Joseph Smith's Protective Covenant Over Zion's Camp - Fulfilled Promise

At the beginning of Zion's Camp in May 1834, Joseph Smith made a solemn promise to the volunteers: 'If you will go with me to Missouri and keep my counsel, I pledge that I will lead you there and back and not a hair of your head shall be hurt.' William Farrington Cahoon recorded that the camp then 'marched through a population of tens of thousands of people like lambs among wolves, but no man among them opened his mouth to say, Why do you do so?' Though the company faced cholera (which took sixteen lives among those who murmured against the Lord's counsel) and many hardships, those who kept their covenant and Joseph's counsel were protected. Cahoon testified of his own miraculous preservation through the entire journey: 'we felt to thank God for preserving our lives and bringing us together again.' This covenant protection demonstrated the Lord's care over those who followed the prophet.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

I then enlisted to go to the land of Zion in Jackson County and started with the Volunteer Company under the Prophet Joseph Smith for the delivery of the brethren who had been driven from their homes by a ruthless band of mobocrats. On May 5, 1834 the [Zion’s] camp left [for] Missouri. Joseph Smith had made this pledge to us, “If you will go with me to Missouri and keep my counsel, I pledge that I will lead you there and back and not a hair of your head shall be hurt.” This [Zion’s] camp marched through a population of tens of thousands of people like lambs among wolves, but no man among them opened his mouth to say, “Why do you do so?” On we marched singing our favorite song, “Hark listen to the Trumpeters.”