Much of the material on this page was assembled by C. Alden Harper with historical contributions by Gail Holmes.

The Mormon Battalion

Twelve days after the the arrival of the first wagons at the Missouri River, a Captain James Allen came seeking 500 volunteers to join the U.S. Army to fight Mexico. Brigham Young asked for and received permission from Captain Allen to stay on Indian lands in exchange for assisting in the recruiting of the volunteers. The volunteers were called the Mormon Battalion and the resulting march from near the Grand Encampment to southern California became the longest sustained military march in U.S. history. They were mustered in at the western end of Grand Encampment and began their march on July 21, 1846 with 521 volunteers.

Mormon Settlements along the Missouri River

Indian Country
When the Latter-Day Saints reached the Missouri River June 14, 1846, they had reached the organized territorial limits of the United States. What lay west of the Missouri had been designated by congress as "Indian Country." American law there was applied by virtue of treaties with the Indians. Some 2250 Pottawattamie/Ottawa/Chippewa Indians lived in at least five widely scattered villages in southwest Iowa. Approximately 1300 Omaha Indians lived atop an oak-knolled hill about three miles west of the tiny village of Bellevue, Nebraska. Half of 930 Oto/Missouri Indians lived in a village eight miles southwest of Bellevue. The other half lived in at least three villages south of the Platte River, spaced about five miles apart, commencing not far from the west bank of the Missouri River. The Pottawattamies sympathized with the Mormon's exodus because they too had been forced from their homes in more eastern states and they had been befriended by the Mormons before the Mormons were expelled from Nauvoo, Illinois by mobs.
Miraculously, chiefs of the Pottawattamie/Ottawa/Chippewa had agreed in Washington, D.C., in May 1846 to sell their lands in southwest Iowa and move to northeast Kansas the following year. This paved the way for Iowa to become a state on December 28, 1846. Though the Oto/Missouri and the Omaha Indians did not sell their lands in eastern Nebraska until 1854, the Omaha Indians did agree to let the Mormons stay west of the Missouri River at least two years, in preparation for their move on to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

Grand Encampment
The Mormon's main staging area at the Missouri River was a camp called Grand Encampment. This was located very near where the Iowa School of the Deaf is now located south of Council Bluffs and extended 9 miles to the east. Because there was not enough grass, wood, and water to support 10,000 to 15,000 people, 3,000 wagons, 30,000 cattle, immense flocks of sheep, and great numbers of horses and mules, the Mormons fanned out on both sides of the river (mostly on the Iowa side) to settle small communities. Historians have identified nearly 80 communities established by the Mormons from 1846 to 1852. The two largest were Winter Quarters on the Nebraska Indian Territory side and Miller's Hollow (later named Kanesville) on the Iowa side.

Miller's Hollow
One of these 80 communities, Miller's Hollow. was established near the same time as the Grand Encampment camp. This small community was to later become much larger and have several name changes. In 1848 those at Winter Quarters who had not gone west abandoned that town and went back across the river to Miller's Hollow and named it Kane. A very short time later the name was again changed to Kanesville. In 1853 after most of the remaining Mormons went to the Salt Lake Valley at the request of Church leaders, those who took over Kanesville renamed the very active frontier town Council Bluffs, capitalizing on the name of the area on both sides of the Missouri River that had been so named by fur traders and trappers even before 1846.

Ferries
Mormons held a public meeting the day after they arrived at the Missouri River and decided to build a ferry of their own. Costs of moving so numerous a company by the Sarpy-owned ferry some nine miles south down the river was prohibitive. Sarpy's ferry was a dingy and could not haul large loads across. They met with Peter Sarpy and got an agreement to build the ferry. About 100 workmen of varying skills were called, on a volunteer basis, to build the ferry and improve the river sites for ferrying. In three weeks they had constructed a ferry capable of carrying three loaded wagons with oxen harnessed. Dugways were cut into the banks on both sides of the river so the ferry could be loaded and unloaded without the force of the river disturbing operations. A great V-line rope was stretched across the river from dugway to dugway and far upstream with point of the "V" on the Iowa side. The eastern side dugway was north of the western side dugway. The upstream leg of the V was north of the eastern side dugway and was attached on the western side.
After the ferry was loaded on the eastern side it was poled out of the dugway and the force of the river propelled it down the southern leg of the V until it reached the dugway on the western side. It then was poled into the dugway and unloaded. Then it was poled out of the dugway and pulled upstream by horse or ox team to the most northern end of the V. There it was attached to that leg of the V and the force of the river carried the flatboat back along the rope to the eastern side dugway. This ferry was situated approximately at Council Point where present day Council Bluffs is now of the east bank of the Missouri and crossed to about where "L" street in present day Omaha on the west bank. It went into operation approximately July 1, 1846. This location was later referred to as "the original" (or sometimes the Middle Mormon Ferry). It was later moved north approximately October 1, 1846 to facilitate movement to Winter Quarters. The North Mormon Ferry was located about where the Mormon Bridge is on I-680. A small community on the Iowa side of the north ferry was established called Ferryville.

Cold Spring Camp
Cold Spring Camp, located four miles west of the Original Mormon Ferry, was to have been an 1846 gathering point for Latter-Day Saint planning to go on west to Grand Island or to the Rocky Mountains. Deep concern about the future welfare of stragglers in Nauvoo (Illinois), Garden Grove (Iowa), and Mount Pisgah (Iowa), the fact that the Mormons arrived at the Missouri River two months later than hoped, and the leaving of 500 men in the Mormon Battalion led to the decision to winter by the Missouri River. Staying near the Missouri would allow the capable Saints to rush back to rescue stragglers who might come to harm. Cold Spring Camp, a little north of 60th Street and L Street in present day Omaha, was described in 1850 in an address to the Pennsylvania Historical Society by Thomas L. Kane: "It was situated upon some finely rounded hills that encircle a favorite cool spring. On each of these a square was marked out; and the wagons as they arrived took their positions along its four sides in double rows, so as to leave a roomy street or passageway between them. The tents were disposed also in rows, at intervals between the wagons. The cattle were folded in high-fenced yards outside. The quadrangle inside was left vacant for the sake of ventilation, and the streets, covered in with leafy arbor work and kept scrupulously clean, formed a shaded cloister walk. This was the place of exercise for slowly recovering invalids, the day-home of the infants, and the evening promenade of all. From the first formation of the camp, all its inhabitants were constantly and laboriously occupied. Many of them were highly educated mechanics, and seemed only to need a day's anticipated rest to engage them at the forge, loom, or turning lathe, upon some needed chore of work. A Mormon gunsmith is the inventor of the excellent repeating rifle, that loads by slides instead of cylinders; and one of the neatest finished fire-arms I have ever seen was of this kind, wrought from scraps of old iron, and inlaid with the silver of a couple of half dollars, under a hot July sun, in a spot where the grass was above the workman's shoulders....."
Today there is a marker north of "L" Street and 60th Street in South Omaha. The spring is now diverted to an underground culvert.

Cutler's Park
Cutler's Park, named for Altheus Cutler, was located on either side of the present day Old Mormon Bridge Road south of Young Street in Omaha. It was to have been a Mormon winter quarters and was a better site than Cold Spring Camp because it could support more people and their herds of animals. It became, in 1846, Nebraska's first organized community with police and city council but was one of Nebraska's shortest lived communities. About 2000 to 2500 Mormons organized a covered wagon and tent city August 7 or 8, 1846. Theyelected a City Council of 12 members. Police and fire guards were hired at 75 cents a day for either day or night duty. A public spring was "improved."
Nebraska's first Safety Ordinance (some historians refer to it as Nebraska's first anti-pollution ordinance) was approved by popular vote in the public square. Open burning was banned. All cooking and heating fires had to be done in sod fireplaces with sod chimneys, to keep smoke and sparks out of neighbors tents and wagons. It was agreed in public vote that no buildings would be put up until 800 tons of hay were cut and stacked to feed livestock in the coming winter.
On August 27, 1846, more than 150 Indian chiefs and braves from both the Omaha and the Oto/Missouri tribes came and asked for rent for Mormon land use. Agreement that allowed staying on Indian land for two years was quickly reached with the Omaha. The Oto/Missouri, however, were outraged that the Omaha, who had fled to here only in 1845, were offered the same terms as the Oto/Missouri who had lived on this land almost since 1700 AD. The Oto threatened war against the Omaha. Failing to placate the Oto, the Saints moved east by the Missouri where the present day Florence District of Omaha now is, which was then considered refuge land to travelers. Cutler's Park began to be abandoned on September 23, 1846.Today all that remains of Cutler's Park is a marker immediately north/east of the intersection ofYoung Street and Old Mormon Bridge Road in north Omaha.

Where is Council Bluffs?: Lewis and Clark met with the Indians near where present-day Fort Calhoun, Nebraska is now located. This meeting location was called Council Bluff (no "S" on the end). Gradually the name Council Bluff(S) was used to describe the entire area on both sides of the river by traders and explorers. The town which was previoulsy called Kanevsville was renamed Council Bluffs in 1853.

Winter Quarters

Winter Quarters was the fourth and final headquarters of the Mormons in the middle Missouri Valley. Preceding it had been Grand Encampment (June 15-30, 1846), Cold Spring Camp (July 1-Aug 6, 1846), and Cutler's Park (Aug 7-Sep 26, 1846).
Winter Quarters was on the nearly level high ground overlooking the Missouri river approximately where the present day old Florence and Omaha Water Works are. Its population reached almost 5000 by March of 1847. It was abandoned in May/June 1848. Its Streets were laid out running parallel the Missouri River at a different angle than the present day Florence district. The streets were wide enough for oxen and wagon to turn around without running onto property on either side of the street. Winter Quarters was about a mile long, northwest to southeast. Hay stacks were at the south end of the city. There also may have been a large corral. Another corral was near the west edge of the city where the Florence or Mormon Park is now.There were two or three horse-powered mills in the city. An over-shot water driven mill was built at the north end of Winter Quarters, west of Brigham Young's home. A few yards southeast of the two story Brigham Young home was the civic, social, educational and religious center of the community, called the Council House. There were also a welfare store, two commercial stores, at least three blacksmith shops, several educational schools, and a dancing school with 400 pupils by December 1846.
As in Cutler's Park, this community had a city council and a police force. However, unlike Cutler's Park, by December 30, 1846 Winter Quarters had permanent buildings: there were 538 log cabins, 83 sod houses, and several dugouts in the bluffs. Thus it can justly claim to be the first fully organized city or town in Nebraska. That December census indicated 3,483 residents. Eventually, there were over 800 buildings in the town and an estimated 5000 population.
The buildings were generally of cottonwood logs averaging from 12 to 18 feet long. Roofs were usually made with willows, straw and earth (sod), about a foot thick. Most of the chimneys were built of prairie sod. Many of the cabins had no floors. A few cabins had one window with four panesof glass. Most often the opening was covered by a piece of waxed cloth. Some cabins had no windows at all or had a piece of log cut out to let in light. The cabins were chinked inside with mud to keep out the wind and cold. In some cases the chinking was not completed before winter set in. About 16 percent of the homes were "soddies" made of sod due to the lack of nearby wood. Others, especially those who arrived late in the year, had to do with dugouts in the bluffs or live in tents or stay in their wagons.
Life at Winter Quarters Under the Leadership of Brigham Young .
Thousands of men and women, many of them strangers to any kind of pioneer environment, built a city as if building for years to come, not just for one or two winters. They were not only building houses and mills and brick yards, they were building a stalwart community of men and women who were well-equipped for the tasks that were ahead. They had few problems with the Indians. There were recorded instances that hungry young Indians killed some Mormon livestock, but that was contrary to the advice of wiser and more friendly Indian chiefs. Indians often danced in front of the commercial stores for donations. Mormons fed starving Omaha children and dressed the wounds of Omahas who were attacked by Dakota Souix.
The Mormon pioneers prepared for the winter by cutting and stacking thousands of tons of prairie hay. The meat of wild game was salted down or dried. Hundreds of bushels of wild berries were gathered along the river bottoms and preserved in various forms.
The accounts of sickness at Winter Quarters are plentiful. The major causes of death was ascribed to starvation, a malaria type disease (called by them as summer disease, fever and chills or ague), tuberculosis (known to them as consumption), and scurvy (known to them as Black Leg or Black Canker), although measles, pneumonia and other diseases were also prevalent. As expected, the very young and the very old suffered most. The sexton's records indicate there were 365 people buried at the Cutler's Park and Winter Quarters cemeteries between August 1846 and May 1848. It was known, however, that there were many unmarked and unrecorded graves. The sexton's records show that in 15 of his plotted graves there were unknown burials. It is estimated that the unrecorded burials account for another 235 deaths making a total of 600 men, women, and children who lost their lives in the Winter Quarters experience.
Because many of the homes had no wooden floors, there sometimes was mud two to three inches thick in the cabin during wet weather. Sometimes their sod chimneys would not draw smoke very well and their cabins would fill with smoke. In one such case the problem was not fixed until they rebuilt the chimney from bricks brought down from the abandoned Fort Atkinson, 9 miles north. Some record that they shared their small cabins with another family leaving no room for all to lie down at once. Some slept sitting up others slept in shifts.
Though enveloped by the "wilderness", the Mormons were not engulfed by it. A civilized people, they maintained a respectable society while struggling for survival. Makeshift schools were conducted, music, dance and other cultural art forms flourished. A locally appointed police force maintained law and order and patterns of worship were regulated and localized. The Mormon pioneers were a tried and tested people who faced their share of adversity in this Winter Quarters experience. Theirs is a story of determination, courage and a great faith in their God and their Savior.Those who had not gone west to the Great Basin by the end of the treaty moved back across the riverto Kanesville in May and June 1848.
Grist Mill One of the early needs of Winter Quarters was a flour mill. On September 22, 1846, the day before the move from Cutler's Park into Winter Quarters began, the Municipal High Council decided to build a mill and appointed Brigham Young as supervisor. The mill was constructed at the north end of Winter Quarters. The creek that supplied the water power for the mill was called Turkey Creek (some refer to it as Mill Creek) which now runs through an underground culvert. Parts of that original mill still stands at the northern end of Florence and has been moved about 2 blocks southeast of the original site. Completing the mill was a matter of great urgency. There had been considerable difficulty getting flour and meal in sufficient quantities to feed the camp. A little grain had been ground at Week's Mill (25 miles distant) and the balance by the mills in Missouri, over 150 miles away. These mills made very course flour and meal. Until the mill was built the inhabitants of Winter Quarters had to grind wheat and corn with coffee and hand mills, which in many instances only cut the grain. Others pounded the grain with a pestle suspended from a spring pole. Fine material was sifted for bread and the course for hominy and cereal. There was much anxiety in completing the mill. It was the spring of 1847 before it was operating fully by waterpower from Turkey Creek. The mill, like many other projects at Winter Quarters, filled a dual purpose: to provide the necessities of life, and to provide employment for idle hands and minds. Everyone who could work wasexpected to work. The only handout they desired was the opportunity to work.
Providing for themselves and their families was a vital principle of the Mormon pioneers. Brigham Young taught, "It is never any benefit to give, out-and-out, to man or woman, money, food, clothing or anything else, if one is able and can work and earn what they need. To pursue a contrary course would ruin any community and make them idlers." That teaching of course imposed no obligation on the aged, the incapacitated, the sick, or others who were unable to work to support themselves. The efforts were always directed to making able-bodied people self-reliant and self-sufficient. The grist mill gave them that opportunity to care for themselves and for the less fortunate.

Winter Quarters Today
Today the town of Winter Quarters has long since disappeared. In 1854 the Omaha and Oto/Missouri Indians sold their lands to the U.S. Government and were assigned to reservations. That year the U.S. Government opened the Nebraska Territory to settlers. Two of the business men in Council Bluffs decided to rebuild Winter Quarters only they would name it after the adopted daughter of one of them: Florence. In January 1855 the town of Florence was formally recognized. Except for portions of the old grist mill and the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery nothing remains of the old Winter Quarters.

From Winter Quarters to the Salt Lake Valley

In early spring in 1847 the first group called the "Advanced Company" prepared to move west. By then they had determined to go to the Great Basin. They had also decided not to follow the Oregon Trail on the south side of the Platte River for two main reasons:
1-Their old enemies from Missouri were part of the Oregon Trail group which originated in Independence, St. Joseph, and St. Louis, Missouri and
2-The Mormons did not want to compete with the Oregon Trail group for grass, water, wood, and good camp sites. Therefore they traveled along the north side of the Platte River.
On April 5, 1847 they started out with 6 wagons and camped at a location near the present day location Highway 36 and 69th Street for two nights. Soon more joined them on the trail until all who were assigned to go with the Advanced Company were in one group. This occurred at the present day Fremont, Nebraska. There were 147 total with 3 women and two children. The group was composed of skilled craftsmen and workers; Road builders, carpenters, blacksmiths, hunters, brick masons, teamsters, stone cutters, farmers, etc.

111 Days to the Great Basin
It took this advanced company 111 days to cross Nebraska, Wyoming, and part of Utah. They experienced prairie fires that caused them to camp on an Island in the Platte River for protection. They saw the immense herds of buffalo on the Nebraska plains. They were appalled at the wanton destruction of buffalo and leaving the bodies to rot by others traveling the trails. They built ferries and left people to man them. They improved the trail so others coming behind would have an easier time. They designed and built a "roadometer" (odometer) to accurately count the miles traveled and installed it near present day North Platte, Nebraska. They had Pawnee Indians try to steal their stock. They were impressed with the cleanliness and general good looks of the Dakota Souix and found them to be well behaved. They experienced shortages of wood and had to use Buffalo Chips for fuel. They were concerned at times with the lack of good grass for their animals, especially in Wyoming.
Finally, on the July 24th an ill Brigham Young raised up from his sick bed in a carriage, looked over the Salt Lake Valley below, and said "This is the right place, drive on." The first day they arrived they planted many acres and diverted streams to irrigate to insure that those coming behind would have food when they arrived.

The Covered Wagon
The Mormons opted not to use the large Conestoga wagon but preferred the smaller one that required only two oxen to pull. Fortunately for them they did because the large Conestoga would not be able to go through the very narrow canyons in Utah. A family of five would be expected to load everything they needed in a small wagon. They were expected to have three yoke (3 pairs) of oxen. The wagon traveled about 2 miles an hour and everyone over six years of age walked. Many of the children and women walked barefoot to save the shoes. The wagon was used on the Mormon Trail from 1846 to 1869. In 1869 the railroad was coast to coast so the pioneers could travel to Utah by train. It was the major means of travel and except between the years 1856 to 1860 when Handcarts were use it was the only means of pioneer travel.

Handcarts
Between 1856 and 1860, ten companies of nearly 3,500 European immigrant Mormon pioneers crossed the plains by handcart. These handcarts were constructed of wood with either rawhide or light metal tires on the wheels. They weighed about 60 pounds and came in three sizes. They were sometimes hastily made and poorly constructed with unseasoned wood, necessitating many repairs along the way.
The first seven companies came by ship to Eastern ports then by train to Iowa City, Iowa, which was the western terminus of the railroad line at the time. There handcarts were purchased and the immigrants pushed and pulled them almost 1300 miles to the Salt Lake Valley. On their way they crossed the Missouri River by ferry at the site of the present-day Mormon Bridge, came to Florence, Nebraska, where they made necessary repairs and obtained supplies for their trip west. The last three companies came by train to the Missouri River, the railroad having been extended by that time. These handcarts were built in the town of Florence, Nebraska, and were much improved. They had bows with canvas covers, many beautifully painted.
For the most part this was a very successful way to travel, less expensive, three weeks faster that thetypical wagon train - except for the Willie and Martin companies that due to unforeseen delays left Florence in late August 1856. They were caught in early winter blizzards in Wyoming and before help could reach them nearly 230 had perished. Approximately only 30 died on all the other eight handcart companies combined. This was less than those experienced by the wagon trains.
The need for Handcarts was eliminated in 1860 when a new breed of mountain oxen could be used. The Mormons could build the wagons in Salt Lake City, attach mountain oxen, travel to Florence, Nebraska, pick up the immigrants, and haul them back to the Salt Lake Basin in the same summer. This was better yet and the hand cart was no longer used. Then in 1869 the railroad went all the way to Utah so the Mormon Trail was seldom used by wagons after that.

Facts about the Winter of 1846-47





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