the day was occupied by getting the Brethren ready for the mountains
& going out quite a company went out I do not know the
number
~ Tuesday
29th We have another Express in this morning saying that
the Armey are rapidly marching towards us will soon
be at Bridger & they wish men immediately sent out.
Elder John D. Lee also arived from Harmony with an express and an awful tale of Blood a company of Calafornia
Emigrants of about 150 men women & children many of
them belonged to the mob in Missouri & Illinois they had many
cattle & Horses with them as they travelled along south they
went damning Brigham YoungHeber C. Kimball & the Heads of
the Church saying that Joseph Smith ought to have been shot
a long time before he was. they wanted to do all the evil they
could so they poisoned Beef & gave it to the Indians & some
of them died they poisioned the springs of water several of
the saints died the Indians became inraged at their conduct
& they surrounded them on a prairie & the Emigrants
formed a Bulwark of ther waggons & dug an Entrench-
ment up to the Hubs of there waggons but the Indians fought
them 5 days untill they killed all their men about
60 in Number they then rushed into their carrall &
cut the throats of their women & children except a
some 8 or 10 children which they brought & sold to the
whites they striped the men & women Naked & left
them stinking in the boiling sun when Brother Lee found
it out he took some men & went & buried their bodies
it was a horrid awful Job the whole air was filled with
an awful stench many of the men & women was rotten
with the pox before they were hurt by the Indians. the
Indians obtained all ther cattle Horses & property guns &c
their was another large company of Emigrants who had
1000 head of cattle who was also damning both Indians
& Mormons they were afraid of shareing the same fate
Brother Lee had to send interpeters with them to the Indians
to try to save their lives while at the same time they are
trying to kill us.
we spent most of the day in trying to get the Brethren ready
to go to the Mountains Brother Brigham when speaking of
the cutting of the throats of women & children as the Indians
done south said that it was heart rending that Emigration
must stop as he had before said Brother Lee said that
He did not think their was a drop of innocent Blood in
their camp for he had too of their children in his
house & he could not get but one to kneel down in prayer
time & the other would laugh at her for doing it & they wo-
uld sware like pirats. The scene of Blood has commenced
& Joseph said that we should see so much of it that it
would make our hearts sick. I spent the fore part of the
night getting Robert & Wilford ready to go to the mountains
30th I arose Early this morning & took my horses & put
them with parley P Pratts Mules to draw the Bagage
the day was occupied by getting the Brethren ready for the mountains
& going out quite a company went out I do not know the
number
~ Tuesday
29th we have another Express in this morning saying that
the Armey are rapidly marching towards us will soon
be at Bridger & they wish men immediately sent out.
Elder John D. Lee also arived from Harmony with an express
[FIGURE] and an awful tale of Blood a company of Calafornia
Emigrants of about 150 men women & children many of
them belonged to the mob in Missouri & Illinois they had many
cattle & Horses with them as they travelled along south they
went damning Brigham YoungHeber C. Kimball & the Heads of
the Church saying that Joseph Smith ought to have been shot
a long time before he was. they wanted to do all the evil they
could so they poisoned Beef & gave it to the Indians & some
of them died they poisioned the springs of water several of
the saints died the Indians became inraged at their conduct
& they surrounded them on a prairie & the Emigrants
formed a Bulwark of ther waggons & dug an Entrenchment up to the Hubs of there waggons but the Indians fought
them 5 days untill they killed all their men about
60 in Number they then rushed into their carrall &
cut the throats of their women & children except
some 8 or 10 children which they brought & sold to the
whites they striped the men & women Naked & left
them stinking in the boiling sun when Brother Lee found
it out he took some men & went & buried their bodies
it was a horrid awful Job the whole air was filled with
an awful stench many of the men & women was rotten
with the pox before they were hurt by the Indians. the
Indians obtained all ther cattle Horses & property guns &c
their was another large company of Emigrants who had
1000 head of cattle who was also damning both Indians
& Mormons they were afraid of shareing the same fate
Brother Lee had to send interpeters with them to the Indians
to try to save their lives while at the same time they are
trying to kill us.
we spent most of the day in trying to get the Brethren ready
to go to the Mountains Brother Brigham when speaking of
the cutting of the throats of women & children ai the Indians
done south said that it was heart rending that Emigration
must stop as he had before said Brother Lee said that
He did not think their was a drop of innocent Blood in
their camp for he had too of their children in his
house & he could not get but one to kneel down in prayer
time & the other would laugh at her for doing it & they would sware like pirats. The scene of Blood has commenced
& Joseph said we should see so much of it that it
would make our hearts sick. I spent the fore part of the
night getting Robert & Wilford ready to go to the mountains
th I arose Early this morning & took my horses & put
them with parley P Pratts Mules to draw the Bagage
"Journal (January 1, 1854 – December 31, 1859)," September 28, 1857 - September 29, 1857, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed November 23, 2024, https://wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/p/P16W