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Show 145 Sheppard" by the members of the expedition. Sheppard was known for entertaining his friends with t a l e s of h i s p a r t i c i p a t i o n in the War of 1812.2 5 Thomas Durham, a recent English immigrant, was r e c r u i t e d from Parowan. Durham had received a liberal education in the f i e l d of music in England and was known in Iron County 26 as "Professor Durham." At l e a s t two members of Dame's company were not members of the church.27 These southern Utah men obviously had sympathies or i n t e r e s t s in common with their Mormon neighbors. Many of the men, e s p e c i a l l y those from Cedar City, have been implicated in the Mountain Meadows a f f a i r , and, undoubtedly, many were involved. Whether t h i s was an i n c e n t i v e t o volunteer for the desert mission is unknown, but i t s t r i k e s one as a p o s s i b i l i t y. As the brethren were assembled a t Iron Springs, they were v i s i t e d by some of the local church a u t h o r i t i e s who wished t o send them off with t h e i r blessings and their advice. On the evening of Saturday the 24th, President Isaac C. Haight and his two counselors, John M. Higbee and Joel White, came into camp and preached to the men, "exhorting them t o be united and s u s t a i n our president and prophesied that in so doing we should be blessed. On the following day, the remainder of the men and wagons arrived in camp with the exception of Samuel Hamilton of Cedar City and s i x of the Parowan men. It was time t o organize the expedition. Martineau r e c a l l e d in I89O t h a t he could "not remember a company b e t t e r organized": There were s i x t y men, twenty wagons each drawn by two horses or mules, and with each wagon an e x t r a horse, saddle and b r i d l e . Two of each mess rode in the wagon, the t h i r d r i d i n g the odd horse. Thus each driver always bad a man t o a s s i s t in case of need, while the horsemen, twenty in number, served as front or r e a r guard, explored the passes ahead, hunted water or g r a s s , and performed a l l kinds of detached s e r v i c e. Each |
