Miraculous Gift of Tongues - Speaking in Native American Languages Without Prior Knowledge

When a branch of the Church was newly organized in Chautauqua County, New York in 1838, the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the membership insomuch that many were healed of their infirmities, and prophesied. Some saw visions, while others spoke in different languages by the gift and power of God as on the day of Pentecost. Most remarkably, the language or dialect of various tribes of the American Indians was spoken by persons who had never spoken with an Indian in their lives. Jesse Wentworth Crosby, though initially astonished at these manifestations, later came to recognize the truth of this gift when he traveled among various tribes of Indians in the central and uncultivated parts of America and recognized not only the language itself, but the gesture and very manner in which it was spoken by the early Saints. This gift was a testimony that the American Indians are a remnant of Israel, the descendants of Joseph, and heirs to the promises made to their fathers.