The
whole story of the travels and sufferings of the Martin and Tyler
Handcart companies that arrived in Salt Lake City on the Sunday of Nov.
30, 1856, can never be written or told. Sketches and episodes may be
related in brief, but the weather towards the last of the journey was so
intensely cold and the hurrying to get through the mountains to the
valley so great as to preclude any attempt to write up any data of the
journey. (Jones, Sam, CH)
Brother Orson Twelves, who had three family members starve to death on the trek, explained the disaster in this manner:
There
was a shortage of food because the handcarts couldn’t carry much food.
The company counted on supplementing their supply at Fort Bridger, and
other points along the way and were disappointed… The unusually early
winter was blamed… About one third of the company died… When they were
weakened by starvation they couldn’t stand the cold and froze to death.
(Twelves, CH)
Another brother summarized the hardship in this manner:
They
had to wade through ice and snow and slush… No one was to blame, it was
a situation beyond control, a miscalculation and a series of disasters.
The oxen died and their loads had to be carried by the people. The more
that died [people] the longer was the delay, for they all had to be
given a decent burial. The cold was terrific. (Teeples, CH)
Daniel Tyler, who was the company chaplain, described the suffering of the saints:
Elder
Edward Martin was appointed Captain and I his Counseler and Chaplain.
My health was poor, but when I saw the Suffering of my brethren and
Sisters in consequence of the cold[,] Storms and Scarcity of provisions I
plead might[i]ly with the Lord and I was heal[e]d and became healthier
than I had been for Several years[.] Elder Martin requested me to See
every one out of Camp in the morning and in Camp at night, which I did,
he going a head and looking out Camping places &c. I also had to See
to burying the dead which in our Company amounted to Some thing over
ninety during our over three month travel, out of our Six hundred,
Souls! The heavy Snows Set in at the upper Crossing of the Plat[te]
about the first of Oct. and continued during the rest of the Journey at
intervals the rest of the way… We done our best, and many to day
congratulate us on Saving their lives while others whom by the utmost
exertion we Succeeded in Saving can Scarcely think of any thing too
wicked and false to Say about us. (Tyler CH)
A
pioneer, who met the family of his brother after arriving gave this
description. “they arrived in Salt Lake about the last of November in
peril[ou]s condition suffering great hardship in their travels across
the plains[.] they were mere skelleton when they arrived in Salt Lake
City[.]” (Barnes, CH) The New York Tribune provided this graphic description of the pioneers and their condition:
Another
of the Hand-Cart trains arrived here last Sunday in a condition which
beggars all description. Winter caught them in the mountains destitute
of clothing and provisions, and had not the relief which was sent from
here reached them, every one of them would have perished. As it is, out
of the 500 which started, one fourth have died, and more than 100 of the
remainder have lost their hands or feet from the effects of the cold.
When they reached here there were not 50 in the train who could help
themselves; the rest were stowed in the bottoms of the wagons which had
been sent for them, ragged and filthy beyond conception; helpless and
despairing they could or would not get out of the wagons to attend to
the calls of nature, and if the weather had not been intensely cold it
would have bred a pestilence. (Deseret News, CH)
The
late start and frequent delays of the company were the cause for the
tragedy. P.A.M. Taylor summarized handcart immigration in this manner:
The
fate of the last two companies of 1856 is one of the most celebrated
chapters of Mormon history. They were caught by snow as the crossed the
Rockies and, despite resolute attempts from Utah to relieve them, more
than two hundred died. Faulty timing and the enthusiasm of the leaders
combined to produce disaster. Yet the plan was not a technical
failure. Three companies even in 1856 got through safely, with more
than half of the year’s twenty-two hundred handcart emigrants.
Companies in 1857, 1859 and 1860, to say nothing of groups of east bound
missionaries, used the method with nothing worse than a degree of
hardship which was perhaps an acceptable price for a cheap gathering to
Zion. (Taylor, P.A.M. p 136)
David Roberts summarized the death toll:
…The
true death toll among the Martin Company can never be reckoned… Hafen
and Hafen cite 135 to 150. LDS archivist and historian Mel Bashore, who
has carefully studied the question, sets the toll at 150 to 170.
If
we take the range of the death toll in the Willie Company as between 66
and 77, and the range in the Martin Company as between 135 and 170,
then the total mortality count in the last two handcart companies
amounts to between 200 and 240… The conclusion is inescapable: the
Mormon catastrophe of 1856 remains far and away the most deadly in the
history of westward migration in the United States. (Roberts p 255)
The
Martin Company therefore saw about 150 deaths of the 600 pioneers, a
death total in the range of 25 percent. Violet Kimball puts the death
rate at ten percent for all Westward migration between 1841 and 1868.
(Kimball p 148)
Of
course death was not the only consequence. In addition to the deaths,
over 100 had serious health consequences from amputations of limbs due
to frost bite. “There were several young men who had their feet
amputated to save their lives.” (Fullmer, Church History 1)
Gustive Larson sites several individuals in his footnotes with regards to the cause of the disaster:
Bancroft
(H.H. Bancroft History of Utah) summarized the causes of the Hand Cart
disaster as follows: Error in starting late, insufficient number of
able-bodied men in proportion to the numbers in the company, and the
winter setting in earlier and more severe than had been known in the
previous experience of the Utah Colonizer. This author concludes after
his survey of the situation: “Even the worst enemies of Brigham Young
admit that he was in no way to blame for the disaster and that he spared
no efforts to relieve.” Linn (Linn, W.A. The Story of the Mormons)
writing in 1902 and apparently drawing his conclusions from Stenhouse’s
“Tell it All,” emphasizes the lack of preparation for emigrants when
they arrived in Iowa City, the weak features of the cart construction,
and the failure to have supplies in readiness at Fort Laramie as the
primary causes of the disaster. (Larson p 215)
An article published in The Mormon untitled
“Arrival of the Hand-carts at Great Salt Lake City” gives a favorable
description and also provides some insight into the tragedy:
We are informed from other sources that there has been a good deal of
suffering, owing principally to their late start and the unusual
severity of the weather…
When we reflect upon the position of those emigrants, their exposed
condition, and the extreme severity of the weather, we have cause of
gratitude to our heavenly Father for His protecting care over them and
their safe arrival at the place of their destination…
…
The trouble has been among those who started late. We were not
apprised, until some time after, that companies had started so very late
in the fall, and we must confess, when we heard of it, that we trembled
for the result. We believe that the brethren engaged in the direction
of the emigration used every exertion, and we anxious to take all
through that they possibly could; but we then believed, as well as now,
that much suffering o the emigrants would have been spared, and also a
great deal of unnecessary trouble and expense to our friends in the
valley, if the last companies had staid in Florence, or somewhere on the
frontier.
…We
knew it to be President Young's views that the emigration should start
early and we wished to carry out those views. Again, it was our own
fixed, decided opinion that the hand-cart trains should start early. Our
reasons were that the project was new; that a great many feeble
persons, as well as women and children, would be along, and that in case
of casualty they would be much safer with an early start. Besides, we
have always believed that more trouble, sickness, and expense was caused
by detention in camp than by anything else. (Mormon, CH)
This
idea was reflected by Heber C. Kimball of the first Presidency. “If
the immigration could have been carried on as dictated by br. Brigham,
there would have been no trouble.” (Kimball, CH) Brigham Young put the
cause of the tragedy at the feet of those who let them leave late from
the Missouri:
There is not a person, who knows anything about the counsel of the
First Presidency concerning the immigration, but what knows that we have
recommended it to start in season.—True, we have not expressly, and
with a penalty, forbidden the immigration to start late, but hereafter I
am going to lay an injunction and place a penalty, to be suffered by
any Elder or Elders who will start the immigration across the plains
after a given time…
But if, while at the Missouri river, they had received a hint from any
person on this earth, or if even a bird had chirped it in the ears of
brs. Richards and Spencer, they would have known better than to rush
men, women and children on to the prairie in the autumn months, on the
3d of September, to travel over a thousand miles. I repeat that if a
bird had chirped the inconsistency of such a course in their ears, they
would have thought and considered for one moment, and would have stopped
those men, women and children there until another year…
Are those people in the frost and snow by my doings? No, my skirts are
clear of their blood, God knows. If a bird had chirped in br. Franklin's
ears in Florence, and the brethren there had held a council, he would
have stopped the rear companies there… (Young, Brigham CH 2)
Many
of the handcart pioneers felt strengthened, and closer to God as a
result of their handcart experience. The story is told of Francis
Webster, from a Sunday School meeting in Cedar City:
I heard a testimony once that made me tingle to the roots of my hair.
It was in an adult Sunday School class of over fifty men and women.
Nathan
T. Porter, then Principal of the Branch Normal School, was the teacher
and the subject under discussion was the ill fated hand cart company
that suffered so terribly in the snow in 1856.
It
should be pointed out that to Brother Webster’s knowledge, none had
left the church. However that was not true of all the handcart company
members:
Although the Martin Company truly exemplified the motto “Faith in Every
Footstep,” it’s member were not unlike any other disparate group of
Latter-day Saints, such as those who made a similar journey at a
different time or those found in a modern ward. There was a majority of
the company, including Francis and Betsy Webster, whose faith seemed to
grow with every step they took. There were also those who trudged
along the trail, their faith little changed by what they experienced.
Finally, there were those whose faith seemed to weaken along the way.
…The
evidence is clear that not everyone came through the experience with
the same certainty that he did. While it is not known that anyone in
the company apostatized directly as a result of the trials they endured
in the cold and snow, there were Martin Company members who subsequently
left the Church. (Orton 2)
One
of these was Sister Elizabeth Whittear Sermon Camm, whose husband died
on the trek. “Poor fellow, he died in the night and so on, one after
another, passed away; fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, families and
friends, all because through some misguided scheme and speculations,
which will, some day have to be atoned for. Many, many honest souls laid
away in Mother Earth—for what! I do not want to judge.” (Camm, CH 2)
However,
there were many more who, like brother Webster, drew closer to God.
One brother concluded his handcart sacrifices with a hymn and a quote:
How well the Saints rejoice to tell
And count their sufferings o'er.
When they upon Mount Zion dwell
And view the landscape o'er.
And count their sufferings o'er.
When they upon Mount Zion dwell
And view the landscape o'er.
I
have heard that a lady well known among the saints, once said, while
the surest way of getting to Heaven was under discussion. "When I
approach the Golden Gate, Peter will at once grant me admission when I
cry, "Handcarts!"
…our
hearts are lifted up in praise to God for all his blessings we now
enjoy—& though the handcart episode is one of the unpleasant
expirences of our lives, the schooling that it gave, & the training
of our unpleasant episodes in our lives since then—all have tended to
make our faith in our religion the stronger—& our appreaceation of
Gods own hand dealing to us as a people, more easily discerned. (Jones, Albert, CH 2)
Another brother transposed a famous hymn to express his thoughts about the handcart experience:
What if they died before their trip was o'er?
Happy day. All is well
They will endure. No toil or sorrow more,
With the just in peace they dwell.
And as our lives were spared again
To see the Saints their joys obtain
Come let us make the chorus swell,
All is well, all is well.
Happy day. All is well
They will endure. No toil or sorrow more,
With the just in peace they dwell.
And as our lives were spared again
To see the Saints their joys obtain
Come let us make the chorus swell,
All is well, all is well.
As Francis Webster, several of the handcart members saw the Lord’s intervention. Patience Loader commented:
it seemed the Lords fitted the back for the burden[.] every day we
realised that the hand of God was over us and that he made good his
promices unto us day by day[.] as we Know God our Father has promised us
these blessings if we will call on him in faith[.] we Know that his
promises never fail and this we prooved day by day[.] we Knew that we
had not strength of our own to perform such hardships[.] if our heavenly
Father had not help[ed] us and we prayed unto God continuely for his
help and we allways acknowledged his goodness unto us day by day[.]
Sometimes in the Morning I would feel so tiard and feel that I could not
pull the cart the day through[.] then the still small voice would
w[h]isper in my ear as thy day thy strength shall be[.] this would give
me new strength and energy and thus we traveled on day after day[,] week
after week[,] and for four Month[s] before we reached the valley;…
…
we allways as[k] God to bless to our use and that it would Strengthen
our bodys day by day so that we could performe our dutys[.] and I can
testefie that our heavenly Father heard and answerd our prayers and we
was blessed with health and Strength day by day to endure the severe
trials we had to pass through on that terrable Journey before we got to
Salt Lake City[.] we Know that if God had not been with us that our
strength would have failed us and our bodys would have been left on the
plains as hundreds of our poor brothers and sisters was[.] (Archer, CH)
Sister Loader Archer also mentioned this experoence, which was likely a heavenly angel:
Some
time in the afternoon a strange Man appeard to me as we was resting[.]
as we got up the hill he came and looked in my face he sais is you
Patience I said yes he said again I thought it was you[.] travel on[,]
there is help for you[.] you will come to a good place there is
plenty[.] with this he was gone he dissapeared[.] I looked but never saw
whare he went[.] this seemed very strange to me. I took this as some
one sent to encurage us and give us strength[.] (ibid)
Another faith promoting experience is that of the Bleak family.
Brother Bleak had been the Branch President in London and had determined
to go by wagon. However when others were following his example, and
shunning the handcarts, he decided to travel by handcart. When this was
announced in his Branch, a sister spoke in tongues, the interpretation
of which was that the entire family would arrive in safety:
Two good sisters, one, an aged widow, the other unmarried, in the
kindness of their womanly hearts, had volunteered to assist the mother
by taking charge of one of the children, at the close of each day's
travel till the following morning. The offer was gratefully accepted and
the four and a half year old, blue eyed, fair haired boy [Thomas Nelson
Bleak], became the chosen one to share the added protection of their
tender care.
One
morning, after a very cold night, when winter had overtaken the
company, these sisters were horrified to find their little pet lying
between them dead, as they decided, and in this condition they brought
him to his parents. His father, who had already made a fire, took the
child and began by anointing him with consecrated oil, and praying over
him, calling upon the Lord to keep His promise that not one of the
family should fall by the way in gathering to Zion. Tests were applied,
but not a heart beat or other sign of life was in the child. The father
continued to administer, to chafe the limbs and body, and to call upon
the Lord to fulfill His promise. After what appeared to the sympathetic
fellow travelers and suffers as a very long time, the father thought he
saw a slight flutter in the child's throat; this encouraged further
rubbing, chafing and administration until, finally, by God's power and
blessing, the dear child unclosed his eyes and is now a resident of Salt
Lake City, father of nine children and likewise a grandfather. (Bleak,
CH 3)
The
experience of Ephraim hanks among the Martin Company of itself was
miraculous, from his being called by a voice from heaven, to his
bringing members back from death, or near death. Also his interventions
in providing food, as well us surgical operations in which the sufferer
felt no pain, were a testimony of divine assistance.
Brother
Jones further provided some insight into the sacrifice made by the
Saints for the gospel in a discourse for the handcart association in
1906:
…though
you gathered to Zion in the humble manner you did—you are of the best
blood the earth affords—what greater claim exists to superiority of
birth—that you have not; when the Patriarch with hands upon your heads,
has with the vision of the seer declared you of the Ephriamic stock.
Rejoice
ye Saints of God in the grand promises made you—since you laid down the
shafts of that rickety old cart you have been blessed—many of you have
been laboring unceasingly since then—you have spent years on
missions—you have in turn gathered your fellow-religionists home to
Zion,—have fought the Indians who sought your lives,—endured persecution
for the Gospels sake—have been in peril both by sea & by land.
Imprisoned & fined for conscience sake—all this and more have you
passed through, scince your entry to these grand vallies to which God in
His mercy has led you…
…—&
though the handcart episode is one of the unpleasant expirences of our
lives, the schooling that it gave, & the training of our unpleasant
episodes in our lives since then—all have tended to make our faith in
our religion the stronger—& our appreaceation of Gods own hand
dealing to us as a people, more easily discerned. (Jones, Albert, CH
3)
Such excellent work. Thanks for sharing your research with all of us, Billy.
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