Thousands of weeping Saints met the sorrowful procession. The bodies were taken at once to Joseph's home and arranged for burial. Apostle Richards and Colonel Stephen Markham and others spoke to the Saints, telling them that vengeance belonged to God, and exhorting them to remain at peace. Next morning the doors were opened and ten thousand Saints passed by the coffins of the martyrs and looked upon their beloved faces. At night the funeral was held, but bags of sand were placed in the rough pine boxes where the caskets had been, and these were buried. At midnight the bodies were carried by ten of the brethren and were secretly buried under the foundation of the Nauvoo House, from which place at a later time they were moved and again buried. This secrecy was necessary for fear of those who would have robbed the graves.
And this is the life and death of the man who was chosen, when the foundations of the world were laid, to stand next to Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten, in the importance of His work here upon the earth. God took him in his youth and trained him in His own school. He was a mortal man, but how splendid was his manhood, how glorious his mortality! Like the Master, he died young, but like His also were the mighty works he performed in that life. He died as he had lived, the type of highest love. He offered his life for his friends and sealed his testimony with his blood.