In Far West a thousand men of our Mormon Israel flew to arms, and in Davies county several hundred men assembled for defence. Colonel David Patten, an apostle, with his company put to flight some of the mob; but the crusaders in general drove the saints from settlement after settlement. Hundreds of men, women and children fled from their homes to the cities and strongholds of their people. From Davies county and the frontiers of Caldwell the refugees daily poured into the city of Far West. Lands and crops were abandoned to the enemy. The citizens in the capital of the saints were constantly under arms. Men slept in their clothes, with arms by their side, ready to muster at a given signal at any hour of the night. A company under Colonel Patten went out to meet the enemy across the prairies, a distance of twelve miles, to stop the murder and spoliation of a settlement of their people. Parley Pratt was one of the posse. "The night was dark," he says; "the distant plains far and wide were illuminated by blazing fires; immense columns of smoke were seen rising in awful majesty, as if the world was on fire. This scene, added to the silence of midnight, the rumbling sound of the tramping steeds over the hard and dried surface of the plain, the clanking of swords in their scabbards, the occasional gleam of bright armor in the flickering firelight, the gloom of surrounding darkness, and the unknown destiny of the expedition, or even of the people who sent it forth, all combined to impress the mind with deep and solemn thoughts." At dawn of day they met the enemy in ambush in the wilderness. The enemy opened fire, mortally wounding a brother named O'Banyon. Soon the brethren charged the enemy in his camp; several fell upon both sides, among whom was the brave apostle, David Patten; but the foemen flung themselves into a stream and escaped on the opposite shore, while the wilderness resounded with the watchword of the heroes, "_God and Liberty_:" Six of the brethren were wounded, and one left dead on the ground. The heroes returned to Far West. Among those who came out to meet them was the wife of the dying apostle, Patten. "O God! O my husband!" she exclaimed, bursting into tears. The wounds were dressed. David was still able to speak, but he died that evening in the triumphs of faith. "I had rather die," he said, "than live to see it thus in my country!" The young O'Banyon also died about the same time. They were buried together under military honors; a whole people in tears followed them to their grave. David Patten was the first of the modern apostles who found a martyr's grave. He is said to have been a great and good man, who chose to lay down his life for the cause of truth and right.