Following the battle of the Blue, excitement ran high. November 5, 1833, at the instigation of Lieutenant Governor Lilburn W. Boggs, the militia was called out under command of Colonel Thomas Pitcher, one of the leaders of the mob of July 23. It was stated that the militia had been called for the protection of the Saints, but it had every appearance of a mob and in its ranks were many of the most bitter enemies of the Church. Colonel Pitcher demanded that the Saints surrender their arms. This they refused to do unless their enemies should also be disarmed. Colonel Pitcher readily agreed to this proposition to which Lieutenant Governor Boggs also pledged his honor. Another demand was that certain brethren who had been engaged in the battle the day before were to be surrendered and tried for murder. Both of these demands were complied with by the Saints. Misplaced Confidence Having confidence in the pledge of the lieutenant governor, the Saints returned to their homes feeling somewhat secure from further attacks. Their confidence, however, had been misplaced, for it was a cunning scheme of this state official, and the other leaders of the mob, to place the members of the Church in a defenseless position and then drive them from the county; which, forthwith, they proceeded to do. The arms were never taken from the members of the mob, but those taken from the Saints were distributed among their enemies to be used against them."[1] The following day gangs of men, numbering sixty or more, went from house to house whipping the men, driving the women and children from their homes at the muzzles of their guns, and setting fire to their houses, to make sure their owners would not return. More than two hundred houses were destroyed in the several raids of the mob. The men who surrendered themselves under the charge of murder, were detained for one day and a night and sorely abused; then they were taken out into a cornfield by this same Colonel Pitcher and told to "clear!" meaning they were to leave immediately for parts unknown. The Saints in Exile These attacks continued for several days and among those directing the forces of the mob were several "reverend" gentlemen who took pleasure in these wicked deeds. By the 7th of November, the banks of the Missouri River were lined with refugees who had gathered in the utmost confusion, so hasty had been their flight. Twelve hundred souls were thus forced to seek shelter, the best they could, in the dead of winter, and in the midst of storms. Many died from exposure and the abuse otherwise heaped upon them and the fleeing multitude left, in the frozen stubble, a trail of blood from their lacerated feet. The exiled Saints sought refuge in the neighboring counties, but from some of these they were again forced to flee before the inhospitable inhabitants among whom they found themselves. In Clay County, just across the river north of Jackson, they were received temporarily with some degree of kindness.