LDS Truth | Church History - Nauvoo, Illinois

"This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens." -Joseph Smith

The Nauvoo period started immediately with a dreadful challenge: a form of malaria caused by the Anopheles mosquito, which bred profusely in the swampland along the Mississippi. Almost everyone was affected by it. Joseph himself became ill. On July 22, 1839, the prophet, filled with the Spirit, rose from his bed and pronounced healing blessings on many of the saints.

Life was busy in Nauvoo through the rest of 1839 and 1840 as the saints drained the swamp and prepared to build their city. On December 6, 1840, the state of Illinois granted the Nauvoo Charter, which was similar to charters that had been recently granted in Chicago and Springfield. The charter granted the right to establish a militia, a municipal court, and a university. For the first time in a decade, the saints felt some security. The prophet was safe and well and leading the Church. The apostles could go on their missions to Great Britain. Peace abounded and the opportunities to extend the gospel seemed readily available. Consider just some of the events of this period:

In June 1839, the apostles received training from the First Presidency before departing on missions to Great Britain.
In April 1840, Orson Hyde was called to dedicate Palestine for the return of the Jews to Israel.
In March through August 1840, Wilford Woodruff and others baptized nearly 1,800 people in a three-county area in Great Britain.
In January 1841, the First Presidency issued a proclamation urging all saints to gather in Nauvoo.
On April 6, 1841, the cornerstones of the Nauvoo temple were laid. This work would consume the efforts of the saints until they left Nauvoo in February 1846.
On March 17, 1842, the Relief Society was founded.
On May 4, 1842, Joseph Smith administered the endowment to nine faithful brethren.
Countless additional doctrinal light was received during the Nauvoo period.

As had happened before, success and peace led to jealousy and animosity. On June 1, 1844, the Nauvoo Expositor, and anti-Mormon paper, attempted to rally enemies against the Church. The Church leaders met and decided to destroy the press to curtail such writings. This was the final straw that led to incarceration for Joseph and Hyrum in Carthage. On June 27, 1844, they were martyred.

In February 1846, the saints, for the final time, left their homes behind and headed west. For fifteen years they had been driven from place to place and endured incredible hardship. Their greatest trials were yet to come, as one of the most remarkable migrations in the history of Western civilization was about to begin.

Nauvoo Temple Milestones

May of 1845- When Joseph died, the temple was only one story high. Only eleven months later, a people eager for their temple ordinances and bound to show themselves that truth would prevail were ready to place the capstone. As persecutions grew around Nauvoo, work on the temple intensified. In what must have been a poignant scene, in the fall of 1845, two kinds of building projects dominated Nauvoo - the building of the magnificent white and gold temple and the constructing of wagons, which they would use to roll away and abandon it.

October 5, 1845- General Conference was held in the temple. Brigham Young dedicated the partially completed temple "as a monument of the Saints." The Church leaders announced that because of continued persecution, the saints would soon vacate the city, nevertheless construction would continue on the temple. The saints were counseled to pay their tithing to raise desperately needed funds. Heber C. Kimball proclaimed: "I would rather go into the wilderness with a pack on my back...and have the temple finished than to go with my wagon loaded down with gold and the temple not finished."

December 19, 1845- Why work so hard on a temple they would leave behind and never see again? The temple, with its inscription "Holiness to the Lord," was the symbol of their faith and sacrifice. When the rooms opened they flocked to the temple for the sacred ordinances. In January, Brigham Young wrote, "Such has been the anxiety manifested by the saints to receive the ordinances, and such the anxiety on our part to administer to them, that I have given myself up entirely to the work of the Lord in the Temple night and day, not taking more than four hours sleep upon an average per day, and going home buy once a week." Though some had received their endowments in the top floor of the Red Brick Store, not until the Nauvoo temple was opened were the ordinances available to the great group of Latter-day Saints. It was through their covenants that the saints had the power to make the journey west and stay intact. With the Nauvoo temple, Latter-day Saints began to make the saving ordinances the center of their lives.

January 2, 1846- In the Celestial Room of the Nauvoo Temple, Brigham Young uttered these prophetic words: "We can't stay in this (temple) but a little while. We have got to build another house. It will be a larger house than this, and a more glorious one. And we shall build many houses. We shall come back here and we shall go to Kirtland, and build houses all over the continent of North America. (From Heber C. Kimball Journal, An Intimate Chronicle, 252)

February 7, 1846- This was the final day for ordinances in the Nauvoo Temple. Work had been performed around the clock for two days. About 600 people received their ordinances on the final day. In all, 5,615 would receive their endowments before they shut the temple doors behind them and turned their faces west.

March 15, 1846- The temple was still not complete, but many saints in the city experienced a spiritual "Day of Pentecost," or rather a "Night of Pentecost." In the evening, a small group of saints gathered in the temple to partake of the sacrament. As they were overcome by the Spirit, some of the brethren spoke in tongues and prophesied. While one brother described a vision, a light was seen over his head. The face of another brother shined with great brightness. Two heavenly beings were seen in the northeast corner of the room and the Holy Ghost was felt by all present. This spiritual meeting continued until midnight. Thomas Bullock said, "It was the most profitable, happy, and glorious meeting I had ever attended in my life." While this sacred meeting was taking place in the temple, Chester Loveland was called out of bed by his mother-in-law, who cried out with alarm that the Temple was again on fire! He dressed as quick as lightning and ran outside, seeing the temple all in a blaze. He studied it for a few seconds and realized that the flames were not consuming the temple. He also didn't see anyone else running to the rescue and concluded that it was the glory of God. He returned to bed. Another brother saw the belfry on fire at 9:45 p.m. He ran as fast as he could, but when he reached the temple he found it dark, secure, and unharmed. At about this time, Sister Almira Lamb, with others in her room, saw a vision of her dead child. It appeared to her in great glory and filled the room with light. Others dreamed inspired dreams that night. It was truly a night of spiritual feast.

April 6, 1846- The remaining saints in Nauvoo held General Conference in the basement of the Nauvoo Temple where the baptismal font was located. They could not meet in the upper levels because the workmen were painting. They could not meet in the grove near the temple because of rainy weather. Elder Orson Hyde offered prayer but the conference was quickly adjourned until the following day because of their cramped conditions.

April 29, 1846- The temple was finally completed! Meanwhile, many miles to the west, Brigham Young and hundreds of pioneer saints were camped in Garden Grove, Iowa. A group of temple construction workers met with their wives in the attic of the temple and had a feast of cakes, pies, and other items to celebrate the event. They enjoyed themselves in prayer, preaching, and blessing children until midnight.

Joseph gives Endowments in the Upper Room of the Red Brick Store

"I spent the day in the upper part of the store, that is in my private office (so called because in that room I keep my sacred writings, translate ancient records, and receive revelations) and in my general business office, or lodge room (that is where the Masonic fraternity meet occasionally for want a better place) in council with General James Adams, of Springfield, Patriarch Hyrum Smith, Bishops Newel K. Whitney and George Miller, and President Brigham Young and Elders Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards, instructing them in the principles and order of the Priesthood, attending to washings, anointings, endowments and the communication of keys pertaining to the Aaronic Priesthood, and so on to the highest order of the Melchizedek Priesthood, setting forth the order pertaining to the Ancient of Days, and all those plans and principles by which any one is enabled to secure the fullness of those blessings which have been prepared for the Church of the Firstborn, and come up and abide in the presence of the Eloheim in the eternal worlds.

In this council was instituted the ancient order of things for the first time in these last days. And the communications I made to this council were of things spiritual, and to be received only by the spiritual minded: and there was nothing made known to these men but what will be made known to all the Saints of the last days, so soon as they are prepared to receive, and a proper place is prepared to communicate them, even to the weakest of the Saints; therefore let the Saints be diligent in building the Temple, and all houses which they have been, or shall hereafter be, commanded of God to build; and wait their time with patience in all meekness, faith, perseverance unto the end, knowing assuredly that all these things referred to in this council are always governed by the principle of revelation."

Nauvoo Cemetery Journal Excerpts

"I must mention a circumstance that took place a short time previous to finishing the Nauvoo Temple. I was going home when my wife met me at the door and began crying. Said she could stand anything but this (that was the children crying for bread and she had none to give them). I replied, why do you not go and ask the Lord to send you some; why not you go with me? We went into our bedroom and fastened ourselves in and there made our request. In about an hour after, Brother Lucious Scovil came and after some little talk said he would like me to make a gravestone to mark the place where his son was buried. I told him I would do it. He said he was in no hurry but wanted it done. I told him I had a family depending on me. He said he did not have anything to pay with, but in a while told me he could let me have some wheat if I wished it. I told him I would be pleased to get some. He wished me to go with him and he would let me have it. I went, got the wheat, 4 or 4.5 bushels I got, and took it to Knight’s Mill and returned home with the grist, thus was our prayers answered."

Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and T. Jeffery Cottle, Old Mormon Nauvoo and Southeastern Iowa, Historical Photographs and Guide, page 175.

In early August 1839, Elder Wilford Woodruff left his home in Montrose, Iowa, obeying the Lord's call to serve a mission in the British Isles. He bade farewell to his wife, Phoebe, and his only child, one-year-old Sarah Emma. At the time, Phoebe was pregnant with Wilford Jr., who would be born March 22, 1840.

A few months after leaving Montrose, Elder Woodruff was in the eastern United States, preaching the gospel and preparing for the journey to Great Britain. During this stay he wrote in his journal of three separate dreams in which he saw his wife. After the first dream he wrote the following entry in his journal: "I saw Mrs. Woodruff in deep affliction in a dream at Montrose. I did not see Sarah Emma." His report of the second dream was also short: "I had a dream during the night and had an interview with Mrs. Woodruff but did not see Sarah Emma." The third dream was more detailed: "We rejoiced much at having an interview with each other, yet our embraces were mixed with sorrow, for after conversing a while about her domestic affairs, I asked where Sarah Emma was. . . . She said, weeping, . . . 'She is dead.' We sorrowed a moment, and I awoke. . . . Is this dream true? Time must determine."

On July 14, 1840, Elder Woodruff, now in Great Britain, wrote a journal entry commemorating an important day for his family: "Sarah Emma is two years old this day. May the Lord preserve my wife and children from sickness and death until my return." Always one to acknowledge the Lord's will, he added, "O Lord, I commit them into thy hands; feed, clothe, and comfort them, and thine shall be the glory." Three days later, little Sarah Emma died.

Elder Woodruff did not learn of his daughter's death until October 22, 1840, when he read the news in a letter sent to one of his brethren in the Quorum of the Twelve. Four days later he finally received the news from Phoebe, in a letter dated July 18. He copied part of her letter in his journal: "My dear Wilford, what will be your feelings when I say that yesterday I was called to witness the departure of our little Sarah Emma from this world? Yes, she is gone. The relentless hand of death has snatched her from my embrace. . . . When looking on her, I have often thought how I should feel to part with her. I thought I could not live without her, especially in the absence of my companion. But she has gone. The Lord hath taken her home to Himself for some wise purpose.

"It is a trial to me, but the Lord hath stood by me in a wonderful manner. I can see and feel that He has taken her home and will take better care of her than I possibly could for a little while until I shall go and meet her. Yes, Wilford, we have one little angel in heaven, and I think it likely her spirit has visited you before this time.

"It is hard living without her. . . . She left a kiss for her papa with me just before she died. . . . The elders laid hands upon her and anointed her a number of times, but the next day her spirit took its flight from this to another world without a groan.

"Today Wilford [Jr.] and I, with quite a number of friends accompanying us, came over to Commerce, [Illinois,] to pay our last respects to our little darling in seeing her decently buried. She had no relative to follow her to the grave or to shed a tear for her but her ma and little Wilford. . . . I have just been to take a pleasing, melancholy walk to Sarah's grave. She lies alone in peace. I can say that the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord [see Job 1:21]."

Other than copying Phoebe's letter, Elder Woodruff wrote very little about his daughter's passing. He merely said that Sarah Emma had been "taken from time" and that she was "gone to be seen no more in this life."

It is good to look to the past to gain appreciation for the present and perspective for the future. It is good to look upon the virtues of those who have gone before, to gain strength for whatever lies ahead. It is good to reflect upon the work of those who labored so hard and gained so little in this world, but out of whose dreams and early plans, so well nurtured, has come a great harvest of which we are the beneficiaries. Their tremendous example can become a compelling motivation for us all, for each of us is a pioneer in his own life, often in his own family, and many of us pioneer daily in trying to establish a gospel foothold in distant parts of the world. [Gordon B. Hinckley, "The Faith of the Pioneers," Ensign, July 1984, p. 3]

I would like to finish today by recounting an experience in early Church history having to do with Israel Barlow. He was one of those who went up the Mississippi River from Quincy and helped scout out the area that later became Nauvoo. He lived in Nauvoo and came west with the Saints as one of the early pioneers. In the early 1850s he was attending a general conference of the Church.

It was in that meeting that Israel Barlow heard his name mentioned from the pulpit. In those days, this was how the brethren were called on missions. Israel Barlow was called on a mission to Great Britain. He didn't have to have an interview. He didn't have to have a medical examination. He was called to go on a mission. He had a family and was just getting started in his new area, so it was no small
sacrifice to answer the call from the presidency of the Church. But he had enough faith that this was what he knew he must do. His wife was supportive of him, but she asked him for one favor on his way to the mission field. Would he stop at their old farm in Nauvoo and find where they had buried their firstborn child and remove the grave to the Old Nauvoo Burial Ground? He said he would do this, and he made his way back across the Mississippi River and came up to Nauvoo.

He went to the farm and got the permission of the people who lived there to look for and move the grave. He said that at first he could not find it, but then he located it because his wife had planted ground cover around it. When he dug down, he felt that the grave was in such a condition that it could not be moved. According to his journal, he said to himself that he would leave it to the morning of the first resurrection and hoped that his wife would understand. As he turned away to continue his journey up the river and on to Great Britain, he turned back one more time just to be sure that he had made the right decision. He again felt that nothing more could be done, and as he turned away again he said that words came into his mind so clear that he knew he had not put them there. These words were, "Daddy, don't leave me here!" He said he stopped and took the necessary time and effort to move the grave of his firstborn child to the Old Nauvoo Burial Ground.

After he had completed the work, he said that he spent some time by the grave feeling this bond between himself and his firstborn child before he left, not knowing if he would return. To our knowledge, he never did return to the site. (See Ora H. Barlow, The Israel Barlow Story and Mormon Mores [Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1968], pp. 300308.)

There is quite a message in the expression "Daddy, don't leave me here!" I feel that with the recent celebration in San Francisco the voyage of the Brooklyn Saints has been lifted from just a footnote of Church history to the position that it probably deserves. The faithful Saints who came on that ship deserve such attention. It is as if those who have written that chapter of Church history were saying to us, "Don't leave us here. Don't forget us."

And so it is with all of us as we remember our own heritage, as we remember the heritage of the Church, and as we pass it on to those who come after us and build their faith, just as our faith has been built because of the steadfastness of those who have gone on before us. Each of us is on his or her own sea voyage. Our steadfastness in finishing the voyage and just living from day to day the way we should live will leave a great heritage.

For the Book of Mormon people, it was the heritage of Moses leading the camp of Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land and Lehi and his family coming over the ocean. For Latter-day Saints, it is a young boy going into a grove of trees and, in an answer to faithful prayer, having God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ appear to him and speak to him. And then, through succeeding revelations and visions, it is having the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ restored with the priesthood, the authority, the covenants, and all that we enjoy today in the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is our heritage, and this was the heritage they sacrificed so much to establish. That heritage includes a thousand personal sacrifices taken from the lives of each member and deserves to live on for the sake of those who come after us. Like us, these early Saints knew the restored gospel was true and that there were living apostles and prophets. They were willing to sacrifice for that sacred knowledge.

I bear you my witness that there is a God in heaven and that he lives. I know God lives. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that Gordon B. Hinckley is a prophet today. I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ and that the Book of Mormon is true.

May the Lord bless us that we may honor our heritage and pass the gift of faith to the generations who follow us. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Farewell to Nauvoo

In the concluding dedicatory session of the Nauvoo Temple, President Hinckley made a special request of all those who were then in Nauvoo. He asked everyone to take a few minutes to "walk down Parley Street to the waterfront," to the landing on the Mississippi River from which the saints departed Nauvoo and crossed into Iowa on their westward trek. He asked members to leave behind the comfort of their air-conditioned cars, to walk along this sacred path and take time to read the plaques along the Trail of Hope.

As the saints prepared to leave Nauvoo, they too walked down Parley Street. Some were fortunate enough to own a wagon and were able to cross the Mississippi River on a ferry boat while others walked across the frozen Mississippi never to return to Nauvoo again.

At the edge of the river stands the Pioneer Memorial and Exodus to Greatness Monument. The Pioneer Memorial contains the names of many of those who died along the Mormon Trail and surrounds the Exodus to Greatness Monument, a stone mounted bronze frieze of the Mormon Trail.

Upon the walls of the Pioneer Memorial are the names of nearly 4,000 Latter-day Saints who died along the Mormon Trail. The Memorial serves as a silent testament of the faithfulness of the many pioneers who died before their journey was through.

The list was compiled after many years of research, scouring through hundreds of official records. Although there are others who died along the trail whose names are lost from records, they are not lost to our Savior Jesus Christ, and their faithfulness remains in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints today.

Near this spot, many Latter-day Saints began their journey across the Mormon Trail to find a new home in the Rocky Mountains. Fleeing enemies, these refugees crossed the Mississippi River with their wagons on flatboats, except for a few days when they crossed on ice. The Exodus to Greatness Monument inside the Pioneer Memorial is a bronze relief that pays tribute to the great sacrifices of all those who made the arduous trek to Salt Lake.

Seeking freedom to worship God, as they believed, more than 50,000 Mormon pioneers, mostly with ox-drawn wagons or handcarts, crossed the plains to the Rocky Mountains before the completion of the transcontinental railroad May 10, 1869.

Sister Ardeth Kapp, former General Young Women president, said the following, "We read about the pioneers who, in the early history of the Church, left their possessions, "their things," and headed west. Those who were with the handcart company who would push or pull their carts into the wilderness would give much thought to what they would make room for in their wagons and what they would be willing to leave behind. Even after the journey began, some things had to be unloaded along the way for people to reach their destination.

Today our tests are different. We are not called to load our wagons and head west. Our frontier and wilderness are of a different nature, but we too must decide what we will make room for in our wagons and what is of highest value.

When my grandmother left her home in England as a young immigrant, she left everything behind because someone taught her of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She joined the Saints in America and eventually moved to Canada. For fear of being persuaded to remain in England, she did not tell her family of her conversion to the Church or her plans to leave. They never saw each other again in this earth life. And none of my grandmother's family joined the Church. However, their temple work has been done for them.

What is it that drives a people to sacrifice all if necessary to receive the blessings available only in the temple? It is their faith and a spiritual witness of the importance of our covenants with God and our immense possibilities. It is in the temple, the house of the Lord, that we participate in ordinances and covenants that span the distance between heaven and earth and prepare us to return to God's presence and enjoy the blessings of eternal families and eternal life.

As we take an inventory of the things we are carrying in our wagons and make decisions about what we will be willing to leave behind and what we will cling to, we have guidance. The Lord has given us a great promise to which I bear my testimony. He has said, "Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will knock it shall be opened unto you. Seek to bring forth and establish my Zion. Keep my commandments in all things. And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God (D&C 14:57).

When we understand that our covenants with God are essential to our eternal life, these sacred promises become the driving force that helps us lighten our load, prioritize our activities, eliminate the excesses, accelerate our progress, and reduce the distractions that could, if not guarded, get us mired down in mud while other wagons move on. If any of you are burdened with sin and sorrow, transgression and guilt, then unload your wagon and fill it with obedience, faith, and hope, and a regular renewal of your covenants with God."

Requirements for the Journey

The inside of a pioneer wagon, or 'prairie schooner' as they were often called, was designed first for utility and then for comfort. These supplies needed to last the occupants for up to six months had to be packed into an area usually ten feet long and four feet side (about the same amount of room as the inside of a VW van). Many of the Mormon pioneers traveled by handcart, pushing and pulling their way across the plains. For these saints, a wagon would have been a luxury beyond compare.

Trail of Hope - Parley Street

1. "Our camp resounded with songs of joy and praise to God, all were cheerful and happy in the anticipation of finding a resting place from persecution in some of the lonely, solitary valleys of the great interior basin whithersoever we might be led." -Orson Pratt

2. "How well I remember what a hard time (father) had breaking in the animals to draw the wagon. There were six cows and two oxen. The oxen were well broken and quite sedate. But the cows were wild and unruly...while Father was breaking the cattle, Mother was praying...many nights when we were in bed asleep...she would go out into the orchard...and pour out her soul in prayer, asking the Lord to open the way for us to o with the Saints." -Margaret Judd Clawson

3. "I stopped my carriage on the top of a rolling prairie and had a splendid view. I could see the Saints pouring out and gathering like clouds from the hills and dales, grove and prairie with their teams, wagons, flocks, and herds by hundreds and thousands as it were until it looked the movement of a great Nation. -Wilford Woodruff, 1846

4. "Last evening the ladies met to organize...several resolutions were adopted...if the men wish to hold control over women, let them be alert. We believe in equal rights." -Louisa Barnes Pratt, June 7, 1846

5. "The thoughts of leaving my family for the Mormon Battalion at this critical time are indescribable. My family consisted of a wife and two small children, who were left in company with an aged father and mother and a brother. The most of the Battalion left families...when we were to meet with them again, God only knew. Nevertheless, we did not feel to murmur." -William Hyde

6. "So, we have both suffered. We must help one another and the Great Spirit will help us both." -Chief Pied Riche, Pottawattamie Tribe, June 1846

7. "A large amount of labor has been done since arriving in this grove. Indeed, the whole camp is very industrious. Many houses have been built, wells dug, extensive farms fenced, and the whole place assumes the appearance of having been occupied for years..." -Orson Pratt, May 10, 1846

8. "He died in my arms about four o'clock. This was the second child, which I had lost, both dying in my arms. He died with whooping cough and black canker. We are entirely destitute of anything even to eat, much less to nourish the sick." Hosea Stout, May 8, 1846

9. "There on the bank of the Chariton River, I was delivered of a fine son. Occasionally the wagon had to be stopped that I might take a breath. Thus I journeyed on. But I did not mind the hardship of my situation, for my life had been preserved, and my babe was so beautiful." -Zina Huntington Jacobs Young

10. "My last act in that precious spot was to tidy the rooms, sweep up the floor, and set the broom in its accustomed place behind the door. The with emotions in my heart...I gently closed the door and faced unknown future; faced it with faith in God and with no less assurance of the ultimate establishment of the Gospel in the West and of its true enduring principles, than I had felt in those trying scenes in Missouri." -Bathsheba Smith

11. "We hurried to pack some food, cooking utensils, clothing, and bedding, which was afterward unpacked and strewn over the ground by the mob as they searched for firearms. Mother had some bread already in the kettles to bake. Of course she did not have time to bake, so she hung it on the reach of our wagon and cooked it after we crossed the Mississippi River." -Mary Field Garner

12. "The fall of 1845 found Nauvoo, as it were, one vast mechanic shop, as nearly every family was engaged in making wagons. Our parlor was used as a paint shop in which to paint wagons." -Bathsheba Smith

13. "Those of us who can't remember when we were compelled to abandon Nauvoo, when the winter was so inclement, know how dark and gloomy the circumstances of the saints were, with the mob surrounding our outer settlements and threatening to destroy us and how trying it was to the faith of the people of God. The word was to cross the Mississippi and to launch out into an unknown wilderness- to go where, no one knew. Who knew anything of the terrors of the journey thither, or of the dangers that might have to be met and contended with? Who knew anything about the country to be traversed? Moving out with faith that was undisturbed by its unknown terror, it was by faith that this was accomplished." -George Q. Cannon

14. "I was in Nauvoo on the 26th day of May, 1846, for the last time, and left the city of the Saints feeling that most likely I was taking a final farewell of Nauvoo for this life. I looked upon the temple and City as they receded from view and asked the Lord to remember the sacrifices of his Saints." -Wilford Woodruff

15. "Some had covers drawn over their wagons while others had only a sheet drawn over a few poles to make a tent. Sometimes these rude tents were the only covering for the while keeping the watchman post in the darkness of the night. I wept over the distress condition of the Saints. Toward the dim light of many flickering lamp have my eyes been directed because of the crying of my children, the restless movements of the aged, infirm and mournful groan of many suffering from fever. These have made an impression on my mind which can never be forgotten." -Gilbert Belnap

16. "With this advanced camp of the great exodus, there had come a brass band, led by Captain Pitt. After encampment was made and the toils of the day were over, the snow would be scraped away, a huge fire or several of them kindled within the wagoned enclosure, and there to the inspiring music of Pitt's band, song and dance often beguiled the exiles into forgetfulness of their trials and discomforts." -B.H. Roberts

17. "As Sarah Leavitt and her daughters tried to comfort her sick husband, he began to sing, 'Come Let Us Anew, Our Journey Pursue...' He sang the hymn as long as he had strength to sing it and then wanted Elisa, one of his daughters, to sing it. He died without a struggle or groan." -Sarah Leavitt

18. "The suffering and sadness of that camp I shall never forget. It is impossible to describe the cries of the hungry children, the sadness of others for the loss of their loved ones. What a terrible night of misery. We didn't even have a light, except a candle which flickered out in the wind and rain as it was carried from one place to another." -Mary Field Garner

19. "Prepared for the night by erecting a temporary tent out of bed clothes. At this time my wife was hardly able to sit up and my little son was sick with a very high fever and would not even notice anything that was going on." -Hosea Stout

20. "...Here we all halted and took a farewell view of our delightful City...We also beheld the magnificent Temple rearing its lofty tower towards the heavens...My heart did swell within me." -Newell Knight

21. "I was five years old when we started from Nauvoo. We crossed over the Mississippi in the skiff in the dusk of the evening. We bid goodbye to our dear old feeble grandmother, Lucy Mack Smith. I can never forget the bitter tears she shed when she bid us goodbye for the last time in this life. She knew it would be the last time she would see her son's family..." -Martha Ann Smith

22. "Without fire and something ward to eat, all would suffer through the night. Seeing no other way, I emptied a large valuable chest, highly prized, split it up with the hatchet, and soon had a warm supper, then during the freezing storm, we crowded into our wagon and remained there throughout the night." -Benjamin F. Johnson, Recollections

24. "When a boat sank while attempting to cross the Mississippi, a number of Saints were tossed and sported on the water at the mercy of the cold and unrelenting waves...some climbed on top of the wagon...while cows and oxen were seen swimming to the shore from whence they came." -Hosea Stout

25. "I had a small flock of sheep which I had not time to sell. These I left, together with my house and lot, the former containing my furniture and books." -Priddy Meeks

26. "Early in February, multitudes of the people commenced to cross the Mississippi, and from their encampments in the forest of Iowa. In regard to the terrible suffering that followed, the terrible snow storms and rains that continued from February until May, causing such floods and mire, distress and suffering and consequent sickness, as perhaps has never before been known to the lot of man..." -Erastus Snow

27. "Unless the people are more united in spirit and cease to pray against counsel, it will bring me down to my grave. I am reduced in flesh so that my coat that would scarcely meet around me last winter now laps over twelve inches. It is with much ado that I can keep from lying down and sleeping to wait the resurrection." -Brigham Young

28. "We bade our children and friends goodbye and started from the west. Crossed the river about noon...I knitted almost a mitten for Mr. Sessions while he went back to get some things we left." -Patty Sessions

29. "I was not large enough to keep out of the way of the wagon at all times and consequently had my feet and leg run over two of three times when jumping out of the wagon to stop the team." -Gideon Murdock, age 6

30. "We had nothing to sweeten anything until the Lord sent honey dew, which we gathered from bushes until we got all the sweets we wanted. I also boiled maple juice and got cakes of maple." -Jane Johnston