There was neither bread nor flour to be had in the place. A steamboat landed there, and application was made to get flour; but the captain said there was none on board.
A man then offered his services to get flour for the place, knowing, he said, where there was a quantity. Money was given to him for that purpose. He got on the boat and went off, and that was the last we heard of the man or the money. This was a man who had been frequently in De Witt during the siege, and professed great friendship.
In this time of extremity, a man who had a short time before moved into De Witt, bringing with him a fine yoke of cattle, started out to hunt his cattle, in order to butcher them, to keep the citizens from actual starvation; but before he got far from the town, he was fired upon by the mob, and narrowly escaped with his life, and had to return; or, at least, such was his report when he returned.
Being now completely enclosed on every side, we could plainly see many men on the opposite side of the river, and it was supposed that they were there to prevent the citizens from crossing; and, indeed, a small craft crossed from them, and three men in it, who said that that was the object for which they had assembled.
At this critical moment, with death staring us in the face, in its worst form, cut off from all communication with the surrounding country, and all our provisions exhausted, we were sustained as the children of Israel in the desert, only by different animals,—they by quails, and we by cattle and hogs which came into camp; for such it truly was, as the people were living in tents and wagons, not being privileged with building houses.
What was to be done in this extremity? Why, recourse was had to the only means of subsistence left, and that was to butcher the cattle and hogs which came into the place, without asking who was the owner, or without knowing; and what to me is remarkable is, that a sufficient number of animals came into the camp to sustain life during the time in which the citizens were beseiged by the mob. This indeed, was but coarse living; but such as it was, it sustained life.
From this circumstance the cry went out that the citizens of De Witt were thieves and plunderers, and were stealing cattle and hogs. During this time, the mob of Carroll county said that all they wanted was that the citizens of De Witt should leave Carroll county and go to Caldwell and Daviess counties.
The citizens, finding that they must leave De Witt or eventually starve, finally agreed to leave; and accordingly preparations were made, and De Witt was vacated.
The first evening after we left, we put up for the night in a grove of timber. Soon after our arrival in the grove, a female who a short time before had given birth to a child, in consequence of exposure, died.
A grave was dug in the grove, and the next morning the body was deposited in it without a coffin, and the company proceeded on their journey, part of them going to Daviess county, and part into Caldwell. This was in the month of October, 1838.