The pioneer legacy was one of inclusion. When the saints were driven out of Missouri, many were so poor that they lacked teams and wagons to move. Their church leaders were adamant that none of the poor would be left behind. The response was the same in the exodus from Nauvoo. At a conference of the Church in October, 1845, the membership entered into a covenant to take all the saints with them. Thereafter, in the initial epic struggle across Iowa, the companies that arrived first at their stopping place on the Missouri River sent rescue wagons back toward Nauvoo to gather those who had been to poor to leave earlier. The revelation that guided their next exodus on the trip west directed each company to bear an equal proportion in taking the poor, the widows, the fatherless, and the families of those who had gone into the army. When the wagons and handcarts moved west, their movement was always one of inclusion. And no day's journey ended until every straggler was accounted for.