"Journal of the Branch of the Church of Christ in Pontiac,…1834": Hyrum Smith's Division of Zion's Camp

Authors

Craig K. Manscill

Keywords

Mormon studies, Hyrum Smith, Zion's Camp, ecclesiastical militia

Abstract

On April 21, 1834, Hyrum Smith and Lyman Wight set out from Kirtland, Ohio, for Pontiac, Michigan, to recruit volunteers for the march of Zion's Camp. Their objective was to lead their recruits on a six-hundred-mile march to a prearranged rendezvous with Joseph Smith's Kirtland division in Missouri. Typically, scholarly treatments of the march of Zion's Camp have focused on the accounts of the Kirtland, Ohio, legion while overlooking the Hyrum Smith-Lyman Wight division of Zion's Camp. Yet Hyrum's group, when compared with Joseph's command, demonstrated a similarly significant commitment to addressing the needs of their fellow Saints in Missouri. In addition, a study of the Smith-Wight division offers new and insightful details about the recruitment, organization, and march of this ecclesiastical militia.

Recommended Citation

Manscill, Craig K. (2000) ""Journal of the Branch of the Church of Christ in Pontiac,…1834": Hyrum Smith's Division of Zion's Camp," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 39: Iss. 1, Article 13.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol39/iss1/13