Minutes and Testimonies, 12–29 November 1838, Copy [State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason]

that they should be the means, in the hands of God of bringing forth the Millenial kingdom. It was stated by Jos Smith Jr that it was necessary this band should be bound together by a coveenant. That those who revealed the secrets of the society should be put to death. The covenant taken by all the Danite Band was as follows. to wit: They declared holding up their right hands

understanding & belief that he would have shared the fate of the dissenters and were at when we went to s & advised the movement,

sell. The captain then char[g]ed this company, several different tim[e]s not to touch the Dutchmans potatoes, In the morning the Dutchman had not a potatoe left in his patch. This was in refference to touching no property, in our expedition to that did not belong to us, but he told us that the people <​children​> of God did not go to war at their own expense— A vote was taken whether the brethren should embody and go down to to attack the mob, this question was put by the prophet Jos Smith Jr & passed unanimously, with a few exceptions Captains & were appointed commanders of the mormons by Jos Smith Jr to go to , he frequently called these man generals. I once had a command as an officer but Jos Smith Jr removed me from it & I asked him the reason & he assigned that he had another office for me: afterwards told me I was to fill the office of Surgeon to attend to the sick & wounded After we arrived at in . a council was held, at night composed of Jos. Smith Jr, , Captains & , , and myself & perhaps — was not present, he remained at , a correspondence was kept up between him & Jos Smith Jr. I heard read one of the letters from Smith which as I remember was about as follows That he knew from prophesy & from the revelation of Jesus Christ that the enemies of the Kingdom were in their hands, & that they/the mormon church should succeed— on reading the letter said it gave him great satisfaction <​consolation​> that to have such authority that the kingdom of God was rolling on— In the above refered to council Mr Smith spoke of the grievances we had suffered in , , & other places, declared that we must [p. [4]]

in future stand up for our rights as citizens of the , & as saints of the most high God. & that it was the will of God we should do so, That we should be free and independant, and that as the State of and the would not protect us it was high time that we should <​set​> up as the saints of the most high God & protect ourselves & take the Kingdom observed that before the winter was over he thought we would be in & take it. Smith charged them that they should be united in supporting each other. Smith said on some occasion that one should chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight, That he considered the rotten, he compared the mormon church <​to​> the little stone spoken of by the prophet Daniel & that the Dissenters first & the next was part of the image that should be destroyed by this little stone— The cou[n]cil was called on to vote the measures of Smith, which they did unanimously— On the next day who was called by the prophet , took command of about 100 armed men & told them that he had a job for them to do & that the work of the Lord was rolling on, & they must be united. He then led his troops to , saying he was agoing to attack the mob there. He made a rush into , dispersed the few men there and took the goods out of ' store, & carried them to — & I afterwards saw the store house on fire. When we returned to the goods were deposited in the Lords store house under the care of bishop Orders were strictly given that all the goods should be deposited in the Lords store house no individuals were to appropriate any thing to themselves until a general distribution should be made— Jos. Smith Jr was at giving directions about things in general connected with the war when returned from to . the goods were divided or appor [p. [5]]

tioned out amongst those engaged, and thes[e] affairs were conducted under the superintendency of the first presidency. Apart of the goods were brought to , on their arrival under the care of , and others shouted thre[e] hozannahs to the victors— On the day went to , went to Mill Port, as I understood. I saw a great— many cattle, beds, furniture &c brought int[o] our camps by the Mormons. After we returned to , the troops were constantly kept in motion; and there was a council held at the house of to determine who should be chiefs. It was determined that should be commande[r] in chief at , Capt of the flying horse of . should be commander in chief of the troops. Capt of the flying horse or cavalry, and that the prophet Jos Smith Jr should be commander in chief of One whole Kingdom. the council was composed of Jos Smith Jr , & — the object of the council was in futherance of the scheme proposed in council in refered to above— after this coucil disputed as to the chief command of the troops & had a smart altercation about it with but Smith proposed that they agree to disagree and go on for the good of the kingdom— The troops were kept together until the militia came out lately; there was from 500 to 800 men as I should suppose under arms— It was about the time that the militia <​came​> out, lately to under that our prophet assembled the troops together at into a hollow square, and addressed them and stated to them that the kingdom of God should be set up & should never fall, and for every one that we lacked in number, of those who came against us the Lord would send angles [angels], who would fight for [p. [6]]

us & that we should be victorious— After the militia had been near a while, in an address Smith said that those troops were militia, & that we were militia too, and both sides clever fellows, & that he advised them to know nothing of what had happened, to say nothing & to keep dark:— that he Smith had forgotten more than he had ever known— After it was ascertained that the militia had arrived, inteligence was immediatley sent to to — next morning arrived in with about 100 mounted men and armed men The troops were constantly kept prepared, and in a situation to repel attack— The evening the militia arrived near , it was the general understanding in the mormon Camps that they were militia legally called out, previous and indeed previous to their arrival it was acertained that there were militia on their way to .— Some months ago I received orders to destroy the paper concerning the Danite society, which order was issued by the first presidency, and which paper being the constitution for the government of the danite Society, was in my custody, but which I did not destroy— It is now in 's possession— I gave the paper up to after I was taken prisoner— I found it in my house, where I had previously deposited it, and believe it had never been in any person's possession after I first recd— it This paper was taken into s house and read to the prophet & his counsellors, and was unanimously adopted by them— as their rule and guide in future— After it was thus adopted I was instructed by the council to destroy it, as, if it should be discovered, it would be considered treasonable— This constitution, after it was approved of by the first presidency was read, article by article to the Danite band and unanimously adopted by them— This paper was drawn up about the time that the Danite band was formed— Since the drawing up of the paper against the dissenters, it was, that this constitution of the Danite band was drafted— but I have no minutes of the time, as we were directed <​not​> to keep no written minutes— which constitution above refered to is as follows—: [p. 7]

give them power to possess the Kingdom— There was another writing drawn up in June last, which had for its object to get rid of the dissenters, and which had the desired effect. -[This is the paper drawn up against the dissenters refered to above by the witness]-— Since that time, and since the introduction of the scheme of the prophet made known in the above constitution, I have the prophet say that it was a fortunate thing that we got rid of the dissenters, as they would have endangered the rolling on of the kingdom of God, as introduced and to be carried into effect by the danite band, That they the dissenters were great obstacles in the way, and that unless they were removed, the aforesaid kingdom could not roll on— This paper against the dissenters was drafted by and is as follows:

in about 30 steps of my right, and in number were about 150 or 200 as I supposed and further this deponent saith not

did not return, I fled & turned my head to look & saw the man with his gun in a shooting position & shortly after, while running I was Shot by him, & I made my way to . was in the battle— Moses Rowland one of s men, & several of the mormons was killed in that battle. 5 of s company including myself were wounded, and further this deponent saith not—

application of it by him & further the deponeth saith not

dency & If the Presidency led them astray they might destroy them, In the last or in some public meeting Jos. Smith Jr said if the people would let us alone we would preach the Gospel to them in peace but if they did Came on us to molest us we would establish our religion by the sword & that he would become to this generation a second Mahomet.

that week, this was on Sunday morning and in the course of that day instructions were given to meet the next day (monday) On Monday Jos Smith Jr made a speech and some resolutions were passed purporting that those persons who would not engage in their undertaking their property should be consecrated to the use of the church <​those who​> did engage in thees undertaking On sunday Jos. Smith Jr in his discourse spoke of persons taking at some times, what at other times it would be wrong to take, and gave as an example the case of David eating the shew bread & also of the [S]aviour & his apostles plucking the ears of corn and eating as they passed through the cornfield he suppose[d] the prejudices of the Jews and Pharisees were so great against the Saviour that they would give them nothing to eat & they took that method to get it, On the monday when the resolutions above refered to were introduced in a speech said that those who were <​un​>willing to go into the War ought to be put upon their horses with guns & bayonets and forced into the front of the war having reference to those who heretofore had been backward in defending themselves & families No persons were suffered to leave the in this extreme time and I met with Phelps to consult as <​to​> what we ought to do

but fences & empty houses I understood him to say the people had not taken away all their property Smith the Prophet here asked him if they had taken the negroes he said yes some one then Laughingly observed Smith You have lost your negro to which I think he made no reply

upon their horses with bayonets and pitch-forks and forced and Smith said forced into the front of the battle, and that the property of those who would not go into the war, should be consecrated to the use of those who did. Mr Smith said their beef, corn and potatoes they would take—

sourians at had taken the goods out of <​’​> the store, and piled them up. and set fire to the store house, and had gone off for waggons to haul off the goods, but that our waggons had got there first and had hauled them off.— I understood that the goods were deposited with the of the church at as consecrated property to the church. A great deal of other property was brought into the mormon camps, but know where it came from. but understood it to be consecrated property. It was frequently observed among the troops, that the time had come when the riches of the gentiles should be consecrated to the Saints.— From the time of the return of the troops from the town of was kept under military rule, troops paraded, and disciplined every day.

presented & introduced to the presidency, each officer receiving a blessing from them— stated that he had procured the Presidency to come there, to show the Society, that what he was doing was according to their direction or will— And while there the presidency approved of s course in the society. however did not explain to the presidency what his teachings had been in the society—

hanging back, & did not wish to engage in their expeditions, they were called traitors, and refering to such, as I understood, proposed that blood should first begin to flow in the streets if of — but his proposition did not carry The proposition was then made, and carried unamimously that those who thus hung back, should be pitched upon <​there their​> horses with and made to go, and placed in front of the battle army. All the above occured in , the day before the last expedition to — The following of the Defendents were in the last expedition to . JosSmith Jr, , . , <​I am certain​> was not there, , & were there, John Buckhannon was not there, , , & were out, was not there out, was there, was there, John S. Higby [Higbee] I think, James M Henderson was there, was there, I think was there, Geo. Kimble was there, was there. & Maurice [Morris] Phelps I think were there. When the troops arrived at they were divided into companies of 20, 40, 50 &c just as they might be called for, those companies were sent out in different parts of the , as I saw them <​thus​> occasionally going out & comeing in. I saw a company about 50 called a fur company come once some had one thing, <​&​> some another, one I saw with a feather bed, another had some spun yarn— I understood from some of those who were bringing property, that they were to take it, to the Bishops store & deposit it, and if they failed to do so, it would be considered stealing.

hauled off the goods. And also that the mob were burning some Mormon houses. I looked at him as though I did not believe it, and he stooped down to me, being on his horse, and whispered to me, that it was who had gone with 20 men to the grindstone fork who was burning those houses. The goods taken in was generally understood in Camps, to have been deposited with the as consecrated property— When the Companies would return from their expeditions, they would make their report to the presidency who were there— As this company, above refered to as the fur Company, passed with their plunder, I heard Mahlon Johnson, who lived in the lower part of , ask Joseph Smith Jr, if these preceedings would not endanger the families living in that lower part of <​and excite the people to come on them​>, and Smith asked him, what he was talking about, that this was the first step they had ever taken to quell the mob.

& Smith Jos Smith Jr, as well as giving general information of the fact. I proposed to Mr Smith to go next morning and try to find them, to which he assented, I was disappointed in my effort & returned late in the evening to , Just as I arrived I saw the militia & I went down to them with a flag. I met with who recd. me, & told me there were about 1300 in number & that they were militia. On my return to I met with Jos Smith Jr, & informed him, that the troops were milita under 's command. (as I then supposed was the case) Mr Smith asked me their number & when I told him, he replied— keep up good courage we can whip that number if they make an attack upon us. Some other person came up at the time and enquired of me their number, and Mr Smith answered that Mr Phelps, who was a judge of numbers having seen troops before, said that there were about 250, as he would suppose. then whispered to me not to tell the men their number of the militia, that it would frighten them or damp their courage And further this deponent saith not.

in under the Danite order as I understand as he was neither an Officer or private of Militia and was known and called under the fictitious name of and his Company was called the regulators, I saw William Whitman in the Expedition to and Seemed to be one of the troops engaged with others, some time previous to the difficulties in , the first time when the militia went out there for the purpose of keeping the peace, I heard Jo. smith Jr in a public address say that he had a reverance for the Constitution of the and of this but as for the laws of this he does not intend to regard them nor care any thing about them, as they were made by lawyers and blacklegs the above things were said some time in last July or August. On the eve of the last expedition to I heard Joseph Smith Jr. say that they meaning the heads of the church had appealed to the for protection and he had sent us back word that we must fight our own battles, he futher stated that the law was unequally administered, all against us and none for us and spoke of the prosecutions set on foot in as an instance and He then said we must take our own cause in our own hands and defend ourselves — that he did not calculate to regard the laws any longer, I think it was in the last of June or first of July last that I heard say that he had just returned from a council with the presidency in which council was broken of his Office of Capt Genl. of the Danite band for having spoken against one of the presidency, it being a regulation of that society that no one should speak against them— or hear any one else do it with impunity In that council said an arrangement was made to dispose of the dissenters vizt. that all the head offices of the Danite band should have a list of the dissenters both here and in and said he I will tell you how I will do with them when I meet one damning the presidency I can damn them as well as he, and if he wanted to drink he would get a bowl of brandy & get them half drunk and taking him by the arm he would take him to the woods or brush and said "he (would) be into their guts in a minute and put them under the sod" he gave this 'as" an example of the way they should be deposed of, the only motives for getting rid of the dissenters in this way as far as I ever learned was that if they remained among the Mormons they would introduce a class there that would utlimately endanger their lives & destroy the church and if they were suffered to go out from among them they would be telling lies on them in the surrounding country, these reasons I gathered from s "Salt Sermon" and said in the same Sermon that he would assist to erect a gallows on the Square and hang them all, Jos Smith Jr [p. [44]]

was present and followed after he had made the above declaration and said he did not wish to do any thing unlawful, he then spoke of the fate of Judas & said that Peter had hung him (Judas) & said that he approved of s sermon & called it a good sermon and further this saith not

morning by the assistance of friends we did start leaving most of our property there, Since then I have returned and found the houses burnt & the property gone consisting of hous hold plunder and 29 bee gums they enquired for Guns and got down one and took it away from the house belonging to one Josiah Littlefield they further said that they had been driven as long as they were a going to, that they had got strong enough now to defend themselves that they intended to do it by the Sword that they run at the defiance of any set of men who could come against them & that they now intended to make it a war of extermination, the following of the defendants were in the above Company vizt. Jesse D Hunter & I think from his appearance Maurice [Morris] Phelps was there but may be mistaken, Hunter appeared to be Captain or Commander of the Company as he did the most of the talking, but most all of them had something to say and further this deponent saith not

a considerable number of Sheep and Cattle, he further Said that it looked to him sometimes that it was not right to take plunder but that it was according to Jos Smith Jr directions And that was the reason why he did it, the next morning I saw a considerable number of sheep on the square in near about 100. I then left and returned home in the east part of having been summoned to by my Militia captain but performed no military duty while there And further this deponent saith not

was in the last expedition to , was there was there was there Maurice [Morris] Phelps I think was there there was some property brought into by the Mormons as their own this was not deposited with the but they took it themselves And further this deponent saith not

standing that a committee of three should inspect the letters written & sent by me as well as those received by me— this committee however never made their appearance— after my case was disposed of another man's was taken up. he attempted to speak in his defenced & said he was a Republican, several rushed up towards him and stopt him, telling him if he had anything to say in favor of the Presidency he might say it, and that was their republicanism— J. Smith Jr & who compose the presidency were there. It was observed in the meeting that if any person spoke against the presidency they would hand him over in to the hands of the brother of Gideon. I knew not at the time who or what it meant

and he was ordered to leave the house, but commenced to speak, then said "Where are my ten men" 30 or more men arose up where upon the man said he would leave the house. At this meeting I agreed to conform to the order of the church in all things knowing I had a good deal of property in the and if I went off I should to leave it. For some time before and after this meeting an armed guard was kept in town and one of them at my house, during the night as I supposed to watch my person In the for part of July— I being one of the Justices of the County Court was forbid by Joseph Smith jr from issuing any process against him I learned from the Clerk of the Circuit Court that declaration had been filed against Smith & others by Johnson and in referance to that Case, Smith told the Clerk that he should not issue a writ against him— I observed to Mr.Smith that there was a legal objection to issuing it that the Cost, meaning the Clerks fee had not been paid— Smith replied he did not care for that— he did not intend to have any writ issued against him in the — These things together with many other alarmed me for the situation of our , and at our next Circuit Court I mentioned these things to the Judge & several members of the bar—

or fight till they died. and some other made about the same remark— 's 4th of July oration was the declaration refered to. Along through the summer & fall, a storm appeared to be gathering and from time to time I went out into & counties— saw and conversed with many gentleman on the subject who always assured me that they would use every exertion that the law should be enforced, and I repeatedly made these things known in & that there was no disposition among the people to raise mobs against them from these counties.

on the war in which he said it was necessary to have something to live on, and when they went out to war it was necessary to take spoils to live on. This was in reference to the dissenters as well as to the people of where they going in this speach he told the ancedote of the Dutchmans potatoes. Finding I should have to go and not wishing to be put in front of the battle I sought a situation and went out with my waggon. This was the Expedition in which and Millport were bur[n]t. I went on to a few days after the Mormon troops had gone out. I went to the tavern late at Night where I found J. Smith Jr. & others. I informed J. Smith that the troops had returned home some 40 or 50 in number, but told him that was in and his troops just behind.

In the fore part of the night after my arrival I heard a good deal of converstion about driving out the mob from . I heard J. Smith remark there was a store at & a Grocery at Millport And in the morning and in the morning after the Conversation between Smith and about resisting the law, a plan of operations was agreed on which was that who was present should take a company of 100 men or more and go to and take it that day— to take the goods out of the store at bring them to and burn the store— was to take a company and go to Millport on the same day, and was to take a company and go to the grind stone fork on the same day. This arrangement was made in the house before day while I was lying on the floor. When I arose in the morning some of the companies were gone. But I saw parade a horse company— and start off with it towards Millport— I I also a foot company the same day go off

was in that meeting, and was appointed by Capt. of a Company, whose duty it was to watch the movements of the enemy, or mob in Buncombe, and if they bur[n]t one house in his company was to burn four of theirs, and men was selected who were strangers in the Community where they were to act towards the latter part of the instructions to 's company, observed that if the inhabitants in the surrounding Country Commenced burning houses in , if they Could not get clear of them in any other way they would poison them off. This last remark, I did not understanding as being particularly addressed to as a part of the duties of his Company, but seemed addressed to the meeting generally

Expedition to — Joseph Smith Jr. , , , , , Elijah Newman was one of my men. was not there, was there, , was there, was there, was there, Sheffield Daniels I think was not there. was there, and he was Called — While in I saw with a Clock under his arm which I afterwards saw in , and which was claimed by a Mr. Mc.Laney of as his property after the arrival of at . And further this saith not.