Amanda Barnes Smith: Inspiration and Healing at Haun's Mill (1838)

Amanda Barnes Smith (1809–1886) is one of the most beloved figures of early Latter-day Saint history. At the Haun's Mill massacre (October 30, 1838), her husband and a son were killed and her son Alma was shot through the hip. Left with no surgeon and no remedy, Sister Smith retired to the woods and poured out her soul to God; she later testified that the Lord, by revelation, showed her what to do. She dressed her son's wound with pounded slippery-elm-bark poultice, as the Lord directed, and Alma's hip healed—so that he walked again and lived to old age. Her experience, recorded and retold in the Church's own histories, is a faith-promoting witness that the Lord hears the prayers of a mother in the worst extremity, and that His inspiration can guide even the healing of a wounded body when no human help remains.