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[Above: Unidentified fur trapper and Civil War veteran with Union belt plate, revolver, Bowie knife, rifle, and animal traps with studio props in front of painted backdrop showing landscape—public domain, Library of Congress]

ON THIS DAY, 15 NOVEMBER, 1824, Methodist preacher Peter Cartwright and his family took up residence in Sangamon County, Illinois. On Cartwright’s circuit there was an old believer, Joseph Dixon, a class-leader [leader of a small group] and steward [one who handles finances and compassionate outreach]. “I think he was one of the best stewards I ever saw,” said Cartwright. “He invariably made it a rule to see that every member of his own class paid something every quarter to support the Gospel; and if there were any too poor to pay, he would pay for them.”

Dixon had been a backwoodsman, frontier settler, a great hunter and trapper. He and two partners made an expedition up the Missouri River and its tributaries. Having canoed hundreds of miles and escaped many dangerous ambuscades by Native Americans, they were caught by a severe winter. They buried their furs and skins at different points to protect them from theft, then dug a deep hole in the sunny side of a hill and gathered meat, fuel, and leafy bedding. The following spring, Indians robbed them several times and the trappers killed two or three in skirmishes. Dixon’s partners quarreled with him, bought a canoe, abandoned him, dug up their furs, and returned east. 

Dixon had ammunition left and therefore prepared for winter, digging another hillside cave and provisioning it. That winter he would experience God’s intervention in the forms of healing and of guidance.

His eyes became inflamed, and were very much affected from constant gazing on the almost perpetual snows around him, until, such was their diseased state, he could not see anything. Here he was, utterly helpless and hopeless. He began to reflect on his dreadful condition, while he felt nothing but certain death, and realized himself to be a great sinner and unprepared to die. For the first time in his life, almost, he kneeled down and asked God for mercy and deliverance from this awful condition. Then and there he promised God, if He would spare and deliver him, he would from that solemn moment serve Him faithfully the rest of his life. …

  When he made this covenant with God in his desperate condition, all of a sudden there was a strong impression made on his mind, that if he would take the inside bark of a certain tree that stood a few steps from the mouth of his earthy habitation, and beat it up, soft and fine, soak it in water, and wash his eyes with it, he would soon recover his sight. He groped his way to the tree, got the bark, prepared it as impressed, bathed his eyes … and lay down and slept….. When he awoke, his eyes felt easy; the inflammation was evidently subsiding, and in a short time his sight began to return, and soon was entirely restored.... He then felt that God had forgiven his sins, blessed his soul, restored his sight, and that he ought to praise and give glory to His holy name.

After the weather warmed, he made a great haul of furs and headed home. He had a desperate tussle with Indians and escaped. In St. Louis, he sold his furs for several thousand dollars and returned to his family after an absence of almost three years. He then moved to Sangamon County where he joined the Methodists. He named his youngest son Missouri in memory of his conversion and to keep fresh in his recollection the solemn vow he had made.

—Dan Graves

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For more on divine healing, read CH 142 Touching the Hem of His Garment

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Other Events on this Day

• Pure Albertus Magnus Was Known as "The Universal Doctor"
• KING MWANGA KILLED MUKASA FOR MAKING CHRISTIANS

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