27 Sunday I spent the morning hearing a paper
from read giving an account of the
battle between the mob & mormons of
Also of General Army of the west
among wholm was 50 of the Mormons
there was a prospect of the whole Armey
suffering for want of food. We appointed
A meeting at 2 oclok in our new to
hear a statement made by square of
the affairs in before meeting the cry
of fire was heard on the prairie grass of
the encampment all run to put it out &
it was soon extinguished.
Meeting opened at 2 oclok PM at the Council
Block. Meeting opened by prayer by
who also remarked that we had suffered
by the gentiles A long time; but had now gone
out of there midst & hoped we should rest
for a season from there grasp. had rather
suffer the fatigues of this wilderness journey
and live on game than suffer by mobs. would
rather fall into the hands of God than a mob
as God is more merciful. I have heard the
say that God could not controle the
wicked at all times and let them act upon
their agency without operating upon them as
a machine. I am contented whare I am
but should be more so if we had an abundance
of the necessaries of life, the mob at last
have had courage after gathering & threatning
for about 6 years to come against the Saints
in Nauvoo from one thousand to twelve hundred
men had came against one hundred of the
Saints and have a pitched battle, But the Saints
went out to Battle in the name of God & their ene-
mies were defeated.
Daniel H Wells arose and said, I will by request
give a short account of affairs in Nauvoo concerning
their late difficulties. You have heard that
men were lynched there. we took 15 of the
of the offenders who were sent to for
a trial were let out on bail, the mob then
issued writs against , &
the two latter went Picket would not A mob
was then raised as a possee to execute the
writs they said. they staid several weeks to
increas there numbers they had at first
about 300. ^And increased to 1000^ the 100 men we had lay in
ambush for the mob, they canonaded through
the day but done no harm. Next day they
tried the same again we repelled them. On
Saturday at one oclok they advanced upon the
with 1000 or 12000 men we met them
in the name of God and gained the victory
the action lasted one hour & 20 minutes they
fired 42 cannon Ball & we 32 Ball though
the mob were 10 to our one they were defeated &
retreated from the Battle field we had three
killed and none wounded. the mob would
not acknowledge any killed but we walked
ove[r] the battle ground & found a plenty of
mob blood. One man not a member of
the Church said He saw them put 15 bodies
in one waggon that were handled like dead
& other waggons were loaded in the same
way. one of the Saints lying in a suller saw
8 wounded brought to the building each one
telling whare he was shot, they dug at there
intrenchment after the battle it was supposed
they buried there dead there. the next day
was sunday they did not shute any we flung
some ball & burst one cannon on Monday
the mob sent us a cannon ball to let us know
they had some left & we sent it back agan
during the fight the boys would watch the
cannon Ball strike & run & get it & bring it
to us & we would send it back. On
Tuesday a committee was sent to us
to make a treaty but it was rejected by both
parties A Brigade was then called for, but
afterwards A treaty was made. we agreed
to surrender the & leave in 5 days
On wednesday evening the treaty was made
and the Saints began to pack up their goods
and the next day all goods was removed
as the mob came in we left 2 Blocks in
advance. we met many of the Saints on
this side of the in distress & it drew
tears from the eyes of some of the mob
We saw camp fires of the mob the same
night we left on both sids of the river
There were scenes transpired in the siege enough
to melt the heart of a stone, the lynching of men
when they are labouring for a living & whiping them
untill they cannot stand alone as the mob did
was a damnable thing they made them kneel
on a spot whare they said some one was buried
placed them in a position so they could be whiped
easy an old revolutioner was one of them and
was so beat by the mob that He has not been
able to get about all summer. have an old
, A Revolutioner I have thought I
would not let him know any thing about it
but keep it from him that his feelings may
not be harrow up as he is about ready to step
into his grave. But I will say no more but
give way for Father ^Br^
Br Cutler arose and said I can bear my testim-
ony that what Br has said is strictly true
according to the best of my knowledge. If I was
to talk untill sun down the whole could not
be told. I have been kept in by the hand
of God others wanted to have been here and
would have been had it not been necessary to
have stoped to save our brethren there who could
not get away. know the hand of God has been
made manifest in the salvation of the people in
I thank God I had a hand in the battle
And the hand of God was so vissible in that
battle that many that were weak & faltering have
been much strengthend by it and will gather
with the Saints. I dind not expect that God
would deliver their enemies into their hands but
expected that God would save them out of the
hands of their enemies and this he has done
I was sensible we must leave Nauvoo the time has
come for us to depart God has called upon us to
go and if we will not he will let the mob loose
upon us to drive us out, but they will not
get any Glory for it but will have to suffer
for their wrongs to the. I hope the day will
come when we shall not have to suffer from
Mobs as we have done. But if we had sought
to have saved our lives in this case by fleeing
many would have lost them for but few
could have fled. But we went out in the
name of God and conquered through the
blessings of God we done well. one Brother
put on a sheep bell and went near the camp to spy
out the enemy and they supposed it to Be a
sheep. The mob do not acknowledge they
had any killed dut they had a good deal of
Blood spilled which they could not cover
up which I saw. Capt who was Capt
of the guard at the time of the death of
was shot in the neck but not killed another
commander was also shot, we have done the
best we could, to kill the poor and we
are satisfyed with the result and leave it all
in the hands of God. Br has done well
in all places where has been put, in the midst of
danger, as well as safety. with regard to the citizens
of there were but few who stood by us
in time of trouble there are many spirits in Nauvoo
that are like bats ready to join any party that
conquer if the beast conquer they will show ther
legs if the featherd tribe there wings. we left
the mob in the city hoping that the time
would come when we could gain a greater
victory over them.
President arose and said I wish to make
a few remarks attached to the remarks that
have been made. I will inform the brethren
that have come up we are glad to see them. Br
has been with us before. Br has
been in our society for several years and I
have had considerable acquaintance with him
and I am more than ever satisfyed with his
course. we have prayed for our brethren con-
tinually I am sensible there is a good deal of
suffering there and here, but let me say the Lord
God who has fed us all the day long, has his care still
over us, when the Saints are chastened enough
it will scease at least the hand of God will be
visible in there salvation, some individuals
may fall but the body will be sustained I
have never believed the Lord would suffer
a general Massacree of this people by a mob. If
10,000 men were to come against us if
no other way was open the earth would open
and swallow them up some say they can
stay in Nauvoo and can live there in perfet
peace they are so righteous, there are some
that have no better eyes than to say let me live
with the wicked in peace but there blessings
will be scearce with the mob, and if they
do not leave I fear they will prove a scourge
in the hands of God. He works with the wicked
by law and when they trespass upon his
rights God is there to maintain them. Many
other remarks were made by President
when meeting was dismissed one
hour during the intermission Elders I
visited the sick council met in the aftern
oon and attended to some business on hand
