Page:History of Utah.djvu/270

Rh a people making few pretensions to civil or religious liberty. It was from these same people who had fled from old-world persecutions that they might enjoy liberty of conscience in the wilds of America, from their descendants and associates, that other of their descendants, who claimed the right to differ from them in opinion and practice, were now fleeing. True, the Mormons in various ways had rendered themselves abominable to their neighbors: so had the puritan fathers to their neighbors. Before this the Mormons had been driven to the outskirts of civilization, where they had built themselves a city; this they must now abandon, and throw themselves upon the mercy of savages.

The first teams crossed about the 10th, in flat boats, which were rowed over, and which plied forth and back from early dawn until late into the night, skiffs and other river craft being also used for passengers and baggage. The cold increased. On the 16th snow fell heavily; and the river was frozen over, so that the remainder of the emigration crossed on the ice. Their first camp, the camp of the congregation, was on Sugar Creek, a few miles from Nauvoo and almost within sight of the city. All their movements were directed by Brigham, who with his family and a quorum of the twelve, John Taylor, George A. Smith, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Parley P. Pratt, and Amasa Lyman, joined the brethren on Sugar Creek on the 15th. Wilford Woodruff, who had been sent to preside over the mission to England, joined the emigration later at Mount Pisgah.

On the morning of the 17th, all the saints in camp being assembled near the bridge to receive their leader's instructions, the president stood upright in his wagon, and cried with a loud voice, "Attention! the