Howard Egan, one of the outstanding members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the period shortly after its organization, demonstrated his faithfulness to the Church by supporting the leaders, through all their difficulties, from the day of his conversion until the end of his life. While living in Nauvoo he lent his assistance to the leaders by serving as a city policeman, as Captain of the Camp Creek detachment of the Nauvoo Legion on reconnaissance duty during the mob hostilities of 1845, and as a missionary for the Church in the Eastern States. During the exodus of the Saints from Nauvoo, he organized one hundred families of Saints into a compact group and moved them safely to the west bank of the Mississippi.In order to maintain continuity of narrative, the writer has followed closely the chronology of the Church History, Egan's diary as contained in the book Pioneering the West, and other histories which include him in their records. The material quoted in the pages of this thesis, when copied from records searched, has been written as the writer found it. He has made no changes in spelling or punctuation.