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Source: Church History Vol. 2 Chapter 13 Page: 243 (~1838)

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243 temperature, warm and mellowing. The widows and orphans of the dead came timidly and warily forth from their hiding places as soon as the troops left, and as they recognized one a husband, another a father, another a son, another a brother among the bloody corpses, the wailings of grief and terror that went up were pitiful and agonizing. All that night they were alone with their dead. A return visit of Jennings' men to complete the work of 'extermination' had been threatened and was expected. Verily the experience of the poor survivors of the Haun's Mill affair was terrible; no wonder that they long remembered it.

"The next morning the bodies had changed, and were changing fast. They must be buried. There were not enough men in the place to dig graves, and it could not be determined when relief would come. There was a large unfinished well at the place, and the bodies were gathered up, the women assisting, and borne, one at a time, all gory and ghastly, to this well and slid in from a large plank. All of the corpses were disposed of in this way; then some hay or straw was strewn over the ghastly piles and then a thin layer of dirt thrown on the hay.

"Soon after the burial was over, the same day, Comstock's company was sent back to give the dead a decent sepulture. Seeing what had been done already, they rode away, glad to be relieved from the job. The next February Mr. Charles R. Ross moved into the house and occupied the property to which the well belonged. Soon after his arrival some warm days came, and an offensive smell arose from the well. Mr. Ross at once set to work and filled up the loathsome sepulcher, even making a good sized mound over it. In time this mound was leveled, and now it is almost impossible to fix the exact location of the pit.

"Whatever of merit there was in the attack on Haun's Mill, and whatever of glory attaches to the famous victory, must be given to Colonel William O. Jennings mainly. He made the attack on his own responsibility, without orders from Governor Boggs, or any other superior authority, although the Governor afterwards approved what was done. True, Jennings' subordinates must be given their share, in

(page 243)

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