Clues to the Crossing

As discussed in my last post, our August event near Nauvoo, Illinois will include finding the crossing of Alma and his army as recorded in Alma chapter 2.
In order for the search of this crossing to be successful, there are certain elements that must be studied to understand where this spot exists. The first clue is the Robert E. Lee survey.

Traveling up and down the Mississippi River was pretty common by the early 1800’s but crossing it was a bit dangerous. There is a place along this river called the Des Moines Rapids that lies between Nauvoo, Illinois and Keokuk, Iowa. The Des Moines Rapids limited steamboat passage because of the “dangerous, sharp, rocky bottom” as noted by Swedish novelist, Fredrika Bremer, who in 1850, was taking a trip down the Mississippi from St. Paul.   Gate City Newspaper

In 1937, a group of Army Corps of Engineers led by Robert E. Lee (the same Robert E. Lee who was the confederate general in the War Between the States) was a cartographer which most people did not know. Robert E. Lee and his group took a survey intending to cut a channel through the rapids, but after three months of trying along with budget cuts, the project was canceled. Nauvoo The Beautiful

The Army Corps of Engineers did another survey of the same Des Moines rapids in 1866, just after the War Between the States.  This time Lieutenant Colonel James H. Wilson was in charge of  making this survey. Colonel Wilson's survey was even more extensive than Lee's with more information.

 The Heartland Research Group realized Robert E. Lee’s original survey matched up with the description in the Book of Mormon of the River Sidon that helped pin point an approximate location from over a 2,000 mile distance of the river down to a few acres. Lee’s survey marks the point on a chart that shows where the flow of the river's water at harvest time would have been sufficiently low so as to allow an ancient army to cross the large river.

The second clue to the whereabouts of this crossing has to do with the river’s first and biggest dam built in Keokuk, Iowa in 1913. The town of Keokuk was named after the famed chief of the Sauk tribe who met with Joseph Smith back in 1841 in Nauvoo but that is a story for another time.

What is interesting about the dam in Keokuk, is that all water flowing down the river has to pass through the dam each day and there is no water being stored as in other hydro power projects. That’s a lot of water passing through so it could be that all the evidence of that army crossing was washed away. Reportedly, the Keokuk Dam pond is filling with sediment due to slowing of the river in that area which would make searching for Alma’s army crossing location more difficult because if may be covered in sediment. The more we study this area, the more difficult the finding of this location sounds.

In the late 19^th century, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employed as many as 1,000 workers to build the Des Moines Rapids Canal near the dam. In that project, they blasted as much as a million tons of limestone rock on the west bank. The obvious question is what will be the effects of this blasting on finding the immediate area that is associated with the Battle of Zarahemla.

Another clue we need to study is the trail of the Mississippi River. The Des Moines River flows into the Mississippi River just below Keokuk, Iowa.  For approximately 25 miles before this river reaches the Mississippi River, it had served as a state boundary line between Iowa and Missouri. If we looked at a map from early 1800, we would see the meandering of the river trail. But now this boundary does not follow the current Des Moines river channel because it has migrated from its early 1800s path, albeit a few hundred feet in one way or the other. In some places it is the same with the Mississippi River. Over the years it has changed its course somewhat through meandering which increases the challenge to those searching for the crossing place of the Nephite and Amalicite armies. With the study of the river, we have found however, that the geologic structure of the Des Moines Rapids area has restricted channel meandering.

With these clues and many others put together by historians, engineers and scientists, we believe we will be successful in finding the crossing that will lead to even more clues to the city of Zarahemla’s location.

"In God Is Our Trust"-- Volume 5 of the Free Men and Dreamers series--

A wonderful new book has hit the scene by an author friend of mine--L.C. Lewis (aka. Laurie Lewis). Lewis, who has been working on this American historical series Free Men and Dreamers since 2003 now finished her last book called  "In God Is Our Trust".  


     L.C. Lewis writes:  After five years of research and rewrites, the result is the historical fiction series called 
Free Men and Dreamers-- DARK SKY AT DAWN, (2007); 
                                         TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING, (2008); 
                                         DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT, (2009); 
                                         OH, SAY CAN YOU SEE? (2010); 
                                          IN GOD IS OUR TRUST, (2011). 

The Founding Fathers' vision of "One Nation Under God" was not left to chance. 

But what if yours was the generation tasked with forging that nation?    

And forced to defend her once again. .  

    Just before the heavens were about to open. . .

   And a new dispensation was about to begin?    

These were the challenges facing a choice generation.

They were. . . FREE MEN AND DREAMERS

I have already read Oh, Say Can You See and Dark Sky At Dawn, which is a little backwards but the stories are all great and I have learned so much about American history that I never knew--it is amazing.


Click here to order and read more about FREE MEN & DREAMERS


Here is an interview with Laurie:
What made you decide to write a historical novel set in a war period? 
Two of our sons were at EFY (Especially For Youth church youth conference) in Willamsburg, Virginia in 1997 and I became so intrigued and awed by the richness of our colonial heritage that I began reading about the life and lifestyles of early America. Originally, I set the manuscript forward from where it now is because the scope of events in the early nineteenth century was overwhelming to me, and when I was asked to expand the manuscript, I didn't know if I was up to the task. After 9/11, I began to better understand the inter-relationship between God and liberty, and I revisted the project. A US Park Service employee led me to a book about the War of 1812's impact on Maryland. I couldn't resist the temptation to illustrate the history in my own backyard and to further research these amazing Americans who had captivated my interest for over a decade and who set the stage for the Restoration.

Which historical figure stands out to you? 
Oh, without question it would be George Washington. He always looked so stern to me in those classroom prints growing up, but after reading about his personal life and his struggle to serve his country despite his intense desire for a private life, I have come to really respect and love him, and more importantly, I am so grateful to him. He was so revered that he could easily have set himself up as a king figure, but he was such a spiritual man that he understood that there was a divine plan for this nation.

How has your research changed you? 
In so many ways. First, I relate everything to history now and my family gets pretty tired of that, I can tell you! But I hope I've learned one important lesson that crosses all time periods and situations, and it is that we must judge or evaluate a person's life based on the times in which they lived. If we try to measure them using hindsight and the values of another period, we may fail to see that they were a giant in their own time.

Which character in Dark Sky at Dawn most reflects you? 
I don't know how it is for all authors, but when I write, each character reflects a little piece of me, or a sliver of my life experience at one time or another, albeit even as an observer. In this way I feel personally engaged in the conversations and thoughts, and hopefully, I can create a more vivid character and story for the reader.

Are you saying that Hannah's spiritual struggles are a reflection of your personal experiences?
Yes, in some ways. Our family went through a very trying period when we were living on prayer and faith. There were lots of days when life seemed so hard and heavy. We carried on with our lives, but often, as soon as the house emptied, I fell beside my bed and pled out loud with the Lord. Many tender, spiritual experiences came from those moments, but had I listened more carefully, I would have felt His arms of love around me even before I began my pleading. I wanted Hannah to reflect that struggle to learn to listen, to trust and to surrender ourselves to His will.
I also invited Laurie to be a guest blogger:

Hi! Thanks for inviting me to guest blog about my FREE MEN and DREAMERS books.

I’m from Maryland, but about 14 years ago, I fell in love with historic Williamsburg. There is a sacred spirit there, one felt also in other places that welcomed the great patriots—Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Franklin, Key, and others—cities like Philadelphia, Washington, and Georgetown; and places like Fort McHenry, Hampton, Craney Island, Fort Monroe, and dozens more.

I believe it’s because God’s hand was over the events that happened in these places, moving people where they needed to be in order to accomplish His purposes for this land.

The past eight years of my research and writing have focused on an incredibly fascinating, and rather forgotten, generation of Americans. Most of us know a bit about the Revolution, and we have some basic understanding of the issues that drove us into the Civil War, but far fewer know anything concrete about the War of 1812, and yet historians will tell you that it was this period and these events that finally forged us into The United States of America.

The idea for a historic novel began back in 1998 after my first visit to Williamsburg, but I set it aside and moved on to another project. After 9/11, my heart, like most Americans', turned more tenderly to America and her history. By 2004 I submitted the first draft.

The original manuscript was set in the late 1840’s, but after much soul searching, many hours buried in American history, and a small mention in Lucy Mack Smith’s “Biography of Joseph Smith,” I knew I needed to back the books up a generation.

It was Lucy’s reference to her brother Stephen Mack’s service during the War of 1812 that was the deal-breaker. I had never before made the connection between the Smiths and the War of 1812, but there it was! Joseph Smith grew up during that war. He and his generation were affected and shaped by the critical historic events of the tragic burning of Washington, the critical Battle of Baltimore, Key’s rallying of a broken nation with his writing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The generation that would take on Britain’s war machine in the War of 1812 was already unique in that they were the children of the Founding Fathers’ generation. They were the heirs of the great patriots’ vision, those charged to build a nation founded on the lofty principles of liberty and freedom, and now they would experience the great religious reformation and the Restoration led by Joseph Smith.

After eight years of research and rewrites, it is this generation’s story that I tell in my FREE MEN and DREAMERS books where we wind six fictional families—three American, two British, one slave—through carefully researched American history to illustrate the courage, sacrifice, and vision of this extraordinary group. 

I’d like to share an excerpt from my recently released volume 5, IN GOD IS OUR TRUST. Our protagonist in the series is Jed Pearson, a moral but logical man who has aligned his course upon the strength and stability of government. But new, illogical, religious concepts threaten his tidy world, and despite his efforts to dismiss them, he cannot, setting the stage for a spiritual awakening that will test his faith in both God and the Constitution. 

Excerpt from In God Is Our Trust:

From chapter 29:

The Pearsons arrived in Washington City in July, well before Jed

was scheduled to be seated in the Senate, but not too early to receive

his first assignment from his friend, Senator Timothy Shepard, who

had been asked to assist Washington’s Mayor Weightman’s Jubilee

of Independence Committee, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the

signing of the Declaration of Independence. Timothy quickly secured

Jed’s help.

“First things first,” Timothy began. “Congress commissioned four

paintings by John Trumball which will be hung in the Rotunda for the

celebration. The capstone of the celebration is his grand mural titled

The Declaration of Independence, depicting the five writers of the

declaration presenting the draft to their colleagues. Here’s a sketch.”

Jed studied the five images in the center of the sketch. The first

three were easily recognizable—Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John

Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania—but

the last two required greater thought. “I’m embarrassed to say I can’t

remember these two members of the drafting committee, nor some

of the other signers.”

“Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert Livingston of New

York, but I can’t name some of the signers anymore. I wonder if

future generations will learn their names and know the risk they

took when they mutually pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their

sacred honor.”

Jed grew wistful at the thought. “So few of them are yet alive.”

“Charles Carroll is well, but Presidents Jefferson and Adams are

in failing health.”

“It’s remarkable to consider what that generation achieved in

fifty years, and yet the cost has been high. Two hundred and fifty

years ago the Indians roamed free in virgin forests and welcomed the

settlers. Now we are at war with them in many corners.”

“We fear them and they don’t trust us, often with good cause,”

Timothy said.

“If only we could share the land and live in peace, but we each

have very different visions for America. It’s rumored Andrew Jackson

will relocate the Indians west if elected president. As much as I love

what we’re building here, I can’t feel good about that.”

“It was a primitive new world when the first settlers arrived, as

if God hid it in His hand for millennia for a special purpose. I think

His hand has ever been and still is over this land.”

“And what do you think His purpose is? Even the Founders

couldn’t agree on religion.”

“They differed on the details, but they all believed in Christ.

Religion was and is still evolving here since the break with Europe.

Perhaps they purposely kept the language vague in order to

accommodate what might yet be.”

“Like a visit from God?”

Timothy scowled at Jed. “What?”

Flushing red, Jed wished he could retract the comment. “Don’t

mind me.”

“No, tell me. Who claims to have been visited by God?”

“A young man named Joseph Smith. Hannah is quite taken with

him.”

“But you doubt him?”

Jed leaned back slightly. “Do you believe God would condescend

to come to earth and visit a young man today in response to a

prayer?”

Timothy pondered the question a moment. Jed watched his face

soften as he thought. “I don’t know, but if God wanted to do such

a thing, I think this is where He would choose to do it. Religion

needs freedom to flourish, Jed, and I believe God helped us establish

and preserve ours. Now He’s blessed us with a decade of relative

prosperity and peace. If He wanted to open the heavens and speak, I

think He would do it here, and this might be the time.”

So check out that link above and read some of the most amazing stories......


Now on Kindle too!!!!!
The Founding Fathers' dream of 
"One Nation Under God" was not left to chance.       
 FREE MEN and DREAMERS is now on Kindle!      http://tinyurl.com/7wlpwfk