Who were they really, these strong-minded Adventist pioneers? None of them was perfect, but all of them did their best, by God's grace, to spread the message of Jesus's coming return and the good news of the seventh-day Sabbath. These are their stories. James White's means of transportation on his first preaching tour was a borrowed horse. Noted surgeon Amos Twitchell amputated 12-year-old Uriah Smith's leg in a 20-minute amputation performed on the Smiths' kitchen table—with no anesthetic. Joseph Bates was almost ridden out on a rail during one of his preaching tours. And who was the object of Annie Smith's unrequited love?