Joseph Smith's Vision of the Celestial State of the Cholera Victims

After the devastating cholera outbreak of late June 1834, which claimed thirteen members of Zion's Camp near Rush Creek, Missouri, Joseph Smith carried the sorrow of those deaths. In February 1835, after the camp had returned to Kirtland, he received solace regarding the victims. Speaking to Brigham Young and Joseph Young, he declared: 'I have seen those men who died of the cholera in our camp, and the Lord knows, if I get a mansion as bright as theirs, I ask no more.' This manifestation revealed that the camp members who had died had attained a glorious celestial state, reframing the tragedy as a testimony of divine acceptance.

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

On the 8th day of February, in the year of our Lord 1835, the Prophet Joseph Smith called Brigham and Joseph Young into the chamber of his residence, in Kirtland, Ohio; it being the Sabbath day. After they were seated and he had made some preliminaries, he proceeded to relate a vision to these two brethren, of the state and condition of those men who died in Zion's Camp, Missouri. He said, 'Brethren, I have seen those men who died of the cholera in our camp; and the Lord knows, if I get a mansion as bright as theirs, I ask no more.' At this relation he wept, and for some time could not speak. When he had relieved himself of his feelings, in describing the vision, he resumed the conversation, and addressed himself to Brother Brigham Young. Said he to him, 'I wish you to notify all the brethren living in the branches, within a reasonable distance from this place, to meet at a General Conference on Saturday next. I shall then and there appoint twelve special witnesses, to open the door of the gospel to foreign nations, and you,' said he (speaking to Brother Brigham), 'will be one of them.'