West, but being deceived by the messenger we sent him for council, we understood it not, for our messenger said to Joseph what shall we do that is at the mill, Joseph said gather up all of you and come to Far West. "What?" said the messenger, whose name was Jacob Hawn, the owner of mill, "leave the mill and let it be burnt down? We think we can maintain it." "If you maintain it" said Joseph, "you will do well do as you please." The messenger returned and said if we thought we could maintain the mill it was Joseph's council for us to do it, if we thought not, to come to Far West and we thought from the way the thing was represented it would be like cowards to leave and not try to maintain it, and as they agreed to be at peace we thought to gather up our houses would be useless, for we did not know that it was Joseph's decided council for us to do so . . ." It appears that Hawn had received Joseph Smith's direction to relocate to Far West but did not convey this direction to any of the others at Hawn's Mill. Of the matter, Smith recorded, "Up to this day God had given me wisdom to save the people who took counsel. None had ever been killed who abode by my counsel." Then he recorded that innocent lives could have been saved at Hawn's Mill had his counsel been received and followed. "For I am the Lord your God, and will save all those of your brethren who have been pure in heart, and have been slain in the land of Missouri, saith the Lord." Captain Nehemiah Comstock's contingent of Livingston militia occupied the mill for nearly three weeks harassing and plundering the Mormons. Life during the winter of 1838–1839 became essentially that of day-to-day survival. Most of the families banded together until they could make arrangements to move along with the rest of the Saints to Illinois. Non-Mormon Harrison Severe, who had refused to join the mob, left with the Mormons. By the end of February 1839, all of the Mormons had left. Jacob Hawn moved to Oregon and became a pioneer settler of Yamhill County. As this and other confrontations unfolded between Mormons and the people in the state of Missouri, Mormons appealed for redress