Show until I 1 SPEECH I 1 11 4 by col george AL A smith in the tabernacle e 0 at the he t celebration of the ath of july A 1854 10 1 MY YOUNG YOONG FlUEN DB vol it is with pleasure I 1 rise to address you on the present occasion hyl having been called upon to walk in the pro 4 e cassion agiou as the Hi of the church of jesus jesup 4 christ of litter latter day saints it created in my breast aills feelings foe linga art easily described it brought up reminiscences J elo is cances of past scenes and of celebrations slin flar code to this wherein I 1 have acted in company with my worthy pred predecessor c asor dr willard richards one i in of the first presidency of the church of god on earth and one of the pioneers who first entered temi r this valley he has hae gone to rest after being worn out by trials tri ils ile persecutions and adversities abe L and by the difficulties incident in the forming of taj this settlement in the valleys of the mountains N I 1 could have stopped to drop a tear te r to the memory py a of departed worthies the historian the aged ageda ly patriarch john smith and many others bithers at the 1 to aim marn willme I 1 could but feel joyful to see such an le immense chanse assembly gathered together to commemorate ev the day on which the first arrived igho iiii in this region to inhabit these valleys should we refer to the pages of the history that is no doubt written in many many a private journal our memories would be refreshed sled the startling ikee i truth that the first fifteen years of our oar existence i slid hd had been a continued scene of trials persecutions arvea afflictions and murders including the murder of I 1 oki i the prophet the patriarch and a great many oth d ers era of the ablest and most energetic members of 61 the church I 1 at a council of the loading leading men of this comma rao sp 4 aulty iu in nauvoo it was concluded that on finish i ja ing the temple there a company of one thousand should establish them I 1 or fifteen hundred pioneers 0 0 selves in the mountains mount dins to prepare the way for a 0 ii safe retreat from the tyri tyranny triny and oppression r ty i which had so long followed this people this it conclusion was unknown to the public hence the it i surprise e of the bobat mob at our willingness to depart 0 I 1 in in a very few days afterwards bands of organized commenced the work of burning I 1 our houses bouses in felrom green plains and J ass boar creek settlements and throughout the county it ho as it if they were not satisfied with the destruction ey I 1 of the hundreds of lives their persecutions sio had already sacrificed and the millions of property ark t they hid had already destroyed in missouri as if D dissatisfied with the blood of the prophet still to smoking from the ground as it were they lighted e anew the torch of the incendiary and the governor ov kip t of the die state slate was silently willing to fan its 40 fires it will be recollected that he did not stop 10 the house burning but we stopped it ourselves jd under the direction of the sheriff of the county 11 kt the moment that was done general harden li 10 mounted on a white horse backed up and accompanied i p g ff by other dignitaries of the state came 6 into nauvoo with four hundred men what was so said to us ns by these worthies they said that thai in im 1110 0 cons consequence equaw of the combination against us chrol out oot toe the state the governor did not feel fed at liberty I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 11 A t to do anything for us so ao we were abandoned to the rage of unprincipled men they then informed us they had come to search for some men that were m missing issing a and nd fo farmed a square around the temple also around i the stables of the nauvoo house but mo more re particularly around the masonic maronie hall the basement story of which contained a quantity of wine general hardin and others of his baud band went into the stabler where a horse had just been bled and concluded a man had been killed there but fortunately the horse was there to answer lor for the tha blood the general and his staff then pierced with their swords the heaps of manure thinking I 1 presume that if they pricked a dead man he would squeal I 1 thought they acted a little simple for they might have presumed that if anybody had been killed they would have been thrown in the mississippi which was not more than ten rods from the I 1 I 1 this was all that was done to punish the house burners and the state authorities said they could do nothing for us hence the only alternative was to leave as nine counties of the state had concluded in convention that we must leave or be exterminated the fact is this was the very conclusion we had already come to ourselves in a council a few days before yet it was proper not to reveal the secret of our intention to flee to the mountains but as a kind of put off it was communicated in strictest the confidence to general hardin who promised never tu to tell of it that we intended to settle vers island this report however was industriously circulated as we anticipated it would be the pers persecution cution was blazing on every hand and the reputable authorities could d do nothing th ing for us which was equal to saying hold on oil and let us run our daggers into you I 1 the first companies which left in consequence of those persecutions were obliged to start in the dead of winter in the beginning of february 46 many of the companies crossed the mississippi with their wagons on ane ice and the rest in ili flat boats and winding their way a new and trackless country making a toad road of nearly four hun hundred adred mils in length stopp d to winter on the right bank of the missouri where they built quite a town called winter quarters finding that hat our numbers in Nauvoo I 1 deuced to a mere handful the mob num numbering some 1800 armed men supplied with scientific engineers and good artill artillery ry attacked the remain aug few who were chiefly lame blind widow fatherless children and those too poor to get away there were botone not one hundred able bodied men to stand against this superior force in do da fence of the helpless this is culled called the battle of nauvoo and was fought in september they cannonaded the citizens of nauvoo and finally af ter three days fighting and being forced to retreat three times they succeeded in driving them over the river what was the result of all this in n april 41 47 I 1 we started from winter quarters w with ith men instead of 1000 as pioneers we were few mad and I 1 was going to a say far between but we were close together ar we set out and made a new road to this valley the greater portion of the way we thus worked the path and arrived here on the day we now commemorate this Is i a hasty glance of bisto history ry to euter enter into details would introduce matters that would unnecessarily harrow up the minds of many auoe it to say any like the pilgrim fathers who first landed upon plymouth rock WO we are here pilgrims and exiles from liberty and instead of being driven into the wilderness to perish as our enemies had designed we we find ourselves in I 1 the middle of the floor or on oil the top ot of the heap right iu in the country that scientific then men and other travel travelers exx had bad declared worthless we are becoming rich in the comforts and blessing of life we are now rocking in the cradle of liberty in which we are daily gk growing owing and I 1 challenge the union to produce a parallel of this days celebration I 1 say to my young friends be firm to extend the principles of freedom and liberty to this country and never suffer auffard the hand bund of oppression to ini vade it lu ili the til history of our persecutions there have arisen a great many anecdotes but one will perhaps serve to illustrate the condition in which I 1 wish to see every man bian that raises in mountains tho baad of oppi oppression upon the innocent I 1 wah w sh to see such auch men rigged out with the same honors and comforts as s was the honorable samuel no C oceh commander in chief of the jackson county mob he with eleven men was engaged at a mass to raise a mob to drive the saints from clay county this was in the year 34 in the mouth month of bitne they had made speeches a and done everything to raise the indignation of the people against the saints lu in the evening ye ning himself james campbell and nine others ers commenced to cross the missouri river on their way home mi again and the lord or some accident knocked a bole le in the bottom of the boat when they discovered it says commander owen to the company on the ferry boat we must strip to the bone or we shall all perish mr campbell replied 1 I will gd to hell befort before I 1 will land naked 1 he had his choice and went to the bottom owen stripped himself of every article of clothing and common commenced cod floating down the river after making levei several ral attempts he finally landed on the jackson side of the river after a swim of about fourteen miles he rested some time being perfectly exhausted and then started into the nettles which h grow r w very verv I 1 thick and to a great height in fa the bottoms was possible chance in making from the river to the settlements lie he had to walk four miles the nettles which took him the remainder of the nigh and when he got the nettles he came to a road and saw ayou a you young ng lady approaching on horse livorse b was the belle of JAck Ji ickson county lathis ID this miserable condition he laid himself behind a log so that she could not see him when she arrived opposite the log he be says madam I 1 am samuel C owen the commander in i chief of the mob against the mormons cormons Mor mons I 1 wish you to solid send some men from the next house with clothing for I 1 am naked the lady in her philanthropy dismounted and left him a light shawl and a certain unmentionable under garment and passes on so his excellency samuel C owen who was afterwards killed in mexico by foolishly exposing himself contrary to orders took up his line of march for the town tow iu in the shawl and petticoat uniform after his expedition against the mormons cormons Mor mons my young friend shave the goodness to use every man so who comes into your country to mob and oppress the innocent and LADIES DONT LEND THEM M ANY CLOTHING |