USA > Utah > History of Utah > Part 50
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In August Secretary Babbitt's train, loaded with government property for Utah, was attacked and plundered by Cheyenne Indians near Wood River, now in Nebraska. Of the four teamsters in charge, two were killed and one wounded. A Mrs. Wilson was wounded and carried away by the savages, who also killed her child.
* A Mormon paper called The Luminary had been established by Apostle Snow in St. Louis.
36-VOL. 1.
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This was an act of retaliation for an attack make by Government troops upon a Cheyenne village some time before. Ten warriors had been killed, and the survivors had sought revenge, as usual, upon the next white persons who fell into their power. Colonel Babbitt was not with his train at the time, but was killed by the Cheyennes east of Fort Laramie, a few weeks later. For some time his fate was enshrouded in mystery, but it finally transpired that after leaving the frontier for the west, he and his party were attacked and slain by some of the same tribe that had plundered his train and killed his teamsters .*
About the time of the attack on Babbitt's train, Apostle Franklin D. Richards, Elders Daniel Spencer, Cyrus H. Wheelock, Joseph A. Young, William H. Kimball, James Ferguson and others, just from Europe, were crossing the plains on their return to Utah. Arriving at Fort Kearney they learned from Captain Wharton, the officer in command, full particulars of the killing of Colonel Babbitt's men by the Cheyennes. As they were about leaving the fort to rejoin their camp on the north bank of the Platte, a discharged soldier from Fort Laramie-one Henry Bauichter-arrived with the news of another massacre by the Cheyennes; that of Thomas Margetts and party, about a hundred and twenty-five miles west of Fort Kearney. The substance of the statement made by the ex-soldier to Millen Atwood and James G. Willie, the latter captain of one of the Mormon emigrant trains then moving westward, was as follows: Bauichter had left Fort Laramie on the 29th of August, and having overtaken Mr. Margetts had traveled with him and his companions as far as the scene of the massacre. The party consisted of Thomas Margetts and wife, James Cowdy, wife and child. They had a covered wagon drawn by two mules; also two riding horses, which were used at intervals by Mr. and Mrs. Margetts. On the 6th of September, Bauichter and Margetts went on a buffalo hunt and between one and two o'clock in the afternoon succeeded in killing a bison about a mile
* William H. Hooper succeeded Colonel Babbitt as Secretary of Utah, being appointed by Governor Young to act temporarily in that capacity.
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and a half from camp. A bluff intervened between them and the wagon. Margetts took a portion of the buffalo to camp, and half an hour later his companion, having secured more of the meat, followed. As he came in sight of the wagon he noticed that the cover was gone, and on approaching nearer beheld to his horror the bodies of Mr. Margetts, Mr. and Mrs. Cowdy and their child lying upon the ground. All save the child were dead, and it was wounded and dying. Mrs. Margetts was missing. The mules and horses had been taken, and the wagon plundered. None of the bodies were scalped. No shots had been heard, but an arrow was sticking in Cowdy's thigh. In the distance, riding rapidly away, were a band of about a dozen Indians. Bauichter had lost a gold watch, three hundred dollars in money and some papers that he had left in the wagon. Thomas Margetts was brother to Philip, Henry, and the late Richard B. Margetts, all well known and respected citizens of Utah.
Following these disasters came another, more terrible still, which for a season filled all Utah with grief and gloom. It had been decided by the Mormon leaders that a cheaper and more expeditious method of bringing their emigration across the great plains would be by hand-carts in lieu of ox-teams and wagons. The carts, manu- factured on the frontier, were to carry the baggage and provisions, and the stronger men were to pull them. The idea was novel, but, save in the case of two companies, which started too late in the season and were caught in the early snows near the Rocky Mountains, proved eminently successful.
The hand-cart project was very popular in England, and created considerable enthusiasm, especially among those who had hitherto been unable to raise enough means to emigrate, and who did not wish to become indebted to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company. Many of these, carried away with the idea of "gathering to Zion" that season, left their various employments before arrangements had been completed for their transportation. The result was that they were left to choose between the alternatives of remaining in that
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land during the winter, to starve or go to the poor-house, or else run the risk of a late journey across the plains. They chose the latter course, in which the presidency of the mission, seeing no better way out of the difficulty, acquiesced, and directed matters to that end. Accordingly, across the Atlantic went the ill-starred emigrants of 1856. On reaching the Missouri River the date of departure for the west depended entirely upon the readiness of the hand-carts that were there being manufactured for their use. Many of these not being finished when needed, some delay occurred on the frontier.
The first of the hand-cart companies to arrive in Salt Lake Valley were two led by Edmund Ellsworth and Daniel D. McArthur. Captain Ellsworth had left Iowa City,-then the Mormon outfitting post,-on the 9th of June, and Captain McArthur on the 11th. Each at starting had in his company nearly five hundred souls, with one hundred hand-carts, five wagons, twenty-four oxen, four mules and twenty-five tents. Most of the emigrants were from Europe, and comprised men, women and children, including some who were aged and infirm. Yet they heroically walked the entire distance from the point of starting to Salt Lake City, wading rivers, crossing deserts and climbing mountains, a distance of thirteen hundred miles. Some deaths occurred among the aged and sickly, but the great body of the emigrants arrived safe and in excellent condition at their journey's end. They were met in Emigration Canyon on the 26th of September, by Presidents Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, General Wells, and many other prominent citizens,-Captain William Pitt's brass band and a company of lancers under Colonel H. B. Clawson, forming a portion of the welcoming pageant,-and escorted to the city with flying colors. Their journey from Iowa City had occupied a little over three months, and could have been accom- plished in less time, but for the breaking down of some of the hand-carts, which were made of green in lieu of well-seasoned timber, and were consequently unable to bear the strain of the long journey over the heated plains.
On the 2nd of October Captain Edward Bunker's hand-cart
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company-the third of the season-arrived in the Valley, along with Captain John Bank's wagon company. They had left Iowa City on the 23rd of June.
Two other hand-cart companies were now on the plains. They were in charge of James G. Willie and Edward Martin. The former had left Iowa City on the 15th of July, and the latter passed the Missouri River on the 22nd of August. Though these companies had started late, there still remained time, making due allowance for accidents and delays, for them to have reached their journey's end in safety, or with little suffering, but for one thing,-the unusually early advent of a terribly severe winter, similar to that which had overtaken and engulfed the Donner Party at the foot of the Sierras just ten years before.
The approach of a hard winter being evident in Utah, early in October relief parties were organized by the Mormon Presidency and sent out to meet the emigrants. Anticipating their needs, though no report of suffering - had yet reached the Valley, wagon-loads of . clothing, bedding and provisions were taken by the relief corps to the on-coming trains. Among those who went out to help them in were Joseph A. Young, eldest son of President Brigham Young; William H., David P. and Heber P. Kimball, sons of President Kimball; George D. Grant and his son George W., brother and nephew of Jedediah M. Grant; Robert T. Burton, James Ferguson, Abel Garr, Feramorz Little, Charles F. Decker, Hosea Stout, Ephraim K. Hanks, Joseph M. Simmons, Isaac Bullock, Brigham Young, junior, C. Allen Huntington, Daniel W. Jones, Stephen Taylor, and John R. Murdock. Some of these, as shown, were missionaries who had just returned from Europe, preceding only a few days the hand- cart companies to the Valley. A portion of them started back on October 7th; the others some time later. At the risk of their own lives, these brave men went forth to rescue the poor emigrants now struggling through the snows and piercing winds along the Platte and Sweetwater.
A very graphic recital of the sad story of the hand-cart disaster
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is contained in the writings of John Chislett, for many years a prominent merchant of Salt Lake City. Mr. Chislett was then a Mormon, and a member of Captain Willie's company. He says:
We traveled on in misery and sorrow day after day. Sometimes we made a pretty good distance, but at other times we were only able to make a few miles' progress. Finally we were overtaken by a snow-storm which the shrill wind blew furiously about us. The snow fell several inches deep as we traveled along, but we dared not stop, for we had a sixteen-mile journey to make, and short of it we could not get wood and water.
As we were resting for a short time at noon a light wagon was driven into our camp from the west. Its occupants were Joseph A. Young and Stephen Taylor. They informed us that a train of supplies was on the way, and we might expect to meet it in a day or two. More welcome messengers never came from the courts of glory than these two young men were to us. They lost no time after encouraging us all they could to press forward, but sped on further east to convey their glad news to Edward Martin and the fifth hand-cart company who left Florence about two weeks after us, and who it was feared were even worse off than we were. As they went from our view, many a hearty "God bless you !" followed them.
* *
The storm which we encountered, our brethren from the Valley also met, and, not knowing that we were so utterly destitute, they encamped to await fine weather. But · when Captain Willie found them and explained our real condition, they at once hitched up their teams and made all speed to come to our rescue. On the evening of the third day after Captain Willie's departure, just as the sun was sinking beautifully behind the distant hills, on an eminence immediately west of our camp, several covered wagons, each drawn by four horses, were seen coming towards us. The news ran through the camp like wild-fire, and all who were able to leave their beds turned out en masse to see them. A few minutes brought them sufficiently near to reveal our faithful captain slightly in advance of the train. Shouts of joy rent the air ; strong men wept till tears ran freely down their furrowed and sun-burnt cheeks, and little children partook of the joy which some of them hardly understood, and fairly danced around with gladness. Restraint was set aside in the general rejoicing, and as the brethren entered our camp the sisters fell upon them and deluged them with kisses. The brethren were so overcome that they could not for some time utter a word, but in choking silence repressed all demonstration of those emotions that evidently mastered them. Soon, however, feeling was somewhat abated, and such a shaking of hands, such words of welcome, and such invocation of God's blessing have seldom been witnessed.
I was installed as regular commissary to the camp. The brethren turned over to me ftour, potatoes, onions, and a limited supply of warmı clothing for both sexes, besides quilts, blankets, buffalo robes, woollen socks, etc. I first distributed the necessary provisions, and after supper divided the clothing, bedding, etc., where it was most needed. That evening, for the first time in quite a period, the songs of Zion were to be heard in the camp, and peals of laughter issued from [the little knots of people as they chatted around the fires. The change seemed almost miraculous, so sudden was it from grave to
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gay, from sorrow to gladness, from mourning to rejoicing. With the cravings of hunger satisfied, and with hearts filled with gratitude to God and our good brethren, we all united in prayer, and then retired to rest.
Among the brethren who came to our succor were Elders W. H. Kimball and G. D. Grant. They had remained but a few days in the Valley before starting back to meet us. May God ever bless them for their generous, unselfish kindness and their manly fortitude ! They felt that they had, in a great measure, contributed to our sad position ; but low nobly, how faithfully, how bravely they worked to bring us safely to the Valley-to the Zion of our hopes !
After getting over the Pass we soon experienced the influence of a warmer climate, and for a few days we made good progress. We constantly met teams from the Valley, with all necessary provisions. Most of these went on to Martin's company, but enough remained with us for our actual wants. At Fort Bridger we found a great many teams that had come to our help. The noble fellows who came to our assistance invariably received us joyfully, and did all in their power to alleviate our sufferings. May they never need similar relief !
After arriving in the Valley, I found that President Young, on learning from the brethren who passed us on the road of the lateness of our leaving the frontier, set to work at once to send us relief. It was the October Conference when they arrived with the news. Brigham at once suspended all conference business, and declared that nothing further should be done until every available team was started out to meet us. He set the example by sending several of his best mule teams, laden with provisions. Heber Kimball did the same, and hundreds of others followed their noble example. People who had come from distant parts of the Territory to attend conference, volunteered to go out to meet us, and went at once. The people who had no teams gave freely of provisions, bedding, etc .- all doing their best to help us.
We arrived in Salt Lake City on the 9th of November, but Martin's company did not arrive until about the 1st of December. They numbered near six hundred on starting, and lost over one-fourth of their number by death. The storm which overtook us while making the sixteen-mile drive on the Sweetwater, reached them at North Platte. There they settled down to await help or die, being unable to go any farther. Their camp-ground became indeed a veritable grave-yard before they left it, and their dead lie even now scattered along from that point to Salt Lake.
Mr. Chislett confines his narrative mainly to the experience of Captain Willie's company, with which he was connected. Elder John Jaques, who was in Martin's company, detailed the journey of that detachment from Liverpool in a series of letters to the Salt Lake Herald in 1878-9. From his equally thrilling account. we present the following paragraphs:
The company of emigrants, of which this hand-cart company constituted the larger part, embarked at Liverpool, May 22nd, 1856, on the packet ship Horizon, Captain Reed,
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a Scandinavian and a gentleman. Among the passengers were the persons who had given the first sixpence to the Mormon Elders when they first went to England. The names of those persons were Samuel Pucell and family. The passengers on board numbered 856, of whom 635 were Perpetual Emigrating Fund emigrants, 212 ordinary, and seven cabin passengers. I believe all were Mormons. On the 30th of June the steamer Huron towed the Horizon to Constitution wharf [Boston], when the emigrants debarked. They took cars for Iowa City, crossing the Hudson at Albany, and passing through Buffalo on the 4th of July.
During their stay in the Iowa camp the emigrants employed themselves in making carts and doing other preparatory work until July 28th, when the camp broke up, and the hand-cart portion moved off nearly a mile for a start and then camped again. The hand-cart emigrants were divided into two companies, one under Edward Martin and the other under Jesse Haven, altogether numbering about 600 persons. Some of the emigrants who came in the company to lowa City were numbered in two wagon companies, under John A. Hunt and Benjamin Hodgetts, which left the rendezvous camp about this time. Many of the carts had wooden axles and leather boxes. Some of the axles broke in a few days, and mechanics were busy in camp at nights repairing the accidents of the days. One wagon with mule-team and two wagons with ox-teams were apportioned to each hand-cart company to carry provisions, tents, etc.
The last hand-cart company arrived at Florence, on the west bank of the Missouri, on the 22nd of August. This was the site of "Winter Quarters," of the great Mormon camp from Nauvoo, in the winter of 1846. There, owing to the lateness of the season, the important question was debated, whether the emigrants should winter in that vicinity or continue the long and wearisome journey to Salt Lake. Unfortunately, it was determined to finish the journey the same season. At Florence the two hand-cart companies were consolidated in one and put in charge of Edward Martin, assisted by Daniel Tyler (both Mormon Battalion men). August 25th the company moved from Florence to Cutler's Park, two and a half miles, and camped, stayed there the next day and night, and left the next morning. While there, A. W. Babbitt, dressed in corduroy pants, woollen overshirt and felt hat, called as he was passing west.
On the 7th of September, west of Loup Fork, the company was overtaken by F. D. Richards, C. H. Wheelock, J. Van Cott, G. D. Grant, W. H. Kimball, Joseph A. Young, C. G. Webb, W. C. Dunbar, James McGaw, Dan Jones, J. D. T. McAllister, N. H. Felt and James Ferguson, all but one (McGaw) returning missionaries, who left Florence September 3rd. On September 19th, two or three teams from Green River, going east, were met, and the men informed the emigrants that Indians had killed A. W. Babbitt and burned his buggy thirty or forty miles west of Pawnee Springs.
The company arrived at Fort Laramie October 8th, and camped east of Laramie Fork, about a mile from the fort. On the 9th many of the company went to the fort to sell watches or other things they could spare and buy provisions. The commandant kindly allowed them to buy from the military stores at reasonable prices-biscuit at 15} cents, bacon at 15 cents, rice at 17 cents per pound, and so on. Up to this time the daily pound of flour ration had been regularly served out, but it was never enough to stay the stomachs of the emigrants, and the longer they were on the plains and in the mountains
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the hungrier they grew. Soon after Fort Laramie was passed, it was deemed advisable to curtail the rations in order to make them hold out as long as possible. The pound of flour fell to three-fourths of a pound, then to half a pound, and subsequently yet lower. Still the company toiled on through the Black Hills, where the feed grew scarcer for the cattle also.
In the Black Hills the roads were harder, more rocky and more hilly, and this told upon the hand-carts, causing them to fail more rapidly, become rickety, and need more frequent repairing. One man's hand-cart broke down one afternoon in the hills, and by some mischance the company all went on, leaving him behind, alone with his broken cart and his and his family's little stock of worldly goods thereon. He was drawing his little child in his cart, as he had drawn her most of the journey, and as he subsequently drew her to the last crossing of the Platte, but when his cart broke down he had to transfer her to somebody else's cart and send her on with the company. So he remained behind with his cart, anxiously expecting somebody to turn back and help him, but no one came. Night drew on apace. and still he was all alone, save and excepting the presence of a prowling wolf, which could be seen in the streak of light on the western horizon, a little outside of ordinary rifle range. Happily, just as darkness was settling down, Captain Hodgett's wagon company was observed coming down the opposite hill, from the east, at the base of which it encamped, a quarter or half a mile distant from the benighted and lonely hand-cart ; he eagerly went and told his tale of misfortune to the wagon people, and they took him in for the night.
On the 19th of October the company crossed the Platte, for the last time, at Red Buttes, about five miles above the bridge. That was a bitter cold day. Winter came on all at once, and that was the first day of it. The river was wide, the current strong, the water exceedingly cold and up to the wagon beds in the deepest parts, and the bed of the river was covered with cobble stones. Some of the men carried some of the women over on their backs or in their arms, but others of the women tied up their skirts and waded through, like heroines that they were, and as they had done through many other rivers and creeks. The company was barely over when snow, hail and sleet began to fall, accom- panied by a piercing north wind, and camp was made on this side of the river. That was a nipping night, and it told its tale on the oxen as well as on the people. At Deer Creek, on the 17th of October, owing to the growing weakness of emigrants and teams, the baggage, including bedding and cooking utensils, was reduced to ten pounds per head, children, under eight years, five pounds. Good blankets and other bedding and clothing were burned, as they could not be carried further, though needed more than ever, for there was yet four hundred miles of winter to go through. The next day after crossing the Platte the company moved on slowly, about ten miles, through the snow, and camped again near the Platte and at the point where the road left it for the Sweetwater. It snowed three days, and the teams and many of the people were so far given out that it was deemed advisable not to proceed further for a few days, but rather to stay in camp and recruit. It was hoped that the snow and cold would prove only a forctaste of winter and would soon pass away and the weather would moderate, but that hope proved delusive.
The 28th of October was the red letter day to this hand-cart expedition. On that memorable day, Joseph A. Young, Daniel W. Jones and Abel Garr galloped unexpectedly
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into the camp amid the cheers and tears and smiles and laughter of the emigrants. These three men, being an express from the most advanced relief company from Salt Lake, brought the glad word that assistance, provisions and clothing were near, that ten wagons were waiting at Devil's Gate for the emigrants. Early on the morning of the 29th the hand-cart company left the Platte and struck across the country for the Sweetwater. In the afternoon of the last day of October the company met C. H. Wheelock, Daniel W. Jones and Abel Garr, who were going to meet the various companies. At Greasewood creek were found George D. Grant, R. T. Burton, Charles Decker, C. G. Webb and others, with six wagons laden with flour and other things from Salt Lake, who had come to the assistance of the belated emigrants. This was another time of rejoicing. On the evening of November 1st the hand-cart company camped at the Sweetwater bridge, on this side of the river, about five miles on the other side of Devil's Gate, arriving there about dark. There was a foot or eighteen inches of snow on the ground, which, as there were but one or two spades in camp, the emigrants had to shovel away with their frying pans, or tin plates, or anything they could use for that purpose, before they could pitch their tents, and then the ground was frozen so hard that it was almost impossible to drive the tent pegs into it. Some of the men were so weak that it took them an hour or two to clear the places for their tents and set them up. On the 3rd Joseph A. Young and Abel Garr were sent as an express to Salt Lake to convey information as to the situation of the emigrants. In pre- paring for this express journey home, Joseph A. put on three or four pairs of woollen socks, a pair of moccasins, and a pair of buffalo hide over-shoes with the wool on, and then remarked, " There, if my feet freeze with those on, they must stay frozen till I get to Salt Lake."
At Devil's Gate an earnest council was held to determine whether to endeavor to winter the emigrants at that point or to push them on to Salt Lake as fast as possible. It was decided to continue the march to Salt Lake the same season. Two or three days after arriving at Devil's Gate, the hand-cart company was in part re-organized, and most of the carts were left there.
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