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Show John Joshua and Nathan Join the Army 69 This must have been a puzzling as well as a horrifying ex perience. Nathan's statement that it seemed as though the Lord took those who were most fit to go indicated that the cholera was taking away their most saintly men, rather than the most rebellious. A case in point was that of Algernon Sidney Gilbert, "keeper of the to be of the most saintly of the brethren, yet was one of the first to be stricken with the fatal disease. The nearest they could come to any reason for his punish ment was that he had been called to preach the gospel to the gentiles, but had been heard to say, "He would rather die than go forth to Lord's storehouse." preach the Gospel He was thought to the Gentiles." one Heber C. Kimball remarked that the "Lord took him at his word.':" Many years later when the scholarly Brigham H. Roberts was writing of the events connected with the cholera epidemic, he felt impelled to defend the character of Elder Gilbert, knowing him to have been one of the most saintly of men. He explained Gilbert's reluctance to preach to his naturally shy disposition, rather than anything perverse. 20 With communications being what they were, John Tanner prob ably did not know of the extreme danger to his loved ones. A total of sixty eight were stricken and thirteen died as a result of the sudden attack. The descendants of John Joshua Tanner, Nathan Tanner, and Maria Louisa Lyman, owe their earthly existence to the fact the "destroyer" passed over their ancestors on this fateful occasion and left them to fulfill their earthly missions. These young men, without much formal education, were learn in the school of hard knocks, and the lessons were coming hard ing on the heels of each other. Nathan described the burial of these his brethren and friends on a bluff a half a mile from camp, wrapped in their blankets, but without coffins as there was no lumber to make them. 21 Documentary History gives credit to those most active in taking care of the sick and burying the dead. Their names were John D. Parker, John J. Tanner, Nathan Tanner, Joseph B. Noble, Brigham Young, Joseph Young, Heber C. Kimball, Luke S. Johnson, and Eleazer Miller. Brave young men not to panic and run away and in good company. John Tanner would be proud of them when he heard. Worthy sons of a noble father. Zion's Camp was formally discharged on July 3, 1834, which released the Tanner boys to return home. But the prophet had The - |
