The Miracle of the Quail

Merrill Eugene Cook>Eliza Snow Bryson Cook>Samuel Bryson, Jr.>Samuel Cowan Bryson>Margaret Cowan Bryson

When the Saints were driven from Nauvoo, there was a group that was left behind. These were those that were too poor or too sick to make the journey. When Brigham Young realized that Hyrum Smith's widow, Mary Fielding Smith, was left behind, he sent wagons to fetch her and all her house. Our ancestor, Margaret Cowan Bryson, was working for Mary to pay back part of her passage from England. Mary had a very large household to take care of and Margaret did her best to help. She even drove one of the wagons across Iowa. But as these Saints gathered across the river from Nauvoo, knowing how hard the journey ahead was going to be and not having enough provisions, I'm sure the task seemed daunting. Then a miracle occurred.

"This miracle was vividly described by Thomas Bullock, one of the last band of refugees
from Nauvoo. Bullock was later a secretary to President Brigham Young. In a letter
written from Winter Quarters to Elder Franklin Richards published in the Millennial Star,
Bullock wrote: 

"On the 9' of October, several wagons with oxen having been sent by the Twelve to fetch the poor Saints away, were drawn up in a line on the river banks, ready to start. 

But hark! What noise is that? See the quails descend; they alight close by our little camp of twelve wagons, run past each wagon tongue, they arise, fly round the camp three times, descend, and again run the gauntlet past each wagon. See the sick knock them down with sticks, and the little children catch them alive with their hands. Some are cooked for breakfast, while my family were seated on the wagon tongues and ground, having a wash tub for a table. Behold, they come again. One descends upon our tabard, in the midst of our cups, while we were actually round the table eating our breakfast. Which a little boy about eight years old catches alive with his hands; they rise again, the flocks increase in number, seldom going seven rods from our camp,
continually flying around the camp, sometimes under the wagons, sometimes over, and even into the wagons, where the poor sick saints are lying in bed; thus having a direct manifestation from the Most High, that although we are driven by men, He has not forsaken us, but that His eyes are continually over us for good. At noon, having caught alive about 50 and killed some 50 more, the captain gave orders not to kill any more, as it was a direct manifestation and visitation from the Lord. In the afternoon hundreds were flying at a time. When our camp started at 3 p.m., there could not have been less than 500 (some say 1500) flying around camp. Thus, I am a witness to this visitation."

"Following this manifestation of divine providence, so like the miracle of the quails in the Old Testament record of the exodus from Egypt, the refugees continued their journey to Winter Quarters, with much less trouble than among those who had gone before. They arrived on the 27th of November, and Thomas Bullock records they found a city of about 700 houses, containing more than 4,000 Saints, built in less than three months."

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