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Pioneer Date Summary
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06/03/1847 - Crockett
Date: June 3, 1847
On the North Platte River, Wyoming:
During the cold morning, the pioneers started to ferry the wagons
across the North Platte River. The wind blew strongly upriver,
which actually made the crossing easier. A wagon could be ferried
over in about fifteen minutes. The blacksmiths continued their
hard work repairing wagons and shoeing horses. They set up their
shops in the desereted Fort Platte. Charles Barnum did some washing
for Wilford Woodruff. It was the first time Elder Woodruff washed
his clothes since leaving Winter Quarters.
At 11:15 a.m., Amasa Lyman, Roswell Stevens, John Tippets, and
Thomas Woolsey started their journey toward Pueblo to meet the
men and families of the battalion sick detachments. They would
carry 349 letters to the soldiers. Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball,
Willard Richards, and Orson Pratt rode with them as far as Laramie
Fork. They sat down on a large fallen tree and listened to President
Young issue instructions. There were worries that Captain James
Brown was leading the battalion members to Santa Fe, rather than
to the north. Firm instructions were given that the battalion
men must not follow Captain Brown to Mexico, rather they should
follow the pioneers over the mountains. If the officers would
not support this plan, Amasa Lyman would need to have those officers
replaced by men who would support this plan. If the main companies
of the battalion were still at Santa Fe, they should also be
retrieved and be brought back. They knelt down, dedicated their
mission to the Lord, and blessed each man. [Captain Brown was
leading the battalion detachment north, and not toward Mexico.]
Porter Rockwell, Thomas Brown, Joseph Matthews, and John Brown
went ahead on horseback to scout the road for the pioneer company.
At 1:40 p.m., a loud thunderstorm rolled through. Rain fell
for two hours. During the storm, the horses were secured inside
the desereted Fort Platte on the south side of the river. After
the storm the wagon crossings continued. They were able to get
a wagon across in eleven minutes. At 7 p.m., again the work had
to stop because of another storm, leaving about seventeen wagons
on the other side.
Four men had been spotted the previous evening arriving at Fort
Laramie on pack horses. They came from the fort to visit, and
informed the pioneers that they were from St. Joseph, Missouri.
They reported that twenty wagons were about three miles to the
east. Their company had traveled from Missouri in only seventeen
days and had passed about 600-700 wagons during their journey
west. They estimated that there would be about 2000 wagons leaving
the states this season, heading for Oregon and California. A
company would probably arrive at Fort Laramie on each of the
next three days.
Appleton Harmon and others visited a French/Sioux burial. He
recorded the Indian burials: "They had set four forks into the
ground about seven feet high and placed poles across, and made
a scaffold on which the corpses were deposited, wrapped in a
skin, a pillow under each head ornamented with beads." Wilford
Woodruff wrote: "The French were buried in the ground, strong
pickets around, with a cross at the head being Catholics.
Cincinnati, Ohio:
Elder Lyman Littlefield continued his journey to his mission in
England. He wrote "The scenery along the Ohio River in many places
was very fine. Cincinnati is certainly a very tidy place, with
streets clean and neat. We left Cincinnati June 3rd. At the junction
of the Erie and Cleveland canals we parted company with Brother
Campbell, daughter and sister Polly Thompson. They followed up
the Erie canal and we the Cleveland. We had to pack our trunks
three-fourths of a mile before we could find a tavern, which gave
us a relish for our bed."
Winter Quarters, Nebraska:
The weather was pleasant. Mary Richards stewed some apples, picked some goose
berries, and made some pies. She visited friends who were preparing to leave
with the next pioneer company. Four Omaha Indians came near Winter Quarters and
presented a letter from Big Elk stating that he was going out against the Pawnees
and wanted to know if and when he could meet with brethren and receive permission
to enter the city. In the evening, a problem with the police guard arose. A meeting
was called by Marshall Horace S. Eldredge at Isaac Morley's shop. The marshall
wanted to induce the police to reduce their wages. They firmly refused. Brother
Eldredge then accused the police of not doing their duty. Hosea Stout told him
the police matters were none of his business. While they were having a heated
discussion, Elders Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, and John Taylor arrived. Hosea
Stout immediately stopped talking and the brethren told him to continue. But
the matter was dropped and the brethren had come to ask about some property which
had been stolen from the other side of the river. Nothing was known about the
property.
Mormon Battalion, at Los Angeles, California:
The Catholics celebrated Saint Mary's birthday. Henry Standage recorded: "The
inhabitants of [Los Angeles] have been sweeping the public square from 2 days
past, and this morning they erected 4 stages, one in each corner of the square,
also erecting an altar at each place, making it of green bushes, and decorated
with roses, strips of white cloth and very handsome serape or a kind of outside
covering thrown around the man while on horesback, were thrown on the ground." The
mass started at 10 a.m. Colonel Stevenson ordered that one of the cannons be
brought to the square to show the Mexicans that they would be protected during
their celebration. After the mass, the priest came out to the square to perform
certain rites at each of the altars. A band belonging to the New York Volenteers
played while a procession marched from corner to corner. All the people continuously
showered roses down on the priest's head. The cannon fired at intervals as the
procession moved from place to place.
Sources:
Diary of Howard Egan, Pioneering the West, 63-4
Appleton Milo Harmon Goes West, 28
Watson, ed., The Orson Pratt Journals, 417
Excerpts from the Hitherto Unpublished Journal of Horace K. Whitney, Improvement
Era, June, 1947, 407
Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 3:194-95
Bagley, ed., The Pioneer Camp of the Saints, 178-79
Lyman Littlefield Reminiscences (1888), p.191 - p.192
Journal of Henry Standage in Frank Alfred Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion,
224
Beecher, ed., The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow, 176
Ward, ed., Winter Quarters, The 1846-1848 Life Writings of Mary Haskin Parker
Richards, 145
- Source: 150
Years Ago Today
- ©These materials have been created by David R. Crockett.
Copies of these materials may be reproduced for teacher and classroom
use. When distributing these materials, credit must be given to David R. Crockett.
These materials may not be published, in whole or part, or in any other
format, without the written permission of Mr. Crockett, Tucson Az, crockett@goodnet.com.
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