Battle of Crooked River
25 October 1838
Compilation of Sources by Ron Romig and Mel Tungate, 11-6-2003

    Church member Nancy Tracy provided a description of events leading up to the Crooked River battle.
    "The mob [Ray County Militia] went with a large force into Crooked River with a Methodist minister at their head and took the brothers prisoners and abused the people until they had to dispatch a messenger to Far West for assistance. We had to move back into the city for it was not safe to stay outside, because the people were getting so hostile, and, besides, I had been confined with my third child. I was sick in bed, when about midnight, we heard the drum beat on the public square, which was a signal for the brethren to come together. My husband immediately arose, dressed, and went over to the square. When volunteers were called for to start right away for the scene of trouble to try to make peace if not to disperse the mob, they organized a company of fifty with David W. Patten as their captain. My husband came home and told us he had volunteered to go with the brethren to disperse the mob at Crooked River. I was very sick and in bed with a young babe and shaking with the ague, but I told him to go and I would do the best I could, although I was alone with my three little children and couldn't get out of bed. So he prepared himself as quickly as he could and started off. It was 20 miles to the scene of trouble." [Autobiography of Nancy Naomi Alexander Tracy, typescript, HBLL also a Holograph Autobiography in Bancroft Library; http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/NTracy.html].
    Captain Killian attempted to bolster Far West by calling for church defenders from outlying settlements to come help defend Far West. Rigdon wrote, “Such was the situation of affairs at Far West at that time, that Captain Killian could not spare any of his forces, as an attack was hourly expected at Far West. The messenger went off, and I heard no more about it, till some time [in] the night…” [Sidney Rigdon, Times and Seasons, 4, No. 18 (August 1, 1843)]. Meanwhile, Lyman Wight and a company of seventy-five arrived from Adam-ondi-Ahman to help defend Far West. [Confessions of John D. Lee].
    On hearing the [late night] report [of the expresses], “Judge Elias Higbee, the first judge of the county, ordered Lieutenant Colonel Hinkle, the highest officer in command [of the Caldwell Militia] in Far West, to send out [page 170] a company to disperse the mob and retake their prisoners, whom, it was reported, they intended to murder that night.” At this point, Joseph Smith separated the cavalry from the forces previously commanded by Hinkle and placed them under Captain Patton. That night, “the trumpet sounded, and the brethren were assembled on the public square about midnight, when the facts were stated, and about seventy-five volunteered to obey the judge's order, under command of Captain David W. Patten, who immediately commenced their march on horseback, hoping without the loss of blood to surprise and scatter the camp, retake the prisoners and prevent the attack threatening Far West." [Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 3, 169] About forty men responded to the alarm and gathered on the public square. Rigdon recalled, “I was awakened from sleep by the voice of some man apparently giving command to a military body, being somewhat unwell, I did not get up.” [Sidney Rigdon, Times and Seasons, 4, No. 18 (August 1, 1843)]. Alan Stout stated, “That night there was a call made for men to go and retake some prisoners from Captain Bogart, so Jones and Hosea went, but I had no arms nor saddle, so I could not go…” [Alan Stout, journal, http://www.farwesthistory.com/stout.htm].

    Charles Rich, seeing Patten was unable to rally a sufficient force at that late hour, immediately left in advance of the company and gathered additional men from the Goose and Log Creek areas, along the highway leading down to Crooked River. Those coming from Far West and the comanies roused by Rich rejoined at Benjamin Braggs, south of Log Creek, in the Southwest ¼ of the Southwest ¼ of Section 11, Township 55 [Rockford Township], Range 29. As a result, a number of the participants in the resulting battle lived in the Goose and Log Creek areas.
    From excerpts of an account by Drusilla Hendricks: "…Bro. C C. Rich called at the door for him [James Hendricks] and told him what he wanted. They had word that the mob was on Crooked River ten miles south of us and was a strong band. He said they had two of our brethren as prisoners and were doing all the damage that lay in their power." [Drusilla Hendricks, Women's Voices, 90-95].
    Freeborn H. Gardner also joined Patten's company and went as far as "Bragg's place," While there, "I heard D. Patten… lecturing the troops; heard him direct his men how to shoot – to bring their guns up on a rise to their object, and hold their breath, and fire; and generally they would make a deadly shoot [sic]… But Gardner decided to turn back and didn't participate in the raid on Bogart. Benjamin Bragg's place was located in the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 11, township 55, range 29 [Correspondence & Orders, 133-134].
    At Braggs, Patten divided his force into companies of ten. After organizing, the company continued on the main road south along the Richmond road for approximately four miles. Patten did not know where on Crooked River to look for the Missourians. Somewhere en route, Patten's party "ran across a young man about eighteen years old by the name of Patrick O'Banion who knew where he could find them, and he [Patten] compelled O'Banion to go with them and show them the way." [John Rigdon, "The Life and Testimony of Sidney Rigdon"].
    Believing that Bogart was camped at John Fields', --a short distance south of McDonalds-- they tied up their horses and proceeded on foot, leaving Isaac Decker, Luman Gibbs, and maybe others to watch the animals. Unable to locate Bogart at Fields' house, the force moved on toward Crooked River. [A. P. Rockwood, "Journal," 25; and C. C. Rich, "Extract from Charles C. Rich's History," Millennial Star, 26 (9 July 1864): 440]. Lorenzo Dow Young noted, "We kept the road to a ford on Crooked River, twenty miles distant, where we expected to find the mob. Just as the day was breaking we dismounted, about a mile from the ford, tied our horses… We marched down the road some distance, when we heard the crack of a rifle. Brother Obanion, who was one step in advance of me fell. I assisted brother John P. Green, who was the captain of the platoon I belonged to, to carry him to the side of the road. We asked the Lord to preserve his life, laid him down, ran on and took our places again. The man who shot Brother Obanion was a picket guard of the mob, who was secreted in ambush by the roadside." [Lorenzo Dow Young, Four Faith Promoting Classics, Fragments of Experience, 50-51].