| 389 to Diahman, in order to learn what the mob were doing there, and if possible to protect the 'Mormons.'
"When General Parks had arrived in Daviess he found that the mob had commenced its operations there, which was on the 20th October, 1838. They commenced by burning the house of a man who had gone to Tennessee on business and left his wife at home with two small children. When the house was burned down, the wife and two small children were left in the snow, and she had to walk three miles before she could find a shelter, carrying her two children all that distance, and had to wade Grand River, which was three feet deep. The mob on the same evening burned seven other houses, burning and destroying all the property that they thought proper. The next morning, Colonel Lyman Wight, an officer in the militia, inquired of General Parks what was to be done, as he now saw the course the mob was determined to pursue. General Parks replied that he (Wight) should take a company of men and give the mob battle, and that he would be responsible for the act, saying that they could have no peace with the mob until they had given them a scourging.
"On the next morning, in obedience to his order, David W. Patten was dispatched with one hundred men under his command to meet the mob as they were advancing from Carroll, with directions to protect the citizens and collect and bring into Far West such of the 'Mormons' as were scattered through the county, and unprotected, and if the mob interfered he must fight them. The company under the command of Patten was the same, in part, that had gone from Far West by the order of General Doniphan to protect the citizens of Daviess. As Patten went in the direction of the mob, they fled before him, leaving their cannon, which Patten took possession of. The mob dispersed. Patten with his men then returned to Daviess County. Patten in a few days after returned to Far West. It was now supposed that the difficulties were at an end. But contrary to expectation, on the evening of the 23d October messengers arrived at Far West and informed the citizens that a body of armed men had made their appearance in the south part of
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