Ephraim: A Wild-West Renaissance Man

History 17B Historical Figure Paper

What does a blacksmith’s apprentice, a seaman, a scout, a soldier, a pioneer, a wild-west mail carrier, a healer and a patriarch all have in common? They are all positions held by Ephraim Hanks. He was a wild-west renaissance man. It seemed as though there was little that Ephraim could not or did not do during his lifetime. The west during the 1800’s hyperbole was reality. Men were eight feet tall and ate trees. Heroes were ten feet tall and ate rocks. Literary license was how every story was told and the romanticized deeds of the well-known were merely the honesty of their times. As stories passed from one person to the next embellishment was as important as any of the details. Any person
The tale goes that Brigham was at a social event with Ephraim and called him over. Ephraim was a little more than stunned that the Mormon prophet even knew who he was. Then Brigham asked him to do something strange. He was told to shave his beard (it was common for men of this time period to have beards). Ephraim was puzzled but complied immediately. After dutifully shaving his beard and grooming his handsome mustache he returned to the party. Brigham immediately summoned Ephraim over and asked him why he did not shave his mustache. Ephraim understood and returned to shave his entire face, a look which was typically only seen on prepubescent males. Brigham was heard to have said to the other brethren, “now there’s a man I can trust”. By 1847 Ephraim had volunteered for the Mormon Battalion. He worked mostly as a scout. In the early 1850’s Ephraim was transporting mail from the Great Lakes states to the far west. He rode alone and did so no matter the season and no matter the weather. He was a fearless example of a true frontiersman. Up to this point he had not seen much action as a soldier. In the winter of 1856 Brigham Young asked for volunteers to go and rescue the Willie-Martin handcart company which was struggling across the plains and suffering heavy loss of life due to starvation, disease and death from exposure. This adventure became one of the defining moments of the life of
His small group had a wagon full of supplies and food along with some horses to expedite the journey. But they were in a race against time. Early October snows were taking their toll on the diminishing Martin-Willie company who was now almost completely out of food and many of its members were without shoes. Unfortunately these were not uncommon circumstances for pioneers crossing the plains. After a couple of weeks of pushing hard, the snows became heavier and some of the members of the rescuing group began to talk about going back. Ephraim told them they were welcome to make their own choice but that unless he received word from the prophet (Brigham Young) he would continue on with his mission. This was not the last of the problems for the rescue group. Shortly thereafter the wagon hauling all the supplies broke down. Ephraim loaded all he could on the horse team from the wagon and carried as much of the supplies as he could forward. Within just a few days Ephraim came across a couple of riders coming from the opposite direction. They had dropped off the meager supplies that they had and were continuing on in search of the rescue party. They informed Ephraim that the handcart company was only a couple of days ahead of him. Ephraim sent them on to catch up