Description

He Will Meet You at the Sweetwater

Robert and Seviah Cunningham Egbert were married on April 1, 1846. Shortly after, they left to follow Brigham Young and the twelve to the West. It was while they were on the Missouri River that Captain James Allen of the United States Army came asking for volunteers to join the war with Mexico. At President Young’s urging, Robert volunteered and was assigned to company A. He left his new bride, Seviah, at Winter Quarters and marched away to California on July 20, 1846.

Seviah was there on the Missouri in that terrible winter of 1846-47, when so many of the saints suffered and died. She heard nothing from Robert the entire time he was gone.

The Battalion was discharged in July 1847, in Los Angeles, and the men scattered and began to make their way back to their families. When Robert did not return by the Spring of 1848, Seviah decided to go west. With help from Robert’s brother, she got outfitted and started across the plains.

As she journeyed, Seviah became very worried about Robert. Other Battalion men had returned, but where was he? Was he alive or dead? The following account comes from the family records.

Traveling along the dusty road, she was so lonely and wished so much to know where her husband was and if she would ever see him again. She became so wrought up over his absence that she cried as she drove along. All at once, she looked up and saw a man coming from the opposite direction. Very strange, she thought as there were no humans except Indians for hundreds of miles. She tried, as he drew near, to hide her face in her bonnet. The road was narrow, he could hardly turn out past the wagon for the high brush on both sides of the road. When he turned out enough to get out of the way of the horses he stopped by her wagon and inquired if she was Robert’s wife. She said yes, she supposed it was a messenger from California who had seen her husband. He said: “Here is a letter from your husband to you.” She took it and saw it was written in his own handwriting. It said he was well and would meet her at the head of Sweetwater. She looked up to thank him, but he was no where in sight. When they came to a place where they could get by, her brother-in-law Joseph, stepped up to the wagon and asked her who the man was and what he wanted. She told him about the letter and went to get it to show him, but the letter was gone and she could not find it. She rejoiced and her spirits were buoyed up and she did not cry any more.

Seviah’s company finally arrived at the Sweetwater. As they rolled in to the camping area, there were people already there. She looked hard to see if she could see Robert. Imagine her surprise when Robert walked up to her wagon and found her first.

Robert had spent the winter of 47-48 in Salt Lake and then turned east in the spring to find his family. He had expected to travel all the way to Council Bluffs, but as the emigrants rolled into his camp that night on the Sweetwater, he happened to see a team and outfit that looked strangely like his own. When he walked over to investigate, he found his dear wife, Seviah. We can only imagine the joy of their reunion.

Seviah, “told him about the letter she had received. He said he had never written her a letter as he had no way of sending one to her. They both marveled over this strange experience and declared it was one of the three Nephites who had written and gave her the letter, and the strange thing was, he actually did meet her [at the Sweetwater]. They arrived in Salt Lake Valley in the fall of 1848.”

Source: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KN34-9S3