Rescuing the Handcart Companies
There is a record in mormon history of a handcart company that got stranded in the winter weather before reaching the Salt Lake Valley. When Brigham Young heard about their condition, he called for all men who could to go on a rescue mission. On the way back to the valley, with starving, freezing, exhausted people in tow, the group came to a large river with chunks of ice floating in it. Many of the people did not have the strength or the will to cross this river. Three of the volunteer boys carried the women and children across who could not make it on their own. They later died from complications. These stories of selflessness abound in mormon history.
