Brigham Young

Members gathered in Nauvoo to choose between Young and Rigdon. Young emphasized collective leadership over individual succession.

Young started the exodus in February 1846 due to indictments and rumors of troops preventing departure. The ship Brooklyn cleared New York harbor on February 4, 1846, the same day the exodus began.

Scouts Erastus Snow and Orson Pratt entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 21, 1847, ahead of the main pioneer company.

Brigham Young arrived in Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, establishing the date as Pioneer Day in Utah.

Four days after arriving, Young designated the location for the Salt Lake Temple.

The General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret established the University of Deseret on February 28, 1850, in Salt Lake City.

William Bringhurst led missionaries to Las Vegas Springs in 1855 to build the first permanent structure in the area.

The Mormon mission fort at Las Vegas was abandoned in 1857 during the Utah War.

Emigrants arrived by rail to Iowa City, the western terminus, where they would be outfitted with handcarts and other supplies before continuing west.

Native Americans took settlers' cattle due to drought, sparking the conflict.

Short series of skirmishes occurred in February and March 1856 in Uintah and Tooele Counties, Utah.

Militiamen approached the Baker–Fancher wagons on September 11, 1857, carrying flags, leading to the massacre of at least 120 members.

Brigham Young's letter arrived two days after the massacre, on September 13, 1857.

Federal investigations were delayed until 1859, with Carleton and Forney conducting inquiries and publishing findings.

Judge John Cradlebaugh convened a grand jury in Provo in March 1859, which declined to issue indictments.

Captain James Lynch reported in 1859 that surviving children were in wretched condition, half starved and infested with vermin.

The first soldiers of the Utah Expedition left Fort Leavenworth on 18 July 1857, beginning the armed confrontation with Mormon settlers.

Brigham Young deeded buildings and land in Provo to trustees on October 16, 1875, to establish an institution of learning, ostensibly as part of the University of Deseret.

The school broke off from the University of Deseret to become Brigham Young Academy in 1876, with classes commencing on January 3, 1876.

Dusenberry served as interim principal until April 1876, when Brigham Young's choice, Karl Maeser, arrived to lead the academy.