All tents were now struck, and about noon the camp began to move. They traveled in a north-westerly direction about five miles, and at night camped again on Sugar Creek. The ground was covered with snow, but by dint of shoveling and scraping space was soon made for the tents, and in a short time quite a primitive little city had sprung up as if by magic from the frozen earth. Large fires were built in front of the tents and wagons, corraled in circular array according to the custom of the plains, and all were made as comfortable as possible under the circumstances.
Notwithstanding their hardships and privations, past, present and prospective, a spirit of remarkable cheerfulness reigned throughout the camp; songs were sung, jokes passed and stories told, and, in spite of the situation and forbidding surroundings, everybody seemed determined to "make the best of it" and be contented and happy. Doubtless the romance of the situation helped to season it and make it palatable; but above all was it due to the presence and sustaining power of the Holy Spirit, the peace that "passeth understanding," which rested upon the homeless pilgrims, causing them to rejoice, like the Saints of old, in suffering tribulation for the truth's sake.
At a seasonable hour the merriment was hushed. Heads were bowed in reverent prayer. The God of Israel was invoked in behalf of His cause and people; these whose home from henceforth was the houseless plain and prairie, and the remnant left behind to the mercies of the mob in the doomed city of Nauvoo. Guards were then placed, the flickering firelight waned and died in the wintry stillness, and the Camp of Israel, all save the watchful sentries, slept.
Near the Chariton River, on the 27th of March, the organization of the camp was perfected. It was divided into companies of "hundreds," "fifties" and "tens," with captains appointed over each. The Apostles were placed at the heads of divisions, as presidents. Commissaries were also appointed for each company, with a Commissary General. The camp consisted of two grand divisions, presided over respectively by Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball; the former, as President and General-in-Chief, directing the whole. Occasionally the President would return and gather a council of the captains and Apostles at Heber's encampment, and at other times Heber would go over with his captains to Brigham's camp, for the same purpose.
The law of the Lord was laid down in great strictness, honesty and morality being especially enjoined. Innocent amusement and recreation were encouraged by the leaders, in moderation, as tending to divert the people's minds from their past troubles, and lighten their present toils, but excess of mirth and loud laughter were deprecated and denounced. The Church had again been cleansed of much of its dross, by leaving it behind, and in the main it was a faithful and a pure people that journeyed westward to find another promised land.
The vanguard under Brigham and Heber reached the Missouri River about the middle of June, and received a friendly welcome from the Pottowatomie and Omaha Indians.
CHAPTER LII.
DESTINATION OF THE SAINTS—THE CALL FOR THE MORMON BATTALION—HEROIC RESPONSE OF THE EXILES—BRIGHAM, HEBER AND WILLARD AS RECRUITING SERGEANTS—DEPARTURE OF THE BATTALION—THE CAMP OF ISRAEL GOES INTO WINTER QUARTERS—THE FALL OF NAUVOO.
Where now shall fancy's roving pinion rest?
'Mid barren regions of the boundless West,
Where silvery streams through silent valleys flow
From mountains crested with eternal snow;
Where reigns no creed its rival creed to bind,
Where exiled faith a resting-place shall find,
Where builds the eagle on the beetling height
And wings o'er freedom's hills unfearing flight.
The point in view of the leaders of Israel was the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, a portion of Mexican territory located in the tops of the mountains, in the very heart of the American desert. Discouraging as were all reports relating to this barren and inhospitable region, a thousand miles farther on over trackless plains and bleak mountains swarming with wild beasts and savages, these intrepid men resolved to go forward, trusting in God and braving every peril. At least it was a land of liberty, uninfested by mobs and heartless priests and politicians, and with the wintry sky above, and the frozen earth beneath, or in summer the burning rocks and waterless wastes around them, they felt safer far in the society of wild Indians and savage wolves, than in the midst of the Christian civilization they had left behind.