William Burgess - Miraculous Deliverance from Mob Capture and Abuse
Published March 25, 2026 at 3:09 AM
Contributed by
Todd Morgan
Beaumont, CA, 92223
When the Saints gathered at Adam-ondi-Ahman in Daviess County, Missouri in August 1838, the mob spirit was raging intensely. William Burgess and the other Saints endured terrible conditions for about three months: 'I didn't undress only to wash and change clothes, and no one except those that passed through it knows the tribulation and privations that we had to endure.' Burgess was taken prisoner by the mob and 'abused terribly.' However, he testified: 'But we depended on the Lord and He delivered us from them.' This miraculous deliverance from mob captivity and abuse, accomplished through dependence on the Lord during the most violent period of the Missouri persecutions, stands as testimony to divine protection during one of the most dangerous periods in early Church history.
In Their Own Words
“The mob spirit was raging and all the old settlers but two moved away in order to have their families safe while they were fighting. For about three months I didn't undress only to wash and change clothes, and no one except those that passed through it knows the tribulation and privations that we had to endure. As it was for the gospel's sake, we endured cheerfully. I was taken prisoner by the mob and abused terribly. But we depended on the Lord and He delivered us from them.”
— William Burgess, Autobiography
Sources & References
William Burgess, Autobiography in Kenneth Glyn Hales, ed. and comp., Windows: A Mormon Family (Tucson, Arizona: Skyline Printing, 1985); full text: http://earlymormonism.com/william-burgess-1822-1904/
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