The Hinman Family: Divine Protection from Stampeding Herd

During the 1848 trek to the Salt Lake Valley with Brigham Young's second company, the Hinman family and their fellow travelers faced a dangerous situation when a large herd of animals stampeded toward their wagon train. The men were instructed to hold the teams and pray, while women and children were commanded to stand on the opposite side of the wagons. Miraculously, the herd divided and passed completely around the train, with the leaders meeting again on the other side without slowing down, preventing a stampede of the pioneers' own teams.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Transcript for Rojanea Jacobs Bingham, A Brief Life Sketch of My Grandparents, Henry Lyman Hinman: The Hinman Family in America, 5-6):

In 1848 they made preparations to come to the valley with President Brigham Young's second company. This is a story that the brothers would often tell: "While crossing the plains a mighty herd of buffalo came straight toward them. The great clouds of dust, the thundering noise the trembling of the earth, as the great black wall bore swiftly down upon the, was indeed terrifying. The women and children were commanded to stand on the opposite side of their wagons from the herd; the men told to hold the teams and pray. Just a short distance away the herd divided, passing completely around the train, the leaders meeting again and continuing without lessening their speed. It took a long time for them to pass, but the teams did not stampede and their prayers were answered."