History draft; handwriting of , John L. Smith, Jonathan Grimshaw, Robert L. Campbell, , , and ; 101 numbered pages plus several inserted pages; CHL. This manuscript covers the period from 1 March 1843 to 31 December 1843.
In a short time my brother &. I went down into the hollow square & gave orders <directed them> not to allow their ranks to be broken, I then shook hands with each man, blessing them & welcoming them home.
I then took of my hat, & commenced telling them I am again at liberty & <related to them> how I was brought home to the midst of my friends, <& how I regained my liberty,> I feel by the Spirit of the Lord that if I had fallen into their <your> hands that they <you> would either have brought me safe home, or that we should all have died in a heap, together; at this time, a well dressed man, a Stranger, who had a Cloak <wrapp> around him, broke thro the South line of the ranks, when the Orderly Sergeant handed his gun to one of the Soldiers & took the Stranger man by the nape of the neck & kicked him outside the ranks, telling him not to come in again; as soon as this quiet was resumed, I continued my address, to the Company, I <&> had scarce spoken 15 minutes, when the <same> Stranger again broke the ranks, which annoyed me, the & I stopt speaking; the 1st. Lieutt. then marched out of the ranks & struck at him with the barrel of his gun, but he fortunately escaped & retired.
about dusk I dismissed the Company, blessing them in the name of the Lord.
My brother then blest them also, commending them for their diligence & attention to the instructions given them <by him> before their departure—
The following is the report of their doings
(copy)
returned from in the evening, & reported to me that on his arriving at , he found that they < & > had filed their affidavits, that <he> () had with armed force taken me out of their hands at the head of Elleston <Grove>; & that they had also got up a petition which was signed by the Inhabitants of , & sent it to by the hands of & , requesting him to issue <raise> a comme possetatus <posse commetatus> & they would come to & <re>take me; they were to start by the mail early on the 2nd. this morning & requestd to go on <with> the mail to & request him to suspend all proceedings, until could see him with the documents <could be got> to shew the true state of the case; on going to the Stage proprietor, he engaged & paid for the <a> passage for one man; on their finding who was going, & objected to him going, & that objection was accepted by the Stage Proprietor, altho he had received the passage money— he then hired a horse from for him to ride. who he arrived at
<3> I directed the to call a special of <to choose> to go into all the <different> Counties of <to preach the gospel & disabuse the public mind with regard to my arrest—> Elders , , <,> , , & met <the Elders> at the <& it was decided &c> (see T&S <black> 240) Clerk
about noon Gen with 25 men, returned about noon, formed a square in front of my house, & sung a new song. I went out shook hands with each individual & blest them in the name of the Lord
The following is the <a> report of their journey expedition—