Homer Call — Miraculous Survival of the Elk Mountain Mission Attack

On September 23, 1855, during the Ute Indian uprising against the Elk Mountain Mission (located near present-day Moab, Utah), Homer Call was shot while attempting to secure the mission's cattle. The lead ball entered his back near the spine, passed through his lungs, and exited his chest near the nipple. His companions, including mission clerk Oliver B. Huntington, considered the wound fatal given the lack of medical facilities and the severity of the injury. However, after being administered to by the elders of the mission, Call not only survived the immediate trauma but was able to endure the grueling 150-mile retreat across the desert to the Manti settlements. His recovery was so complete that he lived for another 53 years, serving as a bishop and community leader. The event was widely documented in mission journals and regarded by the early Saints as a miraculous preservation of life through the power of the priesthood.