CONTINUATION OF ELIZA R. SNOW'S NARRATIVE--ADVENT OF A LITTLE STRANGER
UNDER ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES--DORMITORY, SITTING-ROOM, OFFICE, ETC.,
IN A BUGGY--"THE CAMP"--INTERESTING EPISODES OF THE JOURNEY--GRAPHIC
DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD OF PROCEDURE--MOUNT PISGAH--WINTER QUARTERS.
The subject and action of the exodus thus opened, we shall let the
sisters chiefly tell their own stories of that extraordinary historic
period. Eliza R. Snow, continuing her narrative, says:
"We had been preceded by thousands, and I was informed that on the
first night of the encampment nine children were born into the world,
and from that time, as we journeyed onward, mothers gave birth to
offspring under almost every variety of circumstances imaginable,
except those to which they had been accustomed; some in tents, others
in wagons--in rain-storms and in snow-storms. I heard of one birth
which occurred under the rude shelter of a hut, the sides of which were
formed of blankets fastened to poles stuck in the ground, with a bark
roof through which the rain was dripping. Kind sisters stood holding
dishes to catch the water as it fell, thus protecting the new-comer
and its mother from a shower-bath as the little innocent first entered
on the stage of human life; and through faith in the great ruler of
events, no harm resulted to either.
"Let it be remembered that the mothers of these wilderness-born babes
were not savages, accustomed to roam the forest and brave the storm
and tempest--those who had never known the comforts and delicacies of
civilization and refinement. They were not those who, in the wilds
of nature, nursed their offspring amid reeds and rushes, or in the
recesses of rocky caverns; most of them were born and educated in
the Eastern States--had there embraced the gospel as taught by Jesus
and his apostles, and, for the sake of their religion, had gathered
with the saints, and under trying circumstances had assisted, by
their faith, patience and energies, in making Nauvoo what its name
indicates, 'the beautiful.' There they had lovely homes, decorated with
flowers and enriched with choice fruit trees, just beginning to yield
plentifully.
"To these homes, without lease or sale, they had just bade a final
adieu, and with what little of their substance could be packed into
one, two, and in some instances, three wagons, had started out,
desertward, for--where? To this question the only response at that time
was, God knows.
"From the 13th to the 18th we had several snowstorms and very freezing
weather, which bridged the Mississippi sufficiently for crossing
heavily loaded wagons on the ice. We were on timbered land, had
plenty of wood for fuel, and the men rolled heavy logs together, and
kept large fires burning, around the bright blaze of which, when not
necessarily otherwise engaged, they warmed themselves. The women, when
the duties of cooking and its _et ceteras_ did not prompt them out,
huddled with their children into wagons and carriages for protection
from the chilling breezes.
"My dormitory, sitting-room, writing-office, and frequently
dining-room, was the buggy in which Sister Markham, her little
son David, and I, rode. One of my brother's wives had one of the
old-fashioned foot-stoves, which proved very useful. She frequently
brought it to me, filled with live coals from one of those mammoth
fires--a kindness which I remember with gratitude; but withal, I
frosted my feet enough to occasion inconvenience for weeks afterwards.
"When all who designed traveling in one camp, which numbered about
five thousand, had crossed the river, the organization of the whole
into hundreds, fifties, and tens, commenced, and afterwards was
completed for the order of traveling; with pioneers, commissaries, and
superintendents to each hundred, and captains over fifties and tens.
It was impossible for us to move in a body; and one company filed off
after another; and, on the first of March we broke camp and moved out
four or five miles and put up for the night, where at first view the
prospect was dreary enough. It was nearly sunset--very cold, and the
ground covered with snow to the depth of four or five inches; but with
brave hearts and strong hands, and a supply of spades and shovels, the
men removed the snow, and suddenly transformed the bleak desert scene
into a living town, with cloth houses, log-heap fires, and a multitude
of cheerful inhabitants. The next day, with weather moderated, the
remainder of the original camp arrived with the Nauvoo band, and tented
on the bluff, which overlooked our cozy dell, and at night stirring
strains of music filled the atmosphere, on which they were wafted
abroad, and re-echoed on the responsive breezes.
"Lo! a mighty host of people,
Tented on the western shore
Of the noble Mississippi,
They, for weeks, were crossing o'er.
At the last day's dawn of winter,
Bound with frost and wrapped with snow,
Hark! the sound is, 'Up, and onward!
Camp of Zion, rise and go.'
"All, at once, is life and motion--
Trunks and beds and baggage fly;
Oxen yoked and horses harnessed--
Tents, rolled up, are passing by.
Soon the carriage wheels are rolling
Onward to a woodland dell,
Where, at sunset, all are quartered--
Camp of Israel, all is well.
"Soon the tents are thickly clustered--
Neighboring smokes together blend--
Supper served--the hymns are chanted,
And the evening prayers ascend.
Last of all, the guards are stationed;
Heavens! must guards be serving here?
Who would harm the homeless exiles?
Camp of Zion, never fear.
"Where is freedom? Where is justice?
Both have from the nation fled,
And the blood of martyred prophets
Must be answered on its head.
Therefore, 'To your tents, O, Israel,'
Like your Father Abram dwell;
God will execute his purpose--
Camp of Zion, all is well.
"From time to time, companies of men either volunteered or were
detailed from the journeying camps, and, by going off the route,
obtained jobs of work for which they received food in payment, to meet
the necessities of those who were only partially supplied, and also
grain for the teams.
"As we passed through a town on the Des Moines river, the inhabitants
manifested as much curiosity as though they were viewing a traveling
menagerie of wild animals. Their levity and apparent heartlessness
was, to me, proof of profound ignorance. How little did those people
comprehend our movement, and the results the Almighty had in view.
"On the 2d of March we again moved forward--and here I will transcribe
from my journal: 'March 3d--Our encampment this night may truly
be recorded as a miracle, performed on natural, and yet peculiar
principles--a city reared in a few hours, and everything in operation
that actual living required, and many additional things, which, if not
extravagancies, were certainly convenient. The next day, great numbers
of the people of the adjacent country were to be seen patrolling the
nameless streets of our anonymous city, with astonishment visible in
their countenances. In the evening, Sister Markham and I took a stroll
abroad, and in the absence of names to the streets, and numbers to the
tents, we lost our way, and had to procure a guide to pilot us home.'
"At this point Brother Markham exchanged our buggy for a lumber wagon,
and in performing an act of generosity to others, so filled it as to
give Sister M. and me barely room to sit in front. And when we started
again, Sister M. and I were seated on a chest with brass-kettle and
soap-box for our footstools, and were happy in being as comfortably
situated as we were; and well we might be, for many of our sisters
walked all day, rain or shine, and at night prepared suppers for their
families, with no sheltering tents; and then made their beds in and
under wagons that contained their earthly all. How frequently, with
intense sympathy and admiration, I watched the mother, when, forgetful
of her own fatigue and destitution, she took unwearied pains to fix
up, in the most palatable form, the allotted portion of food, and as
she dealt it out was cheering the hearts of her homeless children,
while, as I truly believed, her own was lifted to God in fervent prayer
that their lives might be preserved, and, above all, that they might
honor him in the religion for which she was an exile from the home
once sacred to her, for the sake of those precious ones that God had
committed to her care. We were living on rations--our leaders having
counseled that arrangement, to prevent an improvident use of provision
that would result in extreme destitution.
"We were traveling in the season significantly termed 'between hay
and grass,' and the teams, feeding mostly on browse, wasted in flesh,
and had but little strength; and it was painful, at times, to see the
poor creatures straining every joint and ligature, doing their utmost,
and looking the very picture of discouragement. When crossing the low
lands, where spring rains had soaked the mellow soil, they frequently
stalled on level ground, and we could move only by coupling teams,
which made very slow progress. From the effects of chills and fever,
I had not strength to walk much, or I should not have been guilty of
riding after those half-famished animals. It would require a painter's
pencil and skill to represent our encampment when we stopped, as we
frequently did, to give the jaded teams a chance to recuperate, and us
a chance to straighten up matters and things generally. Here is a bit
from my journal:
"'Our town of yesterday has grown to a city. It is laid out in a half
hollow square, fronting east and south on a beautiful level--with,
on one side, an almost perpendicular, and on the other, a gradual
descent into a deep ravine, which defines it on the west and north. At
nine o'clock this morning I noticed a blacksmith's shop in operation,
and everything, everywhere, indicating real life and local industry.
Only the sick are idle; not a stove or cooking utensil but is called
into requisition; while tubs, washboards, etc., are one-half mile
distant, where washing is being done by the side of a stream of water
beneath the shade of waving branches. I join Sister M. in the washing
department, and get a buggy ride to the scene of action, where the
boys have the fire in waiting--while others of our mess stop in the
city and do the general work of housekeeping; and for our dinner send
us a generous portion of their immense pot-pie, designed to satisfy
the hunger of about thirty stomachs. It is made of rabbits, squirrels,
quails, prairie chickens, etc., trophies of the success of our hunters,
of whom each division has its quota. Thus from time to time we are
supplied with fresh meat, which does much in lengthening out our flour.
Occasionally our jobbers take bacon in payment, but what I have seen of
that article is so rancid that nothing short of prospective starvation
would tempt me to eat it.'
"On the 20th of April we arrived at the head waters of the Grand River,
where it was decided to make a farming establishment, to be a resting
and recruiting place for the saints who should follow us. Elders Bent,
Benson and Fullmer were appointed to preside over it.
"The first of June found us in a small grove on the middle fork of
Grand River. This place, over which Elders Rich and Huntington were
called to preside, was named Pisgah; and from this point most of the
divisions filed off, one after another. Colonel Markham appropriated
all of his teams and one wagon to assist the twelve and others to
pursue the journey westward, while he returned to the States for a
fresh supply. Before he left, we were in a house made of logs laid
up 'cob fashion,' with from three to eight inches open space between
them--roofed by stretching a tent cloth over the ridgepole and
fastening it at the bottom, on the outside, which, with blankets and
carpets put up on the north end, as a shield from the cold wind, made
us as comfortable as possible.
"Companies were constantly arriving and others departing; while
those who intended stopping till the next spring were busily engaged
in making gardens, and otherwise preparing for winter--sheltering
themselves in rude log huts for temporary residence.
"The camps were strung along several hundred miles in length from front
to rear, when, about the last of June, one of the most remarkably
unreasonable requisitions came officially to President Young, from the
United States government, demanding five hundred efficient men to be
drawn from our traveling camps, to enter the United States military
service, and march immediately to California and assist in the war with
Mexico. Upon the receipt of this demand, President Young and Heber C.
Kimball, with due loyalty to an unprotective government, under which
we had been exiled from our homes, started immediately from their
respective divisions, on horseback, calling for volunteers, from one
extremity of our line to the other; and in an almost incredibly short
time the five hundred men, who constituted the celebrated 'Mormon
Battalion,' were under marching orders, commanded by Col. Allen, of the
United States Infantry. It was our 'country's call,' and the question,
'Can we spare five hundred of our most able-bodied men?' was not asked.
But it was a heavy tax--a cruel draft--one which imposed accumulated
burdens on those who remained, especially our women, who were under the
necessity of driving their own teams from the several points from which
their husbands and sons left, to the Salt Lake Valley; and some of them
walked the whole of that tedious distance.
On the 2d of August Brother Markham arrived from the East with teams;
and on the 19th we bade good-bye to Mount Pisgah. Brother M. was minus
one teamster, and as Mrs. M. and I were to constitute the occupants of
one wagon, with a gentle yoke of oxen, she proposed to drive. But, soon
after we started, she was taken sick, and, of course, the driving fell
to me. Had it been a horse-team I should have been amply qualified, but
driving oxen was entirely a new business; however, I took the whip and
very soon learned to 'haw and gee,' and acquitted myself, as teamster,
quite honorably, driving most of the way to winter quarters. The cattle
were so well trained that I could sit and drive. At best, however, it
was fatiguing--the family being all sick by turns, and at times I had
to cook, as well as nurse the sick; all of which I was thankful for
strength to perform.
"On the 27th we crossed the Missouri at Council Bluffs, and the next
day came up with the general camp at winter quarters. From exposure and
hardship I was taken sick soon after with a slow fever, that terminated
in chills and fever, and as I lay sick in my wagon, where my bed was
exposed to heavy autumnal rains, and sometimes wet nearly from head to
foot, I realized that I was near the gate of death; but my trust was
in God, and his power preserved me. Many were sick around us, and no
one could be properly cared for under the circumstances. Although, as
before stated, I was exposed to the heavy rains while in the wagon,
worse was yet to come.
"On the 28th a company, starting out for supplies, required the wagon
that Sister M. and I had occupied; and the log house we moved into
was but partly chinked and mudded, leaving large crevices for the
wind--then cold and blustering. This hastily-erected hut was roofed on
one side, with a tent-cloth thrown over the other, and, withal, was
minus a chimney. A fire, which was built on one side, filled the house
with smoke until it became unendurable. Sister Markham had partially
recovered from her illness, but was quite feeble. I was not able to sit
up much, and, under those circumstances, not at all, for the fire had
to be dispensed with. Our cooking was done out of doors until after the
middle of November, when a chimney was made, the house enclosed, and
other improvements added, which we were prepared to appreciate.
"About the last of December I received the sad news of the death
of my mother. She had lived to a good age, and had been a patient
participator in the scenes of suffering consequent on the persecutions
of the saints. She sleeps in peace; and her grave, and that of my
father, whose death preceded hers less than a year, are side by side,
in Walnut Grove, Knox county, Ill.
"At winter quarters our extensive encampment was divided into wards,
and so organized that meetings for worship were attended in the several
wards. A general order was established and cheerfully carried out, that
each able-bodied man should either give the labor of each tenth day,
or contribute an equivalent, for the support of the destitute, and to
aid those families whose men were in the battalion, and those who were
widows indeed.
"Our exposures and privations caused much sickness, and sickness
increased destitution; but in the midst of all this, we enjoyed a great
portion of the spirit of God, and many seasons of refreshing from
his presence, with rich manifestations of the gifts and power of the
gospel. My life, as well as the lives of many others, was preserved by
the power of God, through faith in him, and not on natural principles
as comprehended by man."