Benjamin Andrews' Dream of the National Archives Dissolving to Blood — A Sign Over the Missouri Persecutions (1839)
Published October 4, 2026 at 4:39 AM
Contributed by
Times and Seasons Research
While the Latter-day Saints were being driven from Caldwell County, Missouri, Benjamin Andrews had a dream while at the capital of the United States. He saw a personage, described as one of the ancients of the nation, who presented him with small boxes from a bureau representing state archives. When the personage said, 'these were the archives of state,' the box dissolved into blood. Andrews then saw the words 'but it is turned to blood' on the personage's tongue as the box dissolved.
In Their Own Words
“I will now relate a dream which I had, near the time that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was driven from Caldwell county, in Missouri. In my dream, I was at the capital of the United States. All was solemn as the tomb. The silence. The senator, the sage, the honorable, the rich and poor together, all were clad in mourning. Indeed, nature herself, and all things seemed to participate in the general gloom.— All but man. In the archives of state, there was a twilight, which, with some difficulty, I approached. I found a man who had been reading in an opposite part of the room, I saw him, but felt assured within myself that it was one of the ancients of the nation. He took from the bureau two or three small boxes; and as he presented one of them to me, exclaimed, 'these were the archives of state?' and while in the sentence he had commenced, 'but it is turned to blood.' I saw while yet the words were on his tongue, the box dissolve to blood. Then I saw the words 'but it is turned to blood' on his tongue, as the box dissolved. I awoke, and behold it was a dream; but the impression was so vivid, that I could not shake it off. I have often thought of it since, and have been led to believe that it was a representation of the state of our nation, and the judgments that are to come upon it.”
— Benjamin Andrews, Times and Seasons, Vol. 5, No. 2
Sources & References
Times and Seasons (Commerce, later Nauvoo, Illinois, November 1839–February 1846), 15 January 1844 (Vol. 5, No. 2). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1844-01-15_5_2 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: Times and Seasons, 15 January 1844, Vol. 5, No. 2, p. 408 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1844-01-15_5_2
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