“Camp of Israel No. 2,” Ensign, July 1997, 41
Camp of Israel No. 2
Written on leaving our first Encampment,
after crossing the Mississippi River.
Lo! a mighty host of Jacob
Tented on the western shore
Of the noble Mississippi,
Which they had been crossing o’er.
At the last day-dawn of winter,
Bound with frost and wrapp’d in snow;
Hark! the cry is, “Onward! onward!
Camp of Israel! rise and go.”
All at once is life and motion—
Trunks and beds and baggage fly;
Oxen yok’d, and horses harness’d,
Tents roll’d up and passing by:
Soon the carriage wheels are moving
Onward to a woodland dell,
Where at sunset all are quarter’d—
Camp of Israel! all is well.2