PREPARING TO GO UP TO ZION--FIRST MEETING WITH PRESIDENT YOUNG--CAMP
OF ZION STARTS--NUMBERS MAGNIFIED IN THE EYES OF BEHOLDERS--REMARKABLE
DELIVERANCE--SELFISHNESS, AND ITS REWARD.
I arrived at Kirtland on the 25th of April, 1834, and for the first
time saw the Prophet Joseph Smith. He invited me to his house. I spent
about a week with him, and became acquainted with him and his family,
also with many of the Elders and Saints living in Kirtland, quite a
number of whom were preparing to go up to Zion.
On Sunday, the 27th of April, I attended a meeting in a school-house
in Kirtland, and for the first time heard Elders Sidney Rigdon, Orson
Hyde, Orson Pratt and others speak and bear testimony to the work of
God, and much of the Spirit of God was poured out upon the Saints.
It was the 26th of April, 1834, that I was first introduced to Elders
Brigham Young and H. C. Kimball. When I met Brother Brigham, he had his
hands full of butcher knives; he gave me one, and told me to go and
put a good handle on it, which I did. I also had a good sword, which
Brother Joseph wanted, and I gave it to him. He carried it all the way
in Zion's camp to Missouri, and when he returned home he gave it back
to me.
When I was called to go on a mission to the South I left the sword and
knife with Lyman Wight. When he was taken prisoner at Far West, with
Joseph and Hyrum, he had both the sword and the knife with him. All
their weapons were taken from them, so were the arms of many of the
Saints at Far West, under promise that they should be returned to them
when they were prepared to leave the State. When the brethren went to
get their arms, Father James Allred saw my sword, which Lyman Wight had
laid down, and took it and left his own, and afterwards gave it to me
and I still have it. I prize it because the Prophet Joseph carried it
in Zion's Camp. The knife I never regained.
The first day of May, 1834, was appointed for the Camp of Zion to
start from Kirtland to go up to Missouri for the redemption of their
brethren. Only a small portion of the Camp was ready. The Prophet told
those who were ready, to go to New Portage and wait for the remainder.
I left, in company with about twenty men, with the baggage wagons. At
night we pitched our tents. I went to the top of the hill and looked
down upon the camp of Israel. I knelt upon the ground and prayed. I
rejoiced and praised the Lord that I had lived to see some of the tents
of Israel pitched, and a company gathered by the commandment of God to
go up and help redeem Zion.
We tarried at New Portage until the 6th, when we were joined by the
Prophet and eighty-five more men. The day before they arrived, while
passing through the village of Middlebury, the people tried to count
them; but the Lord multiplied them in the eyes of the people, so that
those who numbered them said there were four hundred of them.
On the 7th, Brother Joseph organized the camp, which consisted of
about one hundred and thirty men. On the following day we continued
our journey. We pitched our tents at night and had prayers night and
morning. The Prophet told us every day what we should do.
We were nearly all young men, gathered from all parts of the country,
and strangers to each other; but we got acquainted very soon, and had a
happy time together.
It was a great school for us to be led by a Prophet of God a thousand
miles, through cities, towns, villages, and through the wilderness.
When persons stood by to count us they could not tell how many we
numbered; some said five hundred, others one thousand.
Many were astonished as we passed through their towns. One lady ran
to her door, pushed her spectacles to the top of her head, raised her
hands, and exclaimed: "What under heavens has broken loose?" She stood
in that position the last I saw of her.
The published history of Zion's Camp gives an account of the bones of
a man which we dug out of a mound. His name was Zelph. The Lord showed
the Prophet the history of the man in a vision. The arrow, by which
he was killed, was found among his bones. One of his thigh bones was
broken by a stone slung in battle. The bone was put into my wagon, and
I carried it to Clay County, Missouri, and buried it in the earth.
The Lord delivered Israel in the days of Moses by dividing the Red Sea,
so they went over dry shod. When their enemies tried to do the same,
the water closed upon them and they were drowned. The Lord delivered
Zion's Camp from their enemies on the 19th of June, 1834, by piling up
the waters in Fishing River forty feet in one night, so our enemies
could not cross. He also sent a great hail-storm which broke them up
and sent them seeking for shelter.
The camp of Zion arrived at Brother Burk's, in Clay County, Missouri,
on the 24th of June, 1834, and we pitched our tents on the premises. He
told some of the brethren of my company that he had a spare room that
some of us might occupy if we would clean it. Our company accepted the
offer, and, fearing some other company would get it first, left all
other business and went to work, cleaning out the room, and immediately
spread down our blankets, so as to hold a right to the room. It was
but a short time afterwards that our brethren, who were attacked by
cholera, were brought in and laid upon our beds. None of us ever used
those blankets again, for they were buried with the dead. So we gained
nothing but experience by being selfish, and we lost our bedding.
I will exhort all my young friends to not cherish selfishness; but
if you have any, get rid of it as soon as possible. Be generous and
noble-hearted, kind to your parents, brothers, sisters and play-mates.
Never contend with them; but try to make peace whenever you can.
Whenever you are blessed with any good thing, be willing to share it
with others. By cultivating these principles while you are young, you
will lay a foundation to do much good through your lives, and you will
be beloved and respected of the Lord and all good men.