Divine Light Guiding Wilford Woodruff and His Companions Through a Storm
Published October 4, 2026 at 9:24 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
In 1835, during a dark, stormy night in the woods of Tennessee, Wilford Woodruff and his missionary companions—including Benjamin L. Clapp, Daniel Thomas, and Henry Thomas—became lost while traveling toward a meeting. After leaving Henry Thomas’s house and visiting Benjamin L. Clapp in Callaway County, they encountered rain, wind, swollen streams, and fallen trees while trying to find their way. A bright light surrounded them, revealing that they were near a precipitous bluff and a deep gulf. The light guided them until they reached a house, then disappeared.
In Their Own Words
“Nov 15th. We left the house of brother Henry Thomas in the morning, and rode through the rain and mud to the house of brother Benjamin L. Clapp, in Callaway county. We spent the day in conversation, and in the evening we started to go to a meeting, but we were lost in the thick woods, amidst the rain, wind, creeks, and fallen tree-tops. We crossed streams nearly twenty times. I was reminded of Paul’s perils by water; but the Lord was merciful unto us in the midst of our troubles, for while we were groping in the dark, running the risk of killing both ourselves and horses by riding off some precipitous bluff, a bright light shone round about us, and revealed our perilous situation, as we were upon the edge of a deep gulf. The light continued with us until we found a house, and the right road; then the light disappeared, and we were enabled to reach the house of brother Henry Thomas, at nine o’clock, all safe, having rode twenty miles, five hours in the storm, and we felt to thank the Lord for our preservation.”
— Wilford Woodruff, journal entry dated November 15, 1835
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, 25 February 1897 (Vol. 59, No. 8). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1897-02-25_59_8 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Leaves from My Journal, Chapter 4 (full first-person account; publication details incomplete in supplied record) The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, 15 April 1865 (Vol. 27, No. 15). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1865-04-15_27_15 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (full first-person account; publication details incomplete in supplied record)
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