The Apostate — Luther Butler

All characters not found in historical documents are from the author's imagination. When a mob shot Joseph Smith, Bishop Lyman Wight was in Texas looking for a new home for the people known as Mormons. When President Brigham Young was elected to lead the group, he sought to form a new colony in California Territory called Deseret. On reaching Kanesville (Council Bluff), Bishop George Miller took a wagon train south to unite with Wight. My interpretation of the characterization of the Latter Day Saints is  drawn from several sources.

APOSTATE is a story of hard ships and deprivation. George Miller's group took off for Texas in the middle of the winter. Lycia Smith (fictitious) had recently lost her husband, Joseph Smith, and their son. The young lady headed for Texas to live in the Lyman Wight colony a few miles south of Burnet, Texas. Ruins of the Wight colony still exist on the banks of the Colorado River.

Those called Mormons were a hardy people who traveled wilderness trails in hope they would find a place where they could practice their religion in peace. Those who came to Texas to found a new colony faced all the dangers of early travelers coming through Indian country. Snow on the ground only made their journey more difficult.