it was agreed that
these gentlemen should proceed to Hancock County in all haste with
whatever force had been raised, and put an end to these disorders.
It was also agreed that they should unite their influence with mine
to induce the Mormons to leave the State. The twelve apostles had
now become satisfied that the Mormons could not remain, or, if they
did, that the leaders would be compelled to abandon the sway
they exercised over them. Through the intervention of General
Hardin, acting on instructions from me, an agreement was made
between the hostile parties for the voluntary removal of the greater
part of the Mormons across the Mississippi in the spring of 1846."

Of the advisors of the Governor in the adjustment mentioned, Douglas
and McDougall were at a later day distinguished Senators, respectively
from Illinois and California, and Hardin was killed while gallantly
leading his regiment at the battle of Buena Vista.

To the peaceable accomplishment of the purposes mentioned, a small
force under a competent officer was stationed for a time in Hancock
County. The Governor justly felicitates himself that thereby "the
greater part of the Military Tract was saved from the horrors of
civil war in the winter time, when much misery would have followed
by the dispersion of families and the destruction of property."

The Mormon exodus from Illinois, once the "land of promise," now
began in terrible earnest. Many farms and homes and large quantities
of personal effects were hastily disposed of at a great sacrifice.
The speeding was far different from the welcome but a few years
before so heartily extended to the incoming "saints." The "Holy
City" and sacred temple soon to be destroyed were abandoned for
perilous journeyings in the wilderness. The chapter that
immediately follows in the history of this people is indeed pathetic.
The terrible sufferings of the aged and infirm, of helpless women
and children, as the shadows of the long night of winter gathered about
them on their journey, can never be adequately told. But, inspired
with the thought that they were the Israel of God, that Brigham
Young was their divinely appointed leader, that the pillar of cloud
by day and of fire by night ever went before them on their journeyings,
they patiently endured all dangers and hardships.

High upon the western slope of the Wasatch hard by the old wagon
trail which led down into the valley stands a huge rock around
whose b