Elder O. B. Huntington relates the following circumstance, which was detailed to him by Father Zera Cole while they were at work in the Logan temple for the dead:
Brother Cole was with the Camp of Zion which went up to Missouri in 1834. While traveling across a vast prairie, treeless and waterless, they encamped at night after a long and wearisome day's march. They had been without water since early morning, and men and animals suffered greatly from thirst, for it had been one of the hottest days of June. Joseph sat in his tent door looking out upon the scene. All at once he called for a spade. When it was brought he looked about him and selected a spot, the most convenient in the camp for men and teams to get water. Then he dug a shallow well, and immediately the water came bubbling up into it and filled it, so that the horses and mules could stand upon the brink and drink from it. While the camp stayed there, the well remained full, despite the fact that about two hundred men and scores of horses and mules were supplied from it.
Elder William Cahoon also told Brother Huntington of this incident.
"There are but a few beings in the world who understand rightly the character of God. The great majority of mankind do not comprehend anything, either that which is past or that which is to come, as it respects their relationship to God. * * * If a man learns nothing more than to eat, drink and sleep, and does not comprehend the designs of God, then the beast comprehends as much. If men do not comprehend the character of God they do not comprehend themselves. I want to go back to the beginning, and so lift your minds into a more lofty sphere and a more exalted understanding than what the human mind generally aspires to.
"I want to ask this congregation—every man, woman and child—to answer the question in their own hearts, what kind of a being is God? Ask yourselves; turn your thoughts into your hearts, and say if any of you have seen, heard or communed with Him. This is a question that may occupy your attention for a long time. I again repeat the question, What kind of a being is God? Does any man or woman know? The Scriptures inform us that 'This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.'"
On the 25th day of June, 1844, at about half past nine a. m., after repeated solicitations from the Prophet for a personal interview, Governor Ford came to Carthage jail, in company with Colonel Geddes, and the following conversation occurred, as reported by Apostle John Taylor:
Governor: "General Smith, I believe you have given me a general outline of the difficulties that have existed in the country in the documents forwarded to me by Dr. Bernhisel and Mr. Taylor; but, unfortunately, there seems to be a great discrepancy between your statements and those of your enemies. It is true that you are substantiated by evidence and affidavit, but for such an extraordinary excitement as that which is now in the country, there must be some cause, and I attribute the last outbreak to the destruction of the Expositor, and to your refusal to comply with the writ issued by Esq. Morrison. The press in the United States is looked upon as the great bulwark of American freedom, and its destruction in Nauvoo was represented and looked upon as a high-handed measure, and manifests to the people a disposition on your part to suppress the liberty of speech and of the press; this, with your refusal to comply with the requisition of a writ, I conceive to be the principal cause of this difficulty, and you are, moreover, represented to me as turbulent and defiant of the laws and institutions of our country."
General Smith: "Governor Ford, you, sir, as governor of this state, are aware of the prosecutions and persecutions that I have endured. You know well that our course has been peaceable and law-abiding, for I have furnished this state, ever since our settlement here, with sufficient evidence of my pacific intentions, and those of the people with whom I am associated, by the endurance of every conceivable indignity and lawless outrage perpetrated upon me and upon this people since our settlement here, and you yourself know that I have kept you well posted in relation to all matters associated with the late difficulties. If you have not got some of my communications, it has not been my fault.
"Agreeable to your orders, I assembled the Nauvoo Legion for the protection of Nauvoo and the surrounding country against an armed band of marauders, and ever since they have been mustered I have almost daily communicated with you in regard to all the leading events that have transpired; and whether in the capacity of mayor of the city, or lieutenant-general of the Nauvoo Legion, I have striven, according to the best of my judgment, to preserve the peace and administer even-handed justice to all; but my motives are impugned, my acts are misconstrued, and I am grossly and wickedly misrepresented. I suppose I am indebted for my incarceration here to the oath of a worthless man that was arraigned before me and fined for abusing and maltreating his lame, helpless brother.
"That I should be charged by you, sir, who know better, of acting contrary to law, is to me a matter of surprise. Was it the Mormons or our enemies who first commenced these difficulties? You know well we did not; and when this turbulent, outrageous people commenced their insurrectionary movements, I made you acquainted with them, officially, and asked your advice, and have followed strictly your counsel in every particular. Who ordered out the Nauvoo Legion? I did under your direction. For what purpose? To suppress these insurrectionary movements. It was at your instance, sir, that I issued a proclamation calling upon the Nauvoo Legion to be in readiness, at a moment's warning, to guard against the incursions of mobs, and gave an order to Jonathan Dunham, acting major-general, to that effect. Am I then to be charged with the acts of others; and because lawlessness and mobocracy abound, and I, when carrying out your institutions, to be charged with not abiding law? Why is it that I must be made accountable for other men's acts? If there is trouble in the country, neither I nor my people made it, and all that we have ever done, after much endurance on our part, is to maintain and uphold the constitution and the institutions of our country, and to protect an injured, innocent and persecuted people against misrule and mob violence.