Description
Abraham’s Dove
July 1846, on the banks of the Missouri River in Iowa Territory. President Brigham Young stood before his people in the authority of the Holy Priesthood. Standing with him was Captain James Allen of the United States Army who had come seeking volunteers from the Latter-day Saints to join the army in the war with Mexico. The men were unwilling to leave their families, let alone join up with the very government that had killed their prophet. That is until President Young is reported to have said:
“Now I want you men to go and all that can go, young or married. I will see that their families are taken care of; they shall go on as far as mine, and fare the same. . . .”
Abraham Hunsaker, 34-years-old, was one of the first to volunteer and on July 20, 1846, he marched away leaving his wife, Eliza behind to care for their six children. The oldest was only 11.
The record says:
“His family would be homeless with nothing but a covered wagon to shelter them and would have little provisions for even the barest necessities of life. He knew not how long his services might be required; he knew also that his travels would take him over many miles of uncharted territory, where hazards and dangers of every description might be lying in wait for him, making the possibility of his return very doubtful.”
Out of concern for his family, Abraham had written to Eliza’s family asking them to care for her while he was away. They wrote back refusing to take her unless she denounced the Church and her husband. They begged her to return, telling her she would want for nothing if she would come back. But Eliza would not yield.
“Nothing tempted her or shook her faith. She had complete assurance that her Heavenly Father was caring for her and that he would bring her husband safely back. She knew well the trials and hardships that awaited her, but her husband and her religion were her dearest possessions, and not for any earthly pleasure or comfort would she forsake either.”
While Eliza held true, Abraham endured the grueling rigors of the march. Family records verify the following account:
“During one of these harrowing nights, he had pictured Eliza and their six children out on the lonely prairie in a crudely built, homemade, covered wagon, perhaps even now suffering for lack of food and from the inclemencies of the weather. He recalled the sadness of their parting and Eliza’s tearful assurance that the Lord would take care of them. Then he pleaded with the Lord to protect and care for them and that he might have some sustaining assurance that all was well with them. The following morning, as the men were washing and preparing for breakfast, a dove flew into the camp, straight to Abraham, and lighted upon his head. Some of his companions called attention to the bird resting on Hunsaker’s head; It stayed there but a moment then flew back over the trail made by the Battalion the day before; it flew low directly over the line of march. Abraham watched the dove as far as the eye could see, and in his heart there was a feeling of peace, a feeling that a blessing and a promise had been sealed upon his head. The next morning as the men prepared for breakfast, the dove again appeared. This time it circled around Abraham’s head, then flew away. Some of his companions remarked, ‘There is Hunsaker’s dove,’ but no one else realized, as did Abraham, that it had come to him in answer to his prayers, bringing with it the assurance that all was well with his loved ones, that they were in God’s keeping, and that His promises never fail.”
There may be some of you who comprehend Abraham’s worry for his family. You know the fear, the anxiety, and the pain, but do you comprehend the same peace? You can!
Source: https://ia800202.us.archive.org/32/items/historyofabraham00unse/historyofabraham00unse.pdf pages 37-43 of the text.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/memories/KWCY-T47
