Brigham Young's Rescue of Handcart Pioneers

“It was near the midnight hour, late in the month of November, 1856. A horseman, Joseph A. Young, dismounted at the home of Governor Young. Jaded, faded, exhausted, the dumb beast sinks to the ground. Eagerly its rider mounts the steps, raps loudly upon the door, and rouses Governor Young. Briefly and hurriedly the visitor details the peril back yonder on the plains. It is a delicate situation. It is an anxious moment. Time is precious. Moments are golden. Within an hour Brigham Young has assembled a rescue party headed by William H. Kimball. ... Kimball enters. A cry, feeble, almost inarticulate, and the mother swoons. The little lad moans of the cold. The little six-year-old sister takes off her tiny red petticoat and wraps it about him. The father rolls his eyes toward the new-comer in eloquent thanks, and then his great, masterful soul goes up to God. ... That boy and girl are alive to-day, honored and respected citizens of the State of Utah, and loyal and devout members of the "Mormon" Church. On the parlor wall of the home of the boy, now a grim-visaged, silvery-haired veteran past eighty years of age, hangs the little red petticoat, a priceless heirloom in the family, bearing silent though eloquent testimony of devotion, death and duty. — Millennial Star 84:41”