The Missouri PersecutionsRoberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
History
The Missouri Persecutions
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saints -- Missouri -- History -- 19th century
[Footnote B: This was Judge Holbrook, late of Bountiful, Davis County,
Utah.]
The company marched out some distance from Far West, where it halted,
and the body was divided into three divisions, the commands of which
were given to David W. Patten, James Durphy, and Charles C. Rich, the
whole being under the direction of David W. Patten. The march to the
scene of action is thus described by one of the company:
The night was dark, the distant plains far and near were illuminated
with blazing fires, immense columns of smoke were seen rising in
awful majesty, as if the world was on fire. This scene of grandeur
can only be comprehended by those acquainted with scenes of prairie
burning, as the fire sweeps over millions of acres of dry grass in
the fall season, and leaves a smooth, black surface divested of all
vegetation. The thousand meteors blazing in the distance like the
camp fires of some war hosts, threw a fitful gleam of light upon the
distant sky, which many might have taken for the Aurora Borealis.
This scene, added to the silence of midnight, the rumbling sounds of
the trampling steeds over the hard surface of the plain, the clank of
the swords in their scabbards, the occasional gleam of bright armor
in the flickering firelight, the gloom of surrounding darkness, and
the unknown destiny of the expedition, or even the people who sent it
forth; all combined to impress the mind with deep and solemn thoughts,
and to throw a romantic vision over the imagination, which is not
often experienced except in the poet's dreams, or in the wild imagery
of sleeping fancy.[C]
[Footnote C: Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, ch. 21.]
The mob were encamped in a bend of Crooked River near the line of
Caldwell and Ray counties, and I should judge all of fifteen miles
directly south of Far West. The stream here lies imbedded in a deep
ravine, in fact this may be said of all the streams in this part of
Missouri. There has been but little disturbance of the earth's crust
in this locality, and the streams, having run in their present course
for ages, perhaps ever since our Father Adam and the patriarchs dwelt
in the land, have worn their channels deep. At any rate, at the place
where the mob was camped, and which old settlers pointed out to me
as "Bogart's Battle Field," the stream lies in the bottom of a deep
ravine, the sides of which are quite steep and covered with a heavy
growth of underbrush and timber. A dugway road has been cut on the
north side of the ravine leading down to a point where the stream is
fordable. It is just above this ford where Bogart and his men were
encamped in a little bottom immediately on the bank of the river.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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