At Farmington, Iowa, they bought a supply of flour consisting of four barrels. There they crossed the Des Moines River at the ferry. They were then twenty-five miles from Nauvoo on the 28th day of May. Several days later they overtook the Ramus Company consisting of about twenty-five wagons. On the evening of Sunday the 7th they traveled some distance when they came to a long swail which covered a distance of one and a half miles. It was wet and miry. He succeeded in getting his carriage across by dark, but in the center of the swamp his baggage wagons cut through the turf, and the wheels went down almost to the hubs. He worked most of that night in mud and water nearly knee deep and at the same time kept a watch upon the cattle. About daylight he rolled himself up in a buffalo robe and went to sleep. All day Monday they were obliged to rest and prepare for the journey the following day. His anxiety to overtake the main body of the pioneers led to this violation of his custom to refrain wholly from work on the Lord's day. Tuesday, the 9th, the company traveled twelve miles and camped with a body of Saints from Macedonia. The latter had thirty-one wagons. Here and there they were joined by scattered families of Saints who were wending their weary way westward. On the 15th of June they reached the Camp of Israel called Mt. Pisgah.
President Kimball and others of the Twelve were still ahead. Elder Charles C. Rich had been left in charge at Mt. Pisgah. There were many of his old-time friends there and the meeting brought with it reminiscences of earlier days. There was an exchange of the experiences which they had undergone since Brother Woodruff had left them for his mission, more than a year before. "I encamped," he says, "on the east side of the creek near the Camp of Israel. Here I learned that Brother Noah Rogers recently from a mission to the South Sea Islands had died and was the first to find a resting place in the burial ground at Mt. Pisgah. Brother Turnbow, one of our company, lost a child today. I was present at its funeral." Lorenzo Snow was also in this company and was suffering from sickness, but found great relief in the administration of Elder Woodruff.
On the 21st he preached to a large congregation of Saints and was followed by Elders Rich, Benson, and Sherwood. That day a messenger arrived from President Young, who was at Council Bluffs. The messenger brought a call for one hundred mounted men who were to serve as dragoons and as buffalo hunters for the Camp of Israel. In response to the call, Elder Woodruff and sixty others stepped to the front. He reported the response to President Young.
On the 26th the camp was thrown into some excitement by the appearance of Captain Allen and three dragoons of the United States army. The object of their visit was to raise volunteers for the Mexican War. He was sent by Colonel Kearney who was acting under instructions from President James K. Polk. These messengers were shown every courtesy, but were asked to confer with President Young. The day following, Elder Woodruff wrote President Young a letter in advance of the messengers who were commissioned to make a call for volunteers.
When the 27th of June arrived, the anniversary of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, Elder Woodruff though in poor health at the time addressed the Saints in Pisgah. It was his farewell sermon at that place, for on the following day he took up his travels again for Council Bluffs.
"I stopped my carriage," he says, "on the top of a hill in the midst of a rolling prairie where I had an extended view of all about me. I beheld the Saints coming in all directions from hills and dales, groves and prairies with their wagons, flocks, and herds, by the thousands. It looked like the movement of a nation."
Traveling a few miles from this point of observation he met Parley P. Pratt, who was returning from Council Bluffs with a message to raise a company of men to go in advance to the Rocky Mountains without their families. The Quorum of the Twelve had volunteered to go and in Elder Woodruff's breast there was a heart-felt desire to take up the proposed pioneer movement into the wilderness. He therefore hurried on with as much speed as the ox-teams could endure. They traveled more than twenty miles that day.
The day following they were overtaken by Parley P. Pratt who was returning to Council Bluffs after having delivered his message. He was accompanied by Ezra T. Benson who had recently been chosen to take the place in the Quorum of the Twelve formerly occupied by John E. Page. These brethren expressed a wish that Elder Woodruff accompany them to the Bluffs. The latter, in response, saddled his horse, and leaving his family and company, went on to join President Young and those with him at the front.
On the 4th of July they rode ten miles and breakfasted with some of the brethren whom they met. To their great surprise they were informed that President Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Willard Richards were near by on their way to Pisgah to raise volunteers for the service of the United States army. "We immediately rode down to where they were located," he says in his journal. "It was truly a happy meeting. I rejoiced to strike hands once more with those noble men. It was the first time we had met since I left Nauvoo on my mission to England soon after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum."
This changed somewhat his plan of travel, and upon the invitation of President Young, Elders Woodruff and Benson returned with him until he met his family and company with whom he journeyed to Council Bluffs which he reached on the 7th of July, 1846.