After departing upon his mission, Elder Woodruff and others passed the first week in holding public meetings, and on the 18th of May held their first conference in Newark, Kendall County, Illinois. With him at this conference was George A. Smith of the Twelve. At its close they were joined by Elders Charles C. Rich, David Fulmer, and Henry Jacobs from Nauvoo. The evening following they held a political meeting over which Wilford Woodruff presided. Henry Jacobs read the views of Joseph Smith on the policy and powers of the general government. Spirited addresses were made by David Fulmer, Wilford Woodruff, and George A. Smith. The day following they rode thirty miles to Joliet, where a similar meeting was held, and where a good impression was made upon the minds of the people. In his journal he says: "We continued from place to place, holding forth in public assemblage upon political subjects, reading the {206} views of Joseph Smith and placing him before the public as a fit candidate for the presidency of the United States. "On the first of June we held conference in Comstock, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. There were present two of the Quorum, myself and George A. Smith. There were eight high priests; S. Bent, Charles C. Richor, David Fulmer, H. Green, Z. Coltrin, Moses Smith, Ezra Thayer, and G. Coltrin; eight seventies and fourteen elders; two priests and one deacon. Charles C. Rich, in council with the officers, appointed the elders to their respective stations in the several counties of the state, and he manifested much wisdom in arranging to carry out his work both in politics and religion in the state of Michigan." On the eighth day they held a conference in Pleasant Valley, and another in Franklin on the fifteenth. Soon after this Elder Woodruff proceeded to Boston, where he arrived on the 26th of June. On the 27th, the most sorrowful day of this dispensation, he was in company with President Brigham Young. Of this day he subsequently wrote: "The day of the martyrdom, Brigham Young and myself were seated in the railroad station at the time Joseph and Hyrum were assassinated. This was June the 27th, at quarter past five in the evening, at Carthage, Illinois. It was half-past six in Boston. As we sat in the station, Brigham was very sorrowful and depressed in spirit, not knowing the cause. This was the time when Satan struck the heaviest blow he had struck since the Son of God was crucified. We well knew afterwards why all the Twelve, wherever they were on that day and at that time, were, like the president of our Quorum, sorrowful, and burdened in spirit without knowing why."