Withdrawal of Some Mormons Who Participated in the Crooked River Battle
George Cannon recalled:
"Soon after [the battle of Crooked River on] our return to Far West, General Clark's army arrived before that city. In the evening after Joseph and Hyrum Smith and others had been taken prisoners, Hyrum Smith had the privilege of coming into Far West to see his family. From the spirit of General Clark and his army, he believed that, if they succeeded in taking the brethren who were in the Crooked River battle, they would be tried by a court martial and shot. He and Brother Brigham, and myself met on the public square. After counseling over the matter, it was decided that I, and others in the same situation, should start that night into the wilderness north, for the Des Moines River, in Iowa Territory. My brother, Phineas, being a good woodsman, was selected to pilot us.
The Saints in Far West had been so plundered by their enemies, that they had but little surplus to eat or wear.
I had on a very thin pair of pants. My wife took a sheet from the bed, and, with the assistance of some of the neighbors, hastily made me a pair of drawers. These I afterwards gave to my brother Phineas, as he seemed to suffer more with the cold than I did. Our bedding was as scanty as our clothing.
We left Far West that night, and took no food with us. We arrived about sunrise in the morning, at Adam-Ondi-Ahman, twenty-two miles from Far West. We needed some breakfast, and stopped in a clump of hazel brush, and sent one of the party to the house of Brother Gardiner Snow, to tell him our situation. He said he had not much to eat, but would do the best he could. He brought us a very good supply of stewed Missouri pumpkin and milk. Our keen appetites made this seem a very good breakfast.
There we obtained fifty pounds of chopped corn. With this meager supply of food we continued on our journey. From the first, it was evident that we must be very saving of our food supply. We rationed on eight ounces of this meal, per man, each day. It was mixed with water, without any salt, baked in a cake before the fire, and carefully divided out.
The second day, as night was approaching, we struck the edge of a prairie, which was about four miles across. As our horses were weary, we stopped a short time to rest, when one Irvine Hodge overtook us. He informed us that General Clark, having learned of our departure, had sent a troop of sixty cavalrymen in pursuit; that they were only a few miles behind, and on our trail. Their orders were to bring us dead or alive. We had thought of camping on the spot, but concluded to cross the prairie at once. This we accomplished, and camped in the timber. In the night, snow commenced falling. It appeared to come down in sheets instead of flakes. In the morning it was about a foot and a half deep. Some of the company, at first, regretted this, but others saw and felt that the hand of the Lord was in it. My brother, Phineas, at once declared that it was the means of our deliverance. We started on and the wind began to blow. Our tracks were completely covered soon after they were made.
We afterwards learned that our pursuers camped on the opposite side of the prairie from us, where we had rested. In the morning they tried to find our trail, but finding it impossible to do so, gave up pursuit.
Thus we were saved from our enemies by a friendly interposition of the elements in our behalf.
We were fifteen days on our journey from Far West to the Des Moines River. The last three days we were without food. After the snow fell, our horses had to subsist on what they could find above it.
The brush had soon made my thin pants unavailable for covering my legs in the neighborhood of the knees. The fragments were tied up with small hickory withes. When we arrived near a house, on the Des Moines, I remained in the woods while one of my companions went to the house and obtained a pair of pants, that I might be presentable.
On this trip it seemed as though both men and animals had a wonderful power of enduring cold, hunger and fatigue. I am constrained, after more than forty years have passed away, to acknowledge a special providence in our deliverance.
I have drawn on my memory for the facts of this narrative, and think that they are correct; but there may be some errors in dates, and in the succession of events."
[George Q. Cannon, Fragments of Experience, SIXTH BOOK OF THE FAITH-PROMOTING SERIES, Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City, UT: JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR OFFICE, 1882), 49 - 50.]
Samuel Harrison Smith [Brother of Joseph and Hyrum] was in the Crooked river battle, and immediately after, by the counsel of Pres. Brigham Young, together with Brothers Charles C. Rich, Benjamin L. Clapp, Lorenzo D. Young and about twenty others, they fled for Illinois by the wilderness through the north part of Missouri, and the southern part of Iowa. Messengers overtook them and informed them that General Clark had sent a company of fifty well armed men to follow them, with strict orders not to return until they had brought back the company either dead or alive. When this word came a halt was called and Samuel asked what they should do in case the enemy overtook them; after a few moments' consultation the whole company covenanted with uplifted hands to heaven that if they were overtaken they would fight till they died, and not a man would fall into the hands of the enemy alive.
They then traveled on ten miles and camped on the edge of some timber on the north side of a four mile prairie, and they afterwards learned that their enemies camped on the south edge of the same prairie, and would have overtaken them next day, had not the Lord sent a heavy snow storm during the night; and when the brethren arose in the morning, Phineas H. Young remarked, that that snow storm was their salvation. The air was so full of snow that they could hardly find their horses to saddle them, but they soon mounted them and continued their journey as fast as they could. The storm was from the north, and in their faces; it filled their tracks in a few moments, so that Clark's men could not follow. It was reported that this company of men on their return informed the general that they could not overtake the d--d Mormons, for they were stopped by a snow storm. After they had got some distance on their journey, the company divided into three parts, the three brethren named fell in company with Samuel; their provisions gave out, and after spending several days without food, except eating lynne buds and slippery elm bark, they camped upon a small stream, and the company, numbering eight, held a council, and appointed Samuel president, that they might receive the word of the Lord in relation to the situation of Joseph the Prophet and those that were with him, also in relation to their families and what they were to do to obtain food; they all knelt down in a circle, and each one prayed; then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samuel, and being filled with the Holy Ghost, he arose and said: "Thus saith the Lord, my servant Joseph is not injured, nor any of his brethren that are with him, but they will all be delivered out of the hands of their enemies; your families are all well, but anxious about you. Let your hearts be comforted, for I the Lord will provide food for you on the morrow." They went to bed with glad hearts, and arose in the morning and prayed again and went out two by two to hunt for food.
Brother Clapp saw several squirrels and shot at them, but could not hit them; they were only to stay one hour; at the end of that time they all returned, except Charles C. Rich and Samuel. Feeling very faint, one of the brethren proposed killing a horse. Brother Clapp said that when Brothers Rich and Samuel returned they would have food, as he never knew the Lord to give a false revelation to his servants; and while conversing upon the matter, the brethren made their appearance with two silk handkerchiefs tied up full of bread and dried meat. Samuel's mind was led in a certain direction, and following it they came to an Indian camp; they made known to the Indians by signs, that they were hungry; upon this the squaw with all possible speed baked them some cakes, and gave each of them two, sending two to each of the six brethren in camp, giving them to understand that she would be glad to send more, but she had but little flour, and her papooses (children) would be hungry. When they arrived in camp all felt to rejoice; they formed a circle around the food, and asked a blessing upon it. The bread was very good, being shortened with racoon's oil. After eating they started upon their journey and obtained food sufficient, so that none perished. Samuel arrived in Quincy, and was there to assist his father and mother over the river on their arrival, and hired a house for them, into which he also assisted four other families of the Saints; and according to the word of the Lord unto him, his brothers, Joseph and Hyrum, were delivered, and they arrived in Quincy in April, 1839. He moved, in company with Don Carlos, on to a farm which he rented, near Macomb, McDonough County, Ill., where he spent the season farming.
[LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, 278.]
