The Rescue at Crooked River

In late October 1838, tensions in Missouri reached a boiling point. Captain Samuel Bogart, a Methodist minister who led a local militia that frequently operated as an anti-Mormon mob, began patrolling the borders of Caldwell County, harassing Latter-day Saint settlers. On October 24, Bogart and his men took three Latter-day Saint men hostage—Nathan Pinkham, William Seely, and Addison Green—and threatened to execute them. Word of the kidnapping reached Far West, and Judge Elias Higbee, the highest civil authority in the county, authorized the Caldwell County militia to rescue the prisoners. Apostle David W. Patten led a company of about 75 men on a night march to Bogart’s encampment on the banks of Crooked River. Arriving at dawn on October 25, the Latter-day Saint militia was fired upon by Bogart’s sentries. A brief, fierce battle ensued in the brush. Patten, leading a charge with the watchword "God and Liberty," successfully routed Bogart’s forces, who fled across the river. The Latter-day Saints miraculously succeeded in their primary objective: they rescued all three hostages, delivering them from near-certain execution. However, the deliverance came at a heavy cost, as David W. Patten and two others (Gideon Carter and Patrick O'Banion) were mortally wounded. The event stands as a profound testament of the Saints' willingness to lay down their lives to protect and deliver their brethren from the hands of violent persecutors like Bogart.