On the 4th of July they rode ten miles and breakfasted with some of the brethren whom they met. To their great surprise they were informed that President Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Willard Richards were near by on their way to Pisgah to raise volunteers for the service of the United States army. "We immediately rode down to where they were located," he says in his journal. "It was truly a happy meeting. I rejoiced to strike hands once more with those noble men. It was the first time we had met since I left Nauvoo on my mission to England soon after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum." This changed somewhat his plan of travel, and upon the invitation of President Young, Elders Woodruff and Benson returned with him until he met his family and company with whom he journeyed to Council Bluffs which he reached on the 7th of July, 1846. Upon his arrival at the Missouri River, he set about the task of raising volunteers for the government service. It was about this time that the Saints there were visited by Thomas L. Kane from the City of Washington. His interest in the Latter-day Saints, his deep and unfeigned sympathy for them, naturally awakened feelings of gratitude toward one whose sympathies for them were so genuine. The Colonel's description of Nauvoo, {252} and his defense generally of the Latter-day Saints, have always made his name with them a synonym of friendship. To what extent their faith and beliefs brought conviction to his soul, it will perhaps be impossible to say. It is certain, however, that the new religion awakened in him some belief that these unpopular people were perhaps after all the instrument of a divine providence in transforming the religious views of the modern world; for on the 7th of September he sought and received a patriarchal blessing under the hands of father John Smith, who at the time was living in a tent. Elder Woodruff wrote the blessing as it fell from the lips of the Patriarch and presented it to the Colonel. It was Colonel Kane's belief, and it was so represented by him to the Saints, that President Polk was favorable to them and had really proposed the Mormon Battalion with the intention in his heart of helping them across the plains by government aid. There was, however, some skepticism, and a belief among some that the whole scheme was an anti-Mormon device, and intended to weaken the Saints in their exodus, and make them an easy prey to the Indians who might encompass the complete destruction of the Saints on the plains. Brigham Young and other leaders were actively engaged in recruiting men for service in the Battalion. President Young had returned from Mt. Pisgah and met in council with the Twelve. Colonel Kane was present. Such tasks as these required just such enthusiasm and heart-felt conviction as men like Wilford Woodruff could give to them.