The aged & of Joseph Smith were not permitted to see his face, but to reach their hands through the curtains of the wagon & thus take leave of him. When passing his own house, he was taken out of the wagon & permitted to go into the house, but not without a strong guard, & not permitted to speak with his family, but in the presence of his guard. & his eldest son, , about six or eight years old, hanging to the tail of his coat, crying father is the mob going to kill you? The guard said to him ‘you damned little brat, go back, you will see your father no more.’ The prisoners then set out for , accompanied by Generals & , & about three hundred troops for a guard. We remained in two or three days & nights during most of which time, the prisoners were treated in a ge[n]tlemanly manner, & boarded at a hotel, for which they had afterwards, when confined in , under the care to pay the most extravagant price, or have their property, if any they had, attached for the same.— At this time had arrived at , & by orders from the , took on himself the command of the whole of the militia, notwithstanding ’s commission was the oldest, but he was supposed to be too friendly to the mormons: and therefore dismounted, and sanctioned the measures of , however cruel they might have been; and said, he should have done the same had he been there himself . Accordingly he remanded the prisoners from & they were taken & escorted by a strong guard to ; threatened several times on the way with violence & death. They were met five miles before they reached , by about one hundred armed men, & when they arrived in town, they were thrust into an old cabin under a strong guard. I was informed by one of the guards, that two nights previous to their arrival, had a court martial, and the prisoners were again sentenced to be shot, but he being a little doubtfull of his authority, sent immediately to Fort Leavenworth for the military law & a decision from the ’s officers, where he was duly informed, that any such proceeding would be a cool blooded & heartless murder. On the arrival of the prisoners at Joseph Smith & myself sent for ; to be informed by him, what crimes were alledged against us, He came in & said he would see us again in a few minutes; shortly he returned & said he would in [p. 130]