The 1827 Portending Army in the Sky

A Vision Reported by Heber & Vilate Kimball

Across cultures the nature of visionary experience is elusive at best. One cannot easily capture that nature by casting either a religious or a psychological net. About the best we can do, as outside spectators, is gaze upon such claims in wonder, as if visionary records were works of art. Like any piece of art, perhaps one can infer meaning, or perhaps there is no meaning at all. Perhaps such events are ultimately private, and any derived meaning must be limited to the visionary or seer. Maybe the historian has license to examine the impact of such spiritual experiences on the seer and the surrounding society. Thus, I approach with caution the amazing visionary tale of Heber and Vilate Kimball that was experienced in 1827, years before they joined with Joseph Smith and the Mormons. Whatever was the nature of their special experience, it set the tone for the rest of their adult lives. Their portending vision of an army in the sky helped set the stage for a forthcoming "religious battle" – the latter-day movement known as Mormonism.

Before getting to the vision itself, let’s discuss the date and the place.

The date of the event was September 22, 1827, the same date that Joseph Smith obtained the gold plates associated with the Book of Mormon from the Angel Moroni. The date also was associated with the Hebrew Feast of Trumpets. Are these events a coincidence? Heber C. Kimball, most likely, would think not.

The place of the event was Mendon (Monroe County), New York, about 17 miles southwest of Palmyra (according to Google). This location would become a strong branch of the Church (circa 1832) having not only the Kimballs, but also Brigham Young and many members of his extended family.

The following is an 1864 extract taken from the journal of Heber C. Kimball published in a British newspaper by the Church. The details give the feel that the tale had been told many times.

Heber C. Kimball, Journal Extract in Millennial Star vol. 26, no. 31 (July 30, 1864), pp. 487–488.
Sept. 22, 1827, while living in the town of Mendon, I having retired to bed, John P. Greene, a travelling reformed Methodist preacher, waked me up calling upon me to behold the scenery in the heavens. I called my wife and sister Fanny Young (sister of Brigham Young) who was living with me; it was so clear that you could see to pick up a pin, we looked to the eastern horizon and beheld a white smoke arise towards the heavens, and as it ascended it formed itself into a belt and made a noise like the rustling of a mighty wind, and continued southwest, forming a regular bow dipping in the western horizon. After the bow had formed it began to widen out and grow clear and transparent of a bluish cast, it grew wide enough to contain twelve men abreast. In this bow an army moved, commencing from the east and marching to the west. They moved in platoons, and walked so close, the rear ranks trod in the steps of their file leaders, until the whole bow was literally crowded with soldiers. We could see distinctly the muskets, bayonets, and knapsacks of the men, who wore caps and feathers like those used by the American soldiers in the last war with Britain; also their officers with their swords and equipage, and heard the clashing and jingling of their instruments of war and could discover the form and features of the men. The most profound order existed throughout the entire army, when the foremost man stepped, every man stepped at the same time: I could hear the step. When the front rank reached the Western horizon a battle ensued, as we could distinctly hear the report of the arms and the rush.

No man could judge of my feelings when I beheld that army of men, as plainly as I ever saw armies of men in the flesh it seemed as though every hair of my head was alive. This scenery was gazed upon for hours, until it began to disappear.

Subsequently I learned this took place the same evening that Joseph Smith received the records of the Book of Mormon from the Angel Moroni. John Young, Sen., and John P. Green's wife, Rhoda, were also witnesses of this scenery. My wife, Vilate, being frightened at what she saw, said, "Father Young, what does all this mean?" He replied in a lively, pleased manner, "Why, its one of the signs of the coming of the Son of Man." The next night similar scenery was beheld in the west, by the neighbors, representing armies of men who were engaged in battle.

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Heber's wife, Vilate M. Kimball, published her version of the story in 1877. The correspondence between Vilate's version and Heber's version again suggests mutual influence and rehearsal of the story through multiple retellings.

From: "Autobiography of Vilate Kimball" published in: Edward W. Tullidge, The Women of Mormondom (New York, 1877), pp. 104-115.
Here I will relate a marvelous incident, of date previous to our entering the Church.

On the night of the 22nd of September, 1827, while living in the town of Mendon, after we retired to bed, John P. Green, who was then a traveling Reformed Methodist preacher, living within one hundred steps of our house, came and called my husband to come out and see the sight in the heavens. Heber awoke me, and Sister Fanny Young (sister of Brigham), who was living with us, and we all went out-of- doors.

It was one of the most beautiful starlight nights so clear we could see to pick up a pin. We looked to the eastern horizon, and beheld a white smoke arise towards the heavens. As it ascended, it formed into a belt, and made a noise like the rushing wind, and continued southwest, forming a regular bow, dipping in the western horizon.

After the bow had formed, it began to widen out, growing transparent, of a bluish cast. It grew wide enough to contain twelve men abreast. In this bow an army moved, commencing from the east and marching to the west. They continued moving until they reached the western horizon. They moved in platoons, and walked so close the rear ranks trod in the steps of their file leaders, until the whole bow was literally crowded with soldiers.

We could distinctly see the muskets, bayonets and knapsacks of the men, who wore caps and feathers like those used by the American soldiers in the last war with Great Britain. We also saw their officers with their swords and equipage, and heard the clashing and jingling of their instruments of war, and could discern the form and features of the men. The most profound order existed throughout the entire army. When the foremost man stepped, every man stepped at the same time. We could hear their steps.

When the front rank reached the western horizon, a battle ensued, as we could hear the report of the arms, and the rush.

None can judge of our feelings as we beheld this army of spirits as plainly as ever armies of men were seen in the flesh. Every hair of our heads seemed alive.

We gazed upon this scenery for hours, until it began to disappear.

After we became acquainted with Mormonism, we learned that this took place the same evening that Joseph Smith received the records of the Book of Mormon from the angel Moroni, who had held those records in his possession.

Father Young, and John P. Green's wife (Brigham's sister Rhoda), were also witnesses of this marvelous scene. Frightened at what we saw, I said, Father Young, what does all this mean? He answered, "Why it is one of the signs of the coming of the Son of Man."

The next night a similar scene was beheld in the west, by the neighbors, representing armies of men engaged in battle.

As told by Heber and Vilate, the story is most impressive. By their account, there were multiple witnesses. However, I am unaware of any further accounts from witnesses of this event in Mendon. John P. Green, one of the mentioned witnesses, later joined the Church. The Guide to Mormon Diaries & Autobiographies (Bitton, 1977) lists a very short missionary diary from Greene in 1833, which does not likely contain any references to the 1827 event.

But, the overall story is not finished. It gets a bit stranger.

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The above event recorded by Heber and Vilate Kimball got a sustaining vote (so to speak) from Brigham Young. The reason is that Brigham, himself, witnessed something strange in the sky during the same night. However, please note that Brigham Young was NOT in Mendon at the time. He was in Port Byron, New York, about 50 miles to the east.

The following description of the Brigham Young account was published in a recent Ensign by Marjorie Rice. The reference she provided was: " General Church Minutes 1839–1877, Jan. 8, 1845, Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Other reports sometimes reference: the unpublished minutes of the Young-Richards family meeting, Nauvoo, 18 Jan. 1845. I will leave it to other historians to sort out the discrepancies (since I do not have access to the Church archives). Here is the fascinating summary by Rice:

Marjorie H. Rice, “Living in a Chapter of History,” Ensign, Oct 2007, pp. 56–61.
Brigham Young, who at that time was not acquainted with Heber, described what he had seen the same evening: “There was a great light in the East and it went to the West and it was very bright although [there was] no moon at that time.” As he gazed at it with his wife, Miriam, they saw “great armies” marching across the night sky. The vision was “perfectly clear,” and it remained for several hours.

Heber and Brigham and their family members who witnessed the amazing scene felt it must have been a sign from God, but they did not know its meaning. Neither Heber nor Brigham knew the Prophet Joseph Smith or that he had received the gold plates containing the Book of Mormon that same day at the Hill Cumorah, just 20 miles to the east.

The following year, Brigham Young and Miriam moved to Mendon, New York, where Brigham’s father, stepmother, and several of his siblings were already living. Brigham built a home and mill shop on his father’s farm, less than a half mile northeast of where Heber Kimball and his wife, Vilate, lived. Brigham and Heber, just 13 days apart in age, and their wives, just 6 days apart, soon became close friends.

*****Conclusion*****

What are we to conclude? Was this 1827 event a mass hallucination from two different locations? Is it possible that the Youngs and the Kimballs influenced each other's stories in later years, once they got to know each other? Must one posit a conspiracy theory to account for these stories? Was this event perhaps merely a result of dancing lights in the sky (UFO theory) with some special effects from the imagination? Or, was it a portending spiritual event to prepare important future leaders of the Church?

Science and history cannot answer the above questions. However, these stories are a legitimate part of our LDS cultural heritage. We honor these stories, not by turning them into scientific reality, but by recognizing their significance in the shaping of early religious conviction. Without question, the event, whatever it was, provided a grounding for the growing seed of the Church.

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Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] c0m; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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