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Source: Church History Vol. 1 Chapter 15 Page: 420 (~1834)

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420 To this Governor Dunklin replied as follows:-

"CITY OF JEFFERSON, May 2, 1834.

"To Messrs. W. W. Phelps and others; Gentlemen:-Yours of the 24th ult., is before me, in reply to which I can inform you that becoming impatient at the delay of the court of inquiry in making their report in the case of Lieutenant Colonel Pitcher; on the 11th ult. I wrote to General Thompson for the reasons of such delay; last night I received his reply, and with it the report of the court of inquiry, from the tenor of which I find no difficulty in deciding that the arms your people were required to surrender on the 5th of last November should be returned; and have issued his order to Colonel Lucas to deliver them to you or your order, which order is here inclosed [enclosed].

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

"(Signed) Daniel Dunklin."

-Times and Seasons, vol. 6, p. 1073.

By the following it will be seen that a competent court decided unanimously that the calling out of the troops by Col. Pitcher, in November, 1833, was illegal, and the demanding of the arms of the Mormons was unnecessary. Thus were the brethren vindicated by the court.

This order for the return of their arms was issued by Governor Dunklin, as commander in chief, and is as follows:-

"CITY OF JEFFERSON, May 2, 1834.

"To Samuel D. Lucas, Colonel Thirty-third Regiment; Sir:-The court ordered to inquire into the conduct of Lieutenant Colonel Pitcher, in the movement he made on the 5th November last, report it as their unanimous opinion that there was no insurrection on that day, and that Colonel Pitcher was not authorized to call out his troops on the 5th November, 1833. It was then unnecessary to require the Mormons to give up their arms. Therefore, you will deliver to W. W. Phelps, E. Partridge, John Corrill, John Whitmer, and A. S. Gilbert, or their order, the fifty-two guns, and one pistol reported by Lieutenant Colonel Pitcher to you on the 3d December last. as having been received by

(page 420)

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