Part 35 (1/2)
A spectacle sublime. An exiled nation, going forth like Israel from Egypt, into the wilderness, there to wors.h.i.+p, unmolested, the G.o.d of their fathers in His own appointed way; that from their loins might spring a people nursed in the spirit of prophecy, made stalwart by tribulation, that should leap from the mountains in a day to come, and roll back, an avalanche of power, to regain possession of their promised land.
Such was the meaning of that exodus. The future will justify the action of the past.
On Tuesday, February 17th, 1846, Heber C. Kimball left Nauvoo, in company with Bishop N. K. Whitney, and, crossing the Mississippi, joined the camp of Israel on Sugar Creek, with their faces toward the Rocky Mountains. Heber's prediction over the fated city, which had so alarmed Elder Rigdon seven years before, was being fulfilled; the evacuation of Nauvoo and the exodus of the Saints from Illinois had begun. President Young had left the city two days before, Heber, having sent his family away on the 16th, had tarried behind with William Clayton and Bishop Whitney, to secure and bring Church property needed for the pioneers. Sugar Creek was the starting point.
Here, for nearly two weeks, some of the advance companies had been anxiously awaiting the coming of their leaders.
At half-past one, Brigham and Heber dined together in George D.
Grant's tent, on bean porridge, after which frugal meal, the President, with Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, George A. Smith and Willard Richards went up the valley east of the camp about half a mile, and held a council. A letter was read from Samuel Brannan, with a copy of an agreement between Elder Brannan and Postmaster-General Benson. The matter concerned a proposition of certain politicians at Was.h.i.+ngton and members of the government to the Mormon leaders, to take possession of California and divide the lands with them as a great ”land grab” for these statesmen, in return for proffered protection to the Mormons. The proposition was at once rejected.
On the 18th, Heber accompanied President Young and several others back to Nauvoo, where many of the Saints still lingered, most of whom were getting ready to join the camp as soon as possible, while others, like those of earlier days in Kirtland and Far West, were preparing to fall away. A number of meetings, public and private, were held in the Temple, at the last one of which, on Sunday the 22nd, a panic was caused by the snapping of a piece of timber in the settling of the new floor under the weight of the mult.i.tude. Several people were seriously injured. The same afternoon, Brigham, Heber and John Taylor returned to camp.
The companies were being organized and made ready to start. They comprised about four hundred wagons, all heavily loaded, with not over half the number of teams necessary for a rapid journey. Most of the families were supplied with provisions for several months; but a number, regardless of counsel, had started in a dest.i.tute condition, and some with only provisions for a few days.
Colonel Stephen Markham had about one hundred pioneers to prepare the road in advance of the main body. Colonel Hosea Stout with about one hundred men acted as police, armed with rifles. Colonel John Scott with a hundred men accompanied the artillery.
On the morning of Sunday, March 1st, the camp was notified to be ready to start at noon. At half past ten Heber went to meeting and stated that President Young was unwell, and further addressed the a.s.sembly as follows:
”It is the President's will that the camp should remove to some other location, because while we are so near Nauvoo the brethren are continually going back and neglecting their teams and families, and running to Brother Brigham about a little property they have here or there. No doubt many will be tried, but we shall see the kingdom of G.o.d established and all the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our G.o.d and His Christ.” He encouraged the brethren to go forward. ”The gra.s.s will start before long. They were not going out of the world. If Nauvoo has been the most holy place, it will be the most wicked place.” He then called upon all who meant to go ahead to say aye. The brethren responded heartily. ”No doubt you mean to have President Young for your leader. We will do all that he says and everything will be right. A plague came upon Zion's Camp for disobedience when on our way to Missouri, and some of our best men fell victims, and so it would be again under like circ.u.mstances. I want no man to touch any of my things without my leave. If any man will come to me and say that he wants to steal I will give him the amount. Cease all your loud laughter and light speeches, for the Lord is displeased with such things, and call upon the Lord with all your might.”
Such was Heber's first pioneer address to the Camp of Israel.
All tents were now struck, and about noon the camp began to move. They traveled in a north-westerly direction about five miles, and at night camped again on Sugar Creek. The ground was covered with snow, but by dint of shoveling and sc.r.a.ping s.p.a.ce was soon made for the tents, and in a short time quite a primitive little city had sprung up as if by magic from the frozen earth. Large fires were built in front of the tents and wagons, corraled in circular array according to the custom of the plains, and all were made as comfortable as possible under the circ.u.mstances.
Notwithstanding their hards.h.i.+ps and privations, past, present and prospective, a spirit of remarkable cheerfulness reigned throughout the camp; songs were sung, jokes pa.s.sed and stories told, and, in spite of the situation and forbidding surroundings, everybody seemed determined to ”make the best of it” and be contented and happy.
Doubtless the romance of the situation helped to season it and make it palatable; but above all was it due to the presence and sustaining power of the Holy Spirit, the peace that ”pa.s.seth understanding,”
which rested upon the homeless pilgrims, causing them to rejoice, like the Saints of old, in suffering tribulation for the truth's sake.
At a seasonable hour the merriment was hushed. Heads were bowed in reverent prayer. The G.o.d of Israel was invoked in behalf of His cause and people; these whose home from henceforth was the houseless plain and prairie, and the remnant left behind to the mercies of the mob in the doomed city of Nauvoo. Guards were then placed, the flickering firelight waned and died in the wintry stillness, and the Camp of Israel, all save the watchful sentries, slept.
Near the Chariton River, on the 27th of March, the organization of the camp was perfected. It was divided into companies of ”hundreds,”
”fifties” and ”tens,” with captains appointed over each. The Apostles were placed at the heads of divisions, as presidents. Commissaries were also appointed for each company, with a Commissary General. The camp consisted of two grand divisions, presided over respectively by Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball; the former, as President and General-in-Chief, directing the whole. Occasionally the President would return and gather a council of the captains and Apostles at Heber's encampment, and at other times Heber would go over with his captains to Brigham's camp, for the same purpose.
The law of the Lord was laid down in great strictness, honesty and morality being especially enjoined. Innocent amus.e.m.e.nt and recreation were encouraged by the leaders, in moderation, as tending to divert the people's minds from their past troubles, and lighten their present toils, but excess of mirth and loud laughter were deprecated and denounced. The Church had again been cleansed of much of its dross, by leaving it behind, and in the main it was a faithful and a pure people that journeyed westward to find another promised land.
The vanguard under Brigham and Heber reached the Missouri River about the middle of June, and received a friendly welcome from the Pottowatomie and Omaha Indians.
CHAPTER LII.
DESTINATION OF THE SAINTS--THE CALL FOR THE MORMON BATTALION--HEROIC RESPONSE OF THE EXILES--BRIGHAM, HEBER AND WILLARD AS RECRUITING SERGEANTS--DEPARTURE OF THE BATTALION--THE CAMP OF ISRAEL GOES INTO WINTER QUARTERS--THE FALL OF NAUVOO.
Where now shall fancy's roving pinion rest?
'Mid barren regions of the boundless West, Where silvery streams through silent valleys flow From mountains crested with eternal snow; Where reigns no creed its rival creed to bind, Where exiled faith a resting-place shall find, Where builds the eagle on the beetling height And wings o'er freedom's hills unfearing flight.
The point in view of the leaders of Israel was the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, a portion of Mexican territory located in the tops of the mountains, in the very heart of the American desert. Discouraging as were all reports relating to this barren and inhospitable region, a thousand miles farther on over trackless plains and bleak mountains swarming with wild beasts and savages, these intrepid men resolved to go forward, trusting in G.o.d and braving every peril. At least it was a land of liberty, uninfested by mobs and heartless priests and politicians, and with the wintry sky above, and the frozen earth beneath, or in summer the burning rocks and waterless wastes around them, they felt safer far in the society of wild Indians and savage wolves, than in the midst of the Christian civilization they had left behind.
Far from the realms where civilization reigns, Where Freedom's b.a.s.t.a.r.ds bind her sons in chains, They sought a home within the western wild, And fraternized the forest's dusky child; No fiercer found, less savage in the test, Than priestly tyrants trampling the oppressed.
Journeying towards the Missouri river they founded temporary settlements, or ”traveling stakes of Zion,” recruiting their strength with needed rest along the way, and putting in crops for their own use or for their brethren to reap who came after them. Two of these settlements were named Garden Grove and Mt. Pisgah, the latter over a hundred miles in the rear of the vanguard now resting on the Missouri river.