"'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.