[Heber C. Kimball diary - Zion's camp]
The destroyer came upon us [colera], as we had been warned by the servant of God. About 12 o'clock at night we began to hear the cries of those who were seized. Even those on guard fell, with their guns in their hands, to the ground, and we had to exert ourselves considerably to attend to the sick, for they were stricken down on every hand. ... We were not able to obtain lumber to make them coffins, but were under the necessity of rolling them up in their blankets and burying them in that manner; ...
Our hopes were that no more would die; but while we were uniting in prayer with uplifted hands to God, we looked at our beloved brother, Eber Wilcox, who was gasping his last. At this scene my feelings were beyond expression. Those only who witnessed it can realize anything of the extent of our sufferings; ... I felt to covenant with my God and my brethren never to commit another sin while I lived. We felt to sit and weep over our brethren, and so great was our sorrow that we could have washed them with our tears. To realize that they had traveled a thousand miles through so much fatigue to lay down their lives for their brethren increased our love for them.
... thus it continued, until five out of ten were taken away.... Brother Joseph, seeing the sufferings of his brethren, stepped forward to rebuke the destroyer, but was immediately seized with the disease, and I assisted him a short distance from the place, when it was with difficulty he could walk. All that kept our enemies from us was the fear of the destroyer which the Lord had sent among us. After burying these five brethren I was seized by the hand of the destroyer as I went into the woods to pray; I was instantly struck blind, and saw no way whereby I could free myself from the disease, only to exert myself by jumping and threshing myself about until my sight returned to me and my blood began to circulate in my veins; I started and ran some distance, and by this means, through the help of God I was enabled to extricate myself from the grasp of death.
[Whitney, Helen Mar, Jeni Broberg Holzapfel, and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, A Woman's View: Helen Mar Whitney's Reminiscences of Early Church History, Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997]
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