Last year I
got on my soap box and berated those who ridicule America. This year I’ll keep
with the spirit of this blog and provide a pioneer July 4th story,
but first the question?
What was one
of the activities that one would find at a typical Independence Day celebration
during the 1870’s?
a.
The pioneers
didn’t celebrate Independence Day. This wouldn’t happen until they received Statehood
in the 1890’s
b.
Stick
pulling in honor of Joseph Smith
c.
Mock battles
between Pioneers and Natives
d.
Candy
pulling
Yesterday’s answer:
c. Prayed in their temple robes
The first
pioneer group left Mount Pisgah on 1 June, following another Indian trail to
the Missouri River Valley and a region known as Council Bluffs. The region, a
fifty-mile radius around several trading posts, was an important gathering
place of native peoples. On the afternoon of 24 July 1846, Church leaders met
on a hill overlooking the area. As they had done in Nauvoo, they dressed in
their temple clothing and prayed. By 1 August the decision had been made that
the Saints should winter in the Missouri River Valley—ten thousand of them.
Holzapfel,
Richard Neitzel, Their Faces Toward Zion (Salt
Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996), 24.
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