John Lockhart
Correspondence and Orders State of Missouri
Myself and the other guards were standing at the same tree, near the road, about a quarter of a mile from the camp; and about day-break we discovered men approaching us in the road. When the front of them got within about 15 or 20 steps of us, the other guard raised his gun. I told him not to shoot, but to hail them. He hailed them, and asked, "Who comes there?" They replied, "a friend;" but still moved on. I hailed the second time, and bade them to stand. I asked who was there; they answered, a friend. I asked them if they had any arms, and go off, and leave them; they told me to come and get them. I again told them to lay them down, and leave them; they made a noise with their guns, as if they were laying them down, and again called to us to come and get them. I could see clear enough to perceive that they had not laid down their guns, as they said they had done; but had them on their shoulders. At that time I discovered one of the men strike the ground with his sword, and immediately I heard a percussion cap burst without the gun's firing. I told the other guard to shoot; that they had bursted a cap at us; and immediately I raised my gun and fired—the other did not shoot. We then ran to camp, where, in a few moments, the Mormons arrived, and the action
commenced.
