“When we leave here his mind is to go just beyond the Rocky mountains.” — Council of Fifty minutes¹

The Latter-day Saints began their exodus from Nauvoo in early February 1846 by crossing the Mississippi River as Brigham Young and other Church leaders led them westward to the Rocky Mountains.² Brigham had a vision of Joseph Smith on what would later be called Ensign Peak in the Salt Lake Valley, and he knew that was the place where the Saints could safely settle³ Over a thousand sealings and endowments had been performed in the Nauvoo Temple shortly before the Saints started to leave. On February 4, 1846, the first wagons rolled out of Nauvoo, while hundreds of Saints continued to receive their endowments in the temple.⁴

1. Council of Fifty Minutes, March 1844-January 1846, josephsmithpapers.org

2. Saints, Volume 2, Chapter 1, 5, 14-15

3. George A. Smith, "Historical Discourse," Journal of Discourses 13:85, contentdm.lib.byu.edu

4. Saints, Volume 1, Chapter 46, 580-583