AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WILFORD WOODRUFF.
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April 11th, 1834—With my horses
and wagon I took Brothers
and and started for Zion.
I met with ,
and other elders on the way, and ar-
rived in on the 25th day of
April, 1834.
The Prophet invited me to
make his house my home; I accepted his
offer, and staid with him about one week.
I became acquainted with many of the
, and Saints. I spent
one Sabbath in Kirtland and heard many
of the elders speak, and I felt to rejoice
before God for the light and knowledge
which was manifested to me during that
day.
The first day of May, 1834, was ap-
pointed for the to start
from Kirtland to go up to for
the redemption of their brethren. Only
a small portion of the Camp was ready.
The Prophet told those who were ready,
to go to and wait for the
remainder. I left, in company with about
twenty men, with the baggage wagons.
At night we pitched our tents. I went to
the top of the hill and looked down upon
the . I knelt upon the
ground and prayed. I rejoiced and
praised the Lord that I had lived to see
some of the tents of Israel pitched, and
a company gathered by the command-
ment of God to go up and help redeem
Zion.
We tarried at New Portage until the
6th, when we were joined by the Prophet
and eighty-five more men. The day be-
fore they arrived, while passing through
the village of , the people
tried to count them; but the Lord multi-
plied them in the eyes of the people; so
that those who numbered them said there
were four hundred of them.
On the 7th, Brother Joseph organized
the camp, which consisted of about one
hundred and thirty men. On the follow-
ing day we continued our journey. We
pitched our tents at night and had prayers
night and morning. The Prophet told
us every day what we should do.
We were nearly all young men, gath-
ered from all parts of the country, and
strangers to each other; but we got ac-
quainted very soon, and had a happy
time together.
It was a great school for us to be led
by a Prophet of God a thousand miles,
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through cities, towns, villages, and
through the wilderness.
When persons stood by to count us
they could not tell how many we num-
bered; some said five hundred, others
one thousand.
Many were astonished as we passed
through their towns. One lady ran to
her door, pushed her spectacles to the
top of her head, raised her hands, and
exclaimed: "What under heavens has
broken loose?" She stood in that posi-
tion the last I saw of her.
The published history of Zion's Camp
gives an account of the bones of a man
we dug out of a mound. His name was
. The Lord showed the Prophet
the history of the man in a vision. The
arrow by which he was killed was found
among his bones. One of his thigh
bones was broken by a stone slung in
battle. The bone was put into my
wagon, and I carried it to ,
Missouri, and buried it in the earth.
The Lord delivered Israel in the days
of by dividing the so
they went over dry shod. When their
enemies tried to do the same, the water
closed upon them and they were drowned.
The Lord delivered Zion's Camp from
their enemies on the 19th of June, 1834,
by piling up the waters in
forty feet in one night, so our enemies
could not cross. He also sent a great
hail-storm, which broke them up and
sent them seeking for shelter.
The Camp of Zion arrived at Brother
, in Clay County, Missouri, on
the 24th of June, 1834, and we pitched
our tents on the premises. He told some
of the brethren of my company that he
had a spare room that some of us might
occupy if we would clean it. Our com-
pany accepted the offer, and, fearing
that some other company would get it
first, left all other business and went to
work, cleaning out the room, and imme-
diately spread down our blankets, so as
to hold a right to the room. It was but
a short time afterwards that our brethren,
who were attacked by , were
brought in and laid upon our beds.
None of us ever used those blankets
again, for they were buried with the
dead. So we gained nothing but experi-
ence by being selfish, and we lost our
bedding.
After Joseph, the Prophet, had led
