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Letter to Emma Smith, 4 June 1834

Source Note

JS, Letter, [Pike Co., IL], to , , Geauga Co., OH, 4 June 1834. Retained copy, [between ca. June and ca. Oct. 1839], in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 56–59; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.

Historical Introduction

On 4 June 1834, JS dictated this letter to his wife from the eastern banks of the in , where he and the rest of the had arrived earlier that morning. In the roughly two and a half weeks that had passed since he wrote to Emma on 18 May, JS and the expedition had traveled through and into Illinois, frequently using the National Road, a thoroughfare that ran from Maryland, through Indiana, and into Illinois.
Residents of the towns they passed through noticed the company, particularly its relatively large numbers of armed men. Having received recruits from of the church along the way, the expedition’s numbers were approximately 170 at this point. Many observers, however, estimated a much larger number for the group. For example, the Huron Reflector, published in Norwalk, Ohio, stated that the expedition had 300 members, each marching “with the Book of Mormon in one hand and a musket in the other.” The Richmond Palladium, an newspaper, described the expedition as numbering “about two hundred,” nearly all of whom carried firearms. The Sangamo Journal of , Illinois, reported that the “generally armed” group consisted of between 250 and 300 men. also reported that a man in , Illinois, counted the members of the expedition as they passed, giving the final count as more than 500. “This thing was attempted many times in villages and towns as we passed through,” Kimball explained, “but the people were never able to ascertain our number.” Similarly, later remembered, “I never heard of our being numbered less than twice our actual number.”
After arriving at the , the group had to wait for a ferry before crossing. Using the extra time, JS dictated this letter to , detailing the camp’s organization, the food its members ate, the health of individual members, the attention the expedition received from curious onlookers, and the burial mounds they discovered in that, for JS, confirmed the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. JS also shared his fears that he did not have enough men to protect the Saints once they were restored to their lands. He expressed hope that members of the church would quickly move to to strengthen the church there.
In general, JS downplayed the difficulties the expedition was encountering, probably to alleviate any concerns might have had about him. Although he mentioned spies of “the enemy,” he did not discuss threats that these individuals sometimes made against the camp, including declarations that the expedition would never reach . Likewise, JS stated that the camp experienced a “tolerable degree of union,” even though other accounts explained that the day before JS dictated this letter, he told the group that “the Lord was displeased” with them because of fault-finding and complaining. JS also depicted the expedition as having sufficient food, but according to , their food was sometimes “scanty.” later stated that at one point, he was so “weary, hungry and sleepy” that he “dreamed while walking along the road of seeing a beautiful stream of water by a pleasant shade and a nice loaf of bread and a bottle of milk laid out on a cloth by the side of the spring.”
The original of this letter has not been located. JS likely dictated it to , who penned a note at the end of it to his wife, . The letter was probably mailed to on 5 June after the group crossed the and camped near the town Louisiana, Missouri, where a post office was located. In 1839, copied the letter into Letterbook 2, including the note from Williams to his wife.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Bruce, National Road, 11.

    Bruce, Robert. The National Road: Most Historic oroughfare in the United States, and Strategic Eastern Link in the National Old Trails Ocean-to-Ocean Highway. Washington DC: National Highways Association, 1916.

  2. [2]

    Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 10; Woodruff, Journal, 1 May 1834; Radke, “We Also Marched,” 149. George A. Smith later remembered that Parley P. Pratt and Amasa Lyman were sent to a branch of the church at Eugene, Indiana; they returned on 26 May with “a company and some additional funds.” Pratt himself recalled that he “was chiefly engaged as a recruiting officer,” calling on branches of the church in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri for “men and means.” (George A. Smith, Autobiography, 20; Pratt, Autobiography, 122.)

    Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Radke, Andrea G. “We Also Marched: The Women and Children of Zion’s Camp, 1834.” BYU Studies 39 (2000): 147–165.

    Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

    Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.

  3. [3]

    “Mormonism,” Huron Reflector (Norwalk, OH), 20 May 1834, [2].

    Huron Reflector. Norwalk, OH. 1830–1852.

  4. [4]

    “Mormonites,” Richmond (IN) Palladium, 24 May 1834, [3].

    Richmond Palladium. Richmond, IN. 1831–1837.

  5. [5]

    Report, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 7 June 1834, [2].

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

  6. [6]

    “Elder Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 15 Jan. 1845, 6:773; “Extracts from H. C. Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1845, 6:788.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  7. [7]

    Noble and Noble, Reminiscences, [7].

    Noble, Joseph B., and Mary Adeline Beman Noble. Reminiscences, ca. 1836. CHL. MS 1031, fd. 1.

  8. [8]

    George A. Smith, Autobiography, 19.

    Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

  9. [9]

    George A. Smith, Autobiography, 26–27. George A. Smith also remembered an incident on 3 June in which some of the expedition’s members angrily hurled partially rotting ham at JS’s tent door, declaring, “We don’t eat dirty, stinking meat.”

    Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

  10. [10]

    Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 8.

    Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.

  11. [11]

    George A. Smith, Autobiography, 15.

    Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

  12. [12]

    Register of Officers and Agents, 161 (second numbering); “Extracts from H. C. Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1845, 6:788.

    A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth Day of September, 1817; Together with the Names, Force, and Condition, of all the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built. Prepared at the Department of State, In Pursuance of a Resolution of Congress, of the 27th of April, 1816. Washington DC: E. De Krafft, 1818.A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the 30th of September, 1829; together with the Names, Force, and Condition, of All the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built. Washington DC: William A. Davis, 1830.A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the 30th of September, 1831; together with the Names, Force, and Condition, of All the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built. Washington DC: William A. Davis, 1831.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter to Emma Smith, 4 June 1834
Letterbook 2

Page 56

On the banks of the , June 4th. 1834
My Dear Companion, I now embrace a few moments to dictate a few words that you may know how it is with us up to this date.
We arrived this morning on the banks of the , and were detained from crossing the river, as there was no boat that we could cross in, but expect a new one to be put into the river this evening, so that we are in hopes, to be able to cross to morrow, and proceed on our journey. A tolerable degree of union has prevailed among the brethren or up to the present moment, and we are all in better circumstances of health apparently than when we started from with the exception of Alden Childs who is sick with the Mumps attended with [p. 56]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Emma Smith, 4 June 1834
ID #
225
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D4:52–59
Handwriting on This Page
  • James Mulholland

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