Among other matters I had a fine gray mare that attracted the
attention of many of the mob. I was allowed to take her to water
while closely guarded by armed men. One day as I took her to
water I was spoken to by several, who said they were sorry for a
man like me, who appeared to be honest and peaceably disposed;
that they knew that I and many honest men were deluded by Joseph
Smith, the impostor. But they thanked God he would delude no more
people; that he would certainly be shot; that I had better quit
my delusion and settle down by the officer in command, who was
then talking to me, in Carroll County, and make a home for my
family; that I would never have peace or quiet while I remained
with the Mormons. I heard him through. Then I said:
"No man has deceived me. I am not deceived by Joseph Smith, or
any other man. If I am deceived it is the Bible that has deceived
me. I believe that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, and I have
the Bible as my authority in part for this belief. And I do not
believe that Joseph Smith will be shot, as you seem to think. He
has not finished his work yet."
As I finished my remarks the officer became enraged, and said:
"That is the way with all you Mormons. You might as well try to
move a mountain as to turn a Mormon from his delusion. Blow the
brains out of this fool!"
In an instant several guns were leveled on me. I imagined I felt
the bullets piercing my body.
The soldiers would certainly have shot me down if the officer had
not immediately countermanded his order, by saying:
"Hold on, boys, he is not worth five charges of ammunition."
"Gentlemen," I said, "I am your prisoner, unarmed and helpless,
and I demand your protection. But if you consider there is any
honor in treating a man and an American prisoner in this way, you
may do it."
As we returned to camp the man said:
"We will make it hot for the Mormons yet before we are done with
them, and if you have not got enough of them now, you will have,
and you will remember my words when it is too late to serve you."
"I may," said I; "when I do I will own up like a little man. But
until I am so convinced I will never turn my coat."
"Well," said he, "you are not so bad, after all. I like a firm
man."
The Mormons were locked in the public schoolhouses and kept
without rations being issued to them. The grain fields and
gardens that belonged to the Mormons were thrown open to the
stock and wasted. Our cattle and other stock were shot down for
sport and left for the wolves and birds of prey to devour. We
were closely guarded, and not allowed to go from our quarters
without an escort. We were nearly starved for several days, until
I obtained permission to go out and bring in some of the cattle
that the soldiers had killed for sport. The weather was cold and
the snow deep, so the meat was good. I also got permission to
gather in some vegetables, and from that time, while we remained
prisoners, the men had plenty to eat, yet often it was of a poor
quality. While a prisoner I learned that the loud and self-
conceited men were of little account when danger stared them in
the face.
Arrangements had been made to carry the treaty into effect. It
was found necessary to send Gen. Wilson with five hundred men to
Adam-on-Diamond to compel the surrender and the signing of the
treaty, as had been done at Far West, and the people of that
place were to be treated just as we had been. I was recommended
to Gen. Wilson by the officer who had ordered his men to blow my
brains out, as a suitable man for a guide to Adam-on-Diamond. He
said that I was as stubborn as a mule, but still there was
something about me he respected; that he believed I was honest,
and certainly no coward. Gen. Wilson said:
"Young man, do you live at Adam-on-Diamond?"
"I cannot say that I do; but I did once, and I have a wife and
child there that I would like to see; but as to a home, I have
none left."
"Where did you live before you came here?"
"In Illinois," I answered.
"You will soon see your wife and child. I shall start in the
morning with my division for Adam-on-Diamond. You are at liberty
to select two of your comrades and go with me as guide to pilot
us there. Be ready for an early start and report to my adjutant."
"Thank you, sir, I will do as you request," said I.
The next morning I selected two good men. Brother Levi Stewart
was one, but I have forgotten who the other man was. The day was
cold and stormy, a hard north wind blowing, and the snow falling
rapidly. It was an open country for thirteen miles, with eighteen
inches of snow on the ground. We kept our horses to the lope
until we reached Shady Grove timber, thirteen miles from Far
West. There we camped for the night by the side of Brother Waldo
Littlefield's farm. The fence was burned for camp-fires, and his
fields of grain were fed to the horses, or rather the animals
were turned loose in the fields. After camp was struck I went to
Gen. Wilson and said:
"General, I have come to beg a favor of you. I ask you in the
name of humanity to let me go on to Adam-on-Diamond to-day. I
have a wife and helpless babe there. I am informed that our house
was burned, and she is out in this storm without shelter. You are
halfway there; the snow is deep, and you can follow our trail" - it
had then slackened up, or was snowing but little - "in the morning;
there is but one road to the settlement."
He looked at me for a moment, and then said:
"Young man, your request shall be granted; I admire your
resolution." He then turned to his aid, who stood trembling in
the snow, and said, "Write Mr. Lee and his two comrades a pass,
saying that they have gone through an examination at Far West,
and were found innocent."
After receiving my pass I thanked the General for his humane act,
and with my friends made the journey, through the snow, to Adam-
on-Diamond. As we neared home the sun shone out brightly. When I
got in sight of where my house had been I saw my wife sitting by
a log fire in the open air, with her babe in her arms. Some
soldiers had cut a large hickory tree for firewood for her, and
built her a shelter with some boards I had had dressed to
weather-board a house, so she was in a measure comfortable. She
had been weeping, as she had been informed that I was a prisoner
at Far West, and would be shot, and that she need not look for
me, for she would never see me again.
When I rode up she was nearly frantic with delight, and as soon
as I reached her side she threw herself into my arms and then her
self-possession gave way and she wept bitterly; but she soon
recovered herself and gave me an account of her troubles during
my absence.
The next evening Gen. Wilson and his command arrived and camped
near my little shanty. I started at once to report to Gen.
Wilson. On my way to him I passed my friend McBrier, who had
trusted me for some cattle. I still owed him for them. I told him
why I had been unable to pay him, and wished him to take the
cattle back, as I still had all of them except one cow that had
died of the murrain; that it was an honest debt, and I wished to
pay it. I asked him to go to my shanty with me, and said he could
take what cattle were left and a black mare that was worth
seventy-five dollars, and an eight-day clock that was worth
twenty-five dollars, for my note.
"I have not got your note," said he.
"Who has it?" I asked.
"I do not know; I supposed you had it."
"I never saw it since I gave it to you."
"Well," said he, "my house was burned, and all my property either
burned or taken from me, and your note was in the house when it
was burned."
"Well," said I, "it matters not with me. If you will take the
property and give me a' receipt against the note, so that it
cannot be collected the second time, I will settle the debt." He
then said:
"I thought you were in the party that burned the house, and had
taken your note, but I am now satisfied to the contrary, and that
you are an innocent man. All I ask is for you to renew the note.
The property of the Mormons will be held to pay their debts and
the expenses of the war, and I will get my pay in that way. You
just renew the note, and that will settle all between us."
McBrier introduced me to a number of the soldiers as an honest
Mormon. This worked well in my favor, and pleased me much, for it
satisfied me more than ever that honesty was the best policy. I
had done nothing that I considered wrong. I did not have to run
and hide, or screen any act of mine from the public gaze.
My wife had been treated well personally during my absence; no
insults had been offered to her, and I was well pleased with
that. I was treated with respect by Gen. Wilson and his men.
True, I was associated with the people that had incurred the
displeasure of the authorities, and my neighbors were then
receiving fearful punishment for all they had done. The
punishment, however, was in a great part owing to the fault of
the people. When the Gentiles found any of their property they
became very abusive.
Every house in Adam-on-Diamond was searched by the troops for
Gentile property. They succeeded in finding very much of the
Gentile property that had been captured by the Saints in the
various raids they made through the country. Bedding of every
kind and in large quantities was found and reclaimed by the
owners. Even spinning wheels, soap barrels and other articles
were recovered. Each house where property was found was certain
to receive a Missouri blessing, that is to say, the torch, from
the troops.
The men who had been most active in gathering plunder had fled to
Illinois, to escape the vengeance of the mob, leaving their
families to suffer for their deeds. By the terms of the treaty
all the Mormons were to leave Daviess County within fifteen days,
but they were allowed to stay through the winter in Caldwell
County; but all had to depart from Missouri before the first day
of the next April. There were but a few families that met with
the kind treatment that mine did. The majority of the people were
censured and persecuted as much as they were able to stand and
live.
In justice to the Prophet Joseph I cannot say that I ever heard
him teach or even encourage men to steal little things. He told
the people to wait until the proper time came to take their
rights.
"Then," said he, "take the whole State of Missouri like men."
When the people at Adam-on-Diamond had signed the treaty and
complied with the stipulations, the committee of twelve commenced
their duties. When it came my turn to receive the property
necessary to take me out of the State I was told to fit myself
out comfortably. I told them that I had a wife and one child;
that I had two good wagons, one a heavy one-horse wagon, with
thills, and that I had a large mare which was equal to a common
span; that the mare and wagon would do me. I wanted some bedding
and our clothing, and some other traps of little value. I had a
good milk cow that I wished to give to a friend who had lost all
his cattle. His wife had died a short time before, leaving a
little babe that must have milk. I told them they could take the
rest of my property and do with it as they did with that of the
brethren. I was worth then in property, at a fair valuation, four
thousand dollars.
The officers were astonished at me, and said they did not, wish
to oppress a man who acted fairly. They told me to take my large
wagon and two of my best horses, and all the outfit that I
wanted. I thanked them for their kindness. I was permitted to
give the cow to my friend, and I had the privilege of taking such
articles as I wished. I fitted up with just what would take me to
Illinois, and left the remainder as a spoil for the enemies of
the Church. I did not regret the loss of my property; I gave it
up as the price of my religious freedom.
Before I speak of other things I will say a few words of the
country we were then in. Adam-on-Diamond was at the point where
Adam came and settled and blest his posterity after being driven
from the Garden of Eden. This was revealed to the people through
Joseph the Prophet. The Temple Block in Jackson County, Missouri,
stands on the identical spot where once stood the Garden of Eden.
When Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden they traveled in a
northwesterly course until they came to a valley on the east side
of Grand River. There they tarried for several years, and engaged
in tilling the soil. On the east of the valley there is a low
range of hills. Standing on the summit of the bluffs a person has
a full view of the beautiful valley that lies below, dotted here
and there with groves of timber. On the top of this range of
hills Adam erected an altar of stone, on which he offered
sacrifice unto the Lord. There was in our time (1838) a pile of
stone there, which the Prophet said was a portion of the altar on
which Adam offered sacrifice. Although these stones had been
exposed to the elements for many generations, still the traces
remained to show the dimensions and design of the altar. After
Adam had offered his sacrifice he went up the valley some two
miles, where he blessed his posterity and called the place the
Valley of Adam-on-Diamond, which, in the reformed Egyptian
language, signifies Adam's Consecrated Land. It is said to be
seventy-five miles, in a direct course, from the Garden of Eden
to Adam-on-Diamond. Those ancient relics and sacred spots of
earth are held holy by the greater portion of the Latter-day
Saints. These things, and much more concerning the early days,
were revealed to the Prophet Joseph.
On the 20th day of November, 1838, I took leave of my home and
the sacred ground of Adam-on-Diamond and started as a banished
man to seek a home in Illinois. We went to my farm on Shady Grove
Creek, and stayed over night. We found everything as we had left
it, nothing having been interfered with. I killed a large hog and
dressed it to carry with us to cat on the journey. The snow was
fully twenty inches deep, weather very cold, and, taken all in
all, it was a disagreeable and unpleasant trip.
We went to the settlement on Log Creek and stopped with the
family of Robert Bidwell. He had plenty of property. This man had
good teams, and had reaped where he had not sown, gathered where
he had not strewn. He was engaged in removing families of his
helpless brethren to Quincy, Illinois, who had not teams to move
themselves, but who had a little money that he was after, and he
got all they had. For some reason unexplained to me he had been
permitted to keep all of his property; none of it was taken by
the troops.
While at Bidwell's I bought a crib of corn, about two hundred
bushels, for a pocketknife. I built a stable for my mare, a crib
for the com, and hauled wood enough to do the family the rest of
the winter. I also attended to Bidwell's stock and worked all the
time for him. They had five children, which made considerable
work for the women folks; my wife worked for them all the time.
During this time we had nothing but corn to eat. The hog I killed
at my farm was diseased, and I had to throw the meat away.
Notwithstanding our constant work for Bidwell's family, they
never gave us a drop of milk or a meal of victuals while we
remained there. Mrs. Bidwell fed six gallons of milk to their
hogs each day. I offered to feed the hogs corn for milk, so we
could have milk to eat with our boiled corn, but she refused the
offer, saying they had all the corn they needed. They did have
provisions of every kind in abundance, but not a particle of food
could we obtain from them.
Prayer meetings were frequently held at their house. They had
plenty of tallow, but Mrs. Bidwell would not allow a candle to be
burned in the house unless some other person furnished it. One
night at prayer meeting I chanced to speak upon the subject of
covetousness, and quoted the twelfth chapter of Paul to the
Corinthians, where he speaks of members of the Church of Christ
being united. I was feeling bad to see so much of the covetousness
of the world in some of the members of the Church, and I talked
plainly upon the subject.
The next morning Mrs. Bidwell came into our room and said that my
remarks at the meeting the evening before were directed at her,
and she wanted me to understand that if I did not like my
treatment there she desired us to go where we would fare better.
This inhuman and unwelcome language did not sit well on an empty
stomach, and was more than I could bear. I burst into tears. Yet
I pitied the ungrateful woman. As soon as I could control my
feelings I said:
"Sister Bidwell, I will take you at your word. I will leave your
house as soon as I can get my things into my wagon, but before I
leave you I wish to say a few words for you to ponder on when we
are gone. In the first place, you and I profess to be members of
the same Church; for the sake of our faith my family has been
broken up and driven from a comfortable home in this inclement
season of the year. We came here seeking shelter from the stormy
blasts of winter, until the severity of the weather was past,
when we intended to leave this State. You have been more
fortunate than your brethren and sisters who lived in Daviess
County. You are allowed to live in your own house, but we are
homeless wanderers. Now you drive us from the shelter of your
roof for a trivial offense, if offense it was. But I assure you
that you are only angry because my words were the truth. Woe unto
you who are angry and offended at the truth. As you do unto
others, so will your Heavenly Father do unto you. Inasmuch as you
have done this unchristian act, you will yet be houseless and
homeless - you will be one day dependent upon those that you now
drive from your door."
At first she mocked me, but soon her tune changed and she
commenced to cry. She then begged me not to get angry with what a
woman said. I told her I could not undo what I had said - that I
should start at once for Quincy, Illinois.
We left the house of that stingy and selfish family, intending to
go direct to Illinois. We traveled until we arrived at the house
of a man by the name of Morris; they had a much smaller house
than Bidwell's, but they would not listen to our continuing our
journey during the severe cold weather. We accepted their
invitation, and stayed there about two weeks. This family
possessed the true Christian spirit, and treated us while there
as kindly as if we had been their own children.
While staying with Brother Morris I attended several meetings at
Far West. Old Father Smith, the father of the Prophet, led the
meetings. He also directed the exodus of the Saints from Missouri
to Illinois.
Thomas B. Marsh was at that time President of the twelve
apostles, and I think Brigham Young was second and Orson Hyde the
third on the roll. The great opposition to our people and Church
caused the two pillars, Marsh and Hyde, to become weak-kneed and
turn over to the enemy. Col. G. M. Hinkle, Dr. Averard, Judge W.
W. Phelps, and others of the "tall" men of the Church followed
suit. I remember going with Brother Levi Stewart to some of those
fallen angels (in the days of our prosperity they had looked like
angels to me) to inquire what to do and what was to be the future
conduct of our people. G. M. Hinkle said that it was his opinion
our leaders, the Prophet Joseph and those with him in prison,
would be either hanged or imprisoned for life - that the members
of the Church would scatter to the four winds, and never gather
again in this dispensation.
We then went to Joseph's father and asked him for counsel. He
told us that the Saints would gather again in Illinois. We asked
him at what point, and he said:
"I do not know yet, but the further north we go the fewer
poisonous serpents we will find."
He then advised us to attend private meetings and be set apart to
the ministry. Public meetings could not be held by the terms of
the treaty. We did attend private meetings, and I was ordained in
the Quorum of Seventies, under the hands of Joseph Young and Levi
Hancock. Stewart was ordained to the lesser Priesthood, which
gave him authority to preach and baptize, but not to confirm.
The office that I held gave me authority to preach, baptize, and
confirm by the laying on of hands, for the reception of the Holy
Ghost, and to ordain and set apart Elders, Priests, Teachers, and
Deacons, and to ordain a Seventy or High Priest, as the office of
a Seventy belongs to the Melchisedek Priesthood; yet a Seventy or
High Priest is generally ordained and set apart by the presidents
of the several quorums.
After we were ordained we attended a private feast and blessing
meeting, at which my wife and I got our Patriarchal Blessing,
under the hands of Isaac Morley, Patriarch. This office properly
belongs to those that are ordained and set apart to that calling,
to bless the fatherless and the widow especially; but he can
bless others who ask it and pay one dollar for the blessing.
Often the widow and the poor are blessed free, but this is at the
option of the Patriarch. My Patriarchal Blessing was in the
following form:
"Brother John Doyle Lee: In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and by
virtue and authority of the Holy Priesthood, in me vested, I lay
my hands upon thy head, and confer upon thee a Patriarchal or
Father's Blessing. Thou art of Ephriam, through the loins of
Joseph, that was sold into Egypt. And inasmuch as thou hast
obeyed the requirements of the gospel of salvation, thy sins are
forgiven thee. Thy name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life,
never more to be blotted out. Thou art lawful heir to all the
blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the new and everlasting
covenant. Thou shalt travel until thou art satisfied with seeing.
Thousands shall hear the everlasting gospel proclaimed from thy
lips. Kings and princes shall acknowledge thee to be their father
in the new and everlasting covenant. Thou shalt have a numerous
posterity, who shall rise up and bless thee. Thou shalt have
houses and habitations, flocks, fields, and herds. Thy table
shall be strewed with the rich luxuries of the earth, to feed thy
numerous family and friends who shall come unto thee. Thou shalt
be a counselor in Israel, and many shall come unto thee for
instruction. Thou shalt have power over thine enemies. They that
oppose thee shall yet come bending unto thee. Thou shalt sit
under thine own vine and fig tree, where none shall molest or
make thee afraid. Thou shalt be a blessing to thy family and to
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thou shalt
understand the hidden things of the Kingdom of Heaven. The spirit
of inspiration shall be a light in thy path and a guide to thy
mind. Thou shalt come forth in the morning of the first
resurrection, and no power shall hinder, except the shedding of
innocent blood, or consenting thereto. I seal thee up to eternal
life. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, Amen, and Amen."
To a true believer in the faith of the Latter-day Saints a
blessing of this kind, from under the hand of a Patriarch, was
then, and is now, next to a boon of eternal life. A Patriarch is
a man highly favored of God, possesses the gift of discerning
spirits, and can read the present and future destiny of men.
Patriarchal blessings strengthen, stimulate and encourage true
Saints to press on to perfection while passing through this world
of sorrows, cares and disappointments.
Having been ordained and blessed, my next step was to arm myself
with the Armor of Righteousness, and in my weakness pray for
strength to face a frowning world. I had put my hands to the plow
and I was determined that, with God's help, I would never turn
back to the sinful elements of the world, the flesh, and the
devil.