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Pioneer Date Summary
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04/28/1847 - Crockett
 Description: Crayon
picture by Jamie, a 4th grader at Valley View Elementary.
Image courtesy of: Heritage
Gateway Project Images, These images have been gathered
to support the Sesquicentennial celebration of the immigration
to Utah.
Location: Grand Island (Sturh
Museum), Nebraska - Location: 40:55:30N 98:20:30W Elevation:
1864 feet
Date: April 28, 1847
Between Loup Fork and the Platte River, Nebraska:
At 6 a.m., the temperature was fifty-nine degrees. During
the morning, Brigham Young decided to have the wounded horse
put out of its misery. Luke S. Johnson shot the horse. Orders
were given during the morning for no man to leave the wagons
except the hunters. The men had grade a road down to the small
creek nearby, so the wagons could cross it. They continued
in this work until 9 a.m., when the wagons started crossing.
The pioneers traveled to the Platte River and rested the animals
on the banks near Grand Island at 2 p.m. Many deer were seen
running across the large Island. Levi Jackman recorded: The
bottom had the appearance of a vast green sea; no timber in
sight only a narrow strip on our left along the river shore." The
roads were extremely dusty and a strong wind blew it into the
wagons, covering everything.
They traveled six more miles and at 6 p.m., established a
camp on Wood Creek. A circle was formed and the horses put
inside. Brigham Young advised the hunters to not go on Grand
Island for fear of an Indian ambush.
Erastus Snow wrote: "The country we have passed over today
is the most beautiful I ever beheld. A continuous, unbroken
plain covered with green grass, from one to six inches high,
as far as the eye can see in all directions, without any timber
or other objects to obstruct the view, except the timber on
Grand Island, south of us."
In the evening Luke S. Johnson gave Thomas Bullock a bunch
of rattles taken from the huge four-foot snake that he had
killed the day before. The oil was taken out and rubbed on
Zebedee Coltrin's black leg which helped a great deal.
Winter Quarters, Nebraska:
Ann Agatha Walker Pratt wrote in her history: "My wedding day
was April 28, 1847. I married Brother Parley P. Pratt, an Apostle
in the Latter-day Saint church -- a very fine man, a true and
loving husband always. My husband, being in charge of the company,
was extremely busy mending wagons, looking up yoke-bows, making
boy-keys, or pins to hold the bows in the yokes, hunting up the
cattle, mating them, finding chains, especially lock-chains,
for, bear in mind there were no brakes to hold wagons back going
down steep hills in those days. These and a hundred other things
occupied his time. Meanwhile we were busy making and mending
wagon covers and in every way aiding and assisting to prepare
for the long and toilsome journey."
Summer Quarters, Nebraska:
A meeting was held in the evening at John D. Lee's house. The brethren discussed
how they should herd their cattle. It was proposed that one big herd be created
for the safety and protection of the animals. After debating for two hours, the
men agreed to appoint N.K. Knight to superintend the herd. In exchange, the other
brethren would till his land. The boys in the settlement would aid Brother Knight
with the herd.
Mormon Battalion, at Los Angeles, California:
Twenty-eight men from each company were assigned to work on the fort. The day
was very busy for some. Henry Standage stood guard through the night, worked
on the fort ten hours, paraded with his arms, and did his own cooking. He wrote: "The
fact is if our Battalion Officers who profess to be our brethren would act as
fathers to us we could have easier times but they seek to please the Gentiles
and to gain favor at our expense. Our officers will even find fault with us even
in these times, for not having our guns in good bright condition when it was
impossible for us to do in consequence of our being tented out and crowded 9
into a tent calculated at first for only 6. Being compelled to leave our guns
outside the tent or lay them on the ground in the night time." In the evening,
Company C and Lt. James Pace's detachment arrived safely from Cajon Pass.
Company B, Mormon Battalion, at San Diego, California:
Henry Bigler commented on "something of a human form" who was seen on the
streets of San Diego begging for food. He claimed to be one of Fremont's men
and said he had been traveling in the Rocky Mountains for years. One of his
shoulders was disabled and he had a wound in his head. Horace M. Alexander
recognized him from the Missouri. The man acknowledged that he was one of the
mob who massacred the Saints at Haun's mill in Missouri. He begged for forgiveness.
Robert S. Bliss wrote in his journal while sitting on a ten-pounder gun above
San Diego: "The prospect is delightful the Town is below me still farther South
lies the Ships in the Harbour & farther still lies the Ocean; North & West
lay another Bay & still farther West the Pacific with its Breakers is in Sight
for many leagues at Sea. Yesterday the 'Congress' Sailed on a short Cruise.
She will be back in a few days; East 2 leagues is the Mission we quartered
when we first Came to the Coast in Sight of the Fort; I also can see far to
the South a number of Islands where I am told Walrus & Seals abound; It is
rumored that a body of 1500 Mexicans are coming here to take the country from
us if they do they will have to fight hard for our Guns are loaded ready to
apply the match any moment."
Sandwich Islands (Hawaii):
Elder Addison Pratt's ship dropped anchor in the harbor of Honolulu. He wrote: "I
have been on share and had a ramble. This place is verry much altered since
I was here in the year 1822. The town is laid out in streets mostly crossing
at right angles, and the houses are mostly well built, considering the climate
and materials."
Sources:
Wilford Woodruff's Journal 3:162
Erastus Snow Journal Excerpts, Improvement Era 14:821
Diary of Howard Egan,
Pioneering the West, 31
Levi Jackman Autobiography, typescript, BYU-S, p.29
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 8, p.244
William Clayton's Journal, p.111
Kelly, ed., Journals of John D. Lee, 1846-1847 and 1859, 158
The Journal of
Nathaniel V. Jones, The Utah Historical Quarterly, 4:16
Journal of Henry Standage in Frank Alfred Golder, The March of the Mormon Battalion,
219-20
Journal Extracts of Henry W. Bigler, Utah Historical Quarterly, 5:60
Elsworth, The Journals of Addison Pratt, 326
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. |
