Mormon Exodus Across Iowa

In February 1846, the Saints fled Nauvoo. They crossed the frozen Mississippi, chased by mobs and fire. Wagons and pushcarts rolled into Iowa’s cold wind. The land was a swamp of mud and misery. Wheels sank. Oxen faltered. Children cried. Food ran out. And graves multiplied.

Still, they moved. They built bridges, cut trails, buried their dead and sang. Faith kept the wheels turning.

By summer they reached Council Bluffs. Behind them—Garden Grove, Mount Pisgah, Locust Creek. Ahead, the unknown. Iowa had tested them and found them unbroken.