“entertained no fears of our being removed from Winter Quarters” and that his “hand, heart and feelings are as warm as ever.” Grant to Young, August 15, 1847, BYOF.
6
Young and Willard Richards to Kane,
December 6, 1847
fOllOWing Kane’s letters to Young in late 1846, nearly a year passed with-
out correspondence between the two men. In November 1847, a week after
Young and other church leaders returned from the Great Basin after their
pioneering trek in 1847, Willard Richards sent a report to Kane. “We have
found a site for a city more than 1000 miles west of this, near the Great Salt
Lake which we have named the ‘Great Salt Lake City’ of the Great Basin North
America,” he wrote. Richards had reservations about the place as it lacked
timber and water; he thought that it might serve as “a good half way house”
for later settlements that might be established in California. But Young was
unrelenting that the Great Basin was the site of main settlement, and the
Mormons assured Kane that they would submit a petition to Congress for a
territorial government as soon as they could gather the necessary signatures.
The Mormons were pursuing a territorial government early on, rather than
seeking independence from the United States.1
Everything church leaders were hearing about Kane was encouraging. “He
has the spirit of the Lord with him & is doing for us what He can,” Jedediah
M. Grant reported after visiting Kane in his Philadelphia office.2 Another
elder, William Appleby, noted that Kane was investing heavily in life annui-
ties with the promise that the church would get the benefits.3 Kane was aware
how money-starved the Mormons were and encouraged church leaders to
appeal to the American public for funds. The campaign began while Young
1. W
illard Richards to Kane, November 5, 1847, BYOF.
2. Kenney, Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, August 8, 1847, 3:269.
3. William Appleby to Young, November 12, 1847, BYOF.
44
the prOphet and the refOrmer
was in the west and first took hold in Philadelphia. There, Kane advertised
a “Meeting for the Relief of the Mormons” and sent copies of his circular to
the nation’s leaders, including President James Polk, Vice President George
M. Dallas, and members of Congress.4 As a result, Sarah Childress Polk, the
president’s socially gifted wife, held a “tea party” on behalf of the Saints, as did the influential social hostess Dolly Todd Madison, which set the example for
other fund-raisers. Even some of the clergy in Washington lent their names
to the project.5
The news of the Washington charitable “tea parties” reached Mormon lead-
ers as they met for dinner and general conference business at Miller’s Hollow
on the Iowa side of the river in present-day Council Bluffs. Appleby, presiding
over the eastern congregations and fresh from Philadelphia, joined the group.
He informed leaders of his recent conversations with Kane, who had sent a set
of golden pens and pencils for each church leader.6 Young had the promise of
a more substantial gift, a set of mechanical tools, which Appleby would later
send from Philadelphia. “I selected them myself and they are of good quality,”
Appleby assured Young.7 These tools could be used for pioneering, but also for
the occasional therapy of getting his mind off church business and remember-
ing his roots.
Before the meeting of Appleby and church leaders ended, Heber C. Kimball,
an apostle, proposed that Orson Hyde, one of his fellow apostles, “go to the
East & try to fulfull the Drs. Dream.”8 Apparently Dr. Willard Richards had felt an inspiration that Kane’s work of philanthropy might receive a boost. Young
solicitation for public funds go forward. He also gave Kane a digest of news
from the Mormon settlements that clearly indicated that the need for funds
had never been greater.
4. H
istorian’s Office, History of the Church, entry for December 9, 1847, CHL; Davis Bitton,
“American Philanthropy and Mormon Refugees, 1846–1849,” Journal of Mormon History 7
(1980), 71.
5. Kane suggested the campaign in his letter to Willard Richards, April 25, 1847. Lorenzo Snow, one of the Twelve Apostles who was presiding at one of the Iowa encampments, appealed to “American sympathy” several months later, and slowly the campaign took hold.
“Memorial of the Mormons immigrating to California address to the People of the United States,” July 1, 1847, Kane Collection, BYU.
6. Kenney, Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, December 3, 1847, 3:293–294; William Appleby, journal, December 3, 1847; and General Church Minutes, December 3, 1847, CHL.
7. William Appleby to Young, March 25, 1848, BYOF.
8. Minutes of Church Meetings, December 3, 1847, CHL.
Young to Kane, December 6, 1847
45
Hyde also carried a letter from Young to the “rich Saints in the United
Saints.” Young wrote:
The Camp of Israel in the Wilderness is in want . . . the operations of
the Church are paralyzed with poverty; but the time for the Lord to
favor Zion is at hand, & we send unto you our beloved brother Elder
Hyde to say unto you in the name of Jesus Christ; send us of your
substance; that the poor may be blessed, the sick relieved, the hun-
gry fed, the naked clothed, & the Camp may move forward to their
destination.
Should the wealthy Saints not send money “not by farthings, by pence,
& by shillings, but by hundreds, and by thousands, and by tens of thou-
sands” then the “Spirit will take its departure from your Souls, your light
will be turned into darkness, & you will ere long be left to mourn that your
money has perished with you.”9
Source
Young to Kane, December 6, 1847, draft, box 16, fd 14, BYOF.10
Letter
Council Bluffs Pottawatomie Lands
Decr. 6, 1847
Dear friend
Soon after our return from the mountains, we dropt you a line by Mr
Little, from whom you doubtless learnt the particulars of our journey.11
9. Brigham Y
oung to the “rich Saints in the United States,” December 6, 1847, BYOF. Before
the early 1846 exodus from Nauvoo, “many heads of household promised to consecrate their properties, possession, and energies to the church, not only to leave with their own families but also to assist in every way the exodus of the many widowed, infirm, and destitute among them.” Young hoped to encourage the more prosperous Saints to abide by this “Nauvoo Covenant.” Bennett, Mormons at the Missouri, 14.
10. A clerical note on the back of the retained copy states, “Dec. 6 1847 Council to Col. Kane.”
11. Jesse Little carried Richards’s November 5, 1847 letter to Kane.
46
the prOphet and the refOrmer
Another opportunity now presents of communicating by Elder Hyde, a
member of our Council, who will deliver this.12
Since our last, we have had the opportunity of investigating the
situation of our people to a considerable extent, the result of which we
illegible word <feel> it our duty to communicate to you, which we must
do in general terms, leaving the interstices to
Mr Hyde.
The season has been propitious Our brethren have been diligent;
many of them too diligent; so that their labors have been so excessive as
to produce sickness, & many more have been sick from the influence of
the climate, & many have died.
By the Omahas on one hand & Sioux on the other, many of our Cattle
have been killed, horses stolen, & other depredations committed, which
has tended much to weaken our moving force.13 Afflictions & depredations
have prevented extensive planting, a considerable portion of which has
been destroyed by Beasts, Birds & Indian for want of help to gather & pro-
tect, so that altho the Season has been tolerably favorable—our corn crops
are small to our necessities, & our Wheat & Flour is not. Many have been
obliged to sell their wagons to procure subsistence while our & their Cattle
have been slaughtered by the Savages while they have been prostrated
by sickness. Several hundred families are yet deprived of the assistance of
their friends, who are in the Battalion of whom we have heard nothing since
our last communication & it is too late in the Season to expect any further
communication until next Summer.14 When they arrive their families can
expect no immediate assistance from them, as their own <home> outfit &
winter sustenance will necessarily require more than all their wages.
The pioneers have raised no crops, but expended most of their
sub stance in outfit, a considerable share of which was lost by Indian
12. Kane met Orson Hyde during his summer 1846 visit. Kane found him “very modest
” and
“intelligent.” Thomas L. Kane to John K. Kane and Jane D. Kane, July 24, 1846, APS.
13. The following month, Young similarly wrote of the Omaha, “Almost all their warriors and hunters still being on a buffalo hunt; those who were remain here, have lived mostly on our cattle, either by gift or theft. The whole Omaha nation are a poor, miserable, degraded race of beings, so far as we have any knowledge.” (“Letters to Elders Hyde, Pratt, and Taylor,”
January 6, 1847, Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, vol. 9, no. 7 (April 1, 1847): 97–101.) A few months earlier, federal Indian agent Thomas Harvey had promised Young that “every thing in [his] power will be done to check any excess of the Indians towards your people.” See Thomas Harvey to Young, October 3, 1847, BYOF. In general, Young advocated tolerance toward the Indians at Winter Quarters. See Young to Levi Stewart, January 8, 1847, BYOF.
14. Young had received a letter of commendation for the Battalion’s valor, written from Los Angeles in July 1847, but had received no meaningful communication since then. See Colonel Jonathan Drake Stevenson to Jefferson Hunt, July 22, 1847, BYOF; Young to Orson Spencer, October 20, 1846, BYOF.
Young to Kane, December 6, 1847
47
Depredations. Our Camp is almost universally destitute of Sugar & all
the comforts of life vested in Groceries of any kind & almost the entire
sustenance of this great People consists in corn & Garden Vegetables,
for our Cattle have become few in number & our money expended so
that we cannot purchase Pork. It is near two years since we were driven
from our habitations & had any resources for income. We have had
no raw material to manufacture, consequently our clothing is worn &
useless, or thread bare & cold.15
While thus looking round us & seeing this great People here in the
Wilderness destitute of meat & clothing; the comforts of health, & nec-
essaries of sickness; teams & wagons to move [p. 2] forward, or money
to procure them; or any means within their reach whereby they may
better their condition, we feel that it is a fit subject for an appeal to the
American people, as suggested in your last.
We have heard of the Irish Famine & of the liberal hand that has
been extended from the American Shore, & rejoiced that the Sprit
of Philanthropy has not fled from the bosoms of many a noble soul in
our Mother Country;16 for we hope that our kind friend will find the
time to embody the foregoing sentiments in an address & appeal to
the Rich, Noble, Liberal, Benevolent & Philanthropic, to unloose their
purse strings in behalf of this suffering & patriotic people; for we con-
fidently believe that those noble souls that have been fired with zeal
in the cause of suffering Ireland, will also with cheerfulness & alacrity
respond to the call of their own Countrymen, their fellow citizens, who
have been forced into the Wilderness by a barbarous mob. The call is
not as Religionists, but the promptings are from the common feelings
of humanity; & unless our ancient brotherhood, & our present brother-
hood, the citizens of the nation; whose flag we are sustaining by our
arms,17 shall respond to the appeal with open hearts & heavy purses,
as brethren, as fellow citizens, as neighbors, as lovers of their coun-
try & their countrys rights, thousands & thousands, of this people must
15. The camp was disproportionately populated by women, due to the service of the Battalion soldiers. Presendia Kimball recalled that “only a few men were left to raise grain and vegetables, and protect the women and children.” See “A Venerable Woman: Presendia Lathrop Kimball,” Woman’s Exponent 12 (June 1, 1883): 2.
16. For the Irish famine relief efforts, see Harvey Strum, “Famine Relief from the Garden City to the Green Isle,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 93.4 (Winter 2000–2001): 388–414; Strum, “ ‘Desponding Hearts Will be Made to Rejoice: Irish and Scottish Famine Relief from Virginia in 1847,” Southern Studies 11 (2004): 17–38.
17. For similar sentiments, see “General Epistle From the Council of the Twelve Apostles,”
December 23, 1847, Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, vol. 10 (March 15, 1848), 82.
48
the prOphet and the refOrmer
remain where they are till time unknown, to perish by cold, by sickness,
& all the calamities incident to a Wilderness & Savage Country, for they
have not the means to stay in comfort, or move in any course, & they are
all anxious to remove over the mountains as speedy as possible.
With this scenery before us, we have delegated Elder Hyde to con-
fer with Colonel Kane & adopt such measures to rouse the sympathy of
the American people, the sympathy of the Public, in behalf of this great
people as wisdom shall direct—& Elder Hyde is fully authorized to
give all necessary information upon this subject & receive all donations
which may be offered, for the benefit of our Camp.18
It can hardly be expected, even though the donations should be
most liberal, that all the Saints could be moved next Season; though
we expect to vacate the Omaha lands in the Spring;19 & whether we are
able to do the same with the Pottawatomie Land, or not, it is immate-
rial in the final issue for should all of what we are about to propose; for
should we all remove, our improvements will be immediately occupied
by Citizens, & a Post Office is wanted at the Bluffs,20 & could we have
a Weekly Mail immediately, it would tend to facilitate our removal,
as many of our friends have unfinished business in the States, & con-
sistent with the regulations of the <General> Post Office, we request
than an Office may be immediately established [p. 3] at the bluffs,
to be called, perhaps, Council Bluff Post Office, and E
van M. Green,21
18. In December 1847, Orson Hyde raised approximately $500 in St. Louis. H
e purchased
maps, educational materials, and “every useful treatise on juvenile education.” Hyde informed Young that he had written to Kane and sent him “the necessary documents and instructions” so that he could be “preparing the way.” See Hyde to Young, December 28, 1847, BYOF; Willard Richards to Hyde, December 22, 1847, BYOF.
19. The decision to abandon Winter Quarters was made a few days after the pioneer party returned from the west, and the evacuation began as early as mid-March 1848. Church members who could not make it to the Great Basin in 1848 moved to the Iowa camps or elsewhere. Bennett, Mormons at the Missouri, 1846–1852, 166–167.
20. Council Bluffs.
21. Evan Molbourne Greene (1814–1882) was Young’s nephew. (See Dean C. Jessee, ed. The Papers of Joseph Smith, vol. 2, ed. Dean C. Jessee (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 549. For the petition naming Greene, see BYOF; and Kane Collection, BYU.) In an undated draft letter, likely after Kane received this letter from Young, Kane wrote to a government official (possibly Postmaster General Cave Johnson) and asked that the Mormons be allowed to establish a post office. Kane recommended Greene—a “highly
respectable gentleman formerly possessed of some property”—as postmaster. In a second undated draft letter, Kane apparently wrote to Vice President George M. Dallas, asking for
Young to Kane, December 6, 1847
49
Postmaster, to be located at or near Council point, as shall be most
convenient for the accommodation of the people; also a post route from
thence to some contiguous office in Missouri.22 We are ready to con-
tract for carrying the mail, if wished. We are expecting in a few days
to enlist several hundred men in the service of the United States, for
the purpose of building Forts, or leaving between this and Oregon,
and to engage in extensive farming for the Government on the route.
If all the Citizens of the United States will do <half>