The following is a minute of his diary of a
council on the next Sunday, with the twelve bishops and captains:
"I told them I was satisfied the course we were taking would
prove to be the salvation, not only of the camp but of the Saints
left behind. But there had been things done which were wrong.
Some pleaded our sufferings from persecution, and the loss of our
homes and property, as a justification for retaliating on our
enemies; but such a course tends to destroy the Kingdom of God."

As soon as the leaders decided to make a start, they sent a
petition to the governor of Iowa Territory, explaining their
intention to pass through that domain, and asking for his
protection during the temporary stay they might make there. No
opposition to them seems to have been shown by the Iowans, who on
the contrary employed them as laborers, sold them such goods as
they could pay for, and invited their musicians to give concerts
at the resting points. Lee's experience in Iowa confirmed him, he
says, in his previous opinion that much of the Mormons' trouble
was due to "wild, ignorant fanatics"; "for," he adds, "only a few
years before, these same people were our most bitter enemies,
and, when we came again and behaved ourselves, they treated us
with the utmost kindness and hospitality."*

* "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 179.

How much property the Mormons sacrificed in Illinois cannot be
ascertained with accuracy. An investigation of all the testimony
obtainable on the subject leads to the conclusion that a good
deal of their real estate was disposed of at a fair price, and
that there were many cases of severe individual loss. Major
Warren, in a communication to the Signal from Nauvoo, in May,
1846, said that few of the Mormons' farms remained unsold, and
that three-fourths of the improved property on the flat in Nauvoo
had been disposed of.

A correspondent of the Signal, answering on April 11 an assertion
that the Mormons had a good deal of real estate to dispose of
before they could leave, replied that most of their farms were
sold, and that there were more inquiries after the others than
there were farms. As to the real estate in the city, he
explained:--

"It is scattered over an area of eight or ten square miles, and
contains from 1500 to 2000 houses, four-fifths of which, at
least, are wretched cabins of no permanent value whatever. There
are, however, 200 or 300 houses, large and small, built of brick
and other desirable material. Such will mostly sell, though many
of them, owing to the distance from the river and other
unfavorable circumstances, only at a very great sacrifice." *

* "A score or more of chimneys on the northern boundary of the
city marked the site of houses deliberately burned for fuel
during the winter of 1845-1846." --Hancock Eagle, May 29,1846.

A general epistle to the church from the Twelve, dated Winter
Quarters, December 23, 1847, stated that the property of the
Saints in Hancock County was "little or no better than
confiscated." *

* See John Taylor's address, p. 411 post.

CHAPTER II. From The Mississippi To The Missouri

The first party to leave Nauvoo began crossing the Mississippi
early in February, 1846, using flatboats propelled by oars for
the wagons and animals, and small boats for persons and the
lighter baggage. It soon became colder and snow fell, and after
the 16th those who remained were able to cross on the ice.

Brigham Young, with a few attendants, had crossed on February 10,
and selected a point on Sugar Creek as a gathering place.* He
seems to have returned secretly to the city for a few days to
arrange for the departure of his family, and Lee says that he did
not have teams enough at that time for their conveyance, adding,
"such as were in danger of being arrested were helped away
first." John Taylor says that those who crossed the river in
February included the Twelve, the High Council, and about four
hundred families.**

* "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 171.

** "February 14 I crossed the river with my family and teams, and
encamped not far from the Sugar Creek encampment, taking
possession of a vacant log house on account of the extreme
cold."--P. P. Pratt, "Autobiography," p. 378.

"Camp of Israel" was the name adopted for the camp in which
President Young and the Twelve might be, and this name moved
westward with them. The camp on Sugar Creek was the first of
these, and there, on February 17, Young addressed the company
from a wagon. He outlined the journey before them, declaring that
order would be preserved, and that all who wished to live in
peace when the actual march began "must toe the mark," ending
with a call for a show of hands by those who wanted to make the
move. The vote in favor of going West was unanimous.*

* "At a Council in Nauvoo of the men who were to act as the
captains of the people in that famous exodus, one after the other
brought up difficulties in their path, until the prospect was
without one poor speck of daylight. The good nature of George A.
Smith was provoked at last, when he sprang up and observed, with
his quaint humor, that had now a touch of the grand in it, 'If
there is no God in Israel we are a sucked-in set of fellows. But
I am going to take my family and the Lord will open the
way.'"--Tullidge, "History of Salt Lake City," p.17.

The turning out of doors in midwinter of so many persons of all
ages and both sexes, accustomed to the shelter of comfortable
homes, entailed much suffering. A covered wagon or a tent is a
poor protection from wintry blasts, and a camp fire in the open
air, even with a bright sky overhead, is a poor substitute for a
stove. Their first move, therefore, gave the emigrants a taste of
the trials they were to endure. While they were at Sugar Creek
the thermometer dropped to 20 degrees below zero, and heavy falls
of snow occurred. Several children were born at this point,
before the actual Western journey began, and the sick and the
feeble entered upon their sufferings at once. Before that camp
broke up it was found necessary, too, to buy grain for the
animals.

The camp was directly in charge of the Twelve until the Chariton
River was reached. There, on March 27, it was divided into
companies containing from 50 to 60 wagons, the companies being
put in charge of captains of fifties and captains of
tens--suggesting Smith's "Army of Zion." The captains of fifties
were responsible directly to the High Council. There were also a
commissary general, and, for each fifty, a contracting commissary
"to make righteous distribution of grains and provisions." Strict
order was maintained by day while the column was in motion, and,
whenever there was a halt, special care was taken to secure the
cattle and the horses, while at night watches were constantly
maintained. The story of the march to the Missouri does not
contain a mention of any hostile meeting with Indians.

The company remained on Sugar Creek for about a month, receiving
constant accessions from across the river, and on the first of
March the real westward movement began. The first objective point
was Council Bluffs, Iowa, on the Missouri River, about 400 miles
distant; but on the way several camps were established, at which
some of the emigrants stopped to plant seeds and make other
arrangements for the comfort of those who were to follow. The
first of these camps was located at Richardson's Point in Lee
County, Iowa, 55 miles from Nauvoo; the next on Chariton River;
the next on Locust Creek; the next, named by them Garden Grove,
on a branch of Grand River, some 150 miles from Nauvoo; and
another, which P. P. Pratt named Mt. Pisgah, on Grand River, 138
miles east of Council Bluffs. The camp on the Missouri first made
was called Winter Quarters, and was situated just north of the
present site of Omaha, where the town now called Florence is
located. It was not until July that the main body arrived at
Council Bluffs.

The story of this march is a remarkable one in many ways. Begun
in winter, with the ground soon covered with snow, the travellers
encountered arctic weather, with the inconveniences of ice, rain,
and mud, until May. After a snowfall they would have to scrape
the ground when they had selected a place for pitching the tents.
After a rain, or one of the occasional thaws, the country (there
were no regular roads) would be practically impassable for teams,
and they would have to remain in camp until the water
disappeared, and the soil would bear the weight of the wagons
after it was corduroyed with branches of trees. At one time bad
roads caused a halt of two or three weeks. Fuel was not always
abundant, and after a cold night it was no unusual thing to find
wet garments and bedding frozen stiff in the morning. Here is an
extract from Orson Pratt's diary:-- "April 9. The rain poured
down in torrents. With great exertion a part of the camp were
enabled to get about six miles, while others were stuck fast in
the deep mud. We encamped at a point of timber about sunset,
after being drenched several hours in rain. We were obliged to
cut brush and limbs of trees, and throw them upon the ground in
our tents, to keep our beds from sinking in the mud. Our animals
were turned loose to look out for themselves; the bark and limbs
of trees were their principal food." **

* Millennial Star, Vol. XI, p. 370.

Game was plenty,--deer, wild turkeys, and prairie hens,--but
while the members of this party were better supplied with
provisions than their followers, there was no surplus among them,
and by April many families were really destitute of food. Eliza
Snow mentions that her brother Lorenzo--one of the captains of
tens--had two wagons, a small tent, a cow, and a scanty supply
of provisions and clothing, and that "he was much better off than
some of our neighbors." Heber C. Kimball, one of the Twelve, says
of the situation of his family, that he had the ague, and his
wife was in bed with it, with two children, one a few days old,
lying by her, and the oldest child well enough to do any
household work was a boy who could scarcely carry a two-quart
pail of water. Mrs. F. D. Richards, whose husband was ordered on
a mission to England while the camp was at Sugar Creek, was
prematurely confined in a wagon on the way to the Missouri. The
babe died, as did an older daughter. "Our situation," she says,
"was pitiable; I had not suitable food for myself or my child;
the severe rain prevented our having any fire."

The adaptability of the American pioneer to his circumstances was
shown during this march in many ways. When a halt occurred, a
shoemaker might be seen looking for a stone to serve as a lap
stone in his repair work, or a gunsmith mending a rifle, or a
weaver at a wheel or loom. The women learned that the jolting
wagons would churn their milk, and, when a halt occurred, it took
them but a short time to heat an oven hollowed out of a hillside,
in which to bake the bread already "raised." Colonel Kane says
that he saw a piece of cloth, the wool for which was sheared,
dyed, spun, and woven during this march.

The leaders of the company understood the people they had in
charge, and they looked out for their good spirits. Captain
Pitt's brass band was included in the equipment, and the camp was
not thoroughly organized before, on a clear evening, a dance--the
Mormons have always been great dancers--was announced, and the
visiting Iowans looked on in amazement, to see these exiles from
comfortable homes thus enjoying themselves on the open prairie,
the highest dignitaries leading in Virginia reels and Copenhagen
jigs.

John Taylor, whose pictures of this march, painted with a view to
attract English emigrants, were always highly colored, estimated
that, when he left Council Bluffs for England, in July, 1846,
there were in camp and on the way 15,000 Mormons, with 3000
wagons, 30,000 head of cattle, a great many horses and mules, and
a vast number of sheep. Colonel Kane says that, besides the
wagons, there was "a large number of nondescript turnouts, the
motley makeshifts of poverty; from the unsuitable heavy cart that
lumbered on mysteriously, with its sick driver hidden under its
counterpane cover, to the crazy two-wheeled trundle, such as our
own poor employ in the conveyance of their slop barrels, this
pulled along, it may be, by a little dry-dugged heifer, and
rigged up only to drag some such light weight as a baby, a sack
of meal or a pack of clothes and bedding." *

* "The Mormons," a lecture by Colonel T. L. Kane.

There was no large supply of cash to keep this army and its
animals in provisions. Every member who could contribute to the
commissary department by his labor was expected to do so. The
settlers in the territory seem to have been in need of such
assistance, and were very glad to pay for it in grain, hay, or
provisions. A letter from one of the emigrants to a friend in
England* said that, in every settlement they passed through, they
found plenty of work, digging wells and cellars, splitting rails,
threshing, ploughing, and clearing land. Some of the men in the
spring were sent south into Missouri, not more than forty miles
from Far West, in search of employment. This they readily
secured, no one raising the least objection to a Mormon who was
not to be a permanent settler. Others were sent into that state
to exchange horses, feather beds, and other personal property for
cows and provisions.

* Millennial Star, Vol. VIII, p. 59.

A part of the plan of operations provided for sending out
pioneers to select the route and camping sites, to make bridges
where they were necessary, and to open roads. The party carried
light boats, but a good many bridges seem to have been required
because of the spring freshets. It was while resting after a
march through prolonged rain and mud, late in April, that it was
decided to establish the permanent camp called Garden Grove.
Hundreds of men were at once set to work, making log houses and
fences, digging wells, and ploughing, and soon hundreds of acres
were enclosed and planted.