communing together; and what took place on that occasion? The voice of God came from on high, and spake to the Council. Every latent feeling was aroused, and every heart melted. What did it say unto us? “Let my servant Brigham step forth and receive the full power of the presiding priesthood in my Church and kingdom.” This was the voice of the Almighty unto us at Council Bluffs. . . . I am one that was present, and there are others here that were also present on that occasion, and did hear and feel the voice from heaven, and we were filled with the power of God. . . . We said nothing about the matter in those times, but kept it still.

“In October 1860, during a speech at the Bowery in Salt Lake City, Elder Orson Hyde of the Council of the Twelve remembered a meeting held by the apostles in February 1848 at Pottawattamie County, Iowa, where a small branch of the westward-moving Church was residing for the winter. “We were in prayer and council,” he said,