{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_44896/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_44896","id":"gutenberg_44896","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44896","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- Apostles -- Biography","Latter Day Saints","Pratt, Parley P. (Parley Parker), 1807-1857"],"text":"THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF PARLEY PARKER PRATT\n========================================\n\nONE OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF\nLATTER-DAY SAINTS,\n\nEMBRACING THE LIFE, MINISTRY AND TRAVELS, WITH EXTRACTS, IN\nPROSE AND VERSE, FROM HIS MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS.\n\nEDITED BY HIS SON, PARLEY P. PRATT.\n\n\"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth;\nYea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and\n_their works do follow them_.\"--Rev. xiv. 13.\n\nChicago: Published for Pratt Bros. by Law, King & Law\n\n1888\n\nEntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, By\nParley P. Pratt, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at\nWashington.\n\n\nPreface\n------------------------\n\nIn publishing this volume I am discharging a duty solemnly\nimposed upon me by my lamented father, just before his departure on\nhis last mission to the United States.\n\nIt affords me great pleasure to present the Autobiography of the\nlate Author to his relatives, his numerous friends, and to the\ngeneral reader.\n\nThe writer is well and favorably known through his \"Voice of\nWarning,\" his \"Key to Theology,\" and other productions of his pen,\nas well as through his personal labors. He was one of the first\nApostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, having\nbeen called by revelation and ordained to that office by the\nProphet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. He was intimately\nassociated with the martyrs Joseph and Hyrum, with Presidents B.\nYoung and H. C. Kimball, and other leading men, almost from the\nfirst rise of the Church: his history, therefore, was so interwoven\nwith that of the Church, that many of the most interesting sketches\nof Church history will be found therein.\n\nThe following pages, which embrace his life, ministry and\ntravels, and some of his best miscellaneous writings in prose and\nverse, are the productions of his own pen.\n\nHe spared no pains to make the work a reliable record, and one\nthat would be acceptable to all lovers of truth. It is written in\nthe author's happiest style. He was an early pioneer of the Great\nWest, and travelled extensively in different countries.\n\nHis life was one of indefatigable labor, varied and complicated,\ncrowded with public labors and responsibilities, and full of\nstrange and extraordinary events--a life mingled with the extremes\nof joy and sorrow--or, in the writer's own words, \"a truly eventful\none.\"\n\nWith confidence and satisfaction I submit this work to the\nreader, feeling assured that it will stand upon its own merits. I\nalso have an earnest and sincere desire that it may be the means,\nthrough the blessing of God, of accomplishing much good.\n\nIn editing the work I have been kindly assisted by the author's\npersonal friend, Elder John Taylor, to whom I feel deeply indebted.\n\nThe work embraces a period of history of fifty years--from the\nauthor's boyhood to the time of his betrayal, by apostates, into\nthe hands of his enemies, and martyrdom.\n\nThe writer, in his second preface to his \"Voice of Warning,\" in\n1846, gave expression to the following sentiment: \"Should the\nauthor be called to sacrifice his life for the cause of truth, he\nwill have the consolation that it will be said of him, as it was\nsaid of Abel, '_He being dead yet speaketh_.'\"\n\nEditor.\n\nSalt Lake City, _Dec., 1873_\n\n\nTo the Public\n------------------------\n\nThe circumstances attending the death of our beloved and much\nesteemed Apostle, Parley Parker Pratt, rendered it impossible for\nhim to complete and prepare for publication the work in which he\nhad for many years been engaged, which is now presented to the\npublic.\n\nThe general history and incidents were recorded in various forms\nof manuscript, some in book form, some in loose leaves, whilst\nothers were extracts from the \"Millennial Star\" and other\npublications, yet they needed collating and revising preparatory to\ntheir publication.\n\nThe deceased, as appears above, had laid upon his eldest son, P.\nP. Pratt, the responsibility of publishing his history in case\nanything should happen to prevent himself from doing it.\n\nAt the solicitation of Brother Pratt I undertook the task of\nassisting to collate and revise the work preparatory to\npublication. I found, as I expected it to be, quite an undertaking.\nBut, as Bro. Parley brought the gospel to and baptized me, and as I\nhave always entertained for him the most profound regard, I\nesteemed it a duty, due alike to gratitude and respect, to assist\nin having him properly presented before the community.\n\nIn the revision the changes are very few and unimportant, the\nmeaning being rigidly adhered to, and the original, so far as\npossible, preserved intact. His doctrines and general views are\nleft unchanged, as he was always considered sound in doctrinal\npoints.\n\nThe multitudinous reminiscences manifested in his eventful life\nexhibit a true and living faith in God and his religion--an\nhonesty of purpose, an inflexible will, and an unflagging,\nindefatigable industry and perseverance. He possessed a\ncomprehensive mind, coupled with a sound judgment. He manifested an\nindomitable fortitude under the most trying circumstances, and in\nadversity and trials, as well as in prosperity, exhibited an\nexample worthy of praise and emulation. He was indeed a true\nLatter-Day Saint, an honorable Apostle, a good and kind husband, an\naffectionate father, a true friend, and an honest man.\n\nFrom various premonitions which he had during his last visit\nwith me in New York, I was satisfied that, when I took my last sad\nleave of him in that city, I should never see his face again in the\nflesh. These presentiments were but too speedily and sadly\nfulfilled. He has gone--but has left a name and a fame that will\nlive throughout time and burst forth in eternity; and in the\nmorning of the first resurrection, when the opening heavens shall\nreveal the Son of God, and he shall proclaim, \"I am the\nresurrection and the life,\" when Death shall deliver up the dead, I\nexpect to meet Bro. Parley in the resurrection of just.\n\nJohn Taylor.\n\n\nCONTENTS\n------------------------\n\nCHAPTER I.--Parentage:--Childhood:--Youth:--Education:--Early\nImpressions:--Journey Westward:--Making a New Farm in the Wilderness of\nOswego.\n\nCHAPTER II.--Thoughts on Religion:--Join the Baptist Church:--Strange\nPerversion of a Scripture Promise.\n\nCHAPTER III.--Reverses:--Loss of our Farm:--Strange Resolve:--Travels\nWest:--Forest Life:--Another New Farm.\n\nCHAPTER IV.--Revisit Canaan, N. T.:--Interesting Meeting:--\nMarriage:--Return to my Forest Home.\n\nCHAPTER V.--Our Home:--New Sect:--Progressive Religious\nViews:--Unexpected Meeting:--Dialogue:--Forsake My Home:--Journey to\nNew York:--Public Ministry:--Strange Book:--First Interview with a\nLatter-Day Saint.\n\nCHAPTER VI.--Interesting Meetings:--Second Interview with Hyrum\nSmith:--Visit to the Church in Seneca County:--Baptism, Confirmation\nand Ordination:--Ministry Among my Kindred:--Baptism of my Brother\nOrson:--Wonderful Sign in the Heavens:--Return to Western New\nYork:--First Interview with Joseph Smith:--Description of his Person\nand Abilities.\n\nCHAPTER VII.--Mission to the Western States:--Visit to the\nIndians:--Wonderful Success in Kirtland, Ohio:--Journey\nWestward:--Great Excitement and Anxiety to Hear the\nFulness of the Gospel:--Imprisonment:--Mock Trial:--\nEscape:--Preaching:--Success:--Visit the Wyandots:--Journey\nResumed:--Great Hardships:--Arrival on the Frontiers of Missouri.\n\nChapter VIII.--Visit the Delawares of Kansas:--Interview\nwith the Chief and Council:--Speech and Reply:--Great Excitement:--\nOpposition from Missionaries:--Compelled to Leave the Indian\nCountry:--Ministry in Jackson County:--Council in Independence:--\nReturn Eastward:--Disguise:--Hospitality of a Family of the\nSaints:--Dialogue:--Sickness:--Reunion with President Joseph\nSmith:--Mission to the Shakers:--Ministry Among the Churches:--False\nSpirits:--Inquire of the Lord:--Mode of Receiving Revelations.\n\nCHAPTER IX.--Revelation on False Spirits:--Ministry Among the\nChurches:--Remarkable Miracle of Healing:--Arrival of Emigrant Saints\nfrom New York:--Severe Disappointment.\n\nCHAPTER X.--Conference at Kirtland:--Revelation of the High\nPriesthood:--Ordinations to the Same:--Appointment of Missions\nthrough the Western States:--Return Westward, Accompanied by\nmy Brother Orson:--Our Success by the Way:--Arrival at the\nFrontiers:--Sickness:--Remarkable Conversion of Newel Knight:--A Dream.\n\nCHAPTER XI.--Attend Conference:--Instantaneous Healing:--\nReturn Eastward:--Description of the Inhabitants on the\nSouth Side of the Missouri River:--Strange Manifestation:--\nArrive at St. Louis:--Preaching and Entertainment:--Arrive at\nVandalia:--Reception:--Exposure in Crossing an Over--flowed\nBottom:--Dialogue:--Hospitality of a Preacher:--Deaf Landlord:--Meet\nmy Wife.\n\nChapter XII.--Mission in Ohio:--Start to Western Missouri:--Incidents\nby the Way:--Discourse on Board a Steamer on the Fourth of July:--Its\nEffect:--Arrival on the Frontiers:--Farming:--Extortion:--Mission\nin Missouri and Illinois:--Treatment by Infidels:--Great Success in\nIllinois:--Opposition from Baptist Ministers:--Outlines of Mr. Peck's\nSpeech and my Reply:--Result:--Return Home:--A Voice from the Dead.\n\nCHAPTER XIII.--Prosperity of the Church:--School in Zion:--\nRevelation:--Mob:--Destruction of Printing Office:--Defence:--\nPrisoners:--Journey to Lexington:--A Dream:--Its Fulfilment:--\nBattle:--Defeat of the Robbers:--A Miracle:--Defence Construed into\nMurder:--Gov. Boggs and Militia Join the Mob:--Church Driven from\nthe County:--Plunderings and Burnings:--Insurrections:--Signs in\nthe Heavens:--Action of the Governor:--Attorney-General Driven from\nCourt:--Refugees Settle in the North:--A Bandit Chief made Governor.\n\nCHAPTER XIV.--Labors in Clay County:--Conference:--Appointment\nto a Tedious Journey:--A Case of Healing:--Arrive at Kirtland:--\nRevelation:--Travel Eastward, in Company with President Joseph\nSmith:--Conference in Geneseo:--Pleasing Reminiscence:--President\nSmith and Others Return Home:--Visit Sackett's Harbor:--Crowded\nMeeting:--Requested to Visit the Sick:--A Little Boy Healed:--\nBaptisms, etc.:--Miraculous Gifts:--Lying Priests and Rabble:--\nVisit my Parents in Canaan, N. Y.:--Return to Kirtland.\n\nCHAPTER XV.--An Army:--A Long March:--Recruits:--A Voice:--Camp\nArrives in Missouri:--Delegation to the Governor:--Interview:--Return\nto Camp:--Council:--Great Storm and Flood:--A Battle Providentially\nPrevented:--Cholera:--Army Disbanded:--Sudden Destruction:--Labor with\nmy Hands:--Journey to Ohio:--Labor and Ministry:--Accusations:--Repair\nto Kirtland:--Interview with the President:--His Action on the\nMatter:--Calling and Ordination of a Quorum of Twelve Apostles:--My\nOrdination, Blessing and Charge:--Charge to the Quorum.\n\nCHAPTER XVI.--Return to New Portage:--Fire:--Return to\nKirtland:--Mob:--Journey Eastward, as far as Maine:--Return to\nBoston:--Removal to Kirtland:--A Temple:--School, Endowments,\nProphecyings, Visions, etc.:--Visit from Brother H. C. Kimball and\nOthers:--My Wife Healed and Blessed:--A Remarkable Prophecy and its\nFulfilment:--Mission to Canada:--Falls of Niagara:--Reflections.\n\nCHAPTER XVII.--Journey Resumed:--Ministry:--Striking Answer to\nPrayer:--Arrival at Toronto:--John Taylor:--Visit the Religious\nMinisters, the Sheriff, and the Public Market, Seeking for an Opening,\nbut in Vain:--Secret Prayer:--About to leave the City--God Sends a\nWidow to Receive Me:--Great Faith:--Eyes of the Blind Opened:--Great\nExcitement and Gainsayings:--Public Preaching:--Find a People Prepared\nto Receive the Message.\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.--Crowded Meeting:--Discourse:--Baptize the People\nand Organize a Church:--Spread of the Work:--First Visit to the\nCountry:--Opposition:--Remarkable Success:--Return to Kirtland:--Return\nwith my Wife to Toronto:--Meetings at Mr. Lamphere's:--A Woman\nHealed and Evil Spirits Rebuked:--Mr. Lamareux:--A Meeting:--A\nChallenge:--Discussion Held in the Open Air:--Great Crowd:--Opening\nPropositions by Elder O. Hyde:--Result of the Discussion.\n\nCHAPTER XIX.--A Vision:--Remarkable Signs in the Heavens:--A False\nProphet:--A Dream:--Impression:--Prayer:--Interpretation Given in\na Second Dream:--Attend Mr. Caird's Meeting:--He Shows Himself to\nbe a Railer and a Liar:--We Challenge Him to an Investigation:--He\nVisits Toronto:--We Return There:--Continues His Opposition:--\nRefusing to Meet Us:--Great Meetings:--Excitement:--Text:--Summary\nof the Discourse Proving Him a False Teacher:--He Retires to Private\nLife:--Return to Kirtland:--Birth of My First Born.\n\nCHAPTER XX.--Two Items of Prophecy:--Death of my Wife: An Open Vision\nForewarning Her of Her Death:--Burial: Description of Her Person\nand Character:--Reflections: Return to Canada:--Selection for an\nEnglish Mission Jarrings in the Church:--Apostacy:--Temptation:--\nDeliverance:--Mission to New York City:--The Voice of Warning:--Its\nSuccess:--English Mission:--Remarkable Prophecy:--Several Instances of\nHealing:--Spread of the Work in the City and Country.\n\nCHAPTER XXI.--Remove to Missouri:--National Anniversary at Far\nWest:--Corner Stone of a Temple:--Insurrections:--Defence:--Attack on\nDe Witt, Carroll County:--Mob Chaplain:--Surrender and Flight of the\nCitizens of De Witt:--Action of the Governor:--General Defence:--Battle\nof Crooked River:--Death of Colonel Patten:--Defence Construed into\nMurder and Treason:--Muster of State Forces Against the \"Mormons,\" with\nOrders for Extermination:--General Lucas, with Four Thousand Men,\nMenaces Far West.\n\nCHAPTER XXII.--Exterminating Order:--Betrayal and Imprisonment\nof Joseph Smith and Others:--Camp of the Enemy:--The Howlings\nof the Damned:--The Enemy Boast of the Highest Crimes:--Secret\nInquisitory Trial of the Prisoners:--Sentence of Death!--How\nReversed:--A Judas:--Surrender of Far West:--Attempt to Assassinate\nthe Prisoners:--Farewell Scenes:--Captives Removed to Jackson\nCounty:--General Clark Demands the Prisoners:--Refusal to Surrender\nthem:--Cross the Missouri River:--Visitors:--Preaching in Camp by\nPresident Smith:--Arrive at Independence:--Public Exhibition of the\nPrisoners.\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.--Treatment of the Prisoners:--Visit the Temple\nLot:--Gain my Freedom:--Temptation:--Voluntary Return to\nBondage:--Leave Independence:--Conduct of the Guards:--Fall\ninto the Hands of Col. Price and Guards:--Arrive at Richmond:--\nChains:--Interview with Gen. Clark:--Dialogue:--Inconceivable\nAbsurdities.\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.--Massacre at Haun's Mill.\n\nCHAPTER XXV.--Speech of Major--General Clark, Delivered at Far West\nwhile its Citizens were held as Prisoners, November, 1838.\n\nCHAPTER XXVI.--The Prisoners:--Second Interview with General\nClark:--Inquisition:--Sickness of Elder Rigdon:--Colonel Price and\nGuards:--Their Conduct;--Rebuke by Joseph Smith:--Trial:--Similarity\nbetween King Herod and Governor Boggs:--Judge Austin A. King in Open\nCourt Threatens a \"Wholesale Extermination of the 'Mormons:'\"--Other\nPrisoners Obtained by Stratagem:--Advice of General Doniphan, Attorney\nfor the Prisoners:--Decision:--Disposal of the Prisoners:--Flight of\nthe Church to Illinois:--Conduct of the Outlaws:--My Family Visits me\nin Prison.\n\nCHAPTER XXVII.--Legislative Action on the Subject.\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII.--Joseph Smith and his Fellow Prisoners in Clay\nCounty:--Mock Trial in the County of Davies:--Final Escape:--Their\nArrival in Illinois.\n\nCHAPTER XXIX.--Farewell Scenes:--Departure of the Last Remnant of the\nExiles:--Court:--Release of Two of the Prisoners:--Reflections in\nPrison.\n\nCHAPTER XXX.--Letter to Judge Austin A. King.\n\nCHAPTER XXXI.--The Prison:--Fare:--Conduct of the Guards:--A\nStrange Couple:--My Wife Visits the Prison:--Fasting and\nPrayer:--An Important Question:--Vision:--A Ministering\nSpirit:--The Question Answered:--Visit from Judge King:--Change of\nVenue:--Handcuffs:--Departure from the Prison:--Journey:--Arrival in\nColumbia, Boone County:--Enter Another Prison:--Treatment:--Arrival of\nFriends:--News from my Family:--Impressions of the Spirit:--Plan and\nPreparations for Escape:--Fourth of July Celebration:--Flag:--Public\nDinner:--Now's the Day:--Our Friends take Leave:--Rendezvous.\n\nCHAPTER XXXII.--Description of the Prison:--Ladies in the\nPrison:--Evening of a Public Day:--Song:--Obstinate Coffee Pot:--Order\nof Attack:--Escape:--Race:--Great Excitement:--Our Friends in the\nThicket:--Prisoners Gain the Thicket:--Flight:--Encounter:--Climb\na Tree:--Faint:--Prayers:--Night Favors us at Last:--Loss of my\nHorse:--Journey on Foot:--Reflections.\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII.--Dawn:--Bewildered in a Forest:--Beautiful\nValley:--Escape of Phelps:--Dialogue:--His Final Escape and\nArrival in Illinois:--Fate of our Two Friends:--Interview\nbetween my Brother Orson and my Wife:--She Prepares for my\nReception:--Disappointment:--Excitement:--Search:--Suspense:--Scenes\nat the Prison:--Treatment of Mrs. Phelps:--Mr. Follett Retaken:--His\nReturn to Prison:--Chains:--Escape of Mrs. Phelps:--Finale of Luman and\nPhila.\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV.--Reminiscence:--Resume my Wanderings:--Lost\nAgain:--Storm:--Conversation:--Suspicious Characters:--Lost in a\nSwamp:--Strange River:--Retrace my Steps:--Cross the River:--Wild\nScenery:--Strange Bedfellow:--Dawn:--Reach the Mississippi:--Cross\nthe River in a Canoe:--Land on an Island:--Entangled in the\nThickets:--Reembark:--Land in Illinois:--An Old Acquaintance:--Arrive\nat Quincy.\n\nCHAPTER XXXV.--Opinions of the Press:--Extracts from the \"Columbia\nPatriot:\"--\"Banner of Liberty:\"--\"Boone's Lick Democrat:\"--\"Saturday\nNews:\"--\"Missouri Republican:\"--\"New York Sun:\"--\"Quincy\nArgus:\"--Minutes of a Public Meeting in Quincy:--\"New York Commercial\nAdvertiser:\"--Public Meeting in New York:--Closing Remarks.\n\nCHAPTER XXXVI.--Congratulations:--Remove to Nauvoo:--Meet\nwith President Smith and Other Fellow Sufferers:--President\nSmith's Reproof for the Elders:--Toils:--Start for England:--\nArrival in Detroit:--Visit my Brother Anson and Parents:--\nArrive in New York:--Visit Philadelphia and Washington:--Meet\nPresident Smith:--Great Meeting:--Preaching by S. Rigdon and\nPresident Smith:--Success in New York:--Farewell Song:--Sail for\nEngland:--Reflections.\n\nCHAPTER XXXVII.--General Conference at Preston, England:--Publishing\nCommittee:--Editorial Appointment:--First Number of the \"Millennial\nStar\" Issued:--My own Ministry in Manchester and Vicinity:--New Hymn\nBook:--Action of Congress on the Missouri Tragedies.\n\nCHAPTER XXXVIII.--General Conference at Manchester:--Ordinations\nand Appointments:--Return to New York:--Meet with my Family:--Visit\nto the State of Maine:--A Dream and its Fulfilment:--Embark Again\nfor England:--Consequence of Looking Back:--Safe Arrival in\nEngland:--Resume the Editorial Duties:--Reflections.\n\nCHAPTER XXXIX.--Visit and Ministry in Bolton:--Conduct of two\nMethodist Priests:--Arrest and Trial:--Emigration:--General\nConference at Manchester:--Council of the Twelve:--Charter the ship\n\"Tyrean:\"--\"Philosophy of the Resurrection:\"--Emigration on the Ship\n\"Chaos:\"--Visit to the Isle of Man:--Visit to Norwich:--Mob.\n\nCHAPTER XL.--Notice for a General Conference:--Extract of a Letter from\nElder Orson Hyde in Jerusalem:--Extracts from my Farewell Address.\n\nCHAPTER XLI.--Vessels Chartered:--Emigration:--Sail for New Orleans\non the \"Emerald:\"--Passage:--Land in New Orleans:--Charter of a\nSteamer:--Historical Letter:--Journey and Arrival at Nauvoo:--Mission\nwith Joseph Smith:--Visit to Chester.\n\nCHAPTER XLII.--Miscellaneous Writings:--Mission to the East:--\nImpressions of the Spirit:--Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum\nSmith:--Spirit of Exultation:--Return to Nauvoo:--Sidney Rigdon\nDisfellowshipped.\n\nCHAPTER XLIII.--Eastern Mission:--Return:--Mobocracy:--Labor in the\nTemple:--Expulsion from Nauvoo:--Cross the Mississippi:--Garden\nGrove:--Mount Pisga:--Council Bluffs:--Mormon Battalion:--Winter\nQuarters:--Mission to England with Elders Orson Hyde and John\nTaylor:--Conference at Manchester:--Tour through the Kingdom.\n\nCHAPTER XLIV.--An Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter-Day\nSaints, _was in the Island of Great Britain for the Gospel's sake;\nand being in the Spirit on the 24th of November, 1846, addressed the\nfollowing words of comfort to his dearly beloved Wife and Family,\ndwelling in tents, in the Camp of Israel, at Council Bluffs, Missouri\nTerritory, North America; where they and twenty thousand others were\nbanished by the civilized Christians of the United States for the Word\nof God and the Testimony of Jesus_.\n\nCHAPTER XLV.--Return with Elder John Taylor to America:--Arrival at\nWinter Quarters:--Camp Starts for the Rocky Mountains:--Meet the\nPioneers:--Arrival in Great Salt Lake Valley:--Visit to Utah and Great\nSalt Lake.\n\nCHAPTER XLVI.--Spring of 1848:--Scarcity of Provisions:--\"Harvest\nFeast:\"--Arrival of President Young and Company:--Gold Fever:--Explore\nSouthern Utah.\n\nCHAPTER XLVII.--Start on my Pacific Mission:--Sketch of the\nJourney:--Attacked by Indians:--Crossing the Desert:--Arrival at Los\nAngelos.\n\nCHAPTER XLVIII.--Los Angelos:--Catholic Celebration of Corpus\nChristi:--Arrival in San Francisco:--Letter to President Brigham\nYoung:--Family Letter.\n\nCHAPTER XLIX.--Valparaiso:--Quillota:--Letter to President Brigham\nYoung.\n\nCHAPTER L.--Arrival in San Francisco:--Return to Salt Lake\nCity:--Second Mission to the Pacific:--Articles from the Press.\n\nCHAPTER LI.--Reply to the Rev. Mr. Briggs on the Subject of the\nExpediency of the Reappointment of His Excellency Governor Young, of\nUtah.\n\nCHAPTER LII.--Statements Pertaining to the History of Joseph\nSmith:--Return to Utah:--Home Mission:--Attend the Legislature at\nFillmore:--The Standard of Zion:--Return to Salt Lake City.\n\nCHAPTER LIII.--Journal of Eastern Mission.\n\nCHAPTER LIV.--Family Letters:--\"My Fiftieth Year:\"--Response by John\nTaylor.\n\nAPPENDIX\n\nGENEALOGY\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTE\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n------------------------\n\nParentage:--Childhood:--Youth:--Education:--Early\nImpressions:--Journey Westward:--Making a New Farm in the\nWilderness of Oswego.\n\nParley Parker Pratt, the subject and author of these sketches,\nand third son of Jared and Charity Pratt, of Canaan, Columbia\nCounty, New York, was born April 12, 1807, in Burlington, Otsego\nCounty, N.Y.*\n\n[Footnote] *For genealogy in full see Appendix.\n\nOf my early youth I shall say but little. My father was a hard\nworking man, and generally occupied in agricultural pursuits; and,\nalthough limited in education, he sometimes taught school, and even\nvocal music.\n\nHe was a man of excellent morals; and he exerted himself\ndiligently, by stern example as well as precept, to instill into\nthe minds of his children every principle of integrity, honesty,\nhonor and virtue.\n\nHe taught us to venerate our Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ, His\nprophets and Apostles, as well as the Scriptures written by them;\nwhile at the same time he belonged to no religious sect, and was\ncareful to preserve his children free from all prejudice in favor\nof or against any particular denomination, into which the so-called\nChristian world was then unhappily divided.\n\nWe frequently attended public worship, with Presbyterians,\nBaptists and Methodists in turn, or, as circumstances rendered\nconvenient--having equal respect for these several forms of worship\nand their adherents. Though my father did sometimes manifest a\ndecided disapprobation of a hireling clergy, who seemed, in his\nestimation, to prefer the learning and wisdom of man to the gifts\nand power of the Holy Ghost.\n\nHis means to educate his children were very limited; but that\nexcellent system of common school education early established in\nthe Eastern and Middle States afforded to them, in common with\nothers, an opportunity to learn, and even to become familiar with\nthe four great branches, which are the foundation of literature and\nthe sciences.\n\nMy opportunity, even in these institutions, was far more limited\nthan most of the youths of my country, on account of my time being\nmostly required in physical exertion to assist in sustaining the\nfamily of my father.\n\nBut I always loved a book. If I worked hard, a book was in my\nhand in the morning while others were sitting down to breakfast;\nthe same at noon; if I had a few moments, a _book_! a BOOK!\nA book at evening, while others slept or sported; a book on\nSundays; a book at every leisure moment of my life.\n\nAt the age of seven years my mother gave me lessons to read in\nthe Scriptures; I read of Joseph in Egypt, his dreams, his\nservitude, his temptation and exaltation; his kindness and\naffection for his father and brethren. All this inspired me with\nlove, and with the noblest sentiments ever planted in the bosom of\nman.\n\nI read of David and Goliath;--of Saul and Samuel;--of Samson and\nthe Philistines:--all these inspired me with hatred to the deeds of\nevil doers and love for good men and their deeds.\n\nAfter this I read of Jesus and his Apostles; and O, how I loved\nthem! How I longed to fall at the feet of Jesus; to worship him, or\nto offer my life for his.\n\nAt about twelve years of age I read of the first resurrection,\nas described by John the Apostle, in the 20th chapter of his\nRevelation; how they, martyrs of Jesus, and those who kept His\ncommandments would live and reign with Christ a thousand years,\nwhile the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years\nwere ended. O, what an impression this made on my mind; I retired\nto rest after an evening spent in this way; but I could not sleep.\nI felt a longing desire and an inexpressible anxiety to secure to\nmyself a part in a resurrection so glorious. I felt a weight of\nworlds,--of _eternal_ worlds resting upon me; for fear I\nmight still remain in uncertainty, and at last fall short and still\nsleep on in the cold embrace of death; while the great, the good,\nthe blessed and the holy of this world would awake from the gloom\nof the grave and be renovated, filled with life and joy, and enter\nupon life with all its joys: while for a thousand years their busy,\nhappy tribes should trample on my sleeping dust, and still my\nspirit wait in dread suspense, impatient of its doom. I tried to\npray; but O, how weak!\n\nAt the age of fifteen I was separated from my father's house,\nand placed as an assistant on a farm, with a gentleman by the name\nof William S. Herrick. This gentleman and his family were exemplary\nmembers of the Presbyterian Church; and better, kinder, or more\nagreeable people are seldom met with in this wicked world. They\ntreated me as if I had been an only son, instead of a hired\nservant.\n\nI was with them eight months, during which time our mutual\naffection for each other increased; and I felt grieved when my time\nexpired and duty called me elsewhere.\n\nDuring the winter following, being in the sixteenth year of my\nage, I boarded with one of my aunts (my father's sister), named Van\nCott; she was an excellent and kind-hearted woman, and acted as a\nmother to me. This winter I spent mostly at school, and it was my\nlast opportunity to improve my education by any means, except my\nown unaided exertion--at least for many years.\n\nIn this school, by close application, I made such extraordinary\nprogress that the teacher often spoke of me to the whole school,\nand exhorted them to learn as Parley Pratt did;--said he (to some\nof them who were more fond of mischief than of study), if you would\nlearn as he does, you would become men of wisdom and talent in the\nworld; but if you continue the course you have done you will remain\nin obscurity and unknown; while he will be known, and fill\nimportant stations in society. I do not mention these circumstances\nby way of boasting; but simply because they are true. How little\ndid I then realize, or even dream of the station I should be called\nto fill.\n\nAgain the spring returned;--I was sixteen years of age. I left\nthe school of my boyhood forever, and commenced again a life of\ntoil. I assisted my cousin, William Pratt, in the cultivation of\nthe farm of my aunt (where I had boarded the previous winter) until\nSeptember, when I started a journey to the West, in company with my\nbrother William, in search of some spot of ground in the wilderness\nwhich we might prepare as our future home.\n\nWe travelled about two hundred miles on foot, and at length\nselected a spot for a farm in the woods, about two miles from\nOswego, a small town situated on Lake Ontario, in the State of New\nYork. We purchased seventy acres of land, which was covered with an\nimmense growth of timber, principally beech, maple and hemlock. For\nthis we bargained with one Mr. Morgan, and agreed to pay four\ndollars per acre, in four annual payments with interest--paying\nsome seventy dollars in hand.\n\nWe then repaired again to the East, and, by dint of hard labor,\nendeavored to earn the money. Wages were very low, and at length my\nbrother William entirely failed in raising his part of the money\nfor our next installment.\n\nThe next spring found me in the employment of a wealthy farmer,\nby the name of Eliphet Bristol, in the neighborhood of my aunt Van\nCott's. Here I experienced no kindness; no friendship from my\nemployer or his family. I always commenced work before sunrise, and\ncontinued till dark; losing only three days in eight months. I was\nthen but a lad--being only seventeen years of age--and stood in\nneed of fatherly and motherly care and comfort. But they treated a\nlaborer as a machine; not as a human being, possessed of feelings\nand sympathies in common with his species. _Work_! WORK!\n_WORK_! you are hired to work. A man that paid for his work\nshould never be weary, faint, or sick; or expect a kind look or\nword. He agrees to work; we agree to pay him; that is sufficient.\nHe needs no kindness, no affection, no smiles, no encouragement of\nany kind. Such was their spirit towards me during this eight months\nof toil. I was glad when the time expired; I felt like one released\nfrom prison. I took my wages, and was accompanied by my father to\nour place in Oswego. Here I paid all my hard earnings to meet the\nyearly installment due on the land--reserving merely enough to\npurchase two axes. We then commenced to chop and clear the heavy\ntimber all the time that we could command, extra of earning our\nboard. It was a cold, snowy winter, such as is usual in the\nnorthern part of New York. But we earned our living, and chopped\nand cleared ten acres during the winter and spring; this we\nsurrounded with a fence of rails, and planted with wheat and Indian\ncorn, being in hopes to meet the next payment with the avails of\nour harvest.\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n------------------------\n\nThoughts on Religion:--Join the Baptist\nChurch:--Strange Perversion of a Scripture Promise.\n\nIt was during these toils in the wilderness that my mind was\ndrawn out from time to time on the things of God and eternity. I\nfelt deeply anxious to be saved from my sins, and to secure an\ninterest in that world \"where the wicked cease from troubling, and\nthe weary are at rest.\" I attended public worship with a society of\nBaptists who had employed one W. A. Scranton for their minister; he\nwas a scholar from Hamilton Seminary (an institution where young\nmen are educated for the ministry).\n\nI said to my father one day while we were laboring together in\nthe forest: \"Father, how is it there is so manifest a difference\nbetween the ancient and modern disciples of Jesus Christ and their\ndoctrines? If, for instance, I had lived in the days of the\nApostles, and believed in Jesus Christ, and had manifested a wish\nto become his disciple, Peter or his brethren would have said to\nme, '_Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for_\n REMISSION OF SINS, _and you_ SHALL _receive the gift of\nthe Holy Ghost_.' I should then have known definitely and\nprecisely what to do to be saved. Whereas, _now_ we go to\nthe religious minister for instruction, and he tells us we must\nexperience a mysterious, indefinite and undefinable something\ncalled religion before we can repent and be baptized acceptably.\nBut, if we inquire how, or by what means we are to come at this\nexperience, he cannot tell us definitely; but will tell us that it\nis the work of God in the soul; which he will accomplish in his own\ndue time, for his own elect; and that we can do nothing acceptably\ntill this is done. That even our prayers and repentance, and all\nour good works are sin; so long as this work of God is not done\nwithin us.\n\n\"Now, father,\" said I, \"how is this? I believe in Jesus; I wish\nto serve him and keep his commandments; I love him: He has\ncommanded all men to repent and be baptized, and has promised to\nremit the sins of all those who obey the gospel ordinances, and to\npour out the Holy Spirit upon them. Yet, if I apply to the\nPresbyterians they will sprinkle some water in my face instead of\nbaptizing me. If I go to the Methodists it is the same. And if I go\nto the Baptists they will not baptize me for _remission of sins\n_, that I may receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; but they will\nrequire of me to relate _an experience_, and to tell of some\ntime and place where I had already experienced that which I am only\nseeking for, and have not found. This, of course, I cannot do; and,\ntherefore, they will not receive me unto baptism. How, then, can I\nobserve the ordinances of God and keep his commandments?\"\n\nTo these inquiries my father could give no satisfactory answer;\nbut observed that times and circumstances had changed. With this I\nwas not satisfied, of course; for who had a right to change the\nordinances, transgress the law, or break the covenant of the\neverlasting gospel? Such were my thoughts.\n\nI still continued to ponder upon these things, and to search the\nScriptures to learn how to be saved. I found the same principles\nand practice throughout the history of the Apostles, the Jews,\nSamaritans, Gentiles, Ephesians, Corinthians, Romans, the Ethiopian\neunuch, Saul of Tarsus, the jailer and his household, all were\nbaptized when they believed in Jesus Christ and repented of their\nsins; and this as an ordinance connected with remission of their\nsins and the gift of the Holy Ghost. What, then, should I do? Where\nfind one who was commissioned from heaven, and would administer\nsalvation to me? I could only go to the Baptists; but I lacked that\n\"_experience of religion_\" which they always required. However,\nI resolved to try.\n\nI accordingly appeared before them at their monthly meeting, or\ncouncil, and requested to be baptized; they inquired into my\nexperience; I related to them my firm belief in Christ, and my wish\nto serve God without being able to tell them of any particular\nexperience of religion. They finally consulted together; and came\nto the conclusion that I had been converted, whether I knew it\nmyself or not, and a time was appointed for my baptism--a month or\ntwo thence. Here I again realized the difference. In ancient times\npersons were baptized immediately on profession of their faith; now\nthey were subjected to a delay of weeks or months.\n\nAt length the time arrived, and I was baptized by Mr. Scranton,\nand duly initiated into the Baptist society; being about eighteen\nyears of age. I felt some satisfaction in obeying this one\nordinance; but still I was aware that all was not right,--that much\nwas wanting to constitute a Christian, or a Church of Christ.\n\nI endeavored to pray much, and to attend meetings strictly; I\nalso endeavored to keep the commandments of Jesus as well as I\ncould.\n\nMr. Scranton came to the house where I boarded to preach at a\ncertain time, and I inquired of him what Jesus meant when he said,\n\"these signs shall follow them that believe.\" He replied, that it\nmeant these signs should follow the Apostles only.\n\nThis did not satisfy me; for it was plain and manifest\nperversion of common sense and language easy to be understood. It\nwas as much as to say: Go ye into all the world and preach the\ngospel to the Apostles; and the Apostles that believe and are\nbaptized shall be saved; and the Apostles that believe not shall be\ndamned; and these signs shall follow the Apostles that believe.\nThus, by logical consistency, confining the whole commission and\ngospel to the Apostles, with all its benefits, by the same rule\nthat we would confine the promise of the signs following to them.\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n------------------------\n\nReverses:--Loss of our Farm:--Strange\nResolve:--Travels West:--Forest Life:--Another New Farm.\n\nTime passed; harvest came; a fine crop, but no market; and\nconsequently the payment came due on our land and there was no\nmeans of payment.\n\nThe winter rolled round; spring came again; and with it a\nprosecution on the part of Mr. Morgan for money due on land. The\nconsequence was that all our hard earnings, and all our\nimprovements in the wilderness, were wrested from us in a moment.\nMr. Morgan retained the land, the improvements and the money paid.\n\nWeary and disconsolate, I left the country and my father, who\ntook charge of our crops and all unsettled business.\n\nI spent a few months with my uncles, Ira and Allen Pratt, in\nWayne County, N. Y., and in the autumn of 1826 I resolved to bid\nfarewell to the civilized world--where I had met with little else\nbut disappointment, sorrow and unrewarded toil; and where sectarian\ndivisions disgusted and ignorance perplexed me--and to spend the\nremainder of my days in the solitudes of the great West, among the\nnatives of the forest.\n\nThere, at least, thought I, there will be no buying and selling\nof lands,--no law to sweep all the hard earnings of years to pay a\nsmall debt,--no wranglings about sects, and creeds, and doctrines.\nI will win the confidence of the red man; I will learn his\nlanguage; I will tell him of Jesus; I will read to him the\nScriptures; I will teach him the arts of peace; to hate war, to\nlove his neighbor, to fear and love God, and to cultivate the\nearth. Such were my resolutions.\n\nIn October, 1826, I took leave of my friends and started\nwestward. I paid most of my money in Rochester for a small pocket\nBible, and continued my journey as far as Buffalo. At this place I\nengaged a passage for Detroit, on board a steamer; as I had no\nmoney, I agreed to work for the same.\n\nAfter a rough passage and many delays, I was at length driven by\nstress of weather to land at Erie, in Pennsylvania; from whence I\ntravelled by land till I came to a small settlement about thirty\nmiles west of Cleveland, in the State of Ohio. The rainy season of\nNovember had now set in; the country was covered with a dense\nforest, with here and there a small opening made by the settlers,\nand the surface of the earth one vast scene of mud and mire; so\nthat travelling was now very difficult, if not impracticable.\n\nAlone in a land of strangers, without home or money, and not yet\ntwenty years of age, I became discouraged, and concluded to stop\nfor the winter; I procured a gun from one of the neighbors; worked\nand earned an axe, some breadstuff and other little extras, and\nretired two miles into a dense forest and prepared a small hut, or\ncabin, for the winter. Some leaves and straw in my cabin served for\nmy lodging, and a good fire kept me warm. A stream near my door\nquenched my thirst; and fat venison, with a little bread from the\nsettlements, sustained me for food. The storms of winter raged\naround me; the wind shook the forest, the wolf howled in the\ndistance, and the owl chimed in harshly to complete the doleful\nmusic which seemed to soothe me, or bid me welcome to this holy\nretreat. But in my little cabin the fire blazed pleasantly, and the\nHoly Scriptures and a few other books occupied my hours of\nsolitude. Among the few books in my cabin, were McKenzie's travels\nin the Northwest, and Lewis and Clark's tour up the Missouri and\ndown the Columbia rivers.\n\nSpring came on again; the woods were pleasant, the flowers\nbloomed in their richest variety, the birds sung pleasantly in the\ngroves; and, strange to say, my mind had become attached to my new\nabode. I again bargained for a piece of forest land; again promised\nto pay in a few years, and again commenced to clear a farm and\nbuild a house.\n\nI was now twenty years of age.\n\nI resolved to make some improvements and preparations, and then\nreturn to my native country, from which I had been absent several\nyears. There was one there whom my heart had long loved, and from\nwhom I would not have been so long separated, except by misfortune.\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n------------------------\n\nRevisit Canaan, N. T.:--Interesting Meeting:--\nMarriage:--Return to my Forest Home.\n\nIt was the Fourth of July, 1827. The morning was beautiful and\ngay, the sun rose without a cloud over the pine-clad hills of my\nnative land, where in boyhood I had often toiled and sported, just\nas I came within a mile of the farm of my good old aunt Van Cott,\nof Canaan, Columbia County, after an absence of three years. I had,\nduring this time, exchanged the features of the bashful boy for\nthose of the man; and, instead of a laughing, careless countenance,\na forehead of marble and a cheek of rose, stern care had marked me\nas her child, and the sun had given a shade of brown to my\nfeatures; these, added to a heavy growth of beard and whiskers,\ndisguised me so far that I could pass through the neighborhood of\npeople, known and familiar to me, unnoticed and unknown.\n\nWith a quick step, a beating heart, and an intense,\nindescribable feeling of joy, sorrow, hope, despondency and\nhappiness, I approached the door of Mr. Halsey, and knocked; it was\nopened by an aged female, a stranger to me; I entered and inquired\nfor Miss Thankful Halsey-in a moment more she had me by the hand,\nwith a look of welcome which showed she had not forgotten me.\n\nI spent the day and evening with her; explained to her all my\nlosses, my poverty and prospects, and the lone retreat where I had\nspent the previous winter; and the preparations I had made for a\nfuture home. I also opened my religious views to her, and my\ndesire, which I sometimes had, to try and teach the red man.\n\n\"In view of all these things,\" said I to her, \"If you still love\nme and desire to share my fortune you are worthy to be my wife. If\nnot, we will agree to be friends forever; but part to meet no more\nin time.\" \"I have loved you during three years' absence,\" said she,\n\"and I never can be happy without you.\"\n\nI repaired to my aunt's--found the usual welcome. After visiting\nmy mother and kindred, for a few days, I saw my old friend, William\nS. Herrick, where I had been employed five years before. He was\nvery anxious to employ me again; and finding I was willing, he\ndischarged a hand he had already, and gave me double wages. I\nremained in his employ till October, and found the same kind\nreception as formerly.\n\nOn the 9th of September, 1827, Parley P. Pratt and Thankful\nHalsey were solemnly united in the bonds of matrimony, by Elder\nPalmer, Minister of the Baptist Church, in Canaan, Columbia County,\nN. Y.\n\nIn October we took leave of our friends in Canaan and took\npassage for the West. We hired a conveyance to Albany, and then\ntook passage for Buffalo on a canal boat; and from there on board a\nschooner; passing up Lake Erie we landed in safety at the mouth of\nBlack River, in Ohio, and within ten miles of my place. My wife had\nsome money, which we paid in for the land I had purchased. The\nfollowing spring found me 21 years of age, married and settled in a\nlog dwelling, in the midst of a small clearing made with my own\nhands, in the place where I had spent the previous winter in\nsolitude.\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n------------------------\n\nOur Home:--New Sect:--Progressive Religious\nViews:--Unexpected Meeting:--Dialogue:--Forsake My\nHome:--Journey to New York:--Public Ministry:--Strange\nBook:--First Interview with a Latter-Day Saint.\n\nEighteen months had passed since our settlement in the\nwilderness. The forest had been displaced by the labors of the\nfirst settlers for some distance around our cottage. A small frame\nhouse was now our dwelling, a garden and a beautiful meadow were\nseen in front, flowers in rich profusion were clustering about our\ndoor and windows; while in the background were seen a thriving\nyoung orchard of apple and peach trees, and fields of grain\nextending in the distance, beyond which the forest still stood tip\nin its own primeval grandeur, as a wall to bound the vision and\nguard the lovely scene. Other houses and farms were also in view,\nand some twenty children were returning from the school actually\nkept by my wife, upon the very spot where two years before I had\nlived for months without seeing a human being. About this time one\nMr. Sidney Rigdon came into the neighborhood as a preacher, and it\nwas rumored that he was a kind of Reformed Baptist, who, with Mr.\nAlexander Campbell, of Virginia, a Mr. Scott, and some other gifted\nmen, had dissented from the regular Baptists, from whom they\ndiffered much in doctrine. At length I went to hear him, and what\nwas my astonishment when I found he preached faith in Jesus Christ,\nrepentance towards God, and baptism for remission of sins, with the\npromise of the gift of the Holy Ghost to all who would come\nforward, with all their hearts, and obey this doctrine!\n\nHere was the _ancient gospel_ in due form. Here were the\nvery principles which I had discovered years before; but could find\nno one to minister in. But still one great link was wanting to\ncomplete the chain of the ancient order of things; and that was,\nthe _authority_ to minister in holy things--the apostleship,\nthe power which should accompany the form. This thought occurred to\nme as soon as I heard Mr. Rigdon make proclamation of the gospel.\n\nPeter proclaimed this gospel, and baptized for remission of\nsins, and promised the gift of the Holy Ghost, because he was\ncommissioned so to do by a crucified and risen Saviour. But who is\nMr. Rigdon? Who is Mr. Campbell? Who commissioned them? Who\nbaptized them for remission of sins? Who ordained them to stand up\nas Peter? Of course they were baptized by the Baptists, and\nordained by them, and yet they had now left them because they did\nnot administer the true gospel. And it was plain that the Baptists\ncould not claim the apostolic office by succession, in a regular,\nunbroken chain from the Apostles of old, preserving the gospel in\nits purity, and the ordinances unchanged, from the very fact that\nthey were now living in the perversion of some, and the entire\nneglect of others of these ordinances; this being the very ground\nof difference between the old Baptists and these Reformers.\n\nAgain, these Reformers claimed no new commission by revelation,\nor vision from the Lord, while they had not the least shadow of\nclaim by succession.\n\nIt might be said, then, with propriety: \"Peter I know, and Paul\nI know, but who are ye?\"\n\nHowever, we were thankful for even the forms of truth, as none\ncould claim the power, and authority, and gifts of the Holy\nGhost--at least so far as we knew.\n\nAfter hearing Mr. Rigdon several times, I came out, with a\nnumber of others, and embraced the truths which he taught. We were\norganized into a society, and frequently met for public worship.\n\nAbout this time I took it upon me to impart to my neighbors,\nfrom time to time, both in public and in private, the light I had\nreceived from the Scriptures concerning the gospel, and also\nconcerning the fulfilment of the things spoken by the holy\nprophets. I did not claim any authority as a minister; I felt the\nlack in this respect; but I felt in duty bound to enlighten\nmankind, so far as God had enlightened me.\n\nAt the commencement of 1830, I felt drawn out in an\nextraordinary manner to search the prophets, and to pray for an\nunderstanding of the same. My prayers were soon answered, even\nbeyond my expectations; the prophecies of the holy prophets were\nopened to my view; I began to understand the things which were\ncoming on the earth the restoration of Israel, the coming of the\nMessiah, and the glory that should follow. I was so astonished at\nthe darkness of myself and mankind on these subjects that I could\nexclaim with the prophet: surely, \"_darkness covers the earth,\nand gross darkness the people_.\"\n\nI was all swallowed up in these things. I felt constrained to\ndevote my time in enlightening my fellow men on these important\ntruths, and in warning them to prepare for the coming of the Lord.\n\nMy brother William, who journeyed to the West with me in my\nseventeenth year, had now been missing to the family for five\nyears, and was supposed to be dead. About the time he disappeared\nand was lost sight of, he was known to leave the city of New York,\nwhere he had been employed, and to pass up the Hudson on a steamer.\nHe was heard of no more; and, as a notice appeared in the papers of\nthe same date that a young gentleman by the name of William Pratt\nwas drowned in the Hudson, on his way up the river, our parents and\nthe family had given him up for lost.\n\nOne morning, as I was absent from home on business, about two\nmiles distant, I heard of him; and that he was then residing about\nten miles from me. On hearing this I ran nearly the whole distance\non foot, and in about two hours had him by the hand. He was much\nsurprised, although he had heard of a man of my name living in the\nneighborhood; but could not believe it was me. We had each of us\ntaken our chance amid the hardships and toils of a new country for\nyears, and at last found ourselves together about six hundred miles\nfrom our starting point.\n\nThis was a joyful and unexpected meeting of two brothers. He\nimmediately accompanied me home, and was introduced to my wife and\nour little farm in the wilderness, where we spent some days\ntogether. He admired my wife; but above all my farm. \"Brother\nParley,\" said he, \"how have you done all this? When we were last\ntogether you had no wife, no farm, no house, no orchard, and now\nyou are here with everything smiling around you.\" I replied that\nhard work had accomplished it all. And, continued I, we are now\nabout to leave this quiet home which we have toiled so hard to\nmake, and perhaps, never see it again. \"How so?\" said he, with much\nsurprise, and somewhat of disappointment. I then unfolded to him\nthe gospel and prophecies as they had been opened to me, and told\nhim that the spirit of these things had wrought so powerfully on my\nmind of late that I could not rest; that I could no longer be\ncontented to dwell in quiet and retirement on my farm, while I had\nlight to impart to mankind, of which I knew they were in a great\nmeasure ignorant. \"But,\" said he, \"if I had fifty acres of land, a\ncomfortable house, a fine orchard, a beautiful garden, with meadow\nland, grain, and above all, such beautiful flowers and so valuable\na housekeeper as you have, and all these things the work of our own\nhands, I am sure I would stay and enjoy the same while I lived; and\nthe world might go on its own jog, and its own way, for all me.\nBesides, how are you to get your living? This is your all; you have\ntoiled for years to obtain it, and why not now continue to enjoy\nit?\" \"William,\" said I, \"I see plainly you know but little of my\ncircumstances if the changes which have taken place with me since\nwe parted five years ago, nor how vastly wealthy I have become\nwithin that time. Why, sir, I have bank bills enough, on the very\nbest institutions in the world, to sustain myself and family while\nwe live.\"\n\n\"Indeed,\" said he, \"well, I should like to see some of them; I\nhope they are genuine.\" \"Certainly,\" I replied, \"there is no doubt\nof that. They are true bills and founded on capital that will never\nfail, though heaven and earth should pass away. Of this I will\nconvince you in a moment.\"\n\nI then unlocked my treasury and drew from thence a large pocket\nbook, fall of promissory notes like the following: _\"Whoever\nshall forsake father or mother, brethren or sisters, houses or\nlands, wife or children, for my sake and the gospel's, shall\nreceive an hundred fold in this life, and in the world to come lie\neverlasting.\" \"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, you\nshall ask what you will in my name and I will give it you.\" \"All\nthings are possible to him that believeth.\"_\n\n\"Now, William,\" said I, \"are these the words of Jesus Christ, or\nare they not?\" \"They certainly are,\" said he, \"I always believed\nthe New Testament.\"\n\n\"Then you admit they are genuine bills?\"\n\n\"I do.\"\n\n\"Is the signer able to meet his engagements?\"\n\n\"He certainly is.\"\n\n\"Is he willing?\"\n\n\"He is.\"\n\n\"Well, then, I am going to fulfil the conditions to the letter\non my part. I feel called upon by the Holy Ghost to forsake my\nhouse and home for the gospel's sake; and I will do it, placing\nboth feet firm on these promises with nothing else to rely upon.\"\n\n\"If I sink, they are false.\"\n\n\"If I am sustained, they are true. I will put them to the test.\nExperiment shall now establish the truth of Christ's promises, or\nthe truth of infidelity.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said he, \"try it, if you will; but, for my part,\nalthough I always believed the Bible, I would not dare believe it\n_literally_, and really stand upon its promises, with no\nother prop.\"\n\nWe parted. He to his business, I to my preparations for a\nmission which should only end with my life.\n\nIn August, 1830, I had closed my business, completed my\narrangements, and we bid adieu to our wilderness home and never saw\nit afterwards.\n\nOn settling up, at a great sacrifice of property, we had about\nten dollars left in cash. With this small sum, we launched forth\ninto the wide world, determining first to visit our native place,\non our mission, and then such other places as I might be led to by\nthe Holy Spirit.\n\nWe made our way to Cleveland, 30 miles. We then took passage on\na schooner for Buffalo, a distance of 200 miles. We had a fair\nwind, and the captain, being short of hands, gave me the helm, the\nsails being all set, and turned in. I steered the vessel the most\nof the day, with no other person on deck. Of course, our passage\ncost us little besides my labor. Landing in Buffalo, we engaged our\npassage for Albany on a canal boat, distance 360 miles. This,\nincluding board, cost all our money and some articles of clothing.\n\nArriving at Rochester, I informed my wife that, notwithstanding\nour passage being paid through the whole distance, yet I must leave\nthe boat and her to pursue her passage to our friends; while I\nwould stop awhile in this region. Why, I did not know; but so it\nwas plainly manifest by the Spirit to me. I said to her, \"We part\nfor a season; go and visit our friends in our native place; I will\ncome soon, but how soon I know not; for I have a work to do in this\nregion of country, and what it is, or how long it will take to\nperform it, I know not; but I will come when it is performed.\"\n\nMy wife would have objected to this; but she had seen the hand\nof God so plainly manifest in His dealings with me many times, that\nshe dare not oppose the things manifest to me by His spirit.\n\nShe, therefore, consented; and I accompanied her as far as\nNewark, a small town upwards of 100 miles from Buffalo, and then\ntook leave of her, and of the boat.\n\nIt was early in the morning, just at the dawn of day, I walked\nten miles into the country, and stopped to breakfast with a Mr.\nWells. I proposed to preach in the evening. Mr. Wells readily\naccompanied me through the neighborhood to visit the people, and\ncirculate the appointment.\n\nWe visited an old Baptist deacon by the name of Hamlin. After\nhearing of our appointment for evening, he began to tell of a\n_book_, a STRANGE BOOK, a _VERY STRANGE BOOK_! in his possession,\nwhich had been just published. This book, he said, purported\nto have been originally written on plates either of gold\nor brass, by a branch of the tribes of Israel; and to have been\ndiscovered and translated by a young man near Palmyra, in the State\nof New York, by the aid of visions, or the ministry of angels. I\ninquired of him how or where the book was to be obtained. He\npromised me the perusal of it, at his house the next day, if I\nwould call. I felt a strange interest in the book. I preached that\nevening to a small audience, who appeared to be interested in the\ntruths which I endeavored to unfold to them in a clear and lucid\nmanner from the Scriptures. Next morning I called at his house,\nwhere, for the first time, my eyes beheld the \"BOOK OF MORMON\"--\nthat book of books--that record which reveals the antiquities of\nthe \"_New World_\" back to the remotest ages, and which unfolds the\ndestiny of its people and the world for all time to come;--that\nBook which contains the fulness of the gospel of a crucified and\nrisen Redeemer;--that Book which reveals a lost remnant of Joseph,\nand which was the principal means, in the hands of God, of\ndirecting the entire course of my future life.\n\nI opened it with eagerness, and read its title page. I then read\nthe testimony of several witnesses in relation to the manner of its\nbeing found and translated. After this I commenced its contents by\ncourse. I read all day; eating was a burden, I had no desire for\nfood; sleep was a burden when the night came, for I preferred\nreading to sleep.\n\nAs I read, the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and\ncomprehended that the book was true, as plainly and manifestly as a\nman comprehends and knows that he exists. My joy was now full, as\nit were, and I rejoiced sufficiently to more than pay me for all\nthe sorrows, sacrifices and toils of my life. I soon determined to\nsee the young man who had been the instrument of its discovery and\ntranslation.\n\nI accordingly visited the village of Palmyra, and inquired for\nthe residence of Mr. Joseph Smith. I found it some two or three\nmiles from the village. As I approached the house at the close of\nthe day I overtook a man who was driving some cows, and inquired of\nhim for Mr. Joseph Smith, the translator of the \"_Book of Mormon\n_.\" He informed me that he now resided in Pennsylvania; some\none hundred miles distant. I inquired for his father, or for any of\nthe family. He told me that his father had gone a journey; but that\nhis residence was a small house just before me; and, said he, I am\nhis brother. It was Mr. Hyrum Smith. I informed him of the interest\nI felt in the Book, and of my desire to learn more about it. He\nwelcomed me to his house, and we spent the night together; for\nneither of us felt disposed to sleep. We conversed most of the\nnight, during which I unfolded to him much of my experience in my\nsearch after truth, and my success so far; together with that which\nI felt was lacking, viz: a commissioned priesthood, or apostleship\nto minister in the ordinances of God.\n\nHe also unfolded to me the particulars of the discovery of the\nBook; its translation; the rise of the Church of Latter-day Saints,\nand the commission of his brother Joseph, and others, by revelation\nand the ministering of angels, by which the apostleship and\nauthority had been again restored to the earth. After duly weighing\nthe whole matter in my mind I saw clearly that these things were\ntrue; and that myself and the whole world were without baptism, and\nwithout the ministry and ordinances of God; and that the whole\nworld had been in this condition since the days that inspiration\nand revelation had ceased--in short, that this was a _new\ndispensation or commission_, in fulfillment of prophecy, and\nfor the restoration of Israel, and to prepare the way before the\nsecond coming of the Lord.\n\nIn the morning I was compelled to take leave of this worthy man\nand his family--as I had to hasten back a distance of thirty miles,\non foot, to fulfil an appointment in the evening. As we parted he\nkindly presented me with a copy of the Book of Mormon. I had not\nyet completed its perusal, and was glad indeed to possess a copy of\nmy own. I travelled on a few miles, and, stopping to rest, I\ncommenced again to read the book. To my great joy I found that\nJesus Christ, in his glorified resurrected body, had appeared to\nthe remnant of Joseph on the continent of America, soon after his\nresurrection and ascension into heaven; and that he also\nadministered, in person, to the ten lost tribes; and that through\nhis personal ministry in these countries his gospel was revealed\nand written in countries and among nations entirely unknown to the\nJewish apostles.\n\nThus revealed, written, handed down and preserved, till revealed\nin this age by the angels of God, it had, of course, escaped the\ncorruptions of the great and abominable church; and been preserved\nin purity.\n\nThis discovery greatly enlarged my heart, and filled my soul\nwith joy and gladness. I esteemed the Book, or the information\ncontained in it, more than all the riches of the world. Yes; I\nverily believe that I would not at that time have exchanged the\nknowledge I then possessed, for a legal title to all the beautiful\nfarms, houses, villages and property which passed in review before\nme, on my journey through one of the most flourishing settlements\nof western New York.\n\nSurely, thought I, Jesus had _other sheep_, as he said to\nhis Apostles of old; and here they were, in the wilderness of the\nworld called new. And they heard the voice of the Good Shepherd of\nIsrael; and he brought them to his fold. Truly, thought I, he was\nnot sent (in person) save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,\nas he told the woman of Canaan; and here were a portion of them.\nTruly, thought I, the angels sung with the spirit and with the\nunderstanding when they declared: \"_We bring you glad tidings of\ngreat joy, which shall be to_ ALL PEOPLE.\"\n\nIn his mortal tabernacle he confined his ministry and that of\nhis Apostles to the land of Judea; but afterwards, released from\nthe bonds of mortal life, or rather death, and clothed with an\nimmortal body, and with organs strong and lasting as the immortal\nmind, he possessed all power in heaven and on earth; he was then\nenabled to extend his ministry to heaven, earth or hell. He could\ntake the wings of the morning, and, with the speed of light, make\nhis way to the Heaven of Heavens; and converse and counsel among\nthe sons of God; or receive counsel from his Father in Heaven; or,\nleaving again the starry worlds, he could descend to the dark and\ngloomy abodes of the spirits in prison and preach to them the\ngospel--bursting off their shackles and unlocking their prison\ndoors; while these once dark abodes were now brilliant with light,\nand, instead of prison groans, were heard joyful acclamations of\ndeliverance to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them\nthat are bound; or coming again to visit the earth, he could soar\naway beyond the waves and tempests, which had before set bounds to\nthe geographical knowledge of man, and stood up as an impregnable\nbarrier to the intercourse of nations; and there, in other tribes\nand tongues, make known the riches of his grace, and his _triumph\n_ over death.\n\nAnd when ages had passed, and nations slumbered in the\ndust--when cruelty and bloodshed had blotted almost every trace of\npriesthood and apostleship from the earth; when saints had been\nworn out and overcome times, laws and ordinances changed; the Bible\nitself robbed of its plainness; and all things darkened and\ncorrupted; a pure and faithful record of his ministry to other\nnations is forthcoming from among the archives of the dead, to\nreveal the \"_mystery of iniquity_;\" to speak, as with a voice of\nthunder, in rebuking the evil and revealing the fullness of the\ngospel. Such was the Book of Mormon--much its effect upon the\nstartling nations.\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n------------------------\n\nInteresting Meetings:--Second Interview with Hyrum Smith:--Visit\nto the Church in Seneca County:--Baptism, Confirmation and\nOrdination:--Ministry Among my Kindred:--Baptism of my Brother\nOrson:--Wonderful Sign in the Heavens:--Return to Western New\nYork:--First Interview with Joseph Smith:--Description of his Person\nand Abilities.\n\nHaving rested awhile and perused this sacred book by the\nroadside, I again walked on.\n\nIn the evening I arrived in time to fill my appointment. I met a\ncrowded house, and laid before them many interesting truths, which\nwere listened to with deep interest.\n\nThe next evening I had another appointment, and the people came\nout in great numbers, and were filled with the spirit of interest\nand inquiry.\n\nThey urged me very much to continue my discourses among them;\nbut I felt to minister no more till I had attended to some\nimportant duties for myself. I had now found men on earth\ncommissioned to preach, baptize, ordain to the ministry, etc., and\nI determined to obey the fullness of the gospel without delay. I\nshould have done so at the first interview with Elder Hyrum Smith;\nbut these two appointments were already out, and thirty miles'\ntravel required all the time I had.\n\nI now returned immediately to Hyrum Smith's residence, and\ndemanded baptism at his hands. I tarried with him one night, and\nthe next day we walked some twenty-five miles to the residence of\nMr. Whitmer, in Seneca County. Here we arrived in the evening, and\nfound a most welcome reception.\n\nThis was the family, several of whose names were attached to the\nBook of Mormon as witnesses--Mr. Joseph Smith having translated\nmuch of the book in Whitmer's chamber.\n\nI found the little branch of the Church in this place full of\njoy, faith, humility and charity. We rested that night, and on the\nnext day, being about the 1st of September, 1830, I was baptized by\nthe hand of an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ, by the name\nof Oliver Cowdery. This took place in Seneca Lake, a beautiful and\ntransparent sheet of water in Western New York.\n\nA meeting was held the same evening, and after singing a hymn\nand prayer, Elder Cowdery and others proceeded to lay their hands\nupon my head in the name of Jesus, for the gift of the Holy Ghost.\nAfter which I was ordained to the office of an Elder in the Church,\nwhich included authority to preach, baptize, and minister the\nsacrament, administer the Holy Spirit, by the laying on of hands in\nthe name of Jesus Christ and to take the lead of meetings of\nworship.\n\nI now felt that I had authority in the ministry.\n\nOn the next Sabbath I preached to a large concourse of people,\nassembled at the house of a Mr. Burroughs. The Holy Ghost came upon\nme mightily. I spoke the word of God with power, reasoning out of\nthe Scriptures and the Book of Mormon. The people were convinced,\noverwhelmed in tears, and four heads of families came forward\nexpressing their faith, and were baptized.\n\nMy work was now completed, for which I took leave of my wife and\nthe canal boat some two or three weeks previous.\n\nI now took leave of the little branch of the church with which I\nhad been associated, and pursued my journey to the land of my\nfathers and of my boyhood.\n\nI found my wife in health and spirits, enjoying herself with her\nfriends. I also found my father and mother, friends and kindred,\nand, among others, my good old aunt and cousins, at the old\nhomestead, where I always found a welcome reception.\n\nThis was a pleasant and retired mountain valley, consisting of a\nbeautiful farm and a small and convenient house, out-buildings,\norchard, meadow, etc., encircled on the south, west and north with\na curve of hills, consisting of farming lands and pasture, and\ntheir summits and bosoms partially clothed with a beautiful forest\nof pine and chestnut; while the scene opened to the southeast in a\ndescending landscape to a beautiful vale of some miles in extent,\nfilled with flourishing farms and dwellings, and watered by a\nwinding stream; while far beyond stretched other hills and\npine-clad mountains, and the spire of a church and a small town\nwere seen nestling among the hills at two miles distance.\n\nThis was the residence of my aunt Van Cott, and the place where\nI had spent some of the happiest seasons of my youth. My aunt had\nthree children--an only son, and two daughters. These were now in\nthe bloom of early youth, and were fast advancing to a state of\nmaturity. Her husband had died at an early day, after an illness of\nseven years; and here lived the widow and orphans, surrounded with\npeace and plenty, blooming with health, and smiling with innocence\nand joy. Retired from the throng of busy, boisterous life, and\nstrangers to most of its woes, ills and corruptions, the stranger\nwho happened there was welcome; the hungry were fed, the naked were\nclothed, and, above all, the kindred found a hearty reception. In\nshort, it was a spot, in all respects, adapted to retirement and\ncontemplation, where the poet and the novelist would find a\nthousand things to please the imagination, and to swell their\nfavorite volumes.\n\nIn this visit to my native place, there was one family greatly\nmissed by me. I felt keenly the disappointment at not seeing\nthem--that of my old employer, Wm. S. Herrick. He had moved to the\nWest, and his house was occupied by strangers.\n\nI now commenced my labors in good earnest. I addressed crowded\naudiences almost every day, and the people, who had known me from a\nchild, seemed astonished--knowing that I had had but little\nopportunity of acquiring knowledge by study; and while many were\ninterested in the truth, some began to be filled with envy, and\nwith a lying, persecuting spirit. My father, mother, aunt Van Cott,\nand many others, believed the truth in part; but my brother Orson,\na youth of nineteen years, received it with all his heart, and was\nbaptized at that time, and has ever since spent his days in the\nministry.\n\nIt was during my labors in these parts, in the autumn of 1830,\nthat a very singular and extraordinary sign was shown in the\nheavens, which I will here describe.\n\nI had been on a visit to a singular people called Shakers, at\nNew Lebanon, about seven miles from my aunt Van Cott's, and was\nreturning that distance, on foot, on a beautiful evening of\nSeptember. The sky was without a cloud; the stars shone out\nbeautifully, and all nature seemed reposing in quiet, as I pursued\nmy solitary way, wrapt in deep meditations on the predictions of\nthe holy prophets; the signs of the times; the approaching advent\nof the Messiah, to reign on the earth, and the important\nrevelations of the Book of Mormon; my heart filled with gratitude\nto God that He had opened the eyes of my understanding to receive\nthe truth, and with sorrow for the blindness of those who lightly\nrejected the same, when my attention was aroused by a sudden\nappearance of a brilliant light which shone around me, above the\nbrightness of the sun. I cast my eyes upward to inquire from whence\nthe light came, when I perceived a long chain of light extended in\nthe heavens, very bright, and a deep fiery red. It at first stood\nstationary in a horizontal position; at length bending in the\ncenter, the two ends approached each other with a rapid movement,\nso as to form an exact square. In this position it again remained\nstationary for some tame, perhaps a minute, and then again the ends\napproached each other with the same rapidity, and again ceased to\nmove, remaining stationary, for perhaps a minute, in the form of a\ncompass; it then commenced a third movement in the same manner, and\nclosed like the closing of a compass, the whole forming a straight\nline like a chain doubled. It again retained stationary for a\nminute, and then faded away.\n\nI fell upon my knees in the street, and thanked the Lord for so\nmarvelous a sign of the coming of the Son of Man.\n\nSome persons may smile at this, and say that all these exact\nmovements were by chance; but, for my part, I could as soon believe\nthat the letters of the alphabet would be formed by chance, and be\nplaced so as to spell my name, as to believe that these signs\n(known only to the wise) could be formed and shown forth by chance.\n\nRenewed in spirit and filled with joy I now pursued my way, and\narrived at my aunt Van Cott's, not weary, but refreshed with a long\nwalk, and deep communion with myself and God.\n\nHaving lifted a warning voice to multitudes in all this region\nof country, I now took leave, and repaired again to the western\npart of New York, and to the body of the Church.\n\nOn our arrival, we found that brother Joseph Smith, the\ntranslator of the Book of Mormon, had returned from Pennsylvania to\nhis father's residence in Manchester, near Palmyra, and there I had\nthe pleasure of seeing him for the first time.\n\nHe received me with a hearty welcome, and with that frank and\nkind manner so universal with him in after years.\n\nOn Sunday we held meeting at his house; the two large rooms were\nfilled with attentive listeners, and he invited me to preach. I did\nso, and afterwards listened with interest to a discourse from his\nown mouth, filled with intelligence and wisdom. We repaired from\nthe meeting to the water's edge, and, at his request, I baptized\nseveral persons.\n\nPresident Joseph Smith was in person tall and well built, strong\nand active, of a light complexion, light hair, blue eyes, very\nlittle beard, and of an expression peculiar to himself, on which\nthe eye naturally rested with interest, and was never weary of\nbeholding. His countenance was ever mild, affable, beaming with\nintelligence and benevolence; mingled with a look of interest and\nan unconscious smile, or cheerfulness, and entirely free from all\nrestraint or affectation of gravity; and there was something\nconnected with the serene and steady penetrating glance of his eye,\nas if he would penetrate the deepest abyss of the human heart, gaze\ninto eternity, penetrate the heavens, and comprehend all worlds.\n\nHe possessed a noble boldness and independence of character; his\nmanner was easy and familiar; his rebuke terrible as the lion; his\nbenevolence unbounded as the ocean; his intelligence universal, and\nhis language abounding in original eloquence peculiar to\nhimself--not polished--not studied--not smoothed and softened by\neducation and refined by art; but flowing forth in its own native\nsimplicity, and profusely abounding in variety of subject and\nmanner. He interested and edified, while, at the same time, he\namused and entertained his audience; and none listened to him that\nwere ever weary with his discourse. I have even known him to retain\na congregation of willing and anxious listeners for many hours\ntogether, in the midst of cold or sunshine, rain or wind, while\nthey were laughing at one moment and weeping the next. Even his\nmost bitter enemies were generally overcome, if he could once get\ntheir ears.\n\nI have known him when chained and surrounded with armed\nmurderers and assassins who were heaping upon him every possible\ninsult and abuse, rise up in the majesty of a son of God and rebuke\nthem, in the name of Jesus Christ, till they quailed before him,\ndropped their weapons, and, on their knees, begged his pardon, and\nceased their abuse.\n\nIn short, in him the characters of a Daniel and a Cyrus were\nwonderfully blended. The gifts, wisdom and devotion of a Daniel\nwere united with the boldness, courage, temperance, perseverance\nand generosity of a Cyrus. And had he been spared a martyr's fate\ntill mature manhood and age, he was certainly endued with powers\nand ability to have revolutionized the world in many respects, and\nto have transmitted to posterity a name associated with more\nbrilliant and glorious acts than has yet fallen to the lot of\nmortal. As it is, his works will live to endless ages, and\nunnumbered millions yet unborn will mention his name with honor, as\na noble instrument in the hands of God, who, during his short and\nyouthful career, laid the foundation of that kingdom spoken of by\nDaniel, the prophet, which should break in pieces all other\nkingdoms and stand forever.\n\nBut I will not forestall the reader. I have yet to speak of him\nin my history, under many and varying circumstances, in which I\nhave necessarily been associated with him, up to the latest year of\nhis life.\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n------------------------\n\nMission to the Western States:--Visit to the\nIndians:--Wonderful Success in Kirtland, Ohio:--Journey\nWestward:--Great Excitement and Anxiety to Hear the\nFulness of the Gospel:--Imprisonment:--Mock Trial:--\nEscape:--Preaching:--Success:--Visit the Wyandots:--\nJourney Resumed:--Great Hardships:--Arrival on the Frontiers\nof Missouri.\n\nIt was now October, 1830. A revelation had been given through\nthe mouth of this Prophet, Seer and Translator, in which Elders\nOliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, Ziba Peterson and myself were\nappointed to go into the wilderness, through the western States,\nand to the Indian territory. Making arrangements for my wife in the\nfamily of the Whitmers, we took leave of our friends and the church\nlate in October, and started on foot.\n\nAfter travelling for some days we called on an Indian nation at\nor near Buffalo; and spent part of a day with them, instructing\nthem in the knowledge of the record of their forefathers. We were\nkindly received, and much interest was manifested by them on\nhearing this news. We made a present of two copies of the Book of\nMormon to certain of them who could read, and repaired to Buffalo.\nThence we continued our journey, for about two hundred miles, and\nat length called on Mr. Rigdon, my former friend and instructor, in\nthe Reformed Baptists Society. He received us cordially and\nentertained us with hospitality.\n\nWe soon presented him with a Book of Mormon, and related to him\nthe history of the same. He was much interested, and promised a\nthorough perusal of the book.\n\nWe tarried in this region for some time, and devoted our time to\nthe ministry, and visiting from house to house.\n\nAt length Mr. Rigdon and many others became convinced that they\nhad no authority to minister in the ordinances of God; and that\nthey had not been legally baptized and ordained. They, therefore,\ncame forward and were baptized by us, and received the gift of the\nHoly Ghost by laying on of hands, and prayer in the name of Jesus\nChrist.\n\nThe news of our coming was soon noised abroad, and the news of\nthe discovery of the Book of Mormon and the marvelous events\nconnected with it. The interest and excitement now became general\nin Kirtland, and in all the region round about. The people thronged\nus night and day, insomuch that we had no time for rest and\nretirement. Meetings were convened in different neighborhoods, and\nmultitudes came together soliciting our attendance; while thousands\nflocked about us daily; some to be taught, some for curiosity, some\nto obey the gospel, and some to dispute or resist it.\n\nIn two or three weeks from arrival in the neighborhood with the\nnews, we had baptized one hundred and twenty-seven souls, and this\nnumber soon increased to one thousand. The disciples were filled\nwith joy and gladness; while rage and lying was abundantly\nmanifested by gainsayers; faith was strong, joy was great, and\npersecution heavy.\n\nWe proceeded to ordain Sidney Rigdon, Isaac Morley, John\nMurdock, Lyman Wight, Edward Partridge and many others to the\nministry; and, leaving them to take care of the churches and to\nminister the gospel, we took leave of the saints and continued our\njourney.\n\nFifty miles west of Kirtland, we had occasion to pass through\nthe neighborhood where I first settled in the wilderness, after my\nmarriage. We found the people all excited with the news of the\ngreat work we had been the humble instruments of doing in Kirtland\nand vicinity. Some wished to learn and obey the fullness of the\ngospel--were ready to entertain us and hear us preach. Others were\nfilled with envy, rage and lying.\n\nWe had stopped for the night at the house of Simeon Carter, by\nwhom we were kindly received, and were in the act of reading to him\nand explaining the Book of Mormon, when there came a knock at the\ndoor, and an officer entered with a warrant from a magistrate by\nthe name of Byington, to arrest me on a very frivolous charge. I\ndropped the Book of Mormon in Carter's house, and went with him\nsome two miles, in a dark, muddy road; one of the brethren\naccompanied me. We arrived at the place of trial late in the\nevening; found false witnesses in attendance, and a Judge who\nboasted of his intention to thrust us into prison, for the purpose\nof testing the powers of our apostleship, as he called it; although\nI was only an Elder in the Church. The Judge boasting thus, and the\nwitnesses being entirely false in their testimony, concluded to\nmake no defense, but to treat the whole matter with contempt.\n\nI was soon ordered to prison, or to pay a sum of money which I\nhad not in the world. It was now a late hour, and I was still\nretained in court, tantalized, abused and urged to settle the\nmatter, to all of which I made no reply for some time. This greatly\nexhausted their patience. It was near midnight. I now called on\nbrother Petersen to sing a hymn in the court. We sung, \"O how happy\nare they.\" This exasperated them still more, and they pressed us\ngreatly to settle the business, by paying the money.\n\nI then observed as follows: \"May it please the court, I have one\nproposal to make for a final settlement of the things that seem to\ntrouble you. It is this: if the witnesses who have given testimony\nin the case will repent of their false swearing, and the magistrate\nof his unjust and wicked judgment and of his persecution,\nblackguardism and abuse, and all kneel down together, we will pray\nfor you, that God might forgive you in these matters.\"\n\n\"My big bull dog pray for me,\" says that Judge.\n\n\"The devil help us,\" exclaimed another.\n\nThey now urged me for some time to pay the money; but got no\nfurther answer.\n\nThe court adjourned, and I was conducted to a public house over\nthe way, and locked in till morning; the prison being some miles\ndistant.\n\nIn the morning the officer appeared and took me to breakfast;\nthis over, we sat waiting in the inn for all things to be ready to\nconduct me to prison. In the meantime my fellow travellers came\npast on their journey, and called to see me. I told them in an\nundertone to pursue their journey and leave me to manage my own\naffairs, promising to overtake them soon. They did so. After\nsitting awhile by the fire in charge of the officer, I requested to\nstep out. I walked out into the public square accompanied by him.\nSaid I, \"Mr. Peabody, are you good at a race?\" \"No,\" said he, \"but\nmy big bull dog is, and he has been trained to assist me in my\noffice these several years; he will take any man down at my\nbidding. Well, Mr. Peabody, you compelled me to go a mile, I have\ngone with you two miles. You have given me an opportunity to\npreach, sing, and have also entertained me with lodging and\nbreakfast. I must now go on my journey; if you are good at a race\nyou can accompany me. I thank you for all your kindness--good day,\nsir.\"\n\nI then started on my journey, while he stood amazed and not able\nto step one foot before the other. Seeing this, I halted, turned to\nhim and again invited him to a race. He still stood amazed. I then\nrenewed my exertions, and soon increased my speed to something like\nthat of a deer. He did not awake from his astonishment sufficiently\nto start in pursuit till I had gained, perhaps, two hundred yards.\nI had already leaped a fence, and was making my way through a field\nto the forest on the right of the road. He now came hallowing after\nme, and shouting to his dog to seize me. The dog, being one of the\nlargest I ever saw, came close on my footsteps with all his fury;\nthe officer behind still in pursuit, clapping his hands and\nhallooing, \"stu-boy, stu-boy--take him--watch--lay hold of him, I\nsay--down with him,\" and pointing his finger in the direction I was\nrunning. The dog was fast overtaking me, and in the act of leaping\nupon me, when, quick as lightning, the thought struck me, to assist\nthe officer, in sending the dog with all fury to the forest a\nlittle distance before me. I pointed my finger in that direction,\nclapped my hands, and shouted in imitation of the officer. The dog\nhastened past me with redoubled speed towards the forest; being\nurged by the officer and myself, and both of us running in the same\ndirection.\n\nGaining the forest, I soon lost sight of the officer and dog,\nand have not seen them since. I took a back course, crossed the\nroad, took round into the wilderness, on the left, and made the\nroad again in time to cross a bridge over Vermilion River, where I\nwas hailed by half a dozen men, who had been anxiously waiting our\narrival to that part of the country, and who urged me very\nearnestly to stop and preach. I told them that I could not then do\nit, for an officer was on my track. I passed on six miles further,\nthrough mud and rain, and overtook the brethren, and preached the\nsame evening to a crowded audience, among whom we were well\nentertained.\n\nThe Book of Mormon, which I dropped at the house of Simeon\nCarter, when taken by the officer, was by these circumstances left\nwith him. He read it with attention. It wrought deeply upon his\nmind, and he went fifty miles to the church we had left in\nKirtland, and was there baptized and ordained an Elder. He then\nreturned to his home and commenced to preach and baptize. A church\nof about sixty members was soon organized in the place where I had\nplayed such a trick of deception on the dog.\n\nWe now pursued our journey for some days, and at length arrived\nin Sandusky, in the western part of Ohio. Here resided a tribe, or\nnation of Indians, called Wyandots, on whom we called, and with\nwhom we spent several days. We were well received, and had an\nopportunity of laying before them the record of their forefathers,\nwhich we did. They rejoiced in the tidings, bid us God speed, and\ndesired us to write to them in relation to our success among the\ntribes further west, who had already removed to the Indian\nterritory, where these expected soon to go.\n\nTaking an affectionate leave of this people, we continued our\njourney to Cincinnati. In this city we spent several days, and\npreached to many of the people, but without much success. About the\n20th of December we took passage on a steamer for St. Louis. In a\nfew days we arrived at the mouth of the Ohio, and finding the river\nblocked with ice, the boat did not proceed further. We therefore\nlanded and pursued our journey on foot for two hundred miles, to\nthe neighborhood of St. Louis.\n\nWe halted for a few days in Illinois, about twenty miles from\nSt. Louis, on account of a dreadful storm of rain and snow, which\nlasted for a week or more, during which the snow fell in some\nplaces near three feet deep. Although in the midst of strangers, we\nwere kindly entertained, found many friends, and preached to large\ncongregations in several neighborhoods.\n\nIn the beginning of 1831 we renewed our journey; and, passing\nthrough St. Louis and St. Charles, we travelled on foot for three\nhundred miles through vast prairies and through trackless wilds of\nsnow--no beaten road; houses few and far between; and the bleak\nnorthwest wind always blowing in our faces with a keenness which\nwould almost take the skin off the face. We travelled for whole\ndays, from morning till night, without a house or fire, wading in\nsnow to the knees at every step, and the cold so intense that the\nsnow did not melt on the south side of the houses, even in the\nmid-day sun, for nearly six weeks. We carried on our backs our\nchanges of clothing, several books, and corn bread and raw pork. We\noften ate our frozen bread and pork by the way, when the bread\nwould be so frozen that we could not bite or penetrate any part of\nit but the outside crust.\n\nAfter much fatigue and some suffering we all arrived in\nIndependence, in the county of Jackson, on the extreme western\nfrontiers of Missouri, and of the United States.\n\nThis was about fifteen hundred miles from where we started, and\nwe had performed most of the journey on foot, through a wilderness\ncountry, in the worst season of the year, occupying about four\nmonths, during which we had preached the gospel to tens of\nthousands of Gentiles and two nations of Indians; baptizing,\nconfirming and organizing many hundreds of people into churches of\nLatter-day Saints.\n\nThis was the first mission performed by the Elders of the Church\nin any of the States west of New York, and we were the first\nmembers of the same which were ever on this frontier.\n\n\nChapter VIII.\n------------------------\n\nVisit the Delawares of Kansas:--Interview\nwith the Chief and Council:--Speech and Reply:--Great\nExcitement:--Opposition from Missionaries:--Compelled to\nLeave the Indian Country:--Ministry in Jackson County:--Council\nin Independence:--Return Eastward:--Disguise:--Hospitality\nof a Family of the Saints:--Dialogue:--Sickness:--Reunion\nwith President Joseph Smith:--Mission to the Shakers:--Ministry\nAmong the Churches:--False Spirits:--Inquire of the Lord:--Mode\nof Receiving Revelations.\n\nTwo of our number now commenced work as tailors in the village\nof Independence, while the others crossed the frontier line and\ncommenced a mission among the Lamanites, or Indians.\n\nPassing through the tribe of Shawnees we tarried one night with\nthem, and the next day crossed the Kansas river and entered among\nthe Delawares. We immediately inquired for the residence of the\nprincipal Chief, and were soon introduced to an aged and venerable\nlooking man, who had long stood at the head of the Delawares, and\nbeen looked up to as the Great Grandfather, or Sachem of ten\nnations or tribes.\n\nHe was seated on a sofa of furs, skins and blankets, before a\nfire in the centre of his lodge; which was a comfortable cabin,\nconsisting of two large rooms.\n\nHis wives were neatly dressed, partly in calicoes and partly in\nskins; and wore a vast amount of silver ornaments. As we entered\nhis cabin he took us by the hand with a hearty welcome, and then\nmotioned us to be seated on a pleasant seat of blankets, or robes.\nHis wives, at his bidding, set before us a tin pan full of beans\nand corn boiled tip together, which proved to be good eating;\nalthough three of us made use alternately of the same wooden spoon.\n\nThere was an interpreter present and through him we commenced to\nmake known our errand, and to tell him of the Book of Mormon. We\nasked him to call the council his nation together and give us a\nhearing in full. He promised to consider on it till next day, in\nthe meantime recommending us to a certain Mr. Pool for entertainment;\nthis was their blacksmith, employed by government.\n\nThe man entertained us kindly and comfortably. Next morning we\nagain called on Mr. Anderson, the old chief, and explained to him\nsomething of the Book. He was at first unwilling to call his\ncouncil; made several excuses, and finally refused; as he had ever\nbeen opposed to the introduction of missionaries among his tribe.\n\nWe continued the conversation a little longer, till he at last\nbegan to understand the nature of the Book. He then changed his\nmind; became suddenly interested, and requested us to proceed no\nfurther with our conversation till he could call a council. He\ndespatched a messenger, and in about an hour had some forty men\ncollected around us in his lodge, who, after shaking us by the\nhand, were seated in silence; and in a grave and dignified manner\nawaited the announcement of what we had to offer. The chief then\nrequested us to proceed; or rather, begin where we began before,\nand to complete our communication. Elder Cowdery then commenced as\nfollows:\n\n\"Aged Chief and Venerable Council of the Delaware nation; we are\nglad of this opportunity to address you as our red brethren and\nfriends. We have travelled a long distance from towards the rising\nsun to bring you glad news; we have travelled the wilderness,\ncrossed the deep and wide rivers, and waded in the deep snows, and\nin the face of the storms of winter, to communicate to you great\nknowledge which has lately come to our ears and hearts; and which\nwill do the red man good as well as the pale face.\n\n\"Once the red men were many; they occupied the country from sea\nto sea--from the rising to the setting sun; the whole land was\ntheirs; the Great Spirit gave it to them, and no pale faces dwelt\namong them. But now they are few in numbers; their possessions are\nsmall, and the pale faces are many.\n\n\"Thousands of moons ago, when the red men's forefathers dwelt in\npeace and possessed this whole land, the Great Spirit talked with\nthem, and revealed His law and His will, and much knowledge to\ntheir wise men and prophets. This they wrote in a Book; together\nwith their history, and the things which should befall their\nchildren in the latter days.\n\n\"This Book was written on plates of gold, and handed down from\nfather to son for many ages and generations. It was then that the\npeople prospered, and were strong and mighty; they cultivated the\nearth; built buildings and cities, and abounded in all good things,\nas the pale faces now do.\n\n\"But they became wicked; they killed one another and shed much\nblood; they killed their prophets and wise men, and sought to\ndestroy the Book. The Great Spirit became angry, and would speak to\nthem no more; they had no more good and wise dreams; no more\nvisions; no more angels sent among them by the Great Spirit; and\nthe Lord commanded Mormon and Moroni, their last wise men and\nprophets, to hide the Book in the earth, that it might be preserved\nin safety, and be found and made known in the latter day to the\npale faces who should possess the land; that they might again make\nit known to the red man; in order to restore them to the knowledge\nof the will of the Great Spirit and to His favor. And if the red\nman would then receive this Book and learn the things written in\nit, and do according thereunto, they should cease to fight and kill\none another; should become one people; cultivate the earth in\npeace, in common with the pale faces, who were willing to believe\nand obey the same Book, and be good men and live in peace.\n\n\"Then should the red men become great, and have plenty to eat\nand good clothes to wear, and should be in favor with the Great\nSpirit and be his children, while he would be their Great Father,\nand talk with them, and raise up prophets and wise and good men\namongst them again, who should teach them many things.\n\n\"This Book, which contained these things, was hid in the earth\nby Moroni, in a hill called by him, Cumorah, which hill is now in\nthe State of New York, near the village of Palmyra, in Ontario\nCounty.\n\n\"In that neighborhood there lived a young man named Joseph\nSmith, who prayed to the Great Spirit much, in order that he might\nknow the truth; and the Great Spirit sent an angel to him, and told\nhim where this Book was hid by Moroni; and commanded him to go and\nget it. He accordingly went to the place, and dug in the earth, and\nfound the Book written on golden plates.\n\n\"But it was written in the language of the forefathers of the\nred man; therefore this young man, being a pale face, could not\nunderstand it; but the angel told him and showed him, and gave him\nknowledge of the language, and how to interpret the Book. So he\ninterpreted it into the language of the pale faces, and wrote it on\npaper, and caused it to be printed, and published thousands of\ncopies of among them; and then sent us to the red men to bring some\ncopies of it to them, and to tell them this news. So we have now\ncome from him, and here is a copy of the Book, which we now present\nto our red friend, the chief of the Delawares, and which we hope he\nwill cause to be read and known among his tribe; it will do them\ngood.\"\n\nWe then presented him with a Book of Mormon.\n\nThere was a pause in the council, and some conversation in their\nown tongue, after which the chief made the following reply: \"We\nfeel truly thankful to our white friends who have come so far, and\nbeen at such pains to tell us good news, and especially this new\nnews concerning the Book of our forefathers; it makes us glad in\nhere\"--placing his hand on his heart.\n\n\"It is now winter, we are new settlers in this place; the snow\nis deep, our cattle and horses are dying, our wigwams are poor; we\nhave much to do in the spring--to build houses, and fence and make\nfarms; but we will build a council house, and meet together, and\nyou shall read to us and teach us more concerning the Book of our\nfathers and the will of the Great Spirit.\"\n\nWe again lodged at Mr. Pool's, told him of the Book, had a very\npleasant interview with him, and he became a believer and advocate\nfor the Book, and served as an interpreter.\n\nWe continued for several days to instruct the old chief and many\nof his tribe. The interest became more and more intense on their\npart, from day to day, until at length nearly the whole tribe began\nto feel a spirit of inquiry and excitement on the subject.\n\nWe found several among them who could read, and to them we gave\ncopies of the Book, explaining to them that it was the Book of\ntheir forefathers.\n\nSome began to rejoice exceedingly, and took great pains to tell\nthe news to others, in their own language.\n\nThe excitement now reached the frontier settlements in Missouri,\nand stirred up the jealousy and envy of the Indian agents and\nsectarian missionaries to that degree that we were soon ordered out\nof the Indian country as disturbers of the peace; and even\nthreatened with the military in case of non-compliance.\n\nWe accordingly departed from the Indian country, and came over\nthe line, and commenced laboring in Jackson County, Missouri, among\nthe whites. We were well received, and listened to by many; and\nsome were baptized and added to the Church.\n\nThus ended our first Indian Mission, in which we had preached\nthe gospel in its fullness, and distributed the record of their\nforefathers among three tribes, viz: the Catteraugus Indians, near\nBuffalo, N. Y., the Wyandots of Ohio, and the Delawares west of\nMissouri.\n\nWe trust that at some future day, when the servants of God go\nforth in power to the remnant of Joseph, some precious seed will be\nfound growing in their hearts, which was sown by us in that early\nday.\n\nIt was now the 14th of February, 1831. The cold north wind which\nhad blown for several weeks, accompanied with very severe weather,\nhad begun to give place to a milder breeze from the south; and the\ndeep snows were fast settling down, with every prospect of\nreturning spring.\n\nElders Cowdery, Whitmer, Peterson, myself, and F. G. Williams,\nwho accompanied us from Kirtland, now assembled in Independence,\nJackson County, Missouri, and came to the conclusion that one of\nour number had better return to the church in Ohio, and perhaps to\nheadquarters in New York, in order to communicate with the\nPresidency, report ourselves, pay a visit to the numerous churches\nwe had organized on our outward journey, and also to procure more\nbooks.\n\nFor this laborious enterprise I was selected by the voice of my\nfour brethren. I accordingly took leave of them, and of our friends\nin that country, and started on foot.\n\nIn nine days I arrived at St. Louis, distance three hundred\nmiles. It was now the latter part of February; the snow had\ndisappeared, the rivers were breaking up, and the whole country\ninundated as it were with mud and water. I spent a few days with a\nfriend in the country, at the same place we had tarried on the way\nout; and then took a steamer in St. Louis bound for Cincinnati,\nwhere I landed in safety after a passage of one week. From\nCincinnati I travelled on foot to Strongville, Ohio, forty miles\nfrom Kirtland.\n\nThis last walk consisted of some two hundred and fifty miles,\nover very bad, muddy road; and for some days I had found myself\nmuch fatigued, and quite out of health. Hearing of some brethren in\nStrongville, I determined to inquire them out, and try their\nhospitality to a sick and weary stranger without making myself\nknown.\n\nI accordingly approached the house of an old gentleman by the\nname of Coltrin, about sundown, and inquired if they could\nentertain a weary stranger who had no money. The old gentleman cast\nhis eyes upon me, and beheld a weary, weather-beaten traveller;\nsoiled with the toil of a long journey; besmeared with mud, eyes\ninflamed with pain, long heard, and a visage lengthened by sickness\nand extreme fatigue. After a moment's hesitation he bade me\nwelcome, and invited me into his house. Several ladies were at tea.\nI addressed them as a stranger who had come to partake of their\nhospitality for the night.\n\nThey received me with a smile of welcome, and immediately\ninsisted on my sitting down to tea, during which something like the\nfollowing conversation took place:\n\n\"Stranger, where are you from? You certainly look weary; you\nmust have travelled a long distance!\"\n\n\"Yes; I am from beyond the frontiers of Missouri; a distance of\ntwelve hundred miles.\" \"Ah, indeed! Did you hear anything of the\nfour great prophets out that way?\"\n\n\"Prophets! What prophets?\"\n\n\"Why, four men--strange men--who came through this country and\npreached, and baptized hundreds of people; and, after ordaining\nElders and organizing churches, they continued on westward, as we\nsuppose, to the frontiers on a mission to the Indians; and we have\nnever heard from them since. But the great work commenced by them\nstill rolls on. It commenced last fall in Kirtland, and has spread\nfor a hundred miles around; thousands have embraced it, and among\nothers ourselves and many in this neighborhood.\"\n\n\"But what did they preach? And why do you call them prophets?\"\n\n\"Why they opened the Scriptures in a wonderful manner; showed\nthe people plainly of many things to come; opened the doctrine of\nChrist, as we never understood it before; and, among other things,\nthey introduced a very extraordinary Book, which, they said, was an\nancient record of the forefathers of the Indian tribes.\"\n\n\"How were they dressed, and in what style did they travel?\"\n\n\"They were dressed plainly and comely, very neat in their\npersons, and each one wore a hat of a drab color, low round crown\nand broad brim, after the manner of the Shakers, so it is said; for\nwe had not the privilege of seeing them ourselves.\n\n\"However, these fashioned hats were not a peculiarity of this\npeople; but were given to each of them by the Shakers, at the time\nthey passed through this country; so they wore them. As to their\nstyle of travelling, they sometimes go on foot, sometimes in a\ncarriage, and sometimes, perhaps, by water; but they provide\nthemselves with neither purse nor scrip for their journey, neither\nshoes nor two coats apiece.\"\n\n\"Well, from your description of these four men I think I have\nseen them on the frontiers of Missouri. They had commenced a\nmission in the Indian territory; but were compelled by the United\nStates agents, influenced, no doubt, by missionaries, to depart\nfrom the Indian country, although well received by the Indians\nthemselves.\"\n\n\"You saw them, then?\"\n\n\"I did.\"\n\n\"Were they well?\"\n\n\"I believe they were all in good health and spirits.\"\n\n\"Will they return soon? O, who would not give the world to see\nthem!\"\n\n\"Well, I am one of them, and the others you may, perhaps, see.\"\n\n\"You one of them! God bless you. What is your name?\"\n\n\"My name is Parley P. Pratt, one of the four men you have\ndescribed, but not much of a prophet; and as to a sight of me in my\npresent plight, I think it would not be worth half a world.\"\n\nThe rest of the conversation I cannot write, for all spoke, all\nlaughed, and all rejoiced at once.\n\nThe next morning I found myself unable to rise from my bed,\nbeing severely attacked with the measles.\n\nI came near dying, and was confined for one or two weeks among\nthem, being scarcely able to raise my head. I was watched over\nnight and day, and had all the care that a man could have in his\nfather's house.\n\nAs I recovered in part, being still very weak, I was provided\nwith a horse, on which I arrived at Kirtland.\n\nHundreds of the saints now crowded around to welcome me, and to\ninquire after my brethren whom I had left in Missouri.\n\nHere also I again met President Joseph Smith, who had, during\nour absence, come up from the State of New York.\n\nI found the churches in Ohio had increased to more than a\nthousand members, and those in New York to several hundred.\n\nI also heard from my wife, from whom I had been absent about six\nmonths. The news was that the whole Church in the State of New\nYork, including herself (for she had joined during my absence), was\nabout to remove to Ohio in the opening spring. I, therefore, was\nadvised to proceed no farther eastward, but to await their arrival.\nAfter visiting the saints a few days, I commenced to labor with my\nhands; but the Lord would not suffer me to continue long in this\noccupation.\n\nSome time in March, I was commanded of the Lord, in connection\nwith S. Rigdon and L. Copley, to visit a people called the\nShakers;* and preach the gospel unto them.\n\n[Footnote] *See Book of Doctrine and Covenants, section 65.\n\nWe fulfilled this mission, as we were commanded, in a settlement\nof this strange people, near Cleveland, Ohio; but they utterly\nrefused to hear or obey the gospel. After this I paid a visit to\nthe churches round about Kirtland.\n\nAs I went forth among the different branches, some very strange\nspiritual operations were manifested, which were disgusting,\nrather than edifying. Some persons would seem to swoon away,\nand make unseemly gestures, and be drawn or disfigured in their\ncountenances. Others would fall into ecstacies, and be drawn into\ncontortions, cramp, fits, etc. Others would seem to have visions\nand revelations, which were not edifying, and which were not\ncongenial to the doctrine and spirit of the gospel. In short, a\nfalse and lying spirit seemed to be creeping into the Church.\n\nAll these things were new and strange to me, and had originated\nin the Church during our absence, and previous to the arrival of\nPresident Joseph Smith from New York.\n\nFeeling our weakness and inexperience, and lest we should err in\njudgment concerning these spiritual phenomena, myself, John\nMurdock, and several other Elders, went to Joseph Smith, and asked\nhim to inquire of the Lord concerning these spirits or manifestations.\n\nAfter we had joined in prayer in his translating room, he\ndictated in our presence the following revelation:--(Each sentence\nwas uttered slowly and very distinctly, and with a pause between\neach, sufficiently long for it to be recorded, by an ordinary\nwriter, in long hand.\n\nThis was the manner in which all his written revelations were\ndictated and written. There was never any hesitation, reviewing, or\nreading back, in order to keep the run of the subject; neither did\nany of these communications undergo revisions, interlinings, or\ncorrections. As he dictated them so they stood, so far as I have\nwitnessed; and I was present to witness the dictation of several\ncommunications of several pages each.\n\nThis inquiry was made and the answer given in May, 1831.)\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n------------------------\n\nRevelation on False Spirits:--Ministry Among the\nChurches:--Remarkable Miracle of Healing:--Arrival of\nEmigrant Saints from New York:--Severe Disappointment.\n\n\"Hearken, O ye Elders of my Church, and give ear, to the voice\nof the living God; attend to the words of wisdom which shall be\ngiven unto you, according as ye have asked and are agreed, as\ntouching the Church, and the spirits which have gone abroad in the\nearth. Behold, verily I say unto you, that there are many spirits\nwhich are false spirits, which have gone forth in the earth,\ndeceiving the world; and also Satan hath sought to deceive you,\nthat he might overthrow you.\n\n\"Behold, I, the Lord, have looked upon you, and have seen\nabominations in the Church that possess my name; but blessed are\nthey who are faithful and endure, whether in life or in death; for\nthey shall inherit eternal life. But woe unto them that are\ndeceivers and hypocrites, for, thus saith the Lord, I will bring\nthem to judgment.\n\n\"Behold, I say unto you, there are hypocrites among you, who\nhave deceived some, which has given the adversary power; but,\nbehold, such shall be reclaimed; but the hypocrites shall be\ndetected and cut off, either in life or in death, even as I will;\nand woe unto them who are cut off from my Church, for the same are\novercome of the world; wherefore, let every man beware, lest he do\nthat which is not in truth and righteousness before me.\n\n\"And now come, saith the Lord, by the Spirit, unto the Elders of\nHis Church, and let us reason together, that ye may understand: Let\nus reason--even as a man reasoneth--one with another, face to face;\nnow, when a man reasoneth, he is understood of man, because he\nreasoneth as a man; even so will I, the Lord, reason with you, that\nyou may understand: wherefore, I, the Lord, asketh you this\nquestion, unto what were ye ordained? To preach my gospel by the\nSpirit, even the Comforter which was sent forth to teach the truth;\nand then received ye spirits which ye could not understand, and\nreceived them to be of God, and in this are ye justified? Behold,\nye shall answer this question yourselves; nevertheless, I will be\nmerciful unto you; he that is weak among you, hereafter, shall be\nmade strong.\n\n\"Verily, I say unto you, he that is ordained of me and sent\nforth to preach the word of truth by the Comforter, in the spirit\nof truth, doth he preach it by the spirit of truth, or some other\nway? And if it be by some other way, it be not of God. And, again,\nhe that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it by the\nspirit of truth, or some other way? If it be some other way, it be\nnot of God; therefore, why is it that ye cannot understand, and\nknow that he that receiveth the word by the spirit of truth,\nreceiveth it as it is preached by the spirit of truth?\n\n\"Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth,\nunderstandeth one another, and both are edified and rejoice\ntogether; and that which doth not edify, is not of God, and is\ndarkness; that which is of God is light, and he that receiveth\nlight and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light\ngroweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day. And, again,\nverily I say unto you, and I say it that you may know the truth,\nthat you may chase darkness from among you; for he that is ordained\nof God and sent forth, the same is appointed to be the greatest,\nnotwithstanding he is least, and the servant of all; wherefore, he\nis possessor of all things, for all things are subject unto him,\nboth in Heaven and on the earth; the life and the light, the spirit\nand the power sent forth by the will of the Father through Jesus\nChrist, His Son; but no man is possessor of all things, except he\nbe purified and cleansed from all sin; and if ye are purified and\ncleansed from all sin, ye shall ask whatsoever you will in the name\nof Jesus, and it shall be done; but, know this, it shall be given\nyou what you shall ask, and as ye are appointed to the head, the\nspirits shall be subject unto you.\n\n\"Wherefore, it shall come to pass, that if you behold a spirit\nmanifested that you cannot understand, and you receive not that\nspirit, ye shall ask of the Father in the name of Jesus, and if he\ngive not unto you that spirit, that you may know that it is not of\nGod; and it shall be given unto you power over that spirit, and you\nshall proclaim against that spirit with a loud voice, that it is\nnot of God; not with railing accusation, that ye be not overcome;\nneither with boasting, nor rejoicing, lest you be seized therewith;\nhe that receiveth of God, let him account it of God, and let him\nrejoice that he is accounted of God worthy to receive, and by\ngiving heed and doing these things which ye have received, and\nwhich ye shall hereafter receive, and the kingdom is given you of\nthe Father, and power to overcome all things which is not ordained\nof Him; and, behold, verily I say unto you, blessed are you who are\nnow hearing these words of mine from the mouth of my servant, for\nyour sins are forgiven you.\n\n\"Let my servant, Joseph Wakefield, in whom I am pleased, and my\nservant, Parley P. Pratt, go forth among the churches and\nstrengthen them by the word of exhortation; and also my servant,\nJohn Corrill, or as many of my servants as are ordained unto this\noffice, and let them labor in the vineyard; and let no man hinder\nthem of doing that which I have appointed unto them; wherefore, in\nthis thing, my servant, Edward Partridge, is not justified;\nnevertheless, let him repent and he shall be forgiven. Behold, ye\nare little children, and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must\ngrow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. Fear not, little\nchildren, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you\nare of them that my Father hath given me; and none of them that my\nFather hath given me shall be lost; and the Father and I are one. I\nam in the Father and the Father in me; and, inasmuch as ye have\nreceived me, ye are in me and I in you; wherefore, I am in your\nmidst, and I am the good Shepherd (and the stone of Israel; he that\nbuildeth upon this rock shall never fall), and the day cometh that\nyou shall hear my voice and see me, and know that I am. Watch,\ntherefore, that ye may be ready; even so. Amen.\"\n\nIn obedience to the foregoing, Joseph Wakefield and myself\nvisited the several branches of the Church, rebuking the wrong\nspirits which had crept in among them, setting in order things that\nwere wanting; ordaining Elders and other officers; baptizing such\nas believed and repented of their sins; administering the gift of\nthe Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, in the name of Jesus\nChrist; laying hands on little children and blessing them; praying\nfor the sick, and comforting the afflicted, etc. On some occasions\nwe assembled fifty or sixty little children in one circle, in the\nmidst of the assembly of the saints, and laid our hands upon them\nall, and prayed for them, and blessed them in the name of Jesus.\n\nThus my time passed sweetly and swiftly away for some weeks. I\nwas sometimes in the society of President Smith, in Kirtland, and\nof the saints in that place, and sometimes in the branches abroad.\n\nAbout this time a young lady, by the name of Chloe Smith, being\na member of the Church, was lying very low with a lingering fever,\nwith a family who occupied one of the houses on the farm of Isaac\nMorley, in Kirtland. Many of the Church had visited and prayed with\nher, but all to no effect; she seemed at the point of death, but\nwould not consent to have a physician. This greatly enraged her\nrelatives, who had cast her out because she belonged to the Church,\nand who, together with many of the people of the neighborhood, were\ngreatly stirred up to anger, saying, \"these wicked deceivers will\nlet her lie and die without a physician, because of their\nsuperstitions; and if they do, we will prosecute them for so\ndoing.\" Now these were daily watching for her last breath, with\nmany threats.\n\nUnder these circumstances, President Smith and myself, with\nseveral other Elders called to see her. She was so low that no one\nhad been allowed for some days previous to speak above a whisper,\nand even the door of the log dwelling was muffled with cloths to\nprevent a noise.\n\nWe kneeled down and prayed vocally all around, each in turn;\nafter which President Smith arose, went to the bedside, took her by\nthe hand, and said unto her with a loud voice, \"in the name of\nJesus Christ arise and walk!\" She immediately arose, was dressed by\na woman in attendance, when she walked to a chair before the fire,\nand was seated and joined in singing a hymn. The house was thronged\nwith people in a few moments, and the young lady arose and shook\nhands with each as they came in; and from that minute she was\nperfectly restored to health.\n\nSome time in May, 1831, the Church arrived with their families\nfrom the State of New York, to settle in Kirtland; but, to my\ninexpressible disappointment, my wife had not come with them, but\nhad gone to spend the summer in the East with her friends. It was\nnow too late to go to her, as the time was near when I was in duty\nbound to return to my fellow laborers in Missouri. To be so long\nabsent from her, and then undertake a second journey without seeing\nher, was a severe trial, but God gave me grace to overcome my\nfeelings, for his sake and the gospel's.\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n------------------------\n\nConference at Kirtland:--Revelation of the High\nPriesthood:--Ordinations to the Same:--Appointment of\nMissions through the Western States:--Return Westward,\nAccompanied by my Brother Orson:--Our Success by the\nWay:--Arrival at the Frontiers:--Sickness:--Remarkable\nConversion of Newel Knight:--A Dream.\n\nOn the sixth of June, 1831, a general conference was convened at\nKirtland, consisting of all the Elders, far and near, who could be\ngot together. In this conference much instruction was given by\nPresident Smith, who spake in great power, as he was moved by the\nHoly Ghost; and the spirit of power and of testimony rested down\nupon the Elders in a marvelous manner. Here also were some strange\nmanifestations of false spirits, which were immediately rebuked.\n\nSeveral were then selected by revelation, through President\nSmith, and ordained to the High Priesthood after the order of the\nSon of God, which is after the order of Melchizedek. This was the\nfirst occasion in which this priesthood had been revealed and\nconferred upon the Elders in this dispensation, although the office\nof an Elder is the same in a certain degree, but not in the\nfullness. On this occasion I was ordained to this holy ordinance\nand calling by President Smith.\n\nAfter these things, and the business of the conference was over,\nmyself and Orson Pratt were appointed by revelation to perform a\nmission together, through the Western States, and to meet the\nbrethren I had left in Jackson County, Missouri; and many others\nalso who were sent in a similar manner, two and two through the\nWestern States, and who were all appointed to meet in Jackson\nCounty, Missouri, and hold the next conference.*\n\n[Footnote] *See revelation, Book of Doctrine and Covenants,\nSection 66.\n\nSoon after the conference my brother and myself commenced our\njourney without any means to bear our expenses. We travelled\nthrough the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, in the\nmidst of the heat of summer on foot, and faithfully preached the\ngospel in many parts of all these States. We suffered the hardships\nincident to a new and, in many places, unsettled country, such as\nhunger, thirst, fatigue, etc. We arrived in upper Missouri in\nSeptember, having baptized many people and organized branches of\nthe Church in several parts of Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. On our\narrival we found a considerable settlement of the brethren from\nOhio, who had immigrated during the summer and taken up their\nresidence in Jackson County. President Smith, and many of the\nElders, had been there and held a conference, and, having organized\na Stake of Zion, pointed out and consecrated certain grounds for a\ncity and temple, they had again returned to the East. With them,\nthe brethren whom I had left there the previous winter, had also\nreturned.\n\nI felt somewhat disappointed in not meeting with the brethren;\nbut was consoled with the reflection that I had been diligent in\npreaching the gospel on my journey, while others had hurried\nthrough the country, perhaps, without tarrying to do much good.\n\nI was now taken sick with the fever and ague, owing to the\nexposures of the climate through which we had travelled. I suffered\nextremely for several months; being brought very low with fever,\nand with other afflictions.\n\nI tarried mostly with a branch of the Church commonly called the\nColesville branch. They had removed from Colesville, in the State\nof New York, and settled on the borders of a fertile prairie, about\ntwelve miles west of the village of Independence, and near the\nboundaries which divide the State of Missouri from the Indian\nTerritory. They consisted of about sixty souls, and were under the\npresidency of a faithful and zealous Elder by the name of Newel\nKnight--an account of whose miraculous conversion we here record,\nas extracted from the life of Joseph Smith, published in the\n_Millennial Star_, Vol. 4, p. 116:\n\n\"During this month of April, I (Joseph Smith) went on a visit to\nthe residence of Mr. Joseph Knight, of Colesville, Broom County,\nN.Y., with whom and his family I had been previously acquainted,\nand whose name I have above mentioned as having been so kind and\nthoughtful towards us while translating the Book of Mormon. Mr.\nKnight and his family were Universalists; but were willing to\nreason with me upon my religious views, and were, as usual,\nfriendly and hospitable. We held several meetings in the\nneighborhood; we had many friends and some enemies. Our meetings\nwere well attended, and many began to pray fervently to Almighty\nGod that He would give them wisdom to understand the truth. Among\nthose who attended our meetings regularly was Newel Knight, son of\nJoseph Knight. He and I had many serious conversations on the\nimportant subject of man's eternal salvation. We were in the habit\nof praying much at our meetings, and Newel had said that he would\ntry and take up his cross and pray vocally during meeting; but when\nwe again met together he rather excused himself. I tried to prevail\nupon him, making use of the figure, supposing that he should get\ninto a mud hole would he not try to help himself out? And that we\nwere willing now to help him out of the mud hole. He replied, 'that\nprovided he had got into a mud hole through carelessness, he would\nrather wait and get out himself than have others to help him, and\nso he would wait until he should get into the woods by himself and\nthere he would pray.' Accordingly he deferred praying until next\nmorning, when he retired into the woods, where, according to his\nown account afterwards, he made several attempts to pray, but could\nscarcely do so--feeling that he had not done his duty, but that he\nshould have prayed in the presence of others. He began to feel\nuneasy, and continued to feel worse both in mind and body until,\nupon reaching his own house, his appearance was such as to alarm\nhis wife very much. He requested her to go and bring me to him. I\nwent and found him suffering very much in his mind, and his body\nacted upon in a very strange manner. His visage and limbs distorted\nand twisted in every shape and appearance possible to imagine; and\nfinally, he was caught up off the floor of the apartment and tossed\nabout most fearfully. His situation was soon made known to his\nneighbors and relatives, and in a short time as many as eight or\nnine grown persons had got together to witness the scene. After he\nhad thus suffered for a time, I succeeded in getting hold of him by\nthe hand, when almost immediately he spoke to me, and with very\ngreat earnestness requested of me that I should cast the devil out\nof him; saying, 'that he knew that he was in him, and that he also\nknew that I could cast him out.' I replied, 'if you know that I can\nit shall be done,' and then, almost unconsciously, I rebuked the\ndevil, and commanded him in the name of Jesus Christ to depart from\nhim' when immediately Newel spoke out and said, 'that he saw the\ndevil leave him and vanish from his sight.'*\n\n[Footnote] *This was the first miracle which was done in this\nChurch, or by any member of it, and it was not done by man nor the\npower of man, but it was done by God, and by the power of\ngodliness; therefore, let the honor and the praise, the dominion\nand the glory, be ascribed to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for\never and ever. Amen.\n\n\"The scene was now entirely changed; for as soon as the devil\nhad departed from our friend his countenance became natural; his\ndistortions of body ceased; and almost immediately the Spirit of\nthe Lord descended upon him, and the visions of eternity were\nopened to his view. He afterwards related his experience as\nfollows:\n\n\"'I now began to feel a most pleasing sensation resting upon me,\nand immediately the visions of Heaven were opened to my view. I\nfelt myself attracted upward, and remained for some time enrapt in\ncontemplation, insomuch that I knew not what was going on in the\nroom. By-and-by I felt some weight pressing upon my shoulder and\nthe side of my head, which served to recall me to a sense of my\nsituation, and I found that the Spirit of the Lord had actually\ncaught me up off the floor, and that my shoulder and head were\npressing against the beams.'\n\n\"All this was witnessed by many, to their great astonishment and\nsatisfaction, when they saw the devil thus cast out and the power\nof God and His Holy Spirit thus made manifest. So soon as\nconsciousness returned, his bodily weakness was such that we were\nobliged to lay him upon his bed and wait upon him for some time. As\nmay be expected, such a scene as this contributed much to make\nbelievers of those who witnessed it; and, finally, the greater part\nof them became members of the Church.\"\n\nThis Colesville branch was among the first organized by Joseph\nSmith, and constituted the first settlers of the members of the\nChurch in Missouri. They had arrived late in the summer, and cut\nsome hay for their cattle, sowed a little grain, and prepared some\nground for cultivation, and were engaged during the fall and winter\nin building log cabins, etc. The winter was cold, and for some time\nabout ten families lived in one log cabin, which was open and\nunfinished, while the frozen ground served for a floor. Our food\nconsisted of beef and a little bread made of corn, which had been\ngrated into coarse meal by rubbing the ears on a tin grater. This\nwas rather an inconvenient way of living for a sick person; but it\nwas for the gospel's sake, and all were very cheerful and happy.\n\nWe enjoyed many happy seasons in our prayer and other meetings,\nand the Spirit of the Lord was poured out upon us, and even on the\nlittle children, insomuch that many of eight, ten or twelve years\nof age spake, and prayed, and prophesied in our meetings and in our\nfamily worship. There was a spirit of peace and union, and love and\ngood will manifested in this little Church in the wilderness, the\nmemory of which will be ever dear to my heart.\n\nIt was during my long illness in this dreary winter that I had\nthe following dream or vision: I thought I saw myself dressed in a\nclean and beautiful linen robe, white as snow, and extending from\nthe neck downward in beautiful folds. On either breast were lines\nof golden writing, in large Roman letters, about a third of an inch\nin length, and the lines extending from the center of the breast on\neach side six or eight inches long. The upper line on each side\nappeared larger and more beautiful or conspicuous than the others;\none of these lines was: \"HOLY PROPHET,\" and the other was: \"NEW\nJERUSALEM.\"\n\nOn awaking from this dream I immediately called to mind the\nwords of the Saviour to John the Revelator: \"_He that overcometh\nwill I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no\nmore out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the\nname of the City of my God, which is New Jerusalem_.\"\n\nThis dream certainly encouraged me, and enabled me to bear my\nsickness, privation and long absence from my wife and former\nfriends more patiently.\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n------------------------\n\nAttend Conference:--Instantaneous Healing:--\nReturn Eastward:--Description of the Inhabitants on the\nSouth Side of the Missouri River:--Strange Manifestation:--\nArrive at St. Louis:--Preaching and Entertainment:--Arrive\nat Vandalia:--Reception:--Exposure in Crossing an Over--\nflowed Bottom:--Dialogue:--Hospitality of a Preacher:--\nDeaf Landlord:--Meet my Wife.\n\nSome time in February, 1832, a Conference was held by Bishop\nPartridge and the Elders remaining in this part of the country. To\nthis Conference I was determined to go, though very feeble and\nalmost unable to sit up. I was assisted on to a horse, and rode\ntwelve miles. I kept my bed during the Conference; but at the\nclose, several Elders being about to take their journey to Ohio, I\ndetermined to go with them. I requested the Elders, therefore, to\nlay their hands on me and pray. They did so. I was instantly\nhealed, and the next morning started in company with Elder Levi\nHancock, a journey of twelve hundred miles on foot.\n\nI gained strength at every step, and the second evening, after\nwading through the snow about six inches deep for some ten miles, I\nwas enabled to address a congregation for the first time in several\nmonths.\n\nI now parted with Levi Hancock, and had John Murdock for a\nfellow traveller. We passed down the south side of the Missouri\nriver, among a thin settlement of people--mostly very ignorant but\nextremely hospitable. Some families were entirely dressed in skins,\nwithout any other clothing; including ladies young and old.\nBuildings were generally without glass windows, and the door open\nin winter for a light. We preached, and warned the people, and\ntaught them as well as we could.\n\nWhile ministering in these settlements, and exposed to a heavy\nsnow storm, brother John Murdock was taken sick with a heavy fever;\nthis caused us to stop early in the day among strangers, in a small\nlog cabin consisting of one room; we held a meeting in the evening,\nand then had a bed made down on the floor, before the fire. Before\nmorning brother Murdock was much better, but I was seized with a\nmost dreadful chill, followed by a heavy turn of fever; morning\nfound me unable to rise or speak. As the bed was in the way, they\nlifted it by the four corners, with me on it, and placed it in the\nback part of the room, on another bed. Here I lay, entirely\nhelpless with a burning fever, during which I distinctly heard a\ndialogue between John Murdock and the lady of the house; she\nupbraiding us as impostors thrown upon them at this inclement\nseason, while they were out of milling and of wood, and but illy\nprepared for such a burden; that one was sick the night before, and\nnow the other was taken down; that it was six miles to the next\nhouse, deep snow and no road broke, and we would probably be on\ntheir hands for weeks.\n\nTo these inhospitable remarks brother Murdock mildly replied,\ntrying to soothe the woman; reasoning with her, and telling her\nthat brother Parley would soon be better, and then we would go our\nway.\n\nThis dialogue gave me such a sense of unwelcome, and I pitied\nbrother Murdock to that degree for having to stay with such spirits\non my account, that I felt I could endure it no longer. With the\nutmost effort I roused myself sufficiently to call brother Murdock\nto my bed, whispering to him to lay hands on me unobserved, so as\nnot to be seen or overheard. He did so; I then asked him to give me\na drink of water. The effort had been too much, I swooned away\nwhile he was gone for the water; he could hardly arouse me\nsufficiently to drink of it; it was like waking from the dead. I\ndrank of it, bounded on my feet, dressed myself, put on my shoes\nand hat, and told him I was ready to start. The family all\nmarvelled; one exclaimed, \"what a strange disease; it could not be\nfever, and then be cured in an instant.\" We gave no explanations,\nbut started on our journey up a steep hill, in the deep snow, in\nthe midst of their urgings to stay to breakfast, or at least have a\ncup of coffee. I said nothing, but thought to myself: ye\nhypocrites, to murmur as you have, and then ask me to stay and eat.\n\nWe travelled on for some miles nearly in silence--I waiting all\nthe while for brother Murdock to make some remarks referring to our\ninhospitable treatment, and the dialogue with the mistress of the\nhouse. At last I broke silence. Said I, \"Brother Murdock, how did\nyou feel to be talked to by that woman? I thought you bore it with\ngreat patience, and I pitied you from my heart, or I never should\nhave had faith and courage to be thus healed and start my journey.\"\n\nHe replied that no such conversation had occurred between him\nand the lady, nor had she uttered one word indicative of any such\ninhospitable feeling.\n\n\"Well,\" said I, \"I heard it articulated in plain English by some\ntwo persons perfectly imitating her voice and yours; it was no\nimagination, or raging delirium of a fever. I can swear I heard a\nconversation to that effect for a length of time.\n\n\"If it was not the lady and yourself, then it was something from\nan invisible world, which clearly revealed to me the spirit of our\nhostess.\"\n\nWe reached the next house; I was a well man; found good\nquarters, and we were kindly and hospitably entertained for some\ndays.\n\nPursuing our journey, we arrived at St. Louis, were kindly\nreceived by some citizens of that place, and held meeting with\nthem. They conveyed us over the Mississippi free of charge, and we\ncontinued our journey, preaching by the way. We arrived at length\nat Vandalia, the then capital of Illinois. Here we were invited to\na hotel, where we sojourned free of charge, and preached to a good\naudience in the Presbyterian meeting house. Next morning resuming\nour journey, we crossed the Okah river on a bridge, but the bottoms\nfor two or three miles were overflowed to various depths, from six\ninches to three or four feet, and frozen over, except in the main\nchannels, with a coat of ice, which we had to break by lifting our\nfeet to the surface at every step. This occupied some hours and\ncalled into requisition our utmost strength, and sometimes we were\nentirely covered with water. At length we got through in safety and\ncame to a house where we warmed and dried our clothes and took some\nwhiskey. Our legs and feet had lost all feeling, became benumbed,\nand were dreadfully bruised and cut with the ice.\n\nOn the next day we had to cross a plain fifteen miles in length,\nwithout a house, a tree, or any kind of shelter; a cold northwest\nwind was blowing, and the ground covered with snow and ice. We had\nmade two or three miles into the plain when I was attacked with a\nsevere return of my old complaint, which had confined me so many\nmonths in Jackson County, and from which I had recovered by a\nmiracle at the outset of this journey--I mean the fever and ague.\n\nI travelled and shook, and shook and travelled, till I could\nstand it no longer; I vomited severely several times, and finally\nfell down on the snow, overwhelmed with fever, and became helpless\nand nearly insensible. This was about seven or eight miles from the\nnearest house.\n\nBrother John Murdock laid his hands on me and prayed in the name\nof Jesus; and, taking me by the hand, he commanded me with a loud\nvoice, saying: \"In the name of Jesus of Nazareth arise and walk!\" I\nattempted to arise, I staggered a few paces, and was about falling\nagain when I found my fever suddenly depart and my strength come. I\nwalked at the rate of about four miles per hour, arrived at a\nhouse, and was sick no more.\n\nWe continued our journey, preaching by the way, and crossing the\nWabash at Vincennes, we stopped in that vicinity for several days,\ndrawing crowded houses. Here we met with Elders Dustin and Bebee,\nwho left Jackson County, Missouri, when we did, and for the same\npurpose. \"Well, brethren, how do you do?\" said we to them.\n\n\"Tolerably well; only we have spent ten dollars each which was\ngiven us by the Bishop when we started, and we have sold books and\nspent the avails of them; and besides this we have been compelled\nto borrow money in a certain branch of the Church, and have spent\nthat also; and we think it hard to travel for the public good and\nthis at our own charges.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" said I, \"and how is this? we have not yet spent the first\ncent since we left the Church in Jackson County; nor shall we have\nany occasion for any spending money for weeks to come. Where did\nyou stay last night?\"\n\n\"In the large village of Washington.\"\n\n\"Did you preach to the people?\"\n\n\"Yes; in the Court House.\"\n\n\"Did they charge you for your keeping?\"\n\n\"Yes. A dollar and a quarter.\"\n\n\"Well, we are going there tonight, and, although entire\nstrangers, we shall be well entertained free of charge, preach or\nno preach.\"\n\n\"How do you do it?\" said they.\n\n\"O, we hold up our heads like honest men; go to the best houses,\ncall for the best they have, make known our calling, pray with, or\npreach to them, ask for their bill on taking leave, but they will\ntake nothing from us; but always invite us to call again.\"\n\n\"Well, they will not treat you so in Washington tonight; you will have\nto pay a good round sum.\"\n\n\"Well, we shall see.\"\n\nWe took leave of them and of the good people where we had been\npreaching, having first sent an appointment by the mail carrier,\nthat if the inhabitants of Washington would get together we would\naddress them that evening.\n\nWe entered the town at dark, stopped at a hotel, called for\nlodging and supper and a room for ourselves; and asked the landlord\nif a meeting had been got up for us. He said the mail carrier\nbrought the news of our appointment, but he believed it had been\nneglected to be given out; was very sorry, made many apologies, and\nstill offered to have the bell rung and the people assembled if we\nwished. We told him we were glad of an opportunity to rest, and did\nnot wish a meeting at so late an hour.\n\nWe retired to our room and made no further acquaintance. Next\nmorning on taking leave, we asked what was to pay. He answered,\n\"not anything,\" said we were welcome to his hospitality at any\ntime, and bid us call again.\n\nLeaving Washington, we were next entertained by a very\nhospitable preacher of the Christian order, whose name I have\nforgotten. We tarried at his house a week or two, and preached to\ncrowded congregations in all the region; he frequently going with\nus to introduce us and open the way. While here, having a little\nleisure between appointments, I went alone and on foot to the town\nof Madison, about nine miles from his house. My design was to get\nout an appointment and preach, which came to pass the same evening\nin the following Manner: I stepped into a hotel, they were all at\ndinner, I placed the Book of Mormon on a public table and sat down\nto read a newspaper; soon the boarders came out, and one by one\nlooked at the Book, and inquired whose it was; soon the landlord\ncame out, who I learned was so very deaf that one could only be\nheard by placing mouth to ear and shouting at the very top of the\nvoice. He caught up the Book and inquired, \"Whose is this?\" I\narose, placed my arm round his neck, and my mouth close to his ear,\nand shouted, \"IT IS MINE, AND I HAVE COME TO PREACH!!\" This was so\nloud that it almost alarmed the town. He welcomed me to\nentertainment free of charge, had the Court House opened, the town\nnotified, and evening found me in the judge's seat, a reporter in\nthe clerk's desk, and a crowded audience. I had good liberty and\nall seemed much interested.\n\nAfter a few days we resumed our journey, and in May arrived in\nKirtland, where I again met my wife after an absence of one year\nand seven months.\n\n\nChapter XII.\n------------------------\n\nMission in Ohio:--Start to Western Missouri:--\nIncidents by the Way:--Discourse on Board a Steamer on\nthe Fourth of July:--Its Effect:--Arrival on the Frontiers:--\nFarming:--Extortion:--Mission in Missouri and Illinois:--\nTreatment by Infidels:--Great Success in Illinois:--Opposition\nfrom Baptist Ministers:--Outlines of Mr. Peck's Speech and\nmy Reply:--Result:--Return Home:--A Voice from the Dead.\n\nI shall not attempt to describe our feelings or our joy; these\nthings are known by experience, not by language. I found her health\nmuch impaired, and she had long suffered from complaints of the\nnature of consumption; but she was now reduced still further by her\nanxious solicitude about my long absence.\n\nWhen she found herself once more in the quiet enjoyment of my\nsociety, she gradually resumed her wonted cheerfulness, and began\nto enjoy better health; but still she was far from being well.\n\nAfter spending a few weeks at home, I performed a short mission\nin the southeastern part of Ohio, and again returned, having\ntravelled on foot in the heat of summer about three hundred miles.\nIn this mission I met with no success in the ministry, owing to the\nprejudice, ignorance and bigotry of the people, who either would\nnot hear at all, or else heard in a careless manner, and went away\nwith the same indifference as they came.\n\nI now determined to take my wife and our little effects and\nremove to Western Missouri. To bear the expenses of this long\njourney my wife had some sixty dollars, which she brought with her\nfrom the East, and certain men also put into my hands sums of money\nto be expended in lands and improvements in that country. With\nbrother Joseph's counsel and blessing I bade farewell to Kirtland.\n\nWe took a stage coach for the Ohio River, thence by steamer to\nSt. Louis, and again by steamer up the Missouri. I took a steerage\npassage among the poorer class, and was dressed more like a laborer\nthan a public minister. However, the throng of passengers on the\nboat learned by some means that I was a preacher, and on the 4th of\nJuly they pressed me very hard to address them in the cabin in\nhonor of our national anniversary. I refused for awhile; but at\nlength complied, on conditions that steerage passengers, boat\nhands, firemen, and all classes, black or white, should have the\nprivilege of assembling in the cabin to hear the discourse.\n\nThis was readily complied with, and very soon a large assembly\nwas convened and in waiting, consisting of ladies and gentlemen,\nlawyers, merchants, farmers, servants, waiters and colored\ngentlemen.\n\nI presented myself before this motley assembly in a plain coat\nof gray satinet, and bowed respectfully. All tried to be grave, but\na smile, a sneer, a look of contempt would now and then escape from\nsome of the more genteel portion of the assembly, as if they would\nsay, \"_Can any good thing come out of Nazareth_,\" or, in\nother words, can so plain a man be possessed of knowledge\nsufficient to entertain such an assembly on so important an\noccasion as the 4th of July, and this, too, without preparing a\ndiscourse beforehand?\n\nI read a chapter; all was serious attention. I offered up a\nprayer; all was deep interest. I commenced a discourse, and nearly\nall were in tears. I introduced the Book of Mormon as a record of\nancient America; I dwelt upon its history and prophetic\ndeclarations, now being verified by the erection of free\ninstitutions in this great country, and their growing influence. I\nspoke of the general prosperity and resources of the country,\nacknowledging the hand of Providence in the same; warned them\nagainst national pride, ambition, and injustice; exhorted them, in\ncommon with all citizens, to use the utmost diligence to preserve\nthe general peace and the pure influence of our national\ninstitutions; and to improve in light, intelligence and love,\nwithout which we, too, might be brought down to destruction like\nthe Israelites and Nephites of old; and our bones and ruined cities\nand monuments alone be left to other people, as theirs were left to\nus, as a testimony of our greatness which would have passed away. I\nalso showed them from the Book of Mormon that we were destined to\nremain forever as a blessed and free people on this land, on\nconditions of keeping the commandments of Jesus Christ, and that\nour settlements and commerce would soon extend to the vast shores\nof the Pacific ocean, and our ensign stand out to the nations as a\nstandard inviting them to a banquet of freedom, peace and plenty.\n\nAfter meeting I was pressed upon to come into the cabin for the\nrest of the passage. And even when we changed boats at Louisville,\nsuch was the influence of my fellow passengers, that the\ngentlemen's and also the ladies' cabin and board was free to me\nwithout money or price. One gentleman offered as high as ten\ndollars for a copy of the Book of Mormon; but, unluckily, I had\nnone with me.\n\nArriving at the Colesville branch, on the western boundaries of\nthe State (where I had spent the previous winter in sickness and\npoverty), about the 1st of August, 1832, we commenced cutting hay,\nbuilding, purchasing and planting land, and making every\npreparation to receive those who had sent funds for this purpose.\nDuring the months of August and September I had, with a little\nhelp, secured about fifteen tons of hay, and put into the ground\nfifteen acres of wheat, besides building a log house and doing\nsomething at fencing, etc. These exertions in the heat of the\nseason brought on a severe illness, in which I was nigh unto death;\nbut I was again restored in a few days by the laying on of hands\nand prayer in the name of Jesus.\n\nAbout this time Lewis Abbott arrived with his family from\nKirtland, and having sent some money by me, partly to aid in my\nexpenses, and partly for the purpose of making improvements, he\nbecame dissatisfied and demanded the utmost farthing. This took\neverything I had done;--my wheat on the ground, my hay, my cows all\nbut one, and left me entirely destitute, after all my laborious\nexertions. At this brother Abbott seemed satisfied, and thought he\nhad got quite rich, and turned his money to good advantage; but the\ncurse of God rested upon all his property as was soon manifest.\n\nThe next winter I took a mission in company with Elder William\nE. McLellin down through the State of Missouri and into Illinois,\ncrossing the Mississippi at Clarksville.\n\nAs we approached Clarksville, we were told by several of the\ninhabitants near, not to attempt a meeting or any religious\ninstruction there, for they were a hardened and irreclaimable set\nof blasphemers and infidels, given to gambling, drinking and\ncursing, etc.; and that many different orders of the clergy had\nattempted in vain to reclaim them, or even to get a hearing. Before\nentering the town we ascended a mountain and cried mightily unto\nthe Lord that He would open our way, and move upon the hearts of\nthe people to receive us and hear the Word.\n\nWe then entered the town and called at a hotel. We told the\nlandlord that we had come in the name of Jesus Christ to preach the\ngospel to the people, being sent by him without purse or scrip.\n\"Well,\" said he, \"you are welcome to my house and such fare as we\nhave; and we will meet together and hear your religion, and if it\nproves to be better than ours we will embrace it; for we confess\nthat our religion is to fiddle and dance, and eat and drink, and be\nmerry, and gamble and swear a little; and we believe this is better\nthan priestcraft.\"\n\nWe replied that we would try them anyhow. So a meeting was\nconvened; we preached, had good attention, and much of a candid\nspirit of inquiry was manifest, and we were treated with\nhospitality and friendship, and even ferried over the river free;\nand this was more than those religious sectaries would do, who had\nwarned us against them.\n\nPassing over the river, the next day we came to Green County,\nIllinois; and as the day drew to a close we began to circulate an\nappointment as we travelled along a thick settlement of thrifty\nfarmers, for preaching in a school house in the neighborhood that\nevening.\n\nAs we sat by the highway side to rest ourselves, an old farmer\nrode past on horseback, and halted to ask if we were travellers. We\nreplied that we were travelling to preach the gospel, and had an\nappointment that evening at the school house just ahead, and\ninvited him to come and hear. \"No,\" said he, \"I have not attended a\nreligious meeting this five years; I have long been disgusted and\ntired of priestcraft and religious ignorance and division, and have\nconcluded to stand aloof from it all.\"\n\n\"Well, we are as much opposed to these things as you can be,\nand, therefore, have come to preach the gospel, and show the\nknowledge of God in its ancient purity, being instructed and sent\nof Him without purse or scrip. So come and hear us.\"\n\n\"O! indeed, if that is the case, I will.\"\n\nSo he came; the house was crowded with Baptists, Methodists,\nUniversalists, Non-professors, Infidels, etc.\n\nWe preached. After meeting, a Baptist minister by the name of\nJohn Russell, a very learned and influential man, invited us to\ntarry in the neighborhood and continue to preach; he said his house\nshould be our home, and he called a vote of the people whether they\nwished us to preach more. The vote was unanimous in the\naffirmative.\n\nWe tarried in the neighborhood some two months, and preached\ndaily in all that region to vast multitudes, both in town and\ncountry, in the grove, and in school houses, barns and dwellings.\nAll parties were our hearers and friends, and contributed liberally\nto our wants; and the old farmer, whose name was Calvin, who had\nnot been to meeting before for five years, became a constant\nhearer, and opened his house for our home. He was very wealthy, and\nbade us welcome to shoes, clothing, or anything we needed; many\nInfidels, Universalists, etc., did the same.\n\nIn this neighborhood there lived a Baptist minister by the name\nof Dotson, who opposed us with much zeal, from time to time, both\nin public and in private, and from house to house.\n\nHe said the Book of Mormon was a fable; a silly, foolish mixture\nof matter, possessing no interest, and that he could write a better\nbook himself. However, his principal objection was, that God could\ngive no _new_ revelation--the New Testament contained all\nthe knowledge that God had in store for man, and there was nothing\nremaining unrevealed.\n\nWe asked him to open the New Testament and read to us the\nhistory and destiny of the American continent and its inhabitants,\nand the origin and lineage of the same; also, the history of the\nten tribes of Israel, and where they now were. We also asked him to\nread to us from that book his own commission, and that of other\nministers of this age to preach the gospel. But he could do none of\nthese things; but still insisted that there was no subject worthy\nof new revelation, and that no revelation could be given.\n\nSaid I, \"Mr. Dotson, relate to me your experience and call to\nthe ministry.\"\n\n\"Well,\" he replied, \"I will do so, seeing that it is you, friend\nPratt; for you are able to bear it, and to comprehend something\nabout it; but I have never told it to my own members; and I dare\nnot, for they would not believe me.\"\n\n\"Well, Mr. Dotson, be particular on the manner and means by\nwhich you were called to the ministry.\"\n\n\"Why, sir,\" said he, \"_I was called by a vocal voice from\nHeaven_.\"\n\n\"Well, Mr. Dotson, _there_ is one exception to your\ngeneral rule. We come to you with a new revelation, and you reject\nit, because there can be no new revelation; and yet you profess to\nhave a new revelation, God having spoken from the heavens and\ncalled _you_, and commissioned _you_ to preach eighteen hundred\nyears after the New Testament was written, and all revelation\nfinished! How is this?\n\n\"The New Testament no where calls you by name; neither makes\nmention of you as a minister of the gospel; but new revelation\ndoes, if we are to believe you. And yet you would teach your\nhearers and us, and all the world, to disbelieve all modern\nrevelation merely because it is new. Consequently, we are all bound\nby your own rule to reject your call to the ministry, and to\nbelieve it is a lie.\"\n\nHe could say no more.\n\nAt another time he was at Mr. Russell's with us, and, in\npresence of Mr. R. and others, was opposing the Book of Mormon with\nall his power.\n\nWe asked him to listen while we read a chapter in it. He did so,\nand was melted into tears, and so affected and confounded that he\ncould not utter a word for some time. He then, on recovering, asked\nus to his house, and opened the door for us to preach in his\nneighborhood. We did so, and were kindly entertained by him.\n\nBut after this, he again hardened his heart, and finding his\nopposition all in vain, he wrote a letter to the Rev. Mr. Peck, of\nRock Spring, some sixty miles distant, informing him that the\n\"Mormons\" were about to take Green County, and requesting his\nimmediate attendance.\n\nThis Mr. Peck was a man of note, as one of the early settlers of\nIllinois, and one of its first missionaries. He had labored for\nmany years in that new country and in Missouri, and was now Editor\nof a paper devoted to Baptist principles.\n\nThis gentleman, was soon forthcoming, and commenced his public\naddresses among the people, to try to convince them of the great\nerrors we had taught.\n\nHe said there were no antiquities in America; no ruined cities,\nbuildings, monuments, inscriptions, mounds, or fortifications, to\nshow the existence of such a people as the Book of Mormon\ndescribed.\n\nHe also said, that there were no domestic animals such as the\ncow the ox, or the horse, found here when Europeans first\ndiscovered the country. He then inquired how these animals became\nextinct since the destruction of the Nephites.\n\nHe said further, that the fortifications and mounds of this\ncountry were nothing more than the works of Nature.\n\nHe then warned the people against the study of the prophetic\nparts of the Old and New Testaments, observing that these\nmysterious prophecies were directly calculated to lead them into\ndelusion and bewilderment; that the best way to read and understand\nprophecy was, to read it backwards--that is to say, after it is\nfulfilled; that it was never designed to be understood before it\ncame to pass.\n\nHe also taught that the Millennium was already commenced, and\nthat Jesus Christ would not come, in person, till the great and\nlast judgment; and that the Millennium must first continue a year\nfor each day of the thousand years, spoken of by John the\nRevelator, etc.\n\nA meeting was held for the purpose of replying to him; the\npeople came out in great numbers.\n\nI then replied in substance as follows:\n\n\"My hearers:--The Rev. Mr. Peck is a great man. He is a man of\nage and varied experience and learning. I am but a youth, inferior\nto him in all these respects. I reverence his gray hairs; I respect\nhis learning; I admire his talents and ingenuity; and I feel a\ndelicacy in replying to him; and nothing but a love for the truth\nand a hatred of error and falsehood, could induce me to come in\ncontact with him before the public; but where truth and salvation\nare at stake I cannot shrink from duty, in consideration of age or\ntalent; I cannot spare the man, even if he were my father.\n\n\"To do away the Book of Mormon, we are called upon to believe\nthat the temples, statues, pyramids, sculptures, monuments,\nengravings, mounds and fortifications, now in ruins on the American\ncontinent, are all the works of Nature in her playful moments; that\nthe bones of slumbering nations were never clothed upon with flesh,\nand that their sleeping dust was never animated with life.\n\n\"This is too monstrous; it is too marvelous, too miraculous for\nout credulity; we can never believe that these things are the works\nof Nature, unaided by human art; we are not so fond of the\nmarvelous.\n\n\"Again, we are told that no cows or oxen were here when\nEuropeans first came to the country. I would ask what the wild\nbuffalo are, if they are not the cattle of the ancient inhabitants?\nI would ask how horse tracks came to be imbedded in the petrified\nrock of Kentucky, without a horse to make them? And if no race of\nanimals could become extinct, which once existed here, I would ask\nMr. Peck either to produce a living mammoth, or annihilate his\nbones. But, perhaps, the reverend gentleman would say that those\nbones, too, were the works of Nature, and that the huge animal they\nseem to represent never existed.\n\n\"Again, my hearers, we are warned against the study of prophecy.\nWe are told that a careful perusal of the prophecies, which the\nreverend gentleman is pleased to call '_mysterious_' is a\nprincipal cause of our delusion and blindness; and that the\nprophecies were only designed to be read and understood after they\nwere fulfilled.\n\n\"We will apply this rule, and learn its workings by practical\nexperience.\n\n\"The people at the time of the flood adopted this rule, all save\neight souls. Mr. Peck's theology was then almost catholic. The\nuniversal world (save eight) were disposed to remain in ignorance\nas to the meaning of prophecy till after its fulfillment. The\nresult was that they knew not until the flood came and swept them\nall away; then they could understand.\n\n\"The people of Sodom were all of Mr. Peck's faith--all save Lot\nand his family; they also perished unawares.\n\n\"The Jews also were of this same school--I mean those who\nperished in the siege of Jerusalem, in fulfillment of the prophecy\nof Jesus Christ, recorded in the 21st chapter of Luke.\n\n\"And permit me here to remind my hearers that this ancient\nsystem of theology, will certainly prevail to an almost universal\nextent at the time of the coming of the Son of Man. For Jesus\nhimself testified that, as it was in the days of Noah and in the\ndays of Lot, so should it be in the days of the coming of the Son\nof Man. I would here pause and congratulate my reverend friend on\nthe glorious and popular prospects before him. Certain it is that\nmost of the world will, at some future day, be of his faith in this\nrespect; they will let the prophecies of the Holy Scriptures alone,\nand not attempt to understand them until after their fulfilment.\n\n\"But we are of another school.\n\n\"We believe in Jesus, who said '_search the Scriptures_;'\nwe believe with Peter, that we have a more sure word of prophecy,\nunto which we _do well_ to take heed, as unto a light shining in\na dark place; until the day dawn, and the day star arise in our\nhearts.\n\n\"We believe the Apostle when he says that, 'whatsoever was\nwritten aforetime was written for our profit and learning; that, we\nthrough patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.'\nWe wish to be children of the light and not of darkness; that that\nday come not upon us unawares. In short we wish, like Timothy of\nold, to understand the Scriptures from our very childhood;\nconsidering that they are able to make us wise unto salvation,\nthrough faith in Christ Jesus.\n\n\"Again, we are told that the world is in the enjoyment of the\nMillennium, or thousand years of rest, spoken of by John, the\nRevelator.\n\n\"Of course then Satan is bound, and does not tempt any man. The\nmartyrs of Jesus, and those who kept His commandments are raised\nfrom the dead, and are now present on the earth reigning with Jesus\nChrist. The nations learn war no more, none are in ignorance, none\nin darkness, the knowledge of God covers the earth as the waters do\nthe seas. The cow and the leopard, the kid and the bear, the wolf\nand the lamb, the lion, the serpent and the little child, all dwell\ntogether in peace. For such events the prophets have described in\nconnection with the Millennium.\n\n\"But the great announcement of all--the most important\ncommunication made to us by Mr. Peck is concerning the time of the\nsecond coming of Jesus Christ. It was now ascertained by him to be\npostponed till the great and last day; and that we are to have a\nMillennium of _three hundred and sixty-five thousand years_\nfirst, before Christ comes. Only think! '_three hundred and\nsixty-five thousand_!' Why, according to this calculation the\nworld is yet in its infancy; we are early in the morning of\ncreation. The great day of the existence of the world has only\ndawned; a long and glorious race is yet before the generations of\nman. What is the age of Adam or Methuselah! What the few fleet\nyears of the earth's existence, compared to the time yet to come\nbefore its end!\n\n\"O, ye holy prophets and saints of old, had you been in\npossession of the knowledge of the astounding facts now announced\nby this reverend gentleman, you would never have warned mankind so\nrepeatedly to be ready for the great day of the Lord, for it was\nsoon at hand.\n\n\"And had Jesus Christ known this fact, he would never have\nwarned the world of the danger of that day coming on them unawares.\nHe and His Apostles would have said: it is yet far--very far off.\nThe Millennium must first dawn, and then continue three hundred and\nsixty-five thousand years; and then, behold, I will come to judge\nthe world.\n\n\"But, my hearers, please read the prophet Zechariah on this\nsubject, chapter 14.\n\n\"We were there informed that 'Jesus Christ will come, and all\nthe saints with him,'--that he will 'set his feet on the Mount of\nOlives;' that he will 'deliver the Jews and Jerusalem from their\nenemies;' that he will 'destroy those who are in the siege against\nthat city;' and that he will 'reign as a king over all the earth,\nfrom that time forth; and there shall be one Lord and his name\none.'\n\n\"Now, if he comes and all the saints with him, it cannot be his\nfirst coming. If he comes to fight for the Jews and overthrow their\nenemies, it cannot be his first coming. If the Mount of Olives\nrends in twain at the same time, and opens so as to form a great\nvalley in the place thereof, it has no connection with his first\ncoming.\n\n\"Again, if he comes to reign as a '_King over all the earth\n_,' it can have no allusion to the last judgment,--the end of\nthe earth. Consequently, if Zechariah has told the truth, we are to\nexpect the coming of Jesus Christ distinct from his first coming;\nunconnected with the last judgment at the very commencement of his\nreign of a thousand years, which we call the Millennium; but which,\nMr. Peck says, has commenced, entirely independent of any such\nevent. But what can we expect of a man when he comments upon the\nprophecies, while at the same time he contends that none can\nunderstand them until after their fulfillment.\n\n\"Of course, my hearers, he himself acts upon the principle which\nhe lays down to others; and if he does, he never studies, never\nsearches the prophecies, acknowledges himself in darkness on all\nsubjects connected with unfulfilled prophecy; expects to remain so,\nand expects his hearers to do the same.\n\n\"O, my beloved friends, have the people of this western country\nbeen led in darkness for so many years by learned and reverend\ngentlemen? are they willing to remain in darkness now, when the\nveil is withdrawn, and his folly made manifest before all the\npeople, and this too by his own words, uttered in presence of you\nall?\n\n\"If so, follow him, and cleave to him as your teacher. But if\nnot, we exhort you to hold fast the truth as we have delivered it\nto you; come forward this day, and obey the ordinances of God; seek\nfor the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth, and continue to\nsearch the Scriptures for more light, and God will bless you\nforever. Amen.\"\n\nAfter this meeting some of the Baptists and others came forward\nand were baptized, and joined the Church of the Saints; and the\npeople in general remained steadfast in the faith, and were unmoved\nby the exertions of Messrs. Peck and Dotson.\n\nThis filled them with envy, and they soon began to manifest a\nlying and abusive spirit to such a degree that all the people could\nsee and distinguish plainly between the spirits of truth and error.\n\nMr. Peck soon took leave and retired home, and we continued our\nmission.\n\nHundreds of the people were convinced of the truth, but the\nhearts of many were too much set on the world to obey the gospel;\nwe, therefore, baptized only a few of the people, and organized a\nsmall Society, and about the first of June took leave and returned\nhome.\n\nHaving rested myself a few days, I now commenced again to\ncultivate the earth. I plowed about six acres of ground for wheat,\nand was busy from day to day in the woods, preparing timber to\nfence the same, when the following dream, or night vision, was\ngiven me:\n\nA man came to me and called me with a loud voice: \"Parley,\nParley.\" I answered, \"Here am I.\" Said he, \"Cease splitting rails,\nfor the Lord has prepared you for a greater work.\" I answered,\n\"Whereby shall I know that this message is from the Lord?\" He\nreplied, \"Follow me, and I will show you.\"\n\nI followed him for some distance along a long path, and at last\ncame to a place of ancient sepulchres, where many of the Nephites\nof old had been buried. One of these opened--the flesh of the man\nwithered away; he became like a skeleton, and passed down into the\ngrave. I understood and knew by the spirit, that this signified\nthat it was the voice of one from the dead which had spoken to me.\nI therefore exclaimed, \"It is enough; I know the message is of the\nLord; return unto me, that we may converse together.\" He then came\nforth out of the grave, was again clothed upon with a body like a\nman, and he talked with me, and told me many things.\n\nI awoke the next morning, and thought of my dream, but I was\nnecessitated, as I thought, to finish my fence and sow my crop\nbefore I ceased to labor with my hands. I, therefore, continued to\nmake and haul rails from the woods. I perfected my fence and sowed\nmy crop, but I never reaped; I never saw the wheat after it was\nmore than three inches high.\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n------------------------\n\nProsperity of the Church:--School in Zion:--\nRevelation:--Mob:--Destruction of Printing Office:--Defence:--\nPrisoners:--Journey to Lexington:--A Dream:--Its Fulfilment:--\nBattle:--Defeat of the Robbers:--A Miracle:--Defence Construed\ninto Murder:--Gov. Boggs and Militia Join the Mob:--Church\nDriven from the County:--Plunderings and Burnings:--Insurrections:--\nSigns in the Heavens:--Action of the Governor:--Attorney-General\nDriven from Court:--Refugees Settle in the North:--A Bandit Chief\nmade Governor.\n\nIt was now the summer of 1833. Immigration had poured into the\nCounty of Jackson in great numbers; and the Church in that county\nnow numbered upwards of one thousand souls. These had all purchased\nlands and paid for them, and most of them were improving in\nbuildings and in cultivation. Peace and plenty had crowned their\nlabors, and the wilderness became a fruitful field, and the\nsolitary place began to bud and blossom as the rose.\n\nThey lived in peace and quiet; no lawsuits with each other or\nwith the world; few or no debts were contracted; few promises\nbroken; there were no thieves, robbers, or murderers; few or no\nidlers; all seemed to worship God with a ready heart. On Sundays\nthe people assembled to preach, pray, sing, and receive the\nordinances of God. Other days all seemed busy in the various\npursuits of industry. In short, there has seldom, if ever, been a\nhappier people upon the earth than the Church of the Saints now\nwere.\n\nIn the latter part of summer and in the autumn, I devoted almost\nmy entire time in ministering among the churches; holding meetings;\nvisiting the sick; comforting the afflicted, and giving counsel. A\nschool of Elders was also organized, over which I was called to\npreside. This class, to the number of about sixty, met for\ninstruction once a week. The place of meeting was in the open air,\nunder some tall trees, in a retired place in the wilderness, where\nwe prayed, preached and prophesied, and exercised ourselves in the\ngifts of the Holy Spirit. Here great blessings were poured out, and\nmany great and marvelous things were manifested and taught. The\nLord gave me great wisdom, and enabled me to teach and edify the\nElders, and comfort and encourage them in their preparations for\nthe great work which lay before us. I was also much edified and\nstrengthened. To attend this school I had to travel on foot, and\nsometimes with bare feet at that, about six miles. This I did once\na week, besides visiting and preaching in five or six branches a\nweek.\n\nWhile thus engaged, and in answer to our correspondence with the\nProphet, Joseph Smith, at Kirtland, Ohio, the following revelation\nwas sent to us by him, dated August, 1833:\n\n\"Verily I say unto you, my friends, I speak unto you with my\nvoice, even the voice of my Spirit; that I may show unto you my\nwill concerning your brethren in the land of Zion; many of whom are\ntruly humble, and are seeking diligently to learn wisdom and to\nfind truth; verily, verily I say unto you, blessed are such for\nthey shall obtain; for I, the Lord, showeth mercy unto all the\nmeek, and upon all whomsoever I will, that I may be justified when\nI shall bring them into judgment.\n\n\"Behold, I say unto you, concerning the school in Zion, I the\nLord am well pleased that there should be a school in Zion; and\nalso with my servant, Parley P. Pratt, for he abideth in me; and\ninasmuch as he continueth to abide in me, he shall continue to\npreside over the school in the land of Zion until I shall give unto\nhim other commandments; and I will bless him with a multiplicity of\nblessings in expounding all Scriptures and mysteries to the\nedification of the school and of the Church in Zion, and to the\nresidue of the school I, the Lord, am willing to show mercy;\nnevertheless, there are those that must needs be chastened, and\ntheir works shall be made known. The axe is laid at the root of the\ntrees, and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be\nhewn down and cast into the fire; I, the Lord have spoken it.\nVerily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are\nhonest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing\nto observe their covenants by sacrifice; yea, every sacrifice which\nI, the Lord, shall command, they are all accepted of me, for I, the\nLord will cause them to bring forth as a very fruitful tree which\nis planted in a goodly land, by a pure stream that yieldeth much\nprecious fruit.\n\n\"Verily I say unto you, that it is my will that an house should\nbe built unto me in the land of Zion, like unto the pattern which I\nhave given you; yea, let it be built speedily by the tithing of my\npeople; behold, this is the tithing and the sacrifice which I, the\nLord, require at their hands; that there may be an house built unto\nme for the salvation of Zion, for a place of thanksgiving for all\nsaints, and for a place of instruction for all those who are called\nto the work of the ministry in all their several callings and\noffices, that they may be perfected in the understanding of their\nministry in theory, in principle, and in doctrine in all things\npertaining to the kingdom of God on the earth, the keys of which\nkingdom have been conferred upon you.\n\n\"And inasmuch as my people build an house unto me in the name of\nthe Lord, and do nor suffer any unclean thing to come into it that\nit be not defiled, My glory shall rest upon it; yea, and my\npresence shall be there; for I will come into it, and all the pure\nin heart that shall come into it shall see God; but if it be\ndefiled I will not come into it, and my glory shall not be there\nfor I will not come into unholy temples.\n\n\"And now behold, if Zion do these things she shall prosper and\nspread herself and become very glorious, very great, and very\nterrible; and the nations of the earth shall honor her and shall\nsay, surely Zion is the city of our God; and surely Zion cannot\nfall, neither be moved out of her place; for God is there, and the\nhand of the Lord is there, and He hath sworn by the power of His\nmight to be her salvation and her high tower; therefore, verily\nthus saith the Lord, let Zion rejoice, for this is Zion, THE PURE\nIN HEART; therefore let Zion rejoice while all the wicked shall\nmourn; for behold, and lo! vengeance cometh speedily upon the\nungodly as the whirlwind, and who shall escape it? The Lord's\nscourge shall pass over by night and by day, and the report thereof\nshall vex all people; yet it shall not be stayed until the Lord\ncome; for the indignation of the Lord is kindled against their\nabominations and all their wicked works; nevertheless, Zion shall\nescape if she observe to do all things whatsoever I have commanded\nher; but if she observes not to do whatsoever I have commanded her,\nI will visit her, according to all her works, with sore affliction;\nwith pestilence; with plague; with sword; with vengeance; with\ndevouring fire; nevertheless, let it be read this once in their\nears, that I, the Lord, have accepted of their offering; and if she\nsin no more none of these things shall come upon her, and I will\nbless her with blessings, and multiply a multiplicity of blessings\nupon her and upon her generations forever and ever, saith the Lord\nyour God. Amen.\"\n\nThis revelation was not complied with by the leaders and Church\nin Missouri, as a whole; notwithstanding many were humble and\nfaithful. Therefore, the threatened judgment was poured out to the\nuttermost, as the history of the five following years will show.\n\nThat portion of the inhabitants of Jackson County which did not\nbelong to the Church, became jealous of our growing influence and\nnumbers. Political demagogues were afraid we should rule the\ncounty; and religious priests and bigots felt that we were powerful\nrivals, and about to excel all other societies in the State in\nnumbers, and in power and influence.\n\nThese feelings, and the false statements and influences growing\nout of them, gave rise to the organization of a company of outlaws,\nwhose avowed object was to drive the Church of the Saints from the\ncounty.\n\nThese were composed of lawyers, magistrates, county officers,\ncivil and military; religious ministers, and great numbers of the\nignorant and uninformed portion of the population, whose prejudices\nwere easily aroused.\n\nThey commenced operations by assembling in great numbers,\ndestroying a printing office and its materials; demolishing\ndwellings and stores, and plundering the contents and strewing them\nin the street; cutting open feather beds, breaking furniture,\ndestroying fences and crops, whipping, threatening and variously\nabusing men, women and children, etc.\n\nThe saints submitted to these outrages for a time in all\npatience, without defence or resistance of any kind, supposing that\nthe public authorities would of course put a stop to them, as in\nduty bound.\n\nBut they were soon convinced to the contrary, and were compelled\nto take up arms for defence; and also to make the most vigorous\nexertions to prosecute according to law. We assembled in small\nbodies in different neighborhoods, and stood on guard during the\nnights, being ready to march in a moment to any place of attack.\n\nI had the command of about sixty men who were thus assembled in\nthe Colesville branch; and rendezvoused in some log buildings\nduring a very rainy time.\n\nIt was evening. I was out in the act of posting guards a short\ndistance from the dwellings, when two men assailed us, armed with\nguns and pistols; and supposing it against our principles to make\nany defence, they attacked the guards. I was without arms, but\nstepped forward to interfere between them, when one of them drew\nhis gun backwards, and, with both hands, struck the barrel of it\nacross the top of my head. I staggered back, but did not fall; the\nblood came streaming down my face, and I was for an instant stunned\nby the blow; but, recovering myself, I called help from the house\nand disarmed them, and put them under guard till morning. Their\narms were then restored, and they let go in peace.\n\nThe taking of these two men proved a Preventive against an\nattack that night. They were the advance of a party of men who were\nabout to come upon the settlement, but were disconcerted by this\nmeans.\n\nOn the next day, about sunset, myself and a Mr. Marsh set out on\nhorseback to visit the Circuit Judge at Lexington, a distance of\nsome forty miles. We were under the necessity of travelling the\nmost private paths across the country, in order to avoid our\nenemies; but we had a most faithful pilot, an old resident of the\ncountry, who knew every crook and turn of the different paths.\n\nWe had ridden but a few miles when it became so excessively dark\nthat we could not see each other, or distinguish any object. Our\npilot dismounted several times and tried to feel his way. We were\nat last compelled to halt for some time, until it cleared and\nbecame a little lighter; but the rain began to fall in torrents,\nand continued all the latter part of the night. We soon became\ndrenched, and every thread about us perfectly wet; but still we\ndare not stop for any refreshment or shelter, until day dawned,\nwhen we found ourselves forty miles from home and at the door of a\nfriend, where we breakfasted and refreshed ourselves.\n\nWe then repaired to Lexington, and made oath before Judge Ryland\nof the outrages committed upon us, but were refused a warrant. The\nJudge advised us to fight and kill the outlaws whenever they came\nupon us. We then returned to the place where we breakfasted, and,\nnight coming on, we retired to bed. Having been without sleep for\nthe three previous nights, and much of the time drenched with rain,\nthis, together with the severe wound I had received, caused me to\nfeel much exhausted. No sooner had sleep enfolded me in her kind\nembrace than a vision opened before me.\n\nI was in Jackson County; heard the sound of firearms and saw the\nkilled and wounded lying in their blood. At this I awoke from\nslumber, and awaking Mr. Marsh and the family with whom we lodged,\nI told them that I had seen and heard in my dream, and that I was\nsure a battle had just occurred.\n\nNext morning we pursued our journey homeward with feelings of\nanxiety indescribable. Every officer of the peace had abandoned us\nto our fate; and it seemed as if there was no alternative but for\nmen, women and children to be exterminated. As we rode on,\nruminating upon these things, a man met us from Independence, who\ntold us there was a battle raging when he left; and how it had\nterminated he knew not.\n\nThis only heightened out feelings of anxiety and suspense. We\nwere every instant drawing nearer to the spot where we might find\nour friends alive and victorious, or dead, or perhaps in bondage,\nin the hands of a worse than savage enemy.\n\nOn coming within four miles of Independence, we ventured to\ninquire the distance at a certain house; this we did in order to\npass as strangers, and also, in hopes to learn some news; the man\nseemed frightened, and inquired where we were from. We replied,\nfrom Lexington. Said he, \"Have you heard what has happened?\" We\nreplied, \"That we had heard there was some difficulty, but of all\nthe participants we had not been informed.\" \"Why,\" said he, \"the\nMormons have _riz_, and have killed six men.\"\n\nWe then passed on, and as soon as we were out of sight we left\nthe road and took into the woods.\n\nTaking a circuitous route, through thickets of hazel interwoven\nwith grape vine, we came in sight of Independence, after some\ndifficulty and entanglement, and advanced towards it; but seeing\nparties of armed men advancing towards us, we wheeled about, and\nretreating a distance, turned again into the woods, and galloping\nabout a half mile, reached the tents of our friends.\n\nBut what was our astonishment when we found our brethren without\narms, having surrendered them to the enemy!\n\nThe truth was this: The same evening that I dreamed of the\nbattle, a large body of the outlaws had marched to a certain\nsettlement, where they had before committed many outrages, and\ncommenced to unroof dwellings, destroy property, and threaten and\nabuse women and children. While some sixty men were thus engaged,\nand their horses quietly regaling themselves in the cornfields of\nthe brethren, about thirty of our men marched upon them, and drove\nthem from the field. Several were severely if not mortally wounded\non both sides; and one young man of the Church died of his wounds\nthe next day--his name was Barber.\n\nIn the battle brother Philo Dibble, of Ohio, was shot in the\nbody through his waistband; the ball remained in him. He bled much\ninwardly, and, in a day or two his bowels were so filled with blood\nand so inflamed that he was about to die, or, rather, he had been\nslowly dying from the time he was wounded. The smell of himself had\nbecome intolerable to him and those about him. At length Elder\nNewel Knight administered to him, by the laying on of hands, in the\nname of Jesus; his hands had scarcely touched his head when he felt\nan operation penetrating his whole system as if it had been a\npurifying fire. He immediately discharged several quarts of blood\nand corruption, among which was the ball with which he had been\nwounded. He was instantly healed, and went to work chopping wood.\nHe remained an able bodied man, a hard worker, and even did\nmilitary duty for many years after. He is still living in Davis\nCounty, Utah.\n\nThe next morning, Nov. 5, armed men were assembled in\nIndependence from every part of the county. These joined the\noutlaws, and called themselves militia, and placed themselves under\nthe command of Lieutenant-Governor Boggs and a colonel by the name\nof Pitcher. Thus organized, manned and officered, they were a\nformidable band of outlaws; capable of murder, or any other\nviolence or outrage which would accomplish their purpose; which was\nto drive the people of the Church from the county, and plunder\ntheir property and possess their lands.\n\nVery early the same morning, several volunteers united their\nforces from different branches of the Church and marched towards\nIndependence, in order to defend their brethren and friends. When\nwithin a short distance from the town they halted, and were soon\ninformed that the militia were called out for their protection; but\nin this they did not place confidence; for they saw that the armed\nbody congregated had joined with the mobbers and outlaws, and were\none with them to carry out their murderous purposes. On\ncommunicating with the leaders, Boggs and Pitcher, it was found\nthat there was no alternative but for the Church to leave the\ncounty forthwith, and deliver up their arms, and certain men to be\ntried for murder, said to have been committed in the battle the\nprevious evening.\n\nRather than have submitted to these outrageous requirements the\nsaints would willingly have shed their blood; but they knew that if\nthey resisted this mob, the lies of the designing and the prejudice\nof the ignorant would construe their resistance into a violation of\nlaw, and thus bring certain destruction upon them; therefore, they\nsurrendered their arms and agreed to leave the county forthwith.\nThe men who were demanded as prisoners were also surrendered and\nimprisoned, but were dismissed in a day or two without trial.\n\nA few hours after the surrender we arrived at the camp of our\nbrethren on our return from Lexington.\n\nThe struggle was now over, our liberties were gone, our homes to\nbe deserted and possessed by a lawless banditti; and all this in\nthe United States of America.\n\nThe sun was then setting, and twelve miles separated me from my\nfamily; but I determined to reach home that night. My horse being\nweary I started on foot, and walked through the wilderness in\ndarkness; avoiding the road lest I should fall into the hands of\nthe enemy.\n\nI arrived home about the middle of the night, and furnishing my\nwife with a horse, we made our escape in safety.\n\nWhen night again overtook us we were on the bank of the Missouri\nRiver, which divided between Jackson and Clay Counties. Here we\ncamped for the night, as we could not cross the ferry till morning.\nNext morning we crossed the river, and formed an encampment amid\nthe cottonwoods on its bank.\n\nWhile we thus made our escape companies of ruffians were ranging\nthe county in every direction; bursting into houses without fear,\nknowing that the people were disarmed; frightening women and\nchildren, and threatening to kill them if they did not flee\nimmediately. At the head of one of these parties appeared the Rev.\nIsaac McCoy (a noted Baptist missionary to the Indians), with gun\nin hand, ordering the people to leave their homes immediately and\nsurrender everything in the shape of arms.\n\nOther pretended preachers of the gospel took part in the\npersecution--speaking of the Church as the common enemies of\nmankind, and exulting in their afflictions. On Tuesday and\nWednesday nights, the 5th and 6th of November, women and children\nfled in every direction. One party of about one hundred and fifty\nfled to the prairie, where they wandered for several days, mostly\nwithout food; and nothing but the open firmament for their shelter.\nOther parties fled towards the Missouri River. During the\ndispersion of women and children, parties were hunting the men,\nfiring upon some, tying up and whipping others, and some they\npursued several miles.\n\nThursday, November 7. The shore began to be lined on both sides\nof the ferry with men, women and children; goods, wagons, boxes,\nprovisions, etc., while the ferry was constantly employed; and when\nnight again closed upon us the cottonwood bottom had much the\nappearance of a camp meeting. Hundreds of people were seen in every\ndirection, some in tents and some in the open air around their\nfires, while the rain descended in torrents. Husbands were\ninquiring for their wives, wives for their husbands; parents for\nchildren, and children for parents. Some had the good fortune to\nescape with their families, household goods, and some provisions;\nwhile others knew not the fate of their friends, and had lost all\ntheir goods. The scene was indescribable, and, I am sure, would\nhave melted the hearts of any people on the earth, except our blind\noppressors, and a blind and ignorant community.\n\nNext day our company still increased, and we were principally\nengaged in felling cottonwood trees and erecting them into small\ncabins. The next night being clear, we began to enjoy some degree\nof comfort.\n\nAbout two o'clock the next morning we were called up by the cry\nof signs in the heavens. We arose, and to our great astonishment\nall the firmament seemed enveloped in splendid fireworks, as if\nevery star in the broad expanse had been hurled from its course,\nand sent lawless through the wilds of ether. Thousands of bright\nmeteors were shooting through space in every direction, with long\ntrains of light following in their course. This lasted for several\nhours, and was only closed by the dawn of the rising sun. Every\nheart was filled with joy at this majestic display of signs and\nwonders, showing the near approach of the coming of the Son of God.\n\nAll our goods, were left behind; but I obtained some of them\nafterwards at the risk of my life. But all my provisions for the\nwinter were destroyed or stolen, and my grain left growing on the\nground for my enemies to harvest. My house was afterwards burned,\nand my fruit trees and improvements destroyed or plundered. In\nshort, every member of the society was driven from the county, and\nfields of corn were ravaged and destroyed; stacks of wheat burned,\nhousehold goods plundered, and improvements and every kind of\nproperty destroyed. One of this banditti afterwards boasted to one\nof the brethren that, according to their own account of the matter,\nthe number of houses burned was two hundred and three.\n\nThe Saints who fled took refuge in the adjoining counties,\nmostly in Clay County, which received them with some degree of\nkindness. Those who fled to the county of Van Buren were again\ndriven and compelled to flee; and those who fled to Lafayette\nCounty were soon expelled, or the most part of them, and had to\nmove to wherever they could find protection.\n\nWhen the news of these outrages reached the Governor of the\nState, courts of inquiry, both civil and military, were ordered by\nhim, but nothing effectual was ever done to restore our rights, or\nto protect us in the least. It is true the Attorney-General, and a\nmilitary escort under Colonel, afterwards General Doniphan, and our\nwitnesses went to Jackson County and demanded indictments; but the\ncourt refused to do anything in the case, and the military,\nAttorney-General and witnesses were mobbed out of the county; and\nthus that matter ended.\n\nThe Governor also ordered them to restore the arms of which they\nrobbed us, but they never were restored. Even our lands were robbed\nof their timber, and either occupied by our enemies for years or\nleft desolate. Soon after Jackson County had rebelled against the\nlaws and constitution of the General and State governments, several\nof the adjacent counties followed the example, by justifying her\nproceedings, and by opposing the Saints in settling among them. The\ncounties of Clay, Ray, Clinton and various others, held public\nmeetings, the tenor of which was to deprive the members of our\nsociety of the rights of citizenship, drive them from among them,\nand to compel them to settle only in such places as these outlaws\nshould dictate; and even at that time some of their proceedings\nwent so far as to publicly threaten to drive the whole society from\nthe State. The excuses they offered for these outrages were:\n\nFirst: The society were guilty principally of being eastern or\nnorthern people.\n\nSecondly: They were guilty of some slight variations in manners\nand language from the other citizens of the State, who were mostly\nfrom the South.\n\nThirdly: Their religious principles differed in some important\nparticulars from most other societies.\n\nFourthly: They were guilty of immigrating rapidly from the\ndifferent States, and of purchasing large quantities of land, and\nof being more enterprising and industrious than their neighbors.\n\nFifthly: Some of them were guilty of poverty--especially those\nwho had been driven, from time to time, and robbed of their all.\nAnd,\n\nLastly: They were said to be guilty of believing in the present\nGovernment administration of Indian affairs, viz: that the land\nwest of the Mississippi, which Government had deeded in fee simple\nto the immigrating tribes, was destined by Providence for their\npermanent homes.\n\nAll these crimes were charged upon our society, in the public\nproceedings of the several counties, and were deemed sufficient to\njustify their unlawful proceedings against us. The reader may smile\nat this statement, but the public journals of Upper Missouri in\n1835, actually printed charges and declarations against us, of the\ntenor of the foregoing.\n\nBy these wicked proceedings our people were once more compelled\nto remove, at a great sacrifice of property, and were at last\npermitted to settle in the north of Ray County, where, by the next\nlegislature, they were organized into the counties of Caldwell and\nDaviess. Here again they exercised the utmost industry and\nenterprise, and these wild regions soon presented a more\nflourishing aspect than the oldest counties of the State.\n\nIn the meantime, the majority of the State so far countenanced\nthese outrages that they actually elected Lilburn W. Boggs (one of\nthe oldest actors in the scenes of Jackson County, who had assisted\nin murder and plunder, and the expulsion of twelve hundred\ncitizens, in 1833) for Governor of the State, and placed him in the\nexecutive chair, instead of suspending him by the neck, between the\nheavens and the earth, as his crimes justly merited. This movement\nmay be said to have put an end to liberty, law and government in\nthat State. About this time, Colonel Lucas, a leader of the\nbanditti, was elected Major-General, instead of being hung for\ntreason and murder. And Moses Wilson, another leader of the mob,\nwas elected Brigadier-General and others were advanced accordingly.\nThese all very readily received their commissions from their\naccomplice, Governor Boggs, and thus corruption, rebellion and\nconspiracy had spread on every side, being fostered and encouraged\nby a large majority of the State; and thus the treason became\ngeneral.\n\nIn the meantime, our society had greatly increased by a rapid\nimmigration, and having long felt the withering hand of oppression\nfrom so corrupt an administration, they had endeavored to organize\nthemselves, both civil and military, in the counties where they\ncomposed the majority, by electing such officers as they thought\nwould stand for equal rights, and for the laws and Constitution of\nthe country. In this way they hoped to withstand the storm which\nhad so long beaten upon them, and whose black clouds now seemed\nlowering in awful gloom, preparing to burst with overwhelming fury\nupon all who dared to stand for liberty and law.\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n------------------------\n\nLabors in Clay County:--Conference:--Appointment\nto a Tedious Journey:--A Case of Healing:--Arrive at\nKirtland:--Revelation:--Travel Eastward, in Company with\nPresident Joseph Smith:--Conference in Geneseo:--Pleasing\nReminiscence:--President Smith and Others Return Home:--Visit\nSackett's Harbor:--Crowded Meeting:--Requested to Visit the\nSick:--A Little Boy Healed:--Baptisms, etc.:--Miraculous\nGifts:--Lying Priests and Rabble:--Visit my Parents in Canaan,\nN. Y.:--Return to Kirtland.\n\nAs the history of this horrible persecution of the Church was\ninterwoven with my own, I have traced it for a few years in\nconnection; in which I have of necessity digressed from the main\nthread of my own personal narrative, to which I mast return.\n\nAfter making our escape into the county of Clay--being reduced\nto the lowest poverty--I made a living by day labor, jobbing,\nbuilding, or wood cutting, till some time in the winter of 1834,\nwhen a general Conference was held at my house, in which it was\ndecided that two of the Elders should be sent to Ohio, in order to\ncounsel with President Smith and the Church at Kirtland, and rake\nsome measures for the relief or restoration of the people thus\nplundered and driven from their homes. The question was put to the\nConference: \"Who would volunteer to perform so great a journey?\"\n\nThe poverty of all, and the inclement season of the year made\nall hesitate. At length Lyman Wight and myself offered our\nservices, which were readily accepted. I was at this time entirely\ndestitute of proper clothing for the journey; and I had neither\nhorse, saddle, bridle, money nor provisions to take with me; or to\nleave with my wife, who lay sick and helpless most of the time.\n\nUnder these circumstances I knew not what to do. Nearly all had\nbeen robbed and plundered, and all were poor. As we had to start\nwithout delay, I almost trembled at the undertaking; it seemed to\nbe all but an impossibility; but \"to him that believeth all things\nare possible.\" I started out of my house to do something towards\nmaking preparation; I hardly knew which way to go, but I found\nmyself in the house of brother John Lowry, and was intending to ask\nhim for money; but as I entered his miserable cottage in the swamp,\namid the low, timbered bottoms of the Missouri river, I found him\nsick in bed with a heavy fever, and two or three others of his\nfamily down with the same complaint, on different beds in the same\nroom. He was vomiting severely, and was hardly sensible of my\npresence. I thought to myself, \"well, this is a poor place to come\nfor money, and yet I must have it; I know of no one else that has\ngot it; what shall I do?\" I sat a little while confounded and\namazed. At length another Elder happened in; at that instant faith\nsprung up in my heart; the Spirit whispered to me, \"is there\nanything too hard for the Lord?\" I said to the Elder that came in:\n\"Brother, I am glad you have come; these people must be healed, for\nI want some money of them, and must have it.\"\n\nWe laid hands on them and rebuked the disease; brother Lowry\nrose up well; I did my errand, and readily obtained all I asked.\nThis provided in part for my family's sustenance while I should\nleave them. I went a little further into the woods of the Missouri\nbottoms, and came to a camp of some brethren, by the name of\nHigbee, who owned some horses; they saw me coming, and, moved by\nthe Spirit, one of them said to the other, \"there comes brother\nParley; he's in want of a horse for his journey--I must let him\nhave old Dick;\" this being the name of the best horse he had.\n\"Yes,\" said I, \"brother, you have guessed right; but what will I do\nfor a saddle?\" \"Well,\" says the other, \"I believe I'll have to let\nyou have mine.\" I blessed them and went on my way rejoicing.\n\nI next called on Sidney A. Gilbert, a merchant, then sojourning\nin the village of Liberty--his store in Jackson County having been\nbroken up, and his goods plundered and destroyed by the mob.\n\"Well,\" says he, \"brother Parley, you certainly look too shabby to\nstart a journey; you must have a new suit; I have got some remnants\nleft that will make you a coat,\" etc. A neighboring tailoress and\ntwo or three other sisters happened to be present on a visit, and\nhearing the conversation, exclaimed, \"Yes, brother Gilbert, you\nfind the stuff and we'll make it up for him.\" This arranged, I now\nlacked only a cloak; this was also furnished by brother Gilbert.\n\nBrother Wight was also prospered in a similar manner in his\npreparations. Thus faith and the blessings of God had cleared up\nour way to accomplish what seemed impossible. We were soon ready,\nand on the first of February we mounted our horses, and started in\ngood cheer to ride one thousand or fifteen hundred miles through a\nwilderness country. We had not one cent of money in out pockets on\nstarting.\n\nWe travelled every day, whether through storm or sunshine, mud,\nrain or snow; except when our public duties called us to tarry. We\narrived in Kirtland early in the spring, all safe and sound; we had\nlacked for nothing on the road, and now had plenty of funds in\nhand. President Joseph Smith and the Church in Kirtland received us\nwith a hospitality and joy unknown except among the Saints; and\nmuch interest was felt there, as well as elsewhere, on the subject\nof our persecution.\n\nThe President inquired of the Lord concerning rite matter, and a\nfurther mission was appointed us.* In fulfillment of which we\ncontinued our journey eastward, in connection with President Joseph\nSmith, S. Rigdon, Hyrum Smith, Frederick G. Williams, Orson Hyde\nand Orson Pratt.\n\n[Footnote] *See Revelation, Book of Doctrine and Covenants,\nSection 101.\n\nWe journeyed two and two in different routes visiting the\nchurches and instructing the people as we travelled. President\nJoseph Smith and myself journeyed together. We had a pleasant and\nprosperous mission among the churches, and some very interesting\ntimes in preaching to the public. We visited Freedom, Catteraugus\nCounty, N. Y.; tarried over Sunday, and preached several\ndiscourses, to which rite people listened with great interest; we\nwere kindly and hospitably entertained among them. We baptized a\nyoung man named Heman Hyde; his parents were Presbyterians, and his\nmother, on account of the strength of her traditions, thought that\nwe were wrong, and told me afterwards that she would much rather\nhave followed him to an earthly grave than to have seen him\nbaptized.\n\nSoon afterwards, however, herself, her husband, and the rest of\nthe family, with some thirty or forty others, were all baptized and\norganized into a branch of the Church--called the Freedom branch\n--from which nucleus the light spread and souls were gathered into\nthe fold in all the regions round. Thus mightily grew the word of\nGod, or the seed sown by that extraordinary personage, the Prophet\nand Seer of the nineteenth century.\n\nAs we journeyed day after day, and generally lodged together, we\nhad much sweet communion concerning the things of God and the\nmysteries of His kingdom, and I received many admonitions and\ninstructions which I shall never forget.\n\nArriving in Geneseo, we met with the other Elders who had\nstarted from Kirtland on the same mission, and with others who were\nlocal, and held a general Conference. Among those whose hospitality\nwe shared in that vicinity was old father Beeman and his amiable\nand interesting family. He was a good singer and so were his three\ndaughters; we were much edified and comforted in their society, and\nwere deeply interested in hearing the old gentleman and brother\nJoseph converse on their early acquaintance and history. He had\nbeen intimate with Joseph long before the first organization of the\nChurch; had assisted him to preserve the plates of the Book of\nMormon from the enemy, and had at one time had them concealed under\nhis own hearth.\n\nAt this Conference we had an interesting time; public meetings\nwere convened; multitudes assembled to hear, and Presidents Joseph\nSmith and S. Rigdon addressed the crowds in great plainness of\nspeech with mighty power. At the close of this Conference we again\nparted company, President Smith and most of the Elders returned\nhome to Kirtland.\n\nI then journeyed in connection with a young Elder, named H.\nBrown, as far as Henderson County, in northern New York, where\nlived Elder Brown's father, and where there was quite a branch of\nthe Church. I visited with them for a few days, resting from my\ntoils and ministering among them. Taking leave of these friends, I\nwent to Sackett's Harbor, where all were yet strangers to the\nfullness of the gospel. Leaving an appointment at a hotel that I\nwould return in a few days thence, and address the people wherever\nthey saw fit to assemble, I crossed over the bay to a country\nneighborhood, called Pillar Point. In this neighborhood there had\nbeen some preaching by our Elders; but no branch of the Church\norganized, though there had been one or two instances of healing,\nand some few were believing. Here I appointed a meeting for evening\nin a school house; it was crowded full of people; indeed, all could\nnot get in.\n\nAs the meeting closed a man named William Cory stepped forward,\nand earnestly begged of me to go home with him and minister to his\nwife, as she was lying at the point of death in consequence of a\nlingering sickness, not having risen up in her bed for six days\nwithout swooning or going into fits. He further said that he was\nworn out by being up with her every night, and that his neighbors\nwere weary with watching, and it was doubted whether she could\nsurvive through the night without relief.\n\nThe Spirit would not suffer me to go with him that night, but I\npromised to call in the morning. At this many voices were heard,\nsaying: \"Yes, yes, there's a case in hand; let him heal her and\nwe'll all believe.\" Others exclaimed: \"I wonder if she'll be at his\nmeeting tomorrow! We shall see, and if so, we'll all believe.\"\nExpressions like these, joined with my own weakness, only tended to\ndampen my courage and confidence in the case.\n\nI went home with a friend who invited me to partake of his\nhospitality for the night. As we entered his house, we found one of\nhis children very sick with a violent pain in the head, to which it\nhad been subject from its birth, and which came at regular periods,\nand was never relieved till it gathered and broke at his ear--so\nsaid his parents. The little fellow was rolling from side to side\nin his bed, an screeching and screaming with pain. I stepped to the\nbedside, and laid my hands upon his head in the name of Jesus\nChrist; he was instantly made whole and went to sleep. Next morning\nhe got up well, and continued so; he said that the pain all left\nhim as soon as my hands touched his head.\n\nIn the morning, before I arose, I had a vision, as follows: I\nsaw a log house, and entered it through a door at the northwest\ncorner; in the northeast corner lay a woman sick in bed; in the\nsoutheast corner was a small door opening into an adjoining room,\nand near it a stairway, where stood a ladder; the fireplace being\nin the south end. As I entered the house and laid my hands on the\nwoman, she rose up and was made whole; the house being crowded, she\ntook her seat near the fire and under the ladder, or near by it,\nand she praised God with a shout of glory, clapping her hands for\njoy and exclaimed: \"Thank God, I'm every whit whole.\" I awoke from\nmy vision and related the same to the family where I stayed.\n\nThe man harnessed his horses, and with seven or eight persons in\nthe wagon, including myself, we started for meeting, intending to\ncall and see Mrs. Cory on our way, as I had appointed the previous\nevening. On alighting at her house I saw it was the same that I had\nseen in the vision; there were the doors, the stairway, ladder,\nfireplace, bed, and sick woman, just as I had seen and described.\n\nI laid my hands upon the woman, and said: \"In the name of Jesus\nChrist, be thou made whole this instant.\" I then commanded her to\narise and walk. Her husband burst into tears; the people looked\nsurprised; but the woman arose and walked to the fire, and happened\nto take her seat near the ladder, as I had related in the vision\nbefore I saw her. She then clapped her hands for joy, gave a shout\nof \"Glory to God in the highest,\" and testified that she was every\nwhit whole. We invited her to accompany us to the meeting; she\nimmediately made ready, walked out, helped herself into the wagon,\nand rode some two miles over a very rough road. She then got out of\nthe wagon, and walked with a strong and quick step into the\nmeeting, where she sat till the discourse was over; when she arose\nand testified what the Lord had done for her. She then rode home,\nand was baptized in connection with several others, who came\nforward and obeyed the fullness of the gospel. We afterwards laid\nour hands on them for the gift of the Holy Ghost, when it fell upon\nthem in great power, insomuch that all in the room felt its power\nand influence and glorified God; some spake in tongues, others\nprophesied and bore testimony to the truth.\n\nThe next evening I went over to Sackett's Harbor in order to\npreach; many of the people from Pillar Point, who had witnessed\nthese things, went with me, and, among others, Mr. Cory with his\nwife, who had been so miraculously healed. A great rabble came out\nto hear, or rather to disturb the meeting; and among others, some\nhalf dozen clergymen of different orders, who were loud in their\nchallenges and calls for miracles; \"give us a miracle--we want a\nmiracle--heal the sick--raise the dead, and then we'll believe.\"\nThe lying, rage, and confusion excited by these wicked spirits,\nbroke up the meeting, and I had much ado to get out of the crowd\nwithout being stoned or torn to pieces.\n\nAfter tarrying a few days in this region, I took leave and\ncontinued my journey as far as Columbia County, east of the Hudson.\nI arrived at my Aunt Van Cott's, and found them all well; paid a\nvisit to my father and mother; gave them money sufficient to enable\nthem to remove to Kirtland, Ohio, and then commenced my return. I\nhad started from the frontiers of Missouri and ridden on horseback\nfifteen hundred miles.\n\nAs I returned towards the West, I came to the town of Freedom,\nCatteraugus County, N. Y., where President Joseph Smith and myself\nhad preached on our outward journey, a few weeks previously, and\nwhere we had baptized a young man by the name of Heman Hyde, as the\nfirst fruits in that place. As I called for the night, I found that\na large church had been gathered during my absence, consisting of\nsome forty members or more, principally through the labors of my\nbrother Orson. The new members, and the people in general, rejoiced\nto see me, and aided me on my journey; and Heman Hyde accompanied\nme to Kirtland, where we arrived the latter part of April, and were\nkindly and hospitably entertained by President Joseph Smith.\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n------------------------\n\nAn Army:--A Long March:--Recruits:--A Voice:--Camp Arrives in\nMissouri:--Delegation to the Governor:--Interview:--Return to\nCamp:--Council:--Great Storm and Flood:--A Battle Providentially\nPrevented:--Cholera:--Army Disbanded:--Sudden Destruction:--Labor with\nmy Hands:--Journey to Ohio:--Labor and Ministry:--Accusations:--Repair\nto Kirtland:--Interview with the President:--His Action on the\nMatter:--Calling and Ordination of a Quorum of Twelve Apostles:--My\nOrdination, Blessing and Charge:--Charge to the Quorum.\n\nIt was now the first of May, 1834, and our mission had resulted\nin the assembling of about two hundred men at Kirtland, with teams,\nbaggage, provisions, arms, etc., for a march of one thousand miles,\nfor the purpose of carrying some supplies to the afflicted and\npersecuted Saints in Missouri, and to reinforce and strengthen\nthem; and, if possible, to influence the Governor of the State to\ncall out sufficient additional force to cooperate in restoring them\nto their rights. This little army was led by President Joseph Smith\nin person. It commenced its march about the first of May, passing\nthrough Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, it entered Missouri some time\nin June.\n\nI was chiefly engaged as a recruiting officer, and, not being\nmuch with the camp, can give but little of its history. I visited\nbranches of the Church in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, and\nobtaining what men and means I could, fell in with the camp from\ntime to time with additional men, arms, stress and money. On one\noccasion, I had travelled all night to overtake the camp with some\nmen and means, and having breakfasted with them and changed horses,\nI again started ahead on express to visit other branches, and do\nbusiness to again overtake them. At noon I had turned my horse\nloose from the carriage to feed on the grass in the midst of a\nbroad, level plain. No habitation was near; stillness and repose\nreigned about me; I sank down overpowered with a deep sleep, and\nmight have lain in a state of oblivion till the shades of night had\ngathered about me, so completely was I exhausted for want of sleep\nand rest; but I had only slept a few moments till the horse had\ngrazed sufficiently, when a voice, more loud and shrill than I have\never before heard, fell on my ear, and thrilled through every part\nof my system; it said: \"_Parley, it is time to be up and on your\njourney_.\" In the twinkling of an eye I was perfectly aroused;\nI sprang to my feet so suddenly that I could not at first recollect\nwhere I was, or what was before me to perform. I related the\ncircumstance afterwards to brother Joseph Smith, and he bore\ntestimony that it was the angel of the Lord who went before the\ncamp, who found me overpowered with sleep, and thus awoke me.\n\nArriving in the Allred settlement, near Salt River, Missouri,\nwhere there was a large branch of the Church, the camp rested a\nlittle, and despatched Elder Orson Hyde and myself to Jefferson\nCity, to request of His Excellency, Governor Daniel Dunklin, a\nsufficient military force, with orders to reinstate the exiles, and\nprotect them in the possession of their homes in Jackson County.\n\nWe had an interview with the Governor, who readily acknowledged\nthe justice of the demand, but frankly told us he dare not attempt\nthe execution of the laws in that respect, for fear of deluging the\nwhole country in civil war and bloodshed. He advised us to\nrelinquish our rights, for the sake of peace, and to sell our lands\nfrom which we had been driven. To this we replied with firmness,\nthat we would hold no terms with land pirates and murderers. If we\ncould not be permitted to live on lands which we had purchased of\nthe United States, and be protected in our persons and rights, our\nlands would, at least, make a good burying ground, on which to lay\nout bones; and, like Abraham's possession in Canaan, we should hold\non to our possessions in the county of Jackson, for this purpose,\nat least. He replied that he did not blame us in the least, but\ntrembled for the country, and dare not carry out the plain,\nacknowledged and imperative duties of his office. We retired,\nsaying to ourselves: \"That poor coward ought, in duty, to resign;\nhe owes this, morally at least, in justice to his oath of office.\"\n\nWe returned to the camp, which was then on the march, somewhere\nbelow the county of Ray. President Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum,\nL. Wight and others, repaired with us into a solitary grove, apart,\nto learn the result of our mission.\n\nAfter hearing our report, the President called on the God of our\nfathers to witness the justice of our cause and the sincerity of\nour vows, which we engaged to fulfill, whether in this life or in\nthe life to come. For, as God lives, truth, justice and innocence\nshall triumph, and iniquity shall not reign.\n\nPursuing our journey, we arrived at Fishing River, Ray County,\nand encamped for the night on a hill between its forks. This stream\nwas then about six inches deep in each of its branches where the\nroad crossed it. We had but just camped, when there arose such a\nstorm as has been seldom witnessed on our earth; the wind blew, the\nvivid lightning flashed, the thunder rolled, the earth trembled,\nand the floods descended in a manner never before witnessed by us.\nOur tents were blown down, and some of us lay six or eight inches\ndeep in water. There was a large meeting house there with the door\nopen, into which many of us gathered for shelter, after being\nnearly drowned.\n\nNext morning the fords of Fishing River were said to be twenty\nto forty feet deep. We afterwards learned that an army of outlaws\nwere in our neighborhood, and would have attacked us that night but\nfor the storm; the floods in the river each side of us prevented a\nhostile meeting, until certain citizens made the acquaintance of\nour leaders, and learned their intentions. Thus the excitement was\nallayed, and the outlaws finally disbanded.\n\nAbout this time, owing to some murmurings and insubordination in\nthe camp, the cholera broke out among them, in fulfillment of the\nword of the Lord, by the mouth of His servant Joseph, and resulted\nin the death of some fifteen or twenty of the camp, or of others\nconnected with the Saints. Finally, the camp was by the word of the\nLord, disbanded, some remained as settlers in that country, and\nothers returned to their homes and families in Ohio.\n\nI left the camp at Fishing River, and arrived home in Clay\nCounty, where my family resided, late in July. I found my wife\nstill afflicted, and on account of long sickness, reduced greater\npoverty than before, and I was somewhat embarrassed with debts on\naccount of her board, etc., while I was absent.\n\nAbout the time of the arrival of the camp at Fishing River, the mob\nof Jackson County sent a committee to twelve of their leaders, to\nconfer with the authorities of the exiled Church in Clay County, to\nmake proposals for the settlement of the whole matter, by purchasing\nthe lands from which they had been driven. The Saints would not sell\ntheir lands to their murderers and the land pirates who had driven and\nplundered them; therefore the mob's representatives were unsuccessful.\n\nAs this committee of twelve returned, and were crossing the\nMissouri River at evening, their boat sank in an instant in the\nmiddle of the stream, and only about half of the committee ever\nreached the shore alive. Brother Joseph said it was the angel of\nthe Lord who sank the boat.\n\nHaving no means of support except by the labor of my hands, I\nnow commenced again to exert myself at hard labor. In this I\ncontinued till October of the same year, when, being counselled by\nthe Presidency to remove to Ohio, I started a journey of one\nthousand miles with my wife, in a wagon drawn by two horses. We had\nnot a single dollar in money, but we trusted in God, and lacked for\nnothing. During this journey my wife continued in a very feeble\nstate of health.\n\nAfter a journey of near one thousand miles, we arrived at New\nPortage, fifty miles from Kirtland, early in the winter, and\nfinding a large society of the Saints who welcomed us among them,\nwe stopped for the winter. I now commenced to preach, both in that\nplace and in all the region round, to multitudes who turned out to\nhear the Word. Many embraced the gospel, and enjoyed the gifts of\nGod; instances of healing were of almost daily occurrence, and the\npeople waxed strong in the faith and in the gifts and power of God.\nI also labored with my hands with all diligence, when time would\npermit; thus the winter passed away.\n\nWhile laboring here, letters were received from W. W. Phelps,\nthen President of the Church in Missouri, suspending my papers\nbecause I had gone away in debt; which debt had been contracted in\nbehalf of my sick wife while I had been away in the service of the\nConference, as recorded in the previous chapter. I had once offered\nthe money on the same, but the person to whom it was due, in view\nof my public services, refused to take it; nevertheless, President\nPhelps now censured me severely, observing in his letter that such\nconduct was not the way of the pure in heart.\n\nUnder this censure I ceased to officiate, at which both the\nChurch and people in general in and about New Portage were much\ngrieved. In the fore part of February, 1835, I repaired to\nKirtland, laid the case before President Smith, with my defence in\nwriting, in which is stated the true circumstances. I proceeded to\nplead the injustice of the accusation, when the President arose to\nhis feet, lifted his hand to heaven, and with a voice, and energy,\nand power of the Holy Spirit which thrilled the inmost soul, and\nwould have raised the dead, he exclaimed: \"Brother Parley, God\nbless you, go your way rejoicing, preach the gospel, fill the\nmeasure of your mission, and walk such things under your feet; it\nwas a trick of Satan to hinder your usefulness; God Almighty shall\nbe with you, and nothing shall stay your hand.\"\n\nI was comforted, encouraged, filled with new life, thanking God\nthat there was one noble spirit on the earth who could discern\njustice equity, appreciate the labors of others, and had boldness\nof soul to judge and act accordingly.\n\nIn accordance with one of the early revelations to the Church\nconcerning the calling and ordination of Twelve Apostles,* this\nQuorum was now being filled. Among those chosen for this high and\nholy calling was my brother Orson and myself. He being still\nabsent, and the other members having been already ordained, a\nmeeting was convened at Kirtland, and very numerously attended, in\nwhich, on the 21st day of February, 1835, I took the oath and\ncovenant of apostleship, and was solemnly set apart and ordained to\nthat office; and as a member of that quorum under the hands of\nJoseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer; the minutes of\nwhich in the Church History are as follows:\n\n[Footnote] *See Revelation, Book of Doctrine and Covenants,\nSection 43.\n\n\"Kirtland, February 21st, 1835. Pursuant to adjournment, a\nmeeting of the Church was held, and, after prayer by President\nDavid Whitmer, and a short address by President Oliver Cowdery to\nthe congregation, Elder Parley P. Pratt was called to the stand,\nand ordained one of the Twelve by President Joseph Smith, Jr.,\nDavid Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery. 'O, Lord, smile from heaven upon\nthis thy servant; forgive his sins, sanctify his heart, and prepare\nhim to receive the blessing. Increase his love for thee and for thy\ncause; increase his intelligence, communicate to him all that\nwisdom, that prudence and that understanding which he needs as a\nminister of righteousness, and to magnify the apostleship whereunto\nhe is called. May a double portion of that Spirit which was\ncommunicated to the disciples of our Lord and Saviour, to lead them\nto all truth, rest down upon him, and go with him where he goes,\nthat nothing shall prevail against him; that he may be delivered\nfrom prisons, from the power of his enemies, and from the adversary\nof all righteousness. May he be able to mount up on wings as an\neagle; to run and not be weary, to walk and not to faint; may he\nhave great wisdom and intelligence, and be able to lead thine elect\nthrough this thorny maze. Let sickness and death have no power over\nhim; let him be equal with his brethren in bringing many sons and\ndaughters to glory, and many nations to a knowledge of the truth.\nGreat blessings shall rest upon thee; thy faith shall increase,\nthou shalt have great power to prevail. The veil of the heavens\nshall be rolled up, thou shalt be permitted to gaze within it, and\nreceive instructions from on high. No arm that is formed and lifted\nagainst thee shall prosper, no power shall prevail, for thou shalt\nhave power with God, and shalt proclaim His gospel. Thou wilt be\nafflicted, but thou shalt be delivered, and conquer all thy foes.\nThine office shall never be taken from thee, thou shalt be called\ngreat, angels shall carry thee from place to place. Thy sins are\nforgiven, and thy name written in the Lamb's Book of Life; even so.\nAmen.'\"\n\nCHARGE GIVEN BY OLIVER COWDERY TO P. P. PRATT\n\n\"I am aware, dear brother, that the mind naturally claims\nsomething new; but the same thing rehearsed frequently profits us.\nYou will have the same difficulties to encounter in fulfilling this\nministry that the ancient Apostles had. You have enlisted in a\ncause that requires your whole attention; you ought, therefore, to\ncount the cost; and to become a polished shaft, you must be\nsensible, requires the labor of years, and your station requires a\nperfect polish. It is required not merely to travel a few miles in\nthe country, but in distant countries; you must endure much toil,\nmuch labor, and many privations to become perfectly polished. Your\ncalling is not like that of the husbandman, to cultivate a stinted\nportion of the planet on which we dwell, and when Heaven has given\nthe former and the latter rain, and mellow autumn ripened his\nfruits, gather it in, and congratulate himself for a season in the\nremission of his toils, while he anticipates his winter evenings of\nrelaxation and fireside enjoyments. But, dear brother, it is far\notherwise with you. Your labor must be incessant, and your toil\ngreat; you must go forth and labor till the great work is done. It\nwill require a series of years to accomplish it; but you will have\nthis pleasing consolation, that your Heavenly Father requires it;\nthe field is His; the work is His; and He will not only cheer you,\nanimate you, and buoy you up in your pilgrimage, in your arduous\ntoils; but when your work is done and your labor o'er, he will take\nyou to himself. But before this consummation of your felicity,\nbring your mind to bear upon what will be imperiously required of\nyou to accomplish the great work that lies before you. Count well\nthe cost. You have read of the persecutions and trials of ancient\ndays. Has not bitter experience taught you that they are the same\nnow? You will be dragged before the authorities for the religion\nyou profess; and it were better not to set out than to start, look\nback, or shrink when dangers thicken upon, or appalling death\nstares you in the face. I have spoken these things, dear brother,\nbecause I have seen them in visions. There are strong dungeons and\ngloomy prisons for you. These should not appall you. You must be\ncalled a good or bad man. The ancients passed through the same.\nThey had this testimony, that they had seen the Saviour after he\nrose from the dead. You must bear some testimony, or your mission,\nyour labor, your toil will be in vain. You must bear the same\ntestimony that there is but one God, one Mediator; he that has seen\nHim will know Him, and testify of Him. Beware of pride; beware of\nevil; shun the very appearance of it; for the time is coming when,\nif you do not give heed to these things, you will have a fall.\nAmong your many afflictions you will have many blessings also; but\nyou must pass through many afflictions in order to receive the\nglory that is in reserve for you. You will see thousands who then\nthey first see you, will know nothing about salvation by Jesus\nChrist; you shall see a nation born in a day. A great work lies\nbefore you, and the time is near when you must bid farewell to your\nnative land cross the mighty deep, and sound the tocsin of alarm to\nother nations kindreds, tongues and people. Remember, that all your\nhopes of deliverance from danger and from death will rest upon your\nfaithfulness to God; in His cause you must necessarily serve Him\nwith a perfect heart and a willing mind. Avoid strife and vain\nglory; think not yourself better than your brethren, but pray for\nthem as well as for yourself; and if you are faithful, great will\nbe your blessings. But if you are not, your stewardship will be\ntaken from you and another appointed in your stead.\"\n\n\"Elder Pratt gave his hand to President O. Cowdery, and said he\nhad received ordination, and should fulfil the ministry according\nto the grace given him; to which the President replied: 'Go forth,\nand angels shall bear thee up, and thou shalt come forth at the\nlast day, bringing many with thee.'\"\n\nThomas B. Marsh and Orson Pratt were absent on a mission. Elder\nMarsh returned to Kirtland on the 25th of April, and Elder Pratt on\nthe 26th, and received their ordinations and blessing.\n\nThe following charge was given to the Twelve by President O.\nCowdery:\n\n\"Dear Brethren: Previous to delivering the charge, I shall read\na part of a revelation. It is known to you that, previous to the\norganization of this Church, in 1830, the Lord gave revelations, or\nthe Church could not have been organized. The people of this Church\nwere weak in faith compared with the ancient. Those who embarked in\nthis cause were desirous to know how the work was to be conducted.\nThey read many things in the Book of Mormon concerning their duty,\nand the way the great work ought to be done; but the minds of men\nare so constructed that they will not believe without a testimony\nof seeing or hearing. The Lord gave us a revelation that, in\nprocess of time, there should be twelve men chosen to preach His\ngospel to Jew and Gentile.\n\n\"Our minds have been on a constant stretch to find who these\ntwelve were, when the time should come we could not tell; but we\nsought the Lord by fasting and prayer to have our lives prolonged\nto see this day; to see you; and to take a retrospect of the\ndifficulties through which we have passed; but, having seen the\nday, it becomes my duty to deliver to you a charge; and first, a\nfew remarks respecting your ministry. You have many revelations put\ninto your hands; revelations to make you acquainted with the nature\nof your mission; you will have difficulties by reason of your\nvisiting all the nations of the world. You will need wisdom in a\nten-fold proportion to what you have ever had; you will have to\ncombat all the prejudices of all nations.\"\n\nHe then read the revelation and said: \"Have you desired this\nministry with all your hearts? If you have desired it, you are\ncalled of God, not of man, to go into all the world.\" He then read\nagain from the revelation what the Lord said to the Twelve.\n\"Brethren, you have your duty presented in this revelation. You\nhave been ordained to the holy priesthood; you have received it\nfrom those who have their power and authority from an angel; you\nare to preach the gospel to every nation. Should you in the least\ndegree come short of your duty, great will be your condemnation;\nfor the greater the calling the greater the transgression. I,\ntherefore, warn you to cultivate great humility, for I know the\npride of the human heart. Beware, lest the flatterers of the world\nlift you up; beware, lest your affections are captivated by worldly\nobjects. Let your ministry be first. Remember, the souls of men are\ncommitted to your charge, and, if you mind your calling, you shall\nalways prosper.\n\n\"You have been indebted to other men in the first instance for\nevidence; on that you have acted; but it is necessary that you\nreceive a testimony from Heaven for yourselves; so that you can\nbear testimony to the truth of the Book of Mormon, and that you\nhave seen the face of God. That is more than the testimony of an\nangel. When the proper time arrives, you shall be able to bear this\ntestimony to the world. When you bear testimony that you have seen\nGod, this testimony God will never suffer to fall, but will bear\nyou out; although many will not give heed, yet others will. You\nwill, therefore, see the necessity of getting this testimony from\nHeaven.\n\n\"Never cease striving till you have seen God face to face.\nStrengthen your faith; cast off your doubts, your sins, and all\nyour unbelief, and nothing can prevent you from coming to God. Your\nordination is not full and complete till God has laid His hands\nupon you. We require as much to qualify us as did those who have\ngone before us; God is the same. If the Saviour in former days laid\nhis hands on his disciples, why not in latter days?\n\n\"With regard to superiority I mast make a few remarks. The\nancient Apostles sought to be great; but lest the seeds of discord\nbe sown in this matter, understand particularly the voice of the\nSpirit on this occasion. God does not love you better or more than\nothers. You are to contend for the faith once delivered to the\nsaints. Jacob, you know, wrestled till he obtained. It was by\nfervent prayer and diligent search that you have obtained the\ntestimony you are now able to bear. You are as one; you are equal\nin bearing the keys of the kingdom to all nations. You are called\nto preach the gospel of the Son of God to the nations of the earth;\nit is the will of your Heavenly Father that you proclaim His gospel\nto the ends of the earth, and the islands of the sea.\n\n\"Be zealous to save souls. The soul of one man is as precious as\nthe soul of another. You are to bear this message to those who\nconsider themselves wise; and such may persecute you; they may seek\nyour life. The adversary has always sought the life of the servants\nof God; you are, therefore, to be prepared at all times to make a\nsacrifice of your lives, should God require them in the advancement\nand building up of His cause. Murmur not at God. Be always\nprayerful; be always watchful. You will bear with me while I\nrelieve the feelings of my heart. We shall not see another day like\nthis; the time has fully come; the voice of the Spirit has come to\nset these men apart.\n\n\"You will see the time when you will desire to see such a day as\nthis, and you will not see it. Every heart wishes you peace and\nprosperity; but the scene with you will inevitably change. Let no\nman take your bishopric; and beware that you lose not your crowns.\nIt will require your whole souls; it will require courage like\nEnoch's.\n\n\"The time is near when you will be in the midst of congregations\nwho will gnash their teeth upon you. This gospel must roll, and\nwill roll until it fills the whole earth. Did I say congregations\nwould gnash upon you? Yea, I say nations will gnash upon you; you\nwill be considered the worst of men. Be not discouraged at this.\nWhen God pours out His Spirit the enemy will rage; but God,\nremember, is on your right hand and on your left. A man, though he\nbe considered the worst, has joy, who is conscious that he pleases\nGod. The lives of those who proclaim the true gospel will be in\ndanger; this has been the case ever since the days of righteous\nAbel. The same opposition has been manifest whenever men came\nforward to publish the gospel. The time is coming when you will be\nconsidered the worst by many, and by some the best of men. The time\nis coming when you will be perfectly familiar with the things of\nGod. This testimony will make those who do not believe your\ntestimony seek your lives; but there are whole nations who will\nreceive your testimony. They will call you good men. Be not lifted\nup when you are called good men. Remember you are young men, and\nyou shall be spared. I include the other three. Bear them in mind\nin your prayers; carry their cases to a throne of grace; although\nthey are not present, yet you and they are equal. This appointment\nis calculated to create an affection in you for each other stronger\nthan death. You will travel to other nations; bear each other in\nmind. If one or more is cast into prison, let the others pray for\nhim, and deliver him by their prayers. Your lives shall be in great\njeopardy; but the promise of God is, that you shall be delivered.\n\n\"Remember you are not to go to other nations till you receive\nyour endowment. Tarry at Kirtland until you are endowed with power\nfrom on high. You need a fountain of wisdom, knowledge and\nintelligence, such as you never had. Relative to the endowment, I\nmake a remark or two, that there be no mistake. The world cannot\nreceive the things of God. He can endow you without worldly pomp or\ngreat parade. He can give you that wisdom, that intelligence and\nthat power which characterized the ancient saints, and now\ncharacterizes the inhabitants of the upper world. The greatness of\nyour commission consists in this: You are to hold the keys of this\nministry; you are to go to the nations afar off; nations that sit\nin darkness. The day is coming when the work of God must be done.\nIsrael shall be gathered. The seed of Jacob shall be gathered from\ntheir long dispersion. There will be a feast to Israel, the elect\nof God. It is a sorrowful tale, but the gospel must be preached,\nand God's ministers rejected; but where can Israel be found and\nreceive your testimony and not rejoice? Nowhere! The prophecies are\nfull of great things that are to rake place in the last days. After\nthe elect are gathered out, destruction shall come on the\ninhabitants of the earth; all nations shall feel the wrath of God,\nafter they have been warned by the saints of the Most High. If you\nwill not warn them others will, and you will lose your crowns.\n\n\"You must prepare your minds to bid a long farewell to Kirtland,\neven till the great day come. You will see what you never expected\nto see; you will need the mind of Enoch or Elijah, and the faith of\nthe brother of Jared; you must be prepared to walk by faith,\nhowever appalling the prospect to human view; you, and each of you,\nshould feel the force of the imperious mandate, 'Son, go labor in\nmy vineyard,' and cheerfully receive what comes; but in the end you\nwill stand while others will fall. You have read in the revelation\nconcerning ordination: 'Beware how you ordain, for all nations are\nnot like this nation; they will willingly receive the ordinances at\nyour hands to put you out of the way. There will be times when\nnothing but the angels of God can deliver you out of their hands.'\n\n\"We appeal to your intelligence, we appeal to your\nunderstanding, that we have so far discharged our duty to you. We\nconsider it one of the greatest condescensions of our Heavenly\nFather in pointing you out to us, you will be stewards over this\nministry; you have a work to that no other men can do; you must\nproclaim the gospel in its simplicity and purity, and we commend\nyou to God and the word of His grace. You have our best wishes, you\nhave our most fervent prayer, that you may be able to bear this\ntestimony,--that you have seen the face of God. Therefore, call\nupon Him in faith and mighty prayer till you prevail; for it is\nyour duty and privilege to bear such testimony for yourselves. We\nnow exhort you to be faithful to fulfil your calling,--there must\nbe no lack here; you must fulfil in all things, and permit us to\nrepeat, all nations have a claim on you; you are bound together as\nthe three witnesses were; you notwithstanding, can part and meet,\nand meet and part again, till your heads are silvered o'er with\nage.\"\n\nHe then took them separately by the hand, and said, \"Do you with\nfull purpose of heart take part in this ministry, to proclaim the\ngospel with all diligence, with these your brethren according to\nthe tenor and intent of the charge you have received?\" Each of whom\nanswered in the affirmative.\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n------------------------\n\nReturn to New Portage:--Fire:--Return to Kirtland:--Mob:--Journey\nEastward, as far as Maine:--Return to Boston:--Removal to Kirtland:--A\nTemple:--School, Endowments, Prophecyings, Visions, etc.:--Visit from\nBrother H. C. Kimball and Others:--My Wife Healed and Blessed:--A\nRemarkable Prophecy and its Fulfilment:--Mission to Canada:--Falls of\nNiagara:--Reflections.\n\nAfter this solemn ordinance was completed, together with the\nblessings, charges and instructions connected therewith, I was\ninstructed to prepare for a mission in the coming spring, in\nconnection with my brethren of the quorum.\n\nI now returned home to New Portage, and began to make\npreparations for my mission, but the state of my affairs was such\nthat it seemed almost impossible for me to leave home; my wife was\nsick, my aged mother had come to live with me, and looked to me for\nsupport--age and infirmity having rendered my father unable to do\nfor himself or family. I was also engaged in building a house, and\nin other business, while at the same time I was somewhat in debt,\nand in want of most of the necessaries of life.\n\nUnder these embarrassed circumstances, I hesitated for a while\nwhether to attempt to perform the mission assigned me, or stay at\nhome and finish my building and mechanical work. While I pondered\nthese things, with my mind unsettled, and continued my work, with a\nfeeling of hesitation whether it was a duty to sacrifice all the\nlabor and expense to which I had been in my preparations and\nunfinished work, or whether it was a duty to stay and complete it,\nI was called very suddenly to administer to a brother by the name\nof Matthews, who was taken suddenly and dangerously ill. I found\nhim writhing and groaning in the utmost agony, being tramped and\nconvulsed in a horrible manner, while the family were in great\nconsternation, and weeping around him. I kneeled down to pray, but\nin the midst of my prayer we were interrupted by the cry of\n_fire! fire!! fire!!!_ We sprang from our knees, and ran towards\nmy house, which was all in a blaze, being an unfinished, two story\nframe building, open to the fresh breeze and full of shavings,\nlumber, shingles, etc., while a family occupied a small apartment\nof the same, and no water near.\n\nOur utmost exertions barely accomplished the removal of the\nfamily and their goods; the building, tools, boards, shingles,\nbuilding materials, all were consumed in a few moments. Thus closed\nall my hesitation; my works of that nature were now all completed,\nand myself ready to fill my mission. One gave me a coat; another a\nhat; a third, house room; a fourth, provisions; while a fifth\nforgave me the debts due to them; and a sixth bade me God speed to\nhasten on my mission.\n\nTaking an affectionate leave of my family and friends in New\nPortage, I repaired to Kirtland, ready to accompany my brethren.\nWhile they made ready I paid a visit to an adjoining township\ncalled Mentor; and visiting from house to house, I attempted to\npreach to them; but they were full of lying and prejudice, and\nwould not hear the Word. I then appointed a meeting in the open\nair, on the steps of a meeting house owned by a people called\n\"Campbellites,\" one Mr. Alexander Campbell being their leader; they\nhaving refused to open the house to me. Some came to hear, and some\nto disturb the meeting; and one Mr. Newel soon appeared at the head\nof a mob of some fifty men and a band of music. These formed in\norder of battle and marched round several times near where I stood,\ndrowning my voice with the noise of their drums and other\ninstruments. I suspended my discourse several times as they passed,\nand then resumed. At length, finding that no disturbance of this\nkind would prevent the attempt to discharge my duty, they rushed\nupon me with one accord at a given signal, every man throwing an\negg at my person. My forehead, bosom, and most of my body was\ncompletely covered with broken eggs. At this I departed, and walked\nslowly away, being insulted and followed by this rabble for some\ndistance. I soon arrived in Kirtland, and was assisted by my kind\nfriends in cleansing myself and clothes from the effects of this\nChristian benevolence.\n\nAll things being in readiness, and the spring fairly opened, the\nTwelve took their journey down Lake Erie, and landed at Dunkirk, in\nthe neighborhood of which we had appointed to hold a conference.\nThe members of the Church assembled from the region round, and the\npeople turned out in great numbers. We addressed them in several\ninteresting discourses, and had good time; many seemed to receive\nthe Word with joy, and some were baptized and added to the Church.\n\nFrom thence we continued our journey through the Eastern States,\nholding conferences in every place where branches of the Church had\nbeen organized, ordaining and instructing Elders and other\nofficers; exhorting the members to continue in prayer and in well\ndoing; ministering to the sick and instructing the ignorant. We\nalso preached the Word, and baptized such as desired to be obedient\nto the faith; confirming them by the laying on of hands and prayer\nin the name of Jesus Christ; thus the Holy Ghost and the gifts\nthereof were shed forth among the people, and they had great joy.\nThe month of August 1835, found us in the State of Maine, and the\nmission completed.\n\nWe now returned to Boston, and from thence home to Kirtland,\nwhere we arrived sometime in October. After spending a few days in\nthe society of the Saints in Kirtland, I repaired to New Portage,\nwhere I found my wife and mother in usual health, and was received\nwith joy by them and the Saints. I now made preparation and removed\nto Kirtland, in order to be with the body of the Church at\nheadquarters; and to improve every opportunity of obtaining\ninstruction.\n\nA portion of the Temple at Kirtland was now finished, and\nschools were opened in several apartments. The Presidency of the\nChurch, the Twelve, and many others were organized into a school\nfor the purpose of studying the Hebrew language. This study, and\nthe meetings of the several quorums for instruction and endowment,\noccupied most of the winter.\n\nThe ordinances of the priesthood were revealed to a greater\nextent than had been known among men since the prophets and\nApostles of old fell asleep; and many were anointed to their holy\ncalling, and were instructed in principles which were great and\nglorious in themselves, and calculated to enlarge the mind and\nprepare the chosen servants of God for the great work before them.\nMany great and marvelous things were prophesied, which I am not at\nliberty to record, and many of which have since been fulfilled to\nthe very letter. Many persons were carried away in the visions of\nthe Spirit, and saw and heard unspeakable things; and many enjoyed\nthe ministering of angels, and the gift of healing and of speaking\nin tongues.\n\nSpring at length returned, and the Elders prepared to take leave\nof each other, and to go on their several missions. As to myself, I\nwas deeply in debt for the expenses of life during the winter, and\non account of purchasing a lot, and building thereon. I, therefore,\nknew not what to do, whether to go on a mission or stay at home,\nand endeavor by industry to sustain my family and pay my debts.\n\nIt was now April; I had retired to rest one evening at an early\nhour, and was pondering my future course, when there came a knock\nat the door. I arose and opened it, when Elder Heber C. Kimball and\nothers entered my house, and being filled with the spirit of\nprophecy, they blessed me and my wife, and prophesied as follows:\n\n\"Brother Parley, thy wife shall be healed from this hour, and\nshall bear a son, and his name shall be Parley; and he shall be a\nchosen instrument in the hands of the Lord to inherit the\npriesthood and to walk in the steps of his father. He shall do a\ngreat work in the earth in ministering the Word and teaching the\nchildren of men. Arise, therefore, and go forth in the ministry,\nnothing doubting. Take no thoughts for your debts, nor the\nnecessaries of life, for the Lord will supply you with abundant\nmeans for all things.\n\n\"Thou shalt go to Upper Canada, even to the city of Toronto, the\ncapital, and there thou shalt find a people prepared for the\nfullness of the gospel, and they shall receive thee, and thou shalt\norganize the Church among them, and it shall spread thence into the\nregions round about, and many shall be brought to the knowledge of\nthe truth and shall be filled with joy; and from the things growing\nout of this mission, shall the fullness of the gospel spread into\nEngland, and cause a great work to be done in that land.\n\n\"You shall not only have means to deliver you from your present\nembarrassments, but you shall yet have riches, silver and gold,\ntill you will loath the counting thereof.\"\n\nThis prophecy was the more marvelous, because being married near\nten years we had never had any children; and for near six years my\nwife had been consumptive, and had been considered incurable.\nHowever, we called to mind the faith of Abraham of old, and judging\nHim faithful who had promised, we took courage.\n\nI now began in earnest to prepare for the mission, and in a few\ndays all was ready. I took an affectionate leave of my wife, mother\nand friends, and started for Canada in company with a brother\nNickerson, who kindly offered to bear my expenses. After a long and\ntedious passage in a public coach (the roads being very bad and the\nlake not open), we arrived at the Falls of Niagara sometime in the\nmonth of April, 1836.\n\nAs this was my first visit to this place it made a deep and\nawful impression on my mind. We halted a short time to view this\nwonder of nature, and to adore that God who had formed a world so\nsublimely grand. The leaping of a mighty river of waters over a\nperpendicular fall of one hundred and sixty feet, the foaming and\ndashing of its white spray upon the rocks beneath; the rising cloud\nof mist with its glittering rainbow, the yawning gulf with its\nthousand whirlpools; all conspired to fill the contemplative mind\nwith wonder and admiration, and with reverence to the Great Author\nof all the wonders of creation; while its everlasting roar which\nmay be heard for many miles distant, seemed a lively emblem of\neternity.\n\nWhile musing on this spot, I fell into the following train of\nreflection: O, Niagara! Generations may pass in long succession;\nages may roll away and others still succeed; empires may rise and\nflourish, and pass away and be forgotten; but still thy deafening,\nthy solemn and awful voice is heard in one eternal roar. The\ntemples of marble may moulder to dust, the monuments of the great\nmay crumble to decay, the palaces of kings fall to ruin and their\nvery place become unknown, their history forgotten in the almost\ncountless ages of antiquity; and still thy sound is heard in\neverlasting moan, as if mourning over the ruins of by-gone years.\n\nWith deepest eloquence thou seemest to speak in awful pride,\nsaying: \"Before Abraham was, I am;\" and with mingled feelings of\npity and contempt thou seemest to inquire:--\n\n    Where now is Nimrod's mighty tower? Where the\n    Majestic walls, the warlike battlements,\n    The splendid palaces, the hanging gardens\n    Of Babylon?\n    Where the proud Nebuchadnezzar, who, with\n    Golden sceptre, swayed the world, and made\n    The nations tremble? Where the proud Nineveh,--\n    The strong Thebes, with its hundred gates?\n    The golden Tyre, the splendid Athens, the\n    Majestic Rome, with all their works of art--\n    Their monuments of fame, once the pride\n    And glory of the world?\n    Where the mighty Pharaoh's, the terrible\n    Alexanders, the invincible Cesars,\n    The warlike Hannibal? Tyrants in turn.\n    Where now the gifted poets, the splendid\n    Orators, the profound philosophers\n    Of Greece and Rome, whose mighty genius\n    Hurled royal tyrants headlong from their thrones,--\n    Made senates weep or laugh at will, and ruled\n    The nations? They are swept away by time;\n    Their beauty, like the morning flower, is withered\n    Their pride and glory gone like leaves of autumn;--\n    Their grandest works are fast decaying,\n    Mouldering to ruin, soon to be forgotten.\n    But still my store house is unexhausted,\n    My fountain full and overflowing--my\n    Solid munitions of rocks stand secure.--\n    My voice as mighty as when the beauteous\n    Colors of the rainbow first sported in\n    The sunbeams:--\n    As when the intelligences of olden worlds\n    First gazed with admiration upon my\n    Expanded waters; or, animated at\n    The music of my voice joined in the chorus,\n    And all the sons of God shouted for joy.\n\n    But, boast not, O proud Niagara! Though\n    Thou mayest withstand the ravages of time,--\n    While countless millions, swept away with all\n    Their mighty works, are lost in following years.--\n    Yet there is a voice to speak, long and loud;\n    'Tis Michael's trump, whose mighty blast shall rend\n    Thy rocks, and bow thy lofty mountains in the dust,\n    Before whose awful presence thy waters\n    Blush in retiring modesty; and in\n    Respectful silence thou shalt stand in listening\n    Wonder, and admire, while thunders roll\n    Majestic round the sky, the lightnings play,--\n    The mountains sink--the valleys rise--till Earth,\n    Restored to its original, receives\n    Its final test, and groans and sighs no more.\n\n    Till then, weep on, and let thy voice ascend\n    In solemn music to the skies--'tis like\n    A funeral dirge--'tis fit to weep o'er the miseries\n    Of a fallen world in anguish deep.\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n------------------------\n\nJourney Resumed:--Ministry:--Striking Answer\nto Prayer:--Arrival at Toronto:--John Taylor:--Visit the\nReligious Ministers, the Sheriff, and the Public Market,\nSeeking for an Opening, but in Vain:--Secret Prayer:--About\nto leave the City--God Sends a Widow to Receive Me:--Great\nFaith:--Eyes of the Blind Opened:--Great Excitement and\nGainsayings:--Public Preaching:--Find a People Prepared\nto Receive the Message.\n\nLeaving our journey for a day or two on foot, and as the Sabbath\napproached we halted in the neighborhood of Hamilton, and gave out\ntwo or three appointments for meetings. Brother Nickerson now left\nme to fill these appointments, and passed on to his home, in a\ndistant part of the province.\n\nI preached to the people, and was kindly entertained till Monday\nmorning, when I took leave and entered Hamilton, a flourishing town\nat the head of Lake Ontario; but my place of destination was\nToronto, around on the north side of the lake. If went by land I\nwould have a circuitous route, muddy and tedious to go on foot. The\nlake had just opened, and steamers had commenced plying between the\ntwo places; two dollars would convey me to Toronto in a few hours,\nand save some days of laborious walking; but I was an entire\nstranger in Hamilton, and also in the province; and money I had\nnone. Under these circumstances I pondered what I should do. I had\nmany times received answers to prayer in such matters; but now it\nseemed hard to exercise faith, because I was among strangers and\nentirely unknown. The Spirit seemed to whisper to me to try the\nLord, and see if anything was too hard for him, that I might know\nand trust Him under all circumstances. I retired to a secret place\nin a forest and prayed to the Lord for money to enable me to cross\nthe lake. I then entered Hamilton and commenced to chat with some\nof the people. I had not tarried many minutes before I was accosted\nby a stranger, who inquired my name and where I was going. He also\nasked me if did not want some money. I said yes. He then gave me\nten dollars and a letter of introduction to John Taylor, of\nToronto, where I arrived the same evening.\n\nMrs. Taylor received me kindly, and went for her husband, who\nwas busy in his mechanic shop. To them I made known my errand to\nthe city, but received little direct encouragement. I took tea with\nthem, and then sought lodgings at a public house.\n\nIn the morning I commenced a regular visit to each of the clergy\nof the place, introducing myself and my errand. I was absolutely\nrefused hospitality, and denied the opportunity of preaching in any\nof their houses or congregations. Rather an unpromising beginning,\nthought I, considering the prophecies on my head concerning\nToronto. However, nothing daunted, I applied to the Sheriff for the\nuse of the Court House, and then to the authorities for a public\nroom in the market place; but with no better success. What could I\ndo more? I had exhausted my influence and power without effect. I\nnow repaired to a pine grove just out of the town, and, kneeling\ndown, called on the Lord, bearing testimony of my unsuccessful\nexertions; my inability to open the way; at the same time asking\nHim in the name of Jesus to open an effectual door for His servant\nto fulfil his mission in that place.\n\nI then arose and again entered the town, and going to the house\nof John Taylor, had placed my hand on my baggage to depart from a\nplace where I could do no good, when a few inquiries on the part of\nMr. Taylor, inspired by a degree of curiosity or of anxiety, caused\na few moments delay, during which a lady by the name of Walton\nentered the house, and, being an acquaintance of Mrs. Taylor's, was\nsoon engaged in conversation with her in an adjoining room. I\noverheard the following:\n\n\"Mrs. Walton, I am glad to see you; there is a gentleman here\nfrom the United States who says the Lord sent him to this city to\npreach the gospel. He has applied in vain to the clergy and to the\nvarious authorities for opportunity to fulfil his mission, and is\nnow about to leave the place. He may be a man of God; I am sorry to\nhave him depart.\"\n\nMrs. Walton: \"Indeed! Well, I now understand the feelings and\nspirit which brought me to your house at this time. I have been\nbusy over the wash tub and too weary to take a walk; but I felt\nimpressed to walk out. I then thought I would make a call on my\nsister, the other side of town; but passing your door, the Spirit\nbade me go in; but I said to myself, I will go in when I return;\nbut the Spirit said: go in now. I accordingly came in, and I am\nthankful that I did so. Tell the stranger he is welcome to my\nhouse. I am a widow; but I have a spare room and bed, and food in\nplenty. He shall have a home at my house, and two large rooms to\npreach in just when he pleases. Tell him I will send my son John\nover to pilot him to my house, while I go and gather my relatives\nand friends to come in this very evening and hear him talk; for I\nfeel by the Spirit that he is a man sent by the Lord with a message\nwhich will do us good.\"\n\nThe evening found Brother Pratt quietly seated at her house, in\nthe midst of a number of listeners, who were seated around a large\nwork table in her parlor, and deeply interested in conversation\nlike the following:\n\nFriends: \"Mr. Pratt, we have for some years been anxiously\nlooking for some providential event which would gather the sheep\ninto one fold; build up the true church as in days of old, and\nprepare the humble followers of the Lamb, now scattered and\ndivided, to receive their coming Lord when He shall descend to\nreign on the earth. As soon as Mrs. Taylor spoke of you I felt\nassured, as by a strange and unaccountable presentiment, that you\nwere a messenger, with important tidings on these subjects; and I\nwas constrained to invite you here; and now we are all here\nanxiously waiting to hear your words.\"\n\nPratt: \"Well, Mrs. Walton, I will frankly relate to you and your\nfriends the particulars of my message and the nature of my\ncommission. A young man in the State of New York, whose name is\nJoseph Smith, was visited by an angel of God, and, after several\nvisions and much instruction, was enabled to obtain an ancient\nrecord, written by men of old on the American continent, and\ncontaining the history, prophecies and gospel in plainness, as\nrevealed to them by Jesus and his messengers. This same Joseph\nSmith and others, were also commissioned by the angels in these\nvisions, and ordained to the apostleship; with authority to\norganize the Church, to administer the ordinances, and to ordain\nothers, and thus cause the full, plain gospel in its purity to be\npreached in all the world.\n\n\"By these Apostles thus commissioned, I have been ordained as an\nApostle, and sent forth by the word of prophecy to minister the\nbaptism of repentance for remission of sins, in the name of Jesus\nChrist; and to administer the gift of the Holy Ghost, to heal the\nsick, to comfort the mourner, bind up the broken in heart, and\nproclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.\n\n\"I was also directed to this city by the Spirit of the Lord,\nwith a promise that I should find a people here prepared to receive\nthe gospel, and should organize them in the same. But when I came\nand was rejected by all parties, I was about to leave the city; but\nthe Lord sent you, as a widow, to receive me, as I was about to\ndepart; and thus I was provided for like Elijah of old. And now I\nbless your house, and all your family and kindred in His name. Your\nsins shall be forgiven you; you shall understand and obey the\ngospel, and be filled with the Holy Ghost; for so great faith have\nI never seen in any of my country.\"\n\nMrs. Walton: \"Well, Mr. Pratt, this is precisely the message we\nwere waiting for; we believe your words and are desirous to be\nbaptized.\"\n\nPratt: \"It is your duty and privilege,\" said I, \"but wait yet a\nlittle while till I have an opportunity to teach others, with whom\nyou are religiously connected, and invite them to partake with you\nof the same blessings.\"\n\nAfter conversing with these interesting persons till a late\nhour, we retired to rest. Next day Mrs. Walton requested me to call\non a friend of hers, who was also a widow in deep affliction, being\ntotally blind with inflammation in the eyes; she had suffered\nextreme pain for several months, and had also been reduced to want,\nhaving four little children to support. She had lost her husband,\nof cholera, two years before, and had sustained herself and family\nby teaching school until deprived of sight, since which she had\nbeen dependent on the Methodist Society; herself and children being\nthen a public charge. Mrs. Walton sent her little daughter of\ntwelve years old to show me the way. I called on the poor blind\nwidow and helpless orphans, and found them in a dark and gloomy\napartment, rendered so by having every ray of light obscured to\nprevent its painful effects on her eyes. I related to her the\ncircumstances of my mission, and she believed the same. I laid my\nhands upon her in the name of Jesus Christ, and said unto her,\n\"Your eyes shall be well from this very hour.\" She threw off her\nbandages; opened her house to the light; dressed herself, and\nwalking with open eyes, came to the meeting that same evening at\nsister Walton's, with eyes as well and as bright as any other\nperson's.\n\nThe Methodist Society were now relieved of their burden in the\nperson of this widow and four orphans. This remarkable miracle was\nsoon noised abroad, and the poor woman's house was thronged from\nall parts of the city and country with visitors; all curious to\nwitness for themselves, and to inquire of her how her eyes were\nhealed.\n\n\"How did the man heal your eyes?\" \"What did he do?--tell us,\"\nWere questions so oft repeated that the woman, wearied of replying,\ncame to me for advice to know what she should do. I advised her to\ntell them that the Lord had healed her, and to give Him the glory,\nand let that suffice. But still they teased her for particulars,\n\"What did this man do?\" \"How were your eyes opened and made well?\"\n\n\"He laid his hands upon my head in the name of Jesus Christ, and\nrebuked the inflammation, and commanded them to be made whole and\nrestored to sight; and it was instantly done.\"\n\n\"Well give God the glory; for, as to this man, it is well known\nthat he is an impostor, a follower of Joseph Smith, the false\nprophet.\"\n\n\"Whether he be an impostor or not, I know not; but this much I\nknow, whereas I was blind, now I see! Can an impostor open the eyes\nof the blind?\"\n\n\"Perhaps, then, you intend to be his disciple, to join the\n'_Mormons_?'\"\n\n\"He said nothing to me about joining the '_Mormons_,' but\ntaught me the gospel, and bore testimony that God had restored its\npower to the earth. Would you like to be partakers thereof? Or why\ndo you inquire so earnestly about my eyes being healed?\"\n\n\"Oh, we are John Wesley's disciples. We are the Christian\nChurch. We know John Wesley, but as to this man, we know not whence\nhe is.\"\n\n\"How is this that you know not whence he is, and yet he hath\nopened my eyes? Did John Wesley open the eyes of the blind? Can an\nimpostor do it?\"\n\n\"Ah, we see how it is. You are determined to forsake the\nChristian Church, the good old way, for the sake of these fools,\nthese weak impostors the Mormons. Well, farewell. But remember, you\nwill have no more support from our society, no more encouragement\nof any kind; you shall not even teach a school for us. How then\nwill you live?\"\n\nSuch contentions and discouragement as these, poured into the\nears of a poor mother from day to day, together with railings,\nlyings, and various sophistry and slander, soon caused her to\nwaver, and like thousands of other poor, weak mortals, she shrank\nback into the net of sectarian delusion, and was seen by the Saints\nno more. In the meantime our meetings commenced at Mrs. Walton's.\nAt first very few attended, but they gradually increased till her\nrooms, and sometimes her yard, were well filled with attentive\nhearers.\n\nSunday at length arrived, and, not wishing to show opposition,\nor to set up a separate standard without cause, I appointed no\nmeeting, but accompanied a friend who invited me to hear a preacher\nin a certain chapel. After the discourse, I was introduced to the\nspeaker by my friend, who invited us both to dine at his house.\nAfter much interesting conversation, I was invited to accompany\nthem to another meeting, held at the residence of a Mr. Patrick, a\nwealthy, aristocratic gentleman, who held an office in the\ngovernment.\n\nIn a large apartment, well furnished, was soon convened a\nsolemn, well dressed, and, apparently, serious and humble people,\nnearly filling the room. Each held a bible, while Mr. Patrick\npresided in their midst, with a bible in his hand and several more\nlying on the table before him. With one of these I was soon\nfurnished, as was any other person present who might lack this,\napparently, necessary article. In this manner these people had\nassembled twice each week for about two years, for the professed\npurpose of seeking truth, independent of any sectarian organization\nto which any of them might nominally belong.\n\nHere had assembled John Taylor, his wife, Mrs. Walton and some\nothers who now knew me, although to the president and most of the\ncongregation I was entirely unknown, and, from my appearance, was\nsupposed to be some farmer from the country who had dropped in by\ninvitation.\n\nMeeting was soon opened by singing and prayer in a fervent\nmanner, after which each one was at liberty to introduce such\nsubject of investigation as he might think proper. John Taylor\narose, and read in the New Testament the account of Philip going to\nSamaria and preaching the gospel, and what followed. Closing the\nbook, he remarked that the Samaritans received the Word with joy;\nand were then baptized, both men and women; after which the two\nApostles, Peter and John, came from Jerusalem, and laid their hands\non them in the name of Jesus, and prayed that they might receive\nthe Holy Ghost; and they received it, and spake with tongues, and\nprophesied. \"Now,\" said he, \"where is our Philip? Where is our\nreceiving the Word with joy, and being baptized _when we believed\n_? Where is our Peter and John? Our apostles? Where is our Holy\nGhost by the laying on of hands? Where are our gifts of the Holy\nGhost? Echo answers, where?\n\n\"Is this the pattern of the Christian Church, the model for the\norganization in all after times? If so, we, as a people, have not\nthe ministry, the ordinances, the gifts which constitute the Church\nof Jesus Christ. We are told that we were sprinkled in our infancy,\nbut this was not baptism; and if it was, we neither believed nor\nrejoiced at the time, nor did we act in the matter at all, but were\nacted upon. How different from the Samaritans, who were baptized\n_when they believed, and received the Word with joy_.\n\n\"Again, Peter and John were commissioned as Apostles, and they\nministered the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands in the name of\nJesus. Instead of which, we have had ministers commissioned by the\nKing and Parliament of England, or by John Wesley and his\nsuccessors, without any pretence of a word from the Lord or his\nangels to commission them. Again, the Samaritans had spiritual\ngifts. We have none. If, then, we differ entirely from the pattern\nin all things, what claim have we, or any of the Christian world,\nto be considered the Church of Christ? If we are not members of the\nChurch of Christ, wherein do we differ from the heathen, whom we\naffect to despise or pity? We even shudder for nations or\nindividuals grown up without baptism, while at the same time it\nwould appear that we are all without it, that we are all heathen,\nso far as the Christian Church is concerned, as we have not even\nthe shadow of anything according to the pattern. We cannot boast of\neven an approach to a base resemblance or counterfeit. What say you\nto this, my brethren?\"\n\nThe subject now opened gave rise to a most candid investigation.\nSeveral spoke to the point. Some were of the opinion that the\nprinciples, being lost, were never to be restored. Others suggested\nthat it was their privilege to pray that the heavens might be\nopened and men commissioned by new revelation. Others, again,\nhinted that the Lord might, perhaps, have commissioned men already\nin some part of the world; and, if so, why not pray that he would\nsend them to us.\n\nNothing definite was concluded on when the old preacher who\ninvited me arose and said: \"There is a stranger present who,\nperhaps, might wish to speak.\"\n\nThe chairman observed that he was not aware of the presence of a\nstranger, but if such was the case he was at liberty, as were all\npersons in these meetings, to make remarks. I arose, and observed\nthat I was a stranger from the United States; but not a stranger to\nthe great principles under investigation in this meeting. I was\nprepared to speak on the subject at some length; but should not do\nso then, as the time had been well occupied and the people edified.\n\nMy credentials were then presented to the meeting through the\nchairman, and a special appointment given out for me at evening.\n\nHowever they might differ as to the means of restoration of the\nChristian Church, certain it is that they appeared at the close to\nunite, with one voice, in acknowledgment of their destitution. \"O\nLord,\" said the chairman, in his closing prayer, \"we have neither\napostles, visions, angels, revelations, gifts, tongues, ordinances,\nnor a Christian ministry; we acknowledge that we are destitute of\neverything like the pattern of the true Church, as laid down in thy\nholy Word, and we pray thee to send whom thou wilt.\" At this all\nseemed to say Amen, while tears and sobs attested their sincerity.\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n------------------------\n\nCrowded Meeting:--Discourse:--Baptize the People and\nOrganize a Church:--Spread of the Work:--First Visit to the\nCountry:--Opposition:--Remarkable Success:--Return to Kirtland:--Return\nwith my Wife to Toronto:--Meetings at Mr. Lamphere's:--A Woman\nHealed and Evil Spirits Rebuked:--Mr. Lamareux:--A Meeting:--A\nChallenge:--Discussion Held in the Open Air:--Great Crowd:--Opening\nPropositions by Elder O. Hyde:--Result of the Discussion.\n\nIn the evening Mr. Patrick's large rooms were crowded to excess\nwith anxious listeners. I then addressed them on the subject they\nhad been investigating. The following is an outline of the\ndiscourse, which occupied from two to three hours:\n\n\"Friends, I am aware that the subject now under consideration is\none of the most vital importance to the Christian world, and,\nthough it may seem to be new to most persons, it is familiar to me.\nI have traced it in all its bearings, weighed it in every possible\nlight, and am prepared to impart to others that which, I trust,\nwill satisfy and enlighten the inquiring mind.\n\n\"It appears from our text, as well as from the general tenor of\nthe New Testament, that certain definite principles existed, which,\nacted upon and enjoyed, constituted the Christian Church, or body\nof Christ, viz:\n\n\"First. An inspired priesthood or apostleship, authorized to\nadminister salvation in the name of Jesus.\n\n\"Second. Faith in their words and testimony on the part of those\nwho heard them.\n\n\"Third. Reformation of life.\n\n\"Fourth. Obedience to certain ordinances, as baptism and the\nlaying on of hands in the name of Jesus Christ, in order to the\nremission of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost.\n\n\"Fifth. The spiritual gifts imparted to the body thus organized,\nin order to its edification, growth and perfection.\n\n\"It may be presumed that every portion of the professed\nChristian Church, without any exception--I mean those who admit the\nScriptures to be a record of things as they existed--will readily\nagree, that the five principles just named did exist, and did\nconstitute the Christian church or body of Christ. This, then\nconstitutes the model or pattern of the object of our present\nsearch.\n\n\"We have only to compare modern pretenses with this ancient\nmodel, in order to judge of them at once. Either the same\nprinciples would be required to constitute the body of Christ in\nall succeeding ages, or else the New Testament must cease to be a\nstandard, and be superseded by a dispensation of later origin;\nclaiming power to nullify or make void the dispensation of Jesus\nChrist and his Apostles, and to introduce another order of things\nin its stead.\n\n\"This last alternative none are so bold as to claim. All agree\nthat the gospel was a perfect system, an unchangeable and\neverlasting covenant, never to be changed or altered by the Lord,\nand only perverted or altered by man under a severe penalty--a\ndreadful anathema. In physical matters men are not easily deceived\nor duped; for instance, a man sees or hears an exact description of\na human body as existing in the days of Socrates or Plato; it has\nhead, eyes, ears, mouth, arms, hands, legs, feet, etc. Can an\nimpostor impose upon that man in this age? Can he introduce a wild\nbeast, a fowl, a serpent, a man dismembered of his head, eyes, ears,\nhands, or feet? Could he pass any of these upon his fellow men as\nconstituting the human body; the model or pattern answering to the\nformer description? No, he could not. He would be considered out of\nhis senses, and would be laughed to scorn for attempting such a\nthing.\n\n\"Why, then, are we at a loss in judging of the various systems\nwhich, in modern times, claim to be the church of Christ? Why do we\nnot compare them with the model, and reject or receive at once?\nPerhaps you will say that such a course leads to consequences and\nconclusions so awful, that it opens truths so unwelcome, that it is\nnatural to shrink from the view; and, like the ostrich in the\ndesert, when pursued too closely, hides the head and eyes in a\nfalse covering, while the body is exposed to certain destruction.\n\n\"Says one, 'if the ancient model or pattern is the standard,\nthen the veil of modern Christendom is thrown off, and the entire\nworld unchristianized--for we nowhere find such a pattern.' Well,\nadmit then that there is no Christian church in existence among\nmen, and that there has not been for many ages. What then? is it a\ntruth? If so, truth will not harm anybody. If the whole world has\nbeen for ages wrapped in mystery and deception, is it not better to\nfind it out now than to continue in ignorance until Jesus reveals\nit at the judgment day, and sinks us in a moment from the highest\npinnacle of hope and expectation to despair, rendered a\nthousand-fold more painful by a sudden reverse?\n\n\"But suppose, on opening our eyes to this great discovery, we\nsearch and find our observations and conclusions warranted by the\nwhole tenor of prophetic writ? Suppose Jesus Christ and his\nApostles and prophets all agree in bearing testimony, and\nforetelling the very order of things which we find to exist; also,\nits final end or termination, and the restoration of his Church and\nthe reign of his Saints? Would not our own observations of what\nactually exists, confirmed by the prophetic declarations of such a\nhost of witnesses, all testifying that it would be so, be a double\nassurance that we had opened our eyes to a snare in time to escape,\nand cause us to leap forward with a thrill of joy and faith to that\nwhich is to come?\n\n\"We could then exclaim, in viewing the trumpery, pomp, splendor\nand greatness of Catholicism, or the scarcely less false and\nglaring systems of absurdity and priestcraft under the name of\nProtestantism, in their various forms, O, thou mystery of iniquity!\nthou are at least revealed, thou who deceivest all nations with thy\nsorcery, and with whom the kings of the earth and the nobles and\ngreat men have committed fornication, and lived deliciously; thy\ncovering is removed, and the people shall see thy nakedness and\nabhor thee; and many shall be ready when the proclamation is made,\n'_Come out of her, my people._'\n\n\"But suppose, on the other hand, we shut our eyes to these\ntruths, and hug to our bosoms those systems of falsehood and error,\nwhich claim to be of Christ, but are not? The result will be a\ncontinuance on our part to build up that which the Lord purposes in\ndue time to tear down, and to oppose that which the Lord will send\ninto the world to accomplish his purposes. We would in this case be\nhis enemies, and be found fighting against him.\n\n\"Let us look at the Jews in the glass of prophecy. Our own dear\nselves not being in the scale, perhaps we can the more readily\ndiscern the equity of the balance, and afterwards venture to be\nweighed in the same, even though both Jew and Gentile should be\nfound wanting.\n\n\"For nearly two thousand years we behold the Jews without a\nprophet, inspired priest, king, ruler or teacher, to lead them to\nlight, to freedom, or to God. No voice form the burning bush; no\nthunderings upon Sinai; no still small voice whispering of right\nand salvation; no call from the eternal throne; no vision, angel or\ndream to light them on their pathway as they wander and are\noppressed amid the darkness of Gentile dominion. Their temple is in\nruins; their sacrifices have ceased; their priesthood is powerless;\nwhile their very city and country is desolate, or trodden under\nfoot. We say to the Jew, why all this? Is it not possible that your\nfathers have rejected the Messiah and his holy Apostles and\nprophets; and these things been withheld from them in the anger of\nthe Almighty? O, no, says the Jew, we are the true church and\npeople of God; revelations, prophets, visions, angels and gifts\nwere only given at first to establish the church of Israel, and the\ncanon of Scripture being complete, there was no further need of\nthese things; therefore, they ceased.\n\n\"Now, _you_ know that this Jew is mistaken. You pity him.\nYou wonder at his ignorance. You know that when in the days of\nSamuel's childhood there was no open vision from the Lord; it was\nbecause the priesthood, the proper communication between God and\nthe people, was in transgression. The priests of the house of Eli\nwere robbing the sacrifices for their own aggrandizement; and were\ncommitting whoredoms with the very women who came there to worship.\n_You_ also know that when King Saul was no longer favored\nwith revelation, when the heavens were shut against him, and the\nLord answered him not, neither by vision, angel, dream, Urim and\nThummim, nor prophet; it was because the Lord had forsaken him and\nhad rent the kingdom from him, and had given it to David, dooming\nhim to destruction, and withdrawing His spirit from him, abandoning\nhim to a spirit of murder and persecution towards the chosen\ninstruments of the Almighty. _You_ also know that, when,\nbefore Christ, these gifts had ceased in the Jewish church (say\nfrom Malachi to John the Baptist), there were a multitude of sects,\nnone of which were right. All had to come on a level and repent,\nand be baptized by John, in order to prepare the way of the Lord.\n\n\"You also know that the Jews were no longer favored with\napostles and inspired men after they had rejected Christ and his\nApostles, because they were rejected of the Lord; and the kingdom,\naccording to the words of Jesus, was taken from them and given to a\npeople who should bring forth the fruits of the same. You also know\nthat the reason why a Jew to this day is without these things is,\nbecause his fathers, eighteen hundred years ago, rejected them.\n\n\"But the Jew knows none of these things. He is blinded with the\nvain and delusive thought that his race, being the chosen of the\nLord, must forever remain in favor, whether they do iniquity or\nnot. Why! exclaims the Jew, we dare not for a moment look at things\nin the light you suggest; it would disfranchise the whole nation\nfor eighteen centuries, and count them as aliens from the covenant\nof their fathers, and form the commonwealth of Israel. Well, what\nif it does? Is it not better for them to know the worst in time to\nmend?\n\n\"Now, let us turn to the Gentile church. They, by the\nministration of the Apostles, received the kingdom of God, and\nenjoyed its fruits. The natural branches were broken off, and they\nwere grafted in; 'take heed,' says Paul, 'for it God spared not the\nnatural branches, _take heed_, lest he spare not thee.'\n\n\"When the Gentile church received the kingdom, and became such,\nthey were everywhere blessed with the ministry of inspired men, and\nwere favored with revelations, visions, angels and prophets, as the\nNew Testament bears witness. What became of these things? Under\nwhat circumstances, and in fulfillment of what Scriptures did they\ncease from among the Gentiles?\n\n\"The prophet Daniel, had foretold of the several powers which\nwould arise and bear rule in the earth. But the Roman, the most\nterrible power of all, should '_destroy the mighty and the holy\npeople_.' This power should change the times and the laws, and\nwear out the Saints of the Most Holy, until the end, when the\nSaints should take the kingdom under the whole Heaven, and possess\nit. Such in substance is Daniel's testimony.\n\n\"John, in his revelations, bears the same testimony. He predicts\nthat a certain power under the figure of a woman upon a beast, with\nMystery written upon her forehead, should have dominion among all\nnations; have to do with all kings; and that all nations should be\ndeceived by her, and their kings live deliciously with her, while\nshe would be drunken with the blood of the saints and with the\nblood of the martyrs of Jesus.\n\n\"Paul also predicts a time when men '_would not endure sound\ndoctrine, but would turn away their ears form the truth, and be\ntuned unto fables, heaping to themselves, teachers_.' That they\nwould '_have a form of godliness and deny the power_.' Paul\nalso bears testimony that the Gentiles, if they abide not in faith,\nshall meet with a similar fall as did the Jews.\n\n\"Jesus Christ speaks of a time when the times of the Gentiles\nshall be fulfilled: their dominion come to an end with great\njudgment, and Jerusalem no longer be trodden under foot by them.\n\n\"Now the summary of these things is this:\n\n\"The Gentiles killed the Apostles and inspired men.\n\n\"The Gentiles ceased to bring forth the fruits of the kingdom.\n\n\"The Gentiles became drunken with the blood of the saints.\n\n\"The Gentiles destroyed the mighty and holy people.\n\n\"The Gentiles changed the times, and laws, and ordinances of\nGod.\n\n\"The Gentiles turned away their ears from the truth, and were\nturned unto fables.\n\n\"The Gentiles would not endure sound doctrine, but heaped to\nthemselves teachers.\n\n\"The Gentiles maintained a form of godliness without its\nmiracles and powers.\n\n\"The Gentiles were '_full of names of blasphemy_,' and\nmystery was written as a frontispiece on all their institutions.\n\n\"The Gentiles deceived all nations, and drew kings and great men\ninto the wake of their mysterious abominations and religious\nmummeries.\n\n\"The Gentiles continue to bear rule by these means till the\njudgments of the Almighty sweep them from the earth, and put an end\nto their dominion; and God restores Israel and Jerusalem, and gives\nthe dominion to his Saints.\n\n\"How often the Lord may have restored the priesthood and\nordinances, the true Church and its gifts to the earth, among the\nhumble, is not known. But this much we know, there would be no\npeace nor security for men professing such institutions; they would\nbe either hunted down and destroyed, or driven to the necessity of\nsecluding themselves in the most secret recesses, where their\nhistory would never come down to us. As _Protestants_, we\ncan make no pretenses to a successive line of apostleship; for this\nwould imply that we were never Roman Catholics; therefore, what\nneed of protestation or dissent from that to which we never had\nbelonged? Nothing short of a new dispensation--a new revelation to\ncommission apostles as at the first, could give any religious body\na claim, or a shadow of claim, to be the Church of Jesus Christ, or\nentitle them to the spiritual gifts.\n\n\"Such, my friends, is the deplorable picture of Gentile\nChristianity as presented before us, whether we look with the naked\neye on facts around us, or, aided by the glass of prophecy and\nhistory, review the dim vista of successive generations in the\nmighty past. Yet in the midst of the reign of error and blood there\nhave always been many individuals who desired to know and serve the\nLord. They have desired to see the triumph of truth; but the time\nhad not come; they died without the sight; but they will arise\nagain to enjoy the triumph; they with us will rejoice when error is\noverthrown and the Saints possess the kingdom.\n\n\"I have now reviewed the past, my friends, and have shown by\nwhat means the Jews and Gentiles have lost the peculiar blessings\nwhich characterize the Church of God. I have detained you long, and\nam, as yet, only on the threshold of the great subject before me.\nIn another discourse I might draw a brighter picture by setting\nbefore you the great and precious promises which ensure to the\nworld a new dispensation in which all these things will be\nrestored, and the Church of the Saints grow, flourish and triumph\nin the earth.\n\n\"I must now close by blessing this people who have opened their\nhearts to listen with such attention. May the blessings of the Lord\nJesus Christ and his spirit rest upon you, that you may receive and\nknow the truth. Amen.\"\n\nAs I finished speaking the unanimous voice was for another\nmeeting, which was finally given out for the next evening.\n\nEvening came again. Crowds assembled.\n\nI then went into detail with a chain of prophecy, beginning with\nMoses and the prophets, and ending with John's revelation; showing\nthat the latter-day glory was to be ushered in by a new\ndispensation revealed from heaven; by the ministration of angels,\nand sustained by the marvelous power and gifts of God; till it\nresulted in the overthrow of all mystery, darkness, ignorance and\ncorruption, and the ushering in of the universal reign of peace and\ntruth.\n\nThis prophetic review occupied some two or three hours more. I\nthen closed by saying that had I time I would give them the details\nof the commencement of this restoration by a new dispensation\nrevealed from the heavens by the angels of God, and in exact and\ndetailed fulfillment of some of the prophecies which I had been\nreviewing. All cried out for another meeting, which was appointed\nfor the next night.\n\nIn the third evening I related the visions, manifestations and\nmany of the details of the organization and movements of the Church\nof the Saints.\n\nThe truth was now plainly before this people, who had been in so\nwonderful a manner prepared for its reception, as predicted by\nbrother Kimball on my head before leaving home. The man of the\nhouse now rejected me, and the meeting of seekers after truth left\nhis house, and came and were baptized and held their meetings at\nthe house of the widow Walton, who had received me, and who was now\nbaptized with all her household, who were of sufficient age to\nreceive the gospel.\n\nJohn Taylor and his wife, whose house I first entered in\nToronto, are also baptized. He soon became an assistant in the\nministry. This is that same John Taylor who is now one of the\nTwelve Apostles.\n\nThe work soon spread into the country and enlarged its\noperations in all that region; many were gathered into the Church,\nand were filled with faith and love, and with the Holy Spirit, and\nthe Lord confirmed the Word with signs following. My first visit to\nthe country was about nine miles from Toronto, among a settlement\nof farmers, by one of whom I had sent an appointment beforehand.\nJohn Taylor accompanied me--this was before he was baptized--we\nrode on horseback. We called at a Mr. Joseph Fielding's, an\nacquaintance and friend of Mr. Taylor's. This man had two sisters,\nyoung ladies, who seeing us coming ran from their house to one of\nthe neighboring houses, lest they should give welcome, or give\ncountenance to \"_Mormonism_.\" Mr. Fielding stayed, and as we\nentered the house he said he was sorry we had come, he had opposed\nour holding meeting in the neighborhood; and, so great was the\nprejudice, that the Methodist meeting house was closed against us,\nand the minister refused, on Sunday, to give out the appointment\nsent by the farmer.\n\n\"Ah!\" said I, \"why do they oppose Mormonism?\" I don't know, said\nhe, \"but the name has such a contemptible sound; and, another\nthing, we do not want a new revelation, or a new religion contrary\nto the Bible.\" \"Oh!\" said I, \"if that is all we shall soon remove\nyour prejudices. Come, call home your sisters, and let's have some\nsupper. Did you say the appointment was not given out?\" \"I said,\nsir, that it was not given out in the meeting house, nor by the\nminister; but the farmer by whom you sent it agreed to have it at\nhis house.\" \"Come then, send for your sisters, we will take supper\nwith you, and all go over to meeting together. If you and your\nsisters will agree to this, I will agree to preach the old Bible\ngospel, and leave out all new revelations which are opposed to it.\"\n\nThe honest man consented. The young ladies came home, got us a\ngood supper, and all went to meeting. The house was crowded; I\npreached, and the people wished to hear more. The meeting house was\nopened for further meetings, and in a few days we baptized brother\nJoseph Fielding and his two amiable and intelligent sisters, for\nsuch they proved to be in an eminent degree. We also baptized many\nothers in that neighborhood, and organized a branch of the Church,\nfor the people there drank in truth as water, and loved it as they\nloved life.\n\nAfter ministering in and about Toronto for about two months I\nfound it necessary to return home, as some of my debts were\npressing, and we needed a supply of our printed works to circulate\namong the people. I accordingly gave out word, in a meeting in\nToronto one Sun day evening, that I should take boat for home next\nmorning. Now all this time I had asked no man for money, nor had I\nexplained my circumstances. However, on shaking hands at the close\nof the next meeting, several bank bills were secretly shaken into my\nhands, amounting in all to several hundred dollars--including\nsubscriptions for books, periodicals, etc. I thanked the Lord God\nof Israel for the fulfillment of the first instalment of brother\nKimball's prophecy, and went on my way rejoicing. On my arrival in\nKirtland I was enabled to meet my most urgent debts, and to get\ntime on the remainder.\n\nI found my wife had been healed of her seven years' illness from\nthe time Brother Kimball had ministered unto her, and I began to\nrealize more fully that every word of his blessing and prophecy\nupon my head would surely come to pass. After a pleasant visit with\nthe Saints, I took my wife with me and returned again to Toronto,\nin June, 1836.\n\nThe work I had commenced was still spreading its influence, and\nthe Saints were still increasing in faith and love, in joy and in\ngood works. There were visions, prophesyings, speaking in tongues\nand healings, as well as the casting out of devils and unclean\nspirits. One remarkable circumstance, among many, I will relate in\ndetail:\n\nThere was living within a short day's journey of Toronto, in a\ncertain neighborhood where I ministered every two weeks (for the\ncircuit of my labors had now so much enlarged that I had to travel\ncontinually from branch to branch and neighborhood to neighborhood),\na man named Lamphere, who was noted for being the most irreligious\nman in all the country; he and the family were hardly ever known to\nattend a religious meeting; they would work on the Sabbath, and swear,\ncurse, etc. This man and his family were so wrought upon by the power\nof truth that he opened his house for stated meetings, which I held\nthere regularly every two weeks. He and the family always entertained\nme with every kindness and every demonstration of hospitality in their\npower. The people of the neighborhood always turned out to hear, and\nseemed to receive the Word with faith and joy, but as yet none of them\nhad been baptized, or joined the Church of the Saints. All noticed the\nchange in the Lamphere family, and all rejoiced, and even marvelled at\nso sudden a reformation in a family so gospel hardened, as they called\nit, though in truth none of them had ever heard the gospel in its power\nand fullness till my visits commenced there.\n\nNow there was living in that neighborhood a young man and his\nwife, named Whitney; he was a blacksmith by trade; their residence\nwas perhaps a mile or more from this Lamphere's, where I held my\nsemi-monthly meetings. His wife was taken down very suddenly about\nthat time with a strange affliction. She would be prostrated by\nsome power invisible to those about her, and, in an agony of\ndistress indescribable, she would be drawn and twisted in every\nlimb and joint, and would almost, in fact, be pulled out of joint.\nSometimes, when thrown on to the bed, and while four or five stout\nmen were endeavoring to hold her, she would be so drawn out of all\nshape as to only touch the bed with her heels and the back part of\nher head. She would be bruised, cramped and pinched, while she\nwould groan, scream, froth at the mouth, etc. She often cried out\nthat she could see two devils in human form, who were thus\noperating upon her, and that she could hear them talk; but, as the\nbystanders could not see them, but only see the effects, they did\nnot know what to think or how to understand.\n\nShe would have one of these spells once in about twenty-four\nhours, and when a period of these spells were over she would lie in\nbed so lame, and bruised, and sore, and helpless that she could not\nrise alone, or even sit up, for some weeks. All this time she had\nto have watchers both night and day, and sometimes four and five at\na time, insomuch that the neighbors were worn out and weary with\nwatching. Mr. Whitney sent for me two or three times, or left word\nfor me to call next time I visited the neighborhood. This, however,\nI had neglected to do, owing to the extreme pressure of labors upon\nme in so large a circuit of meetings--indeed, I had not a moment to\nspare. At last, as I came round on the circuit again, the woman,\nwho had often requested to see the man of God, that he might\nminister to her relief, declared she would see him anyhow, for she\nknew she could be healed if she could but get sight of him. In her\nagony she sprang from her bed, cleared herself from her frightened\nhusband and others, who were trying to hold her, and ran for Mr.\nLamphere's, where I was then holding meeting. At first, to use her\nown words, she felt very weak, and nearly fainted, but her strength\ncame to her, and increased at every step till she reached the\nmeeting. Her friends were all astonished, and in alarm, lest she\nshould die in the attempt, tried to pursue her, and they several\ntimes laid hold of her and tried to force or persuade her back.\n\"No,\" said she, \"let me see the man of God; I can but die, and I\ncannot endure such affliction any longer.\" On she came, until at\nlast they gave up and said, \"Let her go, perhaps it will be\naccording to her faith.\" So she came, and when the thing was\nexplained the eyes of the whole multitude were upon her. I ceased\nto preach, and, stepping to her in the presence of the whole\nmeeting, I laid my hands upon her and said, \"Sister, be of good\ncheer, thy sins are forgiven, thy faith hath made thee whole; and,\nin the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke the devils and unclean\nspirits, and command them to trouble thee no more.\" She returned\nhome well, went about her housekeeping, and remained well from that\ntime forth.\n\nHer neighbors watched to see if the trouble would return upon\nher, but, after a few days they gave up all their fears, and gave\nglory to God, saying that the ancient gospel had truly been\nrestored.\n\nAbout seven miles from this place lived a merchant by the name\nof Lamareux, who was a man of extended thought and general\ninformation; he sometimes preached or lectured to the people. This\nman, on hearing the strange reports of what was going on, sent for\nme. I visited him on a day appointed; he had shut up his store,\nsuspended all business, dressed in his best, and prepared a dinner,\nwhile at the same time a general meeting of the people was\nconvening in his large barn. He received us cordially, and after\ndinner accompanied us to the barn, where there was, indeed, a crowd\nof some hundreds of anxious listeners. We preached; after which the\nold merchant exclaimed to the meeting, that if this was Mormonism\nhe was a Mormon.\n\nHe pressed us to tarry a few days, or rather go with him, to\nwhich we consented. So, next morning he furnished a horse and\nsaddle for himself, and another for me. We mounted--he leading the\nway. We travelled through a fine settled country of villages and\nfarms, where I had never been before, and where they were strangers\nto \"Mormonism\" and to me, but well acquainted with him.\n\nAs we went, he preached, saying to every man he met, and even\ncrying aloud to those at a distance, and as we halted in each\nlittle village:\n\n\"Hear ye, my friends, the kingdom of Heaven is restored again to\nman, with the gospel in its ancient fullness and power. Turn out\nand hear this stranger who is with me, and do not gainsay him, for\nI testify to you that the sick are healed, the eyes of the blind\nare opened, and devils are cast out under his hand in the name of\nJesus. And if you do not believe it we can give you names and\nparticulars, and prove it by scores and hundreds of witnesses.\"\n\nThe more I tried to keep him still the more he proclaimed these\nthings.\n\nLeaving a chain of appointments, we travelled as far as\nScarborough, and, preaching there, we returned the next day and\nfilled the chain of appointments given out the day before. The\nexcitement now became general, and a very learned clergyman, a Mr.\nBrowning, of the Presbyterian order--announced himself as the\npeople's chosen champion to meet us in public debate and put us\ndown, or receive our doctrine, according as truth might appear on\ninvestigation.\n\nA public discussion was at last agreed upon, to be held a few\nweeks thence in the open air, as no building would hold the people.\nThe preliminaries were as follows:\n\nThe Bible to be recognized as a standard of truth.\n\nWe were to have the opening speech, in which we were to set\nforth our principles; when the reverend gentleman was to have a\ncertain length of time to reply, and so on alternately.\n\nThe meeting at length came off. Thousands attended, and listened\nwith patience. Elder Orson Hyde, who had now arrived from the\nStates to my assistance, took up the matter, as I was unavoidably\nengaged elsewhere. A large platform had been erected for the\nspeakers, and while Elder Hyde sat almost alone before that vast\nassemblage, the reverend gentleman had five or six other clergymen\nbeside him as helps.\n\nIn the opening speech Elder Hyde laid down the following\nprinciples, viz:\n\nA true Church of Christ is composed of apostles, prophets,\nelders, teachers and members, who have been baptized (immersed) in\nthe name of Jesus Christ, and who have received his spirit by the\nlaying on of hands of his apostles, or authorized servants.\n\nA true Church of Christ believed in visions, angels, spirits,\nprophesyings, revelations, healings and miracles of every kind, as\ndescribed in the New Testament.\n\nAny creed or religious body differing from this New Testament\npattern could not be considered the Church of Christ, however\nsincere they might be.\n\nHaving laid down these premises, he demanded of his opponent a\npositive admission or denial of the premises, before he would allow\nhimself to be drawn to a second question or point of debate. This\ntook his opponents all aback; they had sense enough to see that if\nthey affirmed these premises there was an end of Presbyterianism,\nand all other sectarian forms which have set aside these powers. On\nthe other hand, if they denied the premises laid down by Elder H.,\nit would be denying the Bible standard, by which both parties\nagreed to abide. For these reasons the party of the opposition\nutterly refused to either affirm or deny. Attempts were made in\nevery possible form to draw Elder H. to other points of debate; but\nall in vain. Slanderous reports from the press, pamphlets and\nnewspaper abuse, were offered in abundance; but were not suffered\nto be introduced into the discussion, because both parties had\nagreed to abide by the Bible as a standard. Thus, after a few hours\nof shuffling and trickery on the part of the opposition, and a few\nvain attempts to introduce the poisonous slanders which so often\nprevail in blinding the public mind, they were utterly silenced.\n\nElder Hyde then proceeded to address the vast assemblage at\nconsiderable length, congratulating them on the triumph of truth,\nand exhorting them to obey the gospel, and thus avail themselves of\nits blessings, after which the discussion closed; but the truth\ngrew and prevailed.\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n------------------------\n\nA Vision:--Remarkable Signs in the\nHeavens:--A False Prophet:--A Dream:--Impression:--\nPrayer:--Interpretation Given in a Second Dream:--Attend\nMr. Caird's Meeting:--He Shows Himself to be a Railer and\na Liar:--We Challenge Him to an Investigation:--He Visits\nToronto:--We Return There:--Continues His Opposition:--\nRefusing to Meet Us:--Great Meetings:--Excitement:--\nText:--Summary of the Discourse Proving Him a False\nTeacher:--He Retires to Private Life:--Return to Kirtland:--\nBirth of My First Born.\n\nIn July, 1836, while lodging at the house of brother Joseph\nFielding, the voice of the Lord came unto me in a dream, saying:\n\"_Parley_!\" And I answered: \"Here am I;\" for I was in a vision\nof the Spirit and knew that it was the Lord who spake unto\nme. And he said: \"When did I ever reveal anything unto you in a\ndream and it failed to come to pass?\" And I answered: \"Never,\nLord.\" \"Well, then,\" He continued, \"go unto the people and cry unto\nthem with a mighty voice that they repent, lest I smite them with a\ncurse and they die; for, notwithstanding the present fruitfulness\nof the earth, there shall be a famine in the land; and not only a\nfamine for bread, but a famine for the Word of the Lord; for I will\ncall my servants out from their midst and send them to the nations\nafar off.\"\n\nHaving heard these words I took courage, and I continued to lift\nup my voice in the congregations, both in town and country,\ntestifying of the gospel and warning the people of things to come.\nMany repented and were baptized, while many hardened their hearts\nand were filled with a contentious and lying spirit. But the Saints\nwere filled with faith, joy, and love; and they met together oft,\nand had great union and peace, and were happy in the society of\neach other.\n\nIn the autumn of the same year--I think in September--I had preached\non Sunday in the chapel, on the subject of the coming of the Son of\nMan and the signs which would precede his coming. I prophesied that\nthey would see signs in the heavens very soon, such as were spoken of\nby Jesus Christ in the New Testament; and that when they should begin\nto see them they might know for themselves that His coming was nigh at\nhand.\n\nAfter thus preaching I returned in the evening to the house of brother\nand sisters Fielding, at the hour of 9 p.m.; we sat up for an hour or\ntwo conversing on these important things and rejoicing, when, on going\nout at the door and looking abroad, we beheld a most wonderful scene\nin the heavens, and, as it continued for some time, we finally went to\nsome of the nearest neighbors and called them out to behold it.\n\nA wave of white light extended like a rainbow from east to west\nover the entire horizon, a little south of the meridian. It was in\nappearance about twenty feet wide, and seemed agitated in its motions\nlike a wave of the sea; at length it removed like the motions of a\ngreat swell of the sea towards the south and disappeared; when lo!\nanother similar light appeared immediately in the place of the former,\nand, after remaining stationary with agitated motions for some time,\nit rolled away to the south and disappeared like the former, and was\nreplaced by a third. Thus the same scene was renewed and continued for\nhours. We finally all retired to rest, while it yet continued to be\nexhibited.\n\nAfter spending the season in continued labors, and organizing\nthe Church in many places, I was about to return in October to\nKirtland, Ohio, to my home. Now, there was a man named Caird, who,\nprevious to my visit to Canada, had been over from England as a\npreacher, who pretended to be sent of God by revelation. He had\npreached many things, and told the people that God had raised up\napostles in England, and organized the true church, and was sending\npreachers from thence into all the world, to prepare the way for\nthe coming of the Son of Man. This man held to the sprinkling of\ninfants, which he called baptism. He also held that the church of\nwhich he was a representative and messenger, included the national\nChurch of England; and all others who had been baptized\n(sprinkled), whether Catholic or Protestant. This great, universal\nchurch was the true church, only needing the restoration of\napostles and gifts which had now commenced to be restored.\n\nThis man had great influence in Canada on his former visit, and\nhe had long been looked for to return to Toronto on his second\nvisit. The people were all expectation, and very anxious that he\nshould arrive in time to meet me before I should return home; for\nmany persons greatly wondered that there should arise about the\nsame time one church in America and another in England, both\nprofessing apostolic power and universal jurisdiction. Some of\nthose who had heard both of us, tried to think that both systems\nwere one and would run together. Others said they would wait and\nsee which serpent swallowed the other before they would join\neither. Some affirmed that Mr. Caird would never shrink from the\ninvestigation of anything, therefore, he must embrace \"_Mormonism\n_;\" for it has only to be investigated to be appreciated.\nOthers equally affirmed that Mr. Pratt never shrank from\ninvestigation, and, therefore, they must meet each other; must come\nto an understanding; must become one, or else one of their systems\nmust be shown to be very erroneous; for these men have neither of\nthem ever found his master in any of the sects here in Canada at\nany rate. Such is a specimen of the sayings and feelings of an\nexcited public, in view of the meeting of two such men. On my own\npart, although I knew his system was erroneous and not founded in\ntruth, yet I had formed a very favorable opinion of the man, and\nhad made up my mind to meet a fearless champion who would not\nshrink one moment from a full and free investigation. Believing\nthis, I felt in high hopes that he would be an instrument in the\nhands of God to receive and spread the truth.\n\nThis man still lingered at Kingston, two hundred miles distant,\nand did not come up to Toronto as expected. To satisfy the anxiety\nof the people, I at length proposed in our meeting one Sabbath,\nthat I would take steamer the next morning and go down to Kingston,\nand see this strange man.\n\nThat same night I had a dream, as follows: I thought I was in a\nvast wilderness of wild beasts of every description, among which\nwas a species of elephant so large that its trunk reached nearly to\nthe tops of the tall trees, and when he walked the earth trembled;\nthe beasts of the field fled from before him, and the trees were\nswayed on either side of him as slender reeds. At this I was\nafraid, and I wafted myself up by the power of the Spirit, and sat\nin the top of a tall tree. As he approached, I reflected as\nfollows: Why should such a man as I fear? I have any amount of\npower given me of God, I will, therefore, descend to earth before\nhim; for he can never harm me. I accordingly descended. He\nconsidered this a defiance on my part, so he boasted that I had no\npower, and that I could not stand before him.\n\nAt this I put forth my hand and caught him by the trunk, and\nlifting him from the ground by the power of the Spirit, I dashed\nhim to the ground a number of times; at this he seemed to dwindle\ndown to about the size of a suckling calf, and finally turned into\na serpent and swelled out to the length of about a hundred feet,\nand half the size of a man's body. He then spoke great swelling\nwords in defiance of my power; said it was not the power of God,\nbut only the power of a man; and he continued to mock and defy me,\nsaying, \"If you have the great power of God, why do you not pull me\nin pieces?\"\n\nAt this I saw a great white stone, smooth and round at the top,\nin the shape of the half of an egg, and about six feet in diameter.\nThe serpent coiled himself around this stone, and professed to be\nfastened to it. And he said: \"Now I will remain fast to this rock,\nand give you a fair chance to pull me to pieces.\" I answered, \"you\nare not fastened to the rock, but will slip from it the moment I\npull.\" \"Nay,\" said he, \"try me, and see.\" I laid hold of him, and\nthe same power came on me as before, but as I began to pull he\nslipped from the rock. I then tried to fasten him to some weeds or\nsome rubbish which was near, but the moment I pulled he would slip\nfrom them; I could not, therefore, fasten him to anything. I said\nto him, \"you will not remain fastened to anything; how then can I\npull you to pieces?\"\n\nBeing a little at loss to know what to do, I turned to Elder\nOrson Hyde, who seemed to stand by, and said, \"Brother Orson, see\nthose wide jaws and that small neck; it is an excellent hold; seize\nhim by the neck and hold him fast, and, in the name of Jesus, I\nwill give an almighty pull.\" He did so, and I pulled; the serpent\nthen dwindled down to the size of a small snake half a yard in\nlength, and crawled off and hid among the grass.\n\nI awoke under the strong impression that the great beast and the\nserpent represented Mr. Caird; and that the rock was the true\ngospel, to which he pretended to be fast. This impression was so\ndifferent from the opinion I had formed of the man, that I felt\ngreatly disappointed. I was not willing to believe the vision; I\nexclaimed in the bitterness of sorrow and disappointment: \"Is it\npossible that this is Mr. Caird, so beloved, so revered as a great\nand good man?\" I hardly dare believe it. \"O Lord, if this vision is\nof thee and its application, please show me the interpretation of\nit in plainness, that I may not err.\" I immediately fell asleep\nagain and dreamed as follows:\n\nI thought I took a steamer and arrived in Kingston at early\ndawn. I thought I took up one of the principal streets, directly\nnorthward from the water, and put up at a house of entertainment. I\nthen inquired for Mr. Caird, and was told that he was in the same\nstreet near to me. I saw him, and tried to tell him of the glorious\nfullness of the gospel. He immediately rejected, and refused to\nhear me, and commenced to speak reproachfully of me and the cause.\nI replied to him in the language of the New Testament: \"Doth our\nlaw judge a man before it hear him?\" He answered with a sneer: \"I\nam perfectly willing to judge Mormonism without hearing it; I would\nnot break my shins to hear it anyhow.\" I awoke a second time,\nfeeling satisfied in regard to Mr. Caird.\n\nI arose next morning and told the people that I now knew Mr.\nCaird; that he was false, and would bitterly and utterly refuse to\ninvestigate or hear the truth. I told them I had no desire to go to\nsee him, for the Lord had shown him to me in a dream, and I knew\nmore about him than all of them. This, however, they could not\nrealize; they assured me that he was no such man; and, as they had\nfound me the means to go and see him, and had chosen a man to go\nwith me, they rather insisted on my going. \"Well,\" said I, \"I will\ngo, but you will find the matter just as I tell you.\" So I went,\naccompanied by a Mr. Goodson.\n\nWe landed in Kingston at early dawn, went up the street as I had\ndreamed, took lodgings, and then inquired for Mr. Caird, and was\nanswered that he was near us on the same street. I wrote him a line\nseeking an interview. No answer was returned. We waited all day,\nand then attended his meeting at evening. He preached well, and\nshowed great intelligence. I could detect nothing to condemn. As he\nwas about closing, I prayed the Lord to cause him to show himself,\nthat I might discern his spirit. On a sudden he broke off from his\nsubject, and commenced railing against Mormonism at a most horrible\nrate. He said he had that day received a line from one of these\nimpostors, calling him brother, and professing to be of the new\nchurch, which had been lately organized in England by the spirit of\nrevelation; \"by this false profession,\" he said, \"they had deceived\nsome of his friends in Toronto.\" Now all these things were lies.\n\nI arose in the meeting and asked to speak, but did not obtain\nprivilege. I, however, told the people that Mr. Caird had lied; he\nhad received no line from an Elder of the Church of the Saints\ncalling him brother, or professing to be of his new church,\norganized in England; I defied him to produce such a line. All the\nanswer the multitude returned to this was to hiss, and to cry,\n\"Gold Bible! Gold Bible!--New Revelation!\" etc.\n\nNext morning we published a printed handbill with a statement of\nhis lying, a copy of the line I had really sent to him, and a\nstatement of our doctrine as Latter-day Saints. This we circulated\nfreely in his next meeting, challenging him to refute the charge,\nor to meet us in debate.\n\nWe could draw no answer from him. We circulated the handbills in\nthe streets by hundreds, and then sent plenty of them by mail to\nour friends in Toronto. The bill was headed: \"_Doth our law\njudge a man before it hear him?_\" Our friends in Toronto were\nastonished above measure at the confirmation of the dream, in which\nGod by his servant had revealed a man's spirit, and clearly exposed\nthe heart of a wicked man whom his best acquaintances were unable\nto discern. Mr. Caird, on being exposed at Kingston, fled to\nToronto, and there commenced preaching to crowds in the Court\nHouse; but there the news boys met him in the face, and circulated\nthe handbills which we had sent, showing him to be a liar, and he\nutterly unable to refute or gainsay it. He threatened persecution;\nbut the boys, nothing daunted, continued to offer the bills gratis\nin his face to those who went in to hear.\n\nWe returned to Toronto, and his old friends urged him to meet\nme; but he could not be prevailed on to do so, although his\ndiscourses were full of opposition, and misrepresentation of the\nprinciples of the Saints. I now applied to Wm. Lyon McKenzie, a\nprinter and editor, in King street, for some large public halls or\nrooms of his, which would hold hundreds of people. He gave us the\nuse of them, and we put out a bill, advertising two meetings, and\npledging to the public that we would prove to a demonstration that\nMr. Caird, who was now preaching in this city, was a false teacher,\nwhom God had never sent, and that no believer in the Bible, who\nlistened with attention, should go away unconvinced of that fact,\nor the truth of the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of\nLatter-day Saints. In the handbill Mr. Caird was again invited to\nattend.\n\nLong before the hour of the first appointment had arrived the\nhouse as thronged to that degree that ten dollars was in vain urged\nupon any one who would vacate their seat, even on the stairs which\nled to the hall. I took for a text the saying of the Apostle John:\n\"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of\nChrist, the same hath not God.\" I then reviewed the doctrine of\nChrist and of His Apostles, in detail, showing what were the\nordinances, gifts, powers, precepts, promises, and commandments of\nJesus Christ, as contrasted with the public teachings and doings of\nthis man, Caird.\n\nThe people were astonished at the review and contrast, and were\napparently all satisfied that we had fulfilled the pledge to a\ndemonstration. The next evening the house was as crowded as the\nfirst; all listened with profound attention. We opened the\nScriptures of the prophets, and many were enlightened. In these two\nmeetings Elder Hyde was present, and presided as chairman. Thus was\nfulfilled to the letter this strange and wonderful double dream.\nAnd thus the truth prevailed over the counterfeit, while the\npeople's minds were settled as to which was the Moses and which was\nthe magician.\n\nMr. Caird retired from the country, returned home to Scotland,\nwhere I found him ten years afterwards living in private life and\nof no notoriety.\n\nThe truth had now triumphed in Canada, as was predicted on my\nhead on starting from Kirtland, Ohio. Several branches of the\nChurch had been organized, and Elders had been ordained to take\ncare of the flocks and to continue the work. I took an affectionate\nleave of my friends in that country, and, with my wife, returned\nhome. Where I had labored, the Lord had opened the hearts of the\nSaints sufficiently to pay up my debts, as had been predicted; and\nat the turn of the season, less than a twelvemonth from the date of\nbrother Kimball's prophecy, my wife bore me a son, and we called\nhis name Parley. He was born early in the morning of March 25th,\n1837.\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n------------------------\n\nTwo Items of Prophecy:--Death of my Wife:\nAn Open Vision Forewarning Her of Her Death:--Burial:\nDescription of Her Person and Character:--Reflections:\nReturn to Canada:--Selection for an English Mission\nJarrings in the Church:--Apostacy:--Temptation:--\nDeliverance:--Mission to New York City:--The Voice of\nWarning:--Its Success:--English Mission:--Remarkable\nProphecy:--Several Instances of Healing:--Spread of the\nWork in the City and Country.\n\nThere were but two points in this extraordinary prophecy which\nnow remained unfulfilled. One of these was that from the results of\nthis Canada Mission the work should spread into England, and a\ngreat work there would be the consequence. The other was that I\nshould eventually be so rich and have so much money that I would\nloath the counting thereof.\n\nMy dear wife had now lived to accomplish her destiny; and when\nthe child was dressed, and she had looked upon it and embraced it,\nshe ceased to live in the flesh. Her death happened about three\nhours after birth of this child of promise. A few days previous to\nher death she had a vision in open day while sitting in her room.\nShe was overwhelmed or immersed in a pillar of fire, which seemed\nto fill the whole room as if it would consume it and all things\ntherein; and the Spirit whispered to her mind, saying: \"Thou art\nbaptized with fire and the Holy Ghost.\" It also intimated to her\nthat she should have the privilege of departing from this world of\nsorrow and pain, and of going to the Paradise of rest as soon as\nshe had fulfilled the prophecy in relation to the promised son.\nThis vision was repeated on the next day at the same hour,\nviz:--twelve o'clock. She was overwhelmed with a joy and peace\nindescribable, and seemed changed in her whole nature from that\ntime forth. She longed to be gone, and anticipated the time as a\nhireling counts the days of his servitude, or the prisoner the term\nof his imprisonment.\n\nShe was buried in the churchyard near the Temple in Kirtland,\nMany hundreds attended the funeral and wept sorely, for she was\nextensively known. Her trials, for the gospel's sake, while her\nhusband had been absent from time to time on distant missions, her\nlingering sickness of years, her barrenness, her miraculous cure,\nher conception of the promised child, were all matters of note in\nthe Church far and near. But she had gone behind the veil to rest,\nwhere the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest;\nwhile I was left to toil and struggle alone. My grief, and sorrow,\nand loneliness I shall not attempt to describe.\n\nMy son was put to nurse on the breast of a sister Allen, who had\njust then lost an infant. For the satisfaction of our posterity I\nwill here attempt some description of my wife's person and\nqualities.\n\nShe was tall, of a slender frame, her face of an oval form, eyes\nlarge and of a dark color, her forehead lofty, clear complexion,\nhair black, smooth and glossy. She was of a mild and affectionate\ndisposition and full of energy, perseverance, industry and\ncheerfulness when not borne down with sickness. In order, neatness\nand refinement of taste and habit she might be said to excel. She\nwas an affectionate and dutiful wife, an exemplary Saint, and,\nthrough much tribulation, she has gone to the world of spirits to\nmeet a glorious resurrection and an immortal crown and kingdom.\n\nFarewell, my dear Thankful, thou wife of my youth, and mother of\nmy first born; the beginning of my strength--farewell. Yet a few\nmore lingering years of sorrow, pain and toil, and I shall be with\nthee, and clasp thee to my bosom, and thou shalt sit down on my\nthrone, as a queen and priestess unto thy lord, arrayed in white\nrobes of dazzling splendor and decked with precious stones and\ngold, while thy queen sisters shall minister before thee and bless\nthee, and thy sons and daughters innumerable shall call thee\nblessed, and hold thy name in everlasting remembrance.\n\nIn the spring of 1837, soon after the death of my wife, I\nreturned to Canada, to visit the Saints, and to confer on the\nsubject of a mission to England. Several of the Saints in Canada\nwere English, who had friends in England. Letters had already been\nsent to them with information of the rise of the Church, and of its\nprinciples. Several of the Canadian Elders felt a desire to go on a\nmission to their friends in that country.\n\nAt length, Joseph Fielding, Isaac Russell, John Goodson and John\nSnider, of the Canada Elders, were selected for a mission to\nEngland. Elders H. C. Kimball and Orson Hyde, of the quorum of the\nTwelve, were selected to go at the head of the mission, and Elder\nWillard Richards was appointed to accompany them.\n\nAbout this time, after I had returned from Canada, there were\njarrings and discords in the Church at Kirtland, and many fell away\nand became enemies and apostates. There were also envyings, lyings,\nstrifes and divisions, which caused much trouble and sorrow. By\nsuch spirits I was also accused, misrepresented and abused. And at\none time, I also was overcome by the same spirit in a great\nmeasure, and it seemed as if the very powers of darkness which war\nagainst the Saints were let loose upon me. But the Lord knew my\nfaith, my zeal, my integrity of purpose, and he gave me the\nvictory.\n\nI went to brother Joseph Smith in tears, and, with a broken\nheart and contrite spirit, confessed wherein I had erred in spirit,\nmurmured, or done or said amiss. He frankly forgave me, prayed for\nme and blessed me. Thus, by experience, I learned more fully to\ndiscern and to contrast the two spirits, and to resist the one and\ncleave to the other. And, being tempted in all points, even as\nothers, I learned how to bear with, and excuse, and succor those\nwho are tempted.\n\nLate in July I arrived in the City of New York, on a mission,\ntook lodgings, and commenced to preach and write. My first\nproduction in that city was a book of upwards of two hundred pages,\nentitled the \"Voice of Warning.\" The first edition of this work\nconsisted of four thousand copies; it has since been published and\nre-published in America and Europe, till some forty or fifty\nthousand copies have not been sufficient to supply the demand.\nThousands date their conversion to the fullness of the gospel to\nthe reading of that book.\n\nWhile I was thus engaged, the English mission, under brothers\nKimball and Hyde, began to prosper exceedingly. It first commenced\nin Preston, where some of the friends of the Canada Elders had\nalready had some information of it by letters from Canada. From\nthis beginning it spread, till now, 1854, it shows for itself\nwhether brother Kimball's prophecy was fulfilled, which said to me\nthe year before, that a great work should be done in Canada under\nmy hand, and that from thence it should spread into England, and a\ngreat work should be done there.\n\nThus is completed, all but one item, a chain of prophecy, which\nmay, perhaps, be set down as one among the most extraordinary in\nthe annals of history. It is extraordinary, whether we look at the\nvaried scenery, the wide and complicated field of action, the\nclearness and precision of its numerous items and specifications,\nthe lack of natural probability of its fulfillment, or the\nprecision and exactness with which it was progressively fulfilled\nin every item. Having thus proved the merits of brother Kimball as\na prophet, I look for the time when I shall possess great riches,\nand even handle money till the counting thereof will be a burthen.\nI look for this with all the certainty with which any person can\nanticipate anything in the future.\n\nBut to return to my own narrative. Of all the places in which\nthe English language is spoken, I found the City of New York to be\nthe most difficult as to access to the minds or attention of the\npeople. From July to January we preached, advertised, printed,\npublished, testified, visited, talked, prayed, and wept in vain. To\nall appearance there was no interest or impression on the minds of\nthe people in regard to the fullness of the gospel. There was one\nmember of the Church of the Saints living there, whose name was\nElijah Fordham; he was an Elder, and assisted me. We had baptized\nabout six members, and organized a little branch, who were\naccustomed to meet in a small upper room in Goerck street;\nsometimes two or three others met with us. We had hired chapels and\nadvertised, but the people would not hear, and the few who came\nwent away without being interested. So we had been forced to give\nthem tip, after spending our money and strength in vain.\n\nWe had retired to our private room up stairs with the few\nmembers we had, to hold a last prayer meeting, as I was about\ntaking leave for New Orleans. We had prayed all round in turn,\nwhen, on a sudden, the room was filled with the Holy Spirit, and so\nwas each one present. We began to speak in tongues and prophesy.\nMany marvelous things were manifested which I cannot write; but the\nprincipal burthen of the prophesyings was concerning New York City,\nand our mission there.\n\nThe Lord said that He had heard our prayers, beheld our labors,\ndiligence, and long suffering towards that city; and that He had\nseen our tears. Our prayers were heard, and our labors and\nsacrifices were accepted. We should tarry in the city, and go not\nthence as yet; for the Lord had many people in that city, and He\nhad now come by the power of His Holy Spirit to gather them into\nHis fold. His angels should go before us and cooperate with us. His\nHoly Spirit should give the people visions and dreams concerning us\nand the work of the Lord; and He would make bare his arm to heal\nthe sick and confirm the Word by signs following; and from that\nvery day forward we should have plenty of friends, money to pay our\ndebts with the publishers; means to live, and crowds to hear us.\nAnd there should be more doors open for preaching than we could\nfill; crowds, who could not get in, should stand in the streets and\nabout the entrance to try to hear us; and we should know that the\nAlmighty could open a door and no man could shut it.\n\nAs these things were manifested in power and the demonstration\nof the Spirit, we could not doubt them. So we gave up going to New\nOrleans, and concluded to stay; but we were almost ready to say in\nour hearts, like one of old: \"If the Lord should make windows in\nHeaven could these things be?\"\n\nNow there was in this little meeting a man named David Rogers,\nwhose heart was touched. He, being a chair-maker, fitted up a large\nroom, and seated it with the chairs of his ware house, and invited\nus to preach in the same. This room was crowded. He then joined\nwith one of our members, who was a joiner, and rented a small\nplace, and seated it for a regular place of meeting; this was\ngenerally crowded. In the meantime, a Methodist clergyman came to\nhear me, whose name was Cox. He invited me to his house to preach,\nnear East River; he and household were obedient to the faith, with\nmany of the members of his society. While preaching, a lady\nsolicited me to preach in her house in Willett street; for, said\nshe, \"I had a dream of you and of the new Church the other night.\"\nAnother lady wished me to preach in her house, in Grand street.\n\nIn the meantime I was invited by the Free Thinkers to preach, or\ngive a course of lectures, in Tammany Hall. In short, it was not\nthree weeks from the delivery of the prophecies in the upper room\ntill we had fifteen preaching places in the city, all of which were\nfilled to overflowing. We preached about eleven times a week,\nbesides visiting from house to house. We soon commenced baptizing,\nand continued doing so almost daily during the winter and spring.\nOne lady, who had been four years under the doctor's care with a\ncrippled leg, arose and walked, with her leg instantly restored\nwhole, even as the other. Her physician was immediately dismissed,\nand was very angry, because we had spoiled his patronage. He even\nthreatened to sue us. Another lady, who had lain in her bed four\nyears with the dumb palsy, arose and walked. She had not, previous\nto our laying hands on her, been able to stir a finger, or a toe,\non her right side for about four years; so said the family, and so\nshe herself testified. In this case her physician, and also some\nreligious ministers, who called to see her, glorified God,\nacknowledged His hand, and exhorted her to persevere in the faith.\n\nA child of Mr. Wandle Mace, of No. 13 Bedford street, was healed\nof brain fever in the last stage, when the doctors had given it\nover, and the kindred and neighbors had gathered in to see it die.\nI laid my hands on it, in the presence of them all, and it was\nhealed, and in a few hours took nourishment, and commenced to play\nand run about the floor. In the same house, in an upper chamber,\nlay a woman, by the name of Dexter, sick, who had not left her\nroom, nor scarcely her bed, for some six months; she was at the\npoint of death, and her babe also, who had taken the disease from\nher. Her mother, who had the care of her, was present when the\nchild was healed, and she ran up stairs and told the woman that\nthere were men below who healed the sick, as in days of old, by the\nlaying on of hands in the name of Jesus. The woman exclaimed:\n\"Thank God, then I can be healed.\" She sent for us, and was from\nthat hour restored to health, and the child also. She walked about\ntwo miles to the East River and was baptized, and then walked home\nagain--it being a very wet day with snow and rain, and the\nsidewalks about shoe deep in snow and mud. After these three\nmiracles of healing had been witnessed in that house in Bedford\nstreet, six persons who witnessed them were baptized, viz: Wandle\nMace and wife, Theodore Curtis and wife, and the sick woman and her\nmother, before named.\n\nDuring our stay in New York I made frequent visits to the\ncountry, and to other towns. Branches of the Church were formed at\nSing, and in Jersey, and also in Brooklyn and various other parts\nof Long Island. Some members were also baptized in Holiston, Mass.\n\nOn May 9th I received the hand of Mary Ann Frost, daughter of\nAaron Frost, of Bethel, Oxford County, Maine, in marriage. She was\nthe widow of Nathan Stearns, and had one daughter, about four years\nof age.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n------------------------\n\nRemove to Missouri:--National Anniversary at Far West:--Corner Stone\nof a Temple:--Insurrections:--Defence:--Attack on De Witt, Carroll\nCounty:--Mob Chaplain:--Surrender and Flight of the Citizens of De\nWitt:--Action of the Governor:--General Defence:--Battle of Crooked\nRiver:--Death of Colonel Patten:--Defence Construed into Murder and\nTreason:--Muster of State Forces Against the \"Mormons,\" with Orders for\nExtermination:--General Lucas, with Four Thousand Men, Menaces Far\nWest.\n\nIn April, 1838, I took leave of New York, and, with a small\ncolony, emigrated once more to Missouri. We settled in Caldwell\nCounty in May. Here I again commenced anew; built a house and made\na farm. I also devoted much of my time to the ministry; I visited\nmany different neighborhoods, and was everywhere received with\nhospitality, and listened to with interest and attention.\n\nOn the 4th of July, 1838, thousands of the citizens who belonged\nto the Church of the Saints assembled at the City of Far West, the\ncounty seat of Caldwell, in order to celebrate our nation's birth.\nWe erected a tall standard, on which was hoisted our national\ncolors, the stars and stripes, and the bold eagle of American\nliberty. Under its waving folds we laid the corner stone of a\nTemple of God, and dedicated the land and ourselves and families to\nHim who had preserved us in all our troubles. An address was then\ndelivered by S. Rigdon, in which was portrayed in lively colors the\noppression which we had suffered at the hands of our enemies. We\nthen and there declared our constitutional rights as American\ncitizens, and manifested our determination to resist, with our\nutmost endeavors from that time forth, all oppression, and to\nmaintain our rights and our freedom, according to the holy\nprinciples of liberty, as guaranteed to every person by the\nConstitution and laws of our country.\n\nThis declaration was received with shouts of hosannah to God and\nthe Lamb, and with many long cheers by the assembled thousands, who\nwere determined to yield their rights no more, unless compelled by\nsuperior power.\n\nSoon after these things the war clouds began again to lower with\ndark and threatening aspect. Those who had combined against the\nlaws in the adjoining counties, had long watched our increasing\npower and prosperity with jealousy, and with greedy and avaricious\neyes. It was a common boast that, as soon as we had completed our\nextensive improvements, and made a plentiful crop, they would drive\nus from the state, and once more enrich themselves with the spoils.\n\nAccordingly, at an election held in Daviess County, a portion of\nthese bandits undertook to prevent the members of the Church of the\nSaints from voting--forcing them from the poll box, and threatening\nto kill whoever should attempt to vote. As some voters were\nattacked they defended themselves, knocked down several of their\nopponents, gained the victory, and cast in their votes.\n\nThis was a pretext for a general rising of the insurrectionists\nin all the adjoining counties. They were alarmed for fear the \"_\nMormons_,\" as they called them, should become so formidable as\nto maintain their rights and liberties, insomuch that they could no\nmore drive and plunder them. Public meetings were held in Carroll,\nSaline, and other counties; in which resolutions were passed and\npublished, openly declaring the treasonable and murderous intention\nof driving the citizens belonging to the Church from their\ncounties, and, if possible, from the state.\n\nResolutions to this effect were published in the journals of\nupper Missouri, and this without a single remark of disapprobation.\nNay, more: this murderous gang, when assembled in arms and painted\nlike Indian warriors, and when openly committing murder, robbery,\nhouse burning, and every crime known to the laws, were denominated\ncitizens, whites, etc., in most of the journals of the State. While\nthose who stood firm to the laws of the land, and only defended\nthemselves, and their homes and country, were denominated \"_ Mormons_,\"\nin contradistinction to the appellation of \"_citizens_,\" \"_whites_,\"\netc., as if we had been some savage tribe, or some colored race of\nforeigners.\n\nIn pursuance of the resolutions thus passed and published, a\nformidable banditti were soon assembled under arms, to the amount\nof several hundred, and rendezvoused in Daviess County. Here they\ncommenced firing upon our citizens, plundering, and taking\npeaceable citizens prisoners. The people of the Church made no\nresistance, except to assemble on their own ground for defense.\nThey also made oath before the District Judge, Austin A. King, to\nthe above outrages.\n\nOne thousand men were then ordered into service, under the\ncommand of Major-General Atchison, and Brigadier-Generals Parks and\nDoniphan. These marched to Daviess County and remained in service\nthirty days. But, judging from the result, they had no intention of\ncoming in contact with the mob, but only to make a show of\ndefending _one_ neighborhood, while the mob were allowed to\nattack _another_. The gang now withdrew from Daviess County\nand proceeded to De Witt, Carroll County. Here they laid siege for\nseveral days, and subsisted by plunder and robbery, watching every\nopportunity to fire upon our citizens.\n\nAt this time they had one or more pieces of artillery, in\naddition to small arms and ammunition in abundance. A Presbyterian\npriest, \"_Rev_.\" Sashel Woods, served as chaplain to the\ngang, and said prayers in the camp evening and morning. They\nsucceeded in killing a number of citizens in and about De Witt. They\nalso turned a gentleman, named Smith Humphrey, and his wife and\nchildren out of doors, when sick, and setting fire to the house,\nburned it to ashes before their eyes. At length they succeeded in\ndriving every citizen from the place, at the sacrifice of\neverything which they could not take with them.\n\nThis happened during a cold, stormy time in October; and, as\nmany of the citizens were sickly, and robbed of shelter and\neverything comfortable, they came near perishing. Some of them, in\nfact, did perish before they arrived in Caldwell, a distance of\nsixty miles. Here the survivors were hospitably taken in by their\nbrethren. The militia, under General Parks, made some show of\ntrying to prevent these outrages; but all in vain. At length the\nGeneral informed the citizens that his forces were so small, and\nmany of them so much in favor of the insurrectionists, that it was\nuseless to look any longer to them for protection.\n\nSeveral messages were also sent to the Governor, Lilburn W.\nBoggs, the old mob-leader, imploring protection. But he was utterly\ndeaf to everything which called for the protection of the \"_\nMormons_,\" as he called us. But, on the contrary, he harkened\nto the insinuations of the mob which were without shadow of\nfoundation. At one time he called out an army, and put himself at\ntheir head to march against the \"_Mormons_.\" But, as he\napproached the upper country with this formidable force of several\nthousand men, he was officially notified that the \"_Mormons_\"\nwere not in a state of insurrection, but were the victims of\nthose who were so, and that they needed his help.\n\nHis Excellency then disbanded his forces, and returned to\nJefferson City, to await till the mobs should compel the \"_\nMormons_\" to some act that might be considered illegal, which\nwould give him some pretext for driving them from the State.\n\nAfter the evacuation of De Witt, when our citizens were\nofficially notified that they must protect themselves, and expect\nno more protection from any department of the State Government,\nthey assembled in Far West to the number of one thousand men, or\nthereabout, and resolved to defend their rights to the last. A call\nwas made upon every person who could bear arms to come forward in\ndefense of our houses, homes, wives and children, and the cause of\nour country and our God. In the meantime the bandits, elated with\nsuccess and emboldened by the negligence of every department of the\nState Government, were increasing in numbers daily. They were\nconcentrating in Daviess County, with artillery and military\nstores, with open threats that they would now drive the citizens\nfrom Daviess and Caldwell Counties.\n\nIn their marauding expeditions they took a number of citizens\nprisoners. Among these was Mr. Amasa Lyman, a minister of the\ngospel, and an excellent citizen of Caldwell County. They kept him\nprisoner for a number of days, while his family was in suspense and\nknew not his fate. They abused him in various ways, and held\nfrequent consultations to kill him; but at length he was set at\nliberty.\n\nThe people of Daviess County assembled several hundred men for\ndefense. Several parties of the banditti were met, disarmed and\ndispersed. A detachment under Colonel D. W. Patten, marched against\ntheir main body with a _posse_ of about one hundred men, met\nand dispersed them, with the loss of their artillery and some\nmilitary stores. Another party were dispersed and disarmed by the\nsheriff of Caldwell County and his _posse_, as they were on\nthe march through that county to reinforce the banditti of Daviess.\n\nWhile these transactions were going forward, small parties of\nthe enemy were busily engaged among the settlements, in plundering\nand burning houses; driving women and children from their homes to\nperish with hunger and cold, and robbing them of beds, bedding,\nfurniture, wearing apparel, etc., etc. Hundreds were thus compelled\nto flee to the cities and strongholds. Many women and children came\nin at the dead hours of the night, and in the midst of dreadful\nstorms of rain and snow, in which they came near perishing.\n\nWhile these things were transpiring in Daviess, Caldwell was\nthreatened from every quarter. Her citizens were driven from her\nfrontiers, and came pouring into the town of Far West, from day to\nday, with women, children, goods, provisions, etc.; in short, with\neverything moveable which they had time to bring. Lands and crops\nwere abandoned to the enemy. The citizens were under arms from day\nto day, and a strict military guard was maintained every night. Men\nslept in their clothes, with arms by their sides, and ready to\nmuster at a given signal at any hour of the night.\n\nDuring this state of alarm guns were fired and the signal drum\nbeat in the middle of a dark and gloomy night of October. The\ncitizens came running together with arms in hand. An express had\narrived from the south part of the county, stating that a party of\nthe enemy were plundering houses, carrying off prisoners, killing\ncattle, and ordering families out of their houses, on pain of\nhaving them burned over their heads. A portion of the militia,\nunder Captain Durphy, went with a deputy sheriff to the scene of\nthe riot. I was one of the _posse_, the whole consisting of\nabout sixty men.\n\nThis company was soon under way, having to ride through\nextensive prairies a distance of some twelve miles. The night was\ndark, the distant plains far and wide were illuminated by blazing\nfires, immense columns of smoke were seen rising in awful majesty,\nas if the world was on fire. This scene of grandeur can only be\ncomprehended by those acquainted with scenes of prairie burning; as\nthe fire sweeps over millions of acres of dry grass in the fall\nseason, and leaves a smooth, black surface divested of all\nvegetation.\n\nThe thousand meteors, blazing in the distance like the\ncamp-fires of some war host, threw a fitful gleam of light upon the\ndistant sky, which many might have mistaken for the Aurora\nBorealis. This scene, added to the silence of midnight, the\nrumbling sound of the tramping steeds over the hard and dried\nsurface of the plain, the clanking of swords in their scabbards,\nthe occasional gleam of bright armor in the flickering firelight,\nthe gloom of surrounding darkness, and the unknown destiny of the\nexpedition, or even of the people who sent it forth; all combined\nto impress the mind with deep and solemn thoughts, and to throw a\nromantic vision over the imagination, which is not often\nexperienced, except in the poet's dreams, or in the wild imagery of\nsleeping fancy.\n\nIn this solemn procession we moved on for some two hours, when\nit was supposed we were in the neighborhood of danger. We were then\nordered to dismount and leave our horses with a guard. This done,\nwe proceeded on foot for a mile or two in search of the enemy. We\nhad not proceeded far when, as we entered the wilderness, we were\nsuddenly fired upon by an unknown enemy in ambush. One of our\nlittle number fell at the first fire, being mortally wounded; his\nname was Obanyon. At a short distance we could now behold the\ncamp-fires of the enemy. It was now dawn of day in the eastern\nhorizon, but darkness still hovered over the scenes of conflict.\nOrders were issued to form in the brush, and under cover of the\ntrees, which was instantly done. The fire now became general on\nboth sides, and the whole wilderness seemed one continued echo of\nthe report of the deadly rifle. After a few rounds of discharges,\norders were given to charge the enemy in the camp. As we rushed\nupon them the strife became deadly, and several fell on both sides.\nAt this instant a ball pierced the brave Colonel, David Patten, who\nwas then at my side, and I saw him fall. Being on the eve of\nvictory, I dared not stop to look after his fate, or that of\nothers, but rushed into the enemy's camp. This was located on the\nimmediate banks of Crooked River, which was here several rods wide,\nand not fordable. The enemy, being hard pushed, flung themselves\ninto the stream, and struggled for the other shore. Those who\nreached it soon disappeared.\n\nThe firing now ceased, and the wilderness resounded with the\nwatchword, \"_God and Liberty_.\"\n\nOur little band, which had been thrown into some disorder, were\ninstantly formed, and their pieces reloaded. This done, a\ndetachment surveyed the field, to look after the wounded. I turned\nto Gideon Carter, who was lying on his face, and saw him die. His\nface was so marred and disfigured with wounds and blood that I did\nnot recognize him then, but learned afterwards that we had mistaken\nhim for one of the enemy, and left him on the ground in mistake. I\nnext found David Patten, whom, a few minutes previously, I had seen\nfall. He could speak, but was lying on his side, pale and almost\ndying, a ball having pierced the lower part of his body. Many\nothers were wounded, and some dangerously.\n\nThe enemy had left their horses, saddles, camp and baggage, in\nthe confusion of the flight. We harnessed some of their horses and\nplaced them before a wagon, arranged blankets therein, on which we\nlaid those who were not able to mount a horse; this done, our whole\ntroop mounted the horses we had taken and formed in front and rear\nof the wagon which bore the wounded. We then moved slowly back to\nthe guard and horses we had left. Here we halted and readjusted the\nwounded. It was an awful sight to see them pale and helpless, and\nhear their groans. There were about six of our men wounded, and one\nleft dead on the ground. The enemy suffered a similar loss, besides\ntheir camp, and many of their arms and military stores.\n\nWe ascertained from the prisoners whom we rescued, that the enemy\nconsisted of about sixty marauders, headed by a Methodist preacher,\nnamed Bogart. Our _posse_ who were actually engaged, could not have\nbeen more than fifty. At the commencement of the engagement there were\nthree of our fellow citizens held as prisoners in their camp; they\nhad been kidnapped from their peaceful homes the day previous. Two of\nthese made their escape at the commencement of the engagement; the\nthird was shot through the body in attempting to run to our lines, but\nfortunately recovered.\n\nHaving now arranged everything to the best advantage for the\nwounded, we made slowly on towards Far West. When we came within\nfive miles of the city our express had reached there with the news\nof the battle, and we were met by a surgeon and others for our\nrelief. Among those who met us here was the wife of the pale and\ndying Patten. Our wounded were now taken into a house, and their\nwounds dressed. As Mrs. Patten entered the room, and cast her eyes\nupon the pale and ghastly features of her husband, she burst into\ntears, exclaiming: \"O God! O my husband! How pale you look!\"\n\nHe was still able to speak, but he died that evening in the\ntriumphs of faith. The young Obanyon also died about the same time.\nThe others recovered of their wounds, but one of them named Hendrix\nis still a cripple. Patten and Obanyon were buried together, under\nmilitary honors; a whole people, as it were, followed them to the\ngrave. All wept, whose feelings were not too intense to find vent\nin tears. He was the only member of the Quorum of the Twelve who\nhad as yet found a martyr's grave. He was a great and good man, and\none who chose to lay down his life for the cause of truth and\nright; for this privilege he had diligently sought and prayed;\n\"for,\" said he, \"I had rather die than live to see it thus in my\ncountry.\"\n\nBut, to return to the main thread of my narrative: having\nconveyed the wounded to their place of hospitality, the _posse\n_ hastened to Far West, and delivered the spoils of the enemy\nto the colonel of the regiment, who afterwards delivered them to\nthe higher civil or military authorities of the State.\n\nThese several defeats of the insurrectionists in Daviess County,\nas well as in Caldwell County, checked for a time their ruinous\nravages. They saw that it was impossible to conquer a people who\nwere fighting for their homes, their wives and children, as well as\nfor their country and conscience, unless they could come against\nthem with some show of authority; for it had become an established\nfact that the people of the Saints never resisted authority,\nhowever abused.\n\nThe next exertion of the enemy was to spread lies and falsehoods\nof the most alarming character. All our acts of defense were\nconstrued into insurrection, treason, murder and plunder. In short,\nthe public were deceived by bigotry, priestcraft, and a corrupt\npress, and made to look upon all our acts of defense precisely as\nthey would look upon the same acts performed, without cause or\nprovocation, upon peaceable citizens. Murderous gangs were\nconstrued into peaceable militia in the State service, and to\nresist them was, on the part of the Saints, murder, treason and\nrobbery. And, finally, the whole was treated abroad as the \"_\nMormon insurrection_,\"--\"_Mormon war_,\" etc.\n\nAnd, as if this were not enough, parties set fire to their own\nhouses, or that of their neighbors, and then laid it to the Saints.\nWhole neighborhoods were falsely alarmed, or rather really alarmed,\nby the doings of these bandits; and in their fright they fled to\nmore distant places of security, and clamored loudly to the State\nauthorities for protection from the \"_Mormons_,\" whom they\nrepresented as burning, plundering, and destroying all before them.\nWhile they were simply standing on their own ground and maintaining\nthe defensive, and this, too, in the last extreme, and not till\nthey were abandoned by every department of the State Government.\n\nThis flame was greatly assisted by several dissenters from the\nChurch through fear, or for love of power and gain. These\ndissenters became even more false, hardened, and bloodthirsty than\nthose who had never known the way of righteousness. Many of them\njoined the enemy, and were the leaders in all manner of lying,\nmurder and plunder. The Governor and ex-mobber, Lilburn W. Boggs,\nwho had long sought some opportunity to destroy us, and drive us\nfrom the State, now issued an order for some ten thousand troops to\nbe mustered into service and marched to the field against the \"_\nMormons_.\" He gave the command of this formidable force to\nGeneral Clark, who lived, perhaps, a hundred and fifty miles or\nmore from the scene of trouble. The order was expressly to\nexterminate the \"_Mormons_,\" or drive them from the State.\n\nIt said nothing of criminals; it made no allusion to punishing\ncrime and protecting innocence; it was sufficient to be called a\n\"_Mormon_.\" A peaceable family just emigrating, or passing\nthrough the country; a missionary going or coming on his peaceable\nerrand of mercy; an aged soldier of the American revolution on his\ndeath bed, or leaning on his staff in the chimney corner; a widow\nwith her babes; the tender wife, or helpless orphan; all were\nincluded in this order of wholesale extermination or banishment. It\nwas enough that they believed as Mormon did; or that they were\nmembers of the Church of the Saints.\n\nSo did the order read, and so it was construed by the officers\nand soldiers entrusted with its execution. On the other hand, all\nthe bandits, murderers, robbers, thieves, and house burners who had\nmobbed our people for the five years previous, were now converted\ninto orderly, loyal, patriotic State militia, and mustered into\nservice under pay, or suffered to murder people of every age and\nsex, and plunder them on their own hook wherever they chose,\nprovided they were considered \"_Mormons_.\"\n\nWhile General Clark was mustering his forces for this wholesale\nmurder and treason, Major General D. Lucas and Brigadier General\nMoses Wilson, who were well known as the old leaders of the former\noutrages in Jackson County, under this same Boggs--being nearer the\nscene of action, and wishing to share the plunder and immortalize\ntheir names--put themselves at the head of all the old mobbers of\nJackson County they could muster, and all those bandits who had\nmore lately infested the counties of Carroll, Daviess and Caldwell,\nand such other militia as they could muster, and marched directly\nfor the city of Far West, where they arrived while General Clark\nand his forces were several days' journey from the scene of action.\nThe army of Lucas, thus mustered and marched, consisted of some\nthree or four thousand men.\n\nIn the meantime the Governor's orders and these military\nmovements were kept an entire secret from the citizens of Caldwell\nand Daviess, who were suffering all this oppression from lawless\noutrages; even the mail was withheld from Far West. We had only\nheard that large bodies of armed men were approaching from the\nsouth, and we had sent a hundred and fifty men with a flag of truce\nto make inquiries. While they were absent on this mission an alarm\ncame to town that the whole county to the south was filled with\narmed men, who were murdering, plundering, and taking peaceful\ncitizens prisoners in their own houses. On the receipt of this\nintelligence every man flew to arms for the protection of our city.\n\nIt was now towards evening, and we had heard nothing from the\nreconnoitering company who went south in the morning. While we\nstood in our armor, gazing to the south in anxious suspense, we\nbeheld an army of cavalry with a long train of baggage wagons\nadvancing over the hills, at two miles distance. At first we\nconjectured it might be our little troop with the flag of truce;\nbut we soon saw that there were thousands of them. Our next thought\nwas that it might be some friendly troops sent for our protection;\nand then again we thought it might be a concentration of all the\nbandit forces combined for our destruction.\n\nAt all events, there was no time to be lost; for, although our\nforce then present did not exceed five hundred men, yet we did not\nintend that they should enter the town without giving some account\nof themselves. We accordingly marched out upon the plains on the\nsouth of the city and formed in order of battle. Our line of\ninfantry extended near half a mile. A small company of horses was\nposted on our right wing on a commanding eminence, and another\nsmall company in the rear of our main body, intended as a kind of\nreserve.\n\nBy this time the sun was near setting, and the advance of the\nunknown army had come within plain view, at less than one mile\ndistant. On seeing our forces presenting a small but formidable\nfront, they came to a halt, and formed along the borders of a\nstream called Goose Creek.\n\nBoth parties sent out a white flag, which met between the\narmies. Our messenger demanded to know who they were, and what were\ntheir intentions? The reply was: \"We want three persons out of the\ncity before we massacre the rest!\" This was a very alarming and\nunexpected answer. But they were soon prevailed on to suspend\nhostilities till morning, by which time we were in hopes to receive\nsome further and more satisfactory information. The enemy, under\nthe command of Major General D. Lucas, of Jackson County mob\nmemory, then commenced their encampment for the night. Our troops\ncontinued under arms during the night. The company of a hundred and\nfifty soon returned from the south, informing us that they had been\nhemmed in by the enemy during the day, and only escaped by their\nsuperior knowledge of the ground.\n\nWe also sent an express to Daviess County, and by morning were\nreinforced by quite a number of troops, under the command of\nColonel L. White. In the meantime a noted company of banditti,\nunder the command of Cornelius Gillum, who had long infested our\nborders, and been notorious for their murders and daring robberies,\nand who painted themselves as Indian warriors, came pouring in from\nthe West to strengthen the camp of the enemy.\n\nAnother company of murderers came in from Carroll County, and\nwere taken into the ranks of Lucas, after murdering some eighteen\nor twenty of our citizens (men, women and children) at Haun's Mill,\nof which particulars will be given hereafter. Thus both parties\nwere considerably reinforced during the night. The citizens of Far\nWest being determined, if attacked, to defend their homes, wives\nand children to the last, spent the night in throwing up a\ntemporary breastwork of building timber, logs, rails, floor plank,\netc.\n\nIn the morning the south side of the city was thus fortified,\nand also a considerable portion of the east and west sides--the\nwhole line extending a mile and a half.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n------------------------\n\nExterminating Order:--Betrayal and Imprisonment\nof Joseph Smith and Others:--Camp of the Enemy:--The Howlings\nof the Damned:--The Enemy Boast of the Highest Crimes:--Secret\nInquisitory Trial of the Prisoners:--Sentence of Death!--How\nReversed:--A Judas:--Surrender of Far West:--Attempt to\nAssassinate the Prisoners:--Farewell Scenes:--Captives Removed\nto Jackson County:--General Clark Demands the Prisoners:--Refusal\nto Surrender them:--Cross the Missouri River:--Visitors:--Preaching\nin Camp by President Smith:--Arrive at Independence:--Public\nExhibition of the Prisoners.\n\nOctober 31, 1838.--In the afternoon we were informed that the\nGovernor had ordered this force against us, with orders to\nexterminate or drive every \"_Mormon_\" from the State. As\nsoon as these facts were ascertained we determined not to resist\nanything in the shape of authority, however abused. We had now\nnothing to do but to submit to be massacred, driven, robbed or\nplundered, at the option of our persecutors.\n\nColonel George M. Hinkle, who was at that time the highest\nofficer of the militia assembled for the defense of Far West,\nwaited on Messrs. J. Smith, S. Rigdon, Hyrum Smith, L. Wight,\nGeorge Robinson and myself, with a request from General Lucas that\nwe would repair to his camp, with the assurance that as soon as\npeaceable arrangements could be entered into we should be released.\nWe had no confidence in the word of a murderer and robber, but\nthere was no alternative but to put our lives into the hands of\nsuch monsters, or to have the city attacked, and men, women and\nchildren massacred. We, therefore, commended ourselves to the Lord,\nand voluntarily surrendered as sheep into the hands of wolves. As\nwe approached the camp of the enemy General Lucas rode out to meet\nus with a guard of several hundred men.\n\nThe haughty general rode up, and, without speaking to us,\ninstantly ordered his guard to surround us. They did so very\nabruptly, and we were marched into camp surrounded by thousands of\nsavage looking beings, many of whom were dressed and painted like\nIndian warriors. These all set up a constant yell, like so many\nbloodhounds let loose upon their prey, as if they had achieved one\nof the most miraculous victories that ever graced the annals of the\nworld. If the vision of the infernal regions could suddenly open to\nthe mind, with thousands of malicious fiends, all clamoring,\nexulting, deriding, blaspheming, mocking, railing, raging and\nfoaming like a troubled sea, then could some idea be formed of the\nhell which we had entered.\n\nIn camp we were placed under a strong guard, and were without\nshelter during the night, lying on the ground in the open air, in\nthe midst of a great rain. The guards during the whole night kept\nup a constant tirade of mockery, and the most obscene blackguardism\nand abuse. They blasphemed God; mocked Jesus Christ; swore the most\ndreadful oaths; taunted Brother Joseph and others; demanded\nmiracles; wanted signs, such as: \"Come, Mr. Smith, show us an\nangel.\" \"Give us one of your revelations.\" \"Show us a miracle.\"\n\"Come, there is one of your brethren here in camp whom we took\nprisoner yesterday in his own house, and knocked his brains out\nwith his own rifle, which we found hanging over his fireplace; he\nlays speechless and dying; speak the word and heal him, and then we\nwill all believe.\" \"Or, if you are apostles or men of God, deliver\nyourselves, and then we will be Mormons.\" Next would be a volley of\noaths and blasphemies; then a tumultuous tirade of lewd boastings\nof having defiled virgins and wives by force, etc., much of which I\ndare not write; and, indeed, language would fail me to attempt more\nthan a faint description. Thus passed this dreadful night, and\nbefore morning several other captives were added to our number,\namong whom was Brother Amasa Lyman.\n\nWe were informed that the general officers held a secret council\nduring most of the night, which was dignified by the name of court\nmartial; in which, without a hearing, or, without even being\nbrought before it, we were all sentenced to be shot. The day and\nhour was also appointed for the execution of this sentence, viz.:\nnext morning at 8 o'clock, in the public square at Far West. Of\nthis we were informed by Brigadier-General Doniphan, who was one of\nthe council, but who was so violently opposed to this cool blooded\nmurder that he assured the council that he would revolt and\nwithdraw his whole brigade, and march them back to Clay County as\nsoon as it was light, if they persisted in so dreadful an\nundertaking. Said he, \"It is cold blooded murder, and I wash my\nhands of it.\" His firm remonstrance, and that of a few others, so\nalarmed the haughty murderer and his accomplices that they dare not\nput the decree in execution.\n\nThus, through a merciful providence of God our lives were spared\nthrough that dreadful night. It was the common talk, and even the\nboast in the camp, that individuals lay here and there unburied,\nwhere they had shot them down for sport. The females they had\nravished; the plunder they had taken; the houses they had burned;\nthe horses they had stolen; the fields of grain they had laid\nwaste, were common topics; and were dwelt on for mere amusement,\nor, as if these deeds were a stepstone to office; and it is a fact\nthat such deeds were so considered.\n\nNo pen need undertake to describe our feelings during that\nterrible night, while there confined not knowing the fate of our\nwives and children, or of our fellow Saints, and seeing no way for\nour lives to be saved except by the miraculous power of God. But,\nnotwithstanding all earthly hopes were gone, still we felt a\ncalmness indescribable. A secret whispering to our inmost soul\nseemed to say: \"Peace, my sons, be of good cheer, your work is not\nyet done; therefore I will restrain your enemies, that they shall\nnot have power to take your lives.\"\n\nWhile thus confined, Wm. E. McLellin, once my fellow laborer in\nthe gospel, but now a _Judas_, with hostile weapon in hand\nto destroy the Saints, came to me and observed: \"Well, Parley, you\nhave now got where you are certain never to escape; how do you feel\nas to the course you have taken in religion?\" I answered, \"that I\nhad taken that course which I should take if I had my life to live\nover again.\" He seemed thoughtful for a moment, and then replied:\n\"Well--I think, if I were you, I should die as I had lived; at any\nrate, I see no possibility of escape for you and your friends.\"\n\nNext morning Gen. Lucas demanded the Caldwell militia to give up\ntheir arms, which was done. As soon as the troops who had defended\nthe city were disarmed, it was surrounded by the enemy and all the\nmen detained as prisoners. None were permitted to pass out of the\ncity--although their families were starving for want of sustenance;\nthe mills and provisions being some distance from the city.\n\nThe brutal mob were now turned loose to ravage, steal, plunder\nand murder without restraint. Houses were rifled, women ravished,\nand goods taken as they pleased. The whole troop, together with\ntheir horses, lived on the grain and provisions. While cattle were\nshot down for mere sport, and sometimes men, women and children\nfared no better. On the third morning after our imprisonment we\nwere placed in a wagon, in order for removal. Many of the more\ndesperate then crowded around, cocked their rifles, and singling us\nout presented them to our breasts, and swore they would blow us\nthrough. Some guns were snapped, but missed fire, and the rest were\nin a small degree restrained by the officers, and we still lived.\n\nWe were now marched to Far West, under the conduct of the whole\narmy; and while they halted in the public square, we were permitted\nto go with a guard for a change of linen and to take final leave of\nour families, in order to depart as prisoners to Jackson County, a\ndistance of sixty miles.\n\nThis was the most trying scene of all. I went to my house, being\nguarded by two or three soldiers; the cold rain was pouring down\nwithout, and on entering my little cottage, there lay my wife sick\nof a fever, with which she had been for some time confined. At her\nbreast was our son Nathan, an infant of three months, and by her\nside a little girl of five years. On the foot of the same bed lay a\nwoman in travail, who had been driven from her house in the night,\nand had taken momentary shelter in my hut of ten feet square--my\nlarger house having been torn down. I stepped to the bed; my wife\nburst into tears; I spoke a few words of comfort, telling her to\ntry to live for my sake and the children's; and expressing a hope\nthat we should meet again though years might separate us. She\npromised to try to live. I then embraced and kissed the little\nbabes and departed.\n\nTill now I had refrained from weeping; but, to be forced from so\nhelpless a family, who were destitute of provisions and fuel, and\ndeprived almost of shelter in a bleak prairie, with none to assist\nthem, exposed to a lawless banditti who were utter strangers to\nhumanity, and this at the approach of winter, was more than nature\ncould well endure.\n\nI went to Gen. Moses Wilson in tears and stated the\ncircumstances of my sick, heart-broken and destitute family in\nterms which would have moved any heart that had a latent spark of\nhumanity yet remaining. But I was only answered with an exultant\nlaugh, and a taunt of reproach by this hardened murderer.\n\nAs I returned from my house towards the troops in the square, I\nhalted with the guard at the door of Hyrum Smith, and heard the\nsobs and groans of his wife, at his parting words. She was then\nnear confinement, and needed more than ever the comfort and\nconsolation of a husband's presence. As we returned to the wagon we\nsaw S. Rigdon taking leave of his wife and daughters, who stood at\na little distance, in tears of anguish indescribable. In the wagon\nsat Joseph Smith, while his aged father and venerable mother came\nup overwhelmed with tears, and took each of the prisoners by the\nhand with a silence of grief too great for utterance.\n\nIn the meantime, hundreds of the brethren crowded around us,\nanxious to take a parting look, or a silent shake of the hand; for\nfeelings were too intense to allow of speech. In the midst of these\nscenes orders were given, and we moved slowly away, under the\nconduct of Gen. Wilson and his whole brigade. A march of twelve\nmiles brought us to Crooked River, where we camped for the night.\nHere Gen. Wilson began to treat us more kindly; he became very\nsociable; conversing very freely on the subject of his former\nmurders and robberies committed against us in Jackson. He did not\npretend to deny anything; but spoke upon the whole as freely as if\nhe had been giving the history of other ages or countries, in which\nhis audience had no personal concern. Said he:\n\n\"We Jackson County boys know how it is; and, therefore, have not\nthe extremes of hatred and prejudice which characterize the rest of\nthe troops. We know perfectly that from the beginning the Mormons\nhave not been the aggressors at all. As it began in '33 in Jackson\nCounty, so it has been ever since. You Mormons were crowded to the\nlast extreme, and compelled to self-defense; and this has been\nconstrued into treason, murder and plunder. We mob you without law;\nthe authorities refuse to protect you according to law; you then\nare compelled to protect yourselves, and we act upon the prejudices\nof the public, who join our forces, and the whole is legalized, for\nyour destruction and our gain. Is not this a shrewd and cunning\npolicy on our part, gentlemen?\n\n\"When we drove you from Jackson County, we burned two hundred\nand three of your houses; plundered your goods; destroyed your\npress, type paper, books, office and all--tarred and feathered old\nBishop Partridge, as exemplary an old man as you can find anywhere.\nWe shot down some of your men, and, if any of you returned the\nfire, we imprisoned you, on your trial for murder, etc. Damn'd\nshrewdly done, gentlemen; and I came damn'd near kicking the bucket\nmyself; for, on one occasion, while we were tearing down houses,\ndriving families, and destroying and plundering goods, some of you\ngood folks put a ball through my son's body, another through the\narm of my clerk, and a third pierced my shirt collar and marked my\nneck. No blame, gentlemen; we deserved it. And let a set of men\nserve me as your community have been served, and I'll be damn'd if\nI would not fight till I died.\n\n\"It was repeatedly insinuated, by the other officers and troops,\nthat we should hang you prisoners on the first tree we came to on\nthe way to Independence. But I'll be damn'd if anybody shall hurt\nyou. We just intend to exhibit you in Independence, let the people\nlook at you, and see what a damn'd set of fine fellows you are.\nAnd, more particularly, to keep you from that G--damn'd old bigot\nof a Gen. Clark and his troops, from down country, who are so\nstuffed with lies and prejudice that they would shoot you down in a\nmoment.\"\n\nSuch was the tenor of the conversation addressed by Gen. Wilson\nto his prisoners. Indeed, it was now evident that he was proud of\nhis prey, and felt highly enthusiastic in having the honor of\nreturning in triumph to Independence with his prisoners, whom his\nsuperstition had magnified into something more than fellow\ncitizens--something noble or supernatural, and worthy of public\nexhibition.\n\nAs we arose and commenced our march on the morning of the 3d of\nNovember, Joseph Smith spoke to me and the other prisoners, in a\nlow, but cheerful and confidential tone; said he: \"_Be of good\ncheer, brethren; the word of the Lord came to me last night that\nour lives should by given us, and that whatever we may suffer\nduring this captivity, not one of our lives should be taken_.\"\nOf this prophecy I testify in the name of the Lord, and, though\nspoken in secret, its public fulfillment and the miraculous escape\nof each one of us is too notorious to need my testimony. In the\nafter part of the day we came to the Missouri River, which\nseparated us from Jackson County. Here the brigade was halted and\nthe prisoners taken to a public house, where we were permitted to\nshave, change our linen, and partake of some refreshment. This\ndone, we were hurried to the ferry and across the river with the\nutmost haste in advance of the troops. This movement was soon\nexplained to us. The truth was, Gen. Clark had now arrived near the\nscene of action, and had sent an express to take us from Gen.\nWilson and prevent us from going to Jackson County--both armies\nbeing competitors for the honor of possessing the wonderful, or, in\ntheir estimation, royal prisoners.\n\nClark and his troops, from a distance, who had not arrived in\nthe city of Far West till after our departure, were desirous of\nseeing the strange men whom it was said had turned the world upside\ndown and of possessing such a wonderful trophy of victory, or of\nputting them to death themselves. On the other hand, Wilson and his\nbrigade were determined to exhibit us through the streets of\nIndependence as a visible token of their own achievements.\nTherefore, when demanded by Gen. Clark's express, they refused to\nsurrender us; and hurried us across the ferry with all possible\ndespatch. Marching about a mile, we encamped for the night in the\nwilderness, with about fifty troops for our guard--the remainder\nnot crossing the ferry till the next morning.\n\nSome of the neighboring citizens visited us next morning--it\nbeing Sunday. One of the ladies came up and very candidly inquired\nof the troops which of the prisoners the \"Mormons\" worshipped? One\nof the guards pointing to Mr. Smith with a significant smile, said,\n\"This is he.\" The woman, then turning to Mr. Smith, inquired\nwhether he professed to be the Lord and Saviour?\n\nDo not smile, gentle reader, at the ignorance of these poor\ninnocent creatures, who, by the exertions of a corrupt press and\npulpit, are kept in ignorance and made to believe in every possible\nabsurdity in relation to the Church of the Saints. Mr. Smith\nreplied, that he professed to be nothing but a man, and a minister\nof salvation, sent by Jesus Christ to preach the gospel. After\nexpressing some surprise, the lady inquired what was the peculiar\nnature of the gospel, as held by himself and his Church? At this\nthe visitors and soldiers gathered around, and Mr. Smith preached\nto them faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance towards God,\nreformation of life, immersion in water, in the name of Jesus\nChrist, for remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost by\nthe laying on of hands.\n\nAll seemed surprised, and the lady, in tears, went her way,\npraising God for the truth, and praying aloud that the Lord would\nbless and deliver the prisoners.\n\nAt ten o'clock the brigade had all crossed the river, and come\nup with us. We were then marched forward in our carriages, while\nthe troops were formed into a front and rear guard, with quite a\nmartial appearance. As we passed along through the settlements\nhundreds of men, women and children flocked to see us. General W.\noften halted the whole brigade to introduce us to the populace,\npointing out each of us by name. Many shook us by the hand, and, in\nthe ladies at least, there appeared some feelings of human\ncompassion and sympathy.\n\nIn this way we proceeded till we arrived at Independence. It was\nnow past noon, and in the midst of a great rain; but hundreds\ncrowded to witness the procession, and to gaze at us as we were\nparaded in martial triumph through the principal streets, the\nbugles sounding a blast of triumphant joy.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n------------------------\n\nTreatment of the Prisoners:--Visit the Temple\nLot:--Gain my Freedom:--Temptation:--Voluntary Return to\nBondage:--Leave Independence:--Conduct of the Guards:--Fall\ninto the Hands of Col. Price and Guards:--Arrive at Richmond:--\nChains:--Interview with Gen. Clark:--Dialogue:--Inconceivable\nAbsurdities.\n\nThis ceremony being finished, a vacant house was prepared for\nour reception, into which we were ushered through the crowd of\nspectators which thronged every avenue.\n\nThe troops were then disbanded. In the meantime we were kept\nunder a small guard, and were treated with some degree of humanity,\nwhile hundreds flocked to see us day after day. We spent most of\nour time in preaching and conversation, explanatory of our\ndoctrines and practice. Much prejudice was removed, and the\nfeelings of the populace began to be in our favor, notwithstanding\ntheir former wickedness and hatred. In a day or two we were at\nliberty to walk the streets without a guard. We were finally\nremoved from our house of confinement to a hotel, where we boarded\nat the public table, and lodged on the floor, with a block of wood\nfor a pillow. We no longer had any guard; we went out and came in\nwhen we pleased--a certain keeper being appointed merely to watch\nover us, and look to our wants.\n\nWith him we walked out of town to the westward, and visited the\ndesolate lands of the Saints, and the place which, seven years\nbefore, we had dedicated for the building of a Temple. This was a\nbeautiful rise of ground, about half a mile west of Independence\ncenter. When we saw it last it was a noble forest, but our enemies\nhad since robbed it of every vestige of timber, and it now lay\ndesolate, or clothed with grass and weeds.\n\nO, how many feelings did this spot awaken in our bosoms! Here we\nhad often bowed the knee in prayer, in bygone years. Here we had\nassembled with hundreds of happy Saints in the solemn meeting, and\noffered our songs, and sacraments, and orisons. But now all was\nsolemn and lonely desolation. Not a vestige remained to mark the\nspot where stood our former dwellings. They had long since been\nconsumed by fire, or removed and converted to the uses of our\nenemies.\n\nWhile at Independence we were once or twice invited to dine with\nGeneral Wilson and some others, which we did.\n\nWhile thus sojourning as prisoners at large, I arose one morning\nwhen it was very snowy, and passed silently and unmolested out of\nthe hotel, and as no one seemed to notice me, or call me in\nquestion, I thought I would try an experiment. I passed on eastward\nthrough the town; no one noticed me. I then took into the fields,\nstill unobserved. After travelling a mile I entered a forest; all\nwas gloomy silence, none were near, the heavens were darkened and\nobscured by falling snow, my track was covered behind me, and I was\nfree. I knew the way to the states eastward very well, and there\nseemed nothing to prevent my pursuing my way thither; thoughts of\nfreedom beat high in my bosom; wife, children, home, freedom,\npeace, and a land of law and order, all arose in my mind; I could\ngo to other States, send for my family, make me a home and be\nhappy.\n\nOn the other hand, I was a prisoner in a State where all law was\nat an end. I was liable to be shot down at any time without judge\nor jury. I was liable to be tried for my life by murderous\nassassins, who had already broken every oath of office and trampled\non every principle of honor or even humanity. Hands already\ndripping with the blood of aged sires, and of helpless women and\nchildren, were reaching out for my destruction. The battle of\nCrooked River had already been construed into murder on the part of\nthe brave patriots who there defended their lives and rescued their\nfellow citizens from kidnappers and land pirates, while the pirates\nthemselves had been converted into loyal militia.\n\nTo go forward was freedom, to go backward was to be sent to\nGeneral Clark, and be accused of the highest crimes, with murderers\nfor judge, jury and executioners.\n\n\"Go free!\" whispered the tempter.\n\n\"No!\" said I, \"never, while Brother Joseph and his fellows are\nin the power of the enemy. What a storm of trouble, or even of\ndeath, it might subject them to.\"\n\nI turned on my heel, retraced my steps, and entered the hotel\nere they had missed me. As I shook the snow off my clothes the\nkeeper and also Brother Joseph inquired where I had been. I\nreplied, just out for a little exercise. A walk for pleasure in\nsuch a storm gave rise to some pleasantries on their part, and\nthere the matter ended.\n\nThere was one thing which buoyed up our spirits continually\nduring our captivity: it was the remembrance of the word of the\nLord to Brother Joseph, saying, that our lives should all be given\nus during this captivity, and not one of them should be lost. I\nthought of this while in the wilderness vacillating whether to go\nor stay, and the thought struck me: \"_He that will seek to save\nhis life shall lose it; but he that will lose his life for my sake\nshall find it again, even life eternal_.\" I could now make sure\nof my part in the first resurrection, as I had so intensely desired\nwhen about eleven years old. But, O, the path of life! How was it\nbeset with trials!\n\nAt length, after repeated demands, we were sent to General\nClark, at Richmond, Ray County. Generals Lucas and Wilson had tried\nin vain for some days to get a guard to accompany us. None would\nvolunteer, and when drafted they would not obey orders; for in\ntruth, they wished us to go at liberty. At last a colonel and two\nor three officers started with us, with their swords and pistols,\nwhich were intended more to protect us than to keep us from\nescaping. On this journey some of us rode in carriages and some on\nhorseback. Sometimes we were sixty or eighty rods in front or rear\nof our guards, who were drinking hard out of bottles which they\ncarried in their pockets.\n\nAt night, having crossed the Missouri River, we put up at a\nprivate house. Here our guards all got drunk, and went to bed and\nto sleep, leaving us their pistols to defend ourselves in case of\nany attack from without, as we were in a very hostile neighborhood.\nNext morning we rode a few miles, and were met by an express from\nGeneral Clark, which consisted of one Colonel Sterling Price and a\nguard of soldiers. This company immediately surrounded us with\npoised pieces, in regular military order, as if we had been\nBonaparte and staff on the way to St. Helena; thinking, perhaps,\nthat if we should escape, the whole United States and all Europe\nwould be immediately overthrown.\n\nIn this manner we were escorted to Richmond, the headquarters of\nGeneral Clark and his army of three or four thousand men. Here, as\nusual, we had to endure the gaze of the curious, as if we had been\na caravan of animals for exhibition. Troops were paraded to receive\nus, which, as we approached, opened to the right and left, thus\nforming a long avenue, through which we passed into a block house,\nand were immediately put in chains, under a strong guard, who stood\nover us continually with poised pieces, cocked and primed. Colonel\nPrice continued in the superintendence of the prisoners and the\nguards.\n\nGeneral Clark at length called to see us. He seemed more\nhaughty, unfeeling, and reserved than even Lucas or Wilson had been\nwhen we first entered their camp. We inquired of the general what\nwere his intentions concerning us. I stated to him that we had now\nbeen captives for many days, and we knew not wherefore, nor whether\nwe were considered prisoners of war or prisoners of civil process,\nor \"_prisoners of hope_.\" At the same time remarking, that\nall was wrapped in mystery; for, as citizens of the United States\nand of Missouri, in time of peace, we could in nowise be considered\nas prisoners of war; and, without civil process, we were not holden\nby civil authority; and as to being \"prisoners of hope,\" there was\nnot much chance to hope, from our present appearances!\n\nHe replied that \"_we were taken to be tried_.\"\n\n\"Tried? By what authority?\"\n\n\"By court martial.\"\n\n\"What! Ministers of the gospel tried by court martial! Men who sustain\nno office in military affairs, and who are not subject by law to\nmilitary duty; such men to be tried by court martial! And this in time\nof peace, and in a republic where the constitution guaranteed to every\ncitizen the right of trial by jury?\"\n\n\"Yes. This is in accordance with the treaty of stipulations entered\ninto at Far West at the time of the surrender, and as agreed to by\nColonel Hinkle, your commanding officer.\"\n\n\"Colonel Hinkle, our commanding officer! What had he to do with our\ncivil rights? He was only a colonel of a regiment of the Caldwell\nCounty Militia.\"\n\n\"Why! was he not the commanding officer of the fortress of Far West,\nthe headquarters of the _Mormon forces_?\"\n\n\"We had no '_fortress_' or '_Mormon forces_,' but were part of the\nState militia.\"\n\nAt this the general seemed surprised, and the conversation ended.\n\nWe were astonished above measure at proceedings so utterly ignorant and\ndevoid of all law or justice. Here was a Major-General, selected by the\nGovernor of Missouri, and sent to banish or exterminate a religious\nsociety. And then, to crown the whole with inconceivable absurdity, aid\nreligious society is converted by this officer and his associates into\nan independent government, or foreign nation. And last, and equally\nabsurd, the State of Missouri assumed her independence of the federal\ngovernment so far as to _treat_ with this imaginary \"_ Mormon Empire_,\"\nor foreign nation. A colonel of militia, subordinate to the general\nthen in the field, is converted into a foreign minister, an envoy\nextraordinary, in behalf of the \"Mormon Empire,\" to enter into treaty\nstipulations with his Missouri majesty's forces, under Generals Lucas,\nWilson and Clark!\n\nThe city of Far West, the capital of \"_Mormonia_,\" is the \"_Ghent_,\"\nwhere this treaty of peace is ratified. The standing army of the\nconquered nation stack their arms, which are carried in triumph to\nRichmond. Preachers of the gospel are converted into \"_noble_\" or\n\"_royal prisoners_,\" chained to the car of the victorious champions\nto be led captive as sport for the Philistines, or to be shot or\nhung at pleasure, while the residue of the inhabitants of the fallen\nempire--men, women and children--are to have their real estate and all\nother goods confiscated, and themselves banished the state on pain\nof death. A few, however, are selected from among these exiles to be\nimprisoned or executed at the mere dictation of a Nero or a Nicholas.\n\nWas this in America, in the nineteenth century? Were these scenes\ntransacted in a constitutional republic? Yes, verily, and worse--a tale\nof horror, of woe, of long years of lawless outrage and tyranny is yet\nto be told, of which this is a mere stepping stone or entering wedge.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n------------------------\n\nMASSACRE AT HAUN'S MILL.\n\nWe here introduce the testimony of Joseph Young, an eye witness\nof one of the most awful scenes which ever stained the annals of\nhistory in any age or country.\n\n\"The following is a short history of my travels to the State of\nMissouri, and of a bloody tragedy enacted at Haun's Mill, on Shoal\nCreek, October 30, 1838:\n\n\"On the 6th of July last I started with my family from Kirtland,\nOhio, for Missouri--the county of Caldwell, in the upper part of\nthe State, being the place of my destination. On the 13th of\nOctober I crossed the Mississippi at Louisiana, at which place I\nheard vague reports of the disturbances in the upper country, but\nnothing that could be relied on.\n\n\"I continued my course westward till I crossed Grand River, at a\nplace called Compton's Ferry, where I heard for the first time that\nif I proceeded any further on my journey I would be in danger of\nbeing sped by a body of armed men.\n\n\"I was not willing, however, while treading my native soil and\nbreathing republican air, to abandon my object, which was to locate\nmyself and family in a fine, healthy country, where we could enjoy\nthe society of our friends and connections. Consequently, I\nprosecuted my journey till I came to Whitney's Mills, situated on\nShoal Creek, in the eastern part of Caldwell County. After crossing\nthe creek and going about three miles we met a party of the mob,\nabout forty in number, and with rifles and mounted on horses, who\ninformed us that we could go no further west, threatening us with\ninstant death if we proceeded any further.\n\n\"I asked them the reason of this prohibition, to which they\nreplied that we were '_Mormons_,' and that every one who\nadhered to that religious faith would have to leave the State\nwithin ten days, or renounce their religion. Accordingly, they\ndrove us back to the mills above mentioned.\n\n\"Here we tarried three days, and on Friday, the 26th, we\nrecrossed the creek, and, following up its banks, we succeeded in\neluding the mob for the time being, and gained the residence of a\nfriend in Myers' Settlement. On Sunday, October 28, we arrived at\nHaun's Mill, where we found a number of our friends collected, who\nwere holding a council and deliberating upon the best course for\nthem to pursue to defend themselves against the mob who were\ncollecting in the neighborhood under the command of Colonel\nJennings, of Livingston, and threatening them with house burning\nand killing.\n\n\"The decision of the council was that the neighborhood should\nput itself in a state of defense. Accordingly about twenty-eight of\nour men armed themselves, and were in constant readiness for an\nattack, if any small body of mobbers might come upon them.\n\n\"The same evening, for some reason best known to themselves, the\nmob sent one of their number to enter into a treaty with our\nfriends, which was accepted on the condition of mutual forbearance\non both sides, and that each party, as far as their influence\nextended, should exert themselves to prevent any further\nhostilities.\n\n\"At this time, however, there was another mob collecting on\nGrand River, at William Mann's, which was threatening us;\nconsequently, we remained under arms on Monday, the 29th, which\npassed away without molestation from any quarter.\n\n\"On Tuesday, the 30th, that bloody tragedy was enacted, the\nscenes of which I shall never forget.\n\n\"More than three fourths of the day had passed in tranquility as\nsmiling as the preceding one. I think there was no individual of\nour company that was apprised of the sudden and awful fate which\nhung over our heads like an overwhelming torrent, and which was to\nchange the prospects, the feelings and sympathies of about thirty\nfamilies.\n\n\"The banks of Shoal Creek, on either side, teemed with children\nsporting and playing, while their mothers were engaged in domestic\nemployments. Fathers or husbands were either on guard about the\nmills or other property, or employed in gathering crops for winter\nconsumption. The weather was very pleasant, the sun shone clearly\nall was tranquil, and no one expressed any apprehension of the\nawful crisis that was near us, even at our doors.\n\n\"It was about 4 o'clock, p.m., while sitting in my cabin with my\nbabe in my arms, and my wife standing by my side, the door being\nopen I cast my eyes on the opposite bank of Shoal Creek, and saw a\nlarge body of armed men on horses directing their course towards\nthe mills with all possible speed. As they advanced through the\nscattering trees that bordered the prairie they seemed to form\nthemselves into a three square position, forming a vanguard in\nfront. At this moment, David Evans, seeing the superiority of their\nnumbers (there being two hundred and forty of them, according to\ntheir own account), gave a signal and cried for peace. This not\nbeing heeded they continued to advance, and their leader, a man\nnamed Comstock, fired a gun, which was followed by a solemn pause\nof about ten or twelve seconds; when all at once they discharged\nabout one hundred rifles, aiming at a blacksmith's shop, into which\nour friends fled for safety. They then charged up to the shop, the\ncrevices of which, between the logs, were sufficiently large to\nenable them to aim directly at the bodies of those who had there\nfled for refuge from the fire of their murderers. There were\nseveral families rented in the rear of the shop whose lives were\nexposed, and, amid showers of bullets, fled to the woods in\ndifferent directions.\n\n\"After standing and gazing at this bloody scene for a few\nminutes, and finding myself in the uttermost danger, the bullets\nhaving reached the house where I was living, I committed my family\nto the protection of Heaven; and, leaving the house on the opposite\nside, I took a path which led up the hill, following in the trail\nof three of my brethren that had fled from the shop.\n\n\"While ascending the hill we were discovered by the mob, who\nimmediately fired at us, and continued so to do till we reached the\nsummit. In descending the hill I secreted myself in a thicket of\nbushes, where I lay till 8 o'clock in the evening. At this time I\nheard a voice calling my name in an undertone. I immediately left\nthe thicket and went to the house of Benjamin Lewis, where I found\nmy family--who had fled there in safety--and two of my friends,\nmortally wounded, one of whom died before morning. Here we passed\nthe painful night in deep and awful reflections on the scenes of\nthe preceding evening. After daylight appeared some four or five\nmen, with myself, who had escaped with our lives from this horrid\nmassacre, repaired as soon as possible to the mills to learn the\ncondition of our friends, whose fate we had but too truly\nanticipated.\n\n\"When we arrived at the house of Mr. Haun, we found Mr.\nMerrick's body lying in the rear of the house; Mr. McBride's in\nfront, literally mangled from head to foot. We were informed by\nMiss Rebecca Judd, who was an eye witness, that he was shot with\nhis own gun after he had given it up, and then cut to pieces with a\ncorn cutter by a man named Rogers, of Daviess County, who keeps a\nferry on Grand River, and who has since repeatedly boasted of this\nact of savage barbarity. Mr. York's body we found in the house.\nAfter viewing these corpses we immediately went to the blacksmith's\nshop, where we found nine of our friends, eight of whom were\nalready dead--the other, Mr. Cox, of Indiana, in the agonies of\ndeath, who soon expired.\n\n\"We immediately prepared and carried them to the place of\ninterment. This last office of kindness due to the remains of\ndeparted friends was not attended with the customary ceremonies nor\ndecency; for we were in jeopardy, every moment expecting to be\nfired on by the mob, who, we supposed, were lying in ambush,\nwaiting the first opportunity to dispatch the remaining few who\nwere providentially preserved from the slaughter of the preceding\nday. However, we accomplished without molestation this painful\ntask. The place of burial was a vault in the ground, formerly\nintended for a well, into which we threw the bodies of our friends\npromiscuously.\n\n\"Among the slain I will mention Sardius Smith, son of Warren\nSmith, about nine years old, who, through fear, had crawled under\nthe bellows in the shop, where he remained till the massacre was\nover, when he was discovered by one Glaze, of Carroll County, who\npresented a rifle near his head and literally blew off the upper\npart of it. Mr. Stanley, of Carroll County, told me afterwards that\nGlaze boasted of this fiendlike murder and heroic deed all over the\ncountry.\n\n\"The number killed and mortally wounded in this wanton slaughter\nwas eighteen or nineteen, whose names, as far as I can recollect,\nwere as follows: Thomas McBride, Levi Merrick, Elias Benner, Josiah\nFuller, Benjamin Lewis, Alexander Campbell, Warren Smith, Sardius\nSmith, George Richards, Mr. Napier, Mr. Harmer, Mr. Cox, Mr.\nAbbott, Mr. York, Wm. Merrick (a boy eight or nine years old), and\nthree or four others whose names I do not recollect, as they were\nstrangers to me.\n\n\"Among the wounded who recovered were Isaac Laney, Nathan K.\nKnight, Mr. Yokum, two brothers by the name of Myers, Tarlton\nLewis, Mr. Haun and several others. Miss Mary Stedwell, while\nfleeing, was shot through the hand, and, fainting, fell over a log,\ninto which they shot upwards of twenty balls.\n\n\"To finish their work of destruction, this band of murderers\ncomposed of men from Daviess, Livingston, Ray, Carroll and Chariton\nCounties, led by some of the principal men of that section of the\nupper country (among whom, I am informed, were Mr. Ashby, from\nChariton, member of the State Legislature; Col. Jennings, of\nLivingston County; Thos. O'Bryon, Clerk of Livingston County; Mr.\nWhitney, Dr. Randall and many others), proceeded to rob the houses,\nwagons and tents of bedding and clothing; drove off horses and\nwagons leaving widows and orphans destitute of the necessaries of\nlife, and even stripped the clothing from the bodies of the slain!\n\n\"According to their own account they fired seven rounds in this\nawful butchery; making upwards of sixteen hundred shots, at a\nlittle company of men about thirty in number.\n\n\"I hereby certify the above to be a true statement of facts,\naccording to the best of knowledge.\n\n\"Joseph Young.\"\n\n\"STATE OF ILLINOIS,\n    _County of Adams_.\n\n\"I hereby certify that Joseph Young this day came before me, and\nmade oath in due form of law, that the statements contained in the\nforegoing sheets are true, according to the best of his knowledge\nand belief. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and\naffixed the seal of the Circuit court at Quincy, this fourth day of\nJune in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and\nthirty-nine.\n\n\"C. M. WOODS,\n\n    \"_Clerk of Circuit Court of Adams, Co., Ill._\"\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV.\n------------------------\n\nSpeech of Major--General Clark, Delivered at Far\nWest while its Citizens were held as Prisoners, November, 1838.\n\n\"Gentlemen: You, whose names are not on this list, will now have\nthe privilege of going to your fields to obtain grain for your\nfamilies--wood, etc. Those that compose the list will go from\nthence to prison, to be tried, and receive the due demerits of\ntheir crimes. But you are now at liberty, all but such as charges\nmay hereafter be preferred against. It now devolves upon you to\nfulfil the treaty that you have entered into--the leading items of\nwhich I now lay before you.\n\n\"The first of these items you have already complied with--which\nis, that you deliver up your leading men to be tried according to\nlaw. Second, that you deliver up your arms--this has been attended\nto. The third is, that you sign over your property to defray the\nexpenses of the war; this you have also done. Another thing yet\nremains for you to comply with; that is: that you leave the State\nforthwith; and, whatever your feelings concerning this affair,\nwhatever your innocence, it is nothing to me. General Lucas, who is\nequal in authority with me, has made this treaty with you. I am\ndetermined to see it executed.\n\n\"The orders of the Governor to me, were, that you should be\nexterminated, and not allowed to remain in the State. And had your\nleaders not been given up, and the treaty complied with before\nthis, you and your families would have been destroyed and your\nhouses in ashes.\n\n\"There is a discretionary power resting in my hands, which I\nshall try to exercise for a season. I did not say that you must go\nnow, but you must not think of stopping here another season, or of\nputting in crops; for the moment you do the CITIZENS WILL BE UPON\nYOU. I am determined to see the Governor's orders fulfilled, but\nshall not come upon you immediately. Do not think that I shall act\nas I have done any more; but if I have to come again because the\ntreaty which you have made is not complied with, you need not\nexpect any mercy, but extermination; for I am determined that the\nGovernor's order shall be executed.\n\n\"As for your leaders, do not think, do not imagine for a moment,\ndo not let it enter your mind that they will be delivered, or that\nyou will see their faces again, for their fare is fixed, their die\nis cast, their doom is sealed.\n\n\"I am sorry, gentlemen, to see so great a number of apparently\nintelligent men found in the situation that you are. And, oh! that\nI could invoke the Spirit of the unknown God to rest upon you, and\ndeliver you from that awful chain of superstition, and liberate you\nfrom those fetters of fanaticism with which you are bound. I would\nadvise you to scatter abroad and never again organize with bishops,\npresidents, etc., lest you excite the jealousies of the people, and\nsubject yourselves to the same calamities that have now come upon\nyou.\n\n\"You have always been the aggressors; you have brought upon\nyourselves these difficulties by being disaffected, and not being\nsubject to rule; and my advice is, that you become as other\ncitizens, lest by a recurrence of these events you bring upon\nyourselves inevitable ruin.\"\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI.\n------------------------\n\nThe Prisoners:--Second Interview with General Clark:--Inquisition:--\nSickness of Elder Rigdon:--Colonel Price and Guards:--Their\nConduct;--Rebuke by Joseph Smith:--Trial:--Similarity between\nKing Herod and Governor Boggs:--Judge Austin A. King in Open\nCourt Threatens a Wholesale Extermination of the \"Mormons:\"--Other\nPrisoners Obtained by Stratagem:--Advice of General Doniphan, Attorney\nfor the Prisoners:--Decision:--Disposal of the Prisoners:--Flight of\nthe Church to Illinois:--Conduct of the Outlaws:--My Family Visits me\nin Prison.\n\nI must not forget to state that when we arrived in Richmond as\nprisoners there were some fifty others, mostly heads of families,\nwho had been marched from Caldwell on foot (distance 30 miles), and\nwere now penned up in a cold, open, unfinished court house, in\nwhich situation they remained for some weeks, while their families\nwere suffering severe privations.\n\nThe next morning after our dialogue with General Clark he again\nentered our prison and informed us that he had concluded to deliver\nus over to the civil authorities for an examining trial. He was\nthen asked why he did not do away with the unlawful decree of\n_banishment_, which was first ordered by General Lucas, in\ncompliance with the Governor's order, and which compelled thousands\nof citizens to leave the State. Or upon what principle the military\npower aided the civil law against us, while at the same time it\ncaused our families and friends to be murdered, plundered and\ndriven, contrary to all law?\n\nHe replied that he approved of all the proceedings of General\nLucas, and should not alter them. I make this statement because\nsome writers have commended Clark for his heroic, merciful, and\nprudent conduct towards our society, and have endeavored to make it\nappear that Clark was not to be blamed for any of the measures of\nLucas.\n\nThe Court of Inquiry now commenced, before Judge Austin A. King.\nThis continued from the 11th to 28th of November, and our brethren,\nsome fifty in number, were penned up in the cold, dreary court\nhouse. It was a very severe time of snow and winter weather, and we\nsuffered much. During this time Elder Rigdon was taken very sick,\nfrom hardship and exposure, and finally lost his reason; but still\nhe was kept in a miserable, noisy and cold room, and compelled to\nsleep on the floor with a chain and padlock round his ankle, and\nfastened to six others. Here he endured the constant noise and\nconfusion of an unruly guard, the officer of which was Colonel\nSterling Price, since Governor of the State.\n\nThese guards were composed generally of the most noisy, foul\nmouthed, vulgar, disgraceful rabble that ever defiled the earth.\nWhile he lay in this situation his son-in-law, George W. Robinson,\nthe only male member of his family, was chained by his side. Thus\nMrs. Rigdon and her daughters were left entirely destitute and\nunprotected. One of his daughters, Mrs. Robinson, a young and\ndelicate female, with her little infant, came down to see her\nhusband, and to comfort and take care of her father in his\nsickness. When she first entered the room, amid the clank of chains\nand the rattle of weapons, and cast her eyes on her sick and\ndejected parent and sorrow worn husband, she was speechless, and\nonly gave vent to her feelings in a flood of tears. This faithful\nlady, with her little infant, continued by the side of her father\ntill he recovered from his sickness, and till his fevered and\ndisordered mind resumed its wonted powers.\n\nIn one of those tedious nights we had lain as if in sleep till\nthe hour of midnight had passed, and our ears and hearts had been\npained, while we had listened for hours to the obscene jests, the\nhorrid oaths, the dreadful blasphemies and filthy language of our\nguards, Colonel Price at their head, as they recounted to each\nother their deeds of rapine, murder, robbery, etc., which they had\ncommitted among the \"_Mormons_\" while at Far West and vicinity.\nThey even boasted of defiling by force wives, daughters and\nvirgins, and of shooting or dashing out the brains of men, women\nand children.\n\nI had listened till I became so disgusted, shocked, horrified,\nand so filled with the spirit of indignant justice that I could\nscarcely refrain from rising upon my feet and rebuking the guards;\nbut had said nothing to Joseph, or any one else, although I lay\nnext to him and knew he was awake. On a sudden he arose to his\nfeet, and spoke in a voice of thunder, as the roaring lion,\nuttering, as near as I can recollect, the following words:\n\n\"_SILENCE, ye fiends of the infernal pit. In the name of\nJesus Christ I rebuke you, and command you to be still; I will not\nlive another minute and bear such language. Cease such talk, or you\nor I die THIS INSTANT!_\"\n\nHe ceased to speak. He stood erect in terrible majesty. Chained,\nand without a weapon; calm, unruffled and dignified as an angel, he\nlooked upon the quailing guards, whose weapons were lowered or\ndropped to the ground; whose knees smote together, and who,\nshrinking into a corner, or crouching at his feet, begged his\npardon, and remained quiet till a change of guards.\n\nI have seen the ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial\nrobes, and criminals arraigned before them, while life was\nsuspended on a breath, in the courts of England; I have witnessed a\nCongress in solemn session to give laws to nations; I have tried to\nconceive of kings, of royal courts, of thrones and crowns; and of\nemperors assembled to decide the fate of kingdoms; but dignity and\nmajesty have I seen but _once_, as it stood in chains, at\nmidnight, in a dungeon in an obscure village of Missouri.\n\nIn this mock court of inquiry the Judge could not be prevailed\non to examine the conduct of murderers and robbers who had\ndesolated our society, nor would he receive testimony except\nagainst us. By the dissenters and apostates who wished to save\ntheir own lives and secure their property at the expense of others,\nand by those who had murdered and plundered us from time to time,\nhe obtained abundance of testimony, much of which was entirely\nfalse. Our Church organization was converted by such testimony into\na temporal kingdom, which was to fill the whole earth and subdue\nall other kingdoms.\n\nThis court of inquisition inquired diligently into our belief of\nthe seventh chapter of Daniel concerning the kingdom of God, which\nshould subdue all other kingdoms and stand forever. And when told\nthat we believed in that prophecy, the court turned to the clerk\nand said: \"_Write that down; it is a strong point for treason\n_.\" Our lawyer observed as follows: \"Judge, you had better make\nthe Bible treason.\" The court made no reply.\n\nThese texts and many others were inquired into with all the\neagerness and apparent alarm which characterized a Herod of old in\nrelation to the babe of Bethlehem, the King of the Jews.\n\nThe ancient Herod, fearing a rival in the person of Jesus,\nissued his exterminating order for the murder of all the children\nof Bethlehem from two years old and under, with a view to hinder\nthe fulfillment of a prophecy which he _himself_ believed to\nbe true.\n\nThe modern Herod (Boggs), fearing a rival kingdom in \"_the\npeople of the Saints of the Most High_,\" issued his exterminating\norder for the murder of the young children of an entire people,\nand of their mothers as well as fathers, while this court of\ninquisition inquired as diligently into the one prophecy as his\npredecessor did into the other. These parallel actions go to\nshow a strong belief in the prophecies on the part of the actors in\nboth cases. Both believed, and feared, and trembled; both hardened\ntheir hearts against that which their better judgment told them was\ntrue. Both were instigated by the devil to cause innocent blood to\nbe shed. And marvelously striking is the parallel in the final\nresult of the actions of each.\n\nThe one slew many young children, but failed to destroy the\ninfant King of the Jews.\n\nThe other slew many men, women and children, but failed to\ndestroy the Kingdom of God.\n\nThe one found a timely refuge in Egypt.\n\nThe other in Illinois.\n\nJesus Christ fulfilled his destiny, and will reign over the\nJews, and sit on the throne of his father, David, forever.\n\nThe Saints are growing to power amid the strongholds of the\nmountains of Deseret, and will surely take the Kingdom, and the\ngreatness of the Kingdom, under the whole Heaven.\n\nWho can withstand the Almighty, or frustrate his purposes? Herod\ndied of a loathsome disease, and transmitted to posterity his fame\nas a tyrant and murderer. And Lilburn W. Boggs is dragging out a\nremnant of existence in California, with the mark of Cain upon his\nbrow, and the fear of Cain within his heart, lest he that findeth\nhim shall slay him. He is a living stink, and will go down to\nposterity with the credit of a wholesale murderer.\n\nThe court also inquired diligently into our missionary operations. It\nwas found, on investigation, that the Church had sent missionaries into\nEngland and other foreign countries. This, together with our belief in\nthe Bible, was construed into treason against the State of Missouri,\nwhile every act of defense was set down as murder, etc. The Judge,\nin open court, while addressing a witness, proclaimed, that if the\nmembers of the Church remained on their lands to put in another crop\nthey should be destroyed indiscriminately, and their bones be left to\nbleach on the plains without a burial. Yes, reader, the cultivation of\nlands held patents issued by the United States land office, and signed\nby the President of the Republic, was, by Judge Austin A. King, in\nopen court, pronounced a capital offense, for which a whole community\nwere prejudged and sentenced to death. While those who should be the\ninstruments to execute this sentence were called by the dignified name\nof citizens, and these _good_ citizens afterwards elected that same\nJudge for Governor of the State.\n\nThe Judge inquired of the prisoners if they wished to introduce\nany witnesses for the defense. A list of names was supplied by the\nprisoners, when, who should be selected to go to Far West to obtain\nand bring them before the court, but the identical bandit, Bogart,\nand his gang, who were defeated by us in the Battle of Crooked\nRiver, after they had become famous for kidnapping, plundering and\nmurdering!\n\nOf course, every man in Caldwell would flee from such a gang if\nthey could; but he succeeded in capturing a few of our friends,\nwhose names were on the list, and bringing them before the court,\nwhen, instead of being sworn, they were immediately ordered to\nprison to take their trial. Others were sent for, and, as far as\nfound, shared the same fate. This manoeuvre occupied several days,\nduring which the court was still in session, and the fate of the\nprisoners suspended.\n\nAt length the Judge exclaimed to the prisoners: \"If you have any\nwitnesses bring them forward; the court cannot delay forever--it\nhas waited several days already.\" A member of the Church, named\nAllen, was just then seen to pass the window. The prisoners\nrequested that he might be introduced and sworn. He was immediately\ncalled in and sworn. He began to give his testimony, which went to\nestablish the innocence of the prisoners, and to show the murders,\nrobberies, etc., committed by their accusers. But he was suddenly\ninterrupted and cut short by cries of _\"Put him out;\" \"Kick him\nout;\" \"G-d d--n him, shoot him;\" \"Kill him, d--n him, kill him;\"\n\"He's a d--d Mormon.\"_\n\nThe court then ordered the guard to put him out, which was done\namid the yells, threats, insults and violence of the mob who\nthronged in and around the court house. He barely escaped with his\nlife. Mr. Doniphan, attorney for the defense, and since famed as a\ngeneral in the Mexican war, finally advised the prisoners to offer\nno defense; \"for,\" said he, \"though a legion of angels from the\nopening heavens should declare your innocence, the court and\npopulace have decreed your destruction.\" Our attorney offered no\ndefense, and thus the matter of our trials was finally submitted.\n\nBy the decision of this mock Court some twenty or thirty of the\naccused were dismissed, among whom was Amasa Lyman Gibbs, Darwin\nChase, Norman Shearer and myself and themselves and bail both\nforced to leave the State, thus forfeiting the bail bonds, while\nJoseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Caleb\nBaldwin and Alexander McRay (all heads of families) were committed\nto the jail of Clay County on the charge of treason; and Morris\nPhelps, Luman Gibbs, Darwin Chase, Norman Shearer and myself were\ncommitted to the jail of Richmond, Ray County, for the alleged\ncrime of murder, said to be committed in the act of dispersing the\nbandit, Bogart, and his gang.\n\nThis done, the civil and military authorities dispersed, and the\ntroubled waters became a little more tranquil.\n\nAs our people were compelled by the memorable \"_Treaty of Far\nWest_\" to leave the State by the following spring, they now\ncommenced moving by hundreds and by thousands to the State of\nIllinois, where they were received in the most humane and friendly\nmanner by the authorities, and by the citizens in general. In the\nmeantime bands of murderers, thieves and robbers were roaming\nunrestrained among the unarmed and defenseless citizens, committing\nall manner of plunder, and driving off cattle, sheep and horses,\nabusing and insulting women.\n\nMy wife and children soon came to me in prison, and spent a\nportion of the winter in the cold, dark dungeon, where myself and\nfellow prisoners were frequently insulted and abused by our\ndastardly guards, who often threatened to shoot us on the spot, and\nwho made murder, robbery and whoredoms with negro slaves their\ndaily boast.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII.\n------------------------\n\nLEGISLATIVE ACTION ON THE SUBJECT.\n\nThe State Legislature were soon in session; and from this body,\nso high in responsibility, we had hoped for some redress and\nprotection. Memorials and petitions from those aggrieved, and\nothers, were addressed to the legislature, praying for an\ninvestigation of the whole matter, and for redress and protection\nagainst the criminal proceedings of the Governor and his troops, in\nseizing our property, murdering our citizens, kidnapping our\nleaders and others, and driving us from the State.\n\nYes, in fact, American citizens petitioned a republican\nlegislature for the privilege of occupying and cultivating their\nown lands, purchased of the Government of the United States, and\nfor the privilege of dwelling in the houses built by their own\nhands, on their own real estate. How strange! How incredible, in\nthe nineteenth century! Who can realize it? And yet it must stand\non record, and go down to posterity as a fact, a stubborn,\nundeniable public fact.\n\nThe following extract of a petition addressed to the legislature\nof Missouri, dated Dec. 10, 1838, Far West, Caldwell County,\nMissouri, and signed by a committee appointed by the citizens, will\nshow for itself the foregoing to be true. It was signed by\n\nEDWARD PARTRIDGE, JOHN M. BURK, HEBER C. KIMBALL, BRIGHAM YOUNG,\nJOHN TAYLOR, ISAAC MORLEY, THEODORE TURLEY, GEORGE W. HARRIS, JOHN\nMURDOCK.\n\nIt read as follows:\n\n\"The last order of Governor Boggs, to drive us from the State or\nexterminate us, is a thing so novel, unlawful, tyrannical and\noppressive that we have been induced to draw up this memorial and\npresent this statement of our case to your honorable body, praying\nthat a law may be passed rescinding the order of the Governor to\ndrive us from the State; and also, giving us the sanction of the\nLegislature to inherit our lands in peace. * * * In laying our case\nbefore your honorable body we say that we are willing, and ever\nhave been, to conform to the Constitution and laws of the United\nStates and of this State.\n\n\"We ask, in common with others, the protection of the laws. We\nask for the privilege guaranteed to all free citizens of the United\nStates and of this State to be extended to us, that we may be\npermitted to settle and live where we please, and worship God\naccording to the dictates of our conscience without molestation.\nAnd while we ask for ourselves this privilege, we are willing all\nothers should enjoy the same.\"\n\nIf the necessity for such a petition seems strange, how much\nmore strange appears the fact, that such petition was denied by the\nLegislature of a State? And to crown the whole, all investigation\nwas utterly refused; nay more, the Legislature itself became\naccessory to these crimes, by appropriating two hundred thousand\ndollars to pay the murderers and robbers for committing these\ncrimes.\n\nThis last act of outrage sealed with eternal infamy the\ncharacter of the State of Missouri. She fell to rise no more. She\nshould be looked upon by her sister States as a star fallen from\nthe American constellation; a ruined and degraded outcast from the\nfamily of States. The whole civilized world will detest and abhor\nher as the most infamous of tyrants. Nay, tyranny itself will blush\nto hear her deeds mentioned in the annals of history.\n\nThe most cruel persecutors of the Christians or Reformers in\npagan or papal Rome will start with astonishment from their long\nslumbers, and, with a mixture of envy and admiration, yield to her\nthe palm. As a State she has acted the part of a pirate, a\nwholesale murderer and robber. Every department--civil, military,\nexecutive and legislative--tramples all law under foot, and plunges\ninto crime and blood.\n\nMany of the State journals have tried to hide the iniquity of\nthe State by throwing a covering of lies over her atrocious deeds.\nBut, can they hide the Governor's cruel order for extermination or\nbanishment? Can they conceal the fact of the disgraceful treaty of\nthe generals with a portion of their own officers and men at Far\nWest? Can they conceal the fact that ten or twelve thousand\ncitizens, of all ages and of both sexes, have been banished from\nthe State without trial or condemnation? Can they conceal the fact\nthat the State Legislature appropriated two hundred thousand\ndollars to pay the criminals for committing these crimes; and this\nwhile the petitions of the sufferers lay on the table before them,\npraying for investigation, redress and protection? Can they conceal\nthe fact that citizens have been kidnapped and imprisoned for many\nmonths, while their families, friends and witnesses have been\ndriven from the State?\n\nCan they conceal the blood of the murdered husbands and fathers,\nor stifle the cries of widows and orphans?\n\nNay, the rocks and the mountains may cover them in unknown\ndepths; the awful abyss of the fathomless deep may swallow them up,\nand still their horrid deeds will stand forth in the broad light of\nday, for the wondering gaze of angels and of men--they cannot be\nhid.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\n------------------------\n\nJoseph Smith and his Fellow Prisoners in\nClay County:--Mock Trial in the County of Davies:--Final\nEscape:--Their Arrival in Illinois.\n\nThis chapter is an extract from the statement of Hyrum Smith,\none of the prisoners, given under oath, before the Municipal Court\nof the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, in the summer of 1843.\n\n\"The next morning after the close of this mock court (held at\nRichmond, Judge Austin A. King presiding), a large wagon drove up\nto the door of our prison house, and a blacksmith entered with some\nchains and handcuffs. He said his orders from the Judge were to\nhandcuff and chain us together. He informed us that the Judge made\nout a _mittimus_ and sentenced us to jail for treason; he\nalso said that the Judge had stated his intention to keep us in\njail until all the Mormons were driven from the State; and that the\nJudge had further stated that if he let us out before the Mormons\nhad left the State there would be another d--d fuss kicked up. I\nalso heard the Judge say myself, while he was sitting in his\npretended court, 'that there was no law for us, or any of the\nMormons in the State of Missouri; that he had sworn to see then\nexterminated, and to see the Governor's order executed to the very\nletter, and he would do so.'\n\n\"However, the blacksmith proceeded to put the irons upon us. We\nwere then ordered into the wagon and drove off for Clay County. As\nwe journeyed along the road, we were exhibited to the inhabitants.\nThis public exhibition lasted until we arrived at the town of\nLiberty, Clay County. There we were thrust into prison again, and\nlocked up; and were held there in confinement for the space of six\nmonths.\n\n\"Our place of lodging was the square side of hewed white oak\nlogs, and our food was anything but good and decent. Poison was\nadministered to us three or four times. The effect it had upon our\nsystems was, that it vomited us almost to death, and then we would\nlay some two or three days in a torpid, stupid state, not even\ncaring or wishing for life.\n\n\"The poison would inevitably have proved fatal had not the power\nof Jehovah interposed in our behalf to save us from their wicked\npurpose. We were also subjected to the necessity of _eating\nhuman flesh_ for the space of five days, or go without food,\nexcept a little coffee or a little cornbread. I chose the latter\nalternative. None of us partook of the flesh except Lyman Wight. We\nalso heard the guard which was placed over us, making sport of us,\nsaying that 'they had fed us upon _Mormon beef_.'\n\n\"I have described the appearance of this flesh to several\nexperienced physicians, and they have decided that is was human\nflesh. We learned afterwards through one of the guards that it was\nsupposed that such acts of cannibalism as feeding us with human\nflesh would be considered a popular deed. But those concerned, on\nlearning that it would not take, tried to keep it secret; but the\nfact was noised abroad before they took that precaution.\n\n\"While we were incarcerated in prison we petitioned the Supreme\nCourt of the State of Missouri for _habeas corpus_ twice,\nbut we were as often refused by Judge Reynolds, who is now Governor\nof that state.\n\n\"We also petitioned one of the county judges for a writ of _habeas\ncorpus_. This was granted in about three weeks afterwards; but we\nwere not permitted to have any trial. We were only taken out of jail,\nand kept out for a few hours, and then reprimanded back again. In the\ncourse of three or four days after that time Judge Turnham came into\nthe jail in the evening, and said he had permitted Mr. Rigdon to get\nbail; but said he had to do it in the night, and had also to get away\nin the night, and unknown to any of the citizens, or they would kill\nhim; for they had sworn to kill him if they could find him. And, as to\nthe rest of us, he dare not let us go for fear of his own life, as well\nas ours.\n\n\"He said it was hard to be confined under such circumstances,\nfor he knew we were innocent men, and the people also knew it; and\nthat it was only persecution and treachery, and the scenes of\nJackson County acted over again, for fear we would become too\nnumerous in that upper country. He said, 'the plan was concocted\nfrom the Governor down to the lowest judge, and that wicked Baptist\npriest, Riley, was riding into town every day to watch the\npeople--stirring up the minds of the people against us all he\ncould--exciting them, and stirring up their religious prejudices\nagainst us, for fear they would let us go.'\n\n\"Mr. Rigdon, however, got bail and made his escape to Illinois.\nThe jailor, Samuel Tillory, told us also 'that the whole plan was\nconcocted from the Governor down to the lowest judge in that upper\ncountry early the previous spring; and that the plan was more fully\nmatured at the time General Atchison went down to Jefferson County\nwith Generals Wilson, Lucas and Gillum.' This was sometime in\nSeptember, when the mob was collected at De Witt. He also said that\nthe Governor was now ashamed enough of the whole transaction, and\nwould be glad to set us at liberty if he dared to do it; 'but,'\nsaid he, 'you need not be concerned, for the Governor has laid a\nplan for your release.' He also said that Mr. Birch, the State's\nAttorney, was appointed to be Circuit Judge in the district\nincluding Daviess County, and that he (Birch) was instructed to fix\nthe papers so that we would be clear from any encumbrance in a very\nshort time.\n\n\"Sometime in April we were taken to Daviess County, as they\nsaid, to have a trial; but when we arrived at that place, instead\nof finding a court or a jury, we found another Inquisition; and\nBirch, who was the District Attorney, the same man who was one of\nthe '_court martial_' when we were sentenced to death, was\nnow the Circuit Judge of that pretended court, and the Grand Jury\nthat were impanelled were at the massacre at Haun's Mill, and\nlively actors in that awful, solemn, disgraceful, cold-blooded\nmurder. All the pretense they made of excuse was 'they had done it\nbecause the Governor ordered it done.'\n\n\"The same jury sat as a jury in the day time, and were over us\nas a guard by night. They tantalized and boasted over us of their\ngreat achievements at Haun's Mill and at other places; telling us\nhow many houses they had burned, and how many sheep, cattle and\nhogs they had driven off belonging to '_Mormons_,' and how\nmany rapes they had committed, etc. * * *\n\n\"These fiends of the lower region boasted of these acts of\nbarbarity and tantalized our feelings with them for ten days. We\nhad heard of these acts of cruelty previous to this time; but we\nwere slow to believe that such acts had been perpetrated.\n\n\"This Grand Jury constantly celebrated their achievements with grog\nand glass in hand, like the Indian warriors at the war dances, singing\nand telling each of their exploits in murdering the '_ Mormons_,' in\nplundering their houses, and carrying off their property. All this\nwas done in the presence of _Judge_ Birch, who had previously said in\nour hearing: '_That there was no law for the Mormons in the State of\nMissouri_.'\n\n\"After all these ten days of drunkenness we were informed that\nwe were indicted for 'treason! murder! arson! larceny! theft and\nstealing!!' We asked for a change of venue from that county to\nMarion County; but they would not grant it. But they gave us a\nchange of venue from Daviess to Boone County, and a _mittimus\n_ was made out by the pretended Judge Birch, without date, name\nor place. They fitted us out with a two horse wagon and horses, and\nfour men, besides the Sheriff, to be our guard--there were five of\nus.\n\n\"We started from Gallatin, the sun about two hours high, p.m.,\nand went as far as Diahman that evening, and stayed till morning.\nThere we bought two horses of the guard, and paid for one of them\nin clothing which we had with us, and for the other we gave our\nnote.\n\n\"We went down that day as far as Judge Morin's--distance of some\nfour or five miles. There we stayed until morning, when we started\non our journey to Boone County, and travelled about twenty miles.\nThere was bought a jug of whiskey, of which the guard drank freely.\nWhile there the Sheriff showed us the _mittimus_, before\nreferred to, without date or signature, and said that Judge Birch\ntold him never to carry us to Boone County, and to show the\n_mittimus_; and, said he, I shall take a good drink of grog and\ngo to bed, and you may do as you have a mind to. Three others of\nthe guard drank pretty freely of whiskey sweetened with honey; they\nalso went to bed and were soon asleep. The other guard went with us\nand helped us to saddle our horses. Two of us mounted the horses\nand the other three started on foot, and thus we took our change of\nvenue for the State of Illinois.\n\n\"In the course of nine or ten days we arrived safely in Quincy,\nAdams County, where we found our families in a state of poverty,\nalthough in good health--they having been driven out of the state\npreviously by the murderous militia under the exterminating order\nof the Executive of Missouri. And now the people of that state, or\na portion of them, would be glad to make the people of this state\nbelieve that my brother Joseph has committed treason, and this they\nseek to do for the purpose of keeping up their murderous and\nhellish persecution. They seem to be unrelenting in thirsting for\nthe blood of innocence, for I do know most positively that my\nbrother Joseph has committed no treason, nor violated one solitary\nitem of law or rule in the State of Missouri.\n\n\"But I do know that the Mormon people, _en masse_, were\ndriven out of that State, after being robbed of all they had, and\nthat he barely escaped with his life. And all this in consequence\nof the exterminating order of Governor Boggs; the same being\nconfirmed by the Legislature of that State.\n\n\"And I do know, so does this Court and every rational man who is\nacquainted with the circumstances, and every man who shall hereafter\nbecome acquainted with the particulars thereof, will know that Governor\nBoggs and Generals Clark, Lucas, Wilson and Gillum, also Austin A.\nKing, have committed treasonable acts against the citizens of Missouri,\nand did violate the Constitution of the United States, and also the\nConstitution and laws of the State of Missouri, and did exile and\nexpel, at the point of the bayonet, some twelve or fourteen thousand\ninhabitants of the State, and did murder some three or four hundred\nof men, women and children in cold blood in the most horrid and cruel\nmanner possible. And the whole of it was caused by religious bigotry\nand persecution, and because the _Mormons_ dared to worship Almighty\nGod according to the dictates of their own conscience and agreeably to\nHis Divine Will, as revealed in the Scriptures of eternal truth; and\nhad turned away from following the vain traditions of their fathers and\nwould not worship according to the dogmas and commandments of those\nmen who preach for hire and divine for money, and teach for doctrines\nthe commandments of men, expecting that the Constitution of the United\nStates would have protected them therein.\n\n\"But, notwithstanding the _Mormon_ people, had purchased\nupwards of two hundred thousand dollars' worth of land, most of\nwhich was entered and paid for at the Land Office of the United\nStates, in the State of Missouri, and although the President of the\nUnited States has been made acquainted with these facts and the\nparticulars of our persecutions and oppressions by petitions to him\nand to Congress, yet they have not even attempted to restore the\nSaints to their rights, or given any assurance that we may\nhereafter expect redress from them.\n\n\"And I do also know, most positively and assuredly, that my\nbrother, Joseph Smith, Junior, has not been in the State of\nMissouri since the spring of the year 1839. And further this\ndeponent saith not.\n\n\"HYRUM SMITH.\"\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX.\n------------------------\n\nFarewell Scenes:--Departure of the Last Remnant\nof the Exiles:--Court:--Release of Two of the Prisoners:--\nReflections in Prison.\n\nOn the 17th of March, 1839, my wife took leave of the prison\nwith her little children, and, with a broken heart returned to Far\nWest, in order to get passage with some of the brethren for\nIllinois. She tarried in Far West a month. All the society had gone\nfrom the State, but a few of the poor and widows, and the committee\nwho tarried behind to assist them in removing. About the middle of\nApril a gang of robbers entered Far West armed, and ordered my\nwife, and the committee, and the others to be gone by such a time,\nor they would murder them. This gang destroyed much furniture and\nother property.\n\nThus my wife was driven away according to the Governor's\nprevious order, while I was still detained in a filthy dungeon. My\nfamily were conveyed to Quincy, Illinois, distance two hundred and\neighty miles, by David W. Rogers, of New York, who is a descendant\nof the celebrated martyr, John Rogers, of Smithfield celebrity,\nEngland.\n\nOn the 20th of April, 1839, the last of the Society departed\nfrom Far West. Thus had a whole people, variously estimated at from\nten to fifteen thousand souls, been driven from houses and lands\nand reduced to poverty, and had removed to another State during one\nshort winter and part of a spring. The sacrifice of property was\nimmense--including houses, lands, cattle, sheep, hogs, agricultural\nimplements, furniture, household utensils, clothing, money and\ngrain. One of the most flourishing counties in the State and part\nof several others were reduced to desolation, or inhabited only by\nmarauding gangs of murderers and robbers.\n\nOn the 24th of April our cases came before the Grand Jury of the\ncounty of Ray; which Grand Jury, the reader is aware, would be\nnaturally composed of our persecutors and their accessories; and at\nwhose head was the same Judge King who had presided in the former\nmock trial and inquisition which committed us to prison.\n\nDarwin Chase and Norman Shearer were dismissed, after being\nimprisoned near six months. This release happened just as Mr.\nShearer came to visit his son for the last time before he left the\ncountry. He came into the prison and took an affectionate leave of\nhis son, who wept as if his heart would break; but while he yet\nlingered in town his son was called before the Court, and, together\nwith Mr. Chase, was told that he might go at liberty. The father\nand son then embraced each other, almost overcome with joy, and\ndeparted.\n\nAt the same time my brother, Orson Pratt, whom I had not seen\nfor a year, came from Illinois to see me, but was only permitted to\nvisit me for a few moments, and then was ordered to depart.\n\nMrs. Phelps, who had waited in prison for some days, in hopes\nthat the Court would release her husband, now parted with him,\noverwhelmed with sorrow and tears, and, with her infant, went away\nto remove to Illinois.\n\nThus our families wander in a strange land, without protection,\nbeing robbed of house and home. O Lord! how long?\n\nOur number in prison were now reduced to four--one having been added\nabout the middle of April. His name was King Follett; he was dragged\nfrom his distressed family just as they were leaving the State, being\ncharged with robbery, which meant that he was one of a posse who took\na keg of powder from a gang of ruffians who were out against the\n_Mormons_. Thus, of all the _Mormon_ prisoners first kidnapped, only\ntwo remained in the State--Mr. Gibbs having denied the faith to try and\nregain his liberty--these were Morris Phelps and myself.\n\nAll who were liberated on bail were forced to leave the State,\ntogether with those who bailed them, thus forfeiting many thousands\nof dollars to the coffers of the State.\n\nIs it possible! Have I been recording the history of realities\nas the scenes transpired in the broad light of the nineteenth\ncentury--in the boasted land of liberty--and in the most renowned\nrepublic now existing on the globe? Alas! it is too true; would to\nGod it were a dream--a novel, a romance that had no existence save\nin the wild regions of fancy. But the prison door yet grating on\nits hinges,--the absence of my wife and little ones--the gloom of\nthe dungeon where I yet repose,--these and ten thousand other\nthings cause me to think that my almost incredible narrative is no\nfiction, but an awful reality--a fact more truly distressing than\nmy feeble tongue or pen can find words to set forth.\n\nHow often in my sleeping visions I see my beloved wife, or my\nplayful children surrounded with the pleasures of home in my sweet\nlittle cottage, or walk with them in some pleasant grove or flowery\nfield, as in years past. How often I see myself surrounded with\nlistening thousands, as in bygone years, and join with them in the\nsacred song and prayer, or address them with the sound of the\neverlasting gospel. But, alas! I soon awake, and, to my\ninexpressible grief and sorrow, find myself still in my lonely\ndungeon.\n\n    O Liberty!\n    O sound once delightful to every American ear!\n    O sacred privilege of American citizenship!\n    Once sacred; now trampled under foot.\n\nWhen shall I and my injured family and friends again enjoy thy\nsweets? When shall we repose beneath thy bower, or bask in thy\nboundless ocean of felicity? When shall we sit again under our vine\nand under our fruit trees, and worship our God, with none to molest\nor make us afraid?\n\n    Awake, O Americans!\n    Arise, O sons and daughters of freedom!\n\nRestore a persecuted and injured people to their rights, as\ncitizens of a free republic. Down with tyranny and oppression, and\nrescue your liberties from the brink of ruin. Redeem your much\ninjured country from the awful stain upon its honor; and let the\ncries of helpless orphans and the tears of the sorrowing widow\ncease to ascend up before the Lord for vengeance upon the heads of\nthose who have slain, plundered, imprisoned and driven the Saints.\nAnd let the news go forth to the wondering nations that Columbia\nstill is free.\n\nO tell it not in Britain; nor let the sound be heard in Europe\nthat Liberty is fallen; that the free institutions of our once\nhappy country are now destroyed, lest the sons and daughters of\nBritannia rejoice and laugh us to scorn; lest the children of\nmonarchy triumph and have us in derision.\n\n    O freedom must thy spirit now withdraw\n    From earth, returning to its native heaven,\n    There to dwell, till, armed with sevenfold vengeance,\n    It comes again to earth with King Messiah,\n    And all His marshaled hosts, in glory bright,\n    To tread the winepress of Almighty God,\n    And none escape? Ye powers of Heaven, forbid;\n    Let freedom linger still on shores of time,\n    And in the breasts of thine afflicted saints,\n    Let it find a peaceful retirement--\n    A place of rest, till o'er the troubled earth,\n    Mercy, justice and eternal truth,\n    While journeying hand in hand to exalt the humble\n    And debase the proud; shall find some nation,\n    Poor, oppressed, afflicted and despised;\n    Cast out and trodden under foot of tyrants\n    Proud; the hiss, the byword, and the scorn of knaves--\n    And there let freedom's spirit wide prevail,\n    And grow and flourish 'mid the humble poor--\n    Exalted and enriched by virtue,\n    Knowledge, temperance and love; till o'er the earth\n    Messiah comes to reign; the proud consumed,\n    No more oppress the poor,\n    Let freedom's eagle then (forthcoming, like\n    The dove from Noah's ark) on lofty pinions soar,\n    And spread its wide domain from end to end,\n    O'er all the vast expanse of this wide earth;\n    While freedom's temple rears its lofty spires\n    Amid the skies, and on its bosom rests\n    A cloud by day and flaming fire by night!\n\n    But stay my spirit, though thou fain would'st soar\n    On high, 'mid scenes of glory, peace and joy;\n    From bondage free, and bid thy jail farewell.\n    Stop--wait awhile--let patience have her perfect work,\n    Return again to suffering scenes, through which\n    The way to glory lies, and speak of things\n    Around thee--Thou'rt in prison still!\n\n    But spring has now returned; the wintry blasts\n    Have ceased to howl through prison crevices\n    The soft and gentle breezes of the South\n    Are whistling gaily past, and incense sweet,\n    On zephyr's wing, with fragrance fills the air,\n    Wafted from blooming flowerets of the spring;\n    While round my lonely dungeon oft is heard\n    Melodious strains, as if the birds of spring,\n    In anthems sweet, conspired to pity and\n    Console the drooping spirits there confined.\n    All things around me show that days, and weeks,\n    And months have fled, although to me not mark'd\n    By Sabbaths, and but faintly marked by dim\n    And sombre rays of light, alternate 'mid\n    The gloom of overhanging night, which still\n    Pervades my drear and solitary cell.\n    Where now those helpless ones I left to mourn?\n    Have they perished? No. What then! Has some\n    Elijah call'd and found them in the last\n    Extreme, and multiplied their meal and oil?\n    Yes, verily; the Lord has filled the hearts\n    Of his poor saints with everlasting love,\n    Which, in proportion to their poverty,\n    Increased with each increasing want, till all\n    Reduced unto the widow's mite, and then,\n    Like her, their living they put in; and thus\n    O'erflowed the treasury of the Lord with more\n    Abundant stores than all the wealth of kings.\n    And thus supported, fed and clothed, and moved\n    From scenes of sorrow to a land of peace,\n    They live! and living still, they do rejoice\n    In tribulation deep--\n    Well knowing their redemption draweth nigh.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX.\n------------------------\n\nLETTER TO JUDGE AUSTIN A. KING.\n\n\"RICHMOND PRISON, May 13th, 1839,\n\n\"_Hon. Sir_--Having been confined in prison near seven\nmonths, and the time having arrived when a change of venue can be\ntaken in order for the further prosecution of our trials, and the\ntime when I can speak my mind freely, without endangering the lives\nor liberties of any but myself, I now take the liberty of seriously\nobjecting to a trial anywhere within the bounds of this State, and\nof earnestly praying to your honor and to all the authorities,\ncivil and military, that my case may come within the law of\nBANISHMENT! enacted by Governor Boggs, and so vigorously enforced\nupon from ten to fifteen thousand of our society, including my wife\nand little ones, together with all my witnesses and friends.\n\n\"My reasons are obvious, and founded upon notorious facts which\nknown to you, sir, and to the people in general of this republic,\nand, therefore, need no proof; some of them are as follows:\n\n\"First: I have never received any protection by law, either of\nmy person, property or family, while residing in this State, to\nwhich I first emigrated in 1831.\n\n\"Secondly: I was driven by force of arms from Jackson County,\nwounded and bleeding, in 1833, while my house was burned, my crops\nand provisions robbed from me or destroyed, and my land and\nimprovements kept from me until now, while my family was driven\nout, without shelter, at the approach of winter.\n\n\"Thirdly: These crimes still go unpunished, notwithstanding I\nmade oath before the Hon. Judge Ryland, then acting District Judge,\nto foregoing outrages, and afterwards applied in person to his\nexcellency, Daniel Dunklin, then Governor of the State, for redress\nand protection of myself and friends, and the restoration of more\nthan a thousand of our fellow citizens to our homes.\n\n\"Fourthly: My wife and children have now been driven from our\nhouse and improvements in Caldwell County, and banished the state\non pain of death, together with about ten thousand of our Society,\nincluding all my friends and witnesses, and this by the express\norders of his excellency, Lilburn W. Boggs, Governor of the State\nof Missouri, and by the vigorous execution of this order by\nGenerals Lucas and Clark, and followed up by murders, rapes,\nplunderings, thefts and robberies of the most inhuman character, by\na lawless mob who had, from time to time, for more than five years\npast, trampled upon all law and authority, and upon all the rights\nof man.\n\n\"Fifthly: All these inhuman outrages and crimes go\nunpunished, and are unnoticed by you, sir, and by all the\nauthorities of the State. Nay, rather, you are one of the very\nactors. You, yourself, threatened in open court the extermination\nof the '_Mormons_' if they should ever be again guilty of\ncultivating their lands.\n\n\"Sixthly: The Legislature of the State has approved of and\nsanctioned this act of banishment, with all the crimes connected\ntherewith, by voting an appropriation of two hundred thousand\ndollars, for the payment of troops engaged in this unlawful,\nunconstitutional and treasonable enterprise.\n\n\"In monarchial governments the banishment of criminals after\ntheir legal trial and condemnation has been frequently resorted to,\nbut the banishment of innocent women and children from house, and\nhome, and country, to wander in a strange land, unprotected and\nunprovided for, while their husbands and fathers are retained in\ndungeons, is an action unknown in the annals of history, except in\nthis single instance, in the nineteenth century, when it has\nactually transpired in a republican State, where the Constitution\nguarantees to every man the protection of life, liberty and\nproperty, and the right of trial by jury.\n\n\"These, sir, are outrages which would put monarchy to the\nblush, and from which the most despotic tyrants of the dark ages\nwould turn away with shame and disgust. In these proceedings, sir,\nMissouri has enrolled her name on the list of immortal fame. Her\ntransactions will be handed down the stream of time to the latest\nposterity, who will read with wonder and astonishment the history\nof proceedings which without a parallel in the annals of time.\n\n\"Why should the authorities of the State strain at a gnat and\nswallow a camel?\n\n\"Why be so strictly legal as to compel me to pass through all\nthe forms of a slow and pretended legal prosecution (previous to my\nenlargement), out of a pretense of respect to the laws of the\nState, which have been openly trampled upon and disregarded towards\nus from first to last?\n\n\"Why not include me in the general wholesale banishment of our\nsociety, that I may support my family, which are now reduced to\nbeggary in a land of strangers?\n\n\"But, sir, when the authorities of the State shall redress all\nthese wrongs, shall punish the guilty according to law, and shall\nrestore my family and friends to all our rights, and shall pay all\nthe damages which we, as a people, have sustained, then I shall\nbelieve them sincere in their professed zeal for law and justice;\n_then_ shall I be convinced that I can have a fair trial in\nthe State.\n\n\"But until _then_ I hereby solemnly protest against being\ntried in this State, with the full and conscientious conviction\nthat I have no just grounds to expect a fair and impartial trial.\n\n\"I therefore, most sincerely pray your honor, and all the\nauthorities in the State, to either banish me without further\npersecution, or I freely consent to a trial before the Judiciary of\nthe United States.\n\n\"With sentiments of consideration and due respect, I have the\nhonor to subscribe myself,\n\n\"Your prisoner,\n\n    \"P. P. PRATT.\"\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI.\n------------------------\n\nThe Prison:--Fare:--Conduct of the Guards:--A Strange\nCouple:--My Wife Visits the Prison:--Fasting and Prayer:--An\nImportant Question:--Vision:--A Ministering Spirit:--The\nQuestion Answered:--Visit from Judge King:--Change of Venue:--\nHandcuffs:--Departure from the Prison:--Journey:--Arrival in\nColumbia, Boone County:--Enter Another Prison:--Treatment:--Arrival of\nFriends:--News from my Family:--Impressions of the Spirit:--Plan and\nPreparations for Escape:--Fourth of July Celebration:--Flag:--Public\nDinner:--Now's the Day:--Our Friends take Leave:--Rendezvous.\n\nThe four following chapters are extracted from the _Millennial\nStar_, published in Liverpool, England, Numbers 9, 10 and 11,\nVol. VIII. I give them in full, with some little revision,\nalthough they contain a repetition of some of the things\nrecorded in the foregoing chapters:\n\nAt the end of this extraordinary mock trial or inquisition,\nwhich lasted over two weeks, I was unchained from Joseph and Hyrum\nSmith, and the others, and being separated from them, was conducted\nto a gloomy, dark, cold and filthy dungeon in Richmond, Ray County,\nwhere I was doomed to spend the winter and spring, and await a\nfurther trial; while they shared a similar fate in a place called\nLiberty, in Clay County.\n\nWhen I first entered the dungeon there were some twenty men,\nmostly heads of families, who had been torn from their families in\nthose awful times, and thrust into prison. It was not only crowded\nto suffocation, without a chair, stool, bench, bed, furniture or\nwindow light, but just then completely filled with smoke by a fire\nwhich was lighted in a stove without a pipe, or any conductor for\nthe smoke to pass out, except at the crevices between the timbers,\nwhere the winter storm was passing in. When my guard conducted me\nto the door of this miserable cell it grated on its huge hinges and\nopened like the pit yawning to receive me; a volume of thick smoke\nissued forth and seemed to forbid my entrance; but, urged in my\nrear by bayonets and loaded pistols in the hands of savage beings,\nI endeavored to enter, but was forced to retreat again outside of\nthe door to breathe for a moment the free air. At this instant\nseveral pistols were cocked and presented at my head and breast,\nwith terrible threats and oaths of instant death if I did not go in\nagain. I told them to fire as soon as they pleased, for I must\nbreathe a moment or die in the attempt. After standing a few\nmoments, I again entered the prison, and threw myself down, my face\nto the floor, to avoid the smoke. Here I remained for some time,\npartly in a state of insensibility; my heart sickened within me,\nand a deathlike feeling came over me, from which I did not wholly\nrecover for several days.\n\nI arose, however, as soon as I was able, and began to speak to\nand recognize my fellow prisoners--most of whom were my neighbors\nand acquaintances. The door was now locked, bolted and barred, and\nseveral guards placed before it. The fire died away, and the smoke\ngradually cleared away from the dungeon; but the floor formed a\nhard and cold winter lodging.\n\nIn a few days all those in our prison, except five, were\nreleased on bail, and themselves and bail banished from the State,\nwith the rest of the Society; thus compelling them to forfeit their\nbail bonds, which amounted in all to many thousand dollars. The\nfive who remained were Morris Phelps, Darwin Chase, Norman Shearer,\nLuman Gibbs and myself. Two of these were finally dismissed--being\nboys scarcely out of their teens. But another was soon added by the\nname of King Follett.\n\nThis made our final number four. One of this number, viz.: Luman\nGibbs, denied the faith and turned a traitor to the others;\nbecoming their most inveterate enemy. This was in order to save his\nlife and gain his liberty. However, he was still kept in prison as\na spy upon us, lest it should be said that it was wholly a\nreligious persecution; but he was treated very well, and went out\nto dine with the Sheriff or others, or to spend a day with his wife\nwhenever it pleased him to do so. Our food was the most unwholesome\nkind, and scant at that; consisting of bones remnants of meat,\ncoarse corn bread, and sometimes a little coffee. We generally\npartook of our meals in a standing position, using our fingers\ninstead of knives, forks or plates. A tin cup served us for our\ncoffee. We were guarded very strictly, both by night and day, by\ntwo or three men with loaded pistols.\n\nThese consisted of the most unprincipled, profligate villains that\ncould be found anywhere. They would swear, drink, gamble, and sing the\nmost obscene and disgusting songs. They would boast of shooting the\n_Mormons_; mobbing and plundering them; committing rapes, etc. They\nwould also insult every female slave or black woman who might happen\nto come within hearing, and then boast of their criminal connections\nwith them. The blasphemy; the noisy grumbling; the blackguard chit\nchat; doleful lullaby and vulgar songs of these guards grating daily\nupon our ears, seemed like the howls and wailings of the damned, or\nlike wandering spirits and demons hovering around to torment us. What\ngreatly added to our affliction, as if to complete our hell, the old\napostate, Gibbs, became very quarrelsome and noisy--not only to us,\nbut with his wife also, who sometimes came into the prison to spend a\nfew days with him. He was a hard faced, ill formed man, of about fifty\nyears of age; full of jealousy, extremely selfish, very weak minded,\nand withal, a little love cracked; and, I may say, that he seemed not\nto possess one redeeming quality.\n\nHis wife was about the same age, and withal, a coarse, tall,\nmasculine looking woman, and one of whom he had no reason to\ncomplain or be jealous. True, she did not love him for no female\ncould possibly do that; but then no one else would love her, nor\nwas she disposed to court their affections. However, he was jealous\nof her, and, therefore, abused her; and this kept a constant and\nnoisy strife and wrangling between them whenever she was present.\n\nWhole nights were spent in this way, during which no one in or\nabout the prison slept. After a quarrel of some two or three days\nand nights between them, he would attempt to regain her love, and a\nconversation like the following would ensue. Luman, drawing down\nhis face and drawling his words with a loud and doleful tone,\ncommenced as follows:\n\n\"Now, Phila, won't you love me? Come; here's my watch, and\nhere's all the money I've got!\" Then turning to us, he would\nexclaim: \"Boys, I'll tell you all about it; the fact is, she never\ndid love me; she only married me out of pity--we being members of\nthe Baptist church together in Vermont.\" Then again addressing his\nwife: \"Come now, Phila; won't you love me? O, that I had been born\na rich man! I would give you a dollar a minute to love me.\"\n\nPhila would then laugh and call him \"a silly old fool.\"\nWhereupon he would turn away in a rage, and exclaim: \"Go along\naway, you -----, you! Nobody wants your love, no how!\"\n\nOn one occasion they had quarrelled and kept us awake all night,\nand just at break of day we heard a noise like a scuffle and a\nslamming against the wall; next followed a woman's voice, half in\nlaugh and in exultation:--\"Te-he-he-he, Luman, what's the matter?\nWhat's the matter, Luman?\" Then a pause, and afterwards a man's\nvoice in a grum, sorry, and rather a whining tone was heard at a\ndistance from the bed, exclaiming: \"Now, I swan, Phila, that's tu\nbad.\"\n\nThe truth of the matter was this: She had braced her back\nagainst the wall, and with both her feet placed against his body,\nhad kicked him out of bed, and landed him upon the opposite side of\nthe room.\n\nSuch scenes as these and all the folly of the guards served to\nenhance the misery of imprisonment, and to render our sufferings\ncomplete. We tried to keep them quiet, but tried in vain. Neither\nthreats nor persuasion, coaxing nor reasoning had any influence\nover them. This miserable specimen of humanity was a peculiar\nfavorite of the Sheriff and guards, and other citizens of Richmond.\nHe was considered by them as the only honest, good, deserving man\nin the prison. They often expressed pity for him, and wished he was\nat liberty. He, in turn, watched our movements closely, and was\nready to betray us on the least show, on our part, of any meditated\nplan of escape.\n\nUnder these painful circumstances we spent a long and dreary\nwinter. Our whole community, who were not in prison, were forced\nout of the State, with the loss of homes, property, and many lives.\nThey fled thousands to Illinois.\n\nMy wife visited me several times in prison; but at length the\nperiod expired that the State authorities had stipulated for every\nMormon to be gone, and my wife and children, and a few others who\nremained behind, were obliged to fly or be exterminated, as bands\nof armed men were roaming amid the deserted settlement, robbing,\nplundering, destroying property and threatening all who remained.\n\nMy fellow prisoners, who had been separated from me and sent to\nprison at Liberty, had also effected their escape, and had fled to\nIllinois to join their families. In short, all were gone, except\nKing Follett, Horns Phelps and myself, and the old apostate, who\nwas left to torment us.\n\nAlone in a State which was wholly governed by an open banditti\nof murderers and robbers, we seemed abandoned to our fate, and\ndoomed to suffer that full weight of vengeance and fury which\nseemed in reserve an entire people; but that people were now beyond\ntheir reach; all the fury of the storm, therefore, seemed now to\nbeat upon our heads. We were daily threatened with assassination,\nwithout the form of a trial; and repeatedly told that we never\nshould escape alive from the State. Our guards were doubly\nvigilant, while the Sheriff took every possible precaution. Luman,\nthe apostate, was also in constant watchfulness, and busy in\nforming plans for escape; then accusing us and pretending to reveal\nwonderful things to our keepers in regard to our plans; which, in\nfact, only existed in his lying brain. This increased the severity\nof our confinement, and seemed to preclude the possibility of\nescape.\n\nTo be tried without friends or witnesses, or even with them, by\na set of \"Gadianton robbers\" and murderers, who could drive out and\nmurder women and children, was but to be condemned and executed; to\ntarry there and drag out a miserable life, while our wives and\nchildren wandered abroad in a land of strangers, without the\nprotection of husbands and fathers, was worse than to die ten\nthousand deaths.\n\nUnder these circumstances, and half way between hope and\ndespair, I spent several days in fasting and prayer, during which\none deep and all absorbing inquiry, one only thought, seemed to\nhold possession of my mind. It seemed to me that if there was a God\nin Heaven who ever spake to man on earth I would know from him the\ntruth of this one question. It was not how long shall I suffer; it\nwas not when or by what means I should be delivered; but it was\nsimply this: Shall I ever, at any time, however distant it may be,\nor whatever I may suffer first; shall I ever be free again in this\nlife, and enjoy the society of my dear wife and children, and walk\nabroad at liberty, dwell in society and preach the gospel, as I\nhave done in bygone years?\n\nLet me be sure of this and I care not what I suffer. To\ncircumnavigate the globe, to traverse the deserts of Arabia, to\nwander amid the wild scenes of the Rocky Mountains to accomplish so\ndesirable an object, would seem like a mere trifle if I could only\nbe sure at last. After some days of prayer and fasting, and seeking\nthe Lord on the subject, I retired to my bed in my lonely chamber\nat an early hour, and while the other prisoners and the guard were\nchatting and beguiling the lonesome hours in the upper apartment of\nthe prison, I lay in silence, seeking and expecting an answer to my\nprayer, when suddenly I seemed carried away in the spirit, and no\nlonger sensible to outward objects with which I was surrounded. A\nheaven of peace and calmness pervaded my bosom; a personage from\nthe world of spirits stood before me with a smile of compassion in\nevery look, and pity mingled with the tenderest love and sympathy\nin every expression of the countenance. A soft hand seemed placed\nwithin my own, and a glowing cheek was laid in tenderness and\nwarmth upon mine. A well known voice saluted me, which I readily\nrecognized as that of the wife of my youth, who had for near two\nyears been sweetly sleeping where the wicked cease from troubling\nand the weary are at rest. I was made to realize that she was sent\nto commune with me, and answer my question.\n\nKnowing this, I said to her in a most earnest and inquiring\ntone: Shall I ever be at liberty again in this life and enjoy the\nsociety of my family and the Saints, and preach the gospel as I\nhave done? She answered definitely and unhesitatingly: \"YES!\" I\nthen recollected that I had agreed to be satisfied with the\nknowledge of _that one_ fact, but now I wanted more.\n\nSaid I: Can you tell me how, or by what means, or when I shall\nescape? She replied: \"THAT THING IS NOT MADE KNOWN TO ME YET.\" I\ninstantly felt that I had gone beyond my agreement and my faith in\nasking this last question, and that I must be contented at present\nwith the answer to the first.\n\nHer gentle spirit then saluted me and withdrew. I came to\nmyself. The doleful noise of the guards, and the wrangling and\nangry words of the old apostate again grated on my ears, but Heaven\nand hope were in my soul.\n\nNext morning I related the whole circumstance of my vision to my\ntwo fellow prisoners, who rejoiced exceedingly. This may seem to\nsome like an idle dream, or a romance of the imagination; but to me\nit was, and always will be, a reality, both as it regards what I\nthen experienced and the fulfilment afterwards.\n\nIn order to show some pretense of respect for some of the forms\nof law, Judge Austin A. King now entered our prison and took our\ntestimony, preparatory to a change of venue. I shall never forget\nthis interview. There stood our Judge, face to face with those who,\nby his cruelty and injustice, had lived a cold half year in a\ndungeon. He refused to look us in the eye; hung his head and looked\nlike a culprit before his betters about to receive his doom. The\nlooks of guilt and misery portrayed in his countenance during that\nbrief interview bespoke more of misery than we had suffered during\nour confinement. I actually pitied him in my heart. With an\nextraordinary effort and a voice scarcely audible, he administered\nthe oaths and withdrew.\n\nBy means of this change we were finally to be removed one\nhundred miles down the country, and confined in the prison at\nColumbia, Boone County, to await a final trial.\n\nA long, dreary winter and spring had now passed away, and the\ntime drew near for our removal. We looked forward to the change\nwith some degree of hope and expectation, for it could not be for\nthe worse, and might, perhaps, be for the better. At any rate, the\njourney would give us a chance to leave our dark and loathsome\ndungeon, and look upon the light of day, the beauties of nature,\nand to breathe the untainted air.\n\nThe morning of the departure at length arrived. Mr. Brown, the\nSheriff, entered our prison with a fierce and savage look, and,\nbidding us hold out our hands, coupled us together in pairs, with\nirons locked on our wrists, and marched us out; and, amid a throng\nof people, placed us in a carriage. Accompanied with four other\nguards on horseback, with loaded pistols, we bid farewell to\nRichmond.\n\nIt was a pleasant morning in early summer, when all the\nfreshness and beauty of spring seemed blended in rich profusion,\nwith the productions peculiar to the season as it advanced towards\nmaturity. The leaves on the trees were full grown, and the forest\npresented a freshness of beauty and loveliness which reminded me of\nParadise. The plains were covered with a coat of green, and the\nwild flowers of the prairie, blooming in all their variety, sent\nforth a perfume which mingled with every zephyr, and wafted sweet\nodors on every breeze. To prisoners who had breathed only a tainted\nair for half a year the very ground itself seemed to send forth a\nsweetness which was plainly perceptible to the senses. We enjoyed\nour ride through that delightful country more than any being could\nwho had never been confined for weary months in a dreary dungeon.\n\nThe day at length closed; and we were taken into a house and\nstretched upon our backs on the floor, all fastened together with\nwrist and ankle irons in such a manner that we could not turn nor\nchange our position. The doors and windows were then made fast, and\nthe sentinels on duty guarded us by turns until morning. This was\nour night's rest after forty miles travel.\n\nThe next day proved extremely rainy, with heavy thunder; but\nstill we travelled. In the course of the day we came to a stream\nwhich was swollen by the rains to that degree that we had to swim\nover it and stem a swift current. This hindered us for some\nhours--in crossing over with horses, wagons, baggage, etc.; and as\nall of us were engaged in this business, our chains were taken off\nfor the time.\n\nWhen we had crossed over, put on our clothes, and replaced the\nbaggage, saddles, arms, etc., ready for a start, it was night, and\nwe were very weary and hungry, having had no refreshments during\nthe day. The rain was also pouring in torrents, and the night\nsetting in extremely dark. Four miles of wild country, partly\ncovered with forests and underwoods, still lay between us and the\nnearest house. Through the hurry of the moment, or for some other\nreason, they neglected to replace our irons, and our limbs were\nfree. The carriage drove through a thick forest during the extreme\ndarkness, and was several times on the eve of upsetting. This\ncaused us to assume a position for saving ourselves by rising upon\nour feet, ready to jump out in case of the carriage upsetting.\n\nThe Sheriff and guards seeing this, rode close on each side,\nand, cocking their pistols, swore they would shoot us dead if we\nattempted to leave the carriage, and that if it upset they would\nshoot us anyhow, for fear we might attempt to escape.\n\nAfter two days more of rain, hail and travel, we arrived at\nColumbia, where we were immediately thrust into a gloomy dungeon\nfilled with darkness, filth and cobwebs; the naked floor was our\nlodging. We had travelled hard, through rain and fatigue, for\nseveral days, and on the last day had rode till sundown without\nrefreshment. We were extremely hungry and weary, but received no\nrefreshment, not even a drink of water, till late in the evening,\nwhen our new keeper, Mr. John Scott, visited us with some\nbuttermilk and bread; but we were now too much exhausted and too\nlow spirited to eat. We thanked him for his kindness, and sank down\nexhausted on the floor, where we rested as well as we could till\nmorning. We saw no more of Sheriff Brown or his guards, and will\nnow take final leave of them, merely observing that they made it a\npoint to insult every black woman they met on the way, frequently\nturning aside with them into the woods and fields. On returning to\nthe company they would boast and glory in their criminal\nintercourse with them.\n\nAfter spending one night in our new dungeon we were called on by\nthe Sheriff to come up into a more comfortable apartment, and were\ntreated with some degree of humanity. We were no longer troubled\nwith guards, and even Luman and Phila behaved much better. We had\nbeen in our new situation something like a month, when we were\nvisited by some friends from Illinois, from whom we learned the\nfate of our families and friends.\n\nThe wife of Mr. Phelps rode one hundred and sixty miles on\nhorseback, accompanied by her brother, a young man named Clark.\nThey arrived in Columbia and paid us a visit in prison about the\n1st of July. My brother Orson also arrived on horseback about the\nsame time. With friends we had a good visit for some days--they\nbeing permitted to stay in the prison with us. They also brought a\nletter from my wife, by which I learned that she made her escape\nfrom Far West to Quincy, Illinois, with her children and some of\nher goods, by the aid of Mr. David Rogers, of New York. During this\njourney they were much exposed to hardships and trouble, having to\ncamp by the way, in company with other women and children who were\nin a like condition. On crossing a swollen stream, Mrs. Pratt had\nleft the carriage to cross on a foot bridge, leaving the children\nto ride through it. She had just crossed over and turned to look\nback, to see whether the carriage came through in safety, when she\ndiscovered a little girl's bonnet floating down the stream, and, on\nexamination, as the carriage rose the bank, her daughter, a girl of\nsix years old, was missing from the carriage. The next moment she\nsaw her floating down the swift current. She gave the alarm to Mr.\nRogers, the driver, who instantly dropped the reins and sprang\nafter her into the stream. At this instant the horses, being high\nspirited and active, began to run, and would probably have dashed\nthemselves and the carriage, goods, and the other child to pieces\nbut for the timely interference of a large prong of a tree, which\ncaught the carriage with such a strong hold that all was brought to\na stand. In the meantime Mr. Rogers succeeded in rescuing the child\nand bringing her safe to shore.\n\nShe had, as she stated, pitched head foremost out of the\ncarriage into the water. One of the wheels ran over her, and\ncrushed her fast into the mud at the bottom of the stream; but as\nit rolled over she caught the spokes with her hands, and by this\nmeans the same weight that crushed her down brought her to the\nsurface and saved her life. On examination the marks of the wheel\nwere distinctly seen on both her thighs, which were seriously\ninjured and nearly broken.\n\nAfter a wearisome journey and various toils and dangers, they at\nlength arrived at Quincy, Illinois, where Mrs. Pratt rented a small\nhouse, and by the sale of a few books, with the use of her two\ncows, which some of the brethren had brought from Missouri for her,\nshe was making shift to live from day to day. She still expressed\nsome faint hopes of seeing her husband again in a land of liberty,\nalthough at present there was little ground to hope, and she was\nsometimes nearly in despair.\n\nSuch was the news brought us by the arrival of our friends in\nthe prison at Columbia on the 1st of July, 1839, after eight\nmonths of weary confinement. Previous to their arrival the Lord had\nshown me in a vision the night the manner and means of escape. And,\nlike Pharaoh's dream, the thing had been doubled--that is shown to\nme on two occasions in the same manner.\n\nMrs. Phelps had the same thing shown to her in a vision previous\nto her arrival; my brother, Orson Pratt, also came to us with a\nfirm impression that we were about to be delivered. He even\npredicted that we should go to Illinois, when he should return\nthere. As we sat pondering upon these things, and comparing our\nvisions and manifestations of the spirit on this subject, my\nbrother Orson opened the Book of Mormon, when the first sentence\nthat caught his eye was the words of Ammon to King Lamoni: \"Behold,\nmy brother and my brethren are in prison, in the land of Middoni,\nand I go to deliver them!\" This was indeed a similar instance to\nours. Ammon, on that occasion had an own brother in prison, and also\nbrethren in the ministry, and did deliver them. Our case was\nexactly similar, not in Middoni, but in Missouri. And, what was\nstill more strange, in a book of six hundred pages, this was the\nonly sentence which would have fitted our case.\n\nHe now began in earnest to make arrangements for our escape. If\nthere had been no strong bolts and bars to overcome, still there\nwas one serious obstacle which a miracle alone could immediately\nremove, which was this: I was then very sick and scarcely able to\nstand on my feet, or to go up and down from the upper room, where\nwe were in the day time, to the dungeon where we slept.\n\nIt was the second of July, and our friends could only make an\nexcuse for staying to spend the great national holiday with us (the\n4th) before they must leave or excite the suspicions and ill will\nof the people; and, as that day had been a lucky one for our\nfathers and our nation, we had determined on that time as the\nproper one to bid farewell to bondage and gain our liberty. In\nshort, we had determined to make that notable day a jubilee to us,\nor perish in the attempt. We, therefore, prayed earnestly to the\nLord, that if he had determined to favor our plan, he would heal\nand strengthen me, and give us all courage to act well our part.\nThrough the ministration of the ordinance appointed for healing, I\nwas instantly healed, and from that moment began to feel as strong\nand fearless as a lion.\n\nOur plan was this: My brother, Orson Pratt, was to wait on the\nJudge and Attorney, and obtain various papers and arrangements for\nsummoning witnesses from Illinois to attend our trial, which had\njust been adjourned for some months to come. He was also to procure\nan order from the court to take affidavits in Illinois, in case the\nwitnesses should object to come to the state from which they had\nbeen banished, in order to attend rite trials.\n\nThese active preparations on our part to defend our case,\ntogether with engaging a lawyer or two, and paying a part of their\nfees beforehand, served as a sufficient blindfold to cover our real\nintentions. This done, and the papers all prepared in the hands of\nmy brother, he and Mrs. Phelps and her brother were to stay with us\nuntil the 4th, and after celebrating the day with a dinner in the\nprison (which we obtained leave to do), he and the young Mr. Clark\nwere to take leave with their horses, and also with the horse and\nsaddle on which Mrs. Phelps had ridden, on pretence of taking him\nhome with them to Illinois, while she stayed with her husband a few\nweeks in the prison; in the meantime engaging her board in the\nfamily of the keeper, who occupied part of the building in\nconnection with the prison.\n\nThis measure, on the part of Mrs. Phelps, served the double\npurpose of lulling them into serenity, and also of furnishing a\nthird horse; as there were three of us. These three horses were to\nbe stationed in a thicket, or forest, about half a mile from the\nprison, and there the two friends were to await, in readiness for\nus to mount, should we be so fortunate as to reach the thicket\nalive.\n\nSundown, on the evening of the fourth, was the moment agreed\nupon, and if we did not then appear they were to give us up for\nlost, and make the best of their way to Illinois and inform our\nfriends that we had gone to Paradise in attempting to come to them.\nThe reason for appointing this hour was this: Our door would be\nopened at sundown to hand in our supper, and we must then make the\nattempt as our only chance; for it was customary to lock us up in\nthe lower dungeon as soon as the shades of evening began to appear.\n\nThis plan all matured, and the arrangements completed with the\ncourt and the lawyers, the fourth of July dawned upon us with hope\nand expectation. While the town and nation were alive with the\nbustle of preparation for the celebration of the American Jubilee,\nand while guns were firing and music sounding without, our prison\npresented a scene of scarcely less life and cheerfulness; for we\nwere also preparing to do proper honors to the day. We had\nprevailed on the keeper to furnish us with a long pole, on which to\nsuspend a flag, and also some red stripes of cloth. We then tore a\nshirt in pieces, and took the body of it for the groundwork of a\nflag, forming with the red stripes of cloth an eagle and the word\n\"_Liberty_,\" in large letters. This rude flag of red and\nwhite was suspended on the pole from the prison window, directly in\nfront of the public square and court house, and composed one of the\ngreatest attractions of the day. Hundreds of the people from the\ncountry, as well as villagers who were there at the celebration,\nwould come up and stare at the flag, and reading the motto, would\ngo swearing or laughing away, exclaiming, \"Liberty! Liberty! What\nhave the Mormons to do with celebrating _liberty_ in a damned old\nprison?\"\n\nIn the meantime active preparations were in progress for our\npublic dinner; and with the contributions of our friends who were\nto partake with us, and a portion served from the public table of\nthe citizens of the town, we had a plentiful supply. And, as we\nconsidered it was to be a day of release, we partook of our feast\nwith much cheer, and with thankful as well as social feelings,\nwhich I think have been seldom if ever surpassed. O ye sons of\nColumbia, at home and abroad! Think back to the fourth of July,\n1839; call to mind your feast in honor of national freedom, and ask\nyourselves the question, whether in all your pomp and show of joy\nand social glee, you felt anything compared with _our_ feelings,\nor the interest excited during that feast.\n\nEight months and four days we had been deprived of the sweets of\nthat liberty which a whole nation was then engaged in celebrating;\nand we felt that:\n\n    Now's the day, and now's the hour,\n    To trample on a tyrant's power;\n    To burst at once the prison's gloom,\n    Or find a martyr'd hero's tomb.\n\nThe dinner over, our brethren took a final leave of us and our\nprison, loaded with love, respects, compliments and messages to our\nfamilies and friends in Illinois. All these, together with the\ngoodbyes and farewells, were heard and witnessed by the keeper's\nfamily, and served the purpose for which they were intended, viz:\nTo lull them into security, and to remove all possible ground of\nsuspicion as to our intentions.\n\nAfter riding out of town a mile or two in the forest, on the\nroad towards Illinois, they turned off into the thick leaved\nwilderness, and made their way in secret, as best they could, to\nthe thicket agreed upon, within about half a mile of the prison;\nwhere, with horses saddled and bridle reins in hand, they awaited\nin anxious suspense the slow progress of the setting sun.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII.\n------------------------\n\nDescription of the Prison:--Ladies in the Prison:--Evening\nof a Public Day:--Song:--Obstinate Coffee Pot:--Order of\nAttack:--Escape:--Race:--Great Excitement:--Our Friends in the\nThicket:--Prisoners Gain the Thicket:--Flight:--Encounter:--Climb\na Tree:--Faint:--Prayers:--Night Favors us at Last:--Loss of my\nHorse:--Journey on Foot:--Reflections.\n\nThe prison at Columbia was situated in the same square with the\ncourthouse, being on the north edge of the town. Between it and the\nwilderness, where our friends held the horses in waiting, there\nwere several fields and fences, say for the distance of half a\nmile, consisting of meadow and pasture land, and all in full view\nof the town. The prison consisted of a block house, two stories\nhigh, with two rooms below and two above. The keeper and his family\noccupied one end, and the other was used as the prison--the only\nentrance being through the lower room of the dwelling part, which\nwas occupied by the family, and then up a steep flight of stairs,\nat the head of which was a heavy oaken door, ironed, locked and\nbolted as if to secure a Bonaparte or a Samson. On the inside of\nthis was still another door, which was but slender, with a square\nhole near the top, of sufficient size to hand in the food and\ndishes of the prisoners.\n\nThe large, heavy door had always to be opened when food, drink,\nor other articles were handed in; and while open, the inner door\nserved as a temporary guard to prevent prisoners from escaping, and\nwas not always opened on such occasions, the food being handed\nthrough the hole in the top of the door, while the door itself\nremained locked. However, as a fortunate circumstance for us, the\ncoffee pot when filled would not easily slip through the hole in\nthe door, and, rather than spill the coffee and burn his fingers,\nthe keeper would sometimes unlock and open the inner door, in order\nto set in this huge and obstinate pot; and once in, the door would\nimmediately close, and the key be turned, while the outer door\nwould perhaps stand open till the supper was finished, and the\ndishes handed out.\n\nNow, our whole chance of escape depended on the question,\nwhether the inner door would be opened that evening, or the coffee\npot squeezed in at the hole in the top. Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Gibbs\nwere in the upper room of the keeper's apartment, near the head of\nthe stairs, and only a log or timber partition between us and them,\nand several open crevices in the same, so that we could easily\ncommunicate with them. One of them was waiting the issue of the\ngreat scene about to be enacted with almost breathless interest and\nfeverish anxiety, as on the good or ill success of that moment\ndepended her future hopes through life, while the other was totally\nignorant of the whole affair. In a far corner of our prison sat\nLuman, the old apostate, entirely ignorant of the whole plan, and\nwith no other anxiety than a slight wish for the sun to go down,\nthat he might enjoy his supper and the society of his dear \"Phila\"\nin his curtained bed in the upper room, while we were locked in the\ndungeon below to sleep on an oak floor, amid cobwebs and filth.\n\nThe citizens of the town were now some of them gathering in\nsmall groups outside of their doors to enjoy the quiet of a summer\nevening, to smoke a cigar or chat over the merits of the\ncelebration; while others were on horseback, to enjoy an evening's\nride or to return to their homes. Bands of music, or rather an\noccasional beat of the drum, or blast of the bugle, was still to be\nheard in the distance; while a few soldiers, or rather militia in\nuniform, were hurrying to and fro. Groups of boys were playing\nabout the square, and last, though not least, our flag was still on\nhigh, with Liberty and the eagle in bold colors waving to the night\nbreeze. This had so attracted the attention of the little fellows\nthat once and again they begged of us to make them a present of it;\nbut we told them we could not spare it till the next morning--the\nfact is, we were not willing to surrender our castle before the\ntime, or till we made good our retreat.\n\nAs the sun began to decline behind the long range of forest\nwhich bounded the western horizon, and the lengthened shadows of\nthe tall trees were thrown over our prison, we called upon the Lord\nto prosper us and open our way, and then sang aloud the following\nlines:\n\n    Lord, cause their foolish plans to fail,\n    And let them faint or die:\n    Our souls would quit this poor old jail,\n    And fly to Illinois--\n\n    To join with the embodied Saints,\n    Who are with freedom blest:\n    That only bliss for which we pant,\n    With them awhile to rest.\n\n    Give joy for grief--give ease for pain,\n    Take all our foes away;\n    But let us find our friends again\n    In this eventful day.\n\nThese lines were sung several times over, with the spirit and\nwith the understanding also, and very loud and distinct--being\nheard by the old apostate and his wife, and by the keepers of the\nprison; but the doctrine of spiritualizing had become so prevalent\nthat neither this, nor the flag of liberty, nor any other Scripture\nseemed to them to have any literal meaning, till they found too\nlate the true interpretation by the fulfillment.\n\nThe sun was now setting, and the footsteps of the old keeper\nwere heard on the stairs--the key turned, the outer door grated on\nits huge hinges, while at the same moment we sprang upon our feet,\nhats and coats on (rather an unusual dress for a hot day in\nJuly--for, by the bye, my hat proved to be a fur cap, which I wore\nwhen first taken in November previous), and stood by the door to\nact the part of waiters in receiving the dishes and food for\nsupper, and placing them on the table. Dish after dish was handed\nin through the small aperture in the door, and duly received and\nplaced upon the table by us, with as much grace and as calm\ncountenances as if we thought of nothing else but our suppers. And\nI will now venture to say that famishing men never watched the\nmovements of a coffee pot with more anxiety than we did on this\noccasion. At length the other dishes all being handed in, the huge\npot made its appearance in the hole in the top of the door, but one\nof us cried out to the keeper--\"Colonel, you will only spill the\ncoffee by attempting to put it through, besides, it burns our\nfingers; it will be more convenient to unlock and hand it in at the\ndoor.\" With this it was lowered again, and the key turned on the\ninner door.\n\nIn this, as in most other fields of battle, where liberty and\nlife depend on the issue, every one understood the part assigned to\nhim and exactly filled it. Mr. Follett was to give the door a\nsudden pull, and fling it wide open the moment the key was turned.\nMr. Phelps being well skilled in wrestling was to press out\nforemost, and come in contact with the jailer; I was to follow in\nthe centre, and Mr. Follett, who held the door, was to bring up the\nrear while sister Phelps was to pray.\n\nNo sooner was the key turned than the door was seized by Mr.\nFollett with both hands; and with his foot placed against the wall,\nhe soon opened a passage, which was in the same instant filled by\nMr. Phelps, and followed by myself and Mr. Follett. The old jailer\nstrode across the way, and stretched out his arms like Bunyan's\nApollion, or like the giant Despair in Doubting Castle, but all to\nno purpose. One or two leaps brought us to the bottom of the\nstairs, carrying the old gentleman with us headlong, helter\nskelter, while old Luman sat and laughed in his corner of the\nprison, and Mrs. Phelps exclaimed, \"O Lord God of Israel, thou\ncanst help.\" Old Mrs. Gibbs looked on in silent amazement, while\nthe jailer's wife acted the part of the giant Despair's wife,\nDiffidence, and not only assisted in the scuffle, but cried out so\nloud that the town was soon alarmed. In the meantime we found\nourselves in the open air, in front of the prison and in full view\nof the citizens, who had already commenced to rally, while Mr.\nPhelps and the jailer still clinched fast hold of each other like\ntwo mastiffs. However, in another instant he cleared himself, and\nwe were all three scampering off through the fields towards the\nthicket.\n\nBy this time the town was all in motion. The quietness of the\nevening was suddenly changed into noise and bustle, and it was soon\nevident that the thrilling scenes of the great drama of the 4th of\nJuly, and of the Columbian celebration of liberty were yet to be\nenacted. The streets on both sides of the fields where we were\nrunning were soon thronged with soldiers in uniform, mounted\nriflemen, footmen with fence stakes, clubs, or with whatever came\nto hand, and with boys, dogs, etc., all running, rushing,\nscreaming, swearing, shouting, bawling and looking, while clouds of\ndust rose behind them. The cattle also partook of the general panic\nand ran bellowing away, as if to hide from the scene. The fields\nbehind us also presented a similar scene. Fences were leaped or\nbroken down with a crash; men, boys and horses came tumbling over\nhedge and ditch, rushing with the fury of a whirlwind in the chase;\nbut we kept our course for the thicket, our toes barely touching\nthe ground, while we seemed to leap with the fleetness of a deer,\nor as the young hart upon the mountains.\n\nOur friends who had stood waiting in the thicket, had watched\nthe last rays of the sun as they faded away, and had observed the\nquiet stillness of the evening as it began to steal over the\ndistant village where we were confined; and had listened with\nalmost breathless anxiety for the first sound which was to set all\nthings in commotion, and which would say to them in language not to\nbe misunderstood, that the struggle had commenced. For some moments\nafter the last golden beam had disappeared they listened in vain.\nThe occasional lowing of a cow as she came home from the woodland\npasture, impatient for her calf and the milkmaid to ease her of her\nrich burthen; the mingled sound of human voices in the distance in\ncommon conversation, the merry laugh of the young beaux and their\nsweethearts, the quiet song of the whippoorwill, mingled with the\nmerry notes of the violin, the thrill of the bugle, or the soft and\nplaintive notes of the flute, stole upon the silence of the\nevening, and were occasionally interrupted by the clatter of hoofs,\nas a few of the citizens were retiring from the enjoyments of a\npublic day to their own peaceful homes in the country. These, and\nthe beatings of their anxious and almost bursting hearts, were the\nonly sounds which fell upon their ear, till suddenly they heard a\nrumbling and confused noise, as of footsteps rushing down the\nstairs of a prison, then a shrill cry of alarm from Mrs.\nDiffidence, the giantess, and soon followed by the shouts and rush\nof men, dogs, horses and prisoners towards the spot where they were\nlocated. They then sprang forward to the edge of the fields and ran\nback again to the horses, and again returned, as if the using of\ntheir own limbs would serve to add nimbleness to those of the\nprisoners, and to quicken their speed.\n\nAs soon as the prisoners drew near, they were hailed by their\nfriends, and conducted to the horses. They were breathless and\nnearly ready to faint; but in a moment they were assisted to mount,\nand a whip and the reins placed in their hands, while the only\nwords interchanged were--\"Fly quickly, they are upon you!\" \"Which\nway shall we go?\" \"Where you can; you are already nearly\nsurrounded.\" \"But what will you do? They will kill you if they\ncannot catch us.\" \"We will take care of ourselves; fly, fly, I say,\ninstantly.\" These words were exchanged with the quickness of\nthought, while we were mounting and reining our horses; in another\ninstant we were all separated from each other, and each one was\nmaking the best shift he could for his own individual safety.\n\nI had taken about the third jump with my horse when I\nencountered a man rushing upon me with a rifle, and, taking aim at\nmy head, he said, \"G--d d--n you, stop, or I'll shoot you.\" He was\nthen only a few paces from me, and others were rushing close in his\nrear, but I turned my horse quickly in another direction, and\nrushed with all speed into the thickest of the forest, followed for\nsome minutes by him and his dog; but I soon found myself alone,\nwhile I could only hear the sound of distant voices, the rushing of\nhorsemen in every direction, with the barking of dogs. What had\nbecome of my companions or our friends, I knew not. I rode on at\nfull speed for a mile or more, when the woods terminated, and no\nalternative was left for me but to go either to the right or to the\nleft into one of the public highways where I would be every moment\nexposed to my pursuers, or go over the fence and pass through the\nopen fields to the wilderness beyond, or, on the other hand, to\nturn back into the heart of the forest, partly towards the town and\nprison from whence I had escaped. As horses' feet and men's voices\nwere already heard along the highways which lay on each side of me,\nI determined upon the latter. I, therefore, changed my course, took\nmy back track, and plunged into the depth of the forest. I then\ndismounted, tied my horse in a thicket, walked some distance from\nhim and climbed a tree--intending to wait in this situation amid\nthe concealment of the thick foliage till the darkness of evening\nwould enable me to proceed with safety. Seating myself in one of\nits forked branches, and placing my arms in two other similar\nforks, I was supported from falling, although in a moment after I\nhad ceased my exertions I fainted away. In this situation I\nremained for sometime, without the least power to change my\nposition or help myself; my breath was gone through over exertion,\nand my mouth and throat parched with a burning thirst, my stomach\nsickened, and as I began to breathe I was seized with vomiting, and\nthrew up nearly all the food which my stomach contained. I then\ngradually recovered my strength till I could speak, when I began to\ncall on the Lord, saying, \"O Lord, strengthen me this once, deliver\nme from my persecutors and bring me in safety to a land of liberty,\nand I will praise thy name and give thee all the glory, and the\nremnant of my days shall be wholly devoted to thy service; for\nsurely my life is now at stake, and if preserved, it is thy gift,\ntherefore I shall owe it all to thee.\"\n\nThe darkness of evening was now fast setting in, and every\nmoment seemed to increase my safety and security from immediate\ndiscovery, although I could still hear the distant sound of\ntramping horses, and the voices of men and dogs in pursuit, and\nsometimes so near that I could distinguish some of their words. It\nwas a dark and moonless evening, the sky was only lighted by the\nglimmer of a few stars partly obscured by the clouds, and the thick\nfoliage of the forest increased the gloom, and served to render the\ndarkness nearly complete. I now came down from the tree and felt my\nway to the place where I had tied my horse, but as good or ill luck\nwould have it, he had loosed himself and gone, leaving me to my\nfate. I then groped my way amid the dark shades of the forest to a\nsmall stream of warm, muddy water, and, stooping down, partly\nquenched my thirst. I then made my way to the highway and commenced\nmy journey on foot, carefully watching on either hand lest I should\nbe surprised and taken.\n\nI was an entire stranger to the country--having no guide but the\npolar star. My road lay nearly northward, and upwards of a hundred\nmiles of a wild country, peopled only by enemies, still lay between\nme and a State where the principles of freedom yet prevailed in a\nsufficient degree to insure my safety. If I could make my way\nthrough this wilderness of enemies, on foot, after the weakness and\ndebility caused by eight months' confinement, and after the\nfatigues of my evening's race, and neither inquire the way nor make\nmy appearance at any house for entertainment and refreshment, then\nI should still have the great Mississippi River to ferry over, and\nbe liable to be discovered and retaken in the act, while in sight\nof liberty. The thoughts of these dangers the inquiries of my mind\nas to what had become of my fellow prisoners and friends, which I\nhad no means of satisfying, and the hopes and expectations of soon\nmeeting my family and friends in a land of liberty, alternately\noccupied my mind as I slowly pursued my solitary way during that\ndark and, to me, eventful night.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII.\n------------------------\n\nDawn:--Bewildered in a Forest:--Beautiful\nValley:--Escape of Phelps:--Dialogue:--His Final Escape\nand Arrival in Illinois:--Fate of our Two Friends:--Interview\nbetween my Brother Orson and my Wife:--She Prepares for my\nReception:--Disappointment:--Excitement:--Search:--Suspense:--\nScenes at the Prison:--Treatment of Mrs. Phelps:--Mr. Follett\nRetaken:--His Return to Prison:--Chains:--Escape of Mrs.\nPhelps:--Finale of Luman and Phila.\n\nAt length the morning began to dawn, but it proved to be a\ncloudy day; no mark was left in the heavens to determine the point\nof compass, while at the same time my road became every moment more\nobscure, and finally terminated in a deer path, which wound along\namong the hills and vales of a dense and entirely unsettled forest,\nand finally disappeared. It was now broad day. The wild forest\nextended around far and wide, and no sign of human existence or\noccupation. I still wandered slowly on, not knowing whether I was\nevery moment travelling nearer to friends, and home, and liberty,\nor to the place of dreary confinement. The deer and wild turkey\noccasionally started up before me, and the howl of the wolf was\nheard in the distance. At length I came to a beautiful clear\nstream, which seemed to wind through a fine valley. The wild\nflowers blooming in richest variety sent forth sweet odors, and the\nbirds of the forest were pouring forth in profusion their morning\nsongs.\n\nI now sat down in safety, and took a small biscuit from my\npocket which Sister Phelps had kindly provided, and which was my\nonly store of food for the journey. With a hearty drink from the\ncrystal stream and this biscuit I made my first breakfast, after my\nimprisonment, as a free son of Columbia. I recollect that while I\nsat enjoying this solitary meal, far from friends and home,\nsurrounded with a scenery strange and wild, and without any guide\nor any knowledge where I should claim the next refreshment, I\nthought of the sweets of liberty I now enjoyed, and with a thankful\nand joyous heart I exclaimed aloud, \"Thank God for this hour, it is\nthe happiest of my life; I am free, although lost in the\nwilderness, and if I cannot find myself, thank God nobody else can\nfind me.\" In this happy valley the reader may leave me to rest\nawhile if he chooses, while he looks after the fate of the other\nprisoners and our two friends, and also, Mrs. Phelps and the\naffairs of the prison; bearing in mind at the same time that he\nmust return again and accompany me through the whole dangers, toils\nand incidents of my journey to a land of liberty.\n\nAt the time we were separated in the heat of the pursuit, Mr.\nPhelps made his escape much in the same manner as myself. He was at\nfirst closely pursued, but at length he out distanced them all,\nand, once out of their sight, he struck directly into the road, and\nrode on toward Illinois. He had proceeded a few miles on his way,\nwhen he was suddenly surrounded in the darkness of the night by a\ncompany of horsemen who were out in pursuit of the prisoners. They\nimmediately hailed him, and cried out, \"Say, stranger, G--d damn\nyou, what is your name?\" He replied in the same rough and careless\nmanner, \"You damned rascals, what is yours?\" On finding he could\ndamn as well as themselves, they concluded he could not be a\nMormon, while his bold and fearless manner convinced them that he\nwas not a man who was fleeing for his life. They then begged his\npardon for the rough manner in which they had accosted him, \"Oh,\nyou are one of the real breed. By G--d, no damned Mormon could\ncounterfeit that language, you swear real natteral; hurrah for old\nKentuck. But whar mought you live, stranger?\" He replied, \"just up\nhere; you mout a kno'd me, and then agin you moutn't. I think I've\nseed you all a heap o' times, but I've been so damned drunk at the\nfourth of independence, I hardly know myself or anybody else, but\nhurrah for old Kentuck; and what about the damn'd Mormons?\" \"What\nabout 'em? egad, you'd a know'd that without axin', if you'd a seed\n'em run.\" \"What! they are not out of prison, are they?\" \"Out of\nprison! Yes, the damn'd rascals raised a flag of liberty in open\nday, and burst out, and down stars right in the midst of the public\ncelebration, out rassling the damn'd jailer, and outrunning the\nwhole town in a fair foot race. They reached the timber jist as\nthey war overtaken, but afore we could cotch 'em they mounted their\nnags, and the way they cleared was a caution to Crockett. We tuk\none on 'em, and seed the other two a few feet distant, rushin'\ntheir nags at full speed, but we couldn't cotch 'em nor shoot 'em\neither; I raised my new Kentucky rifle, fresh loaded and primed,\nwith a good percussion, and taking fair aim at one of their heads\nonly a few yards distant, I fired, but the damn'd cap burst, and\nthe powder wouldn't burn.\" \"Well, now, stranger, that's a mighty\nbig story and seems enemost onpossible. Did you say you cotched one\non 'em? Why I'd a tho't you'd a kilt him on the spot; what have you\ndone with him?\" \"They tuk him back to prison, I suppose, but it was\nonly the old one. If it had been one o' them tother chaps we would\na skinn'd 'em as quick as Crockett would a coon, and then eat 'em\nalive without leaving a grease spot.\"\n\nThis interview over, the horsemen withdrew and left Phelps to\npuruse his way in peace. He rode on during the night without\nfurther molestation; but when day appeared he found himself in\nrather an awkward fix for a traveller, having lost his hat in the\nrace the preceding day; he was, therefore, bareheaded, besides, his\nface was somewhat bruised and scratched in the scuffle; however, he\nconcluded to make the best of it, and trust to Providence for the\nissue. Riding up to a farm house to call for breakfast and to have\nhis horse fed, he began to banter the host to sell him an old straw\nhat; \"For,\" said he, \"I got such a power of drink last evening at\nthe big doings that I couldn't ride straight, and tumbled off my\nhorse once or twice, and finally lost my hat.\" Judging from his\nmanner, and the dirt and scratches on his face, they readily\nbelieved his tale, and furnished him with an old wide-brimmed,\nmiserable looking hat, which served as a very good disguise during\nthe remainder of the journey. Himself and horse refreshed, he\nrenewed his journey, and finally arrived in Illinois in safety,\nhaving reached the ferry before his pursuers, and before the news\nof the escape had spread so far. By his arrival the news soon\nspread far and wide that we had made our escape from prison, and\nthat we might be looked for soon. This news was received with a\ngeneral joy, and produced a lively sensation, not only throughout\nthe Society, but among the public, generally--for all parties had\nlooked upon us as martyrs, doomed to suffer the vengeance of a set\nof blood-thirsty outlaws and murderers. My brother, O. Pratt, and\nthe young Mr. Clark, who furnished us with the horses, must now be\nlooked after.\n\nWhen we parted in the thicket, as has been before described,\nthey had only time to flee a few paces, when they found themselves\ncompletely surrounded on every hand, and no possibility left them\nof escape by running; they, therefore, dropped down into a small\nravine which had been made by the water during some former freshet,\nand there lay as close to the earth as a young quail when its nest\nis disturbed. The enemy passed close by them a number of times, and\nso very near that they dared not to make the least motion--not even\nto look up to see whether they were discovered.\n\nAt length night came on; the pursuers retired, and they arose\nand pursued their journey on foot, and arrived safely in Illinois\nsoon after the arrival of Mr. Phelps. My brother immediately\nrepaired to the residence of my wife and children, who were waiting\nhis return in anxious suspense, in hopes to hear some news from me,\nwhom they considered still in prison--not having as yet heard any\nnews of the escape. As he entered the door Mrs. P. raised her\nanxious and sorrowful eyes, and eagerly inquired:\n\n\"Have you seen my husband?\"\n\n\"I have.\"\n\n\"Is he yet alive?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Is he well?\"\n\n\"He is.\"\n\n\"O, thank God for that! Is there any prospect that he will ever\nget free and return alive?\"\n\n\"Well, I hope so; for the last time I saw him he was astride a\nhorse in the woods, and headed towards home on a gallop.\"\n\nI shall not attempt to describe her feelings at that moment, as\nthe reader can best imagine them; but suffice it to say, after her\nfirst transports were over he sat down and related to her the whole\naffair which had transpired up to the time he last saw me. She was\nnow full of hope and expectation--although mingled with fear and\nanxiety indescribable. If I eluded the pursuit of my enemies and\narrived in safety it was now time to look for my arrival; but if,\non the other hand, I was taken back and chained down in a dungeon;\nor if I was shot down and left without a burial to be a prey to\nwolves and turkey buzzards,--Oh, dreadful thought! Oh, horrible\nsuspense! Oh, the hope, joy, sorrow, anguish, misery, happiness,\nfrenzy, and feelings undefined which agitate and distract the bosom\nof a wife and mother at such a moment! If man--hardhearted,\nunfeeling man--could read the heart of a woman on such an occasion,\nhe would never more drive, imprison or kill his fellow man.\n\nShe soon set about preparing for the reception of her husband,\nin case he should arrive, faint and exhausted with hunger and\nfatigue. The table was spread, and food placed upon it; the house\nwas illuminated through the night, during which her anxious and\nbeating heart would not suffer her for one moment to sleep. She\nwatched during the entire night, and on several occasions opened\nthe door and looked abroad; but still the morning dawned and he\ncame not. Surely, thought she, he is slain or again confined in a\ndungeon, loaded with chains, and kept for a sure prey to glut the\nvengeance of a furious mob who have been disappointed of the rest\nof their victims.\n\nThe excitement now became general; friends crowded in to inquire\nthe news and to sympathize with her, and to endeavor, if possible\nto keep up her hopes. They argued that the same God who had\ndelivered him from prison, and strengthened him in the chase, and\nthe same God who prevented the powder from taking fire when the\ndeadly rifle was aimed at him, would also stand by him, and bring\nhim safely to his friends and home. This, in some measure, still\nkept her spirits from sinking in despair.\n\nArmed men were now despatched in various directions along the\nriver, and into Missouri, to endeavor, if possible, to meet with\nhim and protect him home. Another day and night at length passed\naway in the same suspense, no tidings having been heard from him\nnor from any of those who had gone in search. The pursuers,\nhowever, were known to beat the ferry on the other side of the\nriver, watching his arrival. The same precaution was taken by them\nat all the public ferries for some distance up and down the river.\n\nThe suspense and anguish of her aching bosom now became\nintolerable; in vain they continued to assure her that he would be\npreserved and return in safety. She could plainly see that, while\nthey sought to comfort her with hope, they themselves were half in\ndoubt and beginning to despair of his deliverance. Another long day\npassed and another night set in, and still no news--except that the\nferries on the Missouri side were all strictly guarded, and the\nentire people on the lookout to take him dead or alive. She had now\nkept her table spread both day and night, and had watched for three\nentire nights without sleep. \"He cannot be alive and free,\"\nexclaimed she, \"or I know he would fly to meet the fond welcome of\nhis wife and children, and relieve their aching hearts.\"\n\nWe must now return with our readers to the prison at Columbia,\nand take a glance at the scenes which followed our departure, and\nlearn the fate of Mr. Follett and Mrs. Phelps. As soon as the\nprisoners had cleared from the jailer, and were fairly under way,\nMrs. Phelps, who was still an inmate of the dwelling, became the\nparticular object of their spite and rage. The old jailer and his\nwife commenced to rail and curse her as the author of all the\nmischief. They threatened her with instant death, and finally\nturned her out of doors in the dusk of the evening, and in the\nmidst of a mob who had gathered in great numbers around the prison\nand raging like so many tigers disappointed of their prey. Being a\nstranger and without money, friends, or acquaintances in the place,\nshe knew not where to go or what to do. She finally sat down in the\nopen air in the midst of the mob, by whom she was assailed, cursed,\ninsulted, threatened, and abused in the most unfeeling manner for\nsome time. But she still remained on the spot, and scarcely noticed\nthe slang and abuse of the raging rabble, so intent was she upon\nthe issue of the race--not knowing from one moment to the other\nwhether her husband would be shot down, or whether he would be\ntaken and brought back in triumph.\n\nAt length, after a watchful glance towards the wilderness, she\nheard the shout of triumph amidst the hosts of the enemy, and next\nwas re-echoed from crowd to crowd, amid vollies of oaths, curses and\nexulting laughs, \"We've catched one of the damn'd Mormons and we'll\nroast him alive over a slow fire, damn him.\" They now rallied\naround her in great numbers, exulting and threatening, and boasting\nthat they had taken her husband and would kill him on the spot.\nWhile they were thus abusing her she saw another crowd coming and a\nprisoner in the midst, on whom they were venting their rage, as if\nhe would be torn to pieces. As they approached nearer it proved to\nbe Mr. Follet, on Mrs. Phelps' horse and side-saddle. He had been\nsurrounded, overpowered and taken at the time we were each\nseparated from the other. He was finally rescued from the mob, and\nthrust alive into the lower dungeon and chained down to the floor.\nHe remained in this doleful situation for a few days, till the\nwrath of the multitude had time to cool a little, and then he was\nunchained by the sheriff and again brought into the upper apartment\nand treated with some degree of kindness.\n\nThey now laughed with him about his adventure, praised him for\nhis bravery, and called him a good fellow. The truth of the matter\nwas, they had no great desire to take the lives of any but those\nwhom they had considered leaders; and since they had discovered\nthat Mr. Follett and Mr. Phelps were not considered religious\nleaders among our society, they were in no great danger, except\nthey should happen to be killed in the heat of excitement or\npassion.\n\nWe now leave him in his lonesome prison, with no other society\nthan the old apostate, Luman, and his dear Phila, while we get\nSister Phelps out of the trouble she was in. After the fate of the\nprisoners seemed determined, she sank down exhausted on a block of\nwood in the open air amid the surrounding darkness. Here she was\nstill mocked and insulted by the unfeeling rabble, till a certain\nyoung man, more feeling than the others, declared that he was not\naccustomed to see a female treated thus in America, and that if she\nhad no home his father and mother would receive her kindly and give\nher protection under their roof till she could return to Illinois.\nHe then went home, and in a few minutes returned with his mother,\nby whom she was kindly invited to their dwelling. On arriving there\nshe was treated in the kindest manner for about two weeks, during\nwhich time her horse was kept from her and rode in search of the\nprisoners. They finally restored her horse and saddle to her, and\nshe rode home in peace, where she eventually met her husband, and\nrejoiced that she had been, in some measure, the means of his\ndeliverance.\n\nAnd here I might as well inform the anxious reader of the final\nliberation of the two remaining prisoners. Mr. Follett remained in\nconfinement for several months, and finally was dismissed and sent\nhome to Illinois, where he met his family, who had been expelled\nfrom the State of Missouri, in common with others, during his\nconfinement. And, last of all, the old apostate came out by fair\nacquittal. And should any of our readers have the curiosity to see\nthe charming couple, whose singular courtship and history run\nthrough and make a principal thread of our narrative, they will\ncall at the little town of Augusta, a few miles from Fort Madison,\nIowa Territory, and inquire for \"Luman and Phila,\" who were living\nthere in quiet at the last accounts.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV.\n------------------------\n\nReminiscence:--Resume my Wanderings:--\nLost Again:--Storm:--Conversation:--Suspicious Characters:--\nLost in a Swamp:--Strange River:--Retrace my Steps:--Cross\nthe River:--Wild Scenery:--Strange Bedfellow:--Dawn:--Reach\nthe Mississippi:--Cross the River in a Canoe:--Land on an\nIsland:--Entangled in the Thickets:--Reembark:--Land in\nIllinois:--An Old Acquaintance:--Arrive at Quincy.\n\nI suppose by this time the reader has either forgotten the\ncircumstances in which he took leave of myself, or else is somewhat\nweary with the winding of the narrative and impatient for it to\ncome to a close. The only apology I have to offer for the many\ndigressions and wanderings through which he has been led is, that I\nconsider it impolite and disrespectful to get myself out of a bad\nplace until I have first seen my friends all safely out. True, I\ndid not strictly observe this rule of good breeding in the escape\nitself; therefore it becomes me to take the more care to observe it\nnow, when there is no danger, excepting that of being deserted by\nsome of my readers before I am safely out. However, if you still\nwish to accompany me in all the windings of my wearisome and\ndangerous adventure we will now turn to the happy valley, where you\nrecollect leaving me on the morning of the fifth of July in the act\nof breakfasting on a small biscuit, while, to all appearances, I\nwas lost to myself and to all mankind.\n\nAfter resting a few minutes I arose and travelled onward,\nwithout any way to determine the course I was travelling. After\nsome miles, I came to a house in the woods, and ventured to inquire\nof the woman the way to Columbia, and what course it lay from\nthere. By this means I learned that I was fourteen miles distant\nfrom the prison in a northerly direction. I then took a course\ndirectly opposite to her directions, and soon found myself among\nsettlements, and in a kind of road, but very indirect and winding\namong fields and woods, or in the language of that county, among\n\"clarens\" and \"timber.\" I paid but little respect to the road, but\nrather wandered around among the forests, and made my course as\nwell as I could without being seen.\n\nAt last the clouds thickened and it began to rain. In the\nmeantime I had again plunged into the depths of an unknown forest,\nand lost all idea of the true point of the compass. The air now\nbecame dense with thick clouds and mist, and the rain was pouring\nin torrents. At first I thought that rather than expose myself by\nanother inquiry, I would sit down at the bottom of a large oak and\nwait patiently for the clouds to break away, so that I could see\nthe sun, and thus determine my course, as to travel in uncertainty\nwould exhaust my strength for naught. I accordingly sat down; but\nafter waiting for a length of time, I found there was no prospect\nof seeing the sun, moon, or stars for some days to come. In the\nmeantime I was becoming wet and cold, lame and stiff jointed from\nthe effects of my exertions the night previous. I was also aware\nthat hunger would soon be preying upon me, as I already felt very\nmuch in need of refreshment. I, therefore, arose and wandered on\ntill I saw another house in the distance. I there ventured another\ninquiry, by which I was enabled to make my way through the windings\nof the forest, and finally to enter upon a vast prairie or\nuntimbered plain without inhabitants. Through this plain there was\na direct road to a place called Paris, which was now some twenty\nmiles distant and directly on my way. Here I could travel in\nsolitude, and have no difficulty in finding my way either by night\nor day; and should I chance to meet a traveller in pursuit, I could\nsee him for some miles distant in the day time, and have time to\nleave the road and hide myself in the grass before he could be near\nme.\n\nIt was now drawing towards evening, and the rain was still\npouring in torrents, while the wind blew almost to a tempest. I was\nweary exhausted with fatigue and hunger, and chilled and benumbed\nwith rain and wind which had drenched me for some hours. It had\nbeen intention to travel through the night, but I now saw it was\nimpossible. I would be obliged to rest my weary limbs somewhere;\nand to sit or lie down without shelter in such a tempest, and\nbenumbed as I then was, would be death; or at least it would be\nwhat I could not endure; and to lodge at any house would expose me\nto be discovered and taken by pursuers. As night approached I\nhesitated for some time whether to continue to brave the tempest\nand to pass the night in the rain, or to run the risk of being\ntaken by turning off the road and going a mile or two through the\nwet grass to a settlement which was in sight, in the borders of the\nwilderness, on the left of my road. At last I was compelled by the\nseverity of the storm to choose the latter. I accordingly made for\na house; but how was I to account for being a traveller, and on\nfoot--as nearly all men in that country travel on horseback?\nHowever, my ingenuity soon prepared me a way to account for this\nsuspicious circumstance.\n\nAs I drew near the house the owner stood in the door looking out\nupon the tempest and watching my approach--it being rather strange\nto see a person from the open plain amid such a tempest. As I drew\nnear, all wet and dripping, I cried out very sociably, saying:\n\"Sir, can you entertain a drowning man here this terrible night?\"\nThe answer was, \"I reckon we mout: come in, stranger, you seem in a\nmighty bad fix.\" I hobbled in as well as I could, being very lame\nwith walking, as well as benumbed with the storm; and without\ngiving time for any more inquiry, I began to complain of the\nfatigue of walking, and how it had lamed me; at the same time\nobserving that my horse had played a very bad trick with me; he had\ngot away from me and strayed into the timber, where I could not\nfind him. \"Ah,\" said he, \"how did you happen to lose him?\" \"Why,\"\nsaid I, \"I am from Indiana, and have been out in your wild woods\nback here looking for land. I had been in the habit of letting my\nhorse bait a little occasionally, as he never seemed inclined to\nleave till, last evening, he of a sudden wandered out of my sight\nin the woods, and dark coming on, I could not track him, and\nfinally lost him; and, what is worse, he carried off my clothing\nand all the fixings I had with me, even to my shooting irons and\nammunition. I shall now have to go clear to Paris on foot, and\nremain there a few days till I can advertise him and obtain him\nagain.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" exclaimed he, \"it's a pity you should have such a heap of\ntrouble. Where did you stay last night?\" I replied \"the devil\nhimself could hardly answer that; for in hunting my horse I got\nbenighted, and lost myself instead of finding him; however, I made\nmy way out to the first cottage I could find, and took up with very\ncurious fare, I assure you.\" \"What part of Indiana are you from?\"\ncontinued he. \"From near Terre Haute,\" replied I. \"What is the\nprice of land in that country now?\" he inquired. I replied that it\nhad risen very much since the completion of the great national\nroad; \"indeed,\" said I, \"as a specimen of the rise of property I\ncould now take twenty-five dollars per acre for my little place in\nthe backwoods, which a few years ago only cost me three dollars and\nseventy-five cents, so thought I would just mount my nag and ride\nwest here, and take a look in Illinois and Missouri, and if I could\nsuit myself I would go home and sell out, and come out here and\npurchase.\" \"Well,\" said he, \"I reckon you must do a heap better here\nthan there, as we've a smart chance of land here that's very cheap,\nbesides,\" continued he, \"we can make corn here so easy; and then,\nagin, there's a power of range for cattle and horses.\" In this kind\nof conversation the evening passed off very sociably. After eating\na hearty supper I retired to bed.\n\nIn the morning I awoke much refreshed, and found the storm had\nsubsided, and the sun shining in his strength. I tarried to\nbreakfast, which consisted of a good cup of coffee and a fowl, with\nsome corn bread or \"dodger.\" After breakfast I vented my spite once\nmore, with angry and impatient words about my poor horse; grumbled\nsorely at being so lame, and regretted very much at having to go on\nfoot all the way to Paris; and, said I, \"I get so hungry and faint\nin walking over these lonesome plains, where the houses are a dozen\nmiles apart, I believe, with your leave, I'll just pocket the\nremainder of the dodger and chicken.\" \"O, yes,\" said the good\nwoman, \"take it and welcome. You mout want it, and then agin you\nmout not; and although its coarse fare, yet we've seen a heap o'\ntimes in this new country that we couldn't get as good.\" I thanked\nher, and then settled my bill with her husband, and making her a\npresent of a quarter of a dollar, I took leave, and soon found my\nway back to the road I had left the evening before. On arriving at\nthe road I found a fresh horse track had been made since the rain,\nand immediately concluded one of my pursuers had passed in pursuit,\nwhich I afterwards learned to be the fact.\n\nI would here remark that some persons will perhaps be disposed\nto censure me for saying that which was not strictly true in all\nits points, in order to avoid discovery, and make good my escape.\nBut I can say, from the bottom of my heart, that I feel perfectly\njustified in so doing, not only because it accomplished a good\nobject, and seemed according to wisdom, but we have numerous\ninstances in Scripture where God's prophets and people acted in a\nsimilar way for a similar end. For instance, the New Testament\njustifies Rahab, and even commends her, and includes her in the sum\nof the faithful, because she hid the spies under the flax and\ndeceived their pursuers by stating that they had left the city and\nfled to the mountains; and thus she became an accomplice, or an\naider and abettor of the people and purposes of God. David also,\nwho was the Lord's anointed, and a man after his own heart,\ndissembled a number of times to save his life. At one time he\ndeceived the national priest, and thus obtained both bread and\narmor, under pretense of being on the king's errand, while he was\nin fact an outlaw, then in the act of fleeing for his life from\nthat same Saul. And Jesus himself mentions this to the Jews, and\njustifies it. At another time he feigned himself insane, by\nfiguring on the wall and letting his spittle drizzle down on his\nbeard, in order to escape the Philistine judges. Oh, yes, says one,\nbut he was the Lord's anointed, and, therefore, had a right to save\nhis life at all hazards to fulfil God's purposes. To this I reply,\nthat I am also God's anointed, and have a greater reason for living\nand a more worthy object to accomplish than he had. That may be,\nsays the objector, but who believes it? I answer, one hundred\npeople believe me in the days of my trouble and humility where one\nbelieved David. And well they may; for I have a greater work to\naccomplish than he ever had. But the world may blame unjustly. I\ncare not a straw for their judgment. I have one only that I serve,\nand him only do I fear. The hypocrite who censures me may yet be\nplaced under similar circumstances, and then judge ye how he would\nact.\n\nBut, to drop the argument and resume the history; I now pursued\nmy way until I entered upon a public road called the Louisiana\nroad, as it was connected with a ferry on the Mississippi at a\nplace called by that name. I had traveled that road before, and I\nwas not a little rejoiced to find myself on ground I was so well\nacquainted with that I could travel by night without any danger of\nmissing my way. I was now in a part of the State which was\ncomparatively thickly inhabited, and, therefore, considered it\nunsafe to proceed in the daytime, as the news of our escape must by\nthis time have spread far and wide. I, therefore, spent the day\neither in concealment among the thickets, or in slowly progressing\non my journey with much caution and many deviations from the road,\nin order to shun plantations and houses; but at night I pursued my\nway with all the strength I had.\n\nOn the third or fourth day after my escape from prison I found\nmyself in the neighborhood of a settlement where I had formed some\nacquaintances years before, and where once lived a small branch of\nthe Church, but they had all moved West, and, as I supposed, were\ndriven out of the State with the others. But I recollected a family\nby the name of Ivy, who would still be living on the road, and who\nhad been members, but were now dissenters. I was now very hungry\nand wanted a friend, but was in doubt whether they would befriend\nor betray me, as they had once been my friends, and not only so,\nbut their near kindred had suffered in the general persecution, and\nhad shared the common banishment. I hesitated, prayed, and at\nlength came to the conclusion that I would venture past their door\nin open day, and if no one discovered or recognized me I would take\nit as a Providence, and conclude it was wisdom in God, as I would\nnot be safe with them; but if, on the other hand, I was saluted by\nthem, then I would think it a sign which Providence had given me as\na witness that I could trust to them. I accordingly walked past\ntheir dwelling on Sunday evening, about two hours before sundown.\nAs I got nearly past, the little children who were playing in the\nfront door yard discovered me and cried out with surprise and joy,\n\"there is brother Pratt!\" At this a young man came running out to\nme, who proved to be one of my acquaintances, who was still a\nmember of the Church, and who had been driven from the upper\ncountry; but, instead of going to Illinois with the rest, he had\ncome back and settled in his old neighborhood. I asked him where\nMr. Ivy, the man of the house, was. He replied that he and his wife\nhad gone to a neighbor's, two or three miles distant, on a visit;\n\"and,\" continued he, \"I also am here on a visit at the same time,\nand by this means I have very unexpectedly met with you; and I am\nvery glad, for the news has just reached here that the prisoners\nhad escaped, and that they burst a cap at one, and took another and\ncarried him back to prison. The other two have not been found.\"\nThis was the first news I had heard either of myself or the others.\nI then requested him to go and charge the children strictly not to\nmention that they had seen me, and then come with me into the\nwoods.\n\nHe did so. I then told him I was very hungry, faint and weary;\nand not only so, but so lame I could hardly move; besides, my feet\nwere blistered, skinned and bloody. He said that his brother, who\nwas also a member, and had been driven with him from the upper\ncountry, lived in an obscure place in the woods, some two miles\ndistant, and that his brother's wife and children were as true and\ngenuine Mormons as ever lived. He then took me on his horse and\nconducted me through a pathless wild for two miles, and, coming in\nsight of his brother's house, I dismounted and hid myself in a deep\nvalley, whose sides were nearly perpendicular and formed of craggy\nrock, while he went to reconnoitre the house, and to get something\nready for me to eat. He soon returned, informing me that his\nbrother was out, and would not be in till dark; but the family\nwished very much that I would come in, as the children would hold\ntheir tongues, and it was thought to be perfectly safe. I declined,\nhowever, for the present, and he brought me out some bread, milk\nand cream, on which I refreshed myself till they prepared a more\nsubstantial supper.\n\nAs evening came on, being pressed to come in, I finally\nconsented. On entering, I was received with joy by the family, and\nsat down to supper. One of their neighbors, a young man soon\ndetermined to tarry till the arrival of the man of the the house,\nas he had some errand with him. This embarrassed me very much, for\nI was fearful that he would arrive and salute me as an old\nacquaintance, and call my name in the presence of the young man.\nBut the children (bless their souls) took good care for that\nmatter, they watched very narrowly for the arrival of their papa,\nand when they saw him they whispered to him that brother P. was\nthere, and being just out of prison, he must not know him till Mr.\n----- had gone.\n\nThe man came in, and I looked up, with a vacant stare, or rather\nwith a strange and distant air, and inquired if he was the man of\nthe house? He nodded coolly in the affirmative. I then inquired of\nhim if he had seen any stray \"nags\" in his neighborhood? I then\nwent on to describe my horse which had strayed from me, and\nobserved that I was out in search of him, and, being weary and\nhungry, I had stopped to get some refreshment with him. He said I\nwas welcome to his house, and to such fare as he had; but he did\nnot seen any nags, except what was owned in the neighborhood.\n\nThe young man soon did his errand and withdrew. We then shook\neach other by the hand most heartily, and, with a burst of joy and\nsmiles, inquired after each other's welfare. I told him I was well\nnigh exhausted and worn out, and, withal, very lame, but still I\nhad some hopes of making my escape out of the State, and of living\nto see my friends once more in a land of liberty. I then begged of\nhim to exchange with me, and take my cap and give me a hat in its\nstead, which he did and then saddled his horse with a side saddle,\nand placing me on horseback, he ran before and by my side on foot,\nto take me on my journey. In this way we traveled till twelve\no'clock at night, when I dismounted, and he bid me farewell, in\norder to reach his home again before the neighbors would arise and\nfind him missing.\n\nHe had given me directions which would lead to the Mississippi\nRiver much nearer than the Louisiana ferry, and also more in the\ndirect course towards my family who resided at Quincy, and, besides\nall these advantages, the route was more obscure, and, therefore,\nsafer for me. I now pursued my course the remainder of the night\nwith renewed courage and strength, although so very lame, foot\nsore, and so much exhausted that, in lying down to refresh myself,\nI could not again rise and put myself in motion short of\nextraordinary and repeated exertion, sometimes having to crawl on\nmy hands and knees till I could get sufficiently limbered to arise\nand walk, and frequently staggering and falling in the attempt.\n\nAt length the day began to dawn, and I must soon be under the\nnecessity of hiding in the thickets, or making deviations from the\nroad, in order to avoid discovery in passing the settlements. I,\ntherefore, wished to push my way with all speed while it was yet\ntoo early for people to be stirring; but sleep now completely\noverpowered me. As I was walking along the road I could scarcely\nopen my eyes for a moment to look my way for a few rods ahead, and\nthey would then close in sleep in spite of all my powers. I would\nthen proceed a few paces in my sleep till I stumbled, or till I had\nneed to take another look at the road before me; then I would open\nmy eyes and take one glance, and the lids would fall again as\npowerless as if I had no life. In this way I walked on, alternately\nsleeping and waking, till, I presume, I had more than fifty naps\nwithout ceasing to walk; and each time I opened my eyes and came to\nmy senses I firmly resolved to keep them open and run no further\nrisk; but while this resolution was still passing in my mind sleep\nwould again steal over me, not exactly unawares, for I realized it\neach time, but had no power to prevent it.\n\nAt length the twilight gave place to the full blaze of the morning;\nthe sons of the earth were again in motion; I therefore retired, like\nthe owl, to the thicket, and took a morning rest. When I awoke the\nsun was high in the heavens, and, feeling somewhat refreshed, I arose\nfrom the ground and wandered slow and solitary amid the wilds of oak,\ninterspersed with hazel and underwood--sometimes stopping to pick and\neat a few unripe blackberries, and sometimes resting beneath the shade\nof a spreading tree.\n\nI had now great hopes of having to pass but one more night in\nthe land of enemies, as I could easily reach a small town in the\ncourse of the day, which was then only two or three miles distant;\nand then, if I could by any means get on to the right track before\nnight, I would only have about eight or ten miles' travel for the\nwhole night, which would bring me to a small town on the\nMississippi. I wandered on amid the wilds, but at length about half\na mile of open plain or prairie intervened between me and the town.\nTo pass this in a public road, in open day, would be running a\ngreat venture, and to wait for the cover of darkness would perhaps\nkeep me wandering another night, for the want of being started in\nthe right road from the town before me to the landing on the river.\nI, therefore, concluded to venture across the plain, along the\npublic highway, in the day time, and should I be discovered I would\nsell my life as dear as possible sooner than be taken back to\nprison. I, therefore, walked boldly on. I had proceeded about to\nthe middle of the plain, when, on a sudden turn of the road, two\nmen appeared on horseback, each with a rifle on his shoulder. They\nwere then too near for me to retreat, or to make any other shift\nthan to meet them. As soon as they discovered me they both halted\nas if surprised, and one said to the other, \"there he is now.\" They\nthen rode on towards me, and I expected every moment that they\nwould hail and attempt to stop me. In such a case I felt determined\nto seize one of their rifles, and overpower or frighten them, or\ndie in the struggle.\n\nI at length passed between them in the middle of the road, and I\nlooked as calm and unconcerned as if I hardly knew they were there.\nEither from this circumstance or some other, unaccountable to me, they\nnever spoke to me at all, but rode on, and I saw them no more. I soon\npassed the plain, and made my way into a small thicket of trees which\nlay adjoining the little town. I then crept up near the court house,\nwhich occupied a public square in the centre, and endeavored, without\nbeing discovered or noticed by any person, to ascertain as well as I\ncould, by my own judgment, which of all the roads would seem to lead\noff towards the river. After reconnoitering the town and the various\nbearings of the roads, I retreated back into the wilderness, with\nthe satisfaction that I had not yet been discovered by the citizens;\nI had also the satisfaction of seeing the highlands and the hilly,\nbroken country which evidently bordered on the Mississippi. The river,\ntherefore, could be but a few miles distant, and as it was yet several\nhours to sundown I concluded that I could take my course, and, without\nany particular regard to roads, reach some spot on the river that\nevening, as nothing was to be so much dreaded as a public ferry--for\nthere I knew my enemies would set their traps.\n\nI immediately took my course, and after wandering for an hour or\ntwo, with great fatigue, among thickets of brush, briars and vines\nalmost impassable, I at length descended a steep decline of perhaps\ntwo hundred feet, and then came down to what is called in that\ncountry the \"river bottom,\" covered with the growth of thick\nforest, and appearing in some places somewhat swampy and gloomy;\nbut still I pushed on with all speed supposing I was not many miles\nfrom the river Mississippi. After travelling for some distance in\nthis disagreeable and swampy wild, what was my surprise and\ndisappointment, when on a sudden I came to a dark, deep, and muddy\nlooking river, some forty rods wide, and rolling with a swift and\nturbulent current. This surely could not be the Mississippi; and\nyet it was something that intervened between me and that great\nriver, and seemed to present an impassable barrier. I then heaved a\ndeep sigh, and feeling exhausted and almost discouraged, I\nexclaimed to myself half aloud, how long shall I wander and find no\nrest? It does seem as though enchanted ground lay between me and\nliberty. I turned round, with the little strength that then\nremained I made my way back to the town. When I arrived again in\nsight of the town the sun was setting, and another wearisome night\nwas approaching, in which I must reach the river, or I would\nprobably be exhausted with hunger and fatigue, so as to be entirely\ndisabled.\n\nI now resolved to venture boldly into a public highway, and to\nascertain the right road before it would be too dark to find my way\nor choose my course. There would not only be danger of exposure by\ninquiring, but although I knew there was a little town on the\nMississippi, near the place I was then in, yet I had never heard\nthe name of it; and to appear like a stranger who did not know the\ncountry, and yet be on foot and without a parcel or valise, or\nanything which travellers are accustomed to carry, and withal a\nbeard near a week old, together with sweat and dirt over my clothes\nfrom lying and tumbling on the ground, would altogether make me\nseem like a very suspicious character; but yet I must venture an\ninquiry, which I determined to do the first providential\nopportunity which occurred. I walked along the edge of the town and\nstruck into a public highway which seemed to lead the right course.\nI had not travelled far when I came to a branch of the same river\nwhich I had encountered in the swampy bottom. On one side of the\nroad a mill was situated on its bank, and on the other side a\ndwelling house. Several persons were about the mill, and it was not\nyet dark. I was now determined to pass by boldly, and if anyone\npassed near me to speak to them and inquire the way, and then pass\non so quick that they would have no time to have suspicion or to\nquestion me. Just as I was passing between the house and the mill,\nI said, \"Good evening, sir. How do you cross this river?\" He\nreplied, \"that the teams and horsemen ford it, but a footman may\nchance to cross it on the mill dam, yonder.\" Said I, \"is this the\nright road to--to--what the plague is it you call that little town\nyonder--your nearest landing on the river what is its name; I can\nseldom think of it?\" \"Oh, Saverton--Saverton,\" replied he. \"Oh,\nyes; Saverton,\" I repeated. \"Yes,\" said he, \"this is the direct\nroad to it.\" I replied, \"Thank you, sir. How far is it?\" \"Nine\nmiles,\" said he. By this time I was some distance past him, and in\nanother moment I was balancing my clumsy and worn out body on the\nedge of the dam, while the waters were roaring and foaming beneath\nme.\n\nI got safely over, and now pursued my way with increasing hope\nand certainty. However, I had not gone to exceed half a mile before\nI came to another fork of the river, larger and swifter than the\none I had just crossed, and, withal, neither dam nor bridge. I soon\nforded boldly into it, determined either to sink, swim, or ford it.\nIt proved to be about a yard deep, with a strong current, and\nseveral yards wide; but I forded it in safety, and still pursued my\nway. After wandering for a mile or two along the bottom lands, I\nascended a high bluff of several hundred feet, and thus entered\nupon the high, rocky and unsettled wilds which intervened between\nthe bed of the river and the great Mississippi.\n\nIt was now dark, and I was fairly under way for my night's\njourney, which at most could not exceed seven or eight miles, and\nfeeling extremely exhausted and also at leisure, I stepped aside\nfrom the road and laid me down at the foot of a tree, with a block\nof wood for a pillow, where I intended to sleep for an hour or two.\nIt was a wild scene in which to slumber; no human abode was near,\nno voice or sound stole upon the stillness of the evening. The\nstars shone forth in unwonted splendor in the heavens, while wild\nand grassy hills, and rocky steeps pierced with deep vales and\nchasms, extended far and wide on all sides, as if reposing in\neternal and undisturbed quiet and loneliness. Ah! thought I, as I\nlay in silent meditation and contemplated the scene, here is peace,\nhere is rest, here is a solitude of grand and sacred repose,\nscarcely polluted by bloodthirsty dwellers upon the degraded earth.\nAnd were it not for the ties of wife, children, and duties which\nbind me to society, how gladly would I seek a lone cavern or some\nunknown retreat amid these romantic wilds, and never more feel the\nills and suffer the evils which now distract and disturb the peace\nof a poor, miserable world. As I had finished these meditations and\nwas about to fall asleep I turned to my side and made a slight\nmovement in adjusting my wooden pillow, when I heard the well known\nrattle of a rattlesnake (eez, eez, eez,) close by my side, as if\ndisturbed in his repose, or as if I had more than my portion of the\nbed. I then recollected the old proverb, that \"travelling makes\nstrange bedfellows,\" and also the scripture which says, \"If two lie\ntogether there is heat, but how can one be warm alone?\" Said I,\n\"old friend, I'll not argue with you as my first mother did with\nyour venerable ancestor, and rather than quarrel or keep you awake,\nwe will part.\" With this, I arose and very condescendingly sought\nout another bed, where I was so fortunate as to remain in\nundisturbed possession till the chill of the night air admonished\nme to be again on the move.\n\nI then arose, and, after much exertion, became at length able to\nuse my limbs, and thus continued my journey. Early dawn found me\nstanding on a height which overlooks the little village of Saverton\nand the broad river, which was the only barrier between me and\nsafety from my enemies. As the rays of the morning began to expand\nwith increasing light, the dark outlines of the wooded bottoms of\nIllinois were distinctly visible. I had now seen with my eyes the\nland of peace, and a land which contained family, friends, and all\nthat was dear to me; but oh, if I should be intercepted at the\nferry, and thus lose at once my labor and my hope! I now knelt down\nand prayed fervently to God for deliverance, and thanked Him for\nthe past, and for His mercy and providence which had preserved me\nthus far.\n\nI then descended from the height and entered the town, the\npeople yet being rapt in repose. I examined the shore and soon\nconvinced myself that no public ferry was kept there. I was\nextremely glad to learn this fact being fully aware that by this\ntime all the ferries would be watched. I next tried to find some\nroad or path up the river bank, so as to pass along and obtain the\nuse of some chance canoe, but this was impossible. Huge rocks and\nmountainous steeps, with alternate ditches or patches of mire,\nrendered it impossible, even for a footman, to pass up the bank of\nthe river. I then made my way down along the sandy beach which lay\nbefore the town, and just as the people were beginning to stir, I\nleft the town and continued down along the river for some five\nmiles, sometimes climbing steep and rocky spires of the bluffs, and\nsometimes wading through mire and marsh.\n\nAt length I came to a dwelling on the banks of the river, and\nsaw several canoes lying in the water before it. I entered the\nhouse and inquired of the lady whether I could get a passage over\nthe river in a canoe. She replied that her husband sometimes set\npeople across, but owing to the swift current, and a large island\nseveral miles in length, which lay the middle of the river, it was\na tedious job, for which he never charged less than a dollar; but,\nhowever, he was very busy in the harvest field, about a mile\ndistant, and owing to the hurry of the harvest, she did not think\nhe could be prevailed on to do it at any price. I was now ready to\nfaint from extreme heat, and exertion, and hunger, and to walk\nanother mile and back upon an uncertainty was altogether to which\nit would subject me.\n\nI cast my eyes towards the canoes and they looked very tempting,\nand I know not but I might have been tempted to charter one without\nthe leave of the owner, but just then I saw a boy of ten or twelve\nyears of age playing about the water. I asked him if he was\naccustomed to paddling a canoe. He replied, yes. I then offered him\na good price if he would set me across the river. He refused to do\nthis, saying that his parents would whip him for so doing. But,\nsaid he, \"I will set you over on to yon big island, which is one\nmile from here; you can then walk a mile or two through the woods\nand come to the opposite shore of it, and then shout and make signs\nto the people on the Illinois shore, who will come across their\nhalf of the river and take you from the island.\" He observed that\npeople had often crossed over in this way. I hardly believed him,\nbut still I thought an uninhabited island was preferable to staying\nanother minute in Missouri.\n\nThe boy soon set me over and left me on the shore of the island,\npointing out my course as well as he could. I paid him well, and then\ncommenced my overland journey, among nettles, flies, mosquitoes and\nheat. I was soon entangled in thickets of hazel, thorn and grape vines,\nwhich made my progress very slow, as well as extremely laborious and\ndifficult. These, however, were soon intersected with sloughs of mire\nand water, which could only be crossed with the utmost difficulty, by\npicking my way on old logs and wood, and sometimes wading in mire and\nwater. After crossing several of these I at length came to one much\nlarger, which I judged was navigable for a steamboat, and I now found,\nto my inexpressible horror and disappointment, that he had deceived me.\nI had now no alternative left but to make my way back through the same\ndifficulties I had just passed, and to the shore where he had just left\nme, and then I should have no other chance but to call and make signs\nto the Missouri shore, which I had just left with so much joy, and,\nas I hoped, forever. This was at length accomplished, and I had the\ninexpressible joy of seeing my sign answered by the same boy, who soon\ncame paddling to me. As soon as his canoe touched the island I bounded\ninto it, and said to him with a determined tone and manner, \"you have\ndeceived me my boy, so now you have to go to the opposite shore if you\nnever went before, and I will then pay you another dollar, which will\npay you, even if your parents chasten you for going.\" We now headed up\nthe current, and, after a painful and laborious exertion of an hour or\ntwo, we doubled the cape at the head of the island, and shot off across\nthe river at a rapid rate.\n\nWe soon landed in the woods in a low bottom, with no signs of\ninhabitants, although while crossing I had seen some houses on the\nshore a mile or two below. I now paid the boy his dollar, and he\npushed off and commenced his way back exceedingly well pleased. I\nimmediately stepped a few paces into the woods, and, kneeling down,\nkissed the ground as a land of liberty, and then poured out my soul\nin thanks to God. I then arose and made my way down the river for\nsome two miles through woods and swamps, and finally came to a\nhouse. I entered it, determined to call for something to eat; no\none was in but a little boy, but he said his mother would be in two\nor three minutes. I asked him for some milk, and he gave me a\nvessel which was full, probably containing between one and two\nquarts. I intended only to taste of it to keep me from fainting,\nand then wait till the woman came, and ask her leave to drink the\nremainder, as it was all she had; but once to my famishing mouth it\nnever ceased to decrease till it was all swallowed; I now felt\nsomewhat abashed and mortified at what I had done, but concluded\nmoney would pay all damages. Hearing the footsteps of the woman at\nthe door, I was fixing my mouth for an awkward apology, when I\nheard a sudden scream; on looking up, Mrs. Sabery Granger stood\nbefore me, with both hands lifted up in an ecstacy of amazement. I\nsaid to her, \"be not afraid--handle me and see, for a spirit hath\nnot flesh and bones as you see me have.\" She exclaimed, \"why, good\nLord, is that you? Why all the world is hunting you--both friends\nand enemies; they had almost given you up.\" She then flew around,\nscolded the children, talked to the ducks and chickens to keep out\nof the house and out of the garden, and not stray off. She washed\nmy feet, gave me some clean stockings, got me some dinner, told me\na thousand things about our friends, asked five hundred questions,\nlaughed, cried and again scolded the children and chickens.\n\nThis over and dinner eaten, she on with her bonnet and\naccompanied me to her husband, who was clearing a small spot of\nland nearby. (I had forgotten to say that this woman had been one\nof our nearest neighbors in Ohio for several years.) Her husband\nnow dropped his work, and accompanied me as a guide for five miles\nacross a wet, low, untimbered bottom, covered mostly with high\ngrass and stagnant water, and entirely destitute of shade or\nrefreshment of any kind. The air was now extremely sultry, and the\nsun poured in scorching beams, while we could get no water to\ndrink, nor any rest or retreat for a moment. To sit down the tall\ngrass under these scorching rays, without a breath of wind, would\nbe overwhelming.\n\nI had not proceeded more than a mile or two before I became so\nweak and faint that I could hardly speak or stand, and parched with\na burning thirst. I was upon the point of lying down in the hot and\nstagnant water, but he took me by the arm and partly supported me,\nand drew me along for some distance, exhorting and begging of me to\ntry my utmost to hold up a little longer. In this way I finally\nreached the upland and the shade of a fence, within about half a\nmile of a settlement of the Saints and other citizens, which\nextended along the bluff. I dropped down under the shade of this\nfence, and fainted entirely away; the man ran to the house of a\nBrother Brown and got some cool spring water and a little camphor,\nand was returning with it Sister Brown, who had never seen me, came\nrunning before him to my relief; while they were yet distant I had\npartly come to, and feeling a dreadful faintness at my stomach, and\na raging thirst which knew no bounds, I made an effort to arise and\nrun towards them, at the same time making signs for them to hasten;\nI staggered a few paces like a drunken man, and again fell to the\nearth. This singular appearance, and my dirty clothes and long\nbeard so frightened the woman that, instead of hurrying, she halted\ntill the man came up with her, and then she exclaimed, \"It cannot\nbe Elder Pratt, of whom I have heard so much--it must be some old\ndrunkard.\" But the man assured her it was me, and they then came on\ntogether. They bathed my temples and wrists in cold water and\ncamphor, and finally gave me a spoonful or two at a time to drink.\nIn about half an hour I was so far revived as to be able to arise\nand be led to the house. I then shaved and washed myself, and\nborrowed a change of linen, and got into a comfortable bed.\n\nNext morning I felt quite refreshed, and, after resting through\nthe day, I was so far recruited as to be able to mount a horse at\nevening and ride towards Quincy, which was still twenty-five miles\ndistant. Brother Brown furnished me a good horse and saddle, and\nhimself another, and we started for Quincy in high spirits just as\nthe sun was setting. We rode on at a brisk rate, and arrived in\nQuincy at about two o'clock the next morning. Riding up to the\ndwelling which (from the partial recollection of Mr. Brown, as well\nas from the fact of my two Missouri cows lying before it quietly\nchewing their cud) we judged was my wife's residence, we dismounted\nand gave a gentle knock at the door. She had watched for four\nsuccessive nights and most of the fifth, and had now just lain down\nand given up all for lost. On hearing the knock she sprang from bed\nand opened the door, and in another instant I had clasped her in my\narms.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXV.\n------------------------\n\nOpinions of the Press:--Extracts from the \"Columbia Patriot:\"--\"Banner\nof Liberty:\"--\"Boone's Lick Democrat:\"--\"Saturday News:\"--\"Missouri\nRepublican:\"--\"New York Sun:\"--\"Quincy Argus:\"--Minutes of a Public\nMeeting in Quincy:--\"New York Commercial Advertiser:\"--Public Meeting\nin New York:--Closing Remarks.\n\nExtract of a letter from A. W. Turner, member of the Legislature\nof Missouri, dated City of Jefferson, November 31st, 1838,\noriginally published in the _Columbia_ (Missouri) _Patriot\n_:\n\n\"The Mormon war is the most exciting subject before the\nLegislature or the community; it involves an inquiry the most\ncritical of any ever presented to the Legislature of this country;\none in which the rights of a portion of the free citizens of the\nState is concerned, on the one side, and the rights of another\nportion of the same citizens on the other. Upon the decision of\nthis subject the character of the State is suspended. If, upon full\ninvestigation, it is found (and reported by the committee to the\nLegislature) that the Mormons are not the aggressors, and that some\nof them have been murdered, others driven from the State by\nmilitary force, and others imprisoned by order of the Executive,\nthen our character will be established as the most lawless invaders\nof religious and civil rights.\"\n\nWill the public believe that, with the foregoing view of the\nsubject, the Legislature avoided an investigation? The following is\nfrom a Missouri paper, printed in Callaway County, entitled _The\nBanner of Liberty_:\n\n\"The Governor of Missouri has negotiated a State loan with the\nBank of Missouri, of three hundred and forty thousand dollars. Of\nthis sum, two hundred thousand dollars are to go towards paying the\nexpense of the troops called out to _drive the Mormons from the\nState_.\"\n\nThe following is taken from the _Boone's Lick Democrat_,\na Missouri paper, under date of January 9, 1839:\n\n\"A letter under date of the 29th of November, 1838, has been\nwritten by Michael Arthur, of Clay County, to the delegation from\nthat county in the General Assembly now in session, from which the\nfollowing is an extract: 'Humanity to an injured people prompts me\nat present to address you this.'\n\n\"'You were aware of the treatment to some extent before you left\nhome, received by that unfortunate race of beings called Mormons,\nfrom devils in the form of human beings; inhabiting Daviess,\nLivingston and part of Ray Counties.\n\n\"'Not being satisfied with a relinquishment of their rights, as\ncitizens and human beings, in the treaty forced upon them by\nGeneral Lucas, of giving up their arms and throwing themselves upon\nthe mercy of the State and their fellow citizens generally (hoping\nthereby to gain protection of their lives and property); they are\nnow receiving treatment from those demons which makes humanity\nshudder, and the cold chills run over any man not entirely\ndestitute of humanity.\n\n\"'These demons are now strolling up and down Caldwell County in\nsmall companies armed, insulting the women in any and every way,\nand plundering the Mormons of all the means of sustenance (scanty\nas it was) left them, driving off their cattle, horses, hogs, etc.,\nand rifling their houses and farms of everything thereon; taking\nbeds, bedding, wardrobes, and such things as they see they\nwant--leaving the Mormons in a starving and naked condition. These\nare facts I have from authority that cannot be questioned, and can\nbe maintained and substantiated at any time.'\"\n\nThe following appeared in the St. Louis (Mo.) _Saturday News\n_. The reader may draw his own contrast between the two\nstatements:\n\n\"THE MORMONS:--That self-afflicted class of people who has\nchosen the fancy name of Mormons has elicited some sympathy and\nwell intended compassion from some of our charitable citizens, and\ntwo meetings have been called to devise means of relieving their\npresent wants. Although many of the Mormons deserve hanging, as an\natonement for their criminal proceedings and corrupt intentions,\nthey are truly objects of charity.\n\n\"But if this intrinsically vagrant race (the Mormons) would\nrelieve themselves from the humiliating necessity of asking\ncharity, they should mind their own business, * * abandon\nabolition, and apply themselves to hard labor, as those do who are\nactively engaged in attempting their relief.\n\n\"No attempt should be made to retain a single Mormon within the\nboundaries of Missouri. A colonization society might find\nadvantageous employment in sending them all off to Botany Bay.\"\n\nThe following resolves were adopted at a public meeting of the\npeople of Daviess County, Missouri, and published in one of the\njournals of the State:\n\n\"1st. _Resolved_, That we esteem the laws of our country\nour great bulwark, and the only safe refuge to protect us in this\nand every other emergency.\n\n\"2d. _Resolved_, That we highly approve of the course of\nthe Executive in placing Gen. Clark in command of the forces\nordered out AGAINST THE MORMONS, and that his orders to EXTERMINATE\nAND DRIVE THEM FROM THE STATE was dictated by the imperious duty of\nhis office as Governor of the State.\n\n\"The following is from the _Missouri Republican_,\npublished at St. Louis:\n\n\"To show our readers the amount of injury which is now inflicted\non the character of our State, and which there is no means of\nrepelling (the Legislature having refused to inquire into the\nmatter), we copy the following from the proceedings of a public\nmeeting held in Quincy, Illinois, as published in the _Quincy\nWhig_ of the 2d. inst:\n\n\"'Mr. Sidney Rigdon rose and read the memorial which his people\nhad presented to the Legislature of Missouri, and other documents,\ngoing to show the absence of all law and justice in the course the\nMissouri authorities had pursued toward them, from Governor Boggs\ndown to the lowest grade of officers.'\"\n\n\"After another had addressed the meeting the same account says:\n'Mr. Rigdon again took the floor, and in a very eloquent and\nimpressive manner related the trials, sufferings and persecutions\nwhich his people have met with at the hands of the people of\nMissouri. We saw the tears standing in the eyes of many of his\npeople while he was recounting their history of woe and sorrow,\nand, in fact, the gentleman himself was so agitated at different\nperiods of his address that his feelings would hardly allow him to\nproceed.'\n\n\"We are satisfied that his address will have a lasting and good\neffect, sustained, as it was, by the public documents which he\nproduced.\n\n\"'We will not attempt to follow him through the cold blooded\nmurder, by the mob of Missouri, of Mormon men and children, the\nviolation of females, the destroying of property, the burning of\nhouses, etc.\n\n\"In vain may the press in Missouri protest against these\nrepresentations. In vain may we declare that Rigdon and his\nfollowers were doing injustice, misrepresenting and slandering our\npeople, their institutions and officers, etc., the public abroad\nwill judge us by the course of our Legislature. We have made our\nbed and must lie down on it.\n\n\"A friend, residing in Lafayette County, a few days since called\nour attention to reports in circulation in New York seriously\naffecting the character of the State, growing out of this subject,\nand requesting us to contradict them. Most cheerfully would we\nundertake the task, but we know it is hopeless.\"\n\nThe following is from the New York _Sun_. After giving\nsome extracts from St. Louis papers, showing the outrages of the\npeople of Missouri against the Mormons, the editor proceeds thus:\n\n\"That Captain Bogart must be very much like a blackguard and a\ncoward, if he is not a decided candidate for both titles. He was\none of those who started the horrible stories of the 'cutting up of\nMissourians, fifty at a hatch, by the Mormons.' Probably he ran\naway from his company, and imagined the horrible stories he\ncarried. The shooting down of a flag staff bearing a flag of truce\nis characteristic of the bravery of a coward, when backed by 3,000\nmen against 700.\n\n\"They must have a primitive mode of administering justice in\nMissouri. These Mormons are as much citizens as the others, and\nyet, without trial, upon the _ex parte_ testimony of the\npersons who had provoked the Mormons to retaliation, the Governor\nissues orders, if we understand the case, for the expulsion of the\nMormons from the State of Missouri.\n\n\"The Emperor of Russia, the Shah of Persia, or the Sultan of\nTurkey could not embrace in his own person more legislative,\njudicial and executive power than is here assumed. Legislative, in\nthe enactment and promulgation of an edict of banishment.\nJudicial--extra judicial--in sentencing them to banishment under\nit. Executive, in summoning the force of the State to put in force\nhis own judgment upon his own edict. Well done, Governor Boggs!\n\n\"We are sorry to hear of the massacre of the Mormons by the\narmed mob; however, this violence, being the natural promptings of\ninfuriated men, is positively less culpable than the cool ignorance\nand impudent, illegal assumption of the Governor of Missouri.\"\n\nFrom the Quincy (Ill.) _Argus_, March 16, 1839:\n\n\"We give in today's paper the details of the recent bloody\ntragedy acted in Missouri--the details of a scene of terror and\nblood unparalleled in the annals of modern, and, under the\ncircumstances of the case, in ancient history; a tragedy of so deep\nand fearful, and absorbing interest that the very life blood of the\nheart is chilled at the simple contemplation. We are prompted to\nask ourselves if it be really _true_ that we are living in\nan enlightened, a humane and civilized age, in an age and quarter\nof the world boasting of its progress in everything good and great,\nhonorable, virtuous and high minded; in a country, of which, as\nAmerican citizens, we could ask whether we are living under a\nConstitution and laws, or have not rather returned to the ruthless\ntimes of the stern Atilla--to the times of the fiery Hun--when the\nsword and flame ravaged the fair fields of Italy and Europe, and\nthe darkest passions held full revel in all the revolting scenes of\nunchecked brutality and unbridled desire?\n\n\"We have no language sufficiently strong for the expression of\nour indignation and shame at the recent transaction in a sister\nstate, and that state _Missouri_, a state of which we had\nlong been proud, alike for her men and history, but now so\n_fallen_, that we could wish her star stricken out from the\nbright constellation of the Union. We say we know of no language\nsufficiently strong for the expression of our shame and abhorrence\nof her recent conduct. She has written her own character in letters\nof blood, and stained it by acts of merciless cruelty and brutality\nthat the waters of ages cannot efface. It will be observed that an\norganized mob, aided by many of the civil and military officers of\nMissouri, with Governor Boggs at their head, have been the\nprominent actors in this business, incited too, it appears, against\nthe Mormons by political hatred, and by the additional motives of\nplunder and revenge. They have but too well put in execution their\nthreats of extermination and expulsion, and fully wreaked their\nvengeance on a body of industrious and enterprising men, who had\nnever wronged or wished to wrong them, but, on the contrary, had\never comported themselves as good and honest citizens, living under\nthe laws and having the same rights with themselves, _to the\nsacred immunities of life, liberty and property._\"\n\n\"PUBLIC MEETING:\n_\"Wednesday, Feb. 27, 1839_, 6 P.M.\n\n\"The members of the Democratic Association, and the citizens of\nQuincy generally, assembled in the court house, to take into\nconsideration the state and condition of the people called 'The\nLatter-day Saints,' and organized the meeting by appointing Gen.\nLeach, chairman, and James D. Morgan, secretary.\n\n\"Mr. Whitney, from the committee appointed at a former meeting,\nsubmitted the following report:\n\n\"The select committee, to whom the subject was referred, of\ninquiring into and reporting the situation of the persons who have\nrecently arrived from Missouri; and whether their circumstances are\nsuch that they would need the aid of the citizens of Quincy and its\nvicinity, to be guided by what they might deem the principles of an\nexpanded benevolence, have attended to the duties assigned them,\nand have concluded on the following:\n\nREPORT:\n\n\"The committee believe that their duties at this time and on\nthis occasion, are all included within the limits of an expanded\nbenevolence and humanity, and which are guided by that charity\nwhich 'never faileth.' From the facts already disclosed,\nindependent of the statement furnished by the committee, they feel\nit their duty to recommend to this association that they adopt the\nfollowing resolutions:\n\n\"_Resolved_, That the strangers recently arrived here\nfrom the state of Missouri, known by the name of The Latter-day\nSaints, are entitled to our sympathy and kindest regard; and that\nwe recommend to the citizens of Quincy to extend to them all the\nkindness in their power to bestow, as to persons who are in\naffliction. * * *\n\n\"_Resolved_, That the committee last aforesaid be\ninstructed to use their utmost endeavors to obtain employment for\nall these people who are able and willing to labor; and also to\nafford them all needful, suitable and proper encouragement. * * *\n\n\"All of which is submitted.\n\n\"J. W. WHITNEY, _Chairman_.\n\n\"QUINCY, _February 27, 1839_.\n\n\"Mr. Rigdon then made a statement of the wrongs received by\nMormons from a portion of the people of Missouri, and of their\npresent suffering condition.\n\n\"On motion of Mr. Bushnell the report and resolutions were laid\nupon the table till to-morrow evening.\n\n\"On motion of Mr. Bushnell, the meeting adjourned to meet at\nthis place on tomorrow evening at seven o'clock.\"\n\n\"Thursday evening, Feb. 28.\n\n\"Met, pursuant to adjournment.\n\n\"The meeting was called to order by the chairman.\n\n\"On motion of Mr. Morris, a committee of three was appointed to\ntake up a collection; Messrs. J. T. Holmes, Whitney and Morris were\nappointed.\n\n\"The committee subsequently reported that $48.25 cents had been\ncollected.\n\n\"On motion the amount was paid over to the committee on behalf\nof the Mormons.\n\n\"On motion of Mr. Holmes, a committee of three, consisting of S.\nHolmes, Bushnell and Morris, was appointed to draw up subscription\npapers and circulate them among the citizens, for the purpose of\nreceiving contributions in clothing and provisions.\n\n\"On motion, six were added to that committee.\n\n\"On motion of J. T. Holmes, J. D. Morgan was appointed a\ncommittee to wait on the Quincy Grays, for the purpose of receiving\nsubscriptions.\n\n\"Mr. Morgan subsequently reported that $20 had been subscribed,\nby that company.\n\n\"The following resolutions were then offered by J. T. Holmes:\n\n\"_Resolved_, That we regard the rights of conscience as\nnatural and inalienable, and the most sacred guaranteed by the\nConstitution of our free Government.\n\n\"_Resolved_, That we regard the acts of all mobs as\nflagrant violations of law, and those who compose them individually\nresponsible, both to the laws of God and man, for every depredation\ncommitted upon the property, rights, or life of any citizen.\n\n\"_Resolved_, That the inhabitants upon the western\nfrontier of the state of Missouri, in their late persecutions of\nthe class of people denominated Mormons, have violated the sacred\nrights of conscience, and every law of justice and humanity.\n\n\"_Resolved_, That the Governor of Missouri in refusing\nprotection to this class of people, when pressed upon by a\nheartless mob, and turning upon them a band of unprincipled\nmilitia, with orders encouraging their extermination, has brought a\nlasting disgrace upon the State over which he presides.\n\n\"The resolutions were supported in a spirited manner by Messrs.\nHolmes, Morris and Whitney.\n\n\"On motion, the resolutions were adopted.\n\n\"On motion, the meeting then adjourned.\n\n\"SAMUEL LEACH, _Chairman_.\n\n    \"J. D. MORGAN, _Secretary_.\"\n\nFrom the New York _Commercial Advertiser_.\n\n\"MEETING IN BEHALF OF THE MORMONS.\n\n\"Last evening, pursuant to public notice, a large meeting\nassembled at National Hall, to listen to the recital of the wrongs\nand sufferings of the Mormons, and to devise means for the relief\nof their women and children.\n\n\"The meeting was organized by placing Mr. Charles King in the\nchair, and Mr. Marcus Spring as Secretary. The Chairman having\nbriefly stated the object of the meeting, and read the circular\nletter signed by Governor Carlin, of Illinois; Senator Young, from\nthat State, and other residents, vouching for the trustworthiness\nof Mr. Green, who is deputed by this people to make their case\nknown to the country, the Chairman introduced Mr. Green to the\nmeeting.\n\n\"Mr. Green proceeded to give a plain, unadorned, and, as is\nbelieved, unexaggerated narrative of the settlement of the Mormons\nin Missouri, of the constant outrages to which they were subjected,\nand the series of persecutions which were only ended by their\nforcible expulsion from the State; and the surrender, without\ncompensation, of the lands and houses they had acquired by their\nown money, or built with their own hands.\n\n\"Mr. Green was himself an actor and witness in many of the\nscenes he described, and he related them without any attempt at\nornament or appeal to passion.\n\n\"When Mr. Green took his seat, Joseph Blunt, Esq., addressed the\nmeeting with ability and great effect, and offered the resolutions\nthat will be found below. He was eloquently followed and seconded\nby Hiram Ketchum, Esq. The resolutions were further supported by\nseveral speakers, among whom were Dr. D. M. Reese and W. L. Stone,\nEsq.; when the question was taken on them separately, and they were\ncarried almost without a dissenting voice.\n\n\"Upon a suggestion from the Chair, that as the wants of the\nsufferers were urgent, good might arise from some immediate\ncontributions--a mechanic in his working jacket stood up, saying\nthat having often witnessed the good effects of example on such\noccasions, he proposed, although, as he added, the sum he could\ngive was humble, if nine others would do likewise, to give five\ndollars, and immediately walked up to the table and deposited the\nmoney. The challenge was accepted by several others, and a sum\nexceeding fifty dollars was collected on the spot.\n\n\"The meeting then adjourned, it being understood that, the\ncommittee named to receive and distribute contributions would at\nonce enter upon their duties.\n\n\"_Resolved_, That as Americans, we have heard with shame\nand indignation the narrative given by Mr. Green of the\npersecutions, sufferings and lawless violence of which a body of\nAmerican citizens have been the subjects and the victims, for no\nother apparent cause than that without hinderance to others, or\nviolation of any law of the land, they had acted upon the right\nguaranteed them by the Constitution of the United States of a free\nexercise of religion.\n\n\"_Resolved_, That, without meaning to express any opinion\nwhatever as to the religious views or practices of the Mormons as a\nsect, we condemn and desire to bear our testimony against mob law,\nlynch law and all other forms of outrage and violence where an\nexcited populace becomes at once jury, judge and executioner.\n\n\"_Resolved_, That the Mormons, as wronged, persecuted,\nexiled and defrauded Americans, are entitled to the sympathy and\nsupport of their countrymen; and that especially in behalf of the\nwomen and children, driven from their homes at the point of the\nbayonet, we appeal to the known benevolence of our fellow citizens\nat large for pecuniary aid.\n\n\"_Resolved_, That the Chairman and Secretary be a\ncommittee, with power to add to their numbers, to obtain\nsubscriptions in aid of the women and children of the Mormons; such\nsubscriptions to be applied after due investigation by the\ncommittee themselves.\n\n\"_Resolved_, That these resolutions be signed by the\nChairman and Secretary, and published in the newspapers.\n\n\"CHARLES KING, _Chairman_.\n\n    \"MARCUS SPRING, _Secretary_.\"\n\nFrom the foregoing numerous extracts the public can see that my\nhorrible tale of woe is not a fiction; but an awful reality. I\nmight fill a volume with similar quotations from the public\njournals of every part of the Union, but I forbear, with the full\nconviction that the foregoing are sufficient to show that an\nimpartial public, who stand entirely unconnected with our Society,\nas religionists, bear out my narrative in its awful tale of woe and\nsuffering; and I now submit the subject to the perusal of all\npeople, willing to meet my statements in the foregoing at the bar\nof Him who knows all secret things, and who judges righteously.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVI.\n------------------------\n\nCongratulations:--Remove to Nauvoo:--Meet with President Smith\nand Other Fellow Sufferers:--President Smith's Reproof for the\nElders:--Toils:--Start for England:--Arrival in Detroit:--Visit my\nBrother Anson and Parents:--Arrive in New York:--Visit Philadelphia\nand Washington:--Meet President Smith:--Great Meeting:--Preaching\nby S. Rigdon and President Smith:--Success in New York:--Farewell\nSong:--Sail for England:--Reflections.\n\nBeing once more at liberty, and in the enjoyment of the society\nof family and friends, I spent a few days in rest and refreshment,\nand in receiving the congratulations of my friends and fellow\ncitizens. My house was thronged from day to day, not only with my\nold acquaintances and fellow exiles, but with strangers of every\nsect and party, all anxious to see a martyr, as it were, who had\nbeen so wonderfully and miraculously delivered from bondage and\ndeath in their most terrible forms.\n\nAfter a few days spent in this way, we removed to Nauvoo, a new\ntown, about fifty miles above Quincy. Here lived President Joseph\nSmith and many of the refugees who had survived the storm of\npersecution in Missouri. It had been already appointed as a\ngathering place for the scattered Saints, and many families were on\nthe ground, living in the open air, or under the shade of trees,\ntents, wagons, etc, while others occupied a few old buildings,\nwhich they had purchased or rented. Others, again, were living in\nsome old log buildings on the opposite side of the Mississippi, at\na place called Montrose, and which had formerly served the purpose\nof barracks for soldiers.\n\nThe hardships and exposures consequent on the persecutions,\ncaused a general sickness. Here and there, and in every place, a\nmajority of the people were prostrated with malignant fevers,\nagues, etc.\n\nWhen we first arrived we lived in the open air, with out any\nother shelter whatever. Here I met brother Joseph Smith, from whom\nI had been separated since the close of the mock trial in Richmond\nthe year previous. Neither of us could refrain from tears as we\nembraced each other once more as free men. We felt like shouting\nhosannah in the highest, and giving glory to that God who had\ndelivered us in fulfilment of His word to His servant Joseph the\nprevious autumn, when we were being carried into captivity in\nJackson County, Missouri. He blessed me with a warmth of sympathy\nand brotherly kindness which I shall never forget. Here also I met\nwith Hyrum Smith and many others of my fellow prisoners with a glow\nof mutual joy and satisfaction which language will never reveal.\nFather and Mother Smith, the parents of our Prophet and President,\nwere also overwhelmed with tears of joy and congratulation; they\nwept like children as they took me by the hand; but, O, how\ndifferent from the tears of bitter sorrow which were pouring down\ntheir cheeks as they gave us the parting hand in Far West, and saw\nus dragged away by fiends in human form.\n\nAfter the gush of feelings consequent on our happy meeting had\nsubsided, I accompanied Joseph Smith over the Mississippi in a\nskiff to visit some friends in Montrose. Here many were lying sick\nand at the point of death. Among these was my old friend and fellow\nservant, Elijah Fordham, who had been with me in that extraordinary\nwork in New York City in 1837. He was now in the last stage of a\ndeadly fever. He lay prostrate and nearly speechless, with his feet\npoulticed; his eyes were sunk in their sockets; his flesh was gone;\nthe paleness of death was upon him; and he was hardly to be\ndistinguished from a corpse. His wife was weeping over him, and\npreparing clothes for his burial.\n\nBrother Joseph took him by the hand, and in a voice and energy\nwhich would seemingly have raised the dead, he cried: \"BROTHER\nFORDHAM, IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST, ARISE AND WALK.\" It was a\nvoice which could be heard from house to house and nearly through\nthe neighborhood. It was like the roaring of a lion, or the heavy\nthunderbolt. Brother Fordham leaped from his dying bed in an\ninstant, shook the poultices and bandages from his feet, put on his\nclothes so quick that none got a chance to assist him, and taking a\ncup of tea and a little refreshment, he walked with us from house\nto house visiting other sick beds, and joining in prayer and\nministrations for them, while the people followed us, and with joy\nand amazement gave glory to God. Several more were called up in a\nsimilar manner and were healed.\n\nBrother Joseph, while in the Spirit, rebuked the Elders who\nwould continue to lay hands on the sick from day to day without the\npower to heal them. Said he: \"It is time that such things ended.\n_Let the Elders either obtain the power of God to heal the sick\nor let them cease to minister the forms without the power_.\"\n\nAfter these things I joined with brother Kimball in purchasing\nsome land in the contemplated city of Nauvoo, which was then a\nwilderness and both of us went to work together with our own hands\nto build us a log house each. After toiling a few days in this\nmanner I sold out my improvement and prepared for a mission to\nEngland, as our quorum were now appointed to visit that country.\n\nOn the 29th of August, 1839, I took leave of my friends in\nNauvoo and started for a foreign land. I was accompanied by my wife\nand three children (having obtained my son Parley from his nurse,\nMrs. Allen), and Elders Orson Pratt and Hiram Clark. We journeyed\nin our own private carriage, drawn by two horses. Our route lay\nthrough the wild and but partially inhabited countries of Illinois,\nIndiana and Michigan, for about five hundred and eighty miles, to\nDetroit, the capital of the State of Michigan, situated at the head\nof Lake Erie.\n\nThe first day we rode seventeen miles through a beautiful plain,\nor prairie. Our route was a most delightful one.\n\nOn all sides, as we turned our eyes, we beheld a boundless field\nof grass and flowers, with here and there a small grove of timber;\nthe landscape was level or diversified with gentle swells; the\nsurface smooth as a garden; the soil extremely rich; and, although\nthere was no road marked by art, yet our carriage rolled as\nsmoothly and easily as if it had been on a railway. Most of this\ndelightful prairie was without inhabitants, and could, probably,\nhave been purchased for one dollar and a quarter per acre.\n\nIt is well calculated for the purposes of agriculture, producing\nin richest profusion, when cultivated, almost every kind of grain\nand grass, and every vegetable suited for the climate.\n\nAfter travelling seventeen miles through this delightful\nscenery, we arrived in Carthage, a flourishing village. Here we\nstopped for the night with a member of our Society, who received us\nkindly; and at evening preached in a large court room to an\nattentive audience. Next day we rode some twenty-five miles through\na similar country, and at evening arrived at a fine village called\nMacomb. Here we were kindly entertained over Sabbath by a brother\nMiller. We preached in the court house.\n\nMy brother Orson and brother Clark went still ahead about thirty\nmiles, where they preached on Sunday. On Monday morning we started\nand rode thirty miles through a delightful country.\n\nSometimes we were in the midst of flourishing farms and villas,\nand sometimes the wild deer would startle from their grazing at our\napproach, and go bounding over the wild expanse till lost in the\ndistance.\n\nIn the evening we arrived at the house of my brother, Wm. Pratt,\nwhere we found brothers Orson Pratt and Clark. We preached at a\nneighboring house, which was crowded by an attentive congregation.\nNext morning we rode eight miles to Canton, and found some Saints\nwho persuaded us to stay till morning. We consented; and in the\nevening preached to the people who crowded the house and yard, and\nwho seemed very anxious to hear more.\n\nContinuing our journey we came next day to Peoria, thirty miles;\na flourishing town on the Illinois River. Here we tarried with one\nof the members of the Church, and were kindly entertained. Next day\nmade thirty miles, and, providentially, stopped for the night at\nthe house of the only member of our Society in that region. When he\nlearned who we were he welcomed us, and finally prevailed upon us\nto stay two or three days, after which we blessed him and his\nhousehold and departed.\n\nWe then journeyed about thirty-three miles every day for four\nweeks, and at length found ourselves within part of a day's journey\nof Detroit. Here we found several small branches of the Church; and\nbeing worn down with our journey, we tarried with them six days,\nduring which we ministered the gospel. Brother O. Pratt, in\nparticular, preached in several towns to large and attentive\naudiences. Taking leave of the brethren, we rode to Detroit, where\nI found my brother Anson Pratt and family; whom I had not seen for\nmany years, and also my aged father and mother, who were now living\nwith him. My father was now about seventy years of age, and was on\nhis death bed with a heavy fever. We tarried with them two weeks;\nduring which I preached in the City Hall at Detroit, and\nsuperintended some printing and publishing matters.\n\nWhile here we sold our horses and carriage, and at length took\nleave of our kindred and a last farewell of our sick father, and\ntook passage on a steamboat down Lake Erie to Buffalo; distance\nthree hundred miles.\n\nPrevious to our departure from Detroit brothers O. Pratt and\nClark took leave of us, and passed down the lake into Ohio;\nintending to meet us again at New York.\n\nAfter landing safe in Buffalo, we took the Erie Canal and\nrailroad to Albany--distance three hundred and fifty miles; thence\nto New York by steamer down the Hudson River--distance one hundred\nand fifty miles. Here we arrived in safety after a journey of about\none thousand four hundred miles. We were received by the Saints in\nNew York almost as one of the old saints risen from the dead. I had\nbeen absent nearly two years during which time I had lain eight\nmonths in prison. Brother Adison Everett, a High Priest of the\nChurch in that city and one of the first members I had baptized\nthere, related to me that the Church in that city were assembled in\nprayer for me on the evening of the 4th of July previous, that I\nmight be delivered from prison and from my enemies in Missouri.\nWhen, on a sudden, the spirit of prophecy fell on him, and he arose\nand declared to the Church that they might cease their prayers on\nthat subject; \"For,\" said he, \"_on this moment brother Parley\ngoes at liberty_.\"\n\nWe found the Church in New York strong in the faith, and\nrejoicing in the truth. They had become numerous in the city and in\nseveral parts of the country around.\n\nIn this city I resided with my family some six months, during\nwhich I preached most of the time in the city, and also\nsuperintended the printing and publishing of several of our books.\nI also performed occasional missions in the country; I visited Long\nIsland, New Jersey, Philadelphia and the City of Washington. In the\nlatter place I published an address in a printed circular to each\nmember of Congress, and to the President of the United States and\nhis Cabinet, setting forth our principles in plainness, and bearing\ntestimony of the truth; while, at the same time, our petitions for\nredress were pending before them--President Joseph Smith and others\nhaving visited them in person, with an earnest appeal for\ninvestigation and redress of our grievances in Missouri. In\nPhiladelphia I had the happiness of once more meeting with\nPresident Smith, and of spending several days with him and others,\nand with the Saints in that city and vicinity.\n\nDuring these interviews he taught me many great and glorious\nprinciples concerning God and the heavenly order of eternity. It\nwas at this time that I received from him the first idea of eternal\nfamily organization, and the eternal union of the sexes in those\nexpressibly endearing relationships which none but the highly\nintellectual, the refined and pure in heart, know how to prize, and\nwhich are at the very foundation of everything worthy to be called\nhappiness.\n\nTill then I had learned to esteem kindred affections and\nsympathies as pertaining solely to this transitory state, as\nsomething from which the heart must be entirely weaned, in order to\nbe fitted for its heavenly state.\n\nIt was Joseph Smith who taught me how to prize the endearing\nrelationships of father and mother, husband and wife; of brother\nand sister, son and daughter.\n\nIt was from him that I learned that the wife of my bosom might\nbe secured to me for time and all eternity; and that the refined\nsympathies and affections which endeared us to each other emanated\nfrom the fountain of divine eternal love. It was from him that I\nlearned that we might cultivate these affections, and grow and\nincrease in the same to all eternity; while the result of our\nendless union would be an offspring as numerous as the stars of\nheaven, or the sands of the sea shore.\n\nIt was from him that I learned the true dignity and destiny of a\nson of God, clothed with an eternal priesthood, as the patriarch\nand sovereign of his countless offspring. It was from him that I\nlearned that the highest dignity of womanhood was, to stand as a\nqueen and priestess to her husband, and to reign for ever and ever\nas the queen mother of her numerous and still increasing offspring.\n\nI had loved before, but I knew not why. But now I loved--with a\npureness--an intensity of elevated, exalted feeling, which would\nlift my soul from the transitory things of this grovelling sphere\nand expand it as the ocean. I felt that God was my Heavenly Father\nindeed; that Jesus was my brother, and that the wife of my bosom\nwas an immortal, eternal companion; a kind ministering angel, given\nto me as a comfort, and a crown of glory for ever and ever. In\nshort, I could now love with the spirit and with the understanding\nalso.\n\nYet, at that time, my dearly beloved brother, Joseph Smith, had\nbarely touched a single key; had merely lifted a corner of the veil\nand given me a single glance into eternity.\n\nWhile visiting with brother Joseph in Philadelphia, a very large\nchurch was opened for him to preach in, and about three thousand\npeople assembled to hear him. Brother Rigdon spoke first, and dwelt\non the Gospel, illustrating his doctrine by the Bible. When he was\nthrough, brother Joseph arose like a lion about to roar; and being\nfull of the Holy Ghost, spoke in great power, bearing testimony of\nthe visions he had seen, the ministering of angels which he had\nenjoyed; and how he had found the plates of the Book of Mormon, and\ntranslated them by the gift and power of God. He commenced by\nsaying: \"If nobody else had the courage to testify of so glorious a\nmessage from Heaven, and of the finding of so glorious a record, he\nfelt to do it in justice to the people, and leave the event with\nGod.\"\n\nThe entire congregation was astounded; electrified, as it were,\nand overwhelmed with the sense of the truth and power by which he\nspoke, and the wonders which he related. A lasting impression was\nmade; many souls were gathered into the fold. And I bear witness,\nthat he, by his faithful and powerful testimony, cleared his\ngarments of their blood. Multitudes were baptized in Philadelphia\nand in the regions around; while, at the same time, branches were\nspringing up in Pennsylvania, in Jersey, and in various directions.\n\nAmong the Elders who were instrumental in doing a good work in\nthose regions, I would make honorable mention of Benjamin\nWinchester, of Philadelphia, since fallen from the faith; and\nLorenzo Barnes, who labored and did a great work in Chester County,\nPenn., and afterwards laid down his life while on a mission in\nEngland.\n\nSoon after my arrival in New York City, Elders O. Pratt and\nClark who left us at Detroit, arrived, having performed a mission\nthrough some of Ohio and New York. Elders Turley, John Taylor, and\nWilford Woodruff, had also arrived from the West on their way to\nEngland. Brother Clark and two Elders soon sailed for Liverpool.\nBrothers Taylor, Woodruff, and Turley, sailed a few weeks\nafterwards. Brother O. Pratt labored in the country around New York\nwith good success.\n\nElders Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith, and R.\nHedlock, also arrived in New York City late in the winter, after\nperforming a long and important journey and mission through the\nStates of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and New York.\n\nFinding ourselves together once more, after all our trials and\nsufferings, we rejoiced exceedingly and praised God for all His\nmercies to us. During the few days that we were together in New\nYork we held many precious meetings in which the Saints were filled\nwith joy, and the people more and more convinced of the truth of\nour message. Near forty persons were baptized and added to the\nChurch in that city during the few days of our brethren's stay\nthere.\n\nWe held a general Conference, in the \"Columbian Hall,\" previous\nto our departure, in which the following song, composed by myself,\nwas written expressly for that occasion and sung by those present:\n\n    When shall we all meet again?\n    When shall we our rest obtain?\n    When our pilgrimage be o'er--\n    Parting sighs be known no more;\n    When Mount Zion we regain,\n    There may we all meet again,\n\n    We to foreign climes repair;\n    Truth, the message which we bear;\n    Truth, which angels oft have borne;\n    Truth to comfort those who mourn.\n    Truth eternal will remain,\n    On its rock we'll meet again.\n\n    Now the bright and morning star\n    Spreads its glorious light afar,\n    Kindles up the rising dawn\n    Of that bright Millennial morn;\n    When the Saints shall rise and reign,\n    Then may we all meet again.\n\n    When the sons of Israel come,\n    When they build Jerusalem;\n    When the house of God is reared,\n    And Messiah's way prepared;\n    When from Heaven he comes to reign,\n    In the clouds we'll meet again.\n\n    When the earth is cleansed by fire;\n    When the wicked's hopes expire;\n    When in cold oblivion's shade,\n    Proud oppressors all are laid;\n    Long will Zion's Mount remain,\n    There we all may meet again.\n\nOn the 9th of March, 1840, we embarked on board the ship\n\"Patrick Henry,\" for Liverpool, England. We were accompanied to the\nwater by my family, and by scores of the congregation, of both\nsexes. We bade them farewell amid many tears, and taking a little\nboat were soon on board ship--which lay at anchor a short distance\nfrom the shore.\n\nFrom there we could still see the crowd of our friends on the\nshore, while a wave of their hats and handkerchiefs in the air bid\nus a last adieu. At twelve o'clock we were under way, being towed\nby a steamer for some distance until the sails were all unfurled\nbefore a fair breeze. The steamer now bade us farewell with three\ncheers, and we found ourselves fairly under way on the broad\nexpanse of ocean. The sun was soon setting behind a distant\npromontory, which looked like a dark cloud on the bosom of the\nocean: while to the north the distant shores of Long Island were\nstill in view.\n\nNext morning we found ourselves tossing upon a rough sea before\nthe wind with no land in sight. We had a rough passage of\ntwenty-eight days, and on the sixth of April landed in Liverpool,\nEngland. Brother Kimball had been there before; but it was the\nfirst time that the other brethren and myself had set our feet on\nthe shores of the old world.\n\nWe soon found brother Taylor, who had raised the standard of\ntruth in Liverpool, and had already baptized about thirty. From him\nwe learned that all those who had sailed before us had arrived in\nsafety, and had commenced their missions in various parts with good\nsuccess. We soon called a general Conference in Preston, where we\nwere enabled to rejoice together with most of our brethren in the\nministry.\n\nThus, through the mercy of God, we have been enabled to fulfil\nHis commands thus far, and have accomplished a journey of five\nthousand miles under circumstances which would have discouraged any\nexcept such as were upheld by the arm of Jehovah.\n\nWhen we take into consideration the persecution, imprisonment, and\nbanishment, together with the robbing and plundering which has been\ninflicted upon our people in the West, and the consequent sickness,\npoverty, and distress to which ourselves, families and friends were\nreduced, previous to our undertaking this mission--when we consider\nthat it has been opposed by persecution, sword, flame, dungeons,\nchains, sickness, hunger, thirst, poverty, by death and hell, by men\nand devils, and all the combined powers of darkness--it would have been\nno marvel, if, like Paul, we had failed to accomplish the mission at\npresent, and had addressed an epistle to the Church in England, saying,\n\"We would have come unto you once and again, but Satan hindered us.\"\n\nBut this could not take place with us, as it did with Paul,\nbecause our mission to Europe was by express command of the\nAlmighty, and therefore it had to be accomplished in spite of men\nand devils.\n\nOne might suppose, from the opposition that it met with, that\nSatan was aware that if once accomplished, it would result in the\nultimate overthrow of his kingdom, and the enlargement of the\nkingdom of God--which may God grant for Christ's sake.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVII.\n------------------------\n\nGeneral Conference at Preston, England:--Publishing\nCommittee:--Editorial Appointment:--First Number of the \"Millennial\nStar\" Issued:--My own Ministry in Manchester and Vicinity:--New Hymn\nBook:--Action of Congress on the Missouri Tragedies.\n\nOn the 15th of April, 1840, a general conference was convened in\nthe \"Temperance Hall,\" Preston, Lancashire, in which thirty-three\nbranches of the Church were represented, including a total of near\ntwo thousand members.\n\nIn this conference, Elders Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and\nmyself were appointed a publishing committee for the Church. I was\nalso appointed editor and publisher of a monthly periodical, to be\ncalled the _Millennial Star_.\n\nWhile the residue of the committee travelled in the ministry, I\nrepaired to Manchester and commenced preparing to fulfill my new\nappointments.\n\nThe first number of the _Star_ was issued in May. The\nfollowing hymn was written by myself expressly for the introduction\nof this periodical, and originally appeared on its cover:\n\n    The morning breaks, the shadows flee;\n      Lo! Zion's standard is unfurled!\n    The dawning of a brighter day\n      Majestic rises on the world.\n    The clouds of error disappear\n      Before the rays of truth divine;\n    The glory, bursting from afar,\n      Wide o'er the nations soon will shine.\n    The Gentile fullness now comes in,\n      And Israel's blessings are at hand;\n    Lo! Judah's remnant, cleans'd from sin,\n      Shall in their promised Canaan stand.\n    Jehovah speaks! Let earth give ear,\n      And Gentile nations turn and live!\n    His mighty arm is making bare,\n      His covenant people to receive.\n    Angels from heaven, and truth from earth\n      Have met, and both have record born;\n    Thus Zion's light is bursting forth,\n      To bring her ransomed children home.\n\nWhile engaged in editing and publishing the _Star_ I also\npreached the gospel continually to vast congregations in and about\nManchester, and the spirit of joy, and faith and gladness was\ngreatly increased, and the number of the Saints was multiplied. I\nalso assisted my brethren in selecting, compiling and publishing a\nhymn book. In this work was contained nearly fifty of my original\nhymns and songs, composed expressly for the book, and most of them\nwritten during the press of duties which then crowded upon me.\n\nIn the third number of the _Star_, page 65, is published\nthe final action of the Congress of the United States, on the\nsubject of the outrages committed by the State of Missouri, upon\nthe Church of the Saints. It reads as follows:\n\n\"TWENTY SIXTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.\n\n\"In Senate of the United States, March 4, 1840. Submitted, laid\non the table, and ordered to be printed.\n\n\"Mr. Wall made the following report:\n\n\"The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the\nMemorial of a Delegation of the Latter-day Saints, report:\n\n\"The petition of the memorialists sets forth, in substance, that\na portion of their sect commenced a settlement in the County of\nJackson, in the State of Missouri, in the summer of 1831; that they\nbought lands, built houses, erected churches and established their\nhomes, and engaged in all the various occupations of life; that\nthey were expelled from that county in 1833 by a mob, under\ncircumstances of great outrage, cruelty and oppression, and against\nall law, and without any offence committed on their part; and to\nthe destruction of property to the amount of one hundred and twenty\nthousand dollars; that the society thus expelled amounted to about\ntwelve thousand souls; that no compensation was ever made for the\ndestruction of their property in Jackson County; that after their\nexpulsion from Jackson, they settled in Clay County, on the\nopposite side of the Missouri River, where they purchased lands,\nand entered others at the land office, where they resided peaceably\nfor three years, engaged in cultivation and other useful and active\nemployments, when the mob again threatened their peace, lives and\nproperty, and they became alarmed, and finally made a treaty with\nthe citizens of Clay County, that they should purchase their lands,\nand the Saints should remove, which was complied with on their\npart, and the Saints removed to the County of Caldwell, where they\ntook up their abode, and reestablished their settlement, not\nwithout having pecuniary losses and other inconveniences; that the\ncitizens of Clay County never paid them for their lands, except for\na small part.\n\n\"They remained in Caldwell from 1836 until the fall of 1838;\nand, during that time, had acquired by purchase from the\ngovernment, the settlers and pre-emptionists, almost all the lands\nin the County of Caldwell, and a portion of the lands in Daviess\nand Carroll Counties--the former county being almost entirely\nsettled by the Saints, and they were rapidly filling up the two\nlatter counties.\n\n\"Those counties, where the Saints first commenced their\nsettlements, were for the most part wild and uncultivated, and they\nhad converted them into large and well improved farms, well\nstocked.\n\n\"Lands had risen in value to ten, and even twenty-five dollars\nper acre; and those counties were rapidly advancing in cultivation\nand wealth.\n\n\"That in August, 1838, a riot commenced, growing out of an\nattempt of a Saint to vote, which resulted in creating great\nexcitement, and the perpetration of many scenes of lawless outrage,\nwhich are set forth in the petition. That they were finally\ncompelled to fly from those counties, and on the 11th of October,\n1838, they sought safety by that means, with their families,\nleaving many of their effects behind. That they had previously\napplied to the constituted authorities of Missouri for protection,\nbut in vain.\n\n\"They allege that they were pursued by the mob, that conflicts\nensued, deaths occurred on each side; and, finally, a force was\norganized under the authority of the Governor of the State of\nMissouri, with orders to drive the Saints from the State, or to\nexterminate them. The Saints thereupon determined to make no\nfurther resistance; but to submit themselves to the authorities of\nthe State. Several of the Saints were arrested and imprisoned, on a\ncharge of treason against the State; and the rest, amounting to\nabout fifteen thousand souls, fled into other States principally in\nIllinois, where they now reside.\n\n\"The petition is drawn up at great length, and sets forth with\nfeeling and eloquence the wrongs of which they complain; justifies\ntheir own conduct, and aggravates that of those whom they call\ntheir persecutors; and concludes by saying that they see no\nredress, unless it is obtained of the Congress of the United\nStates, to whom they make their solemn, last appeal, as American\ncitizens, as Christians, and as men; to which decision they say\nthey will submit.\n\n\"The committee has examined the case presented by the petition,\nand heard the views urged by their agent with care and attention;\nand, after full consideration, unanimously concur in the opinion,\nthat the case presented for their investigation, is not such a one\nas will justify or authorize any interposition by this government.\n\n\"The wrongs complained of are not alleged to have been committed\nby any of the officers of the United States, or under the authority\nof its government, in any manner whatever. The allegations in the\npetition relate to the acts of the citizens, and inhabitants, and\nauthorities of the State of Missouri, of which State the\npetitioners were, at the time, citizens or inhabitants. The\ngrievances complained of in the petition are alleged to have been\ndone within the territory of the State of Missouri. The committee,\nunder these circumstances, have not considered themselves justified\nin enquiring into the truth or falsehood of the facts charged in\nthe petition. If they are true, the petitioners must seek relief in\nthe courts of judicature of the State of Missouri; or of the United\nStates, which has the appropriate jurisdiction to administer full\nand adequate redress for the wrongs complained of; and, doubtless,\nwill do so fairly and impartially; or the petitioners may, if they\nsee proper, apply to the justice and magnanimity of the State of\nMissouri; an appeal which the committee feels justified in\nbelieving will never be made in vain by the injured or oppressed.\nIt can never be presumed that a State either wants the power, or\nlacks the disposition, to redress the wrongs of its own citizens,\ncommitted within her own territory; whether they proceed from the\nlawless acts of her officers, or any other persons.\n\n\"The committee therefore reports, that they recommend the\npassage of the following resolution:\n\n\"_Resolved_, That the committee on the Judiciary be\ndischarged from the further consideration of the memorial in this\ncase; and that the memorialists have leave to withdraw the papers\nwhich accompany their memorial.\"\n\nThe action of the general government on this momentous subject,\nestablishes the precedent that there is no power in the government to\ncarry out the principles of its own Constitution. Fifteen thousand\ncitizens of the United States can be murdered, robbed, plundered,\ndriven from their lands, or disinherited, while the Constitution\nguarantees to them liberty and protection, _and yet there is no power\nto protect or reinstate them_. Congress only mocks them by referring\nthem to their murderers for redress. It seems almost superfluous to\nsay that the Saints appealed to a higher tribunal--even the throne\nof God, where the case is yet pending; and that the Congress of the\nUnited States is charged with being accessory to these highest crimes\nknown to the laws of God and man. They hold in fellowship this guilty\npartner--Missouri--after knowing her to be a wholesale murderer and\nland pirate.\n\nAs the case is yet pending before the court of Heaven, we will\ndrop the subject and proceed with our own history.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVIII.\n------------------------\n\nGeneral Conference at Manchester:--\nOrdinations and Appointments:--Return to New York:--Meet with\nmy Family:--Visit to the State of Maine:--A Dream and its\nFulfilment:--Embark Again for England:--Consequence of Looking\nBack:--Safe Arrival in England:--Resume the Editorial Duties:--\nReflections.\n\nOn the 6th of July, 1840, a general conference was convened at\nManchester, in the \"Carpenter's Hall,\" a building which would seat\nnear five thousand people.\n\nThere were present of the Twelve Apostles: Brigham Young, H. C.\nKimball, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor, Willard Richards, George A.\nSmith and myself. Of other officers: High Priests, 5; Elders, 19;\nPriests, 15; Teachers, 11; and Deacons, 3.\n\nAt this conference Parley P. Pratt was unanimously chosen\nPresident; and William Clayton, Clerk.\n\nTwo thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven members were\nrepresented, including 254 officers.\n\nThe publishing committee had just completed the new hymn book,\nwhich was presented to the conference, and accepted by them by\nunanimous vote.\n\nThree persons were then ordained to the high priesthood, viz.:\nThomas Kington, Alfred Cordon and Thomas Smith; also John\nAlbertson, John Blezord, William Berry, John Sanders, John\nParkinson, James Worsley, and John Allen were ordained elders;\nseven individuals were ordained to the lesser Priesthood.\n\nMany elders were also selected and appointed to labor in the\nministry in various parts. There was a variety of business\ntransacted, and much instruction given by Brigham Young and others,\nafter which, conference was adjourned to the 6th of October, at the\nsame place.\n\nDuring this conference I received a letter from my family in New\nYork, informing me that they were dangerously ill of scarlet fever.\nI, therefore, by advice of the other members of the quorum,\nconcluded to cross the ocean once more and bring them to England,\nwhere I was likely to remain for several years rather in a\nstationary position as an editor and publisher. I accordingly\nrepaired immediately to Liverpool and embarked for New York. I was\nthirty-seven days confined on this dreary passage, without any\nfriends or associates who cared for me or the cause of truth.\n\nI then landed in New York, found my wife and children recovered\nfrom their sickness, for which I felt truly thankful. They were\nagreeably surprised at seeing me so soon and so unexpectedly, and\nso were the Saints in that city and vicinity. After several joyful\nmeetings among them, I went to the State of Maine on a visit with\nmy wife and children to her parents and kindred. They lived in\nBethel, Oxford County, about sixty miles from Portland, the seaport\nwhere we landed. The day before our arrival my wife's sister, a\nMrs. Bean, prophesied to her husband that Brother Pratt and family\nwould arrive there the next evening, and she actually changed the\nbedding and prepared the best room for our reception, as if she had\nreceived notice of our coming. At this her husband and friends\nlaughed in derision; \"for,\" said they, \"our brother-in-law is in\nEngland and his family in New York; how, then, will he be here\nto-night?\" But she still persisted, and made ready the room and all\nthings for our reception, assuring them that I would arrive that\nnight with my family.\n\nNight came, the deep shades of evening gathered around, a dark\nand gloomy night set in, and still no signs of us. They still\nlaughed her to scorn for her superstition, and she still persisted\nin her anticipations of our momentary arrival. At length, as they\nwere about to retire to rest, we knocked at the door and were\njoyfully received--it being the first time that any of my wife's\nkindred there had seen my face.\n\nMrs. Bean had a dream a few days previous to our arrival, in\nwhich she dreamed that I came to her and gave her a key to the\nBible. As she related the dream to me, I presented her with my\n\"Voice of Warning.\" It seemed to her and her husband as they read\nit as if it was indeed a key to the doctrine and prophecies of the\nHoly Scriptures. They rejoiced with exceeding joy, and promised to\nbe baptized, and to gather to Nauvoo if God would only open their\nway to sell their farm.\n\nMy father-in-law, Aaron Frost, and household, and all our\nkindred and many others in that region, received me with joy and\nhospitality, and I preached several times in their churches.\n\nI finally took leave of them and returned to New York,\naccompanied by my wife's sister, Olive Frost, a young lady of some\ntwenty years of age, who accompanied us to England to help us in\nthe family.\n\nWe soon embarked, and after a long and tedious passage we\narrived again in England in October, 1840. My family then consisted\nof my wife and wife's sister, and my wife's daughter, Mary Ann\nStearns, and my sons, Parley and Nathan.\n\nI now again resumed the editorial duties in Manchester, and\nassisted in the publishing department and in the presidency of the\nManchester Conference, and the general presidency of the work in\nthat country. The _Star_ had, during my absence, been edited\nand published by Elders Young and Richards.\n\nMy brother-in-law, Samuel Bean, soon sold out, according to his\ndesires, and started with his family to remove to Nauvoo.\n\nHe arrived in Portland, ready to embark, when he heard some\nlying tales about the \"_Mormons_,\" as is usual, and being\ndarkened in mind he turned back and bought a farm in Maine, and\nsoon afterwards died without ever obeying the gospel or gathering\nwith the Saints. His wife and children were left as a widow and\norphans to drag out a lonely existence on a farm which was not\nsaleable, and without means to gather with the Saints, and without\nopportunity to obey the gospel--a solemn warning to all persons not\nto delay or neglect a strict and punctual obedience to their\nconvictions.\n\nOn the 6th of October, a general conference convened at\nManchester, according to adjournment.\n\nI had hoped to land from America in time to attend it, but was\ndisappointed by contrary winds.\n\nThe following members of my quorum were present, viz: Brigham\nYoung, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor, Willard\nRichards, H. C. Kimball and G. A. Smith; other officers, viz.: High\nPriests, 5; Elders, 19; Priests, 28; Teachers, 4; and Deacons, 2.\n\nIn this conference, Elder Orson Pratt was called to the chair,\nand Elder George Walker chosen clerk.\n\nA general representation showed a great increase since the July\nconference, and a spread of the work into many parts.\n\nMany ordinations took place; much instruction was given; and\nmany additional missionaries were sent out.\n\nIn a few days after this conference, I landed in safety with my\nfamily, and again repaired to Manchester, and resumed the editorial\nduties; and, in connection with Elder Young, superintended the\npublishing department.\n\nThe October number of the _Star_ contains much cheering\nnews of the spread of the work in various parts of the United\nStates, England, Scotland and Isle of Man, and an interesting\naccount of Elder Orson Hyde's appointment on a mission to\nJerusalem, in connection with Elder John E. Page.\n\nMay the Almighty speed His work, and bless the believers with\nsigns following, and with grace and wisdom to escape all the\njudgments which await the wicked, and to stand before the coming of\nthe Son of Man; for Christ's sake. Amen.\n\nThus closed the year 1840 with us and our labors. An eventful\nyear it had been to us, and to the Church of the Saints. It was the\nfirst mission of the Twelve modern apostles, as a quorum, to a\nforeign country. It had been undertaken under circumstances which\nwould have deterred men of a less holy and sacred calling and\nresponsibility. It had overcome chains and dungeons, and gloomy\ncells, and perils of robbers and of death. It had triumphed over\npoverty and sickness, and perils by sea and land. And it had\ntriumphed and been crowned with a success unparalleled, even by the\nhistory of the ancient Apostles.\n\nIt was the hand of God that performed it, and to his name be\nascribed honor and majesty, and power and glory, forever and ever.\nAmen.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIX.\n------------------------\n\nVisit and Ministry in Bolton:--Conduct of two\nMethodist Priests:--Arrest and Trial:--Emigration:--General\nConference at Manchester:--Council of the Twelve:--Charter\nthe ship \"Tyrean:\"--\"Philosophy of the Resurrection:\"--Emigration\non the Ship \"Chaos:\"--Visit to the Isle of Man:--Visit to\nNorwich:--Mob.\n\nOn the 19th of January, 1841, I visited Bolton for the first\ntime; found an interesting society there consisting of about one\nhundred and thirty members, including some small branches in the\nvicinity. They appeared to be dwelling together in truth and love,\nand zealously united in the cause of God and godliness. Their\npresiding officer is an aged minister by the name of Crooks,\nformerly of Stockport; through whose labors the Society there has\ngrown from a small handful to its present flourishing condition.\nThe meetings are crowded to excess, and scores of people are\npressing forward and uniting with the Church by repentance and\nbaptism. The Holy Ghost is poured out into their souls, and its\nfruits are manifested in their gifts and blessings.\n\nOn Wednesday evening, the 20th, I attended one of their meetings, and\nhad the privilege of addressing a full and attentive audience. The\nsubject was confined to a few scriptural observations, in which the\nprecepts and promises of Christ were clearly set forth, as contained in\nthe written word of the New Testament. These were contrasted with the\nsystems of Christianity as they now exist, and the difference was so\nmanifest that the people saw clearly that the religion of Christ was\n_one thing _, and modern sectarianism another. This so exasperated some\ncraftsmen who were present, viz.: a Mr. James Pendlebury, professedly\na Primitive Methodist preacher, and Mr. Thomas Balsham, of the New\nConnection, that they could no longer hold their peace. For while the\nsermon was proceeding, the said Pendlebury arose and began speaking so\nloud that the speaker paused and requested the interruption to cease;\nbut was not heeded, for the intruder with stentorian voice continued\nto cry out, saying: \"This is a new doctrine, and we cannot believe it\nwithout miracles; here is a blind man, heal him; here is a blind man,\nheal him! You have preached a new doctrine--a new doctrine, sir, and\nwe want the proof--we want the proof!\" By this time the house was all\nconfusion, everyone endeavoring to act as moderator. We endeavored\nfrom the pulpit to command silence, and expressed our surprise that\nthe New Testament doctrine should be a new doctrine; but we found that\nit was a new doctrine to him, as was manifest in his behavior. Indeed,\nthe doctrines of common law and civilization were to him equally as\nstrange and new as the doctrine of Christ, for he still continued to\ndisturb the meeting. The Saints commenced singing, and finally closed\nthe meeting. But while this was proceeding the riot grew more and\nmore violent, till at length a form was broken, and some other damage\ndone. While the civil part of the people were retiring from the room\nthey were variously insulted by him and his comrades, some crying out,\n\"He hath a devil,\" some challenging to debate, and some calling for a\nmiracle. At length a policeman arrived and took this brave champion\ninto custody, and his associate, T. Balsham.\n\nThese were handcuffed, marched away, and finally held to bail.\nNext morning they had a warrant served on them for a breach of the\npeace, and were brought before James Arrowsmith, Esq., Mayor, and\nfive magistrates. An able plea was made by Attorney John Taylor,\nEsq., and a laborious attempt on the part of the prisoners to\njustify themselves by the introduction of several witnesses\nbelonging to several different orders of Methodists, whose\ntestimony was more calculated to throw a false coloring over our\ndoctrine than anything else. At length Pendlebury was found guilty\nof a breach of the peace, had to pay for the form and make good the\ndamages and costs of suit; and was bound in the penal sum of ten\npounds to keep the peace for six months.\n\nIt is to be hoped that these prompt measures will put a stop to\nsimilar disturbances in our public worship, and also prove a\nwarning to other priests not to turn infidels against the doctrines\nof the New Testament, and then use such vile measures against the\ntruth.\n\nSince this affair we have heard verbally from Bolton, that many\nare embracing the truth and coming to the waters of baptism. May\nthe Lord shed forth His Spirit upon the people of Bolton, and cause\na great work to be done among them.\n\nDuring February, about two hundred and forty of the Saints\nembarked at Liverpool for America, intending to settle with the\nSaints at Nauvoo.\n\nAn edition of the Book of Mormon, consisting of 5,000 copies,\nwas issued by us at Liverpool during this month.\n\nOn the 6th of April, 1841, the Council of the Twelve assembled\nat Manchester, in the \"Carpenter's Hall,\" for the first time to\ntransact business as a quorum, in the presence of the Church in a\nforeign land, being the first day of the twelfth year of the rise\nof the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.\n\nNine of the quorum were present, viz.: Brigham Young, Heber C.\nKimball, Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Wilford\nWoodruff, Willard Richards, John Taylor, and George A. Smith.\n\nPresident Young having called the house to order and organized\nthe Conference, then opened by prayer. Elder Thomas Ward was then\nchosen Clerk. The president then made some introductory remarks\nrelative to the organization of the Church in the house of the Lord\nin America; in reference to the different quorums; in their\nrespective orders and authorities in the Church.\n\nThe representations of the Churches and conferences throughout the\nkingdom were then called for. The total numbers of which were as\nfollows: 5,814 members; 136 Elders; 303 Priests; 169 Teachers; and 68\nDeacons, besides about 800 souls who had emigrated to America during\nthe year, who were not included in this representation. * *\n\nEleven persons were chosen and ordained to the high priesthood\nduring this conference, and twelve persons were ordained elders.\n\nSeveral new conferences were also organized, and presidents were\nappointed for each conference in the kingdom.\n\nThe names of the several conferences, with their respective\npresidents, were as follows: Manchester, P. P. Pratt; Edinburgh, G.\nD. Watt; Liverpool, J. Greenhouse; London, Lorenzo Snow;\nMacclesfield, J. Galley; Staffordshire, A. Cordon; Birmingham, J.\nRiley; Glasgow, J. McAuley; Gadfield Elm, Thomas Richardson;\nPreston, P. Melling; Brampton, J. Sanders; Garmay, Levi Richards;\nClitheroe, Thomas Ward; Froomes Hill, William Kay.\n\nThe business of the conference being accomplished, several appropriate\ndiscourses were delivered by different members of the quorum in\nrelation to the duties of the officers in their respective callings,\nand in relation to the duties and privileges of the members, also on\nthe prosperity of the work in general. * * * * * *\n\nElders Young and Miller then sang the hymn, \"Adieu, my dear\nbrethren,\" etc., and President Young blessed the congregation and\ndismissed them.\n\nThis conference closed the mission of the Twelve for the present\nin England, and as they were about to take their departure for\nAmerica, all save myself, an epistle was addressed by them to the\nSaints in the British Isles. It was written by my own hand, under\nthe direction of the president of the quorum, and signed by each of\nthe nine members present in that country. It was dated at\nManchester, April 15, 1841.*\n\n[Footnote] *See _Millenial Star_, April, 1841.\n\nIn the month of September, 1841, Brother Amos Yielding and\nmyself chartered a large new ship called the \"Tyrean,\" Captain\nJackson, master, for New Orleans. On which we sent two hundred and\nseven passengers of our society bound for Nauvoo.\n\nOur chartered ship, the \"Tyrean,\" sailed with two hundred and\nseven passengers on the morning of the 21st of September. On going\nout of the dock the previous day, many hundreds crowded around to\nwitness a ship load of the sons and daughters of Zion depart from\ntheir native shore for the promised land. They moved slowly out\ninto the river, singing:\n\n    \"Lovely native land, farewell!\n    Glad I leave thee--Glad I leave thee--\n    Far in distant lands to dwell.\"\n\nNext morning they weighed anchor about ten o'clock, and hoisted\nsail before a fair wind; moving away under the flag of liberty--the\nAmerican Stars and Stripes.\n\nThe emigrants were all on deck, and in good spirits; and as our\nlittle boat came off with three hearty cheers, they were singing\nthe favorite hymn:\n\n    \"How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord,\n    Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!\"\n\nThe last lines which we heard, as their voices were lost in the\ndistance, were as follows:\n\n    \"When through the deep waters I call thee to go,\n    The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o'er flow.\"\n\nHats and handkerchiefs were still waving in view as a last token\nof farewell. Soon all was a dim speck upon the ocean; a few moments\nmore and they vanished from view in the wide expanse and lost in\nthe distance. May God speed them onward in their course, and land\nthem safely in their destined port.\n\nThe _Star_ for October, 1841, contains several other\ncommunications of interest; giving cheering accounts of the spread\nof the work in various places, but we will not record them here.\n\nThe November number opens with an editorial on \"The Philosophy\nof the Resurrection,\" from which we extract the following:\n\nThe mysterious works of God in the formation, progress, changes,\nand final destiny of creation, are all wonderful and miraculous in\none sense. The formation of the natural body in embryo, or even of\na plant or flower, is as much a miracle as the creation or\nreorganization of a world or the resurrection of the body. Each\neffect has its cause, and each cause its effect; and the light,\nspirit or truth which proceeds from Deity is the law of life and\nmotion; the great governing principle of the whole machinery of the\nuniverse, whether natural or spiritual, temporal or eternal. It is\nthe cause of causes; the main spring of nature's time piece. By it\nwe live; in it we move and have a being.\n\nLet man be placed upon a lofty eminence surrounded with the\noriginal elements of uncreated worlds; let him contemplate the\nconfused and chaotic mass of unorganized existence; let him hear\nthe voice of truth and power as its first sentence rolls in majesty\nof wisdom from the lips of Deity; let him behold the first movement\nof chaos as it begins to come to order.\n\nLet him contemplate its various workings till the heavens and\nearth, and man and beast, and plant and flower startle into\nconscious being in all the beauty of joyous existence; let him\nobserve every minute particular of its progress through time in all\nits various changes; let him contemplate the changing seasons as\nthey roll in hours and days, and months, and years; let his\nthoughts reach to the starry heavens and view them in all their\nmotions and revolutions; the sun in its daily course; the planets\nin their annual revolutions; the blazing comet as it moves afar in\nthe wilds of ether, and returns from its journey of a hundred or a\nthousand years; let him return to earth and view the vegetable\nkingdom as it blooms and ripens and falls again to decay in the\nrevolving seasons; the time-worn oak of a thousand years, as it\nbraves the tempest, or the modest flower whose life is but a day;\nlet him view the animal creation in all its variety, as it appears\nand passes in turn from the stage of action; let him contemplate\nman from his infant formation through all the changes of his\nvarious life till he returns to dust; let him view the laborious\nrevolutions of the groaning earth and its various inhabitants\nthrough all their temporal career, till wearied Nature sinks to\nrest, and, worn by slowly rolling years, the earth itself shall\ndie; and lastly, let him contemplate all Nature regenerated,\nrenewed, and starting into being, while death itself shall\nconquered be and immortality alone endure.\n\nThe vision ended. Man! what hast thou seen?\n\nNothing out of the ordinary course; all I beheld was nature\nmoving in perfect accordance with the law of its existence; not one\nsingle deviation or shadow of turning from the immutable laws of\ntruth.\n\nBut hast thou seen no miracle?\n\nYes, it was all miraculous; it was all achieved by the law of\nlight, which was the immediate power of God; but it was all upon\nthe most natural, easy, simple and plain principles of nature in\nits varied order, and which to call the most miraculous I know not,\nwhether it was the creation of a world, the blossoming of a flower,\nthe hatching of a butterfly, or the resurrection of the body, and\nthe making of new heavens and a new earth. All these were so many\ndisplays of the power of God.\n\nAll these were miraculous.\n\nAll these were natural.\n\nAll these were spiritual.\n\nAll these were adapted to the simplest capacity, aided by the\nSpirit of God. All these were too sublime for an archangel to\ncomprehend by his own capacity, without the spirit of revelation.\n\nOn Sunday, October 17, 1841, the Manchester Conference convened\nat the \"Carpenter's Hall.\" Twelve branches were represented,\nconsisting of one thousand, five hundred and eighty-one members,\nwith appropriate officers. Many were called to the ministry, and\nordained to their respective offices. Instructions were given in\nrelation to the duties of the officers, members, etc., and they\nwere particularly exhorted to abstain from intoxicating drinks,\ntogether with tobacco, snuff and all other evil habits.\n\nAfter the ordinations, the Saints present partook of the Lord's\nSupper, and sung and rejoiced together. Several interesting and\nuseful addresses were delivered at evening, and the meeting\nconcluded with a spirit of joy and satisfaction. The number of\nofficers present at this conference was about one hundred, and\nmembers not far from one thousand.\n\nSome hundreds had emigrated from this conference, and still it\nnumbered near one thousand, five hundred members, all of whom had\nbeen gathered in about two years, and that from an obscure\nbeginning in a small basement in Oldham Road, being the first place\nwhere the fullness of the gospel was preached within the bounds of\nwhat now comprises the Manchester Conference.\n\nOn the 8th of November we sent out the ship \"Chaos,\" with about\none hundred and seventy passengers of the Saints.\n\nCheerfulness and satisfaction seemed to pervade every heart as\nthey bid farewell to their native shores, and set sail for the land\nof promise.\n\nSeveral interesting communications were received during the\nmonth of November, from various parts of the country, the purport\nof which was that the sick were healed, the lame walked, the old\nmen dreamed dreams, the young men saw visions, and the Lord's\nservants and handmaidens spake in tongues and prophesied, while the\nLord was showing wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth\nbeneath--blood, fire and vapor of smoke.\n\nIn the meantime, the wicked rage, and the people imagine a vain\nthing; the priests take counsel together against the Lord and\nagainst His hinted ones. The most artful falsehoods ever inspired\nby Satan continues to flood the country, both from the press and\npulpit, and reiterated those who profess to be followers of Jesus.\nWe went on a short mission to the Isle of Man of late, and after\npreaching to vast multitudes the plain truth of the scriptures,\nthey would mock and make light of the Bible, and everything quoted\nfrom it.\n\nThe priests too were busy in church and chapel, in lying against\nand perverting the written Word, and thus inspiring the people with\nviolence, hatred and every cruel work; yet we found the Saints\nrejoicing in the truth, and the honest in heart disposed to inquire\ninto it.\n\nWe have just returned from a visit to Middlewich and Norwich. In\nthe former place we had a very candid hearing in the magistrate's\nroom, which was filled. In the latter place many hundreds of people\nassembled at our meeting house, among which were a large number of\n\"Association Methodists\" and other professors, with one Thompson at\ntheir head, who came possessed of the devil to make disturbance.\nThese made all manner of noises, such as whooping, shouting,\nlaughing, whistling, mocking, etc. They openly hissed and mocked\nthe written word of Jesus and His apostles, and made such a noise\nas to finally break up the meeting; after which they began to rush\namong the people, and to bellow like bulls, and to run over, and\nknock down, and trample under foot all who came in their way. We\nnarrowly escaped, but finally got out of their midst. Mr. Thompson\nthen addressed them, justifying and applauding their conduct. The\nlights were at length extinguished, and the room cleared, but not\nuntil some persons were wounded, and some forms broken.\n\n\nCHAPTER XL.\n------------------------\n\nNotice for a General Conference:--Extract of a\nLetter from Elder Orson Hyde in Jerusalem:--Extracts from\nmy Farewell Address.*.\n\n[Footnote] *See _Millenial Star_, October, 1842.\n\nThe following appointment for a general conference for the\nBritish Isles appeared in the March number of the _Star_:\n\n\"The several conferences of the Church of Jesus Christ of\nLatter-day Saints, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain, are\nhereby informed that a general conference will be held in\nManchester, to commence on Sunday, the 15th day of May next, and to\ncontinue for several days, or until all the business is completed.\n\n\"Each conference is requested to appoint one or more delegates\nto present them in the general conference, and to assist in such\nbusiness as may be necessary for the general welfare and prosperity\nof the cause of truth. It is very desirable that a full\nrepresentation should be made of all the conferences, branches, and\nmembers of this realm.\n\n\"P. P. PRATT, _President_.\n\n    \"THOMAS WARD, _Clerk_.\"\n\nIn the _Star_ for March, 1842, the following editorial\nintroduces an extract of a letter from Elder Hyde in Jerusalem:\n\n\"We have lately received two lengthy and highly interesting\nletters from Elder Orson Hyde, dated at Trieste, January 1 and 18,\ncontaining a sketch of his voyages and travels in the East; his\nvisit to Jerusalem; a description of ancient Zion; the pool of\nSiloam, and many other places in Holy Writ; with several\nillustrations of the manners and customs of the East as applicable\nto scripture texts; and several conversations held between himself\nand some of the Jewish missionaries, etc., in Jerusalem; together\nwith a masterly description of a terrible tempest and thunder storm\nat sea, with a variety of miscellaneous reflections and remarks,\nall written in an easy, elegant and masterly style; partaking of\nthe eloquent and sublime, and breathing a tone of that deep\nfeeling, tenderness and affection so characteristic of his mission\nand the spirit of his holy and sacred office.\n\n\"Elder Hyde has, by the grace of God, been the first proclaimer\nof the fullness of the gospel both on the Continent and in far off\nAsia, among the nations of the East. In Germany, Turkey, Egypt and\nJerusalem he has reared, as it were, the ensign of the Latter-day\nglory, and sounded the trump of truth; calling upon the people of\nthose regions to awake from their thousand years slumber and to\nmake ready for their returning Lord.\n\n\"In his travels he has suffered much, and has been exposed to\ntoils and dangers; to hunger, pestilence and war. He has been in\nperils by land and sea, in perils among robbers, in perils among\nheathens, Turks, Arabs and Egyptians; but out of all these things\nthe Lord has delivered him, and has restored him in safety to the\nshores of Europe, where he is tarrying for a little season for the\npurpose of publishing the truth in the German language--having\nalready published it in French and English in the various countries\nof the East. And we humbly trust that his labors will be a lasting\nblessing to Jew and Gentile.\"\n\nBeing about to return to America, I published in the October\nnumber of the _Star_, 1842, my Farewell Address, from which\nI here give a few extracts:\n\nFAREWELL ADDRESS TO OUR READERS AND PATRONS\n\n_Brethren and Friends_:--As I am about to take leave of\nthe STAR, and give it to the management of others, I feel it\nnecessary to make a few remarks suited to the occasion.\n\nThis publication was undertaken two years and six months since.\nSince that time I have labored diligently, as far as a pressure of\nother duties would admit, to render it a useful and interesting\nperiodical. I have published the principles of the Latter-day\nSaints, together with a choice selection of the most interesting\nitems of news in relation to the progress of these principles among\nmen.\n\nI have also endeavored at all times to defend the cause of\ntruth, and to ward off the arrows of envy and slander which have\nbeen hurled at the children of light by the strong arm of thousands\nwho speak evil of things they understand not.\n\nI feel great satisfaction in a review of my editorial course; I\nfeel my conscience clear, and a secret whispering within, that I\nhave done my duty faithfully before God.\n\nI also feel to rejoice in the success which has attended the\nefforts of the servants of God in this country in the publication\nof truth. At the commencement of the STAR, the Saints in Europe\nnumbered less than two thousand, they now number near ten thousand,\nbesides thousands who have emigrated to a distant land. This,\nsurely, is a great triumph of the truth, when we take into\nconsideration the prejudice and opposition which we have had to\nencounter. Surely the STAR has stood forth as a beacon on a hill,\nas a lonely lamp amid surrounding darkness, to light the weary\npilgrim on his toilsome journey, and to kindle up the dawn of a day\nof glory when the effulgent beams of the sun of righteousness shall\nshine forth as the morning, and dispel the misty vapors which, like\na gloomy cloud, have for ages hovered over the pathway of mortals.\n\nDear Brethren and Sisters--Though I now take leave of the\neditorial department, and withdraw from the shores of Europe, yet I\nhave the satisfaction of leaving the STAR to shine among you in its\nfull glory, being conducted by one who has a willing heart and a\nready pen, and one who, I hope, will be so aided by his patrons and\nby Divine favor as to be able to conduct it with effect, till its\nfeeble rays shall be lost amid the effulgence of the rising morn.\n\nI now return my sincere thanks to all our agents and patrons,\nand to all who have in any way contributed to our assistance in\nthis great and good work; and I pray that the blessings of God may\nrest upon them and upon the thousands who may hereafter peruse this\nwork.\n\nI must now take leave of you for a season, as duty calls me\nhome. I have labored among you in the ministry between two and\nthree years, and for the last eighteen months (since the departure\nof the rest of the Twelve) I have had the more particular\npresidency of the Church in Europe, and as one of old said, \"in\nsome measure the care of all the churches.\"\n\nIn this highly responsible trust I have endeavored so to serve\nyou in all things, both temporal and spiritual, and to go in and\nout among you in the fear of God, exercising judgment, mercy, and\ncharity according to the ability which God has given me. I have\nendeavored to teach the ignorant, to reclaim the transgressor, and\nto warn the wicked; to comfort the feeble-minded, to bind up the\nbroken hearted, and to administer to the poor.\n\nI recommend and appoint Elder Thomas Ward as my successor in the\noffice of the General Presidency of the Church in Europe, in\nconnection with Elders Lorenzo Snow and Hiram Clark. To these\npersons I commit the care and government of the Church in this\ncountry for the present, trusting that they will conduct and\ncounsel in all things according to the mind of the Spirit, and\naccording to the counsel which shall be given them from Nauvoo,\nfrom time to time, by the quorum of the Twelve, or the first\nPresidency.\n\nOn taking leave of you for a season I take this opportunity to\nassure you before God, to whom we are all accountable, _that the\nfullness of the gospel is true, that the Book of Mormon is true,\nand that the everlasting covenant is true, and will stand when\nheaven and earth shall pass away_.\n\nI now take a pleasing farewell of the Saints, with a firm\nconviction that I have labored diligently and done my duty thus\nfar, and I have nothing to regret but my own weaknesses and\nimperfections, which I trust you will all be willing to forgive,\nand that God will forgive also.\n\nPlease remember me in your prayers, and may the Lord Almighty\nbless you all, and preserve us faithful to the end, that we may\nmeet again with joy. Amen.\n\n\nCHAPTER XLI.\n------------------------\n\nVessels Chartered:--Emigration:--Sail for New\nOrleans on the \"Emerald:\"--Passage:--Land in New Orleans:--Charter\nof a Steamer:--Historical Letter:--Journey and Arrival at\nNauvoo:--Mission with Joseph Smith:--Visit to Chester.\n\nBetween the middle of September and my own embarkation in\nOctober, I chartered three vessels for New Orleans, and filled them\nwith the emigrating Saints, viz:\n\nThe \"Sidney,\" with one hundred and eighty souls; the \"Medford,\"\ntwo hundred and fourteen souls; and the \"Henry,\" with one hundred\nand fifty-seven.\n\nI next chartered the \"Emerald,\" on which I placed about two\nhundred and fifty passengers, including myself and family.\n\nHaving finished my present mission in England and taken an\naffectionate leave of the Saints and friends there, I embarked on\nthe \"Emerald,\" and sailed on the 29th of October. We had a tedious\npassage of ten weeks, and some difficulties, murmurings and\nrebellions; but the Saints on board were called together, and\nchastened and reproved sharply, which brought them to repentance.\nWe then humbled ourselves and called on the Lord, and he sent a\nfair wind, and brought us into port in time to save us from\nstarvation.\n\nWe landed in New Orleans early in January, 1843. Here I\nchartered a steamer called the \"Goddess of Liberty,\" and took\npassage with the company for St. Louis. Running up the river for\nabout a week, I landed with my family in Chester, Illinois--eighty\nmiles below St. Louis. The company continued on to St. Louis. My\nreason for landing here was, I would not venture into Missouri\nafter the abuses I had experienced there in former times.\n\nHere I wrote the following historical letter, which appeared in\nthe _Star_ of April 1, 1843.\n\nCHESTER, STATE OF ILLINOIS,\n\nJanuary 21, 1843.\n\nDEAR BROTHER WARD--I take this opportunity of communicating a\nfew items of news which may be of use to your readers. I arrived\nhere two weeks since with my family. We are all well, except my\neldest daughter, Olivia, who has the whooping cough. We are living\nhere a few weeks, waiting for the river to open for Nauvoo. We are\ncomfortably situated, a few yards from the landing, in a stone\nhouse in a small village, eighty miles below St. Louis, and three\nhundred from Nauvoo. Provisions are cheaper than ever; Indian corn\nis 20 cents per bushel; wheat, 40 cents; flour 3 1/2 dollars per\nbarrel; oats, 15 cents per bushel; pork and beef, from 2 to 3 cents\nper lb.; butter, 10 cents; sugar, 5 cents; chickens, 8 cents each.\nCows, from 8 to 10 and 12 dollars per head; good horses, from 25 to\n50 dollars; land, from 1 1/4 to 4 dollars per acre.\n\nWe were ten weeks on the \"Emerald,\" and one in coming up the\nriver. The weather was very fine until the day before we landed,\nwhen it became extremely cold and snowy; but after a week of severe\nweather, it became suddenly warm and pleasant, and it remains so\nyet--all ice and snow have disappeared, and the weather is like\nMay.\n\nI have not heard from Nauvoo, except by the public prints. From\nthese I learn that Brother Joseph Smith gave himself up to the\nauthorities of Illinois, agreeably to the governor's writ of last\nfall to attempt to deliver him to the State of Missouri. He was\nbrought by _habeas corpus_ before the Judge of the Supreme\nCourt of the United States, and after a trial at Springfield, the\nseat of government for Illinois, he was honorably discharged--the\nJudge deciding that he must not be delivered to the Missouri\nauthorities, according to the demand of the governors of the two\nStates. Thus, one more malicious lawsuit has terminated in which\nthe rulers have been disappointed and bloodthirsty men have lost\ntheir prey the prophet of the Lord having found protection under\nthe wings of the eagle.\n\nBrother William Smith, Joseph's brother, is a member of the\nlegislature of Illinois, which is now in session. They have\nintroduced two bills for the purpose of taking away all our Nauvoo\ncharters, but they have both been lost without becoming a law, and\nthe charters still stand good. The first was a bill for the\nrepealing of all city charters in the State (for the avowed object\nof getting rid of Nauvoo), this bill was lost by a majority of one.\nNext a bill was introduced to repeal the Nauvoo charter alone. This\nwas too barefaced to be countenanced, and was lost by an\noverwhelming majority; but not until some warm debating on\nMormonism had occupied the house for some time. The fact is, it\ngrieves the enemies of the Saints very much to see them enjoying\npolitical privileges in common with others, and every exertion is\nmade to hinder the progress of a people and of principles which\nthey consider as already becoming too formidable to be easily\ntrampled under foot.\n\nI have now been here two weeks, and have minded my own affairs\nas a private man, in no way seeking to be public, or even to be\nknown. I have spent my time in providing for my family, getting\nwood for fire, bringing water, etc., together with reading papers,\neducating my children, etc., and have not mentioned \"Mormonism,\" or\nany other \"ism,\" or principle, till it was first mentioned to me.\nMrs. Pratt and I attended a Presbyterian meeting last Sabbath, and\nlistened in silence to a dry sermon.\n\nBut after all my endeavors to be quiet, it is noised abroad,\nthrough all parts of the town and surrounding country for\ntwenty-five miles, that a \"Mormon\" is here. All parties are on\ntiptoe to hear him preach; the citizens have sent the postmaster to\nme with a request to hear me, and have opened their chapel for\ntomorrow where we heard the Presbyterian last Sabbath. I have\nconsented, and commence my public ministry tomorrow. In the\nmeantime I have lent and sold several books, \"Voice of Warning,\"\n\"Book of Mormon,\" etc., and these are having the desired effect.\nThe people here were greatly prejudiced against something called\n\"Mormonism;\" they knew not what, having never read or heard any of\nthe Saints; indeed they had not the most distant idea of our\nholding to Christianity in any shape.\n\nYesterday a brother called here, from twenty-five miles in the\ncountry; he had heard of my coming and came to see me. He is a rich\nfarmer, being two hundred acres of land well improved. He informed\nme of a small branch of the Church in his neighborhood, and made an\nappointment for me to go to George Town (sixteen miles distant), on\nMonday next, and another to his own house, nine miles further, for\nTuesday evening, so you see I am getting into business fast. This\nman brought me two Nauvoo _Wasps_, the latest of which was\nprinted January 7th. From these I learned that all was peace,\nindustry and prosperity; a fine hard winter had set in so early\nthat none of our ships' companies which had sailed this season had\nbeen able to get up the river to Nauvoo; they are scattered from\nNew Orleans to St. Louis, and are waiting to swarm Nauvoo in the\nspring. From the weather, I judge that the river is about opening\nthat far; it is now open above St. Louis.\n\nNo one landed here with me but Sister Mary Aspen, and my family.\nSister A. is with us now, she is well and much pleased with the\ncountry; most of our passengers went to St. Louis.\n\n_January 26th_--Last Sunday, preached twice to an\nattentive audience. Monday, walked sixteen miles; preached in\nGeorge Town; good attention. Tuesday, rode ten miles; preached\ntwice among the Saints. Wednesday, baptized two young men; held\nconfirmation meeting, then rode twenty-five miles to this place.\n\nThe river is now open, and is twelve feet higher than it was\nlast week, the weather is like May. I start for Nauvoo on horseback\ntomorrow, my family will follow in two weeks by water. I shall\nwrite again soon.\n\nYours truly, in Christ,\n\nP.P. PRATT.\n\n_January 27th_, 1843, I started for Nauvoo on horseback,\nand after a ride of some eight days I arrived there in safety--a\ndistance of some two hundred and eighty miles.\n\nI was astonished to see so large a city all created during my\nabsence, and I felt to rejoice. I visited my brothers Orson and\nWilliam and their families, by whom I was hospitably entertained. I\nalso visited President Smith and family, who received me with the\nusual welcome and \"_God bless you, Bro. Parley_.\"\n\nWhile on this visit to Nauvoo I was invited to Shockoquon, a\nsmall town up the river, a few miles above Nauvoo, in company with\nPresident Smith, Elder O. Hyde and others. We started February\n15th; stayed over night at a Mr. Russel's. On the next day we dined\nat McQueen's Mills; visited Shockoquon and returned to the said\nmills at evening. Here President Smith spoke for about two hours.\nThe crowded congregation seemed deeply interested--most of them\nbeing strangers to \"_Mormonism_.\"\n\nAfter a few days I returned to my family in Chester County on\nhorseback. The weather being extremely cold the Mississippi did not\nopen till very late in the spring.\n\nI at length sent my family per steamer to St. Louis, and stopped\nat a hotel myself on the opposite side of the river, in Illinois\nTown. In this situation we still had to remain for several days\nawaiting the opening of the river above.\n\nA small steamer arrived, commanded by Captain Dan Jones, and was\nfinally chartered for Nauvoo, and filled with Saints, including my\nfamily. I passed by land to Alton, and there went on board.\n\nCaptain Jones was a good and kind hearted Welshman, and was much\ninterested in the fullness of the gospel. He soon joined the\nChurch, and was finally ordained and appointed a mission to Wales,\nwhere he preached the fullness of the gospel and gathered thousands\ninto the Church.\n\n_April 12th_ we landed in Nauvoo, and were kindly\nwelcomed by President Smith and scores of others, who came down to\nthe wharf to meet us.\n\nMy time, from my arrival until the last of the year, was spent\nin the ministry, and in building, travelling, etc.\n\n\nCHAPTER XLII.\n------------------------\n\nMiscellaneous Writings:--Mission to the East:--\nImpressions of the Spirit:--Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum\nSmith:--Spirit of Exultation:--Return to Nauvoo:--Sidney Rigdon\nDisfellowshipped.\n\n_January 1, 1844._\n\nIn the opening of this year I completed a number of\nmiscellaneous works, some of which were published in pamphlet form.\nAmong these were _\"An Appeal to the State of New York,\"--\"Immortality\nof the Body,\"--\"Fountain of Knowledge,\"--\"Intelligence and Affection,\"\nand \"The Angel of the Prairies.\"_ This last work was a curious and\nextraordinary composition, in the similitude of a dream. It was\ndesigned as a reproof of the corruptions and degeneracy of our\ngovernment, in suffering mobs to murder, plunder, rob and drive their\nfellow citizens with impunity, etc. It also suggested some reforms. It\nwas read in the presence of President Joseph Smith and a general\ncouncil, and was highly applauded; but never appeared in print.\n\nIn the spring I went to Boston as a missionary, and on business.\nI proclaimed the gospel, as usual, while on this journey, on\nsteamers on the lakes and rivers; in the cities of the Atlantic,\nand in whatever village or neighborhood I had opportunity. Visiting\nNorth Bridge, a short distance from Boston, and having a day's\nleisure, I wrote a dialogue entitled \"_Joe Smith and the Devil\n_,\" which was afterwards published in the _New York Herald\n_, and in various papers in America and Europe. It was finally\npublished and republished in pamphlet form, and had a wide\ncirculation; few persons knowing or mistrusting who was the author.\n\nPresident B. Young, and most of the members of the Quorum of the\nTwelve, were then on a mission through the Eastern States, as well\nmyself. While on this mission, on the 27th of June, 1844, a mob\nmurdered the Prophet Joseph Smith, and his brother Hyrum, in a jail\nat Carthage, Illinois, while Governor Ford had pledged the faith of\nthe State for their protection.\n\nA day or two previous to this circumstance I had been\nconstrained by the Spirit to start prematurely for home, without\nknowing why or wherefore; and on the same afternoon I was passing\non a canal boat near Utica, New York, on my way to Nauvoo. My\nbrother, William Pratt, being then on a mission in the same state\n(New York), happened, providentially, to take passage on the same\nboat. As we conversed together on the deck, a strange and solemn\nawe came over me, as if the powers of hell were let loose. I was so\noverwhelmed with sorrow I could hardly speak; and after pacing the\ndeck for some time in silence, I turned to my brother William and\nexclaimed--\"Brother William, this is a dark hour; the powers of\ndarkness seem to triumph, and the spirit of murder is abroad in the\nland; and it controls the hearts of the American people, and a vast\nmajority of them sanction the killing of the innocent. My brother,\nlet us keep silence and not open our mouths. If you have any\npamphlets or books on the fullness of the gospel lock them up; show\nthem not, neither open your mouth to the people; let us observe an\nentire and solemn silence, for this is a dark day, and the hour of\ntriumph for the powers of darkness. O, how sensible I am of the\nspirit of murder which seems to pervade the whole land.\" This was\nJune 27, 1844, in the afternoon, and as near as I can judge, it was\nthe same hour that the Carthage mob were shedding the blood of\nJoseph and Hyrum Smith, and John Taylor, near one thousand miles\ndistant. My brother bid me farewell somewhere in western New York,\nhe being on his way to a conference in that quarter, and passing on\nto Buffalo I took steamer for Chicago, Illinois.\n\nThe steamer touched at a landing in Wisconsin, some fifty or\nsixty miles from Chicago, and here some new passengers came on\nboard and brought the news of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum\nSmith. Great excitement prevailed on board, there being a general\nspirit of exultation and triumph at this glorious news, as it was\ncalled, much the same as generally shown on the first receipt of\nthe news of a great national victory in time of war.\n\nMany passengers now gathered about me and tauntingly inquired\nwhat the Mormons would do now, seeing their prophet and leader\nkilled.\n\nTo these taunts and questions I replied, that they would\ncontinue their mission and spread the work he had restored, in all\nthe world. Observing that nearly all the prophets and apostles who\nwere before had been killed, and also the Saviour of the world, and\nyet their death did not alter the truth nor hinder its final\ntriumph.\n\nAt this reply many of them seemed astonished, and some inquired\nwho would succeed him, and remarked to me: \"Perhaps you will be the\nman who will now seek to be leader of the Mormons in his stead--who\nare you, sir?\" I replied: \"I am a MAN, sir; and a MAN never\ntriumphs and exults in the ruin of his country and the murder of\nthe innocent.\" This was said in the energy of my soul, and by\nconstraint of the Spirit, and a powerful and peculiar accent was\nthrown upon the word MAN each time it occurred in the sentence.\nThis served as a sufficient rebuke, and all were silent.\n\nLanding in Chicago I found great excitement, and the press had\nissued extras announcing the triumph of the murderous mob in\nkilling the Smiths.\n\nI now hastened on to Peoria, and, staying over night, started\nnext day on foot across the country to Nauvoo--distance 105 miles.\n\nDuring the two or three days I spent in travelling between\nChicago and Peoria I felt so weighed down with sorrow and the\npowers of darkness that it was painful for me to converse or speak\nto anyone or even to try to eat or sleep. I really felt that if it\nhad been my own family who had died, and our beloved Prophet been\nspared alive, I could have borne it, and the blow would have fallen\non me with far less weight. I had loved Joseph with a warmth of\naffection indescribable for about fourteen years. I had associated\nwith him in private and in public, in travels and at home, in joy\nand sorrow, in honor and dishonor, in adversity of every kind. With\nhim I had lain in dungeons and in chains; and with him I had\ntriumphed over all our foes in Missouri, and found deliverance for\nourselves and people in Nauvoo, where we had reared a great city.\nBut now he was gone to the invisible world, and we and the Church\nof the Saints were left to mourn in sorrow and without the presence\nof our beloved founder and Prophet.\n\nAs I walked along over the plains of Illinois, lonely and\nsolitary, I reflected as follows: I am now drawing near to the\nbeloved city; in a day or two I shall be there. How shall I meet\nthe sorrowing widows and orphans? How shall I meet the aged and\nwidowed mother of these two martyrs? How shall I meet an entire\ncommunity bowed down with grief and sorrow unutterable? What shall\nI say? or how console and advise twenty-five thousand people who\nwill throng about me in tears, and in the absence of my President\nand the older members of the now presiding council, will ask\ncounsel at my hands? Shall I tell them to fly to the wilderness and\ndeserts? Or, shall I tell them to stay at home and take care of\nthemselves, and continue to build the Temple? With these\nreflections and injuries I walked onward, weighed down as it were\nunto death. When I could endure it no longer, I cried out aloud,\nsaying: O Lord! in the name of Jesus Christ I pray Thee, show me\nwhat these things mean, and what I shall say to Thy people? On a\nsudden the Spirit of God came upon me, and filled my heart with joy\nand gladness indescribable; and while the spirit of revelation\nglowed in my bosom with as visible a warmth and gladness as if it\nwere fire. The Spirit said unto me: \"Lift up your head and rejoice;\nfor behold! it is well with my servants Joseph and Hyrum. My\nservant Joseph still holds the keys of my kingdom in this\ndispensation, and he shall stand in due time on the earth, in the\nflesh, and fulfil that to which he is appointed. Go and say unto my\npeople in Nauvoo, that they shall continue to pursue their daily\nduties and take care of themselves, and make no movement in Church\ngovernment to reorganize or alter anything until the return of the\nremainder of the Quorum of the Twelve. But exhort them that they\ncontinue to build the House of the Lord which I have commanded them\nto build in Nauvoo.\"\n\nThis information caused my bosom to burn with joy and gladness,\nand I was comforted above measure; all my sorrow seemed in a moment\nto be lifted as a burden from my back.\n\nThe change was so sudden I hardly dared to believe my senses; I,\ntherefore, prayed the Lord to repeat to me the same things the\nsecond time; if, indeed, I might be sure of their truth, and might\nreally tell the Saints to stay in Nauvoo, and continue to build the\nTemple.\n\nAs I prayed thus, the same spirit burned in my bosom, and the\nSpirit of the Lord repeated to me the same message again. I then\nwent on my way rejoicing, and soon arrived in Nauvoo, and delivered\nthis message both to the people and friends individually, and in\nthe great congregation. In confirmation that the message was right,\nI found them already renewing their labors on the Temple, under the\ndirection of John Taylor and Willard Richards, who were members of\nour quorum, and were in jail with the prophets when they were\nmurdered Taylor being wounded with four bullets, and Richards\nescaping uninjured.\n\nWe then, being the only members of the quorum now present in\nNauvoo, united in daily councils at Bro. Taylor's, who was confined\nby his wounds, and counseled for the good of the Church. We were\nenabled to baffle all the designs of aspiring men, such as Rigdon\nand others who strove to reorganize and lead the Church, or divide\nthem, and to keep the Church in a measure of union, peace and\nquiet till the return of President Young and the other members of\nthe Quorum. Elder Rigdon arrived from Pittsburgh soon after my\narrival, and with the aid of Elder Marks, local President of the\nNauvoo Stake, and others, attempted to worm himself in as President\nof the whole Church. A public meeting was actually called and\nappointed for that purpose, the call being made and the day\nappointed by President Marks on the public stand. President W.\nRichards was present when this appointment was announced.\n\nOn being informed of this untimely and underhanded attempt, I\ncalled upon Elder Rigdon to meet with us--that is, the three of the\nTwelve then in the city, at the house of Brother Taylor, who was\nstill confined with his wounds, and there we expostulated with him,\nand showed our reasons for being opposed to such a course.\n\nI finally told him that no such meeting should be held, nor any\nsuch business attempted in the absence of the general authorities\nof the Church. And that, if any such meeting was attempted, I\nshould be there and oppose it, and show my reasons, and then\ndismiss the congregation and take my hat and walk away. He finally\nassured us that no business of the kind should be attempted, and\nthat the meeting should only be the usual prayer meeting. We\nlikewise forbade President Marks from attempting any general\nbusiness till the return of the general authorities.\n\nAbout this time, President Marks joined with the widow of the\nmartyred Joseph and some others, in a council in the upper room of\nBrother Joseph's house, to try to nominate and appoint a trustee in\ntrust for the whole Church. I entered this council and heard Mrs.\nEmma Smith plead in relation to this matter, the great importance\nand absolute necessity of immediate action on this subject, as\ndelay would endanger much property of a public and private\ncharacter, and perhaps cause a loss of scores of thousands. I arose\nand protested against any action of the kind, telling them plainly\nthat the appointment of a trustee in trust was the business of the\nwhole Church, through its general authorities, and not the business\nof the local authorities of any one stake of the Church, and that,\ntherefore, it could not be done till the remainder of the quorum\nreturned. To this it was replied that by this delay much property\nwould be lost. I again repeated that dollars and cents were no\nconsideration with me, when principle was at stake, and if\nthousands or even millions were lost, let them go. We could not and\nwould not suffer the authorities and principles of the Church to be\ntrampled under foot, for the sake of pecuniary interest. The\ncouncil finally broke up without accomplishing anything.\n\nAt length the day for Mr. Rigdon's great meeting arrived, when the\nremainder of the quorum, or a majority, with President Young at their\nhead, arrived in time to be present. Mr. Rigdon was frustrated in his\nambitious schemes, and with his adherents, including President Marks,\nsoon left the place, being disfellowshipped by the Church.\n\nPresident Brigham Young was unanimously chosen and upheld in the\nPresidency of the whole Church; the keys of which he held by virtue\nof his apostleship, being the senior and President of the highest\nquorum of the Church then living in the flesh.\n\n_October 6th_.--The half yearly Conference was held at\nNauvoo, which I attended.\n\n\nCHAPTER XLIII.\n------------------------\n\nEastern Mission:--Return:--Mobocracy:--Labor\nin the Temple:--Expulsion from Nauvoo:--Cross the Mississippi:--\nGarden Grove:--Mount Pisga:--Council Bluffs:--Mormon Battalion:--\nWinter Quarters:--Mission to England with Elders Orson Hyde and\nJohn Taylor:--Conference at Manchester:--Tour through the Kingdom.\n\n_December 2d_.\n\nHaving been appointed by the President and others of the Twelve\nto go East, and take charge of churches in the Atlantic States, I\nthis day bade farewell to home, family and the City of Saints and\nstarted on this journey. I rode to Quincy; stayed over night at\nBrother Haywood's, and next morning took boat and soon arrived in\nSt. Louis. I was accompanied by Elders E. T. Benson and P. Brown,\nwho were sent to assist me in this eastern mission. Nothing worthy\nof note transpired on the passage. We arrived in New York towards\nthe close of the year. I appointed brother Benson to take charge of\nBoston and vicinity, and Brother Brown to the charge of\nPhiladelphia and vicinity.\n\n_January 1st, 1845_.--I sent forth a proclamation in a\nNew York paper, called the _Prophet_, edited and published\nby Samuel Brannan, and professedly devoted to the interests of the\nChurch of the Saints.*\n\n[Footnote] *See _Star_, No. 10, vol. 5, page 149.\n\nAs we gradually became acquainted with circumstances pertaining\nto the Church in these parts, we found that Elders William Smith,\nG. J. Adams, S. Brannan and others, had been corrupting the Saints\nby introducing among them all manner of false doctrine and immoral\npractices, by which many of them had stumbled and been seduced from\nvirtue and truth. While many others, seeing their inquiry, had\nturned away from the Church and joined various dissenting parties.\nWe, therefore, in accordance with the instructions of the Holy\nSpirit in President Young before he left home, directed William\nSmith and G. J. Adams to return to Nauvoo, where, in process of\ntime, they were cut off from the Church. We also warned Brother\nBrannan and others to repent speedily of all such evil practices or\nwe would withdraw fellowship from them. They promised faithfully to\nrepent and lead a new life, and therefore we bore with them. We\nalso taught the Church to beware of all impure and wicked doctrines\nand practices, and not to receive any elder or minister who sought\nto seduce them by any false teachings. With these exertions and the\ncontinual labors of Elders Benson, Brown, Grant and many others,\nwith myself, we succeeded in setting in order the churches and\nreestablishing pure gospel principles. There were, however, many\nwho would not believe us, nor hearken to our advice, but continued\nin their abominations and dissensions. Elder Brannan was at length\ndisfellowshipped at Nauvoo, as appeared in the official organ of\nthe Church there. On seeing this notice I called his attention to\nit, and urged him to repair immediately to the authorities there;\nacknowledge and frankly repent of his faults, and seek restoration\nto his standing. He did this, and returned in full fellowship. But,\nas it finally proved, this was only to disgrace himself and the\ncause still more in a wider and more responsible career in\nCalifornia, where he, under our instruction, soon after repaired\nwith a colony of Saints in the ship \"Brooklyn.\" He was a corrupt\nand wicked man, and had the Church and myself been less long\nsuffering and merciful, it would have saved the Church much loss,\nand, perhaps, saved some souls which were corrupted in California,\nand led astray and plundered by him. I have always regretted having\ntaken any measures to have him restored to fellowship after he was\npublished in Nauvoo as cut off from the Church. However, if I\nerred, it was on the side of mercy.\n\nI devoted the winter in the presidency of the eastern churches,\nto writing for the _Prophet_ and in visiting the churches in\nBoston, Lowell, Philadelphia, Long Island and various other places,\nand preaching the gospel among them.\n\nThe following pieces from my pen are found in the above\nperiodical, under their appropriate dates and titles:\n\"Materiality;\" \"New Proverbs.\"\n\nI continued writing for this periodical in New York, which had,\nhowever, changed its name, and was now published as the _New\nYork Messenger_. From my numerous editorials and communications\nin that paper, I select the following as worthy of record:\n\"Heaven.\"\n\n_July 20th, 1845_, I published an address to those under\nmy charge.\n\nSoon after the publication of the foregoing, I took leave of the\nSaints and friends in the Eastern States, and returned to Nauvoo by\nway of the Erie Canal and the lakes, journeying from Chicago to\nNauvoo by land, by private conveyance, accompanied by a few of the\nSaints from the East. We arrived in Nauvoo sometime in August. I\nfound my family mostly in health, and was rejoiced to meet them.\n\nFrom the time of my arrival home until the end of the year, I\nwas engaged in the cares of my family, in finishing my house, and\nin my official duties.\n\nIn autumn the mobs recommenced their murders, robbings, house\nand grain burnings, and driving families away from their lands and\nhomes in the borders of our county, and elsewhere.\n\nThe sheriff of the County called out several _posses_ and\ndispersed them, killing some and arresting others.\n\nThis bold and energetic execution of the sworn duties of Sheriff\nBackinstafs did not seem to be quite congenial to the spirit of the\ngovernment and citizens of the State of Illinois--they being to a\ngreat extent in favor of mob violence, murder, plunder and house\nburning. Therefore, Sheriff Backinstafs was arrested to answer to\nthe charge of murder, and another sheriff was imposed on the\ncounty, unlawfully, entirely independent of the ballot box.\nBackinstafs, however, was afterwards discharged by the Court, who\njustified his killing some of the mob, pronouncing it an official\nact in perfect conformity with his duties as an officer. The\nGovernor sent troops to our county, on pretence of aiding the law,\nbut, in reality, to aid the mob to escape justice and carry out\ntheir expressed resolutions of driving every member of the Saints,\nand their families, from the State. General Hardin and Major\nWarren, who had the command of this expedition, joined their advice\nwith Judge S. A. Douglass and others, some of them citizens of\nQuincy, and meeting with President Young and our other leaders in\ncouncil, advised and urged us strongly to yield to the mob, and\nabandon our houses, forms, cities, villages and Temple to this\nwholesale banditti, who were engaged against us, and sell them for\nwhat we could get, and remove out of the country. But very little\nof the real estate was ever sold.\n\nTo these extravagant counsels we finally yielded assent, and\nagreed to move West in the spring, and to advise others of our\nsociety so to do, as fast as we could sell.\n\nWe continued, however, our work on the Temple, a portion of\nwhich was finished and dedicated.\n\n\"It was the first specimen of a new order of architecture,\nintroduced by President Joseph Smith, and was the most beautiful\nbuilding in the Western States, erected at a cost of a million\ndollars. The mob subsequently set fire to it, the light of which\nwas visible for thirty miles.\"\n\nAs winter approached, President Young, myself, the quorum, and\nmany others were daily engaged in the Temple, administering in the\nholy ordinances of Endowment, to many hundreds of people. Thus\nclosed the year 1845.\n\n_January 1st, A.D. 1846_, I continued to minister in the\nTemple night and day, with my President and the rest of the Twelve,\nuntil early in February.\n\nSoon after these things the ministrations in the Temple ceased;\nand President Young, with the rest of the quorum and many others,\nbade farewell to their homes in the beloved city of Nauvoo, and\ncrossed the Mississippi River, with their families and such teams\nand wagons as they could get. They formed an encampment on Sugar\nCreek, in the State of Iowa.\n\n_February 14th_, I crossed the river with my family and\nteams, and encamped not far from the Sugar Creek encampment, taking\npossession of a vacant log house, on account of the extreme cold.\nThis encampment was about seven miles from Nauvoo. In leaving home\nat this inclement season, I left a good house, lot and out\nbuildings, worth about seven thousand dollars, and several lots and\nhouses of less value, besides a farm in the country worth near two\nthousand. But I was much in debt. I, therefore, left Mr. Bickford\nas my agent, authorized to sell the property, settle up my\nbusiness, and take care of such of my family or friends as might be\nleft it his care, including my aged mother, and the father, mother\nand sister of my wife. I was intending, when things were settled,\nto place the surplus, if any, at the disposal of the Church or its\nagents, in aid of the removal of such as were not able to remove\nwithout assistance.\n\nWhile we lay encamped, some one hundred and twenty miles west of\nNauvoo, President Young coming up with the main body of the camps,\nformed an encampment a few miles in the rear, and sent for me and\nthe members of the Twelve, who were with me, and George Miller, to\nmeet with the council at his camp. His letter censured us on\naccount of some of our moves, and as heavy rains had swollen the\nsmall streams which intervened between the two encampments (so that\nthey could only be passed by swimming), and myself being sick on\naccount of exposure in the storms, we did not immediately attend\nthe council, as requested. However, we found means to cross after a\nlittle delay, and were proceeding to his camp when an express met\nus with another letter front the President, censuring us still more\nseverely.\n\nWe hastened on and met in council. The President then reproved\nand chastened us severely for several things, among which was our\ndrawing off from the council and main body of the camp and going\nahead. He said there was manifestly a spirit of dissension and of\ninsubordination manifested in our movements. I could not realize\nthis at the time, and protested that in my own heart, so far as I\nwas concerned, I had no such motive; that I had been actuated by\nthe purest motives, merely seeking to sustain the teams and people,\nand to make what progress we could with that end in view. However,\nthe sequel soon proved that it was the true Spirit which reproved\nand chastened us. For Bishop Miller, who was a leading and active\nmember of our camp, has since left us and gone his own way, having\nrefused to be led by the counsels of the Presidency, and removed to\nTexas. And here I would observe that, although my own motives were\npure, so far as I could know my own heart, yet I thank God for his\ntimely chastisement; I profited by it, and it caused me to be more\nwatchful and careful ever after.\n\nAll things being harmonized and put in order, the camps moved\non. Arriving at a place on a branch of Grand River we encamped for\na while, having travelled much in the midst of great and continued\nrains, mud and mire. Here we enclosed and planted public farm of\nmany hundred acres and commenced settlement, for the good of some\nwho were to tarry and of those who should follow us from Nauvoo. We\ncalled the place \"_Garden Grove_.\" It is in Iowa, perhaps\none hundred and fifty miles from Nauvoo. After assisting to fence\nthis farm and build some log houses, I was dispatched ahead by the\nPresidency with a small company to try to find another location.\nCrossing this branch of Grand River, I now steered through the vast\nand fertile prairies and groves without a track or anything but a\ncompass to guide me--the country being entirely wild and without\ninhabitants. Our course was west, a little north. We crossed small\nstreams daily, which, on account of deep beds and miry banks, as\nwell as on account of their being swollen by the rains, we had to\nbridge. After journeying thus for several days, and while lying\nencamped on a small stream which we had bridged, I took my horse\nand rode ahead some three miles in search of one of the main forks\nof Grand River, which we had expected to find for some time. Riding\nabout three or four miles through beautiful prairies, I came\nsuddenly to some round and sloping hills, grassy and crowned with\nbeautiful groves of timber; while alternate open groves and forests\nseemed blended in all the beauty and harmony of an English park.\nWhile beneath and beyond, on the west, rolled a main branch of\nGrand River, with its rich bottoms of alternate forest and prairie.\nAs I approached this lovely scenery several deer and wolves, being\nstartled at the sight of me, abandoned the place and bounded away\ntill lost from my sight amid the groves.\n\nBeing pleased and excited at the varied beauty before me, I\ncried out, \"this is _Mount Pisga_.\" I returned to my camp,\nwith the report of having found the long sought river, and we soon\nmoved on and encamped under the shade of these beautiful groves. It\nwas now late in May, and we halted here to await the arrival of the\nPresident and council. In a few days they arrived and formed a\ngeneral encampment here, and finally formed a settlement, and\nsurveyed and enclosed another farm of several thousand acres. This\nbecame a town and resting place for the Saints for years, and is\nnow known on the map of Iowa as a village and post-office named\n\"_Pisga_.\"\n\nJune 1. We crossed the river, and, travelling one mile,\nencamped; next day we travelled nine miles, and the third day\ntwenty miles.\n\nPassing on from day to day, we at length came to a large river\nwhich could not be forded, called the Nishnihotany. Here was the\nhome of the Pottowatamie Indians who were very friendly and civil\nto us.\n\nWe tarried here some days and built a large bridge, over which\nthe camps were enabled to cross.\n\nIn July we arrived at the Missouri River, near Council Bluffs.\nThere we encamped for several weeks; opened a trade with upper\nMissouri, exchanging wagons, horses, harness and various articles\nof furniture, cash, etc., for provisions, oxen, cows, etc.\n\nIn the meantime we built a ferry boat, fixed landings, made\ndugways, etc., and commenced ferrying over the Missouri. The ferry\nran night and day for a long time, and still could not complete the\ncrossing of the camps till late in the season.\n\nWhile we tarried here I returned on the road as far as\nPisga--being sent on a mission to the camps and settlements in the\nrear--distance, in going and returning, two hundred miles. In this\njourney I came near drowning, in attempting to swim a branch of the\nNishnihotany on horseback. My horse refused to swim, reared on his\nhind feet to try to touch bottom, and caused me to slide off behind\nhim in the middle of a very strong current with all my clothes on,\nincluding hat, coat and boots, and a large parcel under my arm. The\nparcel contained letters and important documents. I, therefore,\nclung to it and to my hat also, and stemming the current with the\nother hand, swam to shore, a distance of several rods. Passing on a\nmile or two, I came to a camp of the Saints and dried my letters\nand clothing. As I returned from this mission I met President Young\nand others, who were going down to Pisga and to intermediate camps\nto try to raise five hundred men, who had just been called for by\nthe United States as recruits for the Mexican war. These troops\nwere soon raised by the united exertions of President Young and\nCouncil, and were mustered into service by Lieutenant-Colonel\nAllen, and called the Mormon Battalion.\n\nThis is that famous battalion which marched through more than\ntwo thousand miles of a trackless waste on foot, and helped to take\nand maintain California--some of the members of which first\ndiscovered the gold mines of that country, and thus turned the\nworld the other side up.\n\nThe lateness of the season, the poverty of the people, and,\nabove all, the taking away of five hundred of our best men, finally\ncompelled us to abandon any further progress westward till the\nreturn of another spring. The camps, therefore, began to prepare\nfor winter.\n\nThe place for winter quarters was finally selected on the west\nbank of the Missouri River, in what is since known as the territory\nof Nebraska. This was a beautiful town site. The land sloping up\nfrom the immediate banks of the river sufficiently high to be\nsecure from high water, and then stretching away in an unbroken\nplain to the hills, which swelled up at less than half a mile\ndistant in beautiful rounded grassy points, or in rising benches,\none above another.\n\nVast quantities of hay was cut and secured, and some seven\nhundred log cabins and one hundred and fifty dugouts (cabins half\nunder ground) were built in the course of the autumn and winter.\nOther large settlements were also formed on the other side of the\nriver, and back into the country.\n\nPresident Young also caused the erection of a good flouring mill\non a small stream which here entered the river.\n\nThis city, which was known by the name of Winter Quarters, is\nFlorence, and is becoming a thriving place in Nebraska.\n\nWhile the camps lay in these parts, and soon after I had, with\nmy teams and family, crossed the Missouri, Presidents Orson Hyde,\nJohn Taylor and myself were appointed a mission to England. The\nreason for this mission under the present distressing circumstances\nwas this: Elder R. Hedlock, who was then presiding in England, was\nin transgression, and was engaged in a wild scheme of financing, by\nwhich he obtained vast sums of money from the Church in a kind of\njoint stock organization, which professedly had for its object the\nemigration of the Saints to America, while in reality the money was\nsquandered by himself and others in any and every way but to do\ngood. Our mission was for the purpose of breaking up this scheme of\nfraud, and displacing him and regulating all the affairs of the\nChurch in the British Isles.\n\nJuly 31.--I bid a solemn farewell to my family and friends, then\ndwelling in tents and wagons on the west side of the Missouri\nRiver, and started for England. I met Elders Hyde and Taylor as\nagreed upon, and we took passage down the river in an open scow, or\nflat boat, in company with a family of Presbyterian missionaries\nwho had been residing on the Loupe fork of the Platte River, among\nthe Pawnee Indians, and who were now bound for St. Joseph,\nMissouri. We floated or pulled the oars for some days, tying up and\nsleeping on shore at night. Arriving at St. Joseph, the\nmissionaries landed and sold the boat to us. We then continued down\nthe river to Leavenworth, where we found the Mormon Battalion, who\nwere just receiving money for clothing, etc., preparatory to their\nlong march thence to California.\n\nWe visited with them a day to two, and they contributed several\nhundred dollars to aid us on our mission to England.\n\nThey also made up a purse of between five and six thousand\ndollars for their families and friends at the Bluffs, and\nfurnishing me a horse, it was finally agreed by my two brethren\nthat I should return to the Bluffs with this money. Accordingly, I\ntook leave of Elders Hyde and Taylor and the brethren of the\nbattalion, and started on horseback for the camp of the Saints. I\nrode with all speed, and in less than three days reached\nhome--distance one hundred and seventy miles. Unexpected as this\nvisit was, a member of my family had been warned in a dream, and\nhad predicted my arrival and the day, and my family were actually\nlooking for me all that day.\n\nI delivered the money to President Young and Council, with the\nlist of subscribers, and of the persons for whom it was sent, and\nagain prepared for my departure. Obtaining a light buggy, I\nharnessed my horse before it, and started for Chicago, Illinois, by\nland--distance five hundred and fifty miles. I performed this\njourney in safety in eleven days, averaging fifty miles per day.\nArriving in Chicago towards evening, I immediately sold my horse\nand buggy, and then took steamer the same evening across Lake\nMichigan, thence by railroad to Boston; thence to New York, where I\narrived a day or two sooner than the day agreed upon. I was\nhindered a little, being at a loss for funds to pay my passage; but\none Elder Badlam kindly assisted me, and I soon embarked in the\ncabin of a splendid ship, and set sail for Liverpool. On this same\nship was Franklin D. and Samuel Richards, and M. Martin, on a\nmission to the same country.\n\nWe had a long passage, and arrived in Liverpool October 14, in\ngood health and spirits.\n\nWe found Elders Hyde and Taylor there all well, and were kindly\nreceived and entertained by the Saints.\n\nA General Conference was convened in Manchester October 17; an\naccount of which will be found in the _Star_, No. 7, Vol 8.\n\nIn this Conference it was agreed that President Hyde should edit\nthe _Star_, and attend to all business in the publishing\noffice at Liverpool, while President Taylor and myself should visit\nthe different conferences in the British Isles. We, therefore,\npublished our appointments beforehand in the _Star_, and so\ncommenced our winter's mission. I will not detain the reader with a\ndetail of our journeyings, visits and meetings in pursuance of this\narrangement; but, suffice it to say, we travelled from conference\nto conference by railway, coaches, steamers, etc., visiting nearly\nall the principal towns in England and Scotland. We were everywhere\nreceived and treated with the utmost hospitality, and with\ndemonstrations of joy and gladness not soon to be forgotten. The\nSaints and others convened from far and near at the sessions of our\nseveral conferences, and vast crowds of strangers, as well as\nSaints, listened to us. Public feasts, tea parties, public dinners\nand all kinds of demonstrations of joy and welcome greeted us as we\nvisited from place to place. So that our sojourn was more like a\ntriumphal procession than like a dreary pilgrimage. We preached the\ngospel, set in order the churches, directed the labors of the\nelders, comforted the Saints, and reproved and corrected the abuses\nintroduced by President Hedlock and others in relation to the joint\nstock companies, etc.\n\nHedlock fled at our approach, leaving many debts unpaid and\nfinally lived incog. in London with a vile woman--he being severed\nfrom the Church.\n\nIt was during my travels in England on this mission that I wrote\nthe following letter in blank verse to my family, whom I had left\nat Council Bluffs, on the Missouri River. It was published in\nEngland at the time, on a beautiful sheet with a handsome border,\nand designed to be put in a frame as a household ornament; and is\nfrequently seen to this day (1856) as a memorial in the parlors of\nthe Saints on both sides of the Atlantic.\n\nMay it be handed down to posterity as a monument of suffering\nand self-denial of women and children for the gospel's sake.\n\n\nCHAPTER XLIV.\n------------------------\n\nAN APOSTLE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST,\n\nOF LATTER-DAY SAINTS,\n\n_Was in the Island of Great Britain for the gospel's sake;\nand being in the Spirit on the 24th of November, 1846, addressed\nthe following words of comfort to his dearly beloved wife and\nfamily, dwelling in tents, in the camp of Israel, at Council\nBluffs, Missouri Territory, North America; where they and twenty\nthousand others were banished by the civilized Christians of the\nUnited States for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus:_\n\n    MY DEAREST WIFE,\n\n    Thy kindly soul and all\n    Thine acts of love to him, thy chosen head,\n    Are treasured deep in memory's archives.\n\n    And when, amid the busy throng of towns,\n    I pass unheeded, or wander lonely\n    In some country lane, or graveled highway,\n    Lined with hawthorn hedge--or turn aside\n    From the busy walks of men in meadows green,\n    Or wander 'mid the solitary grove\n    At twilight hour, where silence reins, and the\n    Fading tints of autumn tell of time's flight,\n    And the low murmur of the whispering breeze\n    Steals o'er the senses like a funeral dirge,--\n    Or flying swift o'er country hedge and ditch\n    In flaming chariot; while hills and vales--\n    And towns, and villas, farms, plains, and woods\n    Are swiftly whirled behind--or musing in\n    The midnight hour in lonely solitude\n    Upon my bed--'Tis then I think of thee.\n\n    Sweet thoughts steal gently o'er the memory;\n    And my spirit wanders o'er the wide sea\n    And far away o'er Alleghany's heights,\n    And down the broad Ohio, from its source\n    To where it mingles its limpid waters\n    With the dark waves of Missouri's current;\n    And onward still, with lightning speed it flies,\n    Till towns and cries all are left behind;\n    And the last trace of Gentile dwelling fades\n    From view, and disappears in the far east.\n\n    At length the long sought vision bursts to view\n    And stays my spirit in its onward flight.\n\n    Towering bluffs; deep indented vales; wide spread\n    Prairies; boundless plains and beauteous groves\n    Expand to view; all clad in green, and deck'd\n    In summer's richest livery of flowers;\n    Or with the grey tints of fading autumn\n    Crown'd--emblem of Nature's dissolution.\n\n    There one eternal silence seems to reign,\n    And slumb'ring Nature rests in solitude.\n\n    There peace prevails; the Sabbath rules the year;\n    And, in its own primeval innocence,\n    Uncursed by man's polluted touch, the earth\n    Seems resting in sacred, sublime repose.\n\n    No Gentile tyrant sways his sceptre there;\n    No pris'ners groan in solitary cells.\n\n    There freedom dwells; no superstitious creed\n    Enslaves the mind of man; no Christian mobs\n    To drive him from his home or shed his blood.\n\n    O sacred solitude, divinely blest--\n    Zion's retreat; where dwell the great and good.\n\n    There, with delight my spirit lingers still,\n    And would prolong the heavenly vision.\n\n    I love thee, for thyself, O land of Zion!\n    The beauty of thy landscape, thy flowers,\n    Thy boundless immensity of green fields,\n    Mingling with the with expanse of Heaven's\n    Blue arch; thy star-bespangled firmament\n    Have charms for me.\n\n    The mellow moonlight\n    Gently stealing o'er thy sacred forests;--\n    The fading tints of twilight painted on\n    Your evening sky;--the soft and plaintive voice\n    Of the autumnal cricket, as he sings\n    The funeral knell of expiring insects,\n    Or sounds a requiem to the closing year--\n\n    All these steal o'er my senses with delight,\n    And wake the memory to scenes afar:\n\n    They whisper to the lonely exile,\n    And tell of youth, and friends, and native clime.\n\n    Yet not for these charms alone I love thee;\n    Nor yet for peace, or freedom sweet, or rest,\n    Or sacred Sabbath of sublime repose.\n\n    All these, though dear to me, are worthless toys,--\n    Mere baubles,--compared to that precious gem\n    Which yet remains to beautify my verse,\n    And swell the music of my joyous theme.\n\n    There dwell my family,--my bosom friends,--\n    The precious lambs of my Redeemer,--my\n    Best of Heaven's gifts to man,--my germs of\n    Life and immortality,--my hope of Heaven,--\n    My principality on earth began,--\n    My kingdom in embryo, big with thrones\n    Of endless power and wide dominion.\n\n    Ye kindred spirits from worlds celestial!\n    Offsprings of Deity;--Sons and daughters\n    Of eternity;--Ye nobles of Heaven\n    Whose dwellings were of old among the Gods\n    In the everlasting mansions, and who stood\n    In the councils of the High and lofty\n    One, ere chaos sprang to order, or the\n    Foundations of the everlasting hills\n    Were laid: Why came ye to this world of woe?\n    Why this disguise?--This painful sojourn in\n    A land of death?--\n\n    Why wander far from Heaven's eternal fold\n    And from the bosom of your Father there?\n    Had _He_ no love? No fond affection for\n    His own, that you are banished thus, and left\n    As exiles wandering in some dreary waste?\n    And if thus fallen, and forsaken quite,\n    Like evil spirits thrust from Heaven, to\n    Return no more;--why that latent spark of\n    Heaven's pure love still glowing in your breast?\n    Why does your bosom swell with hope and joy,\n    And fire celestial kindle in your eye?\n\n    O heavenly gift! The key of knowledge\n    Restored to man, the mystery unfolds\n    Of God's elect--their final destiny.\n\n    You are here because your Father loved you;\n    Because in Heaven ye kept your first estate,\n    And firm remained when angels did rebel,\n    And Lucifer drew a third of Heaven's host\n    From God; and with them sunk in dark despair.\n\n    You are here for further proof and trial;--\n    For a second estate; which if ye keep\n    As ye did the first, will purify your souls,\n    And fit you for a Heaven celestial.\n\n    You came to the earth to be born of flesh,\n    To fashion and perfect your earthly house,--\n    To live, to love, to suffer and to die,--\n    To rise and reign in immortality.\n    To form your kindred ties with kindred souls,--\n    To blend your sympathies by mutual acts\n    Of kindly charity:--\n\n    To love and serve\n    Each other in ten thousand nameless ways;\n    And thus give exercise to mutual love,\n    And qualify yourselves for union endless\n    In that world of bliss.\n    O ye beings of noble birth! ye lambs\n    Of celestial origin, to Zion bound!\n    I know ye now; and knowing, can but love.\n\n    O my Father in heaven? Thine they were,\n    And Thou gavest them to me:--Precious gifts!\n    Endear'd by long acquaintance in the heavens,\n    By the soul's best affections on the earth,\n    By mutual love and sympathy of soul,\n    By all the kindred ties which twine around\n    The heart in sacred, inexpressible\n    Delight--Made nigh by a Savior's blood:--\n    Seal'd by the Holy Ghost, and secur'd\n    By the spirit and power of Elijah--\n    By which the hearts of the fathers are turn'd\n    To the children: Enliven'd by the hope\n    Of endless union in that world of life\n    Where all is pure:--\n\n    Thrones, principalities,\n    Powers, majesty, might and dominion,\n    As a mutual reward!\n    Who can but love?\n\n    O precious kindred! my loveliest, best!\n    Are motives wanting still to prompt my love,\n    And kindle my soul's affection to its\n    Highest, purest flame? sweet memory dwells\n    On all the past--Your sufferings with me;\n    Your sacrifices for the Gospel's sake.\n\n    For _me_ and truth you gladly left your home,\n    Your native clime, your father, mother, and friends,\n    And kindred dear, and wandered far away\n    O'er mountain, seas, and continents. The wide\n    Expanse of ocean--its waves and tempests\n    Could not quench your love, or cool your courage:--\n\n    Towering mountains rose before you; rivers\n    Intervened to check you on your journey--\n\n    Wide lakes, gloomy forests, and desert plains\n    Forbid your further progress, but in vain.\n\n    Truth was the prize you sought; and love impell'd\n    You onward. These overcome, a host\n    Of fiends assailed you next, with lying tongues\n    To flatter, frown, to pity or deceive;\n    To coax, or drive you from your chosen course.\n\n    When slander, rage, and lies, and pity fail'd,\n    Then came the deadly strife!--The fires consum'd;\n    The sword devour'd;--Widows and orphans mourn'd;\n    Hell's artillery bellow'd; Martyrs bled;\n    The world exulted;--Devils hugely grinn'd;--\n    Heaven wept; saints prayed; Justice stood aghast;--\n    Mercy, retiring, dropped a tear of blood;--\n    Angels startling, half drew their glittering swords;\n    And the Gods, in solemn council decreed A just VENGEANCE!\n\n    Amid these awful scenes ye firmly stood\n    For truth, and him you loved; And leaving house\n    And home again behind, in poverty\n    Ye fled; and pitch'd your humble tent amid\n    The storms of winter: And wandering o'er the\n    Wide, unsheltered plain, ye braved the tempest\n    Many a weary month without a murmur--\n\n    Without a _murmur_! Nay more--Ye smiling\n    Stood, amid the awful storms, and hail'd the\n    Tempest welcome. The solitary wilds\n    Reverb'rated with freedom's joyful songs,\n    While there you fondly pressed your infant to\n    Your bosom,--smil'd on your lord,--receiv'd his\n    Smile in turn, and realized your freedom.\n    Supremely blest with heaven's approving smile,\n    With peace and friendship, liberty and love;\n    And with the daily presence of your lord,--\n    Whose best affection sweeten'd every care;\n    Ye still were happy in your low estate,\n    Nor sighed for more.\n\n    One only sacrifice remained for us\n    To make, to further test our depth of love\n    For God and truth;--'twas all that Heaven could ask.\n\n    With you, my lambs, be left _alone_, to spend\n    Another winter in this dreary wild,\n    While him _you love_ shall wander far away\n    Beyond the sea, for truth and Zion's sake?\n\n    Your pulse beat quick; your bosom heav'd a sigh;\n    Your heart swell'd with emotion; a big tear\n    Gush'd forth, and stole in silence down your check;\n    While your spirit said: \"_If I must, I will!_\"\n\n    The Recording Angel smil'd; Heaven approv'd,\n    And said: \"_It is enough_,\" record the same,\n    And with it Our decree: They are Elect!\n    Eternal life is theirs: They shall be ONE,\n    WHILE ENDLESS AGES ROLL!\n\nPARLEY P. PRATT.\n\n\nCHAPTER XLV.\n------------------------\n\nReturn with Elder John Taylor to America:--Arrival\nat Winter Quarters:--Camp Starts for the Rocky Mountains:--Meet\nthe Pioneers:--Arrival in Great Salt Lake Valley:--Visit to Utah\nand Great Salt Lakes.\n\nEarly in January, 1847, having completed our mission in the\nBritish Isles, Brother John Taylor and myself went to Liverpool,\npreparatory to our return, with a few of the Saints, who were\naccompanying us as emigrants. Here we soon made arrangements for\npassage to New Orleans, chartering the second cabin of a large new\nship, called \"America.\"\n\nWe bid adieu to our warm hearted and affectionate friends in\nEngland, and embarked on this ship. Our company consisted of\nfourteen persons in all, composed of returning elders and a few\nfamilies or individuals who were emigrating with us. We were very\ncomfortable in our own little cabin, where we had our own\nprovisions, and set our own table, hiring the ship's cook to do our\ncooking. We sailed January 19th, but we soon met a gale of wind,\nwhich was directly contrary to us. This gale continued for nine\ndays, without any cessation or abatement, during which time we were\nbeating in a land-locked channel between Ireland and England,\nwithout gaining fifty miles on our course, being in imminent danger\nof being cast away on a lee shore. During all this time our Captain\nlay sick in his berth with a fever on the brain, and much of the\ntime in a state of mental derangement. We frequently watched with\nhim, and in his rational moments he would converse a little. He\nsaid his family lived in America, and he much wished to get to\nthem, but was very positive he should never see them more, having\nbeen for many days oppressed with a sure and certain presentiment\nthat he should never reach America alive. We, in reply, allowed\nthat presentiments of that kind were possible, and sometimes true,\nand to be depended on, but not always. And Brother Taylor and\nmyself assured him, as men of God, that his present presentiment\nwas false, and that both him and his vessel would reach America in\nsafety. This we assured him over and over again, from day to day.\nAfter nine days of severe struggle with the wind and waves, the\nmate and supercargo becoming discouraged, and the men worn out,\nthey counselled with us and concluded to put back into the port of\nLiverpool, which was accordingly done after some difficulty and\ndelay. Here the Captain, who was still dangerously ill, went on\nshore, and under proper medical aid, recovered, and afterwards\nlanded in America per steamer, where he reached his family in\nsafety. Our mate was sworn in captain, and we again put to sea,\nafter visiting our friends on shore, and recruiting our stock of\nprovisions. On taking this second farewell of our friends in the\nBritish Isles I sent forth through the columns of the _Star_\nthe following farewell address:\n\nTO THE SAINTS IN GREAT BRITAIN\n\n_Beloved Brethren_:--Having been so crowded with business\nand care on my late departure from your shores for my home in the\ndistant wilds of western America, I had no time to say _farewell\n_, or to leave my blessing with you in a formal manner as a\nwhole, although expressed frequently in our farewell meetings. I\nhave, therefore, providentially returned to your midst, after nine\ndays of seafaring life, in order to take a fair start, and to say\nfarewell through the medium of the _Star_.\n\nI feel the most perfect satisfaction with the manner of our\nreception and entertainment among you as men of God. I also feel\nthat we have, as far as time would permit, accomplished the work\nfor which we came, and that the utmost success and prosperity has\nattended our labors. The Church universally has manifested a spirit\nof confidence and obedience to the instructions we had to impart,\nand the measures we were sent to purpose for their prosperity and\ndeliverance, both temporally and spiritually.\n\nWe have also been received and entertained in the most kind and\nhospitable manner in every place we have been permitted to visit.\nWe have been lodged, fed, comforted and cheered as if we had been\nangels of glad tidings, and we feel the utmost satisfaction in\nexpressing our most grateful thanks for all the kindness and\nassistance rendered unto us while in your midst; and, in the name\nof Jesus Christ, and by authority of the Holy Priesthood and\nApostleship vested in us, we bless the congregations of the Saints\nthroughout this land, with all the officers and members thereof,\nwith the blessings of time and eternity in all their fullness. We\nalso bless the Queen, ministers, magistrates, and people of this\nrealm, while they continue to administer equal justice for the\nprotection of every subject, without respect of persons; and we\npray that Heaven's choicest blessings may rest upon the Saints, and\nupon all that fear God and work righteousness in this land. Ye sons\nand daughters of Zion, be of good cheer; for God will deliver you\nin due time, and gather in one the children of God. Pray for us and\nfor the camp of the Saints in the wilderness. Farewell.\n\nP. P. PRATT.\n    LIVERPOOL, _January 29, 1847_.\n\nElder Hyde did not sail with us, but stayed a few days longer to\ncomplete the business in the office. Soon after we set sail Elder\nJoseph Cain, returning missionary, was married on board to Miss\nElizabeth Whittaker. It was a fine affair, and we had a good dinner\non the occasion. The wind was now fair continually, and we were\nonly thirty-five days in coming to anchor off the port of New\nOrleans--having sailed some seven or eight thousand miles. Here we\nwere delayed a day or two by a dense fog, but as the weather\ncleared, a tug steamer soon got hold of us, and took us into port.\n\nHere, as soon as we could get clear of the custom house, we took\na steamer, and, in about six days, arrived in St. Louis.\n\nHere I left Brother Taylor to pass up the Missouri River on a\nsteamer, with the company and baggage, while I took a horse and\nrode through the northwestern portion of Missouri, and into Iowa,\nby land. I went _incog_. for fear of my old enemies in that\nState.\n\nI struck the wagon trail we had made the year before, near\nGarden Grove, and tarried there with the Saints one day. It was\nthen quite a flourishing place the farms which I helped to open and\nenclose the previous year having yielded abundance of provisions,\nand other farms having been opened.\n\nBeing a little refreshed I passed on to \"Mount Pisga,\" where I\nfound another flourishing settlement of the Saints, and stayed over\nnight. Thence I passed on to the Missouri River, finding Saints to\nentertain me every night. In making the journey from St. Louis to\nMissouri River, near Winter Quarters, I had probably travelled near\nfour hundred and fifty miles on horseback. I crossed over the ferry\nat noon of a fine April day, and came suddenly upon my friends and\nfamily. This was April 8, 1847. I found my family all alive, and\ndwelling in a log cabin. They had, however, suffered much from\ncold, hunger and sickness. They had oftentimes lived for several\ndays on a little corn meal, ground on a hand mill, with no other\nfood. One of the family was then lying very sick with the scurvy--a\ndisease which had been very prevalent in camp during the winter,\nand of which many had died. I found, on inquiry, that the winter\nhad been very severe, the snow deep, and, consequently, that all my\nhorses (four in number) were lost, and I afterwards ascertained\nthat out of twelve cows I had but seven left, and out of some\ntwelve or fourteen oxen only four or five were spared.\n\nPresident Young and Council, with a company of pioneers, were\nthen encamped on the Elk Horn River, twenty miles west, ready to\nstart for the mountains. Some of them, however, returned to Winter\nQuarters on business, and I had an interview with them. I then gave\na relation of our European mission, and delivered to them an\naccount of our hundred and sixty-nine sovereigns in gold, collected\nin England as tithing, which had crossed the sea in my charge, and\nwas then in charge of Elder Taylor on the Missouri River, and might\nbe expected soon. This small sum proved a very acceptable and\ntimely relief in aiding the Presidency to relieve some of the\ndistress, and to fit out as pioneers for the mountains.\n\nThe President and Council seemed well pleased with our mission\nand management. They expressed an earnest wish for me to accompany\nthem on the pioneer trip to the mountains; but my circumstances\nseemed to forbid, and they did not press the matter.\n\nAfter a few days' rest I began to prepare for journeying to the\nmountains with my family. My wagons were overhauled and put in\norder, tires reset, chains repaired, yokes and bows arranged in\norder, wagon bows made or mended, etc., etc. This occupied most of\nmy time till June.\n\nEarly in June I loaded my goods and family into my wagons, and,\nobtaining a few more cattle, started for the Rocky Mountains; or\nrather for the Elk Horn River, where we expected to form a\nrendezvous, and establish a ferry and wait the arrival of others,\nand the organization of companies for the purpose of mutual safety\nin travelling.\n\nArriving at Elk Horn River with a small company, we made a ferry\nof a raft of dry cotton-wood timber, and rafted over our own\ncompany of about fifty wagons. We then organized for herding and\ngrazing purposes, continued to aid others in crossing and\norganizing until five hundred and sixty-six wagons were finally\ncrossed and organized ready for a march. In the final organization\nof this vast company Father Isaac Morley and Bishop Whitney\nassisted, or rather took the oversight--being a committee appointed\nfor that purpose by the Presidency before they left. As Brother\nTaylor and myself were present, we were appointed and invited to\ntake a general superintendency of this emigration.\n\nThe organization consisted of companies of tens, fifties and\nhundreds, with a captain over each, and the whole presided over by\na president and two counselors, a marshal, etc. President John\nYoung was called to preside--having been nominated by the\nPresidency before their departure. John Van Cott was appointed\nmarshal.\n\nThis organized, this large company moved on up the Platte about\nthe Fourth of July. There were some difficulties and jealousies\nduring the first few days, on account of some misunderstanding and\ninsubordination in the order of travel. This at length became so\nfar developed that it was found necessary to call a general halt on\nthe Platte River, and hold a council of the principal officers, in\nwhich things were amicably adjusted and the camp moved on.\n\nArriving at the Loupe Fork of Platte River, we continued up it\nquite a distance above the trail the pioneers had made, as we could\nnot ford the river in their track. We at length found a ford, and\nwith some difficulty on account of quicksands, forded the river and\nmade our way over to the Main Platte, re-entering the pioneer\ntrail. As we passed up the Platte on this trail the companies in\nfront had frequently to halt and build bridges, etc. On one\noccasion Peregrine Sessions, who was captain of our company of\nfifty, and myself found two horses which had probably strayed from\nsome former travellers, and which, after several unsuccessful\nattempts by different parties, Brother Taylor succeeded in driving\ninto camp, he and I captured them. We were at the time ahead of the\ncompany, following up a stream to try and find a ford. This was a\nvery timely providence to me, as I had lost all my horses the\nprevious winter, and was now pioneering for the company without any\nhorse, and on foot.\n\nAfter journeying for several hundred miles up the Platte, we at\nlength met two messengers from the pioneers under President Young,\nfrom Salt Lake Valley. These were P. Rockwell and E. T. Benson; who\nhad been sent out to try to find us and report our progress and\ncircumstances. Having visited all the camps, they returned to the\nvalley, or rather to where they met the President and pioneers, on\ntheir way back to Winter Quarters on the Missouri. I accompanied\nthem back nearly one day's ride on the way, and then bid them God\nspeed, and returned to my own camp. Soon after this our fifty met\nthe President and company of pioneers and camped with them one day.\n\nA council was called, in which I was highly censured and\nchastened by President Young and others. This arose in part from\nsome defect in the organization under my superintendence at the Elk\nHorn, and in part from other misunderstandings on the road. I was\ncharged with neglecting to observe the order of organization\nentered into under the superintendence of the President before he\nleft the camps at Winter Quarters; and of variously interfering\nwith previous arrangements. In short, I was severely reproved and\nchastened. I no doubt deserved this chastisement; and I humbled\nmyself, acknowledged my faults and errors, and asked forgiveness. I\nwas frankly forgiven, and, bidding each other farewell, each\ncompany passed on their way. This school of experience made me more\nhumble and careful in future, and I think it was the means of\nmaking me a wiser and better man ever after.\n\nAfter bidding farewell to the President and pioneers, and to my\nown brother, Orson Pratt, who was one of them, we continued our\njourney; and after many toils, vexations and trials, such as\nbreaking wagons, losing cattle, upsetting, etc., we arrived in the\nValley of Great Salt Lake late in September, 1847. Here we found a\nfort commenced and partly built by the pioneers, consisting of an\nenclosure of a block of ten acres with a wall, or in part of\nbuildings of adobes or logs. We also found a city laid out and a\npublic square dedicated for a Temple of God. We found also much\nground planted in late crops, which, however, did not mature, being\nplanted late in July; although there were obtained for seed a few\nsmall potatoes, from the size of a pea upward to that of half an\ninch in diameter. These being sound and planted another year\nproduced some very fine potatoes, and, finally, contributed mainly\nin seeding the territory with that almost indispensable article of\nfood.\n\nAfter we had arrived on the ground of Great Salt Lake City we\npitched our tents by the side of a spring of water; and, after\nresting a little, I devoted my time chiefly to building temporary\nhouses, putting in crops, and obtaining fuel from the mountains.\n\nHaving repented of our sins and renewed our covenants, President\nJohn Taylor and myself administered the ordinances of baptism,\netc., to each other and to our families, according to the example\nset by the President and pioneers who had done the same on entering\nthe valley.\n\nThese solemnities took place with us and most of our families,\nNovember 28, 1847.\n\nSome time in December, having finished sowing wheat and rye, I\nstarted, in company with a Brother Higby and others, for Utah Lake\nwith a boat and fish net. We travelled some thirty miles with our\nboat, etc., on an ox wagon, while some of us rode on horseback. The\ndistance brought us to the foot of Utah Lake, a beautiful sheet of\nfresh water, some thirty-six miles long by fifteen broad. Here we\nlaunched our boat and tried our net, being probably the first boat\nand net ever used on this sheet of water in modern times.\n\nWe sailed up and down the lake shore on its western side for\nmany miles, but had only poor success in fishing. We, however,\ncaught a few samples of mountain trout and other fish.\n\nAfter exploring the lake and valley for a day or two the company\nreturned home, and a Brother Summers and myself struck westward\nfrom the foot of the lake on horseback, on an exploring tour. On\nthis tour we discovered and partly explored Cedar Valley, and there\ncrossed over the west mountain range and discovered a valley\nbeyond; passing through which we crossed a range of hills\nnorthward, and entered Tooele Valley. Passing still northward, we\ncamped one night on a bold mountain stream, and the next day we\ncame to the southern extreme of Great Salt Lake, and passing round\nbetween it and the west mountain we journeyed in an eastern course,\nand, crossing the Jordan, arrived in Salt Lake City--having devoted\nnearly one week to fishing, hunting and exploring expedition.\nDuring all this time we had fine weather and warm days; but the\nnight we arrived home was a cold one, with a severe snow storm. And\nthus closed the year 1847.\n\n\nCHAPTER XLVI.\n------------------------\n\nSpring of 1848:--Scarcity of Provisions:--\"Harvest\nFeast:\"--Arrival of President Young and Company:--Gold Fever:--\nExplore Southern Utah.\n\n_January 1st, 1848_.\n\nThe opening of the year found us and the community generally in\ngood, comfortable, temporary log or adobe cabins, which were built\nin a way to enclose the square commenced by the pioneers, and a\nportion of two other blocks of the city plot. Here life was as\nsweet and the holidays as merry as in the Christian palaces and\nmansions of those who had driven us to the mountains.\n\nIn February we again commenced to plough for spring crops, while\nI had the happiness to behold the tender blade of my wheat and rye\nclothing a few acres with a beautiful green, pleasingly contrasted\nwith the gray, wild, wormwood and other traits of our dreary\nsolitude; while similar pleasing sights stretched away in the\ndistance, marking the bounds of agriculture as possessed by my\nneighbors.\n\n_March 25th_--My oldest son Parley celebrated his\nbirthday with a family party--being then eleven years of age.\n\nAfter dinner, in presence of the assembled family, I related the\ncircumstances of his being a promised child, with an account of his\nbirth, his history, and the death of his mother. I reminded him\nthat he was my first born--my heir, both to estate and priesthood.\nI exhorted him to prepare to walk in my footsteps, and to do good\nand serve God and his fellow men by a well ordered life, and by\nlaying hold of knowledge and a good education. I rehearsed to him\nmy own sufferings, and the sufferings of my family, and of the\nChurch while in the States--telling him of the murder of our\nprophets and Saints, and how we had been driven to the mountains,\nrobbed and plundered of a very large amount of property and\npossessions. The day was spent most pleasantly and profitably by\nall.\n\nI continued my farming operations, and also attended to my\nministry in the Church. Devoting my Sabbaths and leisure hours to\ncomforting and encouraging the Saints, and urging them to faith and\npersevering industry in trying to produce a first harvest in a\ndesert one thousand miles from the nearest place which had matured\na crop in modern times.\n\nWe had to struggle against great difficulties in trying to\nmature a first crop. We had not only the difficulties and\ninexperience incidental to an unknown and untried climate, but also\nswarms of insects equal to the locusts of Egypt, and also a\nterrible drought, while we were entirely inexperienced in the art\nof irrigation; still we struggled on, trusting in God.\n\nDuring this spring and summer my family and myself, in common\nwith many of the camp, suffered much for want of food. This was the\nmore severe on me and my family because we had lost nearly all our\ncows, and the few which were spared to us were dry, and, therefore,\nwe had no milk to help out our provisions. I had ploughed and\nsubdued land to the amount of near forty acres, and had cultivated\nthe same in grain and vegetables. In this labor every woman and\nchild in my family, so far as they were of sufficient age and\nstrength, had joined to help me, and had toiled incessantly in the\nfield, suffering every hardship which human nature could well\nendure. Myself and some of them were compelled to go with bare feet\nfor several months, reserving our Indian moccasins for extra\noccasions. We toiled hard and lived on a few greens and on thistle\nand other roots. We had sometimes a little flour and some cheese,\nand sometimes we were able to procure from our neighbors a little\nsour skimmed milk or buttermilk.\n\nIn this way we lived and raised our first crop in these valleys.\nAnd how great was our joy in partaking of the first fruits of our\nindustry.\n\nOn the 10th of August we held a public feast under a bowery in\nthe center of our fort. This was called a harvest feast; we partook\nfreely of a rich variety of bread, beef, butter, cheese, cakes,\npastry, green corn, melons, and almost every variety of vegetable.\nLarge sheaves of wheat, rye, barley, oats and other productions\nwere hoisted on poles for public exhibition, and there was prayer\nand thanksgiving, congratulations, songs, speeches, music, dancing,\nsmiling faces and merry hearts. In short, it was a great day with\nthe people of these valleys, and long to be remembered by those who\nhad suffered and waited anxiously for the results of a first effort\nto redeem the interior deserts of America, and to make her hitherto\nunknown solitudes \"blossom as the rose.\"\n\nDuring this autumn our little colony was reinforced by the\narrival of President Young and family, accompanied with large\ntrains of emigrants, amounting in all to several thousands. Under\nhis wise counsels city lots were given out, and people began to\nbuild on them and vacate the forts. I obtained some lots south of\nthe Temple square, and built a temporary adobe house, where I soon\nremoved with most of my family. Here, in our new habitation, we\nspent the remainder of the year.\n\n_January 1st, 1849_--Our city now began to take form and\nshape, and to be dotted here and there with neat little cottages,\nor small temporary buildings, composed of adobes or logs. The roofs\nwere generally of poles or timbers covered with earth. Saw mills\nwere now in operation, and a few boards were obtained for floors,\ndoors, etc. Our happy new year passed off merrily, and we were\nprobably as happy a people as could be found on the earth.\n\n_February 12th_--I met in council with the First\nPresidency and members of the Twelve, in which certain vacancies in\nour quorum were filled. We were then instructed to assist in\nreorganizing the different quorums here, and in establishing\nrighteousness. We accordingly met with the Presidency almost daily,\nand proceeded to organize and ordain the Presidency of the High\nPriests quorum, the Presidency of the Stake at Salt Lake City, with\nits High Council, and to divide the city and county into wards and\nordain a bishop over each. In these and similar duties, and in\nmeeting with my quorum and teaching and preaching in the several\nbranches of the Church my time was chiefly spent until spring.\n\n_March 15th_--was appointed by a General Convention as\none of a committee of ten to draft a constitution for the\nProvisional State of Deseret.\n\n_March 18th_--The committee reported, and the Convention\nunanimously adopted the constitution.\n\nI devoted the fore part of the summer to farming; but, my crop\nfailing, I commenced in July to work a road up the rugged canyon of\nBig Canyon Creek. I had the previous year explored the canyon for\nthat purpose, and also a beautiful park,* and passes from Salt Lake\nCity to Weber River eastward, in a more southern and less rugged\nroute than the pioneer entrance to the valley. Emigrants now came\npouring in from the States on their way to California to seek gold.\nMoney and gold dust was plenty, and merchandise of almost every\ndescription came pouring into our city in great plenty.\n\n[Footnote] *Since called Parley's Park.\n\nI soon so far completed my road as to be able to obtain a large\namount of fuel and timber. In November I ceased operations in the\ncanyon and broke up my mountain camp and returned to the city.\n\nI now received a commission from the Governor and Legislative\nAssembly of the State of Deseret to raise fifty men, with the\nnecessary teams and outfit, and go at their head on an exploring\ntour to the southward.\n\nThis company was soon raised, armed, equipped, and ready for a\nmarch into the dreary and almost unknown regions of Southern Utah.\n\nI will here give the list of names composing the company, and\nalso a short summary of the report that I gave in to the\nLegislative Assembly on our return.\n\nPARLEY P. PRATT, _President_.\n    W. W. PHELPS, D. FULMER, _Counselors_;\n    ROBERT L. CAMPBELL, _Clerk_.\n\n_February 7th, 1850_:\n\nFIRST TEN: Isaac C. Haight, _Captain_. Parley P. Pratt,\nWilliam Wadsworth, Rufus Allen, Chauncey West, Dan. Jones, Hial K.\nGay, George B. Mabson, Samuel Gould, Wm. P. Vance.\n\nSECOND TEN: Joseph Matthews, _Captain_. John Brown,\nNathan Tanner, Sterling G. Driggs, Homer Duncan, Wm. Matthews,\nSchuyler Jennings, John H. Bankhead, John D. Holiday, Robert M.\nSmith.\n\nTHIRD TEN: Joseph Horn, _Captain_. Wm. Brown, George\nNebiker, Benjamin F. Stewart, Alexander Wright, James Farrer, Henry\nHeath, Seth B. Tanner, Alexander Lemon, David Fulmer.\n\nFOURTH TEN: Ephraim Green, _Captain_. Wm. W. Phelps,\nCharles Hopkins, Sidney Willis, Andrew Blodgett, Wm. Henry, Peter\nDustin, Thomas Ricks, Robert Campbell, Isaac H. Brown.\n\nFIFTH TEN: Josiah Arnold, _Captain_, Jonathan Packer,\nChristopher Williams, Stephen Taylor, Isaac B. Hatch, John C.\nArmstrong, Dimick B. Huntington.\n\nOur company had 12 wagons; 1 carriage; 24 yokes of cattle; 7\nbeeves; number of horses and mules, 38.\n\nAverage in flour, 150 lbs. to each man; besides crackers, bread\nand meal. One brass field piece; firearms; ammunition in\nproportion.\n\nAt Captain John Brown's, on Cotton Wood, 23d of November, 1849,\nat 2 P.M., a meeting of the company for exploring the south was\nconvened. Called to order by P. P. Pratt, who gave instructions\nrelative to the necessity of peace, order and good feelings being\npreserved during this expedition. Supported in this by W. W. Phelps\nand David Fulmer.\n\nVoted, That Parley P. Pratt be President of the company. That W.\nW. Phelps and David Fulmer be his Counselors; carried unanimously.\n\nVoted, That John Brown be Captain of Fifty; carried unanimously.\n\nVoted, That W. W. Phelps act as Topographical Engineer; carried\nunanimously.\n\nVoted, That Ephraim Green be Chief Gunner; carried unanimously.\n\nDuring our exploring expedition we encountered severe weather,\ndeep snows, and many hardships and toils incident to such an\nundertaking. We explored the best portions of the country south\nfrom Great Salt Lake City to the mouth of Santa Clara, on the Rio\nVirgin, which is a principal branch of the Rio Colorado. Our\ndistance in going and returning was (counting the direct traveled\nroute as afterward opened), between seven or eight hundred miles.\nIn much of this distance we made the first track; and even the\nportion which had before been penetrated by wagons was so\ncompletely snowed under that we seldom found the trail.\n\nIt was during these toils, and perils, and amid the snows of\nthese regions, that I composed the song, beginning, \"O, come, come\naway, from northern blasts retiring,\" which became a favorite with\nthe singers in camp, and seemed to beguile the tedious winter\nevenings around our camp fires.\n\nI here give a few extracts from my journal while on our return\ntrip:\n\n_January 21st_--Having been on our homeward journey for\nsome twenty days, and it snowing severely, we remained in camp.\nThis day I was taken very sick of a bilious attack, and was\nconfined to my bed. We held a council, and finding that our\nprovisions would only sustain half of our company till spring, and\ntraveling with the wagons was impossible, we decided upon leaving\nhalf the company to winter there with the wagons and cattle, and\nthe other half, with some of the strongest mules and horses, should\nattempt to reach Provo--the southern frontier--distance upwards of\none hundred miles. The company that remained were mostly young men\nwithout families. My counselor, David Fulmer, being placed in\ncommand. It was in a country of shrub cedars, which would afford\nsome shelter for the animals, and richly clothed in bunch grass,\nand some portions of the hill sides where the snow had blown off\nbeing nearly bare, the cattle could live.\n\n_January 22d_--In the morning I was still sick, but about\nnoon bid farewell to those who stayed, mounted a mule, and, with\nupwards of twenty men and animals, we commenced our wallowing in\nthe snow. We made about nine miles, and camped in a cedar thicket.\nBeing unable longer to sit on my mule, or stand on my feet, the\nsnow was shoveled away, some blankets spread, and I lay down. I had\nnot eaten one mouthful for a day or two, but vomited many times\nvery severely.\n\n_Wednesday, 23d_--I was better, and we again started, the\nsnow being from three to four feet deep on a level. The men went\nahead on foot, the entire company, men and animals, making but one\ntrack. The person breaking the track would tire out in a few\nmoments, and, giving place to another, would fall into the rear.\nThis day we made nine or ten miles, and camped in a mountain pass,\nthirteen miles south of the Sevier River.\n\n_Thursday, 24th_--It was long after night when we\nwallowed into camp, waist deep in snow; and, shoveling away the\nsnow, we made fires, spread our blankets, and sank down to rest,\nbeing entirely exhausted--our animals either tied to cedar bushes\nwithout food, or wallowing up the hills in search of bare spots of\nbunch grass.\n\n_Friday, 25th_--We were obliged to leave several of our\nanimals which gave out. We passed through Round Valley, made about\nten miles, camped on the heights, some four miles south of the\nSevier. It was still snowing; our animals found some bunch grass on\nthe hill sides.\n\n_Saturday, 26th_--In the morning we found ourselves so\ncompletely buried in snow that no one could distinguish the place\nwhere we lay. Some one rising, began shoveling the others out. This\nbeing found too tedious a business, I raised my voice like a\ntrumpet, and commanded them to arise; when all at once there was a\nshaking among the snow piles, the graves were opened, and all came\nforth! We called this Resurrection Camp. Passing on, we forded the\nSevier, and camped on the heights, six or seven miles north of the\nsame, the snow this day being much less.\n\n_Sunday, 27th_--Our provisions being nearly exhausted,\nChauncey West and myself volunteered to take some of the strongest\nanimals and try to penetrate to Provo, which was still some fifty\nmiles distant, in order to send back provisions to the remainder,\nwho were to follow slowly.\n\nWe started at daylight, breaking the way on foot, and leading\nthe mules in our track, and sometimes riding them. Traveled all\nday, averaging about knee deep in snow. Camped at eleven at night\non Summit Creek, extremely hungry and feet badly frozen. We built a\nsmall fire, it being the coldest night we had ever experienced, and\nafter trying in vain to thaw out our frozen shoes, stockings and\nthe bottoms of our drawers and pants, we rolled ourselves in our\nblankets, and lay trembling with cold a few hours.\n\n_Monday, 28th_--Arose long before day; bit a few\nmouthfuls off the last black frozen biscuit remaining. Saddled up\nour animals, and, after another laborious day, living on a piece of\nbiscuit not so large as our fist, we entered Provo at dark; raised\na posse of men and animals, with provisions, and sent back same\nnight.\n\nThese picked up one of our men, whose name was Taylor, who had\nwandered off ahead of the rest, and had reached within some eight\nmiles of Provo. They found him sunk down in the snow, in a helpless\ncondition, his horse standing by him, and both nearly frozen to\ndeath. He lived, but in a measure lost the use of his limbs.\n\nThis relief company met those we had left behind somewhere in\nthe southern end of Utah Valley, some twenty miles from Provo. They\nwere entirely out of food and very faint and weary. They were\nplentifully supplied and safely conducted to the settlement.\n\nI rested a day or two in Provo and then started again for home.\nAfter riding thirty-six miles on a mule, I took supper with a\nfriend in Cottonwood, and, leaving the mule, started at sundown and\nwalked the other ten miles which brought me once more to my home.\nThis was about the first of February, 1850.\n\nThe company we had left with the wagons and oxen wintered\nthemselves and cattle very well, and finally arrived home in safety\nin March following.\n\nAfter my return from my southern exploring expedition I\nre-entered the Legislature and continued my duties as a member of\nthat body until its annual adjournment.\n\nSome time in this month I again commenced work on my road in Big\nCanyon Creek, and in getting out timber and wood from the same. I\ncontinued this operation during the remainder of the season--obtaining\nmuch building and fencing timber and a large quantity of poles. In\nJuly I had so far completed the road as to open it for the California\nemigration. The amount of toll taken this first season was about one\nthousand five hundred dollars.\n\nThe following winter, being re-elected to the Legislative\nAssembly of the State of Deseret, I devoted much of the time in the\nduties thereof. I also continued in the duties of my Priesthood.\nAnd, lest any time should run to waste, I filled up the interstices\nnot otherwise occupied, in the study of the Spanish language.\n\nDuring this winter I was called by the First Presidency and set\napart to take charge of a General Mission to the Pacific. I\ncomposed a song, which was sung before the congregation in the\nTabernacle, on the occasion of our departure on this mission,\ncommencing\n\n    \"Holy, happy, pure and free,\" etc.\n\nI now close this chapter of my history by saying that my life up\nto this date has been an eventful one, somewhat hurried and\nlaborious; and, if \"variety is the spice of life,\" I think it may\ntruly be called a spicy one--which circumstance will account for\nthe imperfect sketch I have written of it.\n\n\nCHAPTER XLVII.\n------------------------\n\nStart on my Pacific Mission:--Sketch of the Journey:--\nAttacked by Indians:--Crossing the Desert:--Arrival at\nLos Angelos.\n\n_March 16th, 1851._\n\nI left Great Salt Lake City for the Pacific, on a mission to its\nislands and coasts, being commissioned and set apart for that work\nby the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Jay\nSaints.\n\nPassing through various settlements, and visiting the brethren,\nI arrived at Fort Utah, and assisted the Presidency to organize a\nstake of Zion, with its High Council and other officers, and to\nordain and set them apart.\n\n_Friday, 21st_--I took leave of my friends and pursued my\njourney on horseback, twenty-eight miles to Peteetneet, where I\novertook my teams, and spent Saturday in organizing the company\nwith which we journeyed. Their outfit consisted of about one\nhundred and fifty wagons. Most of the company were emigrating with\nC. C. Rich and A. Lyman to Southern California.\n\nMy own party of missionaries consisted of the following elders,\nviz.: John Murdock, Rufus Allen, Wm. Perkins, S. Woodbury, F. H.\nHammond, P. B. Wood, Mr. Hopkins and Morris Miner.\n\nMr. Perkins, Mr. Woodbury, Mr. Hammond and Mr. Hopkins were\naccompanied by a wife each, as well as myself.\n\n_Monday, 24th_--We commenced our journey from Peteetneet\norganized in companies of tens, fifties and one hundred--fifty\njourneying together.\n\nOur fifty, commanded by Captain Seely, traveled six miles to\nSummit Creek.\n\n_Tuesday, 25th_--I took a walk in the morning about three\nmiles and ascended a beautiful height, which afforded a fair view\n(with a telescope) of the head of Utah Lake and the valley of Salt\nCreek, which enters the lake through an extensive meadow at the\nhead of the lake, forming at its junction a beautiful harbor and a\nconvenient beach of sand. The depth of water not known, but its\ndeep blue color intimated sufficient depth for small crafts.\n\nAbout two miles west of an encampment on Summit Creek I\ndiscovered a beautiful and inexhaustible stone quarry of blue lime,\nwhich, both for building and lime, will be very useful and\nconvenient to the settlement which will soon grow up on that\nbeautiful site.\n\nReturning to camp, we journeyed eleven miles to Willow Creek the\ncountry being rich in grass, and watered by Salt Creek, a stream of\none and a half rods wide, and several large springs running north\ninto Utah Lake.\n\n_Friday, 28th_--I ascended a ridge of mountains, and\nobtained a view of an extensive country to the west, composed of\ndesert plains, hills, and confused fragments of broken mountain\nchains, without fertility or anything to redeem or enliven this\nlandscape except the windings of the Sevier River and narrow,\ngrassy bottoms. And even this scene soon loses itself amid the\nblack and barren hills of the dreary waste.\n\nThis day we passed through about ten miles of waste country,\nwith some grassy spots and cedar groves, and encamped on the Sevier\nRiver.\n\n_Saturday, 29th_--We passed the ford, three feet deep and\none hundred and fifty feet wide--a smooth and sluggish current--and\nencamped on its southern bank.\n\nThe weather bad, with squalls of snow and cold winds. The hills\nafford some scattered bunch grass, which is very good.\n\n_Monday, 31st_--We traveled thirteen miles through a pass\nwhere the hills were very rich in grass and fuel, and full of fine\nstone quarries. This pass was five miles from the river.\n\nThence through a valley rich in grass and soil, beautiful and\nextensive, and abundantly supplied with fuel on its borders, but\ndestitute of living streams, although the melting snows of its\nbordering mountains supply some streams which run a short distance\nat certain seasons of the year, and then sink.\n\n_April 1st_--Camp divided for convenience of travel, and\nGeneral Rich and myself, with twenty-three wagons, traveled\nthirteen and encamped at a beautiful spring brook, among grassy\nhills, interspersed with cedar, like an orchard.\n\nOur road to-day led through a pass in the mountains by a gradual\nassent for about three miles, and then down very gradually for ten\nmiles among hills, plains and little vales, more rich in bunch\ngrass and cedar fuel, and more varied and beautiful than any other\ncountry I ever beheld. Every high hill, every dell, every vale or\nnook seemed richly coated with a living green of rich grass, and\nset about with cedars from twelve to twenty-five feet high, like an\nold orchard.\n\nIts northern bounds, limited by a rocky and barren range of high\nmountains through which we had passed.\n\nIts eastern limit was a snowy and timbered range, which divides\nbetween the valley where we were and the Sevier River, which heads\nin the south, near the rim of the Great Basin, in a beautiful\nsalmon trout lake, surrounded with lofty pines and cedars, and runs\nin a northerly direction, till it sweeps round to the west and\nsouthwest, and forms a lake which is in view from our camp, and\nappears like a silver mirror at some thirty or forty miles\ndistance.\n\nI arose in the morning, and with my large telescope viewed from\nan eminence the vast country before me.\n\nOn the east the high mountain chains at several miles distance\nappears snowy and timbered, and pierced with gorges accessible for\nroads to be made to the timber; and giving rise to several streams\nwhich meander though this vast valley on our south and west, and\nenter the lakes or sinks in their own rich alluvials.\n\nTo our southwest and northwest the view is almost boundless;\nconsistent of a vast valley interspersed with fertile meadows,\ndesert spots, known by their darker hues; lakes, rivulets,\ndistinguished by the yellow meadow grasses and red willow streaks;\nand hills here and there dotted with cedars, and the whole bounded,\nin the vast and dim distance, by dark mountains not very high.\nBeyond which, at the distance of perhaps a hundred miles, appear\nother and more lofty peaks white with snow, and looking up like\ndistant white clouds on the horizon.\n\nHere are resources for farming, stock raising, fuel, etc., in\nsight of present encampment, probably more than sufficient to\nsustain the present population of Rhode Island; and yet, not a\ndomestic animal, except those of the passing traveller, or a human\nbeing, save the occasional savage in his wanderings, occupies any\nportion of this wide domain.\n\nCrossing several streams in the same large valley, all bordered\nby lands, we at length left the valley and journeyed two miles over\na hilly country, well supplied with cedar and shrub pines for fuel,\nand bunch grass for feed, but not well watered.\n\nThence a few miles over a worthless country to the Beaver River.\n\nThis is a large stream, swift and clear, running in several\nbranches through a large and fertile bottom; the soil of which\nappears rich, but highly impregnated with saleratus, and the table\nlands, which surround it, barren or nearly destitute of pasturage.\n\nHowever, I think the place worthy of settlement, and, probably,\ncontaining eight or ten thousand acres of land which may be watered\nand cultivated.\n\nLeaving this place, we passed another long stretch of upland,\ndestitute of all resources, except grass and fuel, which were\nabundant in places.\n\nWe were at length met by G. A. Smith and others, from Little\nSalt Lake settlement; and accompanied by them, we all arrived on\nRed Creek, in the same valley. Here the camp found water and grass\nto refresh themselves after so wearisome a journey.\n\n_April 10th_.--Same evening I arrived in the fort,\naccompanied by the citizens, who came out to meet us. I found the\ninhabitants all well, and the settlement in a truly flourishing\ncondition. Hundreds of acres of grain had been sown, gardens\nplanted, etc., and the farming land nearly enclosed; together with\na most substantial saw mill, and many houses of wood and of sun\ndried brick, built and in progress. Building materials consisting\nof timber of the finest quality, viz.: pine, fir and cedar,\ntogether with good building stone and brick, were scattered in\nprofusion in every direction.\n\nWater ditches were flowing for mills and irrigation purposes in\nmany directions.\n\nMechanics' shops were in operation; such as joiners, carpenters\nmillwrights, coopers, blacksmiths, shoemakers, etc.\n\nAll this was the work of two or three months, in winter and\nearly spring; not to mention a large enclosure of pickets in the\ncenter of the fort--a council house of hewn timber, and a bastion\nof the same material.\n\nThe number of men composing the settlement and performing all\nthis work, did not exceed one hundred and twenty all told including\nold men, boys and Indian servants, just being tamed and initiated\ninto the first rudiments of industry.\n\nAll the camps moved from Red Creek and encamped near the fort,\nwhere we tarried a few days.\n\n_April 12th_.--Celebrated my birthday by a feast jointly\nprovided by us and G. A. Smith, at his house. Ten or twelve persons\nsat down to a sumptuous repast.\n\n_April 14th_.--We removed to Summit Creek--distance seven\nmiles. Here we tarried one week, in course of which the rear camp,\nheaded by Amasa Lyman, arrived in good condition.\n\n_Sunday, 20th_.--All met in a general assembly, to\nworship God and to edify one another; being joined by the people\nfrom the fort, we had a good time. The Spirit was poured out upon\nus. G. A. Smith and others spake with power in the Spirit and\ntestimony of Jesus; rebuking iniquity, worldly mindedness,\nunbelief, profanity, and all manner of iniquity, and exhorting the\npeople to obey the servants of the Lord in all righteousness.\n\nAs the meeting was about to close P. B. Lewis, who lived in this\nsettlement, was set apart by prayer, prophecy and the laying on of\nhands of the four Apostles present, as one of the Pacific\nmissionaries. He had already moved into camp with his wife and\nteams, etc., to accompany us. We travelled eight miles to a stream\ncalled Coal Creek. Encamped and built a bridge across the deep and\nnarrow channel, about four feet wide, and tarried here next day for\nthe remainder of our company, some of whom had failed to obtain\ntheir animals the day before.\n\nThis encampment was about ten miles below the crossing of the\nsame stream on the old road. I had, however, looked out a new\nroute, which would save some eight or ten miles.\n\nThis stream forms a rich meadow bottom, of about fifteen miles\nlong and two broad.\n\nAbundance of cedar fuel and rich pasturage is found on the table\nlands which border this bottom; and iron ore abounds a few miles to\nthe southwest, not to mention a large cottonwood grove in the upper\npart of the meadow, and a canyon opening into the mountains, from\nwhich the stream issues. Taken all together, this place combines\nmaterials for a large settlement.\n\n_Wednesday, 23d_, we travelled twenty miles without\nwater, over hills and plains, and among forests of cedar, and\nencamped after dark at a spring, having regained the old road a few\nmiles before encamping.\n\nWhile the cattle were feeding I ascended an eminence, and, with\nmy telescope, viewed the largest valley I had ever seen in the\ngreat basin. It might have been seventy miles from south to north,\nand thirty miles from east to west.\n\nSome signs of water and rich and fertile spots appeared in the\ndim distance; but, generally speaking, it was a cheerless monotony,\nwithout water, and clothed in the leaden hue of the desert.\n\nWe travelled several miles over a fine table land, on east of\nsaid valley, which still stretched away some thirty miles to the\nwest, and was finally bounded by a low range of mountains on its\nsouth and west, and these again were backed by a still higher range\nand white with snow. Their lofty peaks, at fifty or sixty miles\ndistance, peeping up from behind the nearer hills like distant\nclouds on the far off horizon.\n\nAfter passing a few miles of very hilly road we came down upon a\nsmall stream, which heads in numerous spring meadows near the rim\nof the basin, on the divide between it and the Colorado. Here we\ncamped to rest on Saturday and Sunday.\n\nThis little mountain paradise was, by the present road, three\nhundred and eleven miles from the Great Salt Lake City, and was\naltogether the most beautiful place in all the route. Some thousand\nor fifteen hundred acres of bottom, or meadow lands, were spread\nout before us like a green carpet richly clothed with a variety of\ngrasses, and possessing a soil both black, rich and quick--being a\nmixture of sand, gravel and clayey loam, and the decayed\nvisitations of ages. It was everywhere moistened with springs, and\nwould produce potatoes, vegetables and the smaller grains in\nabundance without watering.\n\nThe surrounding hills were not abrupt, but rounded off,\npresenting a variety of beauteous landscapes, and everywhere richly\nclothed with the choicest kind of bunch grass, and bordered in\ntheir higher eminences with cedar and nut pine sufficient for fuel.\n\nAfar off, behind the hills in the east, could be seen from the\neminence high, snowy mountains, black in places with tall timber,\nplainly distinguishable with the telescope, probably from ten to\ntwenty miles distance.\n\n_May 13th_--We encamped at a large spring, usually called\nthe Vegas--having travelled nearly two hundred miles since the\nforegoing was written. The country through which we have passed is\na worthless desert, consisting of mountains of naked rock and\nbarren plains, with the exception of here and there a small stream,\nwith feed sufficient for our cattle.\n\nThe longest distance without water is about fifty miles, which\nwe passed on Saturday and Sunday last, and arrived here safe and\nwithout much suffering. We have as yet lost no cattle through\nhunger, thirst, or fatigue. Two cows were stolen from us by the\nIndians on the Rio Virgin.\n\nThe place where we now are is about two hundred and fifty miles\nfrom the coast settlements on the Pacific. It is well watered,\nabundance of grass, and would admit of a small settlement--say one\nor two hundred families--has a good soil, good water and fuel, but\nno building timber.\n\nThe same remarks would apply to the last stream, fifty-three\nmiles from this, called the Muddy. The Indians already raise wheat\nand corn there.\n\n_Wednesday, 21st_--We encamped at a place called Resting\nSprings, where we arrived on the 19th after dark.\n\nThis is a fine place for rest and recruiting animals being a\nmeadow of rich grass and sufficiently extensive to sustain\nthousands of cattle. The water is sufficient for all travelling\npurposes, although the stream is small.\n\nSince leaving the Vegas we have travelled seventy-five miles\nthrough a most horrible desert, consisting of mountain ridges and\nplains of naked rock, or sand and gravel, and sometimes clay,\ndestitute of soil or fertility, except a few small springs and\npatches of grass.\n\nThe weather, contrary to our expectations, has been universally\ncool since we left the Muddy; thick vests, and sometimes coats,\nhave been worn in the noon of a sunny day, and the sun has been\nsought rather than the shade. The nights have all been cool, and\nsome of them as cold in the middle or latter part of May as the\nnights usually are in March and April in Great Salt Lake City.\n\nTwenty miles from the Vegas, our camp was assailed in the\nevening, ten o'clock by a shower of arrows from the savage mountain\nrobbers; some of which passed near men's heads and all fell\npromiscuously among men, women, children and cattle, but did no\ninjury. Our men mustered and returned the fire without effect.\n\nAfterwards, in the same place, a savage, single handed, made his\nway among the cattle, in open day, while they were under the care\nof armed herdsmen and shot an ox and a mule; one was wounded in the\nhip, and the other in the leg; but they are both doing well.\n\n_Friday, 23d_.--Provided with water and hay we travelled\non fourteen miles. Road heavy, up hill and sandy; day hot. Arrived\nat Salt Spring gold mines towards evening; water brackish; but\nanswered for stock and use.\n\nAfter resting for a few hours we started on in the evening and\ntravelled all night, with the exception of short intervals of rest.\nThe hot day and heavy road had so harassed the cattle that we made\nbut little progress.\n\nNext morning we continued to travel, finding no grass nor water.\nThe road was up hill for ten or twelve miles, and rough; the day\nrather cool.\n\nLong before night our hay and water were consumed, and the camp\nin a suffering condition. Some cattle had given out entirely; and\nfifteen or twenty miles still intervened between us and water, and\nwithout grass sufficient to feed a goat. Six or eight miles of the\nway was still up hill. This was the most trying time of all.\n\nAt dark, about fourteen miles from water, _our ten_ was\nbehind, and my two wagons were the rear of all; and some of my oxen\nhad already failed. We still rolled slowly, resting every few\nminutes. We soon found the different portions of the camp ahead,\nhalted, and lost in slumber--every man and beast, by common\nconsent, sunk in profound slumber, and probably dreaming of water\nand feed ahead.\n\nWe, viz., _our ten_, with some exceptions, slipped\nquietly past them, and resting often and a few minutes at a time\ncontinued to roll. The night was cool, and a miraculous strength\nseemed to inspire the cattle.\n\nAt sunrise next morning we arrived at the Bitter Springs; the\nwater of which was about as palatable as a dose of salts.\n\nThe other camps followed us in, and by ten o'clock all were in,\nexcept three oxen left by the way, and two wagons with their loads,\nleft twenty miles back.\n\nMen and animals were so exhausted that, after digging and\nimproving the water, and a general watering, it was ten hours or\nmore before the cattle were driven to what little feed there was, a\nmile or two distant.\n\nI rode back ten miles and carried water and feed to two animals,\nand tried in vain to drive them in.\n\nIn this desert we had travelled, without much intermission, two\ndays and two nights; during which we had no feed nor water,\nexcepting that which we carried with us, and the Salt Springs, and\nthe Bitter Springs, and a little dry feed to refresh upon after\nthis toil women and children, young and old, and old men walked on\nfoot day and night.\n\nIt was certainly the hardest time I ever saw; but we cried unto\nGod, and in the name of Jesus Christ asked Him to strengthen us and\nour teams, and He did so in a miraculous manner, and we were saved\nfrom the horrors of the desert.\n\n_Wednesday, 28th_. We arrived on the Mohave River in the\nevening, in an exhausted condition; having travelled thirty-one\nmiles without water or much rest. The day had been warm and some\ntwo or three cattle gave out, and were left by the way.\n\nAt this camp we found plenty of water, timber, soil and grass.\nThose appointed to the Pacific mission (with the exception of\nBrother Hopkins, who said he should not fill the mission), now took\nleave of Brother Rich and company, and travelled twelve miles up\nthe Mohave, and encamped in a pleasant place, with water, feed and\nfuel.\n\nJune 1st.--Rested Sunday. At two o'clock had a prayer meeting in\nthe shade of some trees. All the members of the mission offered\nthemselves in prayer, acknowledging their faults and imperfections;\nseeking the remission of the same; renewing their covenants with\nGod and with each other; and giving thanks to Him for deliverance\nfrom the perils of the desert, and praying that God would\ngraciously open the way for the further prosecution of the\nappointed mission. All seemed renewed in spirits, faith and union,\nand felt blessed of the Lord.\n\nPassing on our journey over one hundred miles we came to a fine\nfarm, which had wheat and other grain, gardens, and even bearing\nfruit trees, etc. We also found a member of our society by the name\nof Crisman, who, with his family resided on the place. We were\nkindly received, and after resting a few days, obtained a team, and\nBrother Wood went to Los Angeles, thirty miles, to obtain supplies\nto send back. We sent a load of supplies to the companies on the\nMohave River, and then moved our camp to brother Crisman's, where\nwe arrived at noon, and were received with welcome; and all\nrejoiced that our desert and toilsome journey was at an end. Having\nrested the last week, every man who was with me as a fellow\nmissionary accompanied me to the lone hills, about one mile from\ncamp, where in solitude we joined in prayer with all the energy we\npossessed; praying in turn, and asking our Father in Heaven, in the\nname of Jesus Christ, to open our way, to guide us in wisdom in our\nduties, to give us the gift of the Holy Ghost, bind to supply us\nwith means to proceed on our journey in His own way, and in His own\ntime.\n\nWe also remembered our families before the Lord, and all the\nauthorities and interests of the kingdom of God.\n\nSelling some of our cattle and one wagon, we journeyed seventeen\nmiles and encamped on a small stream near some hills of wild oats,\nwhich served us for feed. We also pulled several bundles to fill\nour beds, and to take with us to Los Angeles, where we arrived in\nthe evening of the 16th of June.\n\nSeveral Americans called on us, conversed in a friendly manner,\nand seemed much interested in the Mormon settlement about to be\nmade. More particularly as to the additional security this\npopulation would afford to the peace and order of a distracted\ncountry.\n\n\nCHAPTER XLVIII.\n------------------------\n\nLos Angelos:--Catholic Celebration of Corpus\nChristi:--Arrival in San Francisco:--Letter to President Brigham\nYoung:--Family Letter.\n\nLos Angeles is a fertile, well watered, and delightful valley of\nvineyards and orchards, with a fine old Spanish town--a mixture of\nAmerican, European, Spanish and Indian population--and has been\ncultivated for eighty years.\n\n_Thursday, 19th_.--I attended the Catholic celebration of\nCorpus Christi, and witnessed perhaps five hundred people of all\nages, sexes and colors, the Indian blood prevailing--three priests\nat their head--performing the various ceremonies. The ladies in the\nfinest dresses I ever beheld in any country, consisting of silks\nand satins of various figures and extreme costliness; white muslin,\ncambric, etc., made in full dresses, together with costly silk and\nsatin shawls worn over the head and enclosing the shoulders, bosom\nand waist, leaving only the face in view; while all other portions\nof their persons were buried beneath the rich and ample folds of\ncostly apparel.\n\nIn these costly robes every female knelt or sat on the filthy\nfloor of earth in the old church for hours! No seats, carpets, or\nspreads of any kind; while various images were exhibited in turn,\nand were worshipped in humble postures, and with low chants, amid\nthe discharges of cannon and crackers, the beating of drums, and\nthe tinkling of bells.\n\nClouds of incense rose before each image, and perhaps one\nhundred candles were burning at midday. All the men were also\ndressed in their best and knelt in a devout manner, or stood in a\nreverent posture with hats off.\n\nNot one changed place, or was seen to leave the church, although\nthe services lasted for hours, without one seat or other\nconvenience whereon to rest.\n\nThis ended, all formed in procession and moved around the public\nsquare, beneath the beautiful arches richly decorated, and the walk\nlined on each side with green branches.\n\nAt proper distances were placed images amid costly decorations,\nbefore which all fell upon their knees, and remained for a length\nof time prostrated in the thick dust with all their finery,\nchanting hymns, praying and worshipping, while crackers were\ndischarged in profusion. Even all the spectators must stand in the\nbroiling sun in the roads uncovered, or give great offense.\n\nIn a few days Brother Wood returned from the rear camps where he\nand Brother Allen had been with provisions. Reported all well and\nprosperous. Brothers Lyman and Rich also paid us a visit, and some\nothers.\n\nBrothers Hammond, Perkins, Wood and Murdock with their baggage,\netc. started for the landing at San Pedro. The remainder tarried to\ncomplete their sales.\n\n_Sunday, 29th_.--I preached in the court house in Los\nAngeles to some forty attentive persons, mostly American gentlemen.\n\n_Monday, 30th_.--I sold my last wagon and moved down to\nthe Port at San Pedro. Found that portion of the brethren well who\nwent down before, and camped with them on the beach.\n\n_July 7th_.--We embarked on board the steamship Ohio, and\nset sail for San Francisco, at 4 o'clock P. M.\n\nAfter four days' rather rough passage, we arrived in San\nFrancisco on the 11th inst. at eleven o'clock, A. M. Found some\ngood brethren who rendered us assistance in various ways. Rented a\nhouse the same day, and all moved into it together.\n\nBrothers Lyman and Rich arrived per steamer Goliah. We visited\nand received visits.\n\n_Sunday, 20th_.--I preached at eleven A. M. in a large\nroom, a goodly number of persons out to hear, and good attention.\nNext morning we repaired to the water and baptized eight persons,\nand the same evening met at the house of Brother Winner and\norganized a branch of the Church, confirming the above persons.\n\nI was chosen president of this branch, and Philo B. Wood, clerk.\nThe remainder of the week devoted to writing and instructing\ninquirers who called.\n\nI wrote the following letter to Elder Addison Pratt, Society\nIsles:\n\nSAN FRANCISCO, _July 26, 1851_.\n\nDEAR BROTHER PRATT: My long contemplated mission to the Pacific\nhas at length become a reality. I am here, having left home in\nMarch last. Eight of us are here, and will go to the Sandwich\nIslands and elsewhere as the way opens and the Spirit directs.\nBrother P. B. Lewis and wife would have sailed for your islands\nwith letters, etc., but Brothers Clark and Thompkins having\narrived, we concluded to send no more laborers to that part of the\nvineyard at present.\n\nI hold the presidency of all the islands and coasts of the\nPacific, under the direction of the First Presidency of the\nChurch--to open the door to every nation and tongue, as fast as the\nway is prepared and the Lord directs, for the preaching of the\ngospel of salvation.\n\nAs president of that part of the vineyard you will preach the\ngospel to every people as fast as possible. Send men to the\nFriendly Isles, or to any other groups where the way may be open,\nand as circumstances will permit, as you are led by the Holy Ghost.\nIf you need more laborers send to me at this place. I am well known\nhere, and making some progress. Also make your report to me from\ntime to time, and ask such counsel as you may need.\n\nElder Philip B. Lewis will sail for the Sandwich Islands,\naccompanied by his wife, Brother Hammond and wife, and Brother\nWoodbury and wife. He will have the presidency of those islands. It\nwould be well if you would correspond with him.\n\nThe work is prospering wonderfully in Deseret, England, Wales,\nScotland, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, etc. Several\nyoung men are with me who will go to Chili and Peru in due time.\nBishop Murdock will also go soon to the English Colonies in New\nZealand, Van Dieman's Land, or New Holland, if the Lord will.\n\nOur instructions to the elders abroad, everywhere, are to seek\nthe Spirit and gift of the Holy Ghost, by humble prayer and faith\nand good works. Also, to take no part in government matters, except\nto uphold and obey the authorities and laws of every nation where\nthey may labor, and teach others to do so.\n\nThe laws of the country we are in will govern us in all things\nconsistent with liberty of conscience, freedom of speech, etc.\n\nWith sentiments of love and good will I subscribe myself,\n\nYour brother in the gospel,\n    PARLEY P. PRATT.\n\nSAN FRANCISCO, July 26, 1851.\n\n_To His Majesty_ KING KAMAHAMAHA _and the People of\nthe Sandwich Isles_. GREETING:\n\nI beg leave to introduce to the favorable notice of your Majesty\nand subjects, and to commend to your protection, hospitality and\nkind consideration the following persons, who go out as\nmissionaries and residents to your country:\n\nElders P. B. Lewis, Francis A. Hammond and Stillman Woodbury,\nwith their wives.\n\nThese persons are from Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, U.\nS., and have been selected by the Presidency of the Church of Jesus\nChrist of Latter-day Saints to fulfil a mission to the Pacific.\n\nMr. Hammond is a former resident and artisan of your kingdom,\nand we trust is favorably known to your Majesty and some of his\nfellow citizens. We can confidently recommend these gentlemen as\nmen of good character, and men who bring good news, peace and good\nwill to man.\n\nWith sentiments of high consideration and esteem for your\nMajesty and the people of your realm, I have the honor to subscribe\nmyself,\n\nYour humble servant and the friend of man,\n\nP. P. PRATT,\n    _President of the Pacific Mission of the Church of Jesus\nChrist of Latter-day Saints._\n\nI here give a few extracts from a letter to President Brigham\nYoung:\n\nSAN FRANCISCO, August 28, 1851.\n    PRESIDENT YOUNG.\n\n_Dear Brother_: I am well, or rather so as to be able to\nperform my daily duties, although not in good health.\n\nI arrived in this place some time in July, together with those\nwho accompanied me on the mission. * * * * * * If the Presidency\nwishes to make any communication on any subject, letters addressed\nto me at San Francisco, California, will be forwarded to me to\nChili, or elsewhere, as I shall not leave this place without\nappointing an agent to receive and forward all papers and\ncommunications.\n\nThe Sandwich Islands are at peace, and enjoy a free government.\nWe have sent to those islands three additional missionaries who\nsailed on the sixth day of August for the Port of Honolulu. P. B.\nLewis is appointed to preside over that mission.\n\n* * * * Since I have arrived here I have been diligent in the\nduties of my calling every hour, and have called upon God for His\nSpirit to help me with all the energy I possessed, and without\nceasing. The result is, the Spirit of the Lord God has been upon me\ncontinually, in such light, and joy, and testimony as I have seldom\nexperienced.\n\nBrothers A. Lyman and C. C. Rich have been here with me some of\nthe time; we have called together the old members and others, and\npreached repentance and reformation of life. We have re-baptized\nmany of them, and have re-organized the Church. Several new members\nare being added--some of whom are young people of the old members,\nand others are strangers from different countries. We are upwards\nof fifty members in number. We have preaching twice a day on\nSundays in a large theatre in the center of the city, and prayer\nmeetings on Sunday and Thursday evenings. Strangers give good\nattention. The members feel well, and are full of faith and the\ngood Spirit, and the Spirit is poured out till our hearts are full.\n\nI expect to leave this country soon for South America, unless I\nshould be able to go to New York, _via_ the Isthmus, to get\nsome books printed.\n\nI am studying Spanish with all diligence, and will, I trust,\nmaster it in the course of a few months.\n\nNow, my dear brethren of the Presidency, accept this\nmanifestation of my remembrance, good wishes and determinations,\nand rest assured you are always upheld by my prayers and good\nwishes. I want your prayers--your continued confidence, and your\ngood wishes and fellowship. I want the Spirit of God and His angels\nto be with me; and I fear not earth, nor hell, nor men, nor devils,\nnor death. I desire power to do good continually, and to bring\nabout the restoration of His people. I glory in my calling. I would\nnot exchange it for any other position or calling on this earth.\n\nI hope to come home by and by and see you all, and see the\npreparations for the ordinances and powers of Heaven in your midst\nin state of forwardness; such as peace, union and diligence can\nalone produce. So farewell.\n\nWith my best wishes and prayers,\n    Your brother and laborer in the truth,\n    P. P. PRATT.\n\nDuring my stay in San Francisco I wrote a proclamation of the\ngospel addressed to the people of the coasts and islands of the\nPacific, which was afterwards published by Elder Wandell in\nAustralia. I also commenced the book entitled _Key to Theology\n_. At a public meeting of the Saints, Elder George K. Winner\nwas unanimously chosen and set apart to preside over the San\nFrancisco branch--myself being honorably discharged from the duties\nof the same, with a view of a mission to Chili.\n\nI then spoke of my duties to other parts of the Pacific; was\nhonorably discharged from the presidency of the branch with a vote\nof thanks, and a sum of money, amounting in all to fourteen hundred\nand ten dollars, was then and afterwards subscribed to assist me on\nmy mission.\n\n_Sept. 5_.--I sailed for Valparaiso, Chili, on board the\nbark Henry Kelsey. After a tedious and disagreeable passage of\nsixty-four days, arrived safe in Valparaiso, Nov. 8th, accompanied\nby my wife and Elder Rufus Allen, all in tolerable health.\n\nFound the country in a state of civil war, and most kinds of\nbusiness at a dead stand--men's hearts failing them for fear.\n\nI then finished the following letter which I had commenced on\nthe sea:\n\nSHIP \"HENRY KELSEY,\" PACIFIC OCEAN,\n    Lat. 24 N., lon. 115 W.,\n    Sept. 15, 1851.\n\n_Dear Family_--Here we are on the deep, bound for Chili,\nS. A.--self, Phebe and R. Allen. We sailed from San Francisco on\nthe 5th inst. Have had fine weather, excepting three days, in which\nwe were becalmed; and have sailed more than eleven hundred miles.\nWe are now running before the wind seven miles an hour. We have all\nbeen sea sick, and have not yet recovered in full. We are the only\npassengers, and have the cabin to ourselves, except at meals. We\nstudy Spanish every day. It is a beautiful language, and\nwonderfully adapted to the simplicity of the Lamanites. I hope to\nmaster it during the passage and a few months' residence among the\nChileans.\n\nWe pay sixty dollars for passage in the cabin, and found. We\nexpect to be two months in going.\n\nWell, dear ones, six months have passed, and their events been\nrecorded in the records of eternity since we parted; all this time\nI have had not one lisp from you. Oh, how lonesome! Just imagine\nthe monotony. Sky and sea! Sea and sky! Night and day! Day and\nnight! Infinitude of space! Boundless waste! Emblem of eternal\nsilence! Eternal banishment! Eternal loneliness, where the voice of\nthe bridegroom and of the bride are not heard. Where the holy music\nof children's voices, in joyous merriment, falls not on the ear;\nwhere no changing or varied landscape relieves the eye; where no\nvegetation, or leafy bower, or sweet blooming flower cheers the\nsenses, where no birds tune their soft notes of praise announce the\ndawn, or sound the requiem of the closing day.\n\nEven the fierce and ravenous beast of the desert (which, in his\nnative solitude, announces with doleful and prolonged howls the\nmidnight hour, or wakes the weary traveller at early dawn, and\ngives the signal for another day of thirst, and toil, and\nsuffering) is lacking here.\n\nOn this boundless waste of waters there is seldom anything to\nbreak the monotony of eternal silence, or, rather, of the roar of\nthe waves as they break in increasing foam upon each other, or\nagainst the vessel's side.\n\nThanks for that promise, \"_There shall be no more sea_.\"\nThanks for the hope that all the elements of nature will one day be\nadapted to the enjoyment or occupation of intellectual life, or\nsocial and sympathetic existence.\n\nJust imagine sundown, twilight, the shades of evening, the\ncurtains of the solitary night gathering in silent gloom and lone\nmelancholy around a father who loves his home and its inmates; his\nfireside and the family altar! Behold him standing leaning over the\nvessel's side as it glides over the waters of the lone and\nboundless Pacific, gazing for hours in succession into the bosom of\nits dark abyss, or watching its white foam and sparkling spray!\nWhat ate his thoughts? Can you divine them? Behold, he prays! For\nwhat does he pray? For every wife, for every child, for every near\nand dear friend he has on earth, he prays most earnestly! most\nfervently! He calls each by name over and over again, before the\naltar of remembrance. And when this is done for all on earth, he\nremembers those in Heaven; calls their names; communes with them in\nspirit; wonders how they are doing; whether they think of him. He\ncalls to mind their acts and sufferings in life, their death and\nthe grave where sleeps their precious dust.\n\nThis done, he prays for Zion, Jerusalem, Judah, Israel, the\nChurch, the Holy Priesthood, the resurrection of the just, the\nkingdom and coming of Messiah, the end of war, and sin, and death,\nand wrong, and oppression, and sorrow, and mourning, and tears; and\nfor earth, and Heaven, and God, angels and men, to be joined\nforever in the bonds of eternal peace, and love and truth.\n\nThis done, he commends himself, the vessel and his all on board\nto God, and to the guardianship of his good angel. Amen. Walks the\ndeck a few minutes, examines the sails, the speed of the vessel,\nthe course of the wind, and then retires to rest to dream of home.\n\n_October 5th_.--Coast of Peru, S. A., lat. 3 deg. 30 m.\nS. A month passed on the ocean; much head wind, some calms, and\nmore or less sickness has attended us by turns until the present.\nWe have not been able to read, write, or study much, therefore the\ntime has passed off very tediously indeed.\n\nWe have a miser for a captain, who thinks more of a sixpence\nthan he does of our lives or even of his own. He will not suffer\nthe steward to cook potatoes, bread, pies, puddings or any other\nwholesome food, but keeps us on hard, mouldy bread, full of bugs\nand worms, and on salt beef and pork--the pork being rotten. He has\nflour, potatoes and good pork, but will not allow it to be used;\nthus you will readily perceive that we ate truly in unpleasant\ncircumstances.\n\nLast evening we came near a shipwreck, having run near the land\nwithout knowing it, and it fell calm. The ship became unmanageable,\nand was drifting on to the shore, but we cast anchor and awaited\nthe light of morning, when we got under weigh with much labor, and\nstood again to sea.\n\nFRENCH HOTEL, Valparaiso, Chili, S. A.,\n    November 9th.\n\n_Dear Friends_: After a most disagreeable and tedious\npassage of sixty-four days we have at length arrived in port, in\ntolerable health. We landed yesterday at noon, and took lodgings\nand board at a French Hotel, where we have a great variety of good\neating, and a front parlor to ourselves--price four dollars per day\nfor three of us. The proprietor speaks French, the clerk French,\nwith a little English, the landlady German, the waiter Spanish, and\nourselves English, with a little Spanish.\n\nSo you see we have a little Babel of our own, independently of\nNimrod or the great tower.\n\nWe find the country in the midst of revolution and civil war.\nTwo persons and their adherents fighting for power and rule.\nBusiness is dull, living high, and doubt and uncertainty\ncharacterizing every transaction in the various business\ndepartments.\n\nOn Sunday we attended a meeting in a very large building. We saw\nthousands of both sexes, and of all classes and ages, throng the\nplace, bow down on their knees and worship certain images and\npaintings with much apparent devotion. No instructions were given\nin any language, no music, no voice or sound, except a low,\nplaintive voice in the far end of the room, not addressed to the\npeople, neither sufficiently loud or distinct to be understood by\nthem.\n\nThe worshippers were dressed in a variety of degrees of neatness\nor of its opposite. Some of them wore very costly apparel, and\nothers were very neatly clad. All seemed full of zeal and devotion.\nAll bowed down on their knees in silent, solemn attitudes. All\ntheir faces seemed disfigured with a painful and awe-stricken\nsolemnity. All made certain signs and motions, while they said\nnothing audible, and the impression of a strange observer would be\nthat the image, to which every eye was turned with long and\nsupplicating gaze and imploring look, had no ears to hear, but was\ndeeply versed in the science of physiognomy, and also acquainted\nwith the deaf and dumb alphabet.\n\nOn inquiry, we were informed that this kind of worship prevailed\nthroughout Spanish America and various other countries, and that it\nis called by the dignified name of Christianity, and that it is\nvery ancient.\n\nFrom all which circumstances I infer that it must have been\ninstituted soon after the Church of Jesus Christ became extinct in\nthe Roman world, and, by some unaccountable blunder, borrowed its\nname from those institutions, which it does not even resemble in\nthe least in any one feature save the name.\n\n_Sunday, November 16th_. Dear friends:--During the past\nweek we have rented a house, purchased furniture and commenced\nhousekeeping. We devote almost our entire time to the Spanish\nlanguage.\n\nOur house is in the rear of a block of buildings which fronts a\nlarge and beautiful street, called Victoria street. It opens into a\nlarge yard, surrounded with high walls and with other buildings,\nand filled with beautiful trees, such as orange, fig, peach, pear,\netc., together with pinks and a variety of other flowers and\nshrubs. Its walks and pavements are neatly swept, and the houses\naround it occupied with widows, orphans, etc., of a good class of\nSpanish or Chilanoes, and their kind and sociable young people and\nlittle children.\n\nWe divide our time between reading and studying our Spanish\nlessons, and chatting, visiting, reading Spanish, hearing them\nread, and playing with the little ones, etc., all of which pleases\nthem much, and causes us to advance in the language with a rapidity\nwhich is almost astonishing to ourselves and to them. Truly\nProvidence has ordered our footsteps and cast our lot in pleasant\ncircumstances, when we were strangers in a strange land, and among\na people of a strange tongue. Truly He has opened our way to learn\nthat tongue, and we can learn it if we are diligent.\n\nRents are high here, provisions and fuel dear. Strawberries,\noranges, lemons, etc., are in market, as well as green peas, and\nother vegetables, and melons. It is, in fact, a state of advanced\nspring or early summer. The peaches, pears and figs are perhaps\none-third their size on the trees, while the flowers are in full\nbloom.\n\nNOVEMBER IN CHILI\n\n   'Tis the spring of the year, all the fountains are full,\n    All nature is pregnant with life and with love;\n    A chorus of voices ascend from each pool,\n    A myriad of songsters enliven the grove.\n    To her nest in the Andes, the condor retires,\n    The winds from magellan no longer prevail,\n    And Sol, with the north breeze returning, inspires\n    New life on the zephyr, and love on the gale.\n    The forest is clad in its robes of fresh green--\n    Where the dove sings an anthem, his mate to decoy.\n    The orchard is dressed as a holiday queen,\n    And the rosebud is bursting with fullness of joy.\n    The orange, the olive, the fig and the vine\n    Are clothed as in Eden, with innocent bloom;\n    The earth is an altar of incense divine,\n    Exhales a sweet odor of richest perfume.\n    The young of the flock bound exulting away\n    While their dams nip the blade, 'mid the dewdrops of morn,\n    And groups of young children are sportive and gay;\n    Yet my heart, 'mid this gladness, is sad and forlorn.\n    I sigh for the storms of November to come,\n    The frost, and the snow-drifted plain I would see;\n    The bleak, wintry blasts of my own mountain home,\n    And the storm-beaten glaziere are dearer to me.\n    The chime of the sleigh-bell again I would hear,\n    The low moaning tempest in harmony roll--\n    It would speak of my country and kindred so dear;\n    Oh! this would be music indeed to my soul.\n\nWith sentiments of the most endearing affection,\n  I remain yours, etc.,\n    P. P. PRATT.\n\n\nCHAPTER XLIX.\n------------------------\n\nValparaiso:--Quillota:--Letter to President Brigham\nYoung.\n\n_January 19, 1852_.\n\nWe have continued to reside in Valparaiso, and to study Spanish\ndiligently until this day. We make much progress, being already able to\nunderstand in part that which we read in the Spanish Scriptures, and\nin the daily papers, as well as in history. We have also gathered much\ngeneral information of the countries of Spanish America, their manners,\ncustoms, laws, constitutions, institutions--civil, religious, etc.\n\nRevolutions have been in progress more or less in nearly all\nSpanish America during the past year.\n\nIn Chili the present revolution has ended with the loss of many\nthousand lives, and without success.\n\nIn Buenos Ayres it still rages, and a great battle is soon\nexpected between the combined armies of Brazil and Montevideo on\nthe one part, and Buenos Ayres on the other--the two armies\namounting to near twenty-five thousand men each, as reported.\n\nPriestcraft reigns triumphant in all these countries, as by law\nestablished; and by law paid and supported--by marriages and\nchristening fees, forgiving sins, etc.\n\nIn Chili the charges are as follows: Twenty-five dollars for a\nmarriage, and one dollar for christening. For forgiveness of sins\nthere are various prices to suit the circumstances of the\ncustomers.\n\nWe departed from Valparaiso in a cart drawn by oxen, and arrived\non the morning of the twenty-fifth at Quillota--a small town\nsituated in a beautiful and fertile valley on a river thirty-six\nmiles from Valparaiso.\n\nHere we have hired a house and live with a widow and two\ndaughters, young ladies of fifteen and seventeen; they are very\nsociable, and much pleased with us. They can read Spanish, and they\ntake every possible pains to teach us the language. They are very\nfrank and friendly, and seem a much void of guile as little\nchildren.\n\nI read to them in the Spanish Testament, which pleases them\nmuch, as they have never read it.\n\nThe people in this town seem to be a neat, plain, loving and\nsociable people; very friendly, frank, and easy to become\nacquainted with. They are mostly white, intelligent, and good\nlooking; very plain and simple in dress and manners. The houses are\nmostly neat and comely, and are situated on a line with the mud\nwalls which separate the streets from the gardens and vineyards.\n\nThe houses are built of sun dried brick, plastered and\nwhitewashed outside and inside; with brick floors and tiled roofs.\nMany of them, however, have no floors except the earth, and but few\nof them have glass windows. The streets are straight, and cross at\nright angles. A clear, cool stream runs in the center of each\nstreet, and of tall stately poplars, as well as fruit trees and\nvines adorn the entire vale, both in town and country.\n\nA mountain or round hill, perhaps 500 feet in height, rises in\nthe midst of the town, and is surrounded on all sides by the level\nof the fertile, well watered and well cultivated plain. This hill\nis near our residence, easy of access, and commands a view of the\nwhole valley with its farms, orchards, vineyards, towns, streets,\nriver and water ditches, fertile as Eden and stretching away till\nlost in the dim distance; or bounded by lofty hills and mountain\nchains, whose lower swells are checked with fences and houses, and\ncovered with flocks and herds, while their bosoms are rugged with\nrocky precipices, and checkered by dark ravines, or mantled with\nclouds; while the rugged summits repose in solemn grandeur on the\nbosom of the clear blue sky, unobscured by clouds or any of the\ngloomy shadows of the lower world.\n\nThe land of this valley is extremely fertile, and easily\nirrigated by small canals from the river.\n\nThe whole taken in at one view from the summit of the center\nhill, presents one of the most beautiful scenes I ever beheld in\nthe old or new world.\n\nOn the top of this mountain is a place for retirement and\nprayer, which I intend to use every evening about sunset or\ntwilight. Figs, plums, pears, peaches, apples, oranges, grapes,\nand, indeed, most kinds of fruit are very plentiful here. A quarter\nof a dollar will purchase enough for three of us to eat in one day.\nThe figs and plums are sweet as honey, and will melt in the mouth.\nThere is not much need of other food. The grapes, peaches and\napples are not generally ripe yet.\n\nHaving dwelt in Quillota one month we returned to Valparaiso,\nand on the 2d of March embarked on board the ship \"Dracut\" for San\nFrancisco; weighed anchor on the 5th of March, and sailed out of\nport with a light breeze.\n\nThe following is the copy of a letter written to President Young\nduring the voyage from Chili to San Francisco:\n\nSHIP \"DRACUT,\" PACIFIC OCEAN. lat. 18.\n    March 13, 1852.\n    PRESIDENT YOUNG.\n\n_Dear Brother_--We are well. Elder Rufus Allen, myself\nand wife, sailed from San Francisco, September 5, 1851, for Chili,\nS. A., and arrived in Valparaiso, November 8--passage sixty-three\ndays. From that time to the present has been devoted to the study\nof the Spanish language and the laws, constitutions, geography,\nhistory, character, religion, manners, customs, revolution, and\nevents of Chili and Peru in particular, and of Spanish America in\ngeneral.\n\nBy intense application I soon became able to read with a degree\nof understanding and interest in that language. I have already read\nthrough the Spanish Testament; while, in the same language, I have\ncopied in writing many of its most important passages, and have\nread them over perhaps twenty times--committing some of them to\nmemory.\n\nI have also read a small work, on Natural History of Chili, near\nthree times through, in which are many curious and important facts\nin relation to the wars with that brave and patriotic nation\nfreemen called _Arraucanians_. These have maintained their\nliberty and independence unimpaired for 300 years against the\ncombined powers of old Spain and of all her colonies, sustaining a\ndefensive war, with but little cessation, for near 200 years,\nwithout firearms or other modern means of defense. Some of their\nhistory I hope to translate and publish hereafter.\n\nI have also read the Spanish school geography of Chili, and some\nother works, while a constant perusal of their newspapers, and\nthose of Peru and Buenos Ayres, have given me a general insight\ninto their governments, laws, politics, religion, revolutions,\nhopes, feelings and prospects.\n\nThe civil wars, and my own pecuniary circumstances, but more\nparticularly the want of language, prevented my travelling much in\nthe country, or even visiting the Arraucanians. I, however, visited\na small town in the interior, forty miles, and lived there one\nmonth.\n\nOn the second day of March we embarked on this ship bound for\nSan Francisco, without a sufficiency of the language to turn the\nkeys of the Gospel as yet to these nations. We stayed till all our\nmeans were exhausted and sought and prayed diligently for our way\nto open; but we could neither speak the language sufficiently to\npreach the gospel nor find any way to earn our living, so we found\nit necessary to return to California while we still study the\nlanguage on board.\n\nWe have one fine young man in the cabin who is very useful to\nus. He is a native Chilean, reads and converses fluently in\nSpanish, is conversant with the Scriptures, which we read together\nand converse upon. He has borrowed the Spanish Bible of me and is\nreading it by course. I have told him of our doctrine, baptism,\nChurch persecution, settlement in the mountains, and of the Book of\nMormon. Also of the evils of adultery, drunkenness, gambling, and\nother sins, and the wickedness of the Catholic abominations. He has\ntaken the whole in good part, and talks of going to the mountains\nwith us. What is very remarkable for a Chilean, he neither smokes\nnor drinks. He has some means, and is going to California to make\nmore. We pray much in secret that God will open his heart and give\nhim to us for a help in the ministry.\n\nThe Chileans are a mixed race of Spanish and Indian blood--say\nfour-fifths Indian--consequently coarse features, black hair and\neyes, low foreheads, high cheek bones, broad faces, and in most\ncases copper color in its various shades and degrees, whilst a few\nare white and even fair and beautiful. In general they are ignorant\nand devoted Catholics. Probably more than one-half of them can\nneither read nor write. Their knowledge of arts and industry is\nextremely limited. In manners they are simple, frank, and extremely\nsociable and apparently affectionate but subject to a small low\nmeanness in their dealings, and to trifling thefts. There are,\nhowever, many honorable exceptions to those faults or evil habits.\n\nThe Bible is not in general use among them, being prohibited by\ntheir religion; but I found many who had read it, and all, so far\nas I tried the experiment, seemed willing to hear it read. Some\nsaid they could understand it better when I read it than when it\nwas read by their own natives. I spoke freely to many against their\npriestcraft and errors; showed them the true mode of baptism, etc.,\nwhich very seldom gave offense.\n\nThey frequently told me of the abominations of their priests,\nand how they administered all the ordinances for money, at so much\nper head. The constitution establishes the Roman Catholic religion,\nsupports it out of the treasury, and prohibits all others. There\nis, notwithstanding this prohibition, a Church of England and an\nAmerican Congregational Church in Valparaiso.\n\nThe latter I visited and conversed with the minister. He said\nthere was no difficulty in landing religious books or papers and\ncirculating the same, although the press is not free to print or\npublish any religion but the Catholic. He had imported and\ndistributed Bibles in Spanish, and had placed them for sale in the\nbook stores. Foreign books are landed _free of duty_.\n\nThe revolution which raged so violently this season in Chili\nprofessed to be in favor of universal suffrage, and of absolute\nliberty of conscience, of speech, and of the press. The masses, so\nfar as I am able to judge, are warm revolutionists, but they don't\nlike to fight. The revolution cost some 5,000 lives, and ended in a\ngeneral amnesty, without any alteration of the Government. But the\npeople are sanguine in their hope--they think to accomplish their\nliberties in a few years.\n\nIn the provinces of Buenos Ayres a long civil war has raged,\nwhich is now about terminating in favor of the more liberal party,\naided by Brazil.\n\nPeru is tranquil. The public prints of Lima, its capital, have\ninterested me much--they are in Spanish, and I have spent days in\ntheir perusal. The Government of Peru is much influenced by England\nand the United States. Its constitution guarantees liberty of the\npress, of speech, and of worship. But it seems to have remained a\n_dead letter_ on these points till the present year, in\nwhich the Congress Peruana has made a special law to carry out\nthese general principles of liberty, making special provision for\nthe liberty of other worship, and for Protestants to officiate in\nthe holy _sacraments of matrimony and of burial_, which is a\nstep ahead of even Protestant England (where all must go to the\nNational Church for these things).\n\nPeru has also made a special treaty with Great Britain, in which\nall these liberties are guaranteed to British subjects there. These\nliberal measures have alarmed \"His Holiness,\" the Pope of Rome, to\nsuch an extent that he has issued his letter of disfellowship of\nthe Government Peruana, in which he denounces all these liberal\nmeasures as _anti-Catholic, un-Christian and heretical_.\n\nThis official document, in the hands of the Archbishop of Peru\nand of his clergy, was brought to bear with considerable power\nagainst the liberal proceedings of the Government; but, in the\nmeantime, a very learned and talented man (I suppose a clergyman),\ncalled Dr. Vigel, and many other writers come out against the Pope\nin the columns of the public prints. They denounce him in no\nmeasured terms as a usurper of more power than Peter of old, who,\nthey say, meddled not with governments, wealth, or any other thing,\nbut to preach the Gospel and catch fish.\n\nThey boldly inquire of \"His Holiness\" \"where's Peter's salary! crown!\ntitle! palace, etc.? where his dictations of political government?\"\nThey then inform him that Peru is a free and independent sovereignty,\nand will not be dictated to by any foreign power whatsoever. They refer\n\"_His Holiness_\" to Simon Magus, who wished to purchase the gift of\nGod with money. Remind him and the public how much it has cost certain\nother governments to purchase remission of sins for similar offenses,\nand inquire how much poor erring Peru will have to pay to His Holiness\nfor the remission of the great sins she has committed in giving her\ncitizens the liberty to worship as they please; and to _marry, die and\nbe buried_ in such manner as seemeth to them good.\n\nSuch writings have a wide circulation in Peru, and are popular,\nbut are also opposed by lengthy replies and defenses on the part of\nthe more orthodox clergy. All these things go to show that the\npress, as well as the mind, is beginning to exert its freedom in\nthe countries where, for three centuries, all intellect has slept,\nand all freedom of thought been _crushed--buried_--under the\nincubus of the horrid institutions of the great Mother of\nAbominations.\n\nShould Peru sustain her liberties, a field is opened in the heart of\nSpanish America, and in the largest, best informed and most influential\ncity and nation of South America, for the Bible, the Book of Mormon,\nand the fullness of the Gospel to be introduced.\n\nFour-fifths, or perhaps nine-tenths of the vast population of Peru, as\nwell as of most other countries of Spanish America, are of the _blood\nof Lehi_. 'Tis true they are degraded. Civilization is at a low ebb;\nand modesty and virtue, in the sense they are understood among the more\npolished nations, may hardly exist among them, even in idea. Yet Jesus\ncame not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. The whole\nneed no physicians, but those who are sick.\n\nNew Granada has also revolutionized in favor of the same great\nprinciples of liberty; while the revolution in Northern Mexico, and\nother movements of a like nature in other parts, all go to show\nthat a door is opening more wide than can be filled very soon\n_in the Spanish language_, unless God shall raise up (as in\nEngland) thousands of native teachers of the fullness of the\nGospel.\n\nI had much desire to go to Peru at this time; but an empty purse\nand imperfect tongue, which has only barely begun to stammer in\nthat language, together with the want of books or the means to\nprint them, with other circumstances, all combined to cause me to\nwait a little till I could study the language more fully; while, in\nthe meantime, I return to where I can communicate more fully with\nthe Church at home, with the various missions on the islands and\nwith my family, for whom I must do something as speedily as\npossible, if God will open my way.\n\nI feel as though the Book of Mormon and some cheap publications\nshould be translated into Spanish and printed, and then the key be\nturned to these nations while a living Priesthood is accompanied by\nsomething for them to read--even those writings which have the\npromises of God, the prayers and faith of the ancients, and the\npower and Spirit of God to work with them in restoring the house of\nIsrael.\n\nIt is in my heart to translate the Book of Mormon and some other\nworks, and to print the same in Spanish as soon as I have the\nlanguage sufficiently perfect. As printing is very expensive in all\nparts of the Pacific, it may be wisdom, to go to England and get\nsome printing, and, perhaps, some stereotyping done; and also, to\nbring out two or three elders from there with _English passports\n_, etc. to assist in Spanish America.\n\nAs these contemplated labors would be, under the blessing of God\na furtherance of the great work of laying the foundation for the\nrestoration of unnumbered millions of the house of Israel and of\nJoseph--even of many nations extending over a large and important\nportion of the earth--I feel to labor with patience, and to take\ntime to prepare the way before me and before those who will, in due\ntime, be sent unto them in power; knowing that God, who has said\ncertain things, will cause those things to be performed in due\ntime.\n\nIf before half these things are accomplished I should return to\nthe valley and sit in council with you and my brethren, or even do\nthe translation _there_, I hope I shall not be counted a\nslothful servant; for I assure you that I do all in my power, with\nall diligence, and with all the prayer of faith I possess; and my\nearnest desire is to be counted worthy to labor for the restoration\nof Israel until it be accomplished.\n\nI study the language all day and think of it, and even dream and\ntalk it aloud in my sleep, in which I sometimes learn more than in\nthe day. But it is no small work to become familiar with the entire\ngrammar, words and style of a language, so as to write for\npublication.\n\nIf the Twelve Apostles will divide the European languages\nbetween them, and each become thoroughly versed in one, so as to\ntranslate the fullness of the Gospel and turn the keys of the same,\nit will be one great step towards the consummation; for a host of\nfellow laborers would soon be raised up in each to cooperate with\nthem, and these languages command the influence and keys of\ncommunication with most of the nations, tribes and languages of the\nearth. I trust and hope, also, that they will soon be introduced\ninto our University, and among the elders of Israel, in preference\nto the dead languages, or of those of less consequence.\n\nPACIFIC OCEAN, lat. 3 deg. N.\n    March 27, 1852.\n\n_Dear Brother_--We have now sailed for twenty-three days\nand made nearly half the passage. We are well, and the wind is\ngenerally fair, but now and then a calm. Brother Allen and myself\nstill study the language with diligence, and still talk with the\nChilian, who is also reading diligently in our Spanish Bible.\n\nThe \"Book of Mormon,\" \"Voice of Warning,\" etc., have been the\nrounds, and been read by the captain and mates; but they will not\nbelieve in them, nor in the testimony of men or angels. However,\nthere is one intelligent, sober young man, who is interested much.\n\n_April 29th_, lat. 27 deg. N.--Fifty-five days have\npassed like a dreary imprisonment to us, with but little to eat. We\nlive on a little poor, hard bread, probably baked some two or three\nyears ago, and some beans, and very poor damaged salt beef and\npork. We have no flour, potatoes, sugar, molasses, rice, or other\ncomforts, although we pay a good price for cabin passage.\n\nWe have not had one day of good sailing in a month; it is either\ncalms or light head winds. We seldom sail more than from thirty to\nfifty miles in twenty-four hours. We are hungry, and weary, and\nlonesome, and disconsolate. But, after praying much for a fair wind\nand speed, we find our prayers are not answered, and we have given\nit up, and have asked our Heavenly Father to give us patience and\nreconciliation to His will.\n\nWe are now some eight or nine hundred miles from port, and our\nprovisions (poor as they are) must fail us soon. But live or die we\ntrust in God and try to serve Him.\n\nThere is no one on board who fears God or regards man, as far as\nwe know, except one of the sailors and ourselves. The most horrid\nblasphemies resound in our ears every day in the cabin and on deck,\nfrom captain and mate together, with gambling and blackguardism.\n\nWe are shunned and hated because of our testimony, and because\nour example is a reproof. But we mind our own business, and study\nlanguage and the Scriptures every day.\n\nThe young man of which I speak is a Mr. Howard, from the United\nStates, who is well educated, and has read our books with much\ninterest during the passage, and has requested to be baptized and\njoin the Church as soon as we land. He is not accustomed to a\nseafaring life, and wishes to go to the mountains with us. He has\nbeen brought up at school and in clerking. I think his calling is\nto preach the Gospel, but I have not yet even hinted this to him.\n\nBrethren, I want to see you all with a desire above all other\ntimes of my life. I feel as though I wanted to sit down with you\nand seek the powers and gifts of God and the powers of Heaven, even\nthat which shall be shed forth for the restoration of the house of\nIsrael.\n\nOh, when will the time come? When shall the veil be rent and the\nfull powers of the apostleship be permitted to be exercised on the\nearth? It must be before long or no flesh be saved--for the powers\nof darkness prevail abroad to that degree that it can even be felt\nphysically.\n\nThere are none who know the Lord; none who seek after the truth;\nnone who appreciate it when found; none who incline to cease from\nsin. I had like to have said to be found abroad in the earth. To\nfind one is like lighting a candle and searching diligently for\nfood among of dungeons of darkness, death and famine.\n\nAdieu till we land.\n\nYour brother,\n    P. P. PRATT.\n\n\nCHAPTER L.\n------------------------\n\nArrival in San Francisco:--Return to Salt Lake\nCity:--Second Mission to the Pacific:--Articles from the Press.\n\nAfter a long and tedious passage of seventy-nine days we landed\nin San Francisco on the 21st of May, having suffered severely for\nthe last forty days for the want of proper food.\n\nAfter resting and recuperating for a few days, my time was again\ndevoted to the ministry in the Church at San Francisco and San\nJose, and in visiting, studying language, writing to the other\nmissionaries, and in the preparations for our homeward journey,\nuntil near the end of July; and I would here add, that, through the\nkindness of my brethren and friends, near twelve hundred dollars in\nmoney, mules and a wagon was contributed to assist me in my mission\nand for my journey home, being given at various times after my\narrival from Chili.\n\nI found the Saints in the above named places possessed of some\nfaith and kindness, benevolence and charity. They were also\nendeavoring to serve the Lord, and to set good examples of life,\nand they met often to worship and edify each other and as many as\ncame to their meetings. Many attended their meetings and listened\nwith interest, and some were baptized and added to the Church.\n\nI urged the principles of the gathering with all the energy of\nthe gift of God within me, but seemingly almost in vain. The world\nand the gain thereof seemed to have a strong hold and influence\nover them. After a trial for months, I only obtained three men to\ngo with me, for Deseret, besides brother Allen. These were Wm.\nFollett, Thomas Dual and Elisha Hyatt; with these I started on the\nsteamer \"Sea Bird\" about the last of July.\n\nWe landed in St. Pedro after three days, and on the 14th day of\nAugust we arrived all safe in San Barnardino, where we were kindly\nreceived by Brother Amasa Lyman and the Saints in general, whom we\nfound well and prosperous. We camped near Sister Rich's, and were\nentertained by them very hospitably.\n\n_Sunday, 15th_.--Met with the Saints for worship and\npreached to them. It was a meeting full of interest, well attended\nby both sexes; good singing, good instruction, the sacrament, and\nin the afternoon a Sabbath school.\n\nTheir meeting house is large and commodious, and is used for\nschool purposes every day.\n\n_August 20th_.--Brother C. C. Rich arrived in good health\nfrom Salt Lake City with seventeen men, making their journey in\ntwenty-two days without loss or accident, having six wagons.\nReports well of the grass and water. Tells of much rain on the\ndesert and in Deseret. Brings good news of all things there, and\nletters from my family, who were all alive and well.\n\n_Sunday, 22d_.--Had a joyful meeting with Brother Amasa\nLyman, C. C. Rich and the Church. After meeting we three of the\nTwelve met and appointed certain young men to study the Spanish\nlanguage, with a view to a mission hereafter, and Brother Stout to\nteach a class in Spanish, in this place, to consist of such young\nmen.\n\n_September 4th_.--Attended a harvest feast in the bowery,\nor meeting house. The entire people made this feast, and assembled\nto enjoy it. The room was richly and tastefully ornamented and set\noff with evergreens, specimens of grains, vegetables, etc.\n\nMeeting opened by prayer and singing, and a few remarks from\nmyself and others, after which the entire day and evening was spent\nin feasting, dancing and speaking.\n\nEvery variety almost which the earth produced, or skill could\nprepare, was spread out in profusion and partaken of by\nall--citizens, strangers, Spaniards or Indians--with that freedom\nand good order which is characteristic of the Saints.\n\nThe dances were conducted with decorum and propriety. Old and\nyoung, married and single, grandsire and child, all mingling in the\ndance so far as they chose, without a jarring spirit to mar their\npeace.\n\nWith an address from A. Lyman, a few words from C. C. Rich and\nmyself, and benediction, we closed, about nine P.M., one of the\nmost interesting assemblies of the Saints in this place.\n\n_Tuesday, 14th_.--All being ready, we took leave of the\nSaints in San Barnardino, and commenced our journey at nine\no'clock, A.M. Brothers Rich and Lyman, with several other friends,\naccompanied us a few miles, and ox teams and teamsters accompanied\nus for three days, to haul us over the Cajon Pass, where we took\nleave of them, and at evening organized our company as follows:--P.\nP. Pratt and wife, Rufus Allen, William Follett, Clark Ames, Samuel\nGould, Andrew Calhoun and wife, Elisha Hyatt wife and child, Thomas\nDowel, John Hyatt, John Green, George Clark. John Green was\nappointed captain of the guard. In all, eleven men, four women and\none child.\n\nWe were soon joined by five Spaniards, who had near forty\nanimals, mostly horses, who accompanied us for some hundreds of\nmiles, and joined us in guarding, etc. Their animals being poor and\nunshod, we left them on the Rio Virgin. We met a company of\ntwenty-four emigrants near the Salt Spring.\n\nOn the Muddy our camp was thronged with near sixty Indians, in a\nstate of nudity, bringing with them green corn, melons, and dressed\nskins for sale, or exchange for clothing. They were all good\nnatured and glad to see us; some of them accompanied us twenty-five\nmiles, held our horses, guns, etc., and assisted us up the hills.\n\nAfter twenty days we all arrived in safety at Santa Clara, about\none hundred miles from the settlement in Iron County.\n\n_October 7th_.--All arrived in safety in the settlement\nin Iron County, Utah, and were kindly received and entertained by\nthe Saints.\n\nI called on Sister Robinson in the twilight of evening, and\nasked for the dinner which I had spoken for one and a half years\nbefore. We were kindly received by her and others.\n\nWe tarried three days in Parowan Fort and preached to the\nSaints.\n\nTaking leave of the Saints we resumed our journey. Nothing\nworthy of note transpired during the rest of the journey, which was\ntwo hundred and fifty miles, mostly among the settlements, where we\nwere kindly entertained.\n\nOn the 18th, near midnight, I arrived home. I found my family in\nusual health.\n\nOn my arrival home I found my wife, Mary Ann Frost, and my two\nchildren, Olivia and Moroni, who had arrived from Maine, where they\nhad been for several years. The two children were glad to see me,\nbut their mother had for several years been alienated from me. I,\nhowever, supported her until the following spring, when she applied\nfor and obtained a bill of divorce; after which, with the two\nchildren, she removed to Utah County.\n\nI spent the remainder of the autumn in the ministry, and in\noverseeing and assisting in farming, fencing, etc.\n\nI was also chosen a member of the Legislative Council, to which\nI devoted forty days, commencing in December, 1852. Occupied with\nthese duties, and with the study of Spanish, the year 1852 was\nbrought to a close.\n\n_January, 1853_.-This month was mostly occupied in the\nlegislative councils.\n\n_April 6th_.--I attended a General Conference, on which\noccasion the corner stones of the Salt Lake Temple were laid by the\nFirst Presidency, Twelve and others. \"The Temple Block is forty\nrods square, the lines running north and south, east and west, and\ncontains ten acres. The center of the Temple is one hundred and\nfifty-six feet six inches due west from the center of the east line\nof the block. The length of said house, east and west, is one\nhundred and eighty-six and a half feet, including towers, and the\nwidth ninety-nine feet. On the east end there are three towers, as\nalso on the west. Draw a line north and south, one hundred and\neighteen and a half feet, through the center of the towers, and you\nhave the north and south extent of ground plan, including\npedestal.\"\n\nI devoted the remainder of the season to the ministry, and to\nfarming, building, etc., not wholly neglecting the study of\nSpanish.\n\nAt the August election I was returned to the Legislative Council\nby unanimous vote, and in December following I attended its session\ntill the end of the year.\n\n_January, 1854_.--Still in legislative session, which\nadjourned the latter part of this month.\n\nThe remainder of the winter was spent in the ministry; in the\nactive duties of a Regent of the University of Deseret (being one\nof a Committee on the Deseret Alphabet and a New System of\nOrthography); in teaching a class in the Spanish language; in\nministering in the ordinances of the endowments in the house of the\nLord; and in studying, writing, etc.\n\nAt a General Conference, held on the 6th day of April, I was\nappointed to a second mission to California. Donations were\ncontributed to aid me in said mission.\n\n_May 5th_.--I took leave of my family and friends in Salt\nLake City and started on my second mission to California.\n\nBrother Thurston, a young man who had a mission to the isles,\naccompanied me. We had a small wagon, drawn by two mules.\n\nAt Provo we joined Governor Young and train on their trip south,\nand travelled with them as far as Cedar City. At Parowan we were\njoined by Elders Silas Smith and Brother West, who had also been\nselected by the conference as missionaries to the islands.\n\nAt this place Brother Young gave me the parting hand and blessed\nme; and also Brother Kimball rose up and blessed me, and, as he\ngave me the parting hand, promised many good things. He said I\nshould be blest, and my posterity forever.\n\nHere we parted--Brother Young and company on their return, while\nI and my company proceeded on our Pacific Mission.\n\nNear Cedar City we were joined by other missionaries, and our\ncompany now consisted of twenty-four men and one woman.\n\nNothing of particular note occurred on our journey, and on June\n9th we arrived safely and in good health and spirits at San\nBarnardino, and were kindly entertained by Elders C. C. Rich and A.\nLyman.\n\nAfter resting a few days I here left the main company and\nstarted with Brother J. W. Stewart in a carriage for the port of\nSan Pedro--distance, eighty-five miles. The road was good, and we\ncamped out two nights and arrived on the 14th, and were kindly\nreceived by Messrs. Alexander & Co., who kept the warehouse.\n\nHere I unexpectedly met with a company of Saints from Australia,\nunder the direction of Elder William Hyde, and we mutually rejoiced\nin meeting friends.\n\nI set sail on the steamer \"Southerner\" for San Francisco on June\n24th, and had kind treatment and passage free in cabin. We had head\nwinds and were driven back three times, being five days longer than\nusual on the passage, arriving there on the 2d of July in safety.\nIn a few days I went to San Jose Valley, and at Brother Cheeney's I\nfound my wife Elizabeth, in very poor health--she having come on\nbusiness a few months previous. We rested a few days at Brother\nCheeney's and were kindly entertained.\n\nWe then returned to San Francisco, and about the 10th of July\nthe other missionaries arrived from San Barnardino. I met Brothers\nTanner and McBride, who had been on a mission to the Sandwich isles\nand had returned. Brother Tanner had purchased a vessel in order to\ntransport the Elders both ways and to emigrate the Saints; but we\ncould not pay for it and fit it for sea, notwithstanding I ran in\ndebt to help him, so we had to sell it at a great loss.\n\nWe now commenced holding meetings, circulating books, tracts,\nand in every way we could, to notify and warn the people.\n\nI devoted the time I could spare from the ministry to writing my\nhistory and for the press.\n\nSome time in August, Elders George Q. Cannon, J. Hawkins, Bigler\nand Farran, of the Island Mission, landed, and Brother Cannon\nassisted me some forty days in copying my autobiography.\n\nAbout the last of August the following was published in a weekly\npaper, called the _Chronicle_, of San Francisco:\n\nA PROPHET IS AMONG US.\n\nMr. Parley P. Pratt, of Salt Lake notoriety, is among us, and we\nknew it not. He has just addressed a letter to Mr. J. S. Hittell,\nwhose \"proposed course of lectures _against_ Christianity\"\nappears to have caught the Prophet's attention.\n\nAs Mr. Pratt's letter, which is written on the blank leaf of a\nprinted Latter-day Saint's circular, is curious and characteristic,\nwe give a copy of it. We also give a copy of the circular itself.\nTo enable the reader to understand Mr. Pratt's allusions in the\nletter, he had better first glance over Mr. Hittell's advertisement\nin another column. One would scarcely have thought that Mr. Pratt\ncould seriously expect to make converts to his faith in this\n\"desperately wicked\" California--the very hell on earth of the\n\"Mormons.\" But so it seems to be. We give him and his cause all the\npublicity we can, by publishing his circular gratuitously.\n\nSAN FRANCISCO, _September 1st, 1854_.\n\nMR. JNO. S. HITTELL.\n\n_Sir_--What do you mean by the term \"Christianity?\" If\nyou mean the system taught by Christ and His Apostles, as recorded\nin the \"New Testament,\" you need give yourself or the public no\nuneasiness, for no such system has troubled the earth for the last\nthousand years at least, so far as we have any knowledge, except in\nthe single instance of its restoration in the United States by the\nProphet Joseph Smith; and even this has been misnamed \"Mormonism,\"\nand driven to the mountains of Utah.\n\nIn short, this Christianity of the New Testament is a system of\nvisions, angels, revelations, prophesyings, gifts, miracles, etc.\nSuch system you can never oppose--it speaks and acts for itself;\nits votaries know what they experience, see, hear and feel.\n\nAs to the modern systems--the forms without power, they are not\nworth opposing; they are dying of themselves before the power and\nintelligence of truth made manifest by \"Mormonism.\"\n\nI am happy to subscribe myself\n      The friend of truth and man,\n        PARLEY P. PRATT.\n\nCIRCULAR.\n\nRepent! ye people of California. _For know, assuredly, the\nKingdom of God has come nigh unto you._\n\nMr. Pratt, missionary from Salt Lake, will impart instruction on\nthe fullness of the Gospel to individuals, families, or\ncongregations who may desire it.\n\nHaving authority of Jesus Christ he will also baptize by\nimmersion in water for remission of sins, and administer the gift\nof the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands to all penitent\nbelievers in Christ who will covenant to cease from sin, and serve\nGod with all their hearts.\n\nMr. Pratt will accept, with pleasure, any invitations from his\nfellow citizens to preach in their houses, halls or churches,\nwithout respect to party or sect.\n\nWhen not otherwise engaged, he will hold public meetings at his\nresidence on each Sunday, at the usual hours; also, prayer meetings\non Thursdays, at two P. M.\n\nThe following appeared in the _Christian Advocate_ of San\nFrancisco, September 22:\n\nCASE OF DEFAMATION.\n\nP. P. Pratt, an Apostle of \"Mormonism,\" takes us to task in no\nmeasured terms for our unregenerate temerity, in daring to quote\nfrom the _Richmond Despatch_ Dr. Ferris's account of the\n\"Mormon\" community at Salt Lake. To have a man possessed of divine\nauthority, and capable of raising the dead, threaten us so, is\ntruly awful. Men have pursued us with bludgeons and revolvers\nbefore, but this thing of being sent straight down to the bottom of\nthe bad place, is a sprinkle more terrific than carnal weapons.\n\nWe are half inclined to repent, as much as we can, without\ndoubting a word of Dr. Ferris's description.\n\nOur readers will rejoice to know, from an apostle of Joe\nSmithism, that all lyings, and deceivings, and priestcrafts and\n_whoredoms_ shall be done away. Here is the letter:\n\nWoe to you, priests, editors, hypocrites! You love to publish\nlies to destroy the innocent. You condemn the just, and he doth not\nresist you.\n\nRead your _Christian Advocate_ of September 15, headed\n\"The Mormons,\" and _tremble_; for God will not suffer such\nlies to be published with impunity. \"For,\" thus saith the Lord:\n\"all lyings, and deceivings, and priestcrafts and whoredoms shall\nbe done away, and whosoever will not repent and come unto my\nbeloved Son, will I cut off from among the people, and I will\nexecute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen,\nsuch as have not heard.\"\n\nNow, Messrs. Heath, Taylor, Blain and Philips, you know in your\nown hearts that you have published lies enough about the \"Mormons\"\nto sink you and those who patronize your publications to the lowest\nhell with murderers.\n\nYou know the people of Salt Lake to be an innocent community,\ntherefore, repent quickly, or your damnation is sealed, and your\nhands will be found dripping with innocent blood.\n\nYours etc.,\n      P. P. PRATT\n\nA few more such will cause us to retire to private life.--Eds.\n\nA CHALLENGE\n\n_Editor's Chronicle_:--I perceive by the tone of the\npress that politicians, moralists and religionists are in trouble\nabout Utah and Polygamy. \"War!\" \"war!\" \"blood!\" and \"destruction\"\nto the poor heathen Mormons! But, thanks to the pious Methodists,\nthe Mormons are going to be converted first. Missionaries are going\nto be sent to them.\n\nIt is the right of the President of the United States to appoint\na Governor, and to send troops to Utah. The citizens of that\nterritory know this, and have no objections. But suppose a Governor\nand troops went there to interfere with the rights and liberties of\nthe people and trample on the laws, why then, of course, the\naggressors, in common with all others are amenable to the civil\ncourts, and are liable to fine, imprisonment or execution,\naccording to their crimes. Even if they only threaten, they might\nbe bound over to keep the peace. The courts of Utah have never yet\nbeen found remiss in the execution of the laws.\n\nWhat is the particular crime alleged against the Governor and\ncitizens of Utah, for which they are threatened with destruction or\nconversion?\n\nWe will be told it is Polygamy. Well, \"sin,\" says the Apostle,\n\"is the transgression of law.\" We should greatly prefer conversion\nto murder, and here permit me to suggest a plan for a wholesale\nconversion, without a drop of blood or even the trouble of a\njourney to Utah.\n\nI am here in California as an official member and representative\nof the Church in Utah, for which I can produce credentials. I am\nwilling to meet a convention of the ablest lawyers and clergy to be\nfound in our country, and I hereby pledge my honor that I will\npublicly renounce Polygamy, and that the church I represent will do\nthe same, on the following conditions, viz:\n\nThe Old and New Testaments, the Constitution and laws of the\nUnited States, and the laws of Utah Territory shall be their\nstandard; and if in all this wide range one item of law can be\nfound wherein God, angels, men, prophets, apostles, the Son of God\nor the Holy Spirit have made plurality of wives a _crime_, a\n_transgression of law_ or an _immorality_, then, on these\nconditions, we will renounce Polygamy. But till this is done\nwe shall hold the law of God on the subject of matrimony, including\na plurality of wives, as a most sacred institution, binding on our\nown consciences, in the free exercise of which we claim the\nprotection so freely and fully guaranteed by the constitution of\nour common country.\n\nIf editors in general throughout the country will please publish\nthis, it may tend to investigation and enlightenment, either of the\n\"poor, ignorant Mormons,\" or of those who think them so far out of\nthe way.\n\nP. P. PRATT.\n    SANTA CLARA, November 22d, 1854.\n\n_December 6th_.--I returned to San Francisco, and on the\nsecond evening attended a discussion at the Mercantile Library\nAssociation, on the subject of Governor Young, the Utah Mormons and\nthe general government. Spoke several times, and was appointed to\nmake the opening speech in one week from that time on the same\nsubject, and to be answered by Rev. Mr. Briggs.\n\nFROM THE DAILY \"ALTA CALIFORNIA\"\n\nMr. Parley P. Pratt, for whom we have considerable respect as a\nman and as a teacher, coupled with as much admiration of his talent\nas the doctrines which he employs to defend it will admit of, Mr.\nParley P. Pratt appears to have walked into the temples of our\nmoney changers in this city, and fairly put to flight all reason\nand philosophy by the boldness of his attack upon the Christian\nChurch.\n\nOur readers will remember Mr. Pratt as the self-confessed\nApostle of Polygamic Mormonism in California, and its last exploit\nwas to draw up on him the fire of a room full of debaters in the\nSan Francisco Mercantile Library Association, and then commenced a\nbombardment of the citadel of their reason, and silenced or\nrendered useless every gun! For several weeks Mr. Pratt has been\nwheeling and charging his squadron of polygamic arguments in full\nsight of all our church doors and lecture rooms, and even advanced\nin person to the foot of our pulpits to proclaim himself the\ndefender of a new faith, flinging the glove even into the\nminister's desk.\n\nUp to the present time, we believe, no David has gone forth\nagainst this Philistine to meet him on either point of law,\nmorality or religion, which he declares himself ready to engage an\nenemy upon.\n\nWe naturally ask, why is this? In a city with so many well\nsupported churches and able divines, can no one be found to match\nthis champion of the Mormons? Or are the abhorrence and contempt of\nsuch doctrines, and scorn of their advocates so great as to stifle\nthe power of expression among our worthy controversialists? Either\nof these causes, we consider fallacious and bad. Passion should\nplay no part in the impulses of Christian minds, and we much doubt\nthe propriety of condemning a doctrine because of its low origin,\nor despising argument because it may not present a respectable\nexterior. Missionaries are sent to the heathen; and why should\ndiscussion be denied heathenistic doctrines when they are brought\nto our own very doors?\n\nWe have very worthy and respectable street preachers in San\nFrancisco, and we do not see how a religious discussion with a\nMormon would profane the walls of any one of our churches, or taint\nthe reputation of any of our ministers of the gospel.\n\nMr. Pratt seems to have the best of the law on his side so far\nas the situation of the Salt Lake people is concerned; under our\nterritorial regulations there really appears to be no law to\nprevent Polygamy.\n\n_December 9th_.--Returned to Santa Clara by steamer and\nstage, and found all well.\n\n_Sunday, 10th_.--Preached twice to an attentive and\nsomewhat numerous audience in a large and commodious hall. Visited\nand wrote history the four following days, and instructed such as\nsought me.\n\n_Friday, 15th_.--Repaired again to San Francisco in\ncompany with some five of my friends, and at evening attended the\ndiscussion. The place was crowded, and God gave me His Spirit, and\ntruth triumphed.\n\n\nCHAPTER LI.\n------------------------\n\nREPLY TO THE REV. MR. BRIGGS\n\nON THE SUBJECT OF THE EXPEDIENCY OF THE REAPPOINTMENT OF\nHIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR YOUNG, OF UTAH.\n\nMy friend, Mr. Briggs, in the fullness of his charity as a\n\"peacemaker,\" the other evening kindly, gently, and in a\nChristian-like manner merely suggested a few pious ideas concerning\nmyself such as theft, robbery, murder, etc., being considered no\ncrime by me and the \"Mormons,\" provided these crimes were committed\non the Gentiles, and in favor of the Church treasury, etc.\n\nThis puts me in mind of the good, peaceable Quaker who said to a\npoor dog which he wanted killed, \"I will not kill thee, but I will\ngive thee a bad name.\" So he cried, \"Mad dog! Mad dog!\" And on\nhearing this cry the people soon despatched the poor animal.\n\nPerhaps my friend thinks to get the Mormons killed off in the\nsame pious and Christian-like manner. Even should he succeed in his\npeaceful, pious purposes, it would not be the first time that the\nblood of martyrs has stained our soil through the influence of such\nChristian benevolence.\n\nI am truly sorry to see so worthy a fellow citizen--so pious a\nman--one so full of charity and benevolence--so uninformed, so\nutterly at fault on the most familiar subjects of Bible history and\nmorality, or of right and wrong, as to insinuate that there is no\ndifference between Polygamy and adultery; between a house full of\nwives and children and a house full of harlots.\n\nHe takes Polygamy, adultery, theft and murder, and compounds\nthem all together as crime! And then seems to infer that a man\nwould steal, commit adultery, etc., simply from the fact that he\nhas a house full of wives and children! And even my good friend the\nlearned and candid Mr. Hittell, although very just in the main\ndrift of his argument, the other evening seemed to recognize no\nvery clear distinction between Polygamy and adultery, or between a\nman having his own wife, or robbing a neighbor of his wife.\n\nSir, in justice to myself and the cause I represent, and in\ncharity to those whose judgments are so warped by tradition and\ncustom; whose otherwise keen perceptions are so blunted by Roman\nsuperstitions and Puritan littleness, I must call the attention of\nthese gentlemen to the recognized standard of all Christian\nnations--\"The law and Testimony\"--and give them a lesson on the\nfirst principles of right and wrong, or of virtues and vices,\naccording to the laws of God and nature.\n\nI will state the question direct, as inferred or inquired, by my\nfriend the \"peace maker.\" What is the difference between a house\nfull of wives and children or a house of \"ill fame,\" or of\n\"harlots?\"\n\nSir, I will tell you. The one leads to _life_ and the\nother to _death_--I mean literally--or, in plainer language,\none rightly conducted, under the blessings and law of God,\nmultiplies, preserves and trains our species in the highest order\nof physical, moral and intellectual endowment the world with\ncities; gives rise to nations; and has given to the world its\nprincipal rulers, kings, prophets, apostles, and, finally, its\nMessiah, and is the lineage and order through and in which all\nnations shall be blessed.\n\nThe other perverts the order of nature; prostitutes the most\nholy principles and affections to the vilest of purposes; checks\nthe reproduction of our species; spreads disease and death as a\nsweeping pest through the world; degenerates the race; and if it\nfills the world fills it with a mean, grovelling, sickly, puny,\nlustful, deformed and miserable race of beings, whose misfortune is\nthat they were born at all.\n\nSuch were the people of the flood; the people of Sodom and the\nCanaanites, who were so far degenerated that the Lord in mercy\ninterfered, and doomed them to utter destruction, that nations and\nraces degenerate should no longer propagate their species: and\nthen, by his own holy laws of marriage, repeopled those same\ncountries with a better race.\n\nAs polygamists Abraham and Jacob were the friends of God; worthy\nto converse with Him, and to receive His blessing on themselves and\ntheir wives and children; worthy of associating with angels from\nHeaven, and of being filled with the holy and pure spirit of\nprophecy and of revelation; while, for their sakes, kings were\nreproved, saying, \"touch not mine own anointed, and do my prophets\nno harm.\"\n\nAs a polygamist Jacob gave twelve tribes to the world instead of\ntwo, which was the number born by his first intended, his beloved\nRachel. While, on the other hand, his sons visited a whole city\nwith the sword, because its _ruler_ had seduced their sister\nDinah.\n\nAs a polygamist Moses beheld the face of God, and was filled\nwith His glory to that degree that his face shone like that of an\nangel.\n\nAs an adulterist, a prince of Israel, named Ziniri, was killed\nin the very act by Phineas the priest, the grandson of Aaron; which\nact of justice so pleased the Lord that he stayed the plague which\nwas consuming the camp on account of their whoredoms.\n\nThe law of God regulating and sanctioning Polygamy was thundered\nfrom Mount Sinai in awful majesty, from the mouth of the God of\nIsrael, although it had existed before, and also among the eternal\nand unchangeable principles of morality, virtue and purity.\n\nWhile, on the other hand, the same God, in a voice of thunder,\nproclaimed, \"Thou shalt not commit adultery, nor covet thy\nneighbor's wife, or anything that is thy neighbor's.\"\n\nAs a bigamist, Elkanah, who had two wives, became the father of\nSamuel, the Prophet; he being a child of promise, obtained by the\nfervent prayer of Hannah, his mother, in the Holy Temple, and by\nher vows devoted to the service of the Temple from his childhood.\nWhile, on the other hand, had he been a child of whoredoms, instead\nof a child of bigamy, he would have been excluded from the house of\nthe Lord, and his children after him, for ten generations.\n\nThe first revelation ever given to this child of bigamy rebuked\nthe priests, the sons of Eli, _Hophni_ and _Phineas_, for their\nwhoredoms and other sins, and revealed their dooms. In fulfillment\nof his words these two fornicators fell in battle while bearing\nthe very Ark of God.\n\nAs a polygamist, David, the anointed King and Prophet of Israel,\nwas called a man after God's own heart; and God Himself expressly\ndeclares, by the mouth of Nathan the Prophet, that he gave him his\nwives.\n\nWhile, as an adulterer with the wife of Uriah, and the murderer\nof her husband, he is reproved by the word of the Lord; and,\nalthough he sorely repented, yet the child of his adultery died;\nand his punishment was, that the sword should not depart from his\nhouse; that his wives should be taken from him and given to\nanother; and his own salvation was suspended for ages--the Apostle\nPeter himself declaring, in his day, that the patriarch, David, had\nnot yet ascended into Heaven.\n\nAs polygamists, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are approved and\ncommended by Jesus Christ, who expressly declares that, \"many shall\ncome from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from\nthe south; and shall set down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the\nKingdom of God.\" While, at the same time, he declares that, \"those\nwicked and adulterous persons, who, in that age, considered\nthemselves the children of the kingdom, should be thrust out.\" I\nsincerely hope my mistaken friends here will learn, ere that\neventful day, to distinguish between a house of Polygamy and a\ncrowd of adulterers; but they might by mistake consider the kingdom\nof God a house of ill fame, and go with the wrong crowd.\n\nSir, the Apostle Paul sets forth Abraham, the polygamist, as the\nfather of the faithful; worthy of all imitation, as heir of the\neternal covenants and promises; in whose seed all nations shall be\nblessed. He shows, most clearly, that the gospel introduces us into\nthe family of polygamists; makes us children of Abraham, and heirs\nto the same covenants.\n\nOn the other hand, this same Apostle declares that adulterers\nand fornicators shall not inherit the kingdom of God.\n\nAgain, sir, John the Revelator describes the eternal Jerusalem\nof Heaven, the Royal City of our God, as peopled and governed by\nthe great family of polygamists; which, in its _lineage_,\nincludes Jesus and the holy prophets and apostles of all ages. The\npearly gates are embellished with the names of twelve polygamists,\nthe sons of four women by one man.\n\nWhile, on the other hand, this same John expressly declares,\nthat the place for all liars, sorcerers, whoremongers and\nadulterers is outside; and that there shall in no wise enter into\nthe city anything that defileth or maketh a lie.\n\nNow to come to Utah. There, sir, the law of God is _honored\n_; by it we determine what is virtue and what is vice. Here,\nsir, if nowhere else in Christendom, our virtuous wives and\nchildren, given us by the law of God, are our _glory_; our\n_crown of rejoicing_; our _kingdom in embryo_, big with thrones\nof power and immortality. There, sir, the local administration\ncarries out the principles of the glorious Constitution and laws\nof our common country--even to the protection of prophets and\napostles, who have dared to restore the Laws of God, and to\norganize and regulate their household by the same. And--\n\nSir, I have yet to learn by what constitutional or moral right a\nlocal state sovereignty makes a crime of that which, rightly\nconducted, never has been recognized as a crime by God, or angels,\nprophets or apostles, or even by the Saviour of the world.\n\nI have yet to learn by what right a State of this Union dooms a\nman to prison for a conscientious act, in embracing the everlasting\ncovenant, made with Abraham and the fathers; while, at the same\ntime, a fornicator, who by the law of God, is worthy of _death\n_, runs at large, or, at most, pays a fine for his damnable\ndeeds of seduction, and then is at liberty to repeat them, while\nhis purse will hold out to pay the repeated fines and damages.\n\nI have yet to learn that a State has the constitutional right to\ndeprive a Mormon, a Jew, or even a Mahomedan or Pagan of his most\nsacred rights of conscience in regard to marriage relations or\nfamily ties; while they are regulated by the recognized laws of the\nBible, or of most civilized nations of ancient and modern times.\n\nNow, sir, let me say that, on account of the corrupt\ninstitutions, and the prevalence of whoredoms in modern\nChristendom, the _race is degenerated_; the cities and\nnations are corrupted till earth groans; the heavens weep; the sun\nwill, ere long, veil his face in shame; the moon be arrayed in\ncrimson blushes; the starry heavens tremble; the planets be thrown\nfrom their orbits, and tremble for very anguish; while plagues,\nearthquakes, storms and tempests sweep the earth, and famine and\nthe sword devour the wicked; while fire consumes the mystic Babel,\nthe great whore of all the earth.\n\nThen will prevail the kingdom of our God, and the power of his\nChrist; \"and the saints shall possess the kingdom and the greatness\nof the kingdom under the whole heaven,\" while the meek inherit the\nearth; and the house of Israel, under the new and everlasting\ncovenant of eternal matrimony, blossom and bear fruit, and fill the\nface of the world with cities.\n\nMen, brethren and fathers: It is for the hope of Israel the\neternal laws, promises and covenants of God made to the fathers,\nthat myself and the \"Mormons\" are called in question.\n\nWe believe the prophets, sir, and, therefore, expect the wreck\nof nations; the casting down of thrones; the crash of states, and\nthe winding up of all mere human institutions; while a new dynasty,\nas a universal Theocracy, shall succeed and stand forever.\n\nThe nucleus of this kingdom, sir, is formed; this grain of\nmustard seed is planted and has sprung up, and is beginning to grow\nand flourish in the heart of our country, under the fostering care\nand constitutional guarantee of the very best human government now\nexisting on this earth.\n\nSir, God raised up the United States and influenced her\nconstitutional institutions for the very purpose of shielding and\nprotecting the Church in the wilderness, and all men in their\nliberties, and of throwing a guard around His embryo kingdom till\nHe should come, whose right it is to reign and subdue all enemies\nunder his feet.\n\nHis kingdom, sir, when organized, in the United States, is a\nconstitutional kingdom of God. It has the perfect liberty and\nright, guaranteed by our institutions, to organize itself under the\nadministration of prophets and apostles, and to receive the\nministrations of angels, and of visions and revelations from\nHeaven.\n\nSir, one of the strongest reasons I urge for the reappointment\nof Governor Young is, that as a polygamist, civilian and an\necclesiastic, he has given the strongest proof of his skill in the\nscience of government, whether of _Family, Church or State_.\n\n_Sunday, 17_.--Met with the Saints twice, and preached to\nthem, and were truly blessed; and partook of the ordinance of bread\nand wine, in remembrance of our Lord. Next day I repaired to\nOakland and met the Lyceum, and made arrangements for discussing\npolygamy on the next evening; and, according to appointment\n(Tuesday, 19), met the Lyceum and a large assembly of both sexes,\nand discussed the law of marriages till eleven o'clock at night.\nTruth was triumphant, and my adversaries confounded.\n\nOn the last of the month we convened a General Conference at\nSanta Clara, of two days, during which five branches were\nrepresented--in all about one hundred and twenty members. We had a\njoyful time, much good teaching, and many out to hear.\n\n\nCHAPTER LII.\n------------------------\n\nStatements Pertaining to the History of Joseph\nSmith:--Return to Utah:--Home Mission:--Attend the Legislature at\nFillmore:--The Standard of Zion:--Return to Salt Lake City.\n\n_February 24th_.\n\nI sat for a large likeness, taken in\ndaguerreotype, as a keepsake for my family, being forty-seven years\nten months and twelve days old. I presented this to my son Parley,\nto be handed down from generation to generation, as long as it will\nlast.\n\nIn March a Council was held at my office, and it was concluded\nto remove the Conference of the 6th of April next from Santa Clara\nto San Francisco, where I also moved my wife and made my home\nduring the remainder of my mission.\n\nApril 12th.--This is my birthday. I am forty-eight years old. I\nwrote letters for home today and sent a set of books, viz: \"Book of\nMormon,\" \"Doctrine and Covenants,\" \"Hymn Book,\" \"Voice of Warning,\"\n\"Harp of Zion,\" etc., to each of my wives and to Parley, Olivia and\nMoroni, my elder children; also, books to my younger children,\nAlma, Nephi, Helaman, Julia, Lucy, Agatha, Belinda and Abinadi,\nCornelia and Malona, and small presents and candies for the little\nones, Phebe, Hannahette, Mary, Lehi and Moroni W., all as a\nbirthday present or memorial.\n\nIn May I received a letter from President Young counselling me\nto return home this coming summer.\n\n_June 8th_.--The sad news reached us today of Brother\nSilas Beckwith being murdered and buried. This Beckwith was one of\nthe Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War, and was, at the time of\nhis death, a worthy member and teacher in the San Juan branch.\n\nI visited his widow and orphans, and spent some hours in the\nhouse of mourning. On my second visit I gained and wrote down the\nfollowing statements pertaining to the history of Joseph Smith:\n\nMrs. Eunice Corinthia Beckwith, formerly Mrs. Lawn (whose\nfather's name was Joshua Twitchell), was the widow of John Lawn,\ncaptain of a company of Illinois Militia, of McDonough County, who\nguarded Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Carthage Jail until the morning\nof the day they were martyred, when himself and company were\ndisbanded by order of Governor Ford, and started for home, leaving\nthe prisoners in the hands of the Carthage Greys.\n\nOn taking leave of the prisoners he gave his hand, received\nJoseph's blessing, and heard him say most solemnly: \"Farewell,\nCaptain Lawn; when you and your men leave me my life guard is\ngone.\" Previous to this, however, Joseph had read to him the\nfifty-fifth Psalm, and told him to remember that chapter and read\nit to his friends when he arrived home. One of the Carthage Greys\nalso read in reply the sixty-first Psalm.\n\nCaptain Lawn and his troops had marched about twelve miles\ntowards home when the news reached them of the martyrdom! At this\nhe exclaimed: \"O that I had known of this massacre, so soon to\ntranspire! I would have remained, and, when the first ball was\nfired at the Smiths, I would have fired the second through the body\nof the villain who fired it or died in the attempt.\" A man named\nTownsend, living in Iowa, near Fort Madison, was one of the mob who\nassaulted and forced in the jail door. The pistol discharged by\nJoseph Smith wounded him in the arm, near the shoulder, and it\ncontinued to rot without healing until it was taken off and even\nthen it would not heal.\n\nAbout six months after he was shot Mrs. Lawn saw his arm and\ndressed it. He was then gradually rotting and dying with the wound.\nHe stayed over night with Mrs. Lawn's father, and groaned through\nthe night without sleeping. He asked the old gentleman what he\nthought of Joseph Smith being a Prophet? He replied that he did not\nknow. \"Well,\" said Townsend, \"_I know he was a Prophet of God\n_! And, oh, that I had stayed at home and minded my own\nbusiness, and then I would not have lost my life and been tormented\nwith a guilty conscience, and with this dreadful wound, which\n_none can heal_!\" He died two or three months afterwards, having\nliterally rotted alive!\n\nJames Head, of McComb, was also one of the murderers at the\nCarthage Jail; he was heard by Captain Lawn and others to boast of\nit afterwards, and Captain Lawn drew a pistol and chased him; but\nhe ran away. He was always gloomy and troubled from the time he\nhelped to murder the Smiths, and frequently declared that he saw\nthe two martyrs always before him! He had no peace.\n\nA colonel of the Missouri mob, who helped to drive, plunder and\nmurder the Mormons, died in the hospital at Sacramento, 1849.\nBeckwith had the care of him; he was eaten with worms a large black\nheaded kind of maggot--which passed through him by myriads,\nseemingly a half pint at a time! Before he died these maggots were\ncrawling out of his mouth and nose! He literally rotted alive! Even\nthe flesh on his legs burst open and fell from the bones! They\ngathered up the rotten mass in a blanket and buried him, without\nawaiting a coffin!\n\nA Mr. -----, one of Missouri mob, died in the same hospital\nabout the same time, and under the care of Mr. Beckwith. His face\nand jaw on one side literally rotted, and half of his face actually\nfell off! One eye rotted out, and half of his nose, mouth and jaw\nfell from the bones! The doctor scraped the bones, and unlocked and\ntook out his jaw from the joint round to the center of the chin.\nThe rot and maggots continued to eat till they ate through the\nlarge or jugular vein of his neck, and he bled to death! He, as\nwell as Townsend, stank so previous to their death that they had to\nbe placed in rooms by themselves, and it was almost impossible to\nendure their presence, and the flies could not be kept from blowing\nthem while alive!\n\nWm. T. Head, an officer in Captain Lawn's company, and tarrying\nin Carthage, testified that he saw a certain man raise a large\nknife to strike off the head of Joseph, when, all at once, and in\nthe midst of a clear day, with no cloud in sight, \"a terrible clap\nof thunder rolled heavily, and forked lightnings flashed in the\nface of the murderers, and perfectly paralyzed a number of them.\n\n\"The ruffian, who had raised his knife and had sworn with a\ndreadful oath to take the head off Joseph, stood perfectly\nparalyzed, his arm uplifted with the knife suspended in air, and\ncould not move a limb. His comrades carried him off, and all fled\nin terror from the scene.\"\n\nThese particulars, and many others, were related to me by\nbrother Beckwith previous to his death, and afterwards by his widow\nand father-in-law, and others who were conversant with them, and\nare believed to be correct.\n\nAt a General Conference, held June 16--being the eve of my\ndeparture--it was the unanimous voice of the meeting to give me a\nletter of commendation and fellowship from the Conference to the\nPresidency of the Church in Utah. Elder J. Crosby was set apart as\nPresident of the San Francisco Conference, under my hands and\nothers.\n\nI gave them a few words of farewell and blessing, and returned\nthem my sincere thanks for their many marks of kindness and\nhospitality to me and my wife while we sojourned with them; and I\nshall long remember the many brethren who have generously assisted\nme with means whereby I am enabled to puruse my journey home.\n\nWhile on this mission I have been diligent in preaching,\nteaching, baptizing, visiting and ministering to the sick, and\nwriting for the press. I feel the Saints have rejoiced under my\nteachings, and a goodly number have been added to the Church.\n\n_June 20th_.--I took leave of the Saints and friends at\nSan Francisco and started at noon, with my team, for my home in\nUtah; crossed the ferry at Oakland ten miles on a steamer, and\ndrove twenty-five miles and stopped after sundown at Brother\nNaile's, near San Jose. After resting a few days, and all being\nready, we started from Dr. McIntyre's at nine o'clock A. M., with a\ncompany composed of seven men, two women and one child, five wagons\nand sixteen animals. I thanked God that, after thirteen months and\na few days' absence, I was now ready to return to my home in the\npeaceful valley of the Great Salt Lake.\n\n_August 18th_.--After a long and wearisome journey of\nsome eight hundred miles we arrived safely home, and rejoiced to\nfind all well.\n\n_Sunday, 19th_.--I met the great congregation twice in\nthe Tabernacle and bowery; heard Orson Pratt and President B. Young\npreach, and spoke a few words myself. In the evening met with, the\nQuorum of the Twelve for prayer, as usual.\n\nOn Monday I visited my wife Sarah, and her two children, Julia\nand Teancum, who resided on my farm; and, from this date until the\nConference of October 6th, my time was engaged in the care and\nlabors of my family, and other duties, although I attended Sabbath\nmeetings, and sometimes preached.\n\nThe Conference appointed my brother Orson, and brother Woodruff,\nand myself, with upwards of twenty others, to a home mission in\nUtah Territory.\n\nAfter Conference I spent my time mostly in the House of the\nLord, in administering in the endowments, until the 20th of\nOctober.\n\n_October 15th_, Monday.--Agreeable to instructions from\nPresident Young I called a meeting of a few of the Twelve, and\nothers concerned in the mission, and divided the territory into\nmissionary districts, and assigned to each his labor, appointing\nConferences, or general meetings in each district.\n\n_Saturday, 20th_.--Commenced my home mission by riding\nseventeen miles to attend a general meeting in company with O.\nPratt, W. Woodruff and others, at Farmington, Davis County. Good\nattendance and spirited preaching on this day three times. Tarried\nat Sister Haight's.\n\n_Sunday, 21st_.--At half past eight o'clock, A. M., held\na council of the missionaries of the district, and appointed the\nnext quarterly meeting for the districts, to be held in Bishop\nStoker's ward on the 18th of November next, and the second to be\nheld December 15th, at ten o'clock, in Bishop Kay's ward.\n\nThis day we held three meetings, which were well attended, and\ngreatly blessed with the spirit and power of God.\n\n_Monday, 22d_.--Returned home and found all well.\n\n_November 1st_.--Started with my carriage, accompanied by\nmy wife Belinda and child, my brother Orson Pratt and W. Woodruff,\nand arrived at Ogden on the following day at eleven o'clock, A. M.,\nand put up at President Farr's. Preached in the meeting house three\ntimes. The night following a dreadful wind arose, which did some\ndamage. After travelling and preaching through the northern\nsettlements nearly two weeks to large assemblies, who listened with\ngood attention, we returned home and found all well.\n\n_Saturday, 17th_.--Rode ten miles in my carriage with my\nwife Mary, and brethren O. Pratt and W. Woodruff, to P. Sessions',\nand met with the Saints in a Quarterly Conference.\n\n_Sunday, 18th_.--Met a crowd out of doors, on the south\nside of the school-house, at Bishop Stoker's. I preached in the\nforenoon, and brothers Joseph Young and Erastus Snow in the\nafternoon. Many were out and the good spirit prevailed.\n\nNext morning returned home and found all well.\n\n_December 3d_.--Bid farewell to my family and started in\nmy carriage with Agatha, my wife, and O. Pratt and W. W. Phelps as\npassengers, for the city of Fillmore, to attend the Legislative\nAssembly.\n\n_Friday, 7th_.--Arrived at Fillmore at 1 P.M. in a heavy\nsnow storm. Put up with Brother Bridges.\n\n_Sunday, 9th_.--Attended meeting twice. Preached in the\nmorning and listened to O. Pratt in the afternoon.\n\n_Monday, 10th_.--Attended the council of the Legislature\nand witnessed the organization, and was unanimously elected\nchaplain of the council. Accepted and was sworn, and entered upon\nmy duties, being charged by the President, Hon. H. C. Kimball, to\ninstruct and exhort the members and others in their duties. I\nprepared an address on the laws of marriage and morals, which was\ndelivered to the council on the twenty-first. This was so favorably\nreceived that the Governor and President called for the reading of\nit before the joint session. It was accordingly read by the clerk\non the thirty-first of December. On motion, it was unanimously\nvoted to have it printed in the _Deseret News_; and, on\nmotion, a vote of thanks was carried unanimously.\n\n_January 1st, 1856_.\n\nWrote a letter to the _New York Herald_, and, in the\nevening, attended a dance in the Legislative Hall. It was a fine\nparty, where old and young engaged in the dance till near midnight.\nFrom this time till the adjournment of the Legislative Assembly\nnothing worthy of record transpired.\n\nTHE STANDARD OF ZION\n\n    O, Saints, have you seen, o'er yon mountain's proud height,\n      The day star of promise so brilliantly beaming?\n    Its rays shall illumine the world with its light,\n      And the ensign of Zion, exultingly streaming,\n    All nations invite to walk in its light,\n    And join to maintain the proud standard of right--\n        The Standard of Zion, O long may it wave\n        O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!\n\n    Our motto is peace, and the triumph of right;\n      And we joyfully hail the Millennia dawning,\n    When man can emerge from a long dreary night\n      And bask in the sunbeams of Zion's bright morning.\n    The white flag so rare, still floating in air,\n    Proclaims 'mid the mountains that peace is still there.\n        Let the Standard of Zion eterally wave\n        O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.\n\n    Though earth and its treasures should melt in the fire--\n      The planets be riven with the trumpets' loud thunder,\n    The sunlight of Heaven wax dim and expire,\n      And the veil of eternity parted asunder,\n    Yet firm and unshaken the truth shall remain,\n      And the heirs of the Priesthood forever shall reign,\n        And the Standard of Zion eterally wave\n        O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.\n\nFILLMORE COUNCIL CHAMBER, _January 8, 1856_.\n\n_Tuesday, 15th_.--I attended a festival of the\nLegislature in the State House, where all were treated to abundance\nof oysters, fruits, wines, etc., by the Hon. Secretary Babbitt.\n\n_Friday, 18th_.--The Legislature adjourned and all\nstarted for home. We travelled about forty-five miles--some of the\ndistance in about eight inches of snow--and camped at night in a\npoint of cedars. The cold was extreme, but we emptied our carriage\nand kept a constant fire in the stove. Sat up through the night, as\nthere was not room for all to lie down, and thus we passed the\nnight.\n\n_19th_.--Rode twenty miles to breakfast; arrived in Nephi\nabout ten o'clock, nearly frozen; but a good breakfast and three\nhours' rest revived us, and we started again at 1 P.M. and rode to\nPayson, a distance of twenty-five miles, and were kindly received\nby Brother Donich.\n\n_20th_.--Started at ten A.M. Rode to Provo and dined at\nBrother Stewart's. Rode ten miles more, and were entertained by\nBishop Walker, of Pleasant Grove.\n\n_21st_.--Rode thirty-five miles and dined at the\nBishop's, Unionville, and arrived home at sundown; found all my\nfamily in tolerable health except my little daughter Isabel, who\nhad been sick with a fever and cold on the lungs. I ministered to\nher and she speedily recovered.\n\n_Friday, 25th_.--Spent the day with my family, and in a\nmeeting with a chartered company, called the Deseret Road and\nExpress Company, of which I was a member.\n\n_Saturday, 26th_, and from thence to February 14th was\nspent with my family, and in preaching occasionally in the\nTabernacle and in the different wards in the city. Also in the\noffice of juryman on the Grand Jury of the United States Court.\n\n_Tuesday, March 4th_.--Attended at the President's office\nin the duty as a Regent of the University.\n\nNext day attended at the President's office as a Committee of\nthe Regency in raising school books.\n\n_Thursday, 6th_.--Myself and family fasted and attended\nmeeting in the Fourteenth ward school-house, and at evening visited\nat Brother Southworth's, and attended another meeting in the ward.\n\nHaving been elected a delegate of Salt Lake County to a\nConvention called by the people of the Territory of Utah, to form a\nConstitution for the State of Deseret, I attended the daily\nsessions of the Convention for ten days, ending March 27, 1856. My\ntime, after the adjournment of said Convention, was devoted to\nlaboring on the farm, garden, and administering in the various\nduties of my calling, writing history, etc., until the Annual\nConference, which convened April 6th and closed on the 8th. This\nConference was held under a bowery adjoining the Tabernacle, and\nwas attended by six or eight thousand people. At this Conference\nseveral hundred persons were called to go on missions to the United\nStates, England, Australia, the Sandwich Islands and other parts of\nthe earth. The Presidency enjoined upon me the duty of setting\napart and ordaining those who were called for their several\nmissions, in which I was assisted by the rest of the Twelve and\nsome of the Presidents of Seventies.\n\nAbout this period, or immediately after Conference, I was taken\nsick with a fever and came nigh unto death, which sickness\ncontinued about two weeks.\n\n_May 26th_.--Accompanied by Elder Gates I started on a\nmission of preaching, visiting and instructing the Saints in the\nsouthern part of the Territory; during which tour we held meetings\nat Union Fort, American Fork, Pleasant Grove, Provo, Payson,\nSummit, Nephi, Fillmore, Beaver, Paragona, Parowan, Cedar City and\nHarmony.\n\nOn my return to Salt Lake City called and preached at the\ndifferent towns and settlements on the route, arriving home June\n27, 1856.\n\nWhile at home my time was occupied in attending meetings,\ninstructing and speaking words of comfort and encouragement to the\nSaints, and writing my history, assisted by my wife Kezia, as\ncopyist.\n\n\nCHAPTER LIII.\n------------------------\n\nJOURNAL OF EASTERN MISSION.\n\nDuring the summer, after my return from the South, I performed\nseveral home missions or preaching tours through Davis, Weber and\nBox Elder Counties, and in September received an appointment to\ntake a mission to the States, for which I received the following\nletter of appointment:\n\nUTAH TERRITORY, PRESIDENT'S OFFICE,\n    GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, _Sept. 10, 1856_.\n\nELDER PARLEY P. PRATT.\n\n_Dear Brother_--As you are about to leave on your mission\nto the States, we feel to give you a word of counsel for your\nguidance.\n\nWe expect that your principal occupation will be to travel and\npreach the gospel in different places, as you shall be led by the\nspirit of the Lord.\n\nWe are informed that there is quite a large number of Saints in\nthe southwestern part of Virginia, which it is our wish you shall\nvisit and instruct in the principles of the gospel.\n\nOwing to the extra duties of delegate being placed upon Brother\nJohn Taylor, it is suggested that you also aid him in writing for\n_The Mormon_, and such other duties as may devolve upon you\nby the united counsel of brethren now in charge on that mission.\n\nAs you are expected to return the ensuing season, we do not\nconsider that it would be wisdom for you to have the burden of the\nmission to rest upon you, but rather that you should aid the\nbrethren for the brief period which you will remain with them.\n\nIf Brother Snow should be able to resume _The Luminary_,\nwe should be pleased to have you assist him also in writing for\nthat publication.\n\nWe believe that, by thus devoting your time during the ensuing\nwinter, you will render the brethren now upon that mission\neffective aid, and be a comfort and consolation to the brethren and\nSaints who shall have the pleasure of your ministerial administrations,\nand be blessed with your society in this your short visit to the Saints\nin the States; and that the Lord will bless you abundantly with His\nspirit, and enable you to perform your mission with honor and\nsatisfaction to yourself, and His divine acceptance, is the prayer of\n\nYour brethren in the Gospel of Christ,\n    BRIGHAM YOUNG,\n    HEBER C. KIMBALL,\n    J.M. GRANT,\n    _First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of\nLatter-day Saints_.\n\nAfter receiving the foregoing appointment my time was employed\nchiefly in settling up my business and preparing for the journey\neastward.\n\n_September 7, 1856_. I preached my farewell discourse in\nthe Tabernacle, in which I bore testimony to the Book of Mormon and\nof the calling of Joseph Smith, and of his Presidency and\nApostleship. At noon, the same day, gave instructions and strict\ncharge to my son, Parley P., concerning my business, and the duties\nthat would devolve upon him in my absence.\n\nAt 5 P.M. met with my quorum in prayer, in which President Young\nand others laid their hands upon my head and set me apart for my\nmission to the States--confirming and sealing upon my head all the\nkeys and powers of the eternal priesthood, so far as they were held\nupon the earth--\"and that I should always be numbered among those\nthat were faithful to the priesthood, both in this life, in the\nworld of spirits and in the resurrection.\"\n\n_September 11_. Bid farewell to my family and friends and\nstarted on my eastern mission in company with several elders and\nfriends, who were going to the States. We met, on the journey\nacross the plains, several companies, chiefly from Europe. Some of\nthem were companies traveling with ox teams, and several hand cart\ncompanies. The first hand cart company we met was near Green River,\nwhich consisted of two hundred and thirty men, women and children.\nThese had crossed the plains from Iowa City--some 1,200 miles--the\nwomen as well as men drawing hand carts and the children walking.\nThey had travelled twenty miles a day and sometimes more. Their\nfaces were much sun-burnt and their lips parched; but cheerfulness\nreigned in every heart, and joy seemed to beam on every\ncountenance. The company gathered around us and I tried to address\nthem, observing that this was a new era in American as well as\nChurch history; but my utterance was choked, and I had to make the\nthird trial before I could overcome my emotions. We had passed on,\nnothing worthy of note occurring until we arrived at Fort Kearney.\n\n_October 17_.--We arrived at Fort Kearney; here the death\nof A. W. Babbitt, and others with him was confirmed. The commanding\nofficer of the fort came to me and said he had an account of\nBabbitt's death from the Indians themselves; and that he had\nobtained his papers and accounts, which he would deliver to\nBabbitt's wife, if she would come. We pursued our long and\nwearisome journey through Iowa and Illinois. On the way we saw\nNauvoo and the ruins of the temple in the distance. This called up\nreflections which I will not attempt to describe. I thought of the\ntemple and city in their glory; of the twenty thousand Saints once\nbusy there; of the vast congregations once assembled there in\nprayer and praise; of the martyred prophets and Saints; of the\nwholesale murder and plunder perpetrated by ruthless mobs. I\nthought of my once happy but now fallen country. I greatly desired\nrelief by tears, but tears would not come to my relief. I felt too\ndeeply; but I felt some relief in assuring myself that at last\njustice would triumph and righteousness reign.\n\n_November 18_.--We landed in St. Louis after a long and\ntoilsome journey of over two months. Here I remained, attending\npublic meetings with the Saints; visiting, instructing, writing\nhistory, and writing for _The Mormon_, then published by\nElder John Taylor in New York; visiting and preaching at several\nplaces in Missouri and Illinois, until the 16th of December, when I\nleft St. Louis for New York--travelling by railroad. I stopped at\nCincinnati, where I arrived at 4 A.M. on the 17th. Here I found\nsome Saints, who took me and my baggage, and extended to me the\nhospitality of their homes. I remained in Cincinnati, preaching,\nconversing with the Saints and others, writing correspondence for\n_The Mormon_, history, etc., until the 22d, when I took\nleave of the Saints and started by railway for Philadelphia, where\nI arrived on the 24th--meeting there President John Taylor and\nother brethren, who kindly greeted me. Here I remained preaching,\nvisiting, conversing, writing history, corresponding with _The\nMormon_, etc., until the 31st, when I took the 10 A.M. train\nfor New York, where I safely landed the same day--thus closing\nanother year of my changeful, varied and eventful life. It leaves\nme among strangers, and yet in my own native state--a pilgrim and\nalmost a stranger in the very city where, twenty years ago, I\nlabored, toiled, prayed, preached, wrote and published the message\nof eternal truth.\n\nOh, how darkness prevails! How ignorant, blind and impenetrable\nare the minds of men! My Father in Heaven, Thy will be done. As a\nblank of another year of my life is about to commence to be filled\nup, I will close the volume of the book I have been writing,\ncommending myself to God and the guardianship of his angels;\nasking, in the name of Jesus Christ, that my sins and follies, up\nto this date, may be blotted out, and that my labors and records\nmay be accepted; then I will retire to rest with a conscience void\nof offense, and with a calm and resigned confidence in my Heavenly\nFather. If I am privileged to awake in the morning of a new year, I\nwill commence a new book or volume of my life.\n\nJanuary 1st, 1857. Thank God for a new year and for the\nreservation of my life and health. Spent the day in visiting with\nPresident Taylor and others, and at 5 P.M. repaired to the\nLatter-day Saints' Hall, where I met with some four hundred\npersons, mostly members of the Church, in a public party.\n\nJudge Appleby called the meeting to order; I opened by prayer.\nPresident Taylor made a few remarks, after which there were songs,\nrecitations, speeches, and amusements of various kinds,\nrefreshments, etc., which lasted till eleven o'clock, after which I\naddressed them, bearing testimony of the restoration of the\npriesthood and gospel by Joseph Smith; was followed by Presidents\nSmith and Taylor. While in this party we received news of the safe\nlanding of two hundred and twenty Saints from Europe on the\n\"Columbia.\" My time was occupied in visiting the Saints, meeting in\ncouncil with the brethren, writing, etc., until the 5th, when I met\nin the evening with Brothers Taylor, Smith, Snow and Appleby in\ncouncil at Brother Taylor's residence. After opening by prayer I\nwas chosen to preside, and Brother Appleby acted as clerk. Brother\nSnow made a statement in relation to the financial condition of the\nemigration under his agency. We agreed to make this a matter of\nprayer, and to solicit and influence means into that channel as far\nas possible. At 7 P.M. Brother Taylor having furnished an upper\nroom in his residence, the before-named persons, five in number,\nmet in a room for prayer, in which we humbled ourselves and called\non the Lord for remission of our sins and the light of the Spirit\nof God to guide us in our several duties. We also asked for means,\nand for our way to be opened up to enable us in all things to\nmagnify our callings; dedicating ourselves renewedly to the service\nof God. After this we continued in council until a late hour.\n\n_January 6th_. I visited Mr. George W. Pratt, No. 89 Gold\nStreet, on the subject of genealogy--he being the son of Zadoc\nPratt, ex-member of Congress, and descended from the same parentage\nas myself, our progenitors being among the early settlers of the\nNew England Colonies. I conversed with him very agreeably for half\nan hour, and learned that he was in correspondence with Brother\nOrson, in Liverpool, on the subject of our ancestry in England.\n\n_January 7th_--I was in council all day at Brother\nTaylor's residence with the brethren of the Twelve. We resolved to\nconcentrate our energies this year in forming settlements on or\nnear the Platte River, on the route of our emigration, according to\nthe instructions of President Young. We voted that _The Mormon_\nbe continued, and that it is not expedient for Brother Snow\nto resuscitate the _Luminary_ at present. Next day bid farewell\nto the brethren, and took the train for Trenton, N. J. Here I\nwas kindly received by Brother Hurdley and family, where I\nremained for two days, the weather being very cold.\n\n_Saturday, 10th_.--Joseph Asay came with a carriage and\nconveyed me about four miles into the country to his house. This\nday I completed a communication for _The Mormon_ on spiritual\ncommunication in modern times.\n\n_Sunday, 11th_.--Preached to a small congregation in a\nschool house, and returned with Brother Asay and spent the evening\nin instruction--several of the Saints from Trenton being there.\nSpent the time writing, visiting and conversation with the friends\nhere until the 14th, when I took leave of my kind friends in\nTrenton; taking the cars for Tacony, where I arrived at noon, went\nto Sister Conrad's, where I was received with every conceivable\nkindness. After dinner preached to them and read the revelation on\nmarriage. God blessed me to open their understandings, teaching\nthings of the kingdom. Here I wrote a communication for _The\nMormon_ called the \"Looking-glass;\" conversed with and instructed\nthe family on many things.\n\n_Saturday, 17th_.-Returned to Philadelphia and stayed at\nBrother Harmer's; received this evening letters from home, dated\nNovember 4th, at which time several of my family were sick. I\ninvoked the blessing of God upon them that they might be healed and\ncomforted.\n\n_Sunday 18th_.--Though the wind was very high and\nextremely cold, attended with a severe snow storm, I repaired to\nmeeting and preached to a few in the morning, and at night attended\nmeeting again in our own hall, the Spirit of God being among the\nSaints in the meeting.\n\n_Monday, 19th_.--Still being very snowy, cold and windy,\nremained at the house of Brother Harmer and wrote to my family.\n\n_Sunday, 20th_.--Railroad travel being obstructed by\ndrifts of snow, I visited at Peter Rensimer's; stayed all night and\ntalked to him, his wife and others, till a late hour.\n\nOn the next day wrote a poem on \"My Fiftieth Year,\" which was\nresponded to by John Taylor, both of which were published in the\n_Mormon_ at New York.* Returned to Tacony in the evening and\nrepaired to the house of Sister Conrad; the family came together\nand I taught them the gospel. Next day visited with the family,\ntaught them and some of their friends who came in, the principles\nof the gospel.\n\n[Footnote] *These poems will be found in the latter part of\nthis work.\n\n_Thursday, 24th_.--Bade farewell to my kind friends in\nTacony, took the train for Philadelphia, where I arrived at half\npast nine. Attended the Saints' meetings at Washington Hall three\ntimes this day; addressed the people morning and evening; communed\nwith them; heard their testimony in the afternoon. We were blessed\nthrough the day with the Spirit of God and had much joy.\n\n_February 1st_. Attended meetings three times in\nWashington Hall, Philadelphia. Preached in the morning repentance\nto the Saints and preparation for the great restoration. In the\nevening preached on the Resurrection to a crowded house, and bid\nthe Saints farewell.\n\n_Tuesday, 3d_. Wrote, visited sister Fenton, and there\nspent the evening in an agreeable company of some fifteen of the\nSaints. We sang and prayed, feasted and rejoiced, and taught them\nas we were led by the Spirit. Elder Angus M. Cannon being with me\nin this and nearly all my visitings and meetings in this city. A\nhappier companion is seldom found.\n\n_Wednesday, 4th_. Spent the evening at a tea party; at\nten o'clock we sang, \"When shall we all meet again?\" etc. Knelt\ndown and prayed. This was my farewell of Philadelphia and the\nEastern States. I then took a final leave of the Saints, and,\naccompanied by Elder Cannon, started for the railway. Here I met\nwith Brother and Sister Beers, and some others who had come to see\nme off. I took the train for Pittsburg, where I safely arrived\nFebruary 5, at 2:30 P.M. Took the train at three for Mansfield,\nOhio, where I landed safely at 1:30 next morning. Stayed at a\nhotel, and on the 6th took train at 12 P.M. and arrived at\nHannover, Huron County, Ohio, at 4 P.M. Here a neighbor volunteered\nto carry me half a mile to my brother, Nelson Pratt's. We were\noverjoyed to see each other after twenty-one years' absence. He had\na wife and three children living, viz: a son, Edwin Delano Pratt,\naged twenty years; and two daughters, Helen Orisa, aged fourteen,\nAurelia Fenetto, aged twelve years. Remained and visited with my\nbrother and family; talked, read, reasoned, etc., until the 11th,\nwhen I had a call from a young school teacher named Pratt, perhaps\na distant relative, who had a spirit of inquiry and was teachable.\nWe conversed much, and I lent him some books. As he and others were\nsoliciting a meeting, I finally consented to appoint one for\nThursday evening at the school house near my brother's. In\nfulfilment of this appointment I preached to a large congregation\nin a capacious school house.\n\n_Friday, 13th_.--At noon took leave of my brother Nelson\nand his family, who accompanied me to the railroad station, and bid\nme an affectionate farewell. This night, about eight o'clock, the\nlocomotive ran over and killed a horse, and was thrown off the\ntrack with a number of cars, some of which were broken. By this\naccident we were hindered some six hours, during which time we sat\nin the cars and slept as best we could. Arrived in Columbus, Ohio,\nat 4 A.M. Here we stopped and slept at a hotel until 9 A.M. At 1\nP.M., started for Cincinnati, where I arrived at dark, and was\nkindly received by Brother Meriweather and family.\n\n_Sunday, 15th_.--Met with the Saints three times; taught\nthem repentance and reformation of life: stayed at brother\nWalker's.\n\n_Monday, 16th_.--In the evening Mr. Alberger and Dr.\nDarling called to see me, and spent the evening in conversation on\nthe various phenomena of Spiritualism. Mr. Alberger related to me\nthe circumstances of the introduction of a secret order, called the\nPatriarchal Order, which order, he said, was introduced by spirits\nin Cincinnati a short time previously by means of a stone, with a\nnew alphabet and a key to read the same. He also made me a present\nof the stone, or rather a pattern of the same in plaster of Paris,\nwith the alphabet thereon and key to read the same. Also a printed\npamphlet containing the ceremonies of the \"Patriarchal Order,\" and\nthe forms of initiation of members into the same, with a request\nthat I would take them to Salt Lake and exhibit them to the Council\nthere.\n\nThe following day, wrote an article for the _Cincinnati\nGazette_, in defense of Utah. In the evening met with the\nSaints, and preached at Thos. Shore's. The next day was very rainy;\nvisited at Brother Meriweather's, and found Brother Geo. A. Smith\nthere, just arrived from Virginia. He had spent some time in\nWashington City, in company with John Taylor, who was one of the\ndelegation, but as no encouragement was given for the admission of\nUtah at the present session, the petition was withdrawn.\n\n_Friday, 20th_.--Wrote for _The Mormon_, visited\nwith Brother Smith, etc. My communication to the _Cincinnati\nGazette_ in defense of Utah, appeared in this day's paper. We\nmailed several copies of the paper to the members of Congress, and\nto _The Mormon_.\n\n_Sunday, 22d_.--Attended at Melodian Hall at 10:30 A.M.,\nand heard an excellent discourse from Elder G. A. Smith. At 2:30\nP.M. I preached on first principles, and in the evening met the\nSaints at Brother Shore's, and reorganized the Cincinnati Branch.\nElder Joseph Bean was unanimously chosen to preside, and was\nordained a high priest under the hands of G. A. Smith and myself.\nBrother Benjamin E. Styles was reappointed clerk. At ten o'clock we\nsung \"When shall we all meet again.\"\n\nWe appointed and set apart Brother D. O. Ridout to a mission in\nsouthwestern Virginia. We blessed and administered to several. A\nman named James Raliston came to us and expressed his faith in the\ngospel as he had heard us preach it the day before. Many of the\nSaints now gathered in to see us, and contributed means to help us,\nand manifested their love in every way that was in their power. We\nbid them farewell about 2 P.M., and took the train for St. Louis,\nat which place we arrived safely about midnight.\n\n_Tuesday, 24th_.--Called and stayed at Brother\nBoardman's. Here, for the first time, heard of the sudden and\nunexpected death of President J. M. Grant, who died in Salt Lake\nCity, in November last. He was a great and good man, called away in\nthe full vigor of manhood. He has gone to his rest, but we are left\nto mourn.\n\n_Wednesday, 25th_.--On repairing to the office found\nletters from home, also one from Sister Ruth Sayers, who crossed\nthe plains with us on our outward trip from Salt Lake City. I also\nread in the _Western Standard_, a paper published by George\nQ. Cannon in California, a confirmatory account of the death of\nPresident J. M. Grant. We found the Saints in St. Louis well and\nprosperous. After spending some time in the office in council I\nrepaired to brother Restell's, and was kindly received by Sister\nRestell and Sister Pollard. This night I was taken very sick.\n\n_March 1st, 1857_.--I found myself quite well again, and,\nbeing Sunday, I met with the Saints three times and had good\nattendance. I preached in the forenoon, and Erastus Snow and others\nin the afternoon. We had sacrament, and the gift of the Holy Ghost\nwas upon us. Brother Snow spake by it in great wisdom.\n\nThe spirit of reformation is abroad in the St. Louis branch, but\nthe adversary also has a great hold there.\n\n_Monday, 2d_.--We met with the Saints and assisted\nPresident Snow to confirm twenty-nine souls, who were baptized in\nthe font there. At 7 P. M. the same evening met with the brethren\nin council.\n\nMuch instruction was given to the elders by Presidents Snow,\nSmith and myself.\n\n_Tuesday, 3d_.--Assisted President Snow at the office, on\nthe Deseret alphabet, etc.\n\nThe above is the last extract from the journal of President\nParley P. Pratt.\n\n\nCHAPTER LIV.\n------------------------\n\nFamily Letters:--\"My Fiftieth Year:\"--Response\nby John Taylor.\n\nNEW YORK, _January 3d, 1857_.\n\nMY DEAR SON PARLEY: I am well; how are you? Please write and let\nme know. I long to see and hear from you.\n\nI am getting along very comfortably. You will see by the\nenclosed how \"_Mormonism_\" keeps printers and editors busy.\nGive my best love to all the family, and especially to the\nchildren. Remember me to Olivia and Moroni. Do the best you can for\nme and my family, and try to get a good education; and try by\nprayer and doing right to cultivate an acquaintance with the Spirit\nof the Lord.\n\nRead the enclosed letter to the family, and then have it\ncarefully laid away as a part of my history.\n\nNow, my son, farewell.\n    God bless you. Amen.\n    Your affectionate father,\n    P.P. PRATT.\n\nNEW YORK, _January 3d, 1857_.\n    MY DEAR FAMILY:\n\nA happy New Year to each of you. I am well. I spent Christmas in\nPhiladelphia in a public party of the Saints--say 300 persons--\nassembled in a large hall neatly furnished and lighted.\nThere were prayers, hymns, songs, recitations, comic, tragic,\nsublime and ridiculous. There was some music and dancing, merry\nmaking, eating and drinking till midnight. I did not dance, but I\npreached and bore testimony.\n\nOn the following Sunday I preached twice in the same hall, some\n500 persons being present.\n\nOn Wednesday, December 31st, I arrived in this city and put up\nwith President John Taylor. This closed the year 1856.\n\n_January 1st, 1857_.--I attended a public party of the\nSaints here from 5 P.M. till midnight. It was like the one in\nPhiladelphia--only there was no dancing. About 400 persons were\npresent. During this party the news arrived of the landing of 220\nSaints at Castle Garden direct from Europe, all in good health and\nspirits. These we visited next day in company with Presidents\nTaylor, G. A. Smith, and E. Snow, who are here now, and we shall\nhold a council. The Saints here are mostly emigrants from Europe\nand very poor. I am now well clothed, and God has opened my way to\nobtain sufficient funds for travelling expenses.\n\nA letter from my Brother Nelson announces that all is well\nthere, and they are overjoyed to hear that I am to visit them. He\nis trying to sell and go to the valley.\n\nBrother Orson writes to me that all is well with him.\n\nI have gone as far East as I intend to go. I hope soon to\ncommence to return westward, visiting my brother Nelson as I go.\nThe darkness which broods over this country can be felt--it is no\nplace for me. I feel like going to the frontiers and fitting out as\nsoon as grass grows.\n\nThe whole country is being overwhelmed with the most abominable\nlying, mockery, and hatred of the Saints, and with all manner of\ncorruption. The legions of spirits are let loose and are working\nwonders. All things are ripening for a universal overthrow of all\nhuman power in this land.\n\nI am almost an intruder wherever I go. I am a stranger and the\nworld knows me not. There are a few of the Saints and others who\nwill hear us, and not exactly demand a vote of thanks, although\nsome of them would think it a great condescension for which we\nought to thank them.\n\nO, God, let me retire from such a generation into dens, caves,\ndeserts, mountains--_anywhere_. But I will say no more about\nthem. I feel for my family and pray for them continually. I hope\nthey with me may have grace to endure to the end, and be saved in\nthe kingdom of God.\n\nMy history is mostly completed. It will probably not be\npublished in my day. Should anything happen to me, and the record\nbe preserved, I wish it carefully compiled, copied, and taken care\nof.\n\nMy feelings, and the affections of my heart, I will not attempt\nto describe, but will express them in person when I return. Should\nI never return, be assured they are as warm and as tender as ever,\nand I think a little more so.\n\nI hope you will not be cast down or borrow any trouble about me\nbecause I admit an if, as to my safe return. I have no doubt but\nthat I shall return in safety and live to a good old age. But still\nI must acknowledge that I do anticipate with a great deal of\npleasure the change of worlds. And, every day that I work on my\nhistory, I naturally think that the word finis will soon be added\nto the end. * * * *\n\nWrite when you can via California and Panama. Now God bless and\npreserve you all, even to little Mathoni. Amen.\n\nYours ever,\n    P. P. PRATT.\n\nTo my wife HANNAHETTE and others.\n\nMY FIFTIETH YEAR\n\n    I am fifty years old! I have lived to see\n    Seven times seven and a Jubilee.\n    That period famed in the days of yore\n    As a grand release for the humble poor;\n    When the pledg'd estate was again restor'd,\n    And the bondman free'd from his tyrant lord.\n    When man his fellow was bound to forgive,\n    And begin anew to think and to live.\n    The nations have hail'd the year of my birth\n    As a Jubilee to the groaning earth.*\n    The triumphs of steam over land and sea\n    Have stamp'd the age of my Jubilee.\n    I have mark'd its progress at ev'ry stride,\n    From the day it was launch'd on the Hudson's tide\n    Till it conquer'd the ocean--grasp'd the land,\n    And join'd the world in a common band.\n    I have liv'd to behold the lightnings yield\n    To the mandate of man, and take the field,\n    As a servant-runner to bear the news\n    In an instant, where its lord might choose.\n\n[Footnote] *The first steamboat was launched in 1807, on the\nHudson river, by Robert Fulton.\n\n    And, scarce less strange, I have liv'd to behold\n    A _Mormon Sage_, with his wand of gold,\n    Overturn the world, and toss it up\n    As a teller of Fortunes would his cup.*\n    All these are facts; but of little worth,\n    Compared with a Prophet restored to earth.\n    I have seen his day and have heard his voice\n    Which enraged a world, while the meek rejoice.\n    I have read the fate of all earthly things:\n    The end of thrones, and the end of kings.\n    I have learned that truth alone shall stand,\n    And the Kingdom of God fill every land.\n    I have seen that Kingdom rolling along,\n    And taking its seat 'mid the mountains strong;\n    While the nations wondered, but could not tell\n    To what these wondrous things would swell.\n    I have wandered far, over land and sea,\n    To proclaim to the world its destiny--\n    To cry to the nations, repent and live,\n    And be ready the bridegroom to receive.\n\n[Footnote] *An American soldier, of the Mormon Battalion,\ndiscovered the gold mines in California in 1847.\n\n    I have wandered far--I have wandered wide,\n    From Maine to the wild Missouri's tide;\n    And over the Atlantic's sea-girt isles\n    Full many a weary thousand miles.\n    I have trampled the desert's burning sands\n    And the snow-clad mountains of unknown lands.\n    'Mid the crystal waters of Deseret\n    I have pulled the oar and cast the net.\n    I have climbed the steeps 'mid the golden ore,\n    And roamed o'er the lone Pacific shore.\n    I have ploughed its bosom many a day\n    To visit the nations far away.\n    I have stood on Chili's distant shore,\n    Where the Polar Star is seen no more.\n    I have gazed on the Andes' heights of snow,\n    And roamed 'mid the flowery plains below.\n    I have toiled with the great in freedom's cause,\n    And assisted to give to a State its laws.\n    I have lain in a dungeon, bound in chains,\n    And been honored in Courts where Justice reigns.\n    In a thousand joys, and a thousand fears\n    I have struggled on through my fifty years.\n    And now, by the law of God, I am free;\n    I will seek to enjoy my Jubilee.\n    I will hie me home, to my mountain dell,\n    And will say to the \"Christian\" world--farewell!\n    I have served ye long--; 'twas a thankless task;\n    To retire in peace is all I ask.\n\n    Another fifty years will fully prove\n    Our message true, and all our motives love.\n    Then shall an humble world in reverence bow,\n    And hail the Prophets so rejected now.\n    Kings shall revere, and nations incense bring\n    To Zion's temple and to Zion's King.\n    I shall be there and celebrate the day\n    'Till twice ten fifties shall have passed away.\n\n\nA RESPONSE TO P. P. PRATT'S \"FIFTIETH YEAR\"\nBY JOHN TAYLOR\n\n    Thou art \"fifty years old\"--I am glad to see\n    That thou now canst hope for a Jubilee.\n    Go rest thee, my friend, for weary and long\n    Thou hast faithfully striven with a wayward throng;\n    With a world environed with error's chain\n    Thou hast wrestled and struggled, but not in vain.\n    On thy native shore and on foreign land\n    Thou hast battled for truth with a master hand,\n    And their cities, and towns, and hamlets have rung\n    With the sound of truth, with the voice of song,\n    And thousands in Zion do now rejoice,\n    Who've read thy works or heard thy voice,\n    And millions have seen thy bosom swell\n    With celestial truths thou lov'st so well.\n\n    Let drivelling sycophants bow the knee\n    To that chameleon shrine, popularity,\n    And with honey'd lips, bound with mammon's spell\n    And with wheedling, whining, canting tongue,\n    Daub o'er the deeds of a hellish throng.\n    'Twas thine the mask from their loathsome face\n    To rend, and exhibit their foul disgrace.\n\n    Thou hast grappled with sages in error rife,\n    Thou hast taught to the erring the way of life;\n    With flaming words and a burning pen\n    Thou hast bearded gaunt priestcraft in his den,\n    And said Baal's grizzly priests, avaunt!\n    I dare you in your dark, ghastly haunt.\n    And the canting, craving minions fled\n    At the truths thou penned and the words thou said.\n    With Elijah's faith and Elijah's rod,\n    Thou despised their power and defied their god,\n    And made the canting hirelings cower\n    Beneath the truth's keen withering power.\n    Thou show'd them their systems were doom'd to fall\n    That \"Upharsin\" was written on Babel's wall.\n    Thou hast spent 'midst their hordes a busy life;\n    Thou art leaving the den of their Babel strife.\n    Let others know now 'mid the nations roam,\n    And hie thee away to thy mountain home.\n\n    If, sleeping at night, the weary may\n    Forget the cares and toils of day;\n    And if by God to man is given\n    A day of rest in every seven;\n    If the pledged possession could be restored,\n    On the grand release by Jehovah's word;\n    If the debtor's bonds could then be broke,\n    And the slave be freed from a master's yoke,\n    And the very land a partaker be\n    Of the general jubilant Jubilee;\n    If all bonds were broken on that day,\n    And chains and manacles thrown away;\n    If throughout the land, by every tongue,\n    All joined in the joyous Jubilee song;\n    If debtors and slaves and earth were free,\n    Thou oughtest to have a Jubilee.\n\n    If a wish from a sincere friendly heart\n    Can to thee any comfort or joy impart;\n    If a fervent prayer to the God of grace\n    Could smooth thy path in thy onward race,\n    That prayer would be, may grace be given\n    To wend thy onward course to Heaven.\n    May'st thou abound in corn and wine,\n    And the blessings of plenty now be thine;\n    May thy family all be free from care,\n    And a husband's and father's plenty share;\n    May thy sun go down with glory rife,\n    And dying may'st thou burst into life;\n    And, when sleeping among the silent dead,\n    Have the blessings of millions on thy head;\n    And living with God, may'st thou be free,\n    And partake of an endless Jubilee.\n\nFINIS.\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n------------------------\n\nSoon after the last extract from his journal, President P. P.\nPratt left St. Louis for Arkansas, where he was followed by three\nbloodthirsty wretches, who had previously declared their intention\nto kill him. To aid them in their sanguinary designs they preferred\nfictitious charges against him, from which he was honorably\ndischarged by a United States Court at Van Buren. These assassins\nthen followed him and murdered him in cold blood, near Van Buren,\nArkansas, May 13, 1857.\n\nWe extract the following, in relation to his death, from _The\nMormon_ of May 30, published in New York, John Taylor, Ed.:\n\nASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT P. P. PRATT.\n\n\"Our readers will doubtless be startled with the above\nannouncement; our heart is deeply pained to say it, but we have no\nreason for doubting the sad intelligence that has reached us,\nthough, as yet, only by the way of the public press. A few days ago\nwe were advised of his apprehension near Fort Gibson; and, close\nupon the receipt of that information, we learned, by telegraphic\ndespatch, that he had been assassinated near Van Buren, Arkansas,\nMay 13. * * *\n\n\"As we have not the space this week that we require to enter\ninto details, and may, before another issue, receive additional\ninformation on the subject, we shall only say, for the benefit of\nthose who are interested, that his assassins followed him some\ntwelve miles from the place of trial, and, taking advantage of his\nlonely position, shot him.\n\n\"Though we deeply deplore the loss to the Church of such a great\nand upright man, and the bereavement to his family, yet we mourn\nnot. His life has been one of honor and faithfulness; his days\nhave been well spent in the service of his God; his name is revered\nby thousands and tens of thousands, and will be honored by millions\nyet unborn; while that of his cowardly assassins, and those who\nhave cheered them on to this damning deed, and who now rejoice over\ntheir crime, will be loathsome, and a stink in the nostrils of God\nand good men.\"\n\nThe following is extracted from the _Millennial Star_ of July 4,\n1857, and written by his brother, Orson Pratt, who was then Editor\nof the _Star_:\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF PARLEY P. PRATT.\n\n\"This great Apostle and martyr of the nineteenth century was\nborn on the 12th day of April, 1807, in Burlington, Otsego county,\nState of New York. He was the third son of Jared and Charity Pratt;\nJared was the son of Obadiah and Jemima Pratt; Obadiah was the son\nof Christopher and Sarah Pratt; Christopher was the son of William\nand Hannah Pratt; William was the son of Joseph Pratt; Joseph was\nthe son of Lieutenant William and Elizabeth Pratt, who were found\namong the first settlers of Hartford, Connecticut, in the year\n1639. They are supposed to have accompanied the Rev. Thomas Hooker\nand his congregation, about one hundred in number, from Newtown,\nnow called Cambridge, Massachusetts, through a dense wilderness,\ninhabited only by savages and wild beasts, and became the first\nfounders of the colony at Hartford, in June, 1636.\n\n\"This ancient pilgrim, William Pratt, was a member of the\nLegislature for some twenty-five or thirty sessions; and the\nGeneral Court gave him one hundred acres of land in Saybrook,\nConnecticut, for service performed as lieutenant in the Pequot war;\nhe was one of the judges of the first Court in New London County.\nParley P. Pratt is a lineal descendant, of the seventh generation,\nfrom that distinguished pilgrim and humble pioneer to the new\nworld.\n\n\"The youthful days of Parley P. Pratt were characterized by the\nsoberness and thoughtfulness of manhood. Though from adverse\ncircumstances his education was extremely limited, yet he\ndisplayed, even in youth, an originality of mind seldom exhibited.\nIn September, 1830, he, being led by the Spirit of the Lord from\nhis home in the State of Ohio, came several hundred miles eastward,\nwhere he fortunately obtained a copy of one of the most remarkable\nworks of modern times--the Book of Mormon. He read the same, was\nconvinced of its divine authenticity, and traveled in search of the\nhighly favored men of God who had seen angels and heard the voice\nof the Almighty. He soon succeeded in finding some of them, from\nwhom he learned that about five months previous the first Church of\nJesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints had been organized. He\nrequested baptism, and was immediately thereafter ordained an\nElder. The same month he visited Canaan, Columbia County, New\nYork--the county where he had spent many of his youthful days--and\nafter preaching a few times in different neighborhoods, and\nbaptizing Orson Pratt, his brother, he returned to Seneca County.\n\n\"Receiving a revelation through Joseph the Prophet, he, in\ncompany with three or four others, performed a mission, some\nfifteen hundred miles, to the western boundaries of the State of\nMissouri, and was among the first of the Saints to stand upon that\nchoice land where the City of Zion is hereafter to be built,\npreparatory to the second advent of our Saviour.\n\n\"In the spring of 1831 he returned to the northern part of Ohio,\nwhere he met Joseph the Prophet. In the summer he again performed a\nmission through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, preaching,\nbaptizing and building up the Church.\n\n\"In the autumn of 1833 he and about twelve hundred men, women\nand children were driven by a murderous, furious mob from their own\nhouses and lands in Jackson County, Missouri. Two hundred houses\nwere burned, cattle shot, hay stacks and grain burned, many whipped\nuntil their bowels gushed out; others killed, and the afflicted\nremnant driven across the river into Clay County.\n\n\"Soon after this Elder Pratt performed a long journey of about\nfifteen hundred miles east, preaching repentance and strengthening\nthe Saints.\n\n\"In 1834 he again returned to Clay County, Missouri, officiating\nin his holy calling wherever he went.\n\n\"In February, 1835, having returned to the northern part of\nOhio, he was chosen and ordained one of the Twelve Apostles of this\nlast dispensation, and the same year performed a lengthy journey\nthrough Pennsylvania, New York, and several of the New England\nStates, and returned again to Ohio.\n\n\"In 1836 he visited Canada, and established a large branch of the\n    Church in Toronto, and other branches in adjoining towns.\n\n\"In 1837 he visited New York City, where he founded a large branch\n    of the Church.\n\n\"In 1838 he removed to Caldwell County, in the western\nboundaries of Missouri; and in the same year another dreadful\npersecution commenced against the Saints, and they were again\ndriven from their own houses and inheritances, and their property\nto the amount of millions was destroyed; some scores of defenseless\nmen, women and children were murdered; some scores of others were\nincarcerated in dungeons, among whom was P. P. Pratt; the balance,\nabout fifteen thousand, were exterminated from the State, and found\nrefuge in Illinois. Elder Pratt was kept in prison, _without\ntrial_, about eight months, when, by the kind providence of\nGod, he made his escape on July 4, 1839. Immediately after gaining\nhis liberty he published a history of the Missouri persecution,\nwritten while in prison. The first edition appeared in Detroit in\n1839.\n\n\"In 1840 he, in company with others of the Twelve, came to\nEngland, and in the city of Manchester commenced the publication of\na periodical entitled the _Millennial Star_, which has continued\nuntil the present time--this being the forty-eighth volume (1886).\n\n\"In 1841 he was appointed the President over all the British\nConferences, and remained in this high and honorable station until\nthe autumn of 1842, during which he edited the _Star_, superintended\nthe Saints' emigration, and published several small but interesting\nworks. The following winter he returned to Illinois, where he\ncontinued laboring in the ministry for one or two years.\n\n\"About the beginning of the year 1845 he was appointed the\nPresident over all the Churches in the New England and Middle\nStates, his headquarters being at New York City, where he\npublished a periodical entitled _The Prophet_. In the summer\nhe returned to Nauvoo.\n\n\"In February, 1846, he was again driven from his home by a\nruthless mob. Some fifteen or twenty thousand Saints were also\ndriven from the United States about the same time, with the loss of\nhouses, and lands, and an immense amount of property, which the mob\nare in the unmolested possession of until the present day. After\nwading through unparalleled sufferings with his family, he and the\nsuffering Saints succeeded in reaching the Indian country at\nCouncil Bluffs, and being called by the Holy Ghost, through the\nProphet Brigham Young, to go to England, he left his family upon\nthe broad prairie, without house or scarcely any food, to comply\nwith the word of the Lord. He arrived in England, assisted in\nsetting the Churches in order, and in strengthening the Saints\nthroughout the British islands.\n\n\"In the spring of 1847 he returned to his family and brethren;\nand in the summer and autumn of that year he removed to Great Salt\nLake Valley, and suffered incredible hardships until the harvest of\n1848.\n\n\"He assisted in forming a Constitution for the Provisional\nGovernment of Deseret, and was elected a member of the Senate in\nthe General Assembly; and was afterwards elected to the Legislative\nCouncil when Utah became a Territory of the United States.\n\n\"The year 1851 he was sent on a mission to the Pacific islands\nand to South America.\n\n\"In the summer of 1855 he returned over the Sierra Nevada\nmountains to his home, and occupied a part of his time in preaching\nin the various settlements of Utah, and at other times laboring\nwith his own hands in the cultivation of his farm. The following\nwinter he officiated as chaplain in the Legislative Council at the\nState House in Fillmore City.\n\n\"In the autumn of 1856 he accompanied about twenty missionaries\nacross the plains to the States. During the winter and part of the\nfollowing spring he visited the Saints at St. Louis, Philadelphia,\nNew York and other places, preaching, writing and publishing the\nglad tidings of the kingdom of God.\n\n\"And finally, on the 13th of May, 1857, he fell a noble martyr\nfor the cause of truth, which he had advocated with such untiring\nperseverance for nearly twenty-seven years.\n\n\"Among the numerous writings of this martyred Apostle may be\nmentioned first, the 'Voice of Warning,' printed in New York in\n1838, and which has since passed through many editions, and been\ntranslated into several foreign languages; second, his 'History of\nthe Missouri Persecutions;' third, his 'Poems;' fourth, his 'Key to\nTheology;' a masterly production, lately published. 'The History of\nhis Life,' up to near the time of his martyrdom, was written by\nhimself, and is now about ready for the press; this will doubtless\nprove to be one of the most interesting works proceeding from his\npen.\n\n\"O, how pleasant is the death of a righteous person! he lays\ndown his body with a sure and certain hope of coming forth from the\ntomb in the morning of the first resurrection, to reign as a mighty\nKing and Priest of the Most High God, to sit enthroned in eternal\nglory, ruling with power and dominion for ever and ever.\n\n\"O, kind hearted, affectionate brother! how dearly we loved\nthee in life I how joyous to our soul were the words of life which\nflowed from thy mouth by the pure spirit of inspiration! how\nlovely still is our remembrance of thee! We weep not for thy\ndeath, for it was glorious! Thou hast left us only for a short\nmoment, and we shall soon embrace thee again! Thy fiftieth year had\nbut just rolled away, and now thy Jubilee has come! Rest in thy\nFather's house, with all the noble martyrs of the nineteenth\ncentury, until the Jubilee of the earth shall also come; then shalt\nthou return and reign triumphantly with all the redeemed of Adam's\nrace.\"\n\nFrom the following letter, written only about four months prior\nto his martyrdom, he plainly indicates that his pilgrimage and\n\"personal history in this world,\"' were near their close:\n\n\"New York, United States,\n    January 2d, 1857.\n\n\"Dear Brother Orson--I received your kind letter on the 30th\nDecember, 1856. I was thereby glad to hear from you and of your\nwelfare.\n\n\"I am well; I spent about a month in St. Louis; I then came on\nto Cincinnati and stayed four days, drawing full houses. I arrived\nin Philadelphia the day before Christmas--was present next day at a\ngrand party in that city in Washington Hall. It was a fine time.\nSunday last I preached three times to a full house.\n\n\"I arrived here on Wednesday last; found Presidents Taylor and\nSmith as well as usual.\n\n\"Yesterday I attended a party here, in the Saints' Hall; it was\nan interesting affair, some four hundred persons being present. We\nwere entertained with songs, prayers, preaching, praying,\nrecitations, eating, drinking, etc.\n\n\"In the midst of our evening's enjoyment the news arrived of the\narrival of the Columbia, with a ship load of Saints from England.\nTo-day we accompanied brother Taylor to see them. All well, but a\nrough passage; no deaths. The weather is mild here, and the winter\nso far very fine.\n\n\"I have not yet seen the Pratt family, of whom you speak, but I\nthink I will visit them in a day or two.\n\n\"You ask how long I will stay in the States. I answer, till\nspring. I will then go home, if God will, if I have to go with a\nhand cart. This country is no place for me; the darkness is so\nthick I can literally feel it. I cannot obtain the least assistance\nhere for my family; a tight match to obtain travelling expenses.\n\n\"I have heard nothing from home since October 1st, but I hope to\nhear soon. I congratulate you on the marriage of your first born,\nand hope you will soon become a grandfather.\n\n\"_Now, dear brother Orson, be of good courage--our pilgrimage\nwill soon be over, and our personal history in this world will\nnaturally come to the word_ FINIS.\n\n\"As to my history, I have it now complete from my birth up to\nto-day. It will contain about as much reading as the Book of\nMormon. I would publish it, in part or in full, if gold was\nplentiful. * * *\n\n\"I have written to Nelson Pratt and received an answer; he is\nwell. I am going there soon, if all is well.\n\n\"I am to start from St Louis for home just as early in the\nspring as the weather will permit. Farewell! God bless you.\n\n\"I am your own brother,\n\n\"P. P. Pratt.\"\n\n\nGENEALOGY\n------------------------\n\nThe following correspondence, extracted from a letter from my\nbrother, Orson Pratt, Sen., dated at Washington, D. C, March 10th,\n1853, throws a clear light upon our ancestry, back as far as the\nearliest settlements of the Pilgrim Fathers in Saybrook and\nHartford, Conn.\n\n\"_My dear brother_ Parley--I embrace the present opportunity to\nwrite a few lines to you. * * *\n\n\"It affords me much joy to be able to inform you that I have\nobtained the names and some knowledge of our ancestors back for many\ngenerations.\n\n\"The genealogy runs thus: Our father, Jared Pratt, was the son\nof Obadiah, who was the son of Christopher, who was the son of\nWilliam Pratt, who was the son of Joseph Pratt, who was the son of\nLieutenant William and Elizabeth Pratt, who is supposed to have come\nwith his brother, John Pratt, from Essex County, England, about the\nyear 1633, who were found among the first settlers of Hartford,\nConnecticut, in the year 1639. They are supposed to have\naccompanied the Rev. Thomas Hooker and his congregation, about one\nhundred in number, from Newton, now called Cambridge, Massachusetts,\nthrough a dense wilderness, inhabited only by savages and wild beasts,\nand became the first founders of the colony at Hartford, Connecticut,\nin June, 1636, and thence to Saybrook about the year 1645.\n\n\"The way I came by this information is as follows: Seeing a\nshort editorial in some of my exchange papers, that there was an\nattempt being made to search out the lineal descendants of\nLieutenant Wm. Pratt, and that the Rev. Frederick W. Chapman, of\nSouth Glastenbury, Conn., was engaged in that work, I immediately\naddressed a letter to him, giving him the names of Jared, Obadiah\nand Christopher, and asking him for all the information he was in\npossession of in relation to our ancestors. He immediately sent me\na letter and two printed circulars. The following is a copy of the\nletter:\n\nSouth Glastenbury, _March 5th_, 1853.\n\n\"Dear Sir--I have just received your favor. It affords me\npleasure to be able to show you the connecting links between your\ngrandfather, Obadiah Pratt, and the first settler, William Pratt,\nwho came with the company that located at Hartford, Conn. He\nreceived a portion of land in the first distribution in February,\n1639. He married Elizabeth Clark, daughter of John Clark, of\nMilford, Connecticut, about the same time. He had eight children.\nOf these, two were born in Hartford. He removed to Saybrook in\n1645. His third child, Joseph Pratt, born at Saybrook, August 1st,\n1648.\n\nSECOND GENERATION.\n\nJoseph Pratt & Sarah Chapman, Married September, 1686.\n\nThirteen children--five by a former wife. William one of the\nchildren.\n\nTHIRD GENERATION.\n\nWilliam Pratt & Hannah Hough, Married October 8, 1700.\n\nSix children, viz:\n    Joseph, born April 13, 1103.\n    Ephraim, born April 1, 1705\n    Margaret, born April 1, 1708\n    Christopher, born Nov. 4, 1712\n    Elizabeth, born Jan. 20, 1717\n    Experience, born Sept. 28, 1720\n\nFOURTH GENERATION\n\nChristopher Pratt, Sarah Pratt, Married June 14, 1739\n\nChildren:\n    Stephen, born June 30, 1740, at Saybrook.\n    Obadiah, born Sept. 14, 1742, at Saybrook.\n    Sarah, born March 28, 1745.\n    Hannah, born Aug. 6, 1747.\n    Chalker, born Feb. 14, 1750.\n    Samuel\n\n\"I want very much to get all the descendants of the last six.\nYour letter was the first clue to any of them which I have\nreceived. It is more difficult to trace the descendants of Joseph\nthan any other of the six children of William Pratt. In fact, they\nseem to have disappeared from Saybrook about a century ago.\n\n\"I have already collected about two thousand of the descendants\nof William Pratt. There are probably not less than five thousand.\nRobert Chapman, my ancestor, was married about two years after\nWilliam Pratt. I have collected over five thousand of his\ndescendants, and the work--a volume of three hundred to three\nhundred and fifty pages--is nearly ready for the press. I shall be\nable to collect most of the descendants of William if those whom I\naddress will answer my letters and lend a helping hand.\n\n\"May I rely on you to aid me in collecting the descendants of\nChristopher Pratt?\n\n\"Is your father living? If so, he may be able to inform you\nwhere the brothers and sisters of his grandfather, Christopher\nresided--or, perhaps, give the post-office address of one of the\ndescendants of each family.\n\n\"He can, of course, give me some account of his uncles and\naunts. Please write immediately and inform me. I want the marriage\nof Stephen, when and to whom--and of Obadiah, when and to whom, and\nthe names of their children--dates of birth; and so of Sarah and\nthe others.\n\n\"You can, of course, give me a list of your grandfather's\nchildren. Also give the name of your mother, and date of your\nfather's marriage, with a list of all his children.\n\n\"I enclose two circulars. There is a Pratt, ex-Governor of\nMaryland; I know not his address; if you can ascertain, please\nforward one. Let me hear from you soon. Respectfully yours,\n\nFrederick W. Chapman.\n\n\"Now, my dear brother Parley, when I received the foregoing\nletter I wept like a little child; I was so overjoyed that I could\nnot refrain from weeping.\n\n\"There are none among all the descendants of our ancestor,\nLieutenant William Pratt, who have so deep an interest in searching\nout his descendants as ourselves. We know that the God of our\nfathers has had a hand in all this. He it was who brought our\nancestor William from England, and established him in this choice\nland of promise, given to us by virtue of the covenant made with\nour ancient father, Joseph, the son of Jacob.\n\n\"The Lord God of our fathers has multiplied them in this land,\nand made them almost a nation within a nation. Blessed be the name\nof our God, for He remembereth his covenants forevermore.\n\n\"He has wrought upon the hearts of his servants, our relations,\nthough unknown to them, to inquire out the genealogy and history of\nour fathers upon the promised land. Yea, blessed be the name of the\nLord God of Joseph and of Israel, for he hath given into our hands\nthe keys of the priesthood and the doctrines of salvation, that we\nmight stand as saviors upon Mount Zion, in behalf of our ancestors\nand their lineal descendants. Let us, my dear brother Parley, take\nhold of this matter in earnest and assist our kindred in the\nlaudable enterprise which they have undertaken.\n\n\"I have no records with me and my memory is weak. Therefore, I\nhope you will search up all the family records, and all the verbal\ninformation within your reach--with names, dates, births, places,\nmarriages and deaths, and forward without delay.\n\n\"Does our father's sister, aunt Lovina Van Cott, or yourself\nknow anything about the descendants of Stephen, Sarah and others,\nthe brothers and sisters to our grandfather, Obadiah? How shall we\nget a clue to them? Is It possible to find out any descendant of\neither of the brothers or sisters of Christopher Pratt, of\nSaybrook, our great-grandfather? Who and when did our grandfather,\nObadiah, marry? How many children had Obadiah? Whom did they marry,\nand when? How many children had each of our uncles and aunts, the\nbrothers and sisters of our father? And how many children and\ngrandchildren has each of these cousins? In short, all the\ndescendants of our great-grandfather, Christopher, are wanting.\n\n* * * Send all the information you can gather to Mr. Chapman. It\nmight not be amiss to send him your 'History of the Persecution,'\nyour 'Voice of Warning,' and such other works as you may be the\nauthor of; and also, if you see proper, a biographical sketch of\nyour life I have forwarded to him all of my works. * * * I have\nalso sent him all the information in my power concerning our\nkindred. * *\n\n\n\"I sent a letter last evening proposing to take some fifty or a\nhundred dollars worth of the records as soon as published. These\nwill supply myself and brothers and our rising families. I also\nproposed to search out, if possible, the ancestors of William\nPratt, in England. I expect to visit England in April or May, and\nshall probably be absent two or three months.\n\n\"This from your younger brother,\n\n\"Orson Pratt.\"\n\nAfter receiving the foregoing, I gathered the little information\nI could, in so new a country as Utah Territory, and adding it to\nthat which I knew myself, the result or summary of the whole is as\nfollows--for a portion of which I am indebted to the family records\nof my aunt Lovina Van Cott, and to her memory, she being still\nliving, and near my residence in Salt Lake City.\n\nOur great-grandfather, Christopher Pratt, of Saybrook, Conn.,\nhad six children, as follows, viz:\n\nStephen, born June 30, 1740, at Saybrook.\n    Obadiah, born Sept. 14, 1742, at Saybrook.\n    Sarah, born March 28, 1745.\n    Hannah, born Aug. 6, 1747.\n    Chalker, born Feb. 14, 1750.\n    Samuel\n\nOur grandfather, Obadiah Pratt, son of Christopher and Sarah\nPratt, born in Saybrook, Conn., September 14, 1742, received in\nmarriage Jemina Tolls, born in New Haven, Conn., August 11th, 1754.\nDate of marriage not known. He died in Canaan, Columbia County, New\nYork. March 2, 1797. His wife died in Washington, Dutchess County,\nNew York, Nov 24, 1812.\n\nEleven children, as follows:\n    Jared, born in Canaan, Columbia County, N. Y., November 25, 1769.\n    Barnabas, \"  \"    \"       \"        \"    \"   \"  March 4, 1771.\n    Samuel,   \"  \"    \"       \"        \"    \"   \"  February 2, 1773.\n    Rhoda,    \"  \"    \"       \"        \"    \"   \"  May 30, 1775.\n    William,  \"  \"    \"       \"        \"    \"   \"  May 21, 1777.\n    Sarah,    \"  \"    \"       \"        \"    \"   \"  September 3, 1781.\n    Obadiah,  \"  \"    \"       \"        \"    \"   \"  July 30, 1784.\n    Lovina,   \"  \"    \"       \"        \"    \"   \"  August 6, 1787.\n    Ira,      \"  \"    \"       \"        \"    \"   \"  October 10, 1789.\n    Ellis, Twin sister of Ira, lived five days. October 10, 1789.\n    Allen, born in Canaan, Columbia County, N. Y., May 3, 1793.\n\nOur father, Jared Pratt, son of Obadiah and Jemima Pratt,\nreceived in marriage Mary Carpenter, daughter of Samuel Carpenter,\nof New Lebanon, N. Y. She bore him one daughter, named Mary, and\nafterwards died. This daughter married a Mr. Brown, of New Lebanon,\nand bore one son, named Jerome Brown. She afterwards lost her\nhusband, and was married to Samuel Bigalow, of New Lebanon; they\nmay be still living at that place.\n\nOur father, Jared, afterwards received in marriage Charity\nDickison, daughter of Samuel Dickison, of Bolton, N. Y. I remember\nseeing him once (Dickison) when a small boy.\n\nOur father, Jared, died at Detroit, Michigan, of a fever,\nNovember 5, 1839, being near seventy years of age. He died in the\nhouse of his eldest son, Anson, who buried him some three or four\nmiles north or northeast from Detroit, in Michigan.\n\nOur mother, Charity, died of cholera in the house of her son\nAnson, at St. Joseph, Missouri, May 20, 1849, and was buried in the\ngraveyard of that town, and a tombstone erected to her memory.\n\nTheir children, five in number, were as follows:\n\n    Anson, born January 9, 1801, died May 26, 1849.\n    William D., born September 3, 1802, Town of Wooster, New York,\n    died September 15, 1870, Salt Lake City.\n    Parley P., born April 12, 1807, in Burlington, Otsego County,\n    New York.\n    Orson, born September 19, 1811, in Hartford, Washington Go. New\n    York.\n    Nelson, born May 26, 1815.\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n------------------------\n\nThis text was prepared by Tom Nysetvold, based on public-domain\nmaterials including a text available from the Book of Abraham Project\nand text and scans available from Archive.org. It is intended to\nreproduce the 1888 Chicago edition. Email tomnysetvold@gmail.com with\ncorrections or to participate in proofreading of similar early books of\nThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.","title":"The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt: One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry, and Travels","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":156954}