KnoWhy #812 | September 9, 2025
Why Did Joseph Smith Organize Zion’s Camp?
Post contributed by
Scripture Central
For ye are the children of Israel, and of the seed of Abraham, and ye must needs be led out of bondage by power, and with a stretched-out arm. And as your fathers were led at the first, even so shall the redemption of Zion be. Doctrine and Covenants 103:17–18
The Know
In the winter of 1833, serious tensions in Jackson County, Missouri, had reached a tipping point. All the faithful Latter-day Saints who had purchased or received land there from the bishop had been forcibly driven from their homes and property, and many of the Saints had to take refuge in the neighboring Clay County while they waited to hear from both Joseph Smith and government officials who might help them return to their property.1
While the Lord had previously given the Saints a revelation offering peace and encouragement during this time (see Doctrine and Covenants 101), many questions persisted. The Saints in Missouri continued to seek redress for their wrongs as they had been previously commanded and were encouraged when Governor Daniel Dunklin of Missouri stated he “was willing to help restore the Saints to their Jackson County lands but that he would not maintain a militia to defend them indefinitely.”2 Lyman Wight and Parley P. Pratt arrived in Kirtland, relaying this news to Joseph in February 1834.
After counseling with the brethren, Joseph Smith received a revelation that clarified the situation in Missouri. In it, the Lord commanded the Church abroad to come to the aid of their brothers and sisters in Missouri. The Saints were commanded to gather five hundred men to go to Missouri to help the Saints return to their property, but the Lord recognized that “men do not always do my will.” Thus, the Lord said, “If you cannot obtain five hundred, seek diligently that peradventure you may obtain three hundred. And if ye cannot obtain three hundred, seek diligently that peradventure ye may obtain one hundred.” The Saints were commanded to do nothing until they could at least get this many (Doctrine and Covenants 103:31–34).
Joseph Smith would further lead the Saints as Moses did, with the promise to the Church, “Ye are the children of Israel, and of the seed of Abraham, and ye must needs be led out of bondage by power, and with a stretched-out arm. And as your fathers were led at the first, even so shall the redemption of Zion be. . . . Mine angels shall go up before you, and also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land” (Doctrine and Covenants 103:17–18, 20).
Routes of Zion's Camp to Missouri (Joseph's division and Hyrum's division). Image from Encyclopedia of Mormonism.
This expedition became known as the Camp of Israel, or Zion’s Camp. The group was organized to be a defensive party with the purpose of protecting the Saints in Jackson County after the Missouri militia had helped reestablish them in their homes.3 However, it was not clear to many people whether or not there would be any fighting or whether they would ever see their families again. Others left their businesses behind at a difficult time in order to respond to the Lord’s call.4 Significantly, women and children also expressed their faith as they joined Zion’s Camp.5 These members of the camp were influential, helped cook and clean, and “provided a civilizing influence on the camp.”6 Women made significant contributions in other ways: Ruth Vose, for instance, donated $150 to Zion’s Camp.7 Her donation alone was equivalent to about half of the funds that the members of Zion’s Camp had consecrated to the effort.8
When the camp initially left, it had just over a hundred members; by the time they reached Missouri, the camp consisted of “about 205 men and approximately 25 women and children”—less than half of the Lord’s requested 500 men.9 As they marched to Missouri, problems and even dissension often arose among the Saints as some individuals did not want to listen to the Prophet’s instructions. However, despite the contentions they faced, many also recognized miracles along the way.10 Some individuals such as Nathan Baldwin recalled later in life that they were led to Zion’s Camp by an audible voice of the Lord.11 At one point, George A. Smith was able to miraculously find a spring of much-needed water for the Saints.12 And, significantly, the Lord protected the members of Zion’s Camp in real, tangible ways.13
In one instance, Missourians approached Zion’s Camp at Fishing River, Missouri, and threatened to attack the members of the camp before morning. After the messengers had crossed the river to join the rest of the mob, Heber C. Kimball recalled, “A small black cloud” began “rising in the west; and not more than twenty minutes passed away before it began to rain and hail.”14 While the members of Zion’s Camp were drenched in the rain, they experienced none of the hail, and none of their tools or property were damaged beyond repair. The mob, on the other hand, experienced the full brunt of the storm, and some of its members were seriously injured or killed. During the night, the river had risen so much that even if the mob had not been scattered and many of their tools destroyed, they would have been unable to cross.15
Once Zion’s Camp arrived in Clay County, however, they were met with distressing news: Governor Dunklin had reneged on his promise and would not be sending the Missouri militia to aid the Saints.16 Zion’s Camp had neither the manpower nor the legal authority to reinstate the Saints to their homes. In a subsequent revelation, the Lord dismissed the camp saying, “it is expedient in me that mine elders should wait for a little season for the redemption of Zion” (Doctrine and Covenants 105:9). However, the reason given in the revelation for the dismissal was not the lack of support from Governor Dunklin but the lack of support from the saints generally. The Lord still accepted the offering of those who joined and supported Zion’s Camp (vv. 18–19), but more was required if Zion was going to be realized.
The Why
Many may wonder why Zion was not redeemed as Zion’s Camp had been commanded to do. According to Steven C. Harper, this can be explained as a result of the failure of the Church to live the law of consecration. The Lord had already told the Saints that “all victory and glory is brought to pass unto you through your diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith” (Doctrine and Covenants 103:36). The issue at hand was not whether Zion would be redeemed but whether the Saints would prove that they were willing to consecrate all that they had, even their own lives, to see Zion built. “Because too few Saints had chosen to live the law of consecration and respond to the Lord’s will and Joseph’s repeated invitation to send men and means, Zion had to be postponed.”17
Indeed, in section 105, “the Lord rebukes the mistaken idea that we will all enjoy Zion just as soon as someone else pays the price to bring it to pass. . . . Holy cities are never established by those who wait faithlessly for the results before deciding whether to consecrate their lives to the cause.”18 The Saints as a whole living the law of consecration may well be a significant factor in ending the “little season” today that has prevented Zion from being fully redeemed.19
However, while the Church had failed to reach the goal of five hundred men willing to consecrate their all to the Church, Zion’s Camp was filled with over two hundred men, women, and children who did consecrate their lives to God. In this and other ways, Zion’s Camp proved to be a success. Indeed, eight of the twelve members of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, organized in 1835 (the following year), had served together as faithful members of Zion’s Camp. When the Quorum of Seventy was organized that same year, all seventy members, including the seven presidents, had been members of Zion’s Camp.20
In a sermon then delivered in Kirtland, Joseph Smith taught,
God did not want you to fight. He could not organize his kingdom with twelve men to open the gospel door to the nations of the earth, and with seventy men under their direction to follow in their tracks, unless he took them from a body of men who had offered their lives, and who had made as great a sacrifice as did Abraham.21
Given that these individuals had trusted the Lord so completely that they were willing to lay down their lives, if necessary, for the cause of Zion, it is little wonder that so many members of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and of the first Quorum of Seventy were selected and ordained from this body of consecrated Latter-day Saints.
Furthermore, while a few of the members of Zion’s Camp apostatized, reportedly being unhappy that the Camp had been unable to fight, the vast majority of its members came away with stronger testimonies of the Lord’s wisdom, of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and of the restoration of the gospel and Church of Jesus Christ.22 Wilford Woodruff, for instance, later recalled in 1869 that had it not been for the experiences he had in Zion’s Camp, “I should not have been here today, and I presume that would have been the case with many others in this Territory.”23
The story of Zion’s Camp can teach modern Latter-day Saints many important lessons. Among them is the need to not hesitate living the law of consecration and following the prophet. These lessons are universally applicable. As Latter-day Saints are invited today to make sacrifices to the Lord in whatever way that may be, they may look to the members of Zion’s Camp as examples of people who were willing to give their all for the Lord and who were blessed immensely for their efforts, regardless of the short-term outcome.
Casey Paul Griffiths, Scripture Central Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, 4 vols. (Scripture Central; Cedar Fort, 2024), 3:289–98, 315–27.
Steven C. Harper, Let’s Talk About the Law of Consecration (Deseret Book, 2022), 64–71.
Matthew C. Godfrey, ed., Zion’s Camp, 1834: March of Faith (History of the Saints, 2018).
Matthew C. Godfrey, “The Acceptable Offering of Zion’s Camp,” in Revelations in Context: The Stories Behind the Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Matthew McBride and James Goldberg (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2016), 213–18.
Matthew C. Godfrey, “‘The Redemption of Zion Must Needs Come by Power’: Insights into the Camp of Israel Expedition, 1834,” BYU Studies 53, no. 4 (2014): 125–46.
Steven C. Harper, Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants: A Guided Tour Through Modern Revelations (Deseret Book, 2008), 379–81, 389–92.
David F. Boone, “Zion’s Camp: A Study in Obedience, Then and Now,” in Sperry Symposium Classics: The Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Craig K. Manscill (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004), 248–74.
Lance D. Chase, “Zion’s Camp,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow, 4 vols. (Macmillan, 1992), 4:1627–1629.
- 1. For a discussion on the Latter-day Saints’ expulsion from Jackson County, see Scripture Central, “Why Were the Latter-day Saints Driven Out of Jackson County, Missouri? (Doctrine and Covenants 101:4–5),” KnoWhy 811 (September 2, 2025).
- 2. Steven C. Harper, Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants: A Guided Tour Through Modern Revelations (Deseret Book, 2008), 379.
- 3. For general overviews of the march of Zion’s Camp at various locations, see Matthew C. Godfrey, “The Camp of Israel’s March to Missouri,” in Zion’s Camp, 1834: March of Faith, ed. Matthew C. Godfrey (History of the Saints, 2018), 33–65; Alexander L. Baugh, “The Camp of Israel in Clay County, Missouri,” in Godfrey, Zion’s Camp, 1834, 67–101; Marlene C. Kettley, Arnold K. Garr, and Craig K. Manscill, “Zion’s Camp,” in Mormon Thoroughfare: A History of the Church in Illinois, 1830–39 (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2006), 43–62.
- 4. See Godfrey, “Camp of Israel’s March,” 33–36.
- 5. For a discussion on the women and children of Zion’s Camp, see Andrea G. Radke-Moss, “‘If the Sisters Were Willing . . . They Could Go Along’: The Women and Children of Zion’s Camp, 1834,” in Godfrey, Zion’s Camp, 1834, 103–45. This is an expanded version of her paper originally found in Andrea G. Radke, “We Also Marched: The Women and Children of Zion’s Camp, 1834,” BYU Studies 39, no. 1 (2000): 147–65.
- 6. Radke-Moss, “‘If the Sisters Were Willing,’” 135.
- 7. Radke-Moss, “‘If the Sisters Were Willing,’” 112–13. Jane Clark, who marched with Zion’s Camp, also donated $50 to the cause—another great contribution and sacrifice. Matthew C. Godfrey, “‘We Believe the Hand of the Lord Is in It’: Memories of Divine Intervention in the Zion’s Camp Expedition,” BYU Studies Quarterly 56, no. 4 (2017): 111–12, also notes that the day before this money was received from Ruth Vose, Joseph had prophesied that soon Zion’s Camp would receive money it needed to reach Missouri.
- 8. Steven C. Harper, Let’s Talk About the Law of Consecration (Deseret Book, 2022), 68.
- 9. Casey Paul Griffiths, Scripture Central Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, 4 vols. (Scripture Central; Cedar Fort, 2024), 3:297.
- 10. For an in depth discussion of these miracles, see Godfrey, “‘We Believe the Hand of the Lord Is in It,’” 99–132. An abbreviated version of this paper was also published in Matthew C. Godfrey, “‘We Believe the Hand of the Lord Is in It’: Memories of Divine Intervention in the Zion’s Camp Expedition,” in Godfrey, Zion’s Camp, 1834, 147–85.
- 11. See Godfrey, “‘We Believe the Hand of the Lord Is in It,’” 110.
- 12. See Godfrey, “‘We Believe the Hand of the Lord Is in It,’”112–14.
- 13. See Godfrey, “‘We Believe the Hand of the Lord Is in It,’” 122–28, for a discussion on the various protective miracles the Saints experienced.
- 14. “Extracts from H. C. Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons 6 (February 1, 1845): 789–90; cited in Godfrey, “‘We Believe the Hand of the Lord Is in It,’” 126.
- 15. Godfrey, “‘We Believe the Hand of the Lord Is in It,’” 125–28; Baugh, “Camp of Israel in Clay County,” 71–74; Griffiths, Scripture Central Commentary, 3:295–96.
- 16. Baugh, “Camp of Israel in Clay County,” 75–77; Harper, Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants, 389; Matthew C. Godfrey, “The Acceptable Offering of Zion’s Camp,” in Revelations in Context: The Stories Behind the Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Matthew McBride and James Goldberg (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2016), 216.
- 17. Harper, Let’s Talk About the Law of Consecration, 67.
- 18. Harper, Let’s Talk About the Law of Consecration, 67, 70.
- 19. Doctrine and Covenants 105:9; see Harper, Let’s Talk About the Law of Consecration, 69.
- 20. See Godfrey, “‘We Believe the Hand of the Lord Is in It,’” 104. In note 17, Godfrey observes, “The four apostles who did not participate in Zion’s Camp were Thomas B. Marsh, William E. McLellin, and David W. Patten, all of whom were already living in Missouri, and John F. Boynton, who was preaching in Maine at the time.”
- 21. Joseph Smith, address to the elders assembled in Kirtland, in Joseph Young Sr., History of the Organization of the Seventies (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1878), 14. Joseph continued, “Now, the Lord has got his twelve and his Seventy, and there will be other quorums of Seventies called, who will make the sacrifice, and those who have not made their sacrifice and their offerings now, will make them hereafter.” See Griffiths, Scripture Central Commentary, 3:323–24, for remarks by Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff regarding this topic.
- 22. Baugh, “Camp of Israel in Clay County,” 79; Griffiths, Scripture Central Commentary, 3:319; Godfrey, “Acceptable Offering of Zion’s Camp 217.
- 23. Wilford Woodruff, “The Holy Ghost, etc.,” in Journal of Discourses, vols. (London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854–86), 13:158. Wilford also stated, “We gained an experience that we never could have gained in any other way. We had the privilege of beholding the face of the prophet, and we had the privilege of travelling a thousand miles with him, and seeing the workings of the spirit of God with him, and the revelations of Jesus Christ unto him and the fulfilment of those revelations.”