--- title: Times and Seasons description: Issues of 1840 to 1841. authors: - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints editors: - Ebenezer Robinson - Don Carlos Smith - Smith, Joseph, Jr. - Taylor, John collections: - periodicals tags: - newspaper - times-and-seasons - nauvoo - nineteenth-century periodical: Times and Seasons volume: 2 number: 21 published: 1841-09-01 publisher: E. Robinson and D. C. Smith; later John Taylor publisher_place: Commerce and Nauvoo, Illinois language: en type: article reference: "“The Funeral of Brig. General Smith,” *Times and Seasons* 2, no. 21 (September 1, 1841): 532–533." printed_title: The Funeral of Brig. General Smith, source: url: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1841-09-01_2_21 transcription: Text from the Centerplace.org transcription (https://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v2n21.htm), with its page breaks; this Internet Archive scan is the reference copy (its OCR was used only as a witness for OCR repair) identifier: per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1841-09-01_2_21 start_page: 532 end_page: 533 curator_note: A Mormon newspaper published by the church in Nauvoo; included for historical study. Inclusion does not imply endorsement. rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1841 (Nauvoo, Illinois); published before 1931, so public domain in the United States source: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1841-09-01_2_21 publication_year: 1841 --- # The Funeral of Brig. General Smith By Miss Eliza R. Snow. It was a Sabbath day.-The morning came, I listn'd-all was still-the music notes But came not with the usual joyousness No longer sounded on the pensive breeze, With which the consecrated day was wont, But hark! the notes awaken'd, and I saw In Nauvoo City, ever and anon, The mighty host returning with the same, To usher its broad radiance on a train Slow, melancholy tread! A herse [hearse] was borne Of humble, cheerful worshipers [worshippers]. Nature Along with solemn, yet bold martial pomp, Seem'd conscious of the mournful knell That plainly signified, a mighty one, That broke upon the sadden'd heart of man! One of no ordinary rank, had fallen! The sun arose, muffled with clouds that hid Near to the summit of an eminence His own bright beams, and in effusions soft Rising in bold relief, to dignify. And gentle, as the soothing feeling tones The beauty of the verdant plain beneath; Of sorrow, dropt [dropped] a sympathetic tear. In Nature's temple, with no other wall, At length the clouds dispers'd-the sun pour'd forth Than the horizon;land no other arch, His glorious rays in brilliant majesty; Than the broad canopy of heaven; shaded And I beheld upon the beautious [beauteous] plain With clust'ring boughs, whose foliage waves around; That fronts the noble Mississippi's wave, Is rais'd an altar to the living God. A mighty host-a pow'rful warrior band There the procession march'd-it halted there; Whose rich escutcheons glitter'd in the sun. And in front of weeping relatives, The herse [hearse] of him was placed, who there, in life I heard the sound of martial music, but Had been a fervent, constant worshipper! It came with solemn, slow and mournful air, Unlike the bold, and thrilling notes that call His arms and armor, on his coffin lay The restless warrior to the battle field! And other swords than his, lay crossing there. There was no clash of arms-no din of war- His brother officers, who form'd with him, The sword was sheath'd and every martial brow The noblest Military Staff, our fair Was mellow'd into sadness! Mounted high Columbia has to boast, were seated by Upon a fiery steed, a Chieftain sat In shining armor clad; but ah! they seem'd And issued the command; and then, anon, Divested of the martial haughtiness- In double file-in open columns form'd, That warlike pride that fires the warrior's eye- With Chieftains in the front-then horse and foot, It lay conceal'd beneath the brow of grief. In solemn order, mov'd across the wide Extended plain, the Nauvoo Legion. 'Twas The invocation and the sacred chant, A splendid sight-a sight that would have charm'd Open'd the solemn service of the day; The eye of each beholder; but alas! And then the man of God arose. In tones That grand display, was the last honors paid Of truth's impassion'd eloquence, he spoke To the departed! Of the late sad occurence[occurrence], which had touch'd In the Legion's rear, The hearts of all; and universally Still length'ning out the vast procession; walk'd Was calling forth, a "fellowship of grief" Each soldier, mourn'd a general-each saint, A crow'd of citizens of every rank- A brother-and each citizen, a friend! Of either sex; and last of all clos'd in But when he come to paint the glories of A long and glitt'ring train of carriages. The world to come; wrapt in the visions of Eternal truth; e'en grief itself, bow'd down, I gaz'd upon the grand procession, till And the vast multitude, for once, forgot It disappear'd amid the dwellings which Stand thickly cluster'd near the river's edge To weep. And then, he sweetly dwelt upon Thus clos'd the man of God.-The service done; The character of the deceas'd, without Again the great procession form'd and once A stain-his christian life, that seem'd without Again, the bearers took the silent pall A blemish-and his military course, And bore it onward to the "narrow house!" A path of honor. Tho' he had not stood Before the cannon's mouth-altho' he ne'er Then came the parting scenery that clos'd Had been in battle, front amid the rage The service of the living to the dead. Of war, and clash of arms; and altho' now, H'd fall'n according to the common course Whether the olive branch-the cypress bough Of Providence, and had not perrish'd [perished] by Or myrtle wreath, it matters not, 'twas given The sword: he was no less a patriot- As the last token of profound respect- He lov'd his country-he'd prepar'd himself, Emblem of friendship-of eternal life: By stepping high, in military rank, The Legion, one by one, deposited To do her service at her earliest call. Within the grave, a green unwither'd bough, And then the chaplain spoke of him, in the And passing onward left the trophied urn! Retir'd relations of domestic life. A voice was heard slowly pronouncing, "Earth There sat his aged, widow'd mother, whom To earth-Ashes to ashes-Dust to dust, He'd honored with most filial sanctity- Return this body to its mother earth; To whom, he'd been a constant solace in While on the coffin, fell the parted clod Those scenes of persecution and distress. Beside the grave, the Legion's playing band Which she had suffer'd for the gospel's sake. Awoke Melodia's sweetest strain. A chord While, as a brother, he had ever prov'd, Was touch'd that echoed music to the springs Firm as Giberalter's [Gibraltar's] rock-true unto death. Of life, and fell as soft upon the ear, And then he come still nearer home, and touch'd As if seraphic harpers had come down The finest fibre [fiber] of the human heart; To charm the sleeper in his lowly rest. And spoke of her, the lonely widow, of The noble fallen chieftain-the bereft The music ceas'd-Another chaplains voice Companion of his bosom, whom he'd lov'd With heavenly eloquence pour'd forth in pray'r Gith [With] faithful tenderness. Ah! who can now, To the Eternal God, responding pass'd Enter the halo of her feelings-soothe her grief From heart to heart of the vast multitude- For him who only could reciprocate The mourning concourse in the burial grove. Her bosom's sympathies? He too, had been And there, beneath Time's monument the oak; A loving and indulgent father to Whose umprage [umbrage] wav'd luxrious [luxurious] to the breeze, Her lonely, weeping babes-left fatherless! They left the shrouded buried corpse of one, To soothe the bleeding heart [heart], the speaker then Belov'd in life and honor'd in his death; Spoke of the blest reunion, that awaits Waiting the trump of God, to call it forth The faithful worshippers of the Most High. To hail its own bright spirit from the skies! City of Nauvoo, Aug. 13th, 1841.