At Fort Laramie so many of his animals had dropped out that numbers of his men were dismounted, and the ambulances used to carry grain.

Night after night they huddled at the base of cliffs in the fearful eddies of the snow, and heard above the blast the piteous cries of their famished and freezing stock.

Day after day they pushed against the keen blades of the wind, toiling through frozen clouds and stinging ice blasts.

The last thirty-five miles to Fort Bridger had required fifteen days, and at one camp on Black's Fork, which they called the "camp of Death," five hundred animals perished in a night.
Nor did the hardships of the troops end when they had all reached what was to be their winter quarters.

Still a hundred and fifteen miles from the City of the Saints, they were poorly housed against the bitter cold, poorly fed, and insufficiently clothed, for the burning of the trains by the Lord's hosts had reduced all supplies.
Reports of this distress were duly carried to Brigham and published to the Saints.