point of the sword. They boasted of their powers in the three days' battle, and of their exploits; told how they killed a boy of fifteen and his father, who had just become residents, and whom they admitted were without reproach. They conducted me to the sculptured walls of the curious temple, where they said the banished inhabitants had been accustomed to celebrate the mystic rites of an unhallowed worship, and pointed out certain features of the building which they had sedulously destroyed as having been peculiar objects of a former superstitious regard. There was a deep well in one of the chambers, which they said had been constructed with some dreadful design; and they told me romantic stories of a great marble basin supported by twelve oxen the size of life. They said here parents went into the water for their lost children, and children for their parents;' widows for their spouses, and young persons for their lovers; and thus the great vase' was associated to them with tender memories, and was the object of all others in the building of the most idolatrous affection. They permitted me to ascend to the steeple to see where it had been struck by lightning the Sunday previous, and to look out east and west on wasted farms, like the one mentioned, extending until they were lost in the distance.

6

"It was nightfall when I crossed the river on my return. The water was rough, so I made for a point higher up, landing where a faint glimmering light invited me to steer. Here among the rushes, sheltered only by the darkness, were several hundred human creatures in an uneasy slumber on the ground. My movements roused them. Dreadful indeed were the sufferings of these forsaken beings, bowed and cramped by the cold and sunburn alternating, as each weary day and

night dragged on. Almost all of them were the crippled victims of disease. They were there because they had no homes, nor hospital, nor poorhouse, nor friend to offer them any. They were all alike bivouacked in tatters. These were Mormons turned out of Nauvoo, too poor, too ill, to follow their more fortunate companions, who were en route for Council Bluffs. There were six hundred and forty persons thus lying on the Iowa flats opposite Nauvoo, and the last who were turned out of it."

Mrs. Emma Smith, the true wife of the first Mormon Prophet, with her children and several of the elder members of the numerous Smith family who had followed the fortunes of Joseph to Nauvoo, did not leave the neighborhood of the city to go west with the other Mormons under the leadership of Brigham Young. Mrs. Smith afterward married Major L. C. Bidamon, and died a few years ago.

The temple, after being partially destroyed by the militia in 1846, was burned in 1848. Two years later it was partly rebuilt by the French Icorrians (brought to Nauvoo by Monsieur Cabet, the Socialist) for their own use; but a terrible tornado in 1850 threw most of the splendid edifice to the ground.

The rise, progress, and destruction of Nauvoo occupied seven years. Its history is as wonderful as that of any city ever built, and many of its mysteries have yet to be told.

CHAPTER X.*

The journey through the wilderness-The arrival of the Saints in Utah-The early political situation of the Mormons in " the Land of the Honey Bee"-The Mountain Meadow butchery-The influence of the Mormons over the Indians.

We have seen how Brigham Young hastened from Boston to Nauvoo, "convinced of his right to lead the people," and that the Mormons willingly yielded to his conviction, and obeyed him implicitly. He was at this time under forty years of age. He is said to have had a most prepossessing countenance, a very frank and pleasing address, and to have had the art of inspiring enthusiasm without allowing it to influence his own motives or actions.

We have also seen that, owing to his persuasive eloquence, Rigdon had been sent adrift, and that he had commanded that the temple should be completed, as he said, to fulfil Joseph Smith's "revelation" to that effect, but probably to make plans for the future welfare of the Saints. Seeing that their position was fraught with dangers of both a seen and unseen character, he determined that it must be changed-in short, that his followers must seek "pastures new," find fresh surroundings and possibilities somewhere. Meanwhile he announced to his people that they must be ready to

* In continuation of the history of the wanderings of the Saints from Kirtland to Deseret, and the events following in their career up to the present time, the most reliable authorities upon this subject have been carefully consulted.

sacrifice their all whenever he called upon them to do so. They wept and hesitated; but his authority prevented further expressions of regret, as they were bound to him by oaths which they shuddered to remember, and which yet made them love him all the more as their president, brother, and spiritual adviser. Agents were sent by him to explore the Western Territories. Their glowing accounts of Utah, both for its great natural resources and beauty, induced him to select that locality as the future residence of the Mormons. Besides, Utah at the time belonged to Mexico; it was beyond the control of the detested Stars and Stripes and the uncomfortable people who had thrice expelled "the chosen ones" from their resting-places. He made his purpose known to those nearest to him in office, but the common herd were merely informed that their destination was to be somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, and that they were to move on in that direction as far as Council Bluffs that season. This new exodus began in February, 1846, the bleakest and coldest month of the year in that section of the country. Here Brigham Young proved himself a general, as well as commander. He directed everything, and as the long trains of wagons, filled with the Saints and such of their household effects as they could carry, passed by him and crossed the "Father of Waters,' he comforted and inspired and counselled the weeping emigrants. Certain men were left behind at his desire to sell the property of the church, and then shake off the very dust of that unfortunate locality.

This journey proved to be one of intense suffering. Many of the wretched wanderers fell ill and perished by the way, and the survivors gladly received the command to make Council Bluffs a temporary abode for rest and recuperation. The church was reorganized on the arrival

of the advanced company of the Saints, as they had moved in sections and not in one solid body, probably so as not to disturb the inhabitants of the sparsely populated country with their numbers. Some of the historians of Mormonisin have asserted that when the Mormons left Nauvoo they intended to go no farther than Council Bluffs; but there is very strong evidence that Brigham Young had fully laid his plans to make Utah his future scene of action and rule before he crossed the Mississippi. So far on the route, he must make plans for the completion of the journey. The obstacles in the way of this intention would have intimidated a less courageous man. There was still over one thousand miles to traverse through an almost unknown country. If it was difficult to transport armed troops through the wilderness, what skill and energy must it not have required to send a nearly unprovided-for, feeble, and impoverished company of men, women, and little children such a distance! But his wisdom and forethought controlled the whole matter.

An event in our national history, the war between the United States and Mexico, was imminent. He had had inklings of it; he hoped for it, and was prepared to take advantage of it. His followers could wait a little longer before making, as he believed, their last "hegira” to a land flowing with milk and honey. The government had offered large bounty money to all who would enlist in the army.

The Mormons took advantage of this offer, and, concealing their real design under a sham patriotism, sent an agent to Washington asking that they should be permitted to form an organization to fight the common enemy. The government approved, or, at all events, allowed this scheme to be carried out, and in this way