already prepared which we could reach in nine days and be secure. At the grand council the Indians go to deliberate on the things which concerns their national affairs. There must be a union amongst the tribes before they will receive the gospel, but it has not been the intention to preach the gospel to them yet, but to get an union amongst them and bind them together. Their minds are already made up when they go South what to do. As to our safety there is more safety for us in the north then in the south at present. They are in possession of matters pertaining to us which will be laid before the whole delegation at the next council if we were not there. If it was necessary we can go the northern rout and visit those tribes and go with them to the council. You will get from that council just what they think about [p. [185]]
Dunham’s statement likely relates to Orson Spencer’s comment at the previous meeting that “trouble may come as suddenly this summer” as it had in June 1844 and that the council should “be prepared in case of emergency with a place of refuge, which we could flee to in about six weeks or even in one week.” Dunham was likely referring to territory occupied by the Potawatomi Indians who lived near Council Bluffs along the Missouri River and with whom the Latter-day Saints, including Dunham, had fairly regular contact. In a comment later in this meeting, Charles C. Rich implied that Dunham suggested eleven days for the journey. When Dunham visited the Potawatomi settlements in summer 1843, it took him eleven days to reach the Potawatomi from the Mississippi and nine days to return to Nauvoo. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 18 Mar. 1845; Dunham, Journal, 17–28 July and 17–26 Aug. 1843.)
Dunham, Jonathan. Journals, 1837–1846. Jonathan Dunham, Papers, 1825–1846. CHL. MS 1387, fds. 1–4.