Zion’s Camp

With the power of the priesthood come weighty responsibilities. Indeed, we can enjoy priesthood power only when we do our duty. The priesthood of this Church has in the past received some hard lessons regarding its duty. The early brethren were untested and untried. Under the Prophet Joseph’s leadership, the Lord taught them and sifted them. They were persecuted and driven unmercifully in learning to do their duty. Many failed. Three times some of the early brethren endured searing, refining trials before they ultimately found refuge in these mountain valleys.

The first of these tests was Zion’s Camp in the spring and summer of 1834. The second came just four years later in removing thousands of Saints from the state of Missouri to Illinois. Twelve years later came the epic exodus from Illinois to Winter Quarters and the next year to the mountain valleys of the western part of the continent.

Zion’s Camp was formed to reestablish the Saints in Jackson County, Missouri. In this “effort to redeem Zion,” [B. H. Roberts, introduction to History of the Church, 3:x1] some 200 men traveled more than a thousand miles in the most trying circumstances under the personal leadership of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

George A. Smith, age 16, was selected to go on the camp and recorded some of the suffering, trials, and hardships the brethren endured. He stated that on May 26, 1834, “The day was exceedingly hot and we suffered much from thirst and were compelled to drink the water from sloughs which were filled with living creatures. Here I learned to strain wigglers with my teeth.” [“History of George Albert Smith,” typescript, Historical Department, Archives Division, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 17]  The next day, an exhausted Solomon Humphrey lay down on the ground and fell asleep. “When he awoke he saw a rattlesnake coiled up within one foot of his head … [lying] between him and his hat, which he had in his hand when he fell asleep. The brethren gathered around him, saying, ‘It is a rattlesnake, let us kill it.’ Brother Humphrey said, ‘No! I’ll protect him, you shant hurt him for he and I have had a good nap together.’ ” [“History of George Albert Smith,” 18]  I have no desire to have a nap with a rattlesnake!

Brother George A. Smith recorded: “The Prophet Joseph took a full share of the fatigues of the entire journey. In addition to the care of providing for the Camp and presiding over it, he walked most of the time and had a full proportion of blistered bloody and sore feet, which was the natural result of walking from 25 to 40 miles a day in a hot season of the year. But during the entire trip he never uttered a murmur or complaint, while most of the men in the Camp complained to him of … scanty supply of provisions, poor quality of bread, … maggotty bacon and cheese, &c. … Yet we were the Camp of Zion, and many of us were prayerless, thoughtless, careless, heedless, foolish or devilish … . Joseph had to bear with us and tutor us, like children. There were many, however, in the Camp who never murmured and who were always ready and willing to do as our leaders desired.” [“History of George Albert Smith,” 33]

Although Zion’s Camp failed in its stated purpose of restoring the Saints to their lands in Jackson County, Missouri, it was invaluable as a stern schooling. They learned that faith is more important than life itself. At a conference held February 14, 1835, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the Seventy were chosen from the ranks of those who had served in Zion’s Camp. These valiant brethren led the Church for the next 50 years. (“By What Power … Have Ye Done This?” Ensign, Nov. 1998, 46)

Shortly after his son’s birth, Levi left to march to Missouri with Zion’s Camp. Latter-day Saints in Jackson County were being mobbed and driven by their enemies, and the small band of Zion’s Camp was going to their aid. But the mission was never one of vengeance or belligerence, Levi explained. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught those in the group that “we had to unlearn what we had learned from the world, … [T]he first lesson was … that Israel’s God was a man of reason and did not delight in the death of the sinners, but wanted [them] to turn and live.

“He was a new God to me. So, we gladly received his words and fell into ranks and went up to Missouri to see what the matter was, that our people could not stay on their land.”

In retrospect, while “Zion’s Camp failed to achieve its ostensible purpose of protecting the Jackson County Saints,” it brought to the fore faithful men who were willing to answer, at whatever cost, “the Lord’s call. … Nine of the first twelve apostles and all of the first Quorum of Seventy (seven presidents and sixty-three members) were later called from the ranks of Camp members.”  When these calls came in February 1835, Levi Hancock was chosen as one of the Presidents of the Seventy. (“It Is the Truth, I Can Feel It,” Ensign, July 1999, 50)