Description
Book SynopsisHenry William Bigler, a Mormon pioneer, documented key moments of his life in pocket diaries that have become invaluable historical records. His writings capture his conversion to the Church of the Latter-day Saints, the march of the Mormon Battalion, the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill, and the final settlement of the Mormon community in Utah. These diaries also detail his missionary journeys to Hawaii and his return to California to mine gold for the Church. Although Bigler never intended to publish his diaries, their significance emerged after his article in the San Francisco Bulletin in 1870 drew the attention of historian Hubert Howe Bancroft. Bigler subsequently wrote an extended journal for Bancroft, forming the Bancroft Version, which became the most complete and cohesive account of the critical years from 1846 to 1848. This version, now preserved in the Bancroft Library, serves as the core of his historical narrative. Bigler's diaries exist in several forms, each contrib
