Brigham, with true Napoleonic foresight, saw his opportunity, and was not slow to improve it. He came hurriedly to Nauvoo, denounced Rigdon as an impostor and his revelations as emanations from the Devil, cut off both him and his adherents from the true church, cursed Rigdon, and "handed him over to the buffetings of Satan for a thousand years," and was himself elected President by an overwhelming majority.
This exhibition of energy silenced all opposition. Those who did not love, feared him; and all suffered themselves to be led, because they dared not resist, a man so determined to rule.
Thus much accomplished, and visions of future power and aggrandizement, perchance of temporal sovereignty, floated through the brain of this modern Mohammed. He dreamed of the kingly robe and the jewelled crown in some far-off valley of the Rocky Mountains, where gentiles or their laws could not annoy the saints, or hinder the normal development of Mormonism. How and in what manner these dreams came so near fulfilment, will be seen as the reader peruses these pages.
But he did not lose sight of the present in these glowing visions of the future. He completed the Temple, the Mansion-House was in a forward state, Nauvoo was increasing rapidly, and with it his power and popularity.
Brigham, however, with his usual foresight, saw the storm arising. The saints were again to be driven. So he
hurried the people through their endowments, bound them to him by oaths which made them shudder to recall, and still, by an art equal to that of Loyola, so inwound himself in their affections that they loved and reverenced him the more. He aroused their deepest hatred toward the "gentiles;" wrought upon their pride, ambition, and revenge, until they were ready to do and dare anything for their religion and their leader. When his power was thus fully established, he revealed to them "the will of the Lord concerning them." They must leave their beautiful Nauvoo, their sacred temple, their altars and their homes, and follow him as the Moses of the new dispensation, and he would find for them a Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, where the gentiles should never come. This was a trial of their faith. Should they yield to the temptation, and, hankering after the flesh-pots of Egypt, lose their birthright? They wept, they hesitated, but the strong will and iron nerve of Brigham conquered, and they obeyed.
In February, 1846, they crossed the Mississippi on the ice, and leaving home, property, and kindred, they took up their line of march for the land of the setting sun. As the long trains rolled by, Brigham comforted, counselled, and blessed the weeping emigrants. He told them of the land where they should worship "under their own vine and fig-tree, with none to molest or make them afraid." Alas for their fainting hearts! Little did they suspect that the cruel ambition of their God-man would lead them to a land as barren as the Desert of Sahara, and as devoid of vegetation as the Rock of Gibraltar.
They established themselves in winter-quarters at Kanesville, now Council Bluffs, Iowa. Here new difficulties arose. The church was poor, and means were needed to supply the current necessities, as well as to defray the expense of the journey to their new Zion. Various schemes were resorted to for the purpose of "raising the wind." A band of Danites was sent out to steal cattle and horses, and convey them
beyond the jurisdiction of the State authorities. Others were detailed to make and circulate counterfeit money. While these little speculations were progressing, Brigham was trying his hand at diplomacy. He is reported to have sent James C. Little to Washington, to request the privilege of raising a battalion of Mormons for the Mexican war.
This movement was prompted by several considerations. First, it was thought necessary for the safety of the church that they should make a show of patriotism; secondly, these soldiers would draw pay from the government, which Brigham could appropriate; and thirdly, they were to be discharged in Mexico, where, at that time, he designed to found his theocratic monarchy. It has been asserted by some persons that Brigham received $20,000 from the government, as a bonus, for raising the battalion; but I find no evidence to substantiate this assertion. The following affidavit will show in what manner he was benefited by this transaction:—