| Notes |
- Name: Return J Redden Captain: B. Young Arrival Date: 24 Jul 1847 Pioneer Companies
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Return Jackson Redden a Valuable Scout
Added by micky_o on 15 May 2008
Return Jackson Redden a Valuable Scout
A valuable scout along the pioneer route was Return Jackson Redden for he was a fearless man, a good hunter, and capable of assisting in any of the advance work on the trail. He was the son of George Grant Redden and Adelina Higley. Born September 26, 1817 in Hiram, Portage county, Ohio he went to work when still a young lad selling wooden clocks, then new on the market and doing menial jobs on a Mississippi River boat as a means of making a livelihood. Through the preachings of the Mormon Elders in that vicinity he became interested in the newly found religion and shortly afterwards was baptized a Mormon in the Ohio River. Laura Traske became his wife and two children were born to them, a daughter and a son. Soon after the birth of the latter the mother and infant both passed away. Mr. Redden then married Martha Whiting. She died at Winter Quarters where he had moved his family following the migrations and expulsions of the Latter-day Saint Church to that point.
Return Jackson Redden was closely associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith while living in Nauvoo, serving as one of his body guards. When the final decision was made as to whom should accompany President Young's westward vanguard, men of such adventuresome and experienced caliber as Mr. Redden were among the first called. In passing through Uinta county, Wyoming en route to Utah, Return Jackson Redden discovered a curious cave which seemed to be a place where trappers or traders were in the habit of caching their belongings. The cave was called Redden Cave for some time in his honor. It is now known as Cache Cave.
After Mr. Redden's arrival he assisted in planting crops and then returned to Winter Quarters with President Young. The following spring he came again to Utah bringing with him his family. The next year he accompanied Apostle Amasa M. Lyman to California, and returning by way of Carson Valley lived there two years. He established a home for his family in Grantsville but about 1864 sold his possessions and started for the Bear River country. Heber C. Kimball advised him not to go there, so he went to Coalville, Summit County and homesteaded 160 acres of land. He also owned and operated a coal mine. In 1871 he moved to Hoytsville where he assisted in constructing many of the early buildings and serving in several civic enterprises. Mr. Redden lived successively in Tooele and Summit counties serving as Justice of the Peace in both places. He was a member of the 35th Quorum of Seventies at the time of his death in Hoytsville, Summit County, Utah August 30, 1891. —Irene Redden
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Salt Lake County, Utah Civil and Criminal Case Files, 1852-1887 about Jackson Redden
Name: Jackson Redden
Plaintiff or Defendant: D
Case Type: DEBT
Filing Date: 4 Apr 1854
Opposing Party: Wilsher
Reel: 2
Box/Folder Number: 02/005
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Return Jackson Redden - April 12, 1847 - Mormon Trail
Added by micky_o on 15 May 2008
Platte River Earns Place in History As Mormon Trail After Saints' Trek Harold Schindler Published:04/12/1997 Category:Nation-World Page:A2
Editor's Note: To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Mormon Trail, The Salt Lake Tribune is offering this day-by-day account of the Mormon pioneers' original trek from Winter Quarters, Nebraska, to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Tribune history writer Harold Schindler, using diaries, letters, journals and reminiscences that have come to light this century, has fleshed out the following narrative.
Monday, April 12, 1847
The night guard called the main body of pioneers out at daybreak to begin moving the camp to the banks of the Platte River. At the same time, Brigham Young and members of the Council of Twelve Apostles headed back to Winter Quarters where they hoped to meet John Taylor on his return from a church mission to England. They reached the Nebraska settlement toward evening. After some general discussion regarding church affairs and assorted observations about provisioning the wagon trains, Young pointed to Thomas Bullock and said, "I want him to go with the pioneers, to keep a history of the Camp of Israel and to come back in the fall."
Even as he spoke, the main body of pioneers with its sixty-nine wagons trudged across a dozen miles of sandy bottomlands to the Platte before spring runoff on the Elkhorn from the Loup River rose and made the road too muddy to travel. Howard Egan made note, "We went on and encamped on the banks of the Platte River, the width of which much surprised me, it being larger than I had anticipated." It is Egan's way of acknowledging a frontier maxim about the Platte: It is miles wide and inches deep. But the name explains it all. Platte is French for flat, shallow or broad.
The plan is to make camp and stay put until Young and the apostles join them; but Stephen Markham has instructions. A few men familiar with the proposed route to the Great Basin are to move out ahead and act as scouts. James Case, Return Jackson Redden and two others prepare to start in the morning for that purpose.
The trail north of the Platte has been long established. Blazed by John Jacob Astor's fur parties of 1812, William H. Ashley's men of a decade later, and Presbyterian missionaries of 1835, the Platte River "road" has been well traveled. But it is when Brigham Young takes his "saints" on it, that the trace becomes, once and forever, the Mormon Trail.
The thin sheet of water coursing over silt and sand gives the Platte a dominant umber shade; through the years some will describe it as a river of gold, others, "a moving mass of pure sand."
In Los Angeles, Company C of the Mormon Battalion takes up the line of march today for Cajon Pass and outpost duty. Before departing, however, Colonel Richard B. Mason, a veteran officer of the 1st Dragoons, recognizes the battalion's proficiency in military tactics while in garrison. He praises the Mormons for excelling any volunteers he had ever seen in performing the Manual of Arms.
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Porter Rockwell and Return Jackson Redden
Added by micky_o on 15 May 2008
In the three months since the Smith killings, the anti-Mormons had remained reasonably subdued, waiting to judge the response of the Saints. When the Mormons failed to abandon Nauvoo, the "anti's" sought to hasten the process. Soon there came reports of "wolf hunts" and house-burnings by roving marauders out to intimidate Mormon settlers. Young ordered out the Nauvoo Legion, and the Illinois Legislature responded by revoking the precious Nauvoo Charter, thus dismantling the Legion and voiding the right by municipal courts to issue habeas corpus writs. In a single stroke, the Legislature had emasculated the Mormons.
By mid-May 1845, members of the Carthage mob were brought to trial, and one of the key witnesses for the defense was Lt. Worrell, who had charge of the militia's guard detachment the day of the assassinations. Worrell refused to answer whether rifles carried by the Greys that day had been loaded with blanks. After a dozen days of testimony, the defendants were acquitted. Soon after, the house-burners stepped up their terror and night-riding became a popular pastime as Mormon battled anti-Mormon. A Mormon-elected county sheriff, Jacob Backenstos, set out to capture the marauders, until he himself became their target.
On one occasion, a small party of riders began chasing Backenstos on the road to Warsaw. The sheriff whipped his carriage to a nearby railroad siding where several Saints were watering their horses. Recognizing two of them as Porter Rockwell and Return Jackson Redden, Backenstos sputtered his predicament and quickly deputized the men. "Don't worry," Rockwell said, "we've got our pistols and two rifles." Backenstos shouted to his pursuers to halt as they came galloping on. Rockwell took a bead on the lead rider, who, it later was said, was reaching for a pistol. A slug from Rockwell's rifle took him just above the belt buckle and fairly catapulted him from the saddle. Frank Worrell died before his companions could get him to Warsaw. Backenstos and Rockwell later would be tried for the shooting. Both were acquitted.
The house-burnings increased to the point of leaving an ashen trail of Mormon homes from one end of Hancock County to the other, until Governor Ford stepped in to negotiate a truce. The Mormons promised to abandon the county by the next spring. So began the expulsion of the church from the City of Joseph in February 1846. Work to complete the temple was a top priority and droves of church members were receiving their endowments in ceremonies around the clock.
Mormons sacrificed their homes for hard cash. Some, like John D. Lee, who refused to be stampeded, turned down absurdly low offers. But, ultimately, he was a loser. His home of twenty-seven rooms, which cost $8,000 to build (and which would have been worth $50,000 in Salt Lake City), was turned over to a church committee to be sold to help the poor join the westward trek. "I was afterwards informed they had sold the house for $12.50!"
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Woodruff Fly-Fishes the Bear River; An Ill Brigham Young Stays Behind Harold Schindler Published:07/12/1997 Category:Nation-World Page:A2
Editor's Note: To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Mormon Trail, The Salt Lake Tribune is offering this day-by-day account of the Mormon Pioneers' original trek from Winter Quarters, Nebraska, to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Tribune history writer Harold Schindler, using diaries, letters, journals and reminiscences that have come to light this century, has fleshed out the following narrative.
July 12, 1847
While the Camp of Israel was preparing to move this morning, Wilford Woodruff saddled his horse and rode three miles to the Bear River; he looked out over the Bear River Valley with anticipation. There was considerable grass in the valley and some timber and thick bushes on the banks of the river. Instead of turning back to join the pioneers, Woodruff dismounted and unwrapped a small thin bundle he carried with him. As his horse grazed on the sweet bunch grass, Woodruff deftly assembled the fourteen-foot cane fishing rod he had purchased nearly two years before in Liverpool.
He opened a wallet of artificial flies and selected a half-dozen, which he fastened two feet apart on the line. Woodruff stood for a moment, contemplating the current and eddies of the deep channel in front of him. He lifted the rod and, in a single easy motion, cast the line upstream and watched as the feathered artificial flies dappled the surface: "My object in visiting the river before the camp was to try my luck in ketching trout as it was a stream famed for containing that kind of fish. The morning was cloudy and cool. I found it a difficult stream to fish in with the fly in consequence of the thick underbrush. I fished for several hours and had all sorts of luck, good bad and indifferent.
"I some of the time would fish a half an hour and could not start a fish. Then I would find an eddy with three or four trout in it and they would jump at the hooks as though there was a bushel of trout in the hole. And in one instance, I caught two at a time. I fished some of the time on horseback riding in the middle of the stream which was about three rods [fifty feet] wide and when I could not descend any longer in the stream for swift and deep water, I would have to plunge my horse through the bear thickets...hard work...I knew not at what moment I would have a grizzly bear on my back or an Indian arrow in my side, for I was in danger of both...I finally wound up my fishing and started after the camp having caught [several speckled] trout in all."
Woodruff caught up with the wagon train about noon as the pioneers rested their teams "a little east of a pudding stone formation" (the Needles), as Orson Pratt described it. The camp had crossed Bear River (a dozen miles or so southwest of Evanston) and followed Coyote Creek to the Needles. Here Brigham Young was taken sick, so sick that he chose to stay behind. A.P. Rockwood had been stricken for several days and, in fact, had been left "quite deranged" by fever. Many historians and scholars have for years thought that Young and others in camp suffered from Rocky Mountain spotted fever. But it is conceivable, even likely, that they were taken with a high-altitude malaria carried by anopheles mosquitoes from infected animals. Heber C. Kimball, Ezra T. Benson, and Brigham's brother Lorenzo Dow Young with their six wagons elected to stay behind with him.
The rest of the camp moved on, following Coyote Creek to where it empties into Yellow Creek. They crossed and made camp five miles farther, just in sight of a cave that Return Jackson Redden scouted that morning. It bore signs of having been used as a camp; the pioneers had been told trappers frequently used it as a cache. And it was home to numerous swallows. They dubbed it Redden's Cave, but today it is known as Cache Cave. Hunters brought in ten antelope and the pioneers unhitched teams to browse. The valley featured excellent spring water and deep black soil from which sprang tender, sweet grass. The pioneers named it Mathews Vale, for Joseph Mathews. Woodruff, a notoriously poor speller, called it "Mallers Valley" in his journal.
In the Platte River Valley this day, John Smith, with the second Mormon emigration, sat down to a breakfast of buffalo meat. "The first we ever tasted. It was excellent."
UTAH CHAPTERS The Land American Indians Trappers, Traders, & Explorers Pioneers & Cowboys Mining & Railroads Statehood & the Progressive EraFrom War to War Utah Today
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Return Jackson Redden - Mormon Trail - April 25, 1847
Added by micky_o on 15 May 2008
With Plenty of Game But Few Horses, Pioneers Designate Hunting Teams Harold Schindler Published:04/25/1997 Category:Nation-World Page:A2
Editor's Note: To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Mormon Trail, The Salt Lake Tribune is offering this day-by-day account of the Mormon Pioneers' original trek from Winter Quarters, Nebraska, to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Tribune history writer Harold Schindler, using diaries, letters, journals and reminiscences that have come to light this century, has fleshed out the following narrative.
April 25, 1847
The Sabbath dawned with a stillness broken only by the sound of wild geese flying past the Camp of Israel and the gentle clang of cowbells from the grazing herd...and, of course, the bugle call awakening all to the duties of the day. Because it was Sunday and the rules of the camp forbade fishing or hunting, except such as was absolutely necessary, the pioneers generally engaged in church meetings.
Shortly after breakfast, four antelope appeared on the plain on the opposite side of the Loup River. "We could see them plainly with the naked eye, but far more clearly through binoculars," mused Wilford Woodruff. "They were the first antelope I ever saw." A few hours later, "Four elk showed themselves on the opposite side of the river. They're also the first elk I've ever seen."
In the evening, Brigham Young brought up the subject of hunting and the fact that only eight horses in the company were not used in wagon teams. He suggested that a party of eight be named to hunt buffalo and other game on horseback for the camp, and eleven men to hunt on foot. Selected to the buffalo-hunting party were Porter Rockwell, Tom Brown, Joseph Mathews, Amasa Lyman, Wilford Woodruff, Tom Woolsey, John Brown and John S. Higbee. The "foot hunters" were Phineas H. Young, Tarlton Lewis, John Pack, Joseph Hancock, Edmund Ellsworth, Roswell Stevens, Edson Whipple, Barnabas L. Adams, Benjamin F. Stewart, Return Jackson Redden and Eric Glines.
The purpose in naming hunting parties came about because game was becoming plentiful and Young believed in killing only what was needed in camp. By having specific hunters, promiscuous shooting was eliminated. Now that the pioneers had--traveled the trail for more than two weeks,they had become quite adept at setting up camp and turning it into a bustling village every night. The Camp of Israel--comprised men of all trades and practices, far more capable than the wagon companies of the year before and considerably more versatile than any of the hundreds of emigrant companies that followed in the next two decades.
The Mormon leaders had selected wisely and carefully from among their members to find a group to blaze a wagon road to the Great Basin and build up the new country. There were sailors and soldiers, accountants and students, intellectuals, bricklayers, carpenters, blacksmiths, astronomers, mathematicians, writers, teachers, wagon-makers, lumbermen, dairymen, farmers, stock-raisers, engineers, millers and mechanics of all kinds. They would be the cadre force of Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, the sinew, brains and spirit at the crossroads of the West.
Day 4. Another day, another minor injury on the sesquicentennial Mormon Trail Wagon Train. A woman hurt her arm Thursday when she lost her balance and fell out of a moving wagon, said wagon-train leader Leon Wilkinson. The woman, whose name was not known, was taken to a hospital for X-rays but was not seriously injured. "It embarrassed her more than anything else," Wilkinson said.
Under chilly but clear skies, the wagon train arrived Thursday afternoon in North Bend, on the Platte River nearly sixty miles west of Omaha, Nebraska. The scheduled campsite was flooded, so the group stayed about three miles away in a private pasture adjacent to a golf course, Wilkinson said. Joseph Johnstun of Salt Lake City rode the thirteen miles in a covered wagon while recovering from muscle spasms in his left ankle. He planned to rejoin the walkers today. "I talked to a lot of the walkers, and they're not as sore anymore," Johnstun said. "They're getting the hang of it."
The massive first-day herd of 250 walkers and handcart pullers has dwindled to about seventy people, Johnstun said. Many of the first-day walkers were tourists; most of the remaining walkers plan to go all the way to Utah. "The walkers are getting quite cohesive now," he said. "We're having dinner and breakfast together and we're talking about doing lunch."
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Return Jackson Redden - An Indian Scare
Added by micky_o on 15 May 2008
An Indian Scare Harold Schindler Published:04/14/1997 Category:Nation-World Page:A2
Editor's Note: To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Mormon Trail, The Salt Lake Tribune is offering this day-by-day account of the Mormon pioneers' original trek from Winter Quarters, Nebraska, to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Tribune history writer Harold Schindler, using diaries, letters, journals and reminiscences that have come to light this century, has fleshed out the following narrative.
Wednesday, April 14, 1847
The day began with an Indian scare. A slight rain fell in the early part of the morning, and Thomas Bullock, who had left Winter Quarters last evening, was yoking his oxen to a wagon as he prepared to join the main camp. He was startled by four Omaha Indians charging down on him. Brandishing coup sticks covered with turkey feathers, the four came "hallowing and yelling like savages, which so frightened my cattle that they broke away from the wagon tongue and ran as if mad two or three miles in the direction of Winter Quarters," Bullock said.
"I after them at full rate, succeeded in heading and turning them back after the loss of about another hour. Meanwhile one Omaha drew his bow and arrow threatening to shoot one of my oxen, and another showed his gun," Bullock recounted.
"We had to allay their excitement by giving them our bread. But they were not satisfied with that, and demanded more to take with them. After that was given them one had the boldness to come to my wagon and attempt to take the front of my wagon cover to make him a head dress. I repelled him and he went away in anger."
"We then hitched up and started on our journey. About an hour later we had a very pleasant light rain." Bullock added.
After some little distance, Bullock's wagons crossed Little Papillion Creek and reached the Big Papillion a few hours later intending to pitch camp for the night. But Albert P. Rockwood and Lorenzo D. Young arrived soon after in the "boat wagon" (a leather boat pulled along on wheels) so Bullock again hitched up and followed them to the crossing in the timbers where others were camped.
About 6 p.m., Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Ezra T. Benson, who had left Winter Quarters early in the afternoon, rolled by. They continued up the Elkhorn for several miles before halting, but left signal fires to guide Bullock's wagons to their camp.
Return Jackson Redden, John S. Higbee and four or five others had taken a seine and tried their luck on the Platte. They came into camp this evening with two dozen or more fish. Two of Howard Egan's horses strayed and he borrowed Redden's mount to go search for them. He caught one near the Elkhorn, but lost the other.
Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, Amasa M. Lyman, George A. Smith, Erastus Snow and others left Winter Quarters and took an Indian trail across the prairie to the Elkhorn. They crossed on a raft and camped for the night two miles below the ferry.
With their arrival, the last of those who would journey with the pioneer company have left Winter Quarters. The last goodbyes have been spoken and the heartache of separation begun. In the next day or so they would strike out for the land beyond the Rocky Mountains. Brigham Young had prepared well. They had maps, published accounts by John C. Fremont and all nuggets of personal information on the terrain ahead they could glean from Eastern newspapers and correspondence.
UTAH CHAPTERS The Land American Indians Trappers, Traders, & Explorers Pioneers & Cowboys Mining & Railroads Statehood & the Progressive
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1817 - 1891 (73 years)
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