A Young Folks' History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Part 13

Who were the "Jack Mormons?" 3. Tell of the mob's doings. 4. Who was John Carlin? 5. What did he do? 6. Who was Major Parker? 7. What did he have orders to do? 8. Describe the mobbing party. 9. Tell about the Nauvoo volunteers. 10. Who were William and Augustus Anderson? 11. How long did the defenders hold out? 12. What was agreed upon in the treaty of peace?

13. Describe the actions of the mob in Nauvoo. 14. To where were the Saints driven? 15. What was their condition? 16. How were they fed? 17. Who wrote an interesting account of this exodus?

CHAPTER XXVII.

WESTWARD.

The moving of a nation! What a task it must have been!

Most of you have had some experience in moving, it may be only a family moving from one house to another, and you know what a lot of worry and work there are in such a small affair; but here was a nation moving!

This great exodus was very much like the time when the children of Israel went from under the oppression of Egypt out into the wilderness to journey to the promised land. When at Nauvoo, Brigham Young said to the Saints: "To your tents, O Israel," they knew they had another Moses to lead them from their persecutors.

The camp at Sugar creek grew larger every day through the arrival of exiles from Nauvoo. Many did not bring provisions enough with them, so that they were forced to go to the neighboring farms and settlements and work for corn.

The first move the camp made was on March 1, 1846, when four hundred wagons started forward. Five miles only was traveled that day, and when they camped, the snow had to be shovelled away where they pitched their tents.

From that time the Saints moved slowly westward across the territory of Iowa. As they advanced, the spring rains came and often drenched the travelers through. The ground now became very muddy, and it was so hard for the poor teams that some days only a few miles were traveled. Sometimes their camping places were so wet that they who slept on the ground would have to lay on branches of trees so that they would not sink into the mud.

At first there was very little feed for their animals, and they had to live on the bark and twigs of trees, with what, corn could be spared for them.

Many horses were traded for oxen, as they could stand such hards.h.i.+p better.

Trips were made to the nearest settlements to buy food. Those who had no money traded what they could spare, such as dishes and feather beds for corn.

For the first few weeks there was not much order in their way of traveling; but on March 27th the Saints were more perfectly organized. Brigham Young was sustained as president of the whole camp. Then captains were appointed over hundreds, over fifties, and over tens. Clerks were chosen to keep the records, etc., and men were called to see to the buying and distributing of the food. Thus every one had something to do and everything was done in order.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A PIONEER TRAIN.]

Often in the evening when supper had been eaten, the logs were piled on the bonfire, a s.p.a.ce was cleared, the musicians brought out their instruments, and the sorrows and hards.h.i.+ps of the day were forgotten in the innocent dance.

The camp always rested on Sundays, and if the weather would permit, meetings were held.

On April 24th a point on Grand river was reached, one hundred and forty-five miles north-west from Nauvoo. Here it was decided to form a settlement--to build houses and plant crops, that those who came after would have food and a stopping place. The settlement was called Garden Grove. Soon it was as lively as a hive of bees. Hundreds of men were busy making fence rails and fences, building houses, digging wells, clearing land, and plowing. Meetings were held often and the people were instructed and encouraged. Parley P. Pratt and a small company were sent ahead to find another location for a settlement. They found a beautiful place about thirty miles from Garden Grove, which they called Mount Pisgah. Here houses were also built, and farms and gardens planted. As many of the Saints were poor and sick they rested at these two settlements while the main body went on.

From Mount Pisgah the country was wild Indian lands, there being no white settlements or roads. The spring rains had now moderated so that the roads were better. On June 14th President Young and the leading companies arrived at the Missouri river, where a stop was made. Most of the companies came up in July. A camp was made on the east side of the river on some high land called Council Bluffs.

This was on Indian land, but the travelers were received kindly and given permission to stop.

President Young intended to send a body of picked men into the Rocky Mountains as soon as possible to locate a gathering place. They were to push on ahead that summer and put in crops. Arrangements were being made to this end, when something happened that put a stop to the plan. This was the call for the Mormon Battalion, about which I will tell you in the next chapter.

After five hundred of their best men had marched away to fight the battles of their country, it was impossible for the Saints to get to the mountains that year. So it was decided to make a third stopping place and remain there during the winter.

There being a good location for a town on the west bank of the Missouri river, that place was selected and named Winter Quarters. The town was laid out regularly into streets, and log houses were built. Some made dugouts in the sides of the hill, which were quite comfortable during the cold winter.

As the Indians were troublesome on that side of the river a stockade was built around the town. By December, 1846, five hundred and thirty-eight log houses and eighty-three sod houses were built, inhabited by three thousand four hundred and eighty-three people. The town was divided into twenty-two wards, each presided over by a bishop. A large log house was built in which meetings and parties were held.

The food of the people that winter consisted largely of corn-bread and pork. President Young had a grist mill built, but before that time many ate boiled wheat, and ground their corn in coffee mills.

Because of hards.h.i.+ps and poor food there was much sickness at all the settlements. Graves marked the prairie for hundreds of miles. At Winter Quarters alone over six hundred were buried.

The poor Saints who were left at Nauvoo were not forgotten. After they had been driven from Nauvoo, they were met by teams from Winter Quarters, and all who wished to go were taken to the camps of the Saints.

Perhaps you may get an idea of this great move when you are told that during that summer there were about two thousand wagons and ten thousand Saints on the way between Nauvoo and Council Bluffs.

Topics.--1. From Nauvoo to Garden Grove. 2. Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah. 3. Winter Quarters.

Questions and Review.--1. What might this last move of the Saints be likened to? 2. After leaving Nauvoo where was the first stopping place? 3.

When did the camp start west? 4. What hindered the traveling? 5. How was the camp organized? 6. What did the Saints do for amus.e.m.e.nt? 7. Where were Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah? 8. What was the object in making these settlements? 9. What prevented a band of pioneers from going to the mountains that summer? 10. Where was Winter Quarters? 11. Describe the place. 12. About how many people were traveling across Iowa that summer?

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE MORMON BATTALION.

During the summer of 1846 the United States was at war with the republic of Mexico. A number of battles had been fought in Texas. What is now California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona belonged to Mexico, and as President Polk desired to get this large district of country for the United States, he sent soldiers westward to the Pacific ocean.

The "Mormon" people traveling from Nauvoo had asked President Polk for a.s.sistance in their journey to the west. They said they wanted to remain under the protection of the government, and were willing to aid in holding the western country for the United States.

In the month of June, 1846, Captain James Allen, an officer of the United States army arrived at Mount Pisgah, Iowa. What he wanted was five hundred men with which to form a battalion and march across the continent to California, and take part in the war with Mexico.

This was startling news indeed. The Saints had not expected this kind of "help" in their journeying through the wilderness. Many of the Saints looked upon the call as a plan to destroy them. You can hardly blame them for that, can you, knowing some of their past history?

But President Young and the leading brethren told the officer he should have his men. They thought it was a test to see if they were true to their country. Though it was a pretty hard test, thus to take their best and strongest men away from such a camp as theirs, yet the "Mormon" people would show to the government and to the whole world that they were loyal to their country, even though that country had failed to protect them in their rights to live in peace and wors.h.i.+p G.o.d.

At a meeting held at Council Bluffs it was decided to raise the men asked for. Brigham Young and the Twelve took an active part in getting volunteers. Word was sent to the different settlements of the Saints. The stars and stripes were hoisted to a tree top, and the work of enrollment began. Within three days the little army was organized and ready for the march. Then they had a grand farewell party, held, not in some beautifully lighted ball room, but in a bowery, where the ground had been packed hard by the tread of many feet. There fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters and sweethearts said their goodbyes to each other.

And then the long, dreary march began. The story of that march would fill a book, so of course very little of it can be told here. If you would like to read more about it, you will find it in Brother Tyler's "History of the Mormon Battalion."

There were five hundred and forty-nine souls in the Battalion. Captain James Allen was the commander. They started on their march July 20, 1846, to Fort Leavenworth, where they received their guns and other things necessary for an army. At this point Captain Allen died, which made the men feel bad, as he was a good, kind officer.

The Battalion began to move from Fort Leavenworth on the 12th of August.

You may see their line of march by looking at the map on page 128. After suffering much hards.h.i.+p, they reached Santa Fe, October 9th. Here Colonel Cooke took the command. As many of the soldiers as were too sick to go on were sent to Pueblo, where they remained all winter, and traveled to Salt Lake valley the next summer. The main body of the Battalion left Santa Fe, October 19th, for California. At Tucson they expected to have a battle with some Mexican soldiers, and prepared for it, but they marched through the city without being disturbed. From Tucson they continued over the deserts, and arrived at San Diego, January 29, 1847, where they saw the broad, blue, ocean, many of them for the first time.

The Battalion remained in and around San Diego for about two weeks. As there was no fighting to be done, the men built houses, dug wells, made brick, and helped build up the town. On March 19th most of them marched to Los Angeles, and on the 16th of July they were mustered out, having served their full time--one year.

Of this great march Colonel Cooke their commander wrote:

"History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry; nine-tenths of it through a wilderness, where nothing but savages and wild beasts are found, or deserts, where for want of water, there is no living creature. There, with almost hopeless labor we have dug deep wells. Without a guide we have crossed the wilderness, we have ventured into trackless prairies, where water was not found for several marches. With crowbar and pickax in hand we have worked our way over mountains, which seemed to defy aught but the wild goat, and hewed a pa.s.sage through a chasm of rock, more narrow than our wagons."

After their release, most of the men took up their march for home. Perhaps it would be more correct to say to find their families and friends, as they did not have any home yet. They journeyed northward in California and then crossed the mountains to Salt Lake valley where most of them arrived in October, 1847. From there many went right on to Winter Quarters to their families.

A number of the Battalion men remained in California to earn a little money. Some got work with a Captain Sutter who had a large ranch on the American fork of the Sacramento river. The "Mormons" with some others were set to work building a mill, and it was here while digging in the mill race that gold was discovered in California. Some of the brethren carried away a few hundred dollars' worth when they went to Salt Lake Valley the next summer.

Topics.--1. The call for the Mormon Battalion. 2. Its march. 3. Discovery of Gold.