"Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 4th day of May, 1864.
"Thomas J. Drake,
"Associate Justice U. S. Sup. Court, Utah."
By this operation, Brigham must have realized the neat little sum of $10,000. This enabled him to fit out an expedition to explore the country west of the Rocky Mountains. Accordingly, in the spring of 1847, with one hundred and forty-three of his tried adherents, he made the journey to Salt Lake, where they arrived July 24, 1847. A colony was at once established, and a part of the number left to commence farming operations. Brigham, with the remainder, returned to "Winter Quarters." Here he found the people on the point of starvation, while fevers and the cholera were rapidly thinning their ranks. Brigham at once commenced alleviating their suffering, and in the excess of their gratitude, these poor deluded creatures did not see that he was the cause of all their misery.
Young was now ready to enact another scene in this Mormon drama. He was ruling the church in the capacity of President of the Twelve Apostles. He desired greater power; he wished to occupy the place of the Prophet of the Lord. This was the more difficult, as the people venerated the memory of Joseph Smith, sanctified as it was by the remembrance of his cruel and untimely death. Brigham knew well the extent of this feeling, and that it would be impossible to supplant Joseph in their affections, and extremely difficult to occupy his position. But his plans demanded that he should be in form what he was in fact,—the absolute head of the church. He resolved to execute a brilliant coup d'état, and risk the consequences.
On the morning of the 24th of December, 1847, he ascended the pulpit to preach; and with that power of mimicry and imitation for which he is so remarkable, aided, doubtless, by works of art to enable him to represent the features and personnel of Smith, he so completely assumed the tone and manner, and presented the appearance of Joseph, that the congregation believed that their dead prophet stood before them. The effect was electrical. Women screamed and fainted; strong men wept; the delusion was complete. "The
mantle of Joseph had fallen upon Brigham;" he was henceforth their Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, the rightful successor to the Presidency. One old brother told me that he really believed that Joseph was present in the flesh, so strong was the personal resemblance at the time. As soon as the tumult subsided, the people elected Brigham "President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in all the world." He appointed Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards as his counsellors. These three constituted the "First Presidency." This action was subsequently confirmed, at a conference held April 6, 1848, at the same place. Brigham was now the nominal as well as the real leader of this strange community.
A greater trial demanded his forethought. The whole church was to be removed over a thousand miles, through an almost unknown country, full of dangers and difficulties.
The following account of the manner in which this difficult undertaking was executed, is from the pen of John Hyde, Jr.:—
"Some ability is required to efficiently remove bodies of armed troops over such new and pioneering obstacles: well supplied, equipped, and mounted, it takes a commander's skill; but here were poor, unprovided, feeble men, women, and children, shaking with ague, pale with suffering, hollow and gaunt with recent hunger. Without strife, without discord, almost without a murmur, this heterogeneous mass moved off. Many groaned with anguish, but none with complaint. Brigham's energy inspired them all; his genius controlled them all. Marking their road with their gravestones, they arrived at Salt Lake Valley, destitute and feeble, in 1848. The desert to which they had come was as cheerless as their past history. From cruel foes they had fled to as unfeeling a wilderness. Renewed difficulties demanded a renewed effort from Brigham. Everything depended on him. Starvation and nakedness stared in the gloomy faces of the desponding people. Murmurs and complaints were uttered. He quelled everything; scolded, plead, threatened, prophesied, and subdued them. With a restless but resistless energy he set them to work, and worked himself as their example. He directed their labors, controlled