Mormons became rather unpopular in the settled States, and at length
moved bodily into Missouri, where they purchased several tracts
of land in the neighbourhood of Independence. Here they erected a
large building, which they called the Lord's Store, where goods were
collected on the common account, and retailed to members of the
church at moderate prices. All this time their numbers increased in
a wonderful manner, and immigrants from all parts of the States, as
well as Europe, continually joined them. As they became stronger,
they grew bolder and more arrogant in their projects. They had
hitherto been considered as bad neighbours, on account of their
pilfering propensities, and their utter disregard of the conventional
decencies of society--exhibiting the greatest immorality, and
endeavouring to establish amongst their society a universal
concubinage. This was sufficient to produce an ill feeling against
them on the part of their neighbours, the honest Missourians; but
they still tolerated their presence amongst them, until the Saints
openly proclaimed their intention of seizing upon the country, and
expelling by force the present occupants--giving, as their reason,
that it had been revealed to their prophets that the "Land of Zion"
was to be possessed by themselves alone.
The sturdy Missourians began to think this was a little too strong,
and that, if they permitted such aggressions any longer, they would
be in a fair way of being despoiled of their lands by the Mormon
interlopers. At length matters came to a crisis, and the Saints,
emboldened by the impunity with which they had hitherto carried out
their plans, issued a proclamation to the effect that all in that
part of the country, who did not belong to the Mormon persuasion,
must "clear out," and give up possession of their lands and houses.
The Missourians collected in a body, burned the printing-press from
which the proclamation had emanated, seized several of the Mormon
leaders, and, after inflicting a summary chastisement, "tarred and
feathered" them, and let them go.
To revenge this insult, the Mormons marshalled an army of Saints, and
marched upon Independence, threatening vengeance against the town
and people. Here they met, however, a band of sturdy backwoodsmen,
armed with rifles, determined to defend the town against the fanatic
mob, who, not relishing their appearance, refused the encounter, and
surrendered their leaders at the first demand. The prisoners were
afterwards released, on condition that the Mormons left that part of
the country without delay.
Accordingly, they once more "took up their beds and walked," crossing
the Missouri to Clay County, where they established themselves, and
would finally have formed a thriving settlement but for their own
acts of wilful dishonesty. At this time their blasphemous mummery
knew no bounds. Joe Smith, and other prophets who had lately arisen,
were declared to be chosen of God; and it was the general creed
that, on the day of judgment, the former would take his stand on the
right hand of the judgment-seat, and that none would pass into the
kingdom of heaven without his seal and touch. One of their tenets
was the faith in "spiritual matrimony." No woman, it appeared, would
be admitted into heaven unless "passed" by a saint. To qualify them
for this, it was necessary that the woman should first be received
by the guaranteeing Mormon as an "earthly wife," in order that he
did not pass in any of whom he had no knowledge. The consequence of
this state of things may be imagined. The most debasing immorality
was a precept of the order, and an almost universal concubinage
existed amongst the sect, which at this time numbered at least forty
thousand. Their disregard to the laws of decency and morality was
such as could not be tolerated in any class of civilised society.
Again did the honest Missourians set their faces against this
pernicious example, and when the county to which the Mormons had
removed became more thickly settled, they rose to a man against the
modern Gomorrah. The Mormons, by this time, having on their part
gained considerable accession to their strength, thought to set the
laws at defiance, organised and armed large bodies of men, in order
to maintain the ascendency over the legitimate settlers, and bid fair
to constitute an "imperium in imperio" in the State, and become the
sole possessors of the public lands. This, of course, could not be
tolerated. Governor Boggs at once ordered out a large force of State
militia to put down this formidable demonstration, marched against
the Mormons, and suppressed the insurrectionary movement without
bloodshed.
From Clay County they moved still farther into the wilds, and settled
at last in Caldwell County, where they built the town of "Far West,"
and here they remained for the space of three years.
During this time they were continually receiving converts to the
faith, and many of the more ignorant country people were disposed to
join them, being only deterred by the fear of incurring ridicule from
the stronger-minded. The body of the Mormons seeing this, called upon
their prophet, Joe Smith, to perform a miracle in public before all
comers, which was to prove to those of their own people who still
doubted the doctrine, the truth of what it advanced--(the power of
performing miracles was steadfastly declared to be in their hands by
the prophets)--and to enlist those who wavered in the Mormon cause.
The prophet instantly agreed, and declared that, upon a certain day,
he would walk across the broad waters of the Missouri without wetting
the soles of his feet. On the appointed day, the river banks were
thronged by an expectant crowd. The Mormons sang hymns of praise in
honour of their prophet, and were proud of the forthcoming miracle,
which was to set finally at rest all doubt as to his power and
sanctity.
This power of performing miracles, and effecting miraculous cures of
the sick, was so generally believed by the Mormons, that physic was
never used amongst them. The prophets visited the beds of the sick,
and laid hands upon them, and if, as of course was almost invariably
the case, the patient died, it was attributed to his or her want of
faith; but if, on the contrary, the patient recovered, there was
universal glorification on the miraculous cure.
Joe Smith was a tall, fine-looking man, of most plausible address,
and possessed the gift of the gab in great perfection. At the time
appointed for the performance of the walking-water miracle, he duly
attended on the river banks, and descended barefoot to the edge of
the water.
"My brethren!" he exclaimed in a loud voice, "this day is a happy
one to me, to us all, who venerate the great and only faith. The
truth of our great and blessed doctrine will now be proved before the
thousands I see around me. You have asked me to prove by a miracle
that the power of the prophets of old has been given to me. I say
unto you, not only to me, but to all who have faith. I have faith,
and can perform miracles--that faith empowers me to walk across the
broad surface of that mighty river without wetting the soles of my
unworthy feet; but if ye are to _see_ this miracle performed, it is
necessary that ye have faith also, not only in yourselves, but in me.
Have ye this faith in yourselves?"
"We have, we have!" roared the crowd.
"Have ye the faith in me, that ye believe I can perform this miracle?"
"We have, we have!" roared the crowd.
"Then," said Joe Smith, coolly walking away, "with such faith do ye
know well that I _could_, but it boots not that I _should_, do it;
therefore, my brethren, doubt no more"--and Joe put on his boots and
disappeared.
Being again compelled to emigrate, the Mormons proceeded into the
state of Illinois, where, in a beautiful situation, they founded the
new Jerusalem, which, it had been declared by the prophet Mormon,
should rise out of the wilderness of the west, and where the chosen
people should be collected under one church, and governed by the
elders after a "spiritual fashion."
The city of Nauvoo soon became a large and imposing settlement. An
enormous building, called the Temple of Zion, was erected, half
church, half hotel, in which Joe Smith and the other prophets
resided--and large storehouses were connected with it, in which the
goods and chattels belonging to the community were kept for the
common good.
However, here, as every where else, they were continually quarrelling
with their neighbours; and as their numbers increased, so did their
audacity. A regular Mormon militia was again organised and armed,
under the command of experienced officers, who had joined the sect;
and now the authority of the state government was openly defied. In
consequence, the executive took measures to put down the nuisance,
and a regular war commenced, and was carried on for some time, with
no little bloodshed on both sides; and this armed movement is known
in the United States as the Mormon war. The Mormons, however, who,
it seemed, were much better skilled in the use of the tongue than
the rifle, succumbed: the city of Nauvoo was taken, Joe Smith and
other ringleading prophets captured; and the former, in an attempt to
escape from his place of confinement was seized and shot. The Mormons
declare he had long foretold his own fate, and that when the rifles
of the firing party who were his executioners were levelled at the
prophet's breast, a flash of lightning struck the weapons from their
hands, and blinded for a time the eyes of the sacrilegious soldiers.
With the death of Joe Smith the prestige of the Mormon cause
declined; but still thousands of proselytes joined them annually, and
at last the state took measures to remove them altogether, as a body,
from the country.
Once again they fled, as they themselves term it, before the
persecutions of the ungodly! But this time their migration was far
beyond the reach of their enemies, and their intention was to place
between them the impassable barrier of the Rocky Mountains, and to
seek a home and resting-place in the remote regions of the Far West.
This, the most extraordinary migration of modern times, commenced
in the year 1845; but it was not till the following year that the
great body of the Mormons turned their backs upon the settlements of
the United States, and launched boldly out into the vast and barren
prairies, without any fixed destination as a goal to their endless
journey. For many months, long strings of Pittsburg and Conostoga
waggons, with herds of horses and domestic cattle, wound their way
towards the Indian frontier, with the intention of rendezvousing
at Council Bluffs on the Upper Missouri. Here thousands of waggons
were congregated, with their tens of thousands of men, women, and
children, anxiously waiting the route from the elders of the church,
who on their parts scarcely knew whither to direct the steps of
the vast crowd they had set in motion. At length the indefinite
destination of Oregon and California was proclaimed, and the long
train of emigrants took up the line of march. It was believed the
Indian tribes would immediately fraternise with the Mormons, on their
approaching their country; but the Pawnees quickly undeceived them
by running off with their stock on every opportunity. Besides these
losses, at every camp, horses, sheep, and oxen strayed away and were
not recovered, and numbers died from fatigue and want of provender;
so that, before they had been many weeks on their journey, nearly
all their cattle, which they had brought to stock their new country,
were dead or missing, and those that were left were in most miserable
condition.
They had started so late in the season, that the greater part were
compelled to winter on the Platte, on Grand Island, and in the
vicinity, where they endured the greatest privations and suffering
from cold and hunger. Many who had lost their stock lived upon
roots and pig-nuts; and scurvy, in a most malignant form, and other
disorders, carried off numbers of the wretched fanatics.
Amongst them were many substantial farmers from all parts of the
United States, who had given up their valuable farms, sold off all
their property, and were dragging their irresponsible and unfortunate
families into the wilderness--carried away by their blind and
fanatic zeal in this absurd and incredible faith. There were also
many poor wretches from different parts of England, mostly of the
farm-labouring class, with wives and families, crawling along with
helpless and almost idiotic despair, but urged forward by the fanatic
leaders of the movement, who promised them a land flowing with milk
and honey to reward them for all their hardships and privations.
Their numbers were soon reduced by want and disease. When too late,
they often wished themselves back in the old country, and sighed many
a time for the beer and bacon of former days, now preferable to the
dry buffalo meat (but seldom obtainable) of the Far West.
Evil fortune pursued the Mormons, and dogged their steps. The year
following, some struggled on towards the promised land, and of these
a few reached Oregon and California. Many were killed by hostile
Indians; many perished of hunger, cold, and thirst, in passing the
great wilderness; and many returned to the States, penniless and
crestfallen, and heartily cursing the moment in which they had
listened to the counsels of the Mormon prophet. The numbers who
reached their destination of Oregon, California, and the Great Salt
Lake, are computed at 20,000, of whom the United States had an
unregretted riddance.
One party had followed the troops of the American government intended
for the conquest of New Mexico and the Californias. Of these a
battalion was formed, and part of it proceeded to Upper California;
but the way being impracticable for waggons, some seventy families
proceeded up the Arkansa, and wintered near the mountains, intending
to cross to the Platte the ensuing spring, and join the main body of
emigrants on their way by the south pass of the Rocky Mountains.
In the wide and well-timbered bottom of the Arkansa, the Mormons had
erected a street of log shanties, in which to pass the inclement
winter. These were built of rough logs of cotton-wood, laid one above
the other, the interstices filled with mud, and rendered impervious
to wind or wet. At one end of the row of shanties was built the
"church" or temple--a long building of huge logs, in which the
prayer-meetings and holdings-forth took place. The band wintering on
the Arkansa were a far better class than the generality of Mormons,
and comprised many wealthy and respectable farmers from the western
states, most of whom were accustomed to the life of woodmen, and were
good hunters. Thus they were enabled to support their families upon
the produce of their rifles, frequently sallying out to the nearest
point of the mountains with a waggon, which they would bring back
loaded with buffalo, deer, and elk meat, thereby saving the necessity
of killing any of their stock of cattle, of which but few remained.
The mountain hunters found this camp a profitable market for their
meat and deer-skins with which the Mormons were now compelled to
clothe themselves, and resorted there for that purpose--to say
nothing of the attraction of the many really beautiful Missourian
girls who sported their tall graceful figures at the frequent
fandangoes. Dancing and preaching go hand in hand in Mormon doctrine,
and the "temple" was generally cleared for a hop two or three times
during the week, a couple of fiddles doing the duty of orchestra. A
party of mountaineers came in one day, bringing some buffalo meat and
dressed deer-skins, and were invited to be present at one of these
festivals.
Arrived at the temple, they were rather taken aback by finding
themselves in for a sermon, which one of the elders delivered
preparatory to the "physical exercises." The preacher was one
Brown--called, by reason of his commanding a company of Mormon
volunteers, "Cap'en Brown,"--a hard-featured, black-coated, man of
five-and-forty, correctly got up in black continuations and white
handkerchief round his neck, a costume seldom seen at the foot of
the Rocky Mountains. The Cap'en, rising, cleared his voice, and thus
commenced, first turning to an elder (with whom there was a little
rivalry in the way of preaching,) "Brother Dowdle!" (brother Dowdle
blushed and nodded--he was a long tallow-faced man, with black hair
combed over his face,) "I feel like holding forth a little this
afternoon, before we glorify the Lord,--a--a--in the--a--holy dance.
As there are a many strange gentlemen now--a--present, it's about
right to tell 'em--a--what our doctrine just is, and so I tells 'em
right off what the Mormons is. They are the chosen of the Lord; they
are the children of glory, persecuted by the hand of man: they flies
here to the wilderness, and, amongst the _Injine_ and the buffler,
they lifts up their heads, and cries with a loud voice, Susannah, and
hurray for the promised land! Do you believe it? I _know_ it.
"They wants to know whar we're going. Whar the church goes--thar we
goes. Yes, to hell, and pull the devil off his throne--that's what
we'll do. Do you believe it? I _know_ it.
"Thar's milk and honey in that land as we're goin' to, and the lost
tribes of Israel is thar, and will jine us. They say as we'll starve
on the road, bekase thar's no game and no water; but thar's manna up
in heaven, and it'll rain on us, and thar's prophets among us as can
make the water 'come.' Can't they, brother Dowdle?"
"_Well_, they can."
"And now, what have the Gen_tiles_ and the Philis_tines_ to say
against us Mormons? They says we're thieves, and steal hogs; yes,
d---- 'em! they say we has as many wives as we like. So we have. I've
twenty--forty, myself, and mean to have as many more as I can get.
But it's to pass unfortunate females into heaven that I has 'em--yes,
to prevent 'em going to roaring flames and damnation that I does it.
"Brother Dowdle," he continued, in a hoarse, low voice, "I've 'give
out,' and think we'd better begin the exercises grettful to the Lord."
Brother Dowdle rose, and, after saying that "he didn't feel like
saying much, begged to remind all hands, that dancing was solemn
music like, to be sung with proper devotion, and not with laughing
and talking, of which he hoped to hear little or none; that joy
was to be in their hearts, and not on their lips; that they danced
for the glory of the Lord, and not their own amusement, as did the
Gen_tiles_." After saying thus, he called upon brother Ezra to
"strike up:" sundry couples stood forth, and the ball commenced.
Ezra of the violin was a tall, shambling Missourian, with a pair
of "homespun" pantaloons thrust into the legs of his heavy boots.
Nodding his head in time with the music, he occasionally gave
instructions to such of the dancers as were at fault, singing them to
the tune he was playing, in a dismal nasal tone,--
"Down the centre--hands across,"
"You, Jake Herring--thump it,"
"Now, you all go right a-head--
Every one of you hump it.
Every one of you--_hump it_."
The last words being the signal that all should clap the steam on,
which they did _con amore_, and with comical seriousness.
A mountaineer, Rube Herring, whom we have more than once met in the
course of this narrative, became a convert to the Mormon creed,
and held forth its wonderful doctrines to such of the incredulous
trappers as he could induce to listen to him. Old Rube stood nearly
six feet six in height, and was spare and bony in make. He had picked
up a most extraordinary cloth coat amongst the Mormons, which had
belonged to some one his equal in stature. This coat, which was of
a snuff-brown colour, had its waist about a hand's span from the
nape of Rube's neck, or about a yard above its proper position, and
the skirts reached to his ancles. A slouching felt-hat covered his
head, from which long black hair escaped, hanging in flakes over his
lantern-jaws. His pantaloons of buckskin were shrunk with wet, and
reached midway between his knees and ankles, and his huge feet were
encased in mocassins of buffalo-cow skin.
Rube was never without the book of Mormon in his hand, and his
sonorous voice might be heard, at all hours of the day and night,
reading passages from its wonderful pages. He stood the badgering
of the hunters with most perfect good humour, and said there never
was such a book as that ever before printed; that the Mormons were
the "biggest kind" of prophets, and theirs the best faith ever man
believed in.
Rube had let out one day, that he was to be hired as guide by this
party of Mormons to the Great Salt Lake; but their destination being
changed, and his services not required, a wonderful change came over
his mind. He was, as usual, book of Mormon in hand, when brother
Brown announced the change in their plans; at which the book was cast
into the Arkansa, and Rube exclaimed,--"Cuss your darned Mummum and
Thummum! thar's not one among you knows 'fat cow' from 'poor bull,'
and you may go h---- for me." And turning away, old Rube spat out a
quid of tobacco and his Mormonism together.
Amongst the Mormons was an old man, named Brand, from Memphis
county, state of Tennessee, with a family of a daughter and two
sons, the latter with their wives and children. Brand was a wiry old
fellow, nearly seventy years of age, but still stout and strong,
and wielded axe or rifle better than many a younger man. If truth
be told, he was not a very red-hot Mormon, and had joined them as
much for the sake of company to California, whither he had long
resolved to emigrate, as from any implicit credence in the faith. His
sons were strapping fellows, of the sterling stuff that the Western
pioneers are made of; his daughter Mary, a fine woman of thirty, for
whose state of single blessedness there must doubtless have been
sufficient reason; for she was not only remarkably handsome, but was
well known in Memphis to be the best-tempered and most industrious
young woman in those diggings. She was known to have received several
advantageous offers, all of which she had refused; and report said,
that it was from having been disappointed in very early life in an
_affaire du coeur_, at an age when such wounds sometimes strike
strong and deep, leaving a scar difficult to heal. Neither his
daughter, nor any of his family, had been converted to the Mormon
doctrine, but had ever kept themselves aloof, and refused to join
or associate with them; and, for this reason, the family had been
very unpopular with the Mormon families on the Arkansa; and hence,
probably, one great reason why they now started alone on their
journey.
Spring had arrived, and it was time the Mormons should start on their
long journey; but whether already tired of the sample they had had
of life in the wilderness, or fearful of encountering the perils
of the Indian country, not one amongst them, with the exception of
old Brand, seemed inclined to pursue the journey farther. That old
backwoodsman, however, was not to be deterred, but declared his
intention of setting out alone, with his family, and risking all the
dangers to be anticipated.
One fine sunny evening in April of 1847, when the cotton-woods on the
banks of the Arkansa began to put forth their buds, and robins and
blue-birds--harbingers of spring,--were hopping, with gaudy plumage,
through the thickets, three white tilted Conostoga waggons emerged
from the timbered bottom of the river, and rumbled slowly over
the prairie, in the direction of the Platte's waters. Each waggon
was drawn by eight oxen, and contained a portion of the farming
implements and household utensils of the Brand family. The teams were
driven by the young boys, the men following in rear with shouldered
rifles--Old Brand himself, mounted on an Indian horse, leading the
advance. The women were safely housed under the shelter of the waggon
tilts, and out of the first the mild face of Mary Brand smiled adieu
to many of her old companions who had accompanied them thus far, and
now wished them "God-speed" on their long journey. Some mountaineers,
too, galloped up, dressed in buckskin, and gave them rough
greeting,--warning the men to keep their "eyes skinned," and look out
for the Arapahos, who were out on the waters of the Platte. Presently
all retired, and then the huge waggons and the little company were
rolling on their solitary way through the deserted prairies--passing
the first of the many thousand miles which lay between them and the
"setting sun," as the Indians style the distant regions of the Far
West. And on, without casting a look behind him, doggedly and boldly
marched old Brand, followed by his sturdy family.