Elders Woodruff and Taylor went on to Brigham City, where they met the Saints, and where Elder Woodruff recorded the following dream related by Isaac Laney, who received seventeen bullet wounds at the time of the massacre at Haun's Mill. Elder Laney said, speaking of that time: "I dreamed that a shower of serpents were all around me in the air. They were rattle-snakes and many of them bit me all over my body. I was told that if I would not fall down, but keep on running, they would not hurt me. When the shower of bullets came and they pierced my body, they did not hurt me any more than a scratch of a pin, although I looked at the mouth like an ox with its throat cut. I kept on my feet and continued to run until beyond the reach of the mob. A man came to me and said: 'Brother Laney, do not deceive yourself by expecting to live, for no man ever lived after being shot as you have been.' But I said: 'I shall live.' And so I am yet alive to the honor and glory of God, for it was by His power that my life was preserved."
In Brigham City they also found a number of Welsh Saints who had become disaffected. They were labored with, and many of them repented and renewed their covenants with God.
On March 4th of this year President Lincoln was inaugurated. Elder Woodruff's journal contained an account of that exciting period. "President Lincoln's enemies declared that he would never sleep in the White House." During these trying days of the nation, the Saints were loyal to the Union. In reference to the war, President Young said: "Many of the people of the nation have persecuted the Saints of God, and they now have trouble of their own. The rulers in the nation and the states did nothing for us. Governor Cumming, however, has done us good. He stood between us and the army, although at first he also was opposed to the people and wrote threatening letters. However, Col. Kane visited him and greatly changed his attitude towards us. He and Col. Johnston were at swords points."
President Young was asked if the President of the United States should send Secretary Harris, their bitter enemy, here as governor if we would not also secede. He answered emphatically, "No. We will sustain the government and keep our record clean. We shall want to compare records by and by and show that we have been right all the time. The banks and rich men North and South are consecrating their wealth to prosecute the war. Several times we have been called to consecrate our homes at the point of the bayonet. It is now the nation's turn to consecrate, and it will be vexed as the Prophet foretold some twenty-eight years ago."
In the midst of the excitement of the war, the April conference was held, and missionaries, as usual, sent to the nations of the earth.
On the 15th of May that year Elder Woodruff was a member of the company of President Young, who took one of his tours through the southern settlements. Elder Woodruff at the time traveled in company with Ezra Clark of Farmington. The company consisted of forty-eight men, fourteen women, and two children. There were twenty-three carriages, twenty-one horses, and forty mules. During those tours to the settlements the company was frequently met by the mounted militia, and escorted from town to town. It was an occasion of general interest to the people and they were always enthusiastic over the presence of their leaders. During this visit they went as far south as Santa Clara. While on this journey Elder Woodruff's father, Aphek Woodruff, died. The father was eighty-two years, six months and seventeen days old. He was baptized by his son into the Church in 1839.
The 4th of July, 1861, brought with it again one of those enthusiastic celebrations in which the Saints always took delight. President Woodruff declared it was the greatest celebration he ever witnessed. He was a typical American of the old New England time, and no one was more ready than he to honor the day.
Under date of Sunday, July 21st, Elder Woodruff recorded one of those characteristic remarks of President Young, in which the latter declared: "The Lord will not permit me or any other man to lead this people astray. If the leaders do wrong, the Lord will take them away. If an Apostle does not magnify his calling, the Lord will remove him and not permit him to lead away the people." This has been to the Latter-day Saints a prophetic assurance, and that idea has been fostered in their hearts to the present time.
President Young was severe in his denunciation of the liquor traffic. "Any man," he said, "who will make whiskey to sell would sell the Kingdom of God for a picayune. I despise the whisky maker more than I do the thieves, and I have no use for either. Harlots and publicans will enter the Kingdom of God before the whisky dealer. 'Cursed is he that putteth the cup to his brother's lips.'" In later years the Council of the Presidency and Twelve resolved that the liquor dealers must repent and forsake their business or lose their standing in the Church.
The conference of October 6th was characterized by the plans then discussed for the development of the cotton industry in southern Utah. Soon after it closed, quite a number were called South to make preparations whereby the cotton industry should be self-sustaining.