Colonel Hinkle upon being notified by this committee became indignant, and threatened extermination to all who should attempt to molest him or the Saints.
In anticipation of trouble, and believing that the Gentiles would attempt to force them from De Witt, "Mormon" recruits flocked to the town from every direction, and pitched their tents in and around the town in great numbers.
The Gentiles, nothing daunted, planned an attack upon this encampment, to take place on the 21st of September, 1838, and, accordingly, one hundred and fifty men bivouacked near the town on that day. A conflict ensued, but nothing serious occurred.
The "Mormons" evacuated their works and fled to some log houses, where they could the more successfully resist the Gentiles, who had in the meantime returned to their camp to await reinforcements. Troops from Howard, Ray and other counties came to their assistance, and increased their number to five hundred men.
Congreve Jackson was chosen brigadier-general; Ebenezer Price, colonel; Singleton Vaughn, lieutenant-colonel, and Sashel Woods, major. After some days of discipline, this brigade prepared for an assault, but before the attack was commenced Judge James Earickson and William F. Dunnica, influential citizens of Howard County, asked permission of General Jackson to let them try and adjust the difficulties without bloodshed.
It was finally agreed that Judge Earickson should propose to the "Mormons" that, if they would pay for all the cattle they had killed belonging to the citizens, and load their wagons during the night and be ready to move by ten o'clock next morning, and make no further attempt to settle in Howard County, the citizens would purchase at first cost their lots in DeWitt, and one or two adjoining tracts of land.
Colonel Hinkle, the leader of the "Mormons," at first refused all attempts to settle the difficulties in this way, but finally agreed to the proposition.
In accordance therewith, the "Mormons," without further delay, loaded, up their wagons for the town of Far West, in Caldwell County. Whether the terms of the agreement were ever carried out, on the part of the citizens, it is not known.
The "Mormons" had doubtless suffered much and in many ways—the result of their own acts—but their trials and sufferings were not at an end.
In 1838 the discord between the citizens and the "Mormons" became so great that Governor Boggs issued a proclamation ordering Major-General David R. Atchison to call the militia of his division to enforce the laws. He called out a part of the first brigade of the Missouri State Militia, under the command of General A. W. Doniphan, who proceeded to the seat of war. General John B. Clark, of Howard County, was placed in command of the militia.