Battle of Crooked River
25 October 1838
Compilation of Sources by Ron Romig and Mel Tungate, 11-6-2003
Immediately after the battle, excited reports of the encouter flew across the Missouri countryside. The Mormon attack upon Bogart created wide-spred alarm among Missouri non-Mormons. This excitement encouraged Boggs to take aggressive action to quell the growing disturbance. New orders to General Clark authorized him to "proceed immediately to Richmond and then operate against the Mormons." [Boggs to John B. Clark, 27 October 1838, Document Concerning Correspondence and Orders..., 61].
Aware that there would be consequences for Mormons in the battle, leaders urged participants to flee the state. Lorenzo D. Young said if the Missouri militia, "succeeded in taking the brethren who were in the Crooked River battle, they would be tried by a court martial and shot... [so] after counseling over the matter, it was decided that I, and others in the same situation should start that night into the wilderness north, for the Des Moines River, in Iowa Territory." [Young, "Narrative," 52]. Ebenezer Robinson recalled, "That night [31 October 1838], about sixty of those who had ben engaged in the Crooked River battle... were advised to leave, being looked upon as men who had periled their lives in defense of their brethren, and their friends wished them to escape the wrath of their persecutors." [Robinson, "Items of Personal History," 210].
A second group of six or seven participants, led by Dimick B. Hungington, left Far West 1 November, 1838, minutes before the surrender to General Lucas' forces." [Huntington, "Reminiscences and Journal," 16-17]. Some individuals, like William Bosley and John Pack, left on their own. [Julia Ives Pack, "Autobiography...," in Kate B. Carter, comp., Our Pioneer Heritage, 9 (1966): 449]. Additionally, some participants remained in the Far West area and evaded capture by hiding. Charles C. Rich, Parley P. Pratt and Lyman Wight helped with the defense of Far West and were among those arrested.
John Pack in later years
Helen Mar Kimball Whitney provides a glimpse into the subsequent experiences of Patten's wife, Phoebe Ann.
“Since writing my reminiscences I have thought of the names of many who lived and died for the truth. Among these was the widow of Brother David W. Patten. She was a noble and self-sacrificing woman, who left all for the gospel's sake, and her husband being a missionary, she was early thrown upon her own resources, and though she had a slight and delicate frame, she had a persevering and energetic spirit, was neat, and naturally of a refined nature and could not be happy in idleness. She was a seamstress by trade and worked for her living. The hardships and privations incident to a western life, particularly to the Latter-day Saints, soon broke her down and brought on consumption. After her husband was killed, she, being like the rest destitute, felt that she must do something for her support, and not finding anything else that she could do, concluded to take a few boarders. Among them was a young man who, though not a member of our Church, bore a good character, and, to be brief, he loved her, and seeing her lonely condition, proposed to marry her. She accepted. This step, at the time, caused many to think her weak in the faith. When we afterwards met her in Quincy, Illinois, she told my parents why she married without asking counsel, said she was no longer able to work and had no one to take care of her, and she knew what the counsel would be if she asked it, and not wishing to disobey, she did it on her own responsibility. As soon as he heard and understood the gospel, he received it. After father [Heber C. Kimball] came to us in Quincy, they having a house with two rooms, gave us one to live in while father went up to Commerce to prepare a place for us. His name was Bentley. He was a carpenter by trade, industrious and well able to provide everything she needed or desired, and though a number of years younger than she, he was perfectly devoted to her, and his study by day and by night was to make her comfortable. No one could show greater love and tenderness toward a wife than he did, until her spirit took its flight which, if I remember rightly, was the second year after the Saints settled at Nauvoo” [Phoebe Ann Patten, Women's Exponent, 9 (1880)].
Log and Goose Creek Participants in Battle of Crooked River
LDS Historic Sites - BCR
C.C. Rich Account of Battle of Crooked River
Historical Sketch of James Hendricks and Drusilla Dorris Hendricks
David Patten in Northwestern Missouri
Where David Patten Died
Far West Burial Ground