EXODUS FROM ILLINOIS. 125 



sacrifice exchanging such property as they could dispose of for 

 animals, wagons, and breadstuffs ; and in the beginning of Fe- 

 bruary, 1846, a large proportion of the community crossed the 

 Mississippi from Nauvoo, and formed a rendezvous near Montrose, 

 in Iowa. Here they remained, exposed to intense cold and deep 

 snows, until March, when, being joined by several hundred wagons 

 and a large number of women and children, they organized their 

 company under the guidance of Brigham Young ^ president of the 

 church, and successor of Joseph Smith their founder and seer. 



In their progress westward, through the northern part of Mis- 

 souri, they were again driven from that State, by violent threats, 

 into the southern borders of Iowa, whence, after much hardship and 

 suffering, they reached, in the course of the summer, the banks of 

 the Missouri, beyond the limits of the States. Here they enclosed 

 land and planted crops, leaving some of their number to reap the 

 fruits, which were to be applied to the sustenance of other compa- 

 nies, that were to follow as soon as they should be able to provide 

 the means. They were about crossing the river to pursue their 

 journey westward, when an officer of the United States Government 

 presented himself, with a requisition for five hundred men to serve in 

 the war with Mexico. This demand, though sudden and unexpected, 

 was promptly and patriotically complied with ; but in consequence, 

 the expedition was broken up for the season. Those that remained, 

 being principally old men, women, and children, prepared to pass 

 the winter in the wilds of an Indian country, by cutting hay and 

 erecting log and sod huts, and digging as many caves as time 

 allowed and their strength enabled them. 



During this winter, owing to the great privations incident to 

 such a life, and to the want, in many instances, of the most com- 

 mon necessaries, great numbers sickened and died: their cattle, 

 too, were stolen by the Indians, or perished by starvation. 



In the succeeding spring of 1847, the people were again organized 

 for their journey ; and on the 8th of April, a pioneer company, con- 

 sisting of one hundred and forty-three men, seventy-two wagons, and 

 one hundred and seventy-five head of horses, mules, and oxen, with 

 rations for six months, agricultural implements and seed-grain, 

 manfully set out in search of a home beyond the Rocky Mountains. 



Pursuing their route up the left bank of the Platte, crossing at 

 Fort Laramie, and passing over the mountains at the South Pass, 

 the advanced guard at length reached the valley of the Great Salt 

 Lake, on the 21st of July. On the 24th, the presidency and the 



