Acts of God / Intervention

Curse and Healing of Horses During Zion's Camp

Published October 27, 2026 at 7:31 PM

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Lucy Mack Smith History Research

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Curse and Healing of Horses During Zion's Camp — a documented acts of god / intervention account from the 1830s in Missouri
Joseph Smith, Jr. (1843 photograph) via Wikimedia Commons

During a journey to Missouri, members of the camp began to murmur against Joseph and Hyrum. As a consequence of this transgression, their horses became so lame they could not travel. After the men repented of their murmuring at the leaders' warning, they were able to continue their journey.

In Their Own Words

“We warned them, in the name of the Lord, to stop their murmuring; for, if they did not, the displeasure of the Almighty would be manifested in judgments in their midst. But the majority of them paid no attention to what we said, until one morning when they went out to harness up their horses, and found them all so lame as to be unable to travel. We told them that this was a curse which had come upon them because of transgression; but, if they would repent, it might be removed—if not, a greater curse would come upon them. They believed what we said, and repented of their folly. The consequence was, we were soon on our journey again. — Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Chapter XLII”

Sources & References

Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother (Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith), first published 1853, Chapter XLII. https://archive.org/details/biographicalsket0000lucy (account extracted verbatim from the book's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Image: Joseph Smith, Jr. (1843 photograph) — via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Smith,_Jr._(1843_photograph)

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Questions about this account

Who was involved in this account?
The account involves Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Zion's Camp members. Each person named here also has a witness page collecting the other accounts involving them.
When did this account take place?
The account is set in 1834, in the 1830s.
Where did this account take place?
It took place in Missouri.
What kind of miracle is this?
It is filed as a Acts of God / Intervention account reported in United States.
Where does this account come from?
Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother (Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith), first published 1853, Chapter XLII. The full source citation appears in the Sources section below, with links to the original where available.

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