The winter of 1845-1846 in Hancock County passed without any renewed outbreak, but the credit for this seems to have been due to the firmness and good judgment of Major W. B. Warren, whom General Hardin placed in command of the force which he left in that county to preserve order, rather than to any improvement in the relations between the two parties, even after the Mormons had agreed to depart. Major Warren's command, which at first consisted of one hundred men, and was reduced during the winter to fifty and later to ten, came from Quincy, and had as subordinate officers James D. Morgan and B. M. Prentiss, whose names became famous as Union generals in the war of the rebellion. Warren showed no favoritism in enforcing his authority, and he was called on to exercise it against both sides. The local newspapers of the day contain accounts of occasional burnings during the winter, and of murders committed here and there. On November 17, a meeting of citizens of Warsaw, who styled themselves "a portion of the anti-Mormon party," was held to protest against such acts as burnings and the murder of a Mormon, ten miles south of Warsaw, and to demand adherence to the agreement entered into. On February 5, Major Warren had to issue a warning to an organization of anti-Mormons who had ordered a number of Mormon families to leave the county by May 1, if they did not want to be burned out. Governor Ford sent Mr. Brayman to Hancock County as legal counsel for the military commander. In a report dated December 14, 1845, Mr. Brayman said of the condition of affairs as he found them:-- "Judicial proceedings are but mockeries of the forms of law; juries, magistrates and officers of every grade concerned in the civil affairs of the county partake so deeply of the prevailing excitement that no reliance, as a general thing, can be placed on their action. Crime enjoys a disgraceful impunity, and each one feels at liberty to commit any aggression, or to avenge his own wrongs to any extent, without legal accountability.... Whether the parties will become reconciled or quieted, so as to live together in peace, is doubted.... Such a series of outrages and bold violations of law as have marked the history of Hancock County for several years past is a blot upon our institutions; ought not to be endured by a civilized people." * * Warsaw Signal, December 24, 1845.