Today we call it Zion's camp.

However, at the time, it was never called Zion’s camp. It was called the Army of Israel or the Camp of Israel.

That’s next on the Joseph Smith Papers.

KJZZ television, in cooperation with the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints presents this weekly series highlighting the research of scholars and historians as they prepare for the publication of the Joseph Smith Papers. And now your host, Glenn Rawson.

The Latter-day Saints were called to gather to Zion, to build it up. They had great hopes and expectations, feeling that they’d been called of God to do so.

However, the mobs drove them out of Jackson County in the winter of 1833, egregiously violating their rights and essentially driving them from their land.

They suffered terribly.

The Latter-day Saints generally will cross the river going north over to Clay County,

living that winter on the the river bottoms,

trying to keep body and soul together because they did not bring their supplies with them. They were not allowed to. They were dispatched without enough preparation.

Phelps wrote a letter to the prophet Joseph Smith in January indicating to him that— we are scattered, are impoverished.

We have not enough clothing, not enough to eat.

It was a desperate, desperate time.

And they suffered a great deal.

But they regrouped and began to seek employment

that spring, probably late winter.

And there are a lot of people,

land owners in Clay County that were willing to hire cheap labor.

And the Mormons provided that for the next several months until they could kind of regroup and begin to acquire some land in Clay County themselves.

Missouri Governor Daniel Dunklin recognized that something needed to be done to help the Mormons.

He sent a message to Joseph Smith that he would be willing to call out the state militia to help the Mormons get their land back if the Mormons would rally a sufficient force to maintain their presence on it once they had it back.

Dunklin mentioned something that was vitally important to this whole enterprise, and that was he recognized the problem and the need to help them get back. But he could not keep state militia troops in Jackson County to preserve the peace and protect the Mormons once they got back on.

That's the impetus behind Zion's camp,

the idea being that the Mormons will come down,

join the ranks of the state militia. This is not an illegal thing.

And actually kind of join ranks with the state militia. And then once the Saints were reinstated

or restored to their property,

the Mormons would probably have to remain there for some time to protect and to establish kind of a peacekeeping force

with the governor's offer in mind.

Joseph inquired of the Lord and received a revelation that we know today as section 103 of the Doctrine and Covenants. In it,

Joseph was commanded to “gather up the strength of mine house

and return the Saints to the lands of their inheritance.”

Joseph Smith immediately put into place a plan of action.

And that is, number one, we needed men.

And number two, we need a means or money.

This is not a cheap adventure.

He immediately went east.

He and seven other members— priesthood holders—to raise money for the trip. This has a record of some of the money that they received, this document does mention women’s names and that they were contributors too, in that time period.

The expectation was, we want all able-bodied men to go on this thing. Now, some were very, very anxious.

Couldn't wait to go. Looking forward to it.

Your Lyman Wight, this guy was a War of 1812 veteran.

This is great. Let’s don the military and off we go.

Wilford Woodruff immediately responded. Looked forward to it. Came to Kirtland, arrived a week before.

So there were those who were obviously thinking, “this is wonderful. This is great. What an opportunity.”

Obviously, you have those who were skeptical or fearful of their lives. Section 103 says “don’t be afraid to lay down your life.”

In the end, when Zion’s camp was disbanded,

heavy blame, if you want to put it that way, for the failure to redeem Zion was placed upon the churches in the east, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

In fact, in the revelation, the Lord states,

He says—this is D&C, section 105 verse 6, “and my people must needs be chastened until they learn obedience.” Verse seven, “I speak not concerning those who are appointed to lead my people

who are the first elders of my church.”

He's not blaming Joseph and the first presidency and Hyrum and all these others.

“But I speak concerning my churches abroad—

there are many who will say: Where is their God?

Behold, he will deliver them in time of trouble,

otherwise we will not go up unto Zion and will keep our moneys.”

So they had to bare a major

responsibility for this operation, and I don't think they really came through

the way Joseph anticipated. Nonetheless, he was not—undaunted.

We’re going to go. This is— Lord has told us we can.

The governor's expecting us. We're going.

Joseph Smith organized and led Zion's camp with all the skill of a trained military officer,

even though Joseph had no formal military background.

Strict discipline was expected.

And part of that was in the things of the Spirit.

One can only imagine the weight of responsibility felt by Joseph Smith. The task must have been formidable and daunting.

He was only 28 years old

and virtually inexperienced in military activities and affairs. In terms of John Smith’s leadership,

I think the Saints who responded,

the men who responded to this call

definitely could see the prophetic mantle on this young man, on this young Joseph. Why else would they go?

The fact that, like I say, over 200

eventually signed on board, to me, indicates they recognized this is the Lord’s anointed.

This is what he's asked us to do.

We've got to support him in this incredible adventure.

I should say that it was a spiritual time, though.

They enjoyed being with Joseph.

They enjoyed hearing his teachings, his views.

They learned a lot from it. It was a trying experience, certainly, with the walking and the marching and the need for food and resupplying and so on and so forth. But I think they anticipated this. It's not going to be easy.

Zion's camp walked 900 miles one way to Missouri in the late spring and early summer of 1834.

They traveled south and west through Columbus and basically picked up what we call the national road near Dayton, Ohio.

This road ran all the way from Wheeling,

which at that time was Virginia, not West Virginia.

And all the way to Vandalia, Illinois, which was the capital of Illinois.

This is going to take them through the states of Ohio,

Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, easily over 900 miles. Along the way, Joseph Smith did all he could to keep from arousing trouble with the locals.

They tried to be inconspicuous, but how do you hide an army?

They would stretch out during the day.

They weren't all bunched up together,

but you can imagine the concerns of citizens as they would pass through their communities.

Here's this large bunch of this group of men again, few women, and few children. And by the way, people are—recruits are filing in all the time.

Joseph wants to go incognito.

He doesn't want people knowing or being, you know,

being alarmed that the Mormons are coming.

In fact, we know at one point in the journey he wanted to be known as Squire Cook so that no one would know who he was and that he was the leader of this company.

Unfortunately, a postmaster from Chagrin, Ohio, just close by, not very far from Kirtland,

wrote the postmaster in independence telling him

the Mormons are coming. Look out. There's the gossip monger, right? It didn’t take long for them to say, wow, we are going to have an armed conflict. And all during the month, the spring months and early summer,

the Jackson County citizens were arming themselves,

were mustering, were drilling.

They fully anticipated a conflict would ensue.

Though Joseph is with Zion's camp on the march,

his heart is with Emma and the children back home.

On May 18th, 1834, the camp is just outside a community called Richmond, Indiana.

It’s a Sunday. Joseph writes a letter to Emma,

“My dear wife, meeting being over, I sit down in my tent to write a few lines to let you know that you are on my mind and that I'm sensible of the duties of a husband and father, and that I am well

and I pray God to let his blessings rest upon you and the children and all that are around you until I return to your society.”

And then he says, he responds to her letter:

“The few lines you wrote and sent by the hand of Brother Lyman—”

That’s probably Lyman E. Johnson—

“The few lines you wrote and sent by the hand of Brother Lyman,” Lyman E. Johnson, “gave me satisfaction and comfort

and I hope you will continue to communicate to me by your own hand, for this is a consolation to me, to converse with you in this way in my lonely moments, which is not easily described.

I will endeavor to write every Sunday if I can and let you know how I am.

I must close, for I cannot write on my knees, sitting on the ground to edification.

May the blessings of God rest upon you is the prayer of your husband until death, Joseph Smith Jr.”

It was in this same letter to Emma that Joseph made mention of how the history of Zion’s camp, a record, would be kept.

He said, “Brother Frederick will write to Oliver and give him the names of the places we pass through and the history of our journey from time to time.

So it will not be necessary for me to endeavor to write it.”

He expected Frederick G. Williams, who was the camp historian and the paymaster,

to keep an accurate history of the trip. And so he didn't feel a need to keep a record himself.

He was sending it to Oliver because he was the editor of the Evening and Morning Star. And he thought reports of the camp would be in the paper, Oliver’s behind in Kirtland,

managing the newspapers and the affairs of the church. Right.

We do know that the records that Frederick Williams kept were lost.

They're just gone. We've never seen them again. This is the record that Orson Hyde made, copied from Frederick G. Williams’s records, which are lost.

So it’s an important document.

It’s the contemporaneous record of Zion’s camp.

It has a hundred and ninety-four, I believe, names listed.

We know there are about two-hundred and five, two-hundred and seven men. The other thing that's important about this is that it does have

a record of who contributed money for the trip.

George A. Smith was Joseph’s young cousin. He was on the march.

He later wrote the following:

“During most of the trip Joseph never uttered a murmur or complaint,

while most of the men complained to him of sore toes, blistered feet, long drives, and et cetera.

Even a dog could not bark at some men without their murmuring at Joseph. If they had to camp with bad water

it would nearly cause a rebellion.

Joseph had to bear with us and tutor us like children.”

Such behavior would later bring terrible calamity on the camp.

Joseph never lost sight of the mission.

Although some of the men probably did.

Joseph's mind, first and foremost, was on fulfilling the revelation and reclaiming Zion.

And when some of the men fell short of that and got caught up in the day- to-day drudgery of marching and complained, Joseph was not beyond a powerful rebuke to

set the camp in order.

At one point in the camp,

Joseph had a dog with him and Sylvester Smith was so annoyed by this dog, he was ready to kill him,

and Joseph was not going to allow for that.

But it just shows you the

the fact that some men became very irritable. Sadly, on June 3rd, right there at the Illinois River,

Joseph Smith announced that a scourge would come upon the camp because of their unruly spirits and it would not be stayed. Joseph and his brethren arrive at the Allred settlement in eastern Missouri about June the 5th of 1834. Now, Joseph’s brother, Hyrum, is leading a division of men down from Pontiac, Michigan.

They will join them there.

They'll rest and prepare and then push across the state to Jackson County.

Meanwhile, while they're waiting,

messengers come from Governor Dunklin with bad news.

Basically, Dunklin said that he would like the Saints to pursue further negotiations.

Dunklin wasn't backing out entirely.

But he was basically telling them, I think we're not going to intervene militarily at this point. That had to devastate Joseph Smith. Well, that changes all the plans if they don't have the state militia’s support.

They're not a sufficient force to go into Jackson County alone.

Exactly. They could not be of sufficient size to be able to— and they could not operate on their own.

That would essentially be illegal. Now what do we do?

What is the purpose of our coming?

How are we to finally resolve this situation?

And he just doesn't know. He does not know.

As Joseph and Zion's camp push across northern Missouri towards Clay County, the citizens of Jackson County had received word that they were coming and they were arming for battle.

It would have been bloodshed had it not been

for a most unusual event.

When Zion’s camp arrived in Clay County,

it was on the 19th of June 1834.

The mobs from the various counties around Clay County were

commandeered and gathering to attack Zion's camp.

They were afraid of the Mormons. They were afraid of Zion's camp,

but they were determined as local defenders, that’s the way they saw themselves, as defenders.

Late in the afternoon, a storm began to appear across the western skies.

That storm struck them about sundown.

It was a very severe rainstorm, thunderstorm,

lightning and hail. It was devastating.

And the brethren spent the night wet in the wagons. The wagons were filled with water. Joseph was able to seek some refuge in a nearby Baptist log church. And that’s a wonderful story. But the storm prevented the attacks of the mobs,

and the brethren saw it as a miracle.

That storm would raise the big fishing river, some 30 to 40 feet,

some say in about 30 minutes’ time.

It stopped the mobs from crossing and effectively halted the battle. But the reprieve was only temporary.

On the 21st of June, members of the Missouri state militia came into camp to parley with Joseph and the brethren.

They found out the Mormons intended no harm.

They didn't know that before.

They were really quite concerned.

Rumors had indeed prevailed.

And on the 21st of that month, June,

the groups of brethren then signed an accord.

This one here, this upper portion looks as dated June the 21st, 1834, is a statement by Cornelius Gilliam, who is the sheriff of Clay County,

and just indicating to the citizens of Clay County that he has interviewed the Mormons.

He sees no harm in them. Basically, I'm paraphrasing the idea,

but we're going to help them to negotiate a solution with the problems in Jackson County if we can. So it’s basically a very positive, kind, and

hopeful statement.

Trying to smooth relations. And then the second one is attached to it here.

And this is a statement by the Latter-day Saints

as to their intent to arrive in Missouri to assist their

suffering brethren and sisters, to bring them

help and material, clothing, that sort of thing.

And then on the back of it, it continues.

But on the back of it,

we have a joint signature by the committee from Missouri. And then over here we have the Mormon signatures and there's the prophet Joseph Smith's signature on the top. This document is just it's basically a a treaty of peace, if you will. Indeed, it was. And because of this agreement, because of this harmonious accord, attempting to resolve it through not through negotiation here, but by an agreement to negotiate.

Therefore, the Mormons did not petition Governor Dunklin to raise the state troops to escort the Mormons back into Jackson County,

because the Mormons knew that if the governor got involved with the military of the state to help escort them back to Jackson County, that the local people simply would not tolerate. And there’d be a civil war. From the time that Joseph had received word from Governor Dunklin in eastern Missouri that the state militia wouldn’t be called out,

He'd been praying and wondering what to do, how to conclude Zion's camp.

Finally, on the 22nd of June, 1834, in Clay County,

Joseph received that revelation.

We know it today as section 105.

The day after the Prophet Joseph signed the agreement of accord,

as did the other brethren and the local leaders,

the prophet Joseph Smith received a very important revelation.

It's known generally as the fishing river revelations, a long revelation, verse 16 of Section 105, that fishing river revelation.

Behold, I’ve commanded my servant, Joseph Smith Jr. to say unto the strength of my house, even my warriors, my young men and middle age, to gather together for the redemption of my people

and to throw down the towers of my enemies and scatter their watchmen.

But the strength of mine house have not hearkened into my words.”

There were those who did.

But there was a large number,

particularly the Eastern branches and other saints who did not bring that kind of support

or give that kind of support necessary for this to be entirely successful in terms of redeeming Zion. That’s why He says verse 18. “But inasmuch as there are those who have hearkened to my words,

I have prepared a blessing and an endowment for them if they continue faithful.”

Once you return now to Kirtland and the eastern portion of the United States, we're going to build that temple. We're going to finish building that temple,

and we're going to receive an endowment that was promised. And then the Lord ultimately states this has not been

totally futile. There was a higher purpose, if you will,

for this expedition. This operation.

Verse 19, talking to those who made the sacrifice,

“I have heard their prayers, and will accept their offering;

and it is expedient in me that they should be brought thus far for a trial of their faith.” I think the Zion’s camp experience—

It was an incredible leadership training-ground for these people, these men, these participants.

They learned some things in Zion’s camp from Joseph Smith and life and the Church and prophetic leadership that they probably could not have gotten in any other way.

Zion's camp was officially disbanded,

but Joseph had stood among them at one point and delivered a terrible prophecy that “a scourge would come upon the camp in consequence of the fractious and unruly spirits that appeared among them,

And they should die like sheep with the rot. As the Lord lives, the members of this camp,” he said, “will suffer for giving way to their unruly temper.”

That prophecy was fulfilled June 29th,

1834, while they were encamped on Rush Creek.

Very terrible thing will happen to the leaders and to the members of Zion's camp.

Thirteen of them will die from cholera at that site or nearby, and two local people will die.

Algernon Sidney Gilbert, the storekeeper in Zion, will die. And John Murdoch, his little daughter.

He was the father of the the Murdoch twins, which Joseph and Emma had earlier cared for. The Gilberts were raising their little daughter, Phoebe, and she died of cholera, too.

And so Joseph, on the twenty-sixth of June,

disbanded Zion’s camp and told the brethren to go various ways. Some of them remained in Clay County and others went home.

Zion's camp has been a point of controversy for those who've considered the success of Joseph Smith.

Some have said that it was a failure because the Saints didn't obtain their land.

But is there another way to look at it? There is.

While some may see that as

Zion’s camp being a failure didn’t reach its ultimate objective. I think we can in hindsight say perhaps again,

there were other objectives,

200 men said “we will go down to try to help our fellow brothers

and sisters.” I think it solidified, to some degree, to

the Saints living in Missouri, Saints living in the East,

this is one church. We’re all in this together.

We came to your help. We wanted to show our support in your tragedy.

So I think that's one thing.

I think the second thing is probably not the most important. But certainly the Saints did bring some provisions. Zion’s camp brought provisions, supplies, some needed moneys,

that kind of thing, some relief to some degree for the the Saints who had been expelled.

The third thing, though, and I think this is probably incredibly paramount,

is the leadership experience this provided, not only Joseph Smith,

but those who were under his supervision and under his command.

Here’s what Brigham Young said:

“I have traveled with Joseph a thousand miles as he led the camp of Israel. I’ve watched him, and observed everything he said or did.

And for the town of Kirtland,

I would not give the knowledge I got from Joseph from this journey.

And then you may take the state of Ohio and the United States,

and I would not give that knowledge for them.”

And then this statement:

“This was the starting point of my knowing how to lead Israel.”

That's powerful. When Joseph set the priesthood in order back in Kirtland in preparation for the solemn assembly,

it would be from among the “camp boys,” he called them,

that he would call out those brethren who would serve as seventies and apostles.

They had been tested and they had been trained.

And nine of the members of the 12 were members of Zion's camp,

the three that weren’t, Thomas B. Marsh was living in Missouri,

couldn’t be a part of it, as was William E. McLellin.

Both of them living in Missouri at the time Zion's camp came down.

The third apostle that was not there was John Boynton, who was on a mission, I believe, in Maine.

So with those three exceptions,

the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve, nine of the 12 were called from the ranks of Zion's camp, and that was February 14th, 1835.

Two weeks later, the first Quorum of Seventy was called along with the seven presidents of 70.

And every single one of the members of that quorum were members of Zion’s camp.

Before Joseph leaves for Ohio,

he installs a new stake presidency in Missouri with David Witmer as the stake president.

Doctrine and Covenants, section 105, verse 9 reads,

“In consequence of the transgressions of my people,

it is expedient in me that mine elders should wait for a little season for the redemption of Zion.”

Not even Joseph knew how long that little season would be.

Joseph's idea was for the next two years,

we will continue to gather to Clay County.

He will encourage the Saints from all over the East when they are

materially prepared and ready to gather, they’ll gather to Clay County and we’ll build up our forces in Clay County, our presence, and begin to be enough of us to be able to cross the river on our own. That was his thinking.

He wrote a letter to the brethren in Clay County, and gave the date for their return. And that would be the 11th of September 1836.

That was the end of the little season.

And so they began to prepare for a second Zion’s camp. In the spring of 1836,

the local citizens were getting very angry.

And wanted the Mormons out of there.

And so they began to attack their villages

and began to beat their people. And the Mormons knew that was enough. They would not stop.

And so they began to negotiate with the prophet Joseph at Kirtland,

to leave Clay County and to look for other land up north in Caldwell County.

Joseph never lost hope for the redemption of Zion.

“Zion shall yet live,” he wrote, “though she seem to be dead.”

He would never live to see it.

Next week on the Joseph Smith Papers, the Kirtland Crisis.