Tarleton Lewis — Miraculous Survival at the Haun's Mill Massacre

On October 30, 1838, at Haun's Mill in Caldwell County, Missouri, Tarleton (Tarlton) Lewis was among the Latter-day Saints attacked in what became known as the Haun's Mill Massacre. During the attack—reported in some accounts as occurring while he attempted to flee the blacksmith shop where many were being slaughtered—Lewis was shot through the shoulder; witnesses variously describe the musket ball entering his shoulder and exiting through his back or otherwise passing entirely through his body. His brother, Benjamin Lewis, was mortally wounded/killed in the same attack. Tarleton's wife (or close family member) Malinda Gimlin Lewis is named in the family accounts. Despite the severity of the wound and the absence of professional medical care amid the chaotic aftermath and the subsequent forced winter exodus from Missouri, Tarleton miraculously recovered. His survival was regarded by family and early Church members as a divine preservation that enabled his later Church and pioneer service: he is reported to have served as a member of the 1847 Vanguard Company / one of the original 147 pioneers who entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, worked as a foreman on the Nauvoo Temple, served in leadership roles in the settlement of southern Utah, and is also described in some sources as the first bishop in the Salt Lake Valley.