Battle of Crooked River
The following is a Spiritual Manifestation received by Lorenzo
D. Young (brother of Brigham Young) on October 25, 1838 at the Battle of
Crooked River, Missouri. This was related by him years later in 1882 at Salt
Lake City, Utah.
Preparations were soon made, and in a short time, about 40 mounted men,
under the command of David W. Patten, were ready to start. We kept the road to
a ford on Crooked River, twenty miles distant, where we expected to find the
mob. Just as the day was breaking we dismounted, about a mile from the ford,
tied our horses, and left Brother Isaac Decker to watch them. We marched down the
road some distance, when we heard the crack of a rifle. Brother Obanion, who
was one step in advance of me, fell.
I assisted Brother John P. Green, who was the captain of the platoon I
belonged to, to carry him to the side of the road. We asked the Lord to
preserve his life, laid him down, ran on and took our places again. The man who
shot Brother Obanion was a picked guard of the mob, who was secreted in ambush
by the roadside. Captain Patten was ahead of the company.
As we neared the river the firing was somewhat lively. Captain Patten
turned to the left of the road, with a part of the command; Captain Green and
others turned to the right. We were ordered to charge, which we did, to the
bank of the river, when the enemy broke and fled. I snapped my gun twice at a
man in a white blanket coat. While engaged in repriming my gun, he got out of
range.
A tall powerful Missourian sprang from under the bank of the river, and,
with a heavy sword in hand, rushed towards one of the brethren, crying out,
“Run, you devils, or die!” The man he was making for was also armed with a
sword, but was small and poorly calculated to withstand his heavy blows of the
Missourian. He, however, succeeded in defend[ing] himself until I ran to his
aid, and leveled my gun within two feet of his enemy, but it missed fire. The
Missourian turned on me. With nothing but the muzzle end of my rifle to parry
his rapid blows, my situation was perilous.
The man whom I had relieved, for some reason, did not come to the rescue.
I succeeded in parrying the blows of the enemy until he backed me to the bank
of the river. I could back no farther without going off the perpendicular bank,
eight or ten feet above the water. In a moment I realized that my chances were
very desperate. At this juncture the Missourian raised his sword, apparently
throwing all his strength and energy into the act, as if intending to crush me
with one desperate blow. As his arms extended I saw a hand pass down the back
of his head and between his shoulders. There was no other person visible, and I
have always believed that I saw the hand of the angel of the Lord interposed
for my deliverance. The arm of my enemy was paralyzed, and I had time to
extricate myself from the perilous situation I was in.
As soon as I had time to think, I felt that the inspiration of my
mother’s promise had been again verified. The appearance of the hand, to me,
was real. I do not see how I could have been saved in the way I was, without a
providential interference.
Lorenzo D. Young,
“Fragments of Experience, “Sixth Book of
the Faith Promoting Series,” p. 50-2.
Yesterday’s answer:
(A) Methodist
Church
Historians
have long noted the connections between Methodism and Mormonism. Joseph Smith
himself remembered as a youth being “somewhat partial to the Methodist Sect”
and later told Methodist preacher Peter Cartwright that “we Latter-day Saints
are Methodists, as far as they have gone, only we have advanced further.” Many
others attracted to the Mormon message on both sides of the Atlantic came from
Methodist backgrounds—perhaps more than any other religion—including the
Church’s first three presidents and eight of the original twelve Apostles.
Mormonism
in the Methodist Marketplace, Christopher C. Jones, BYU Studies Quarterly, 51:1, pg. 83.
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