[7] Bogart had previously been dispatched to help disperse the siege of DeWitt[broken anchor]; however his militia went rogue and joined the vigilantes that harried the Mormons in Carroll County.

Bogart and his party began visiting the homes of Latter Day Saints living in Bunkham's Strip, forcibly disarming them and ordering them to leave Ray County.

[8] Returning to Ray County, his men captured three Mormons — Nathan Pinkham, Jr., William Seely, and Addison Green.

Reports quickly made it to Far West to the effect that a "mob" had captured and intended to execute a group of Mormon prisoners.

[9] After Lockhart reportedly heard a gun snap, he shot at the crowd, hitting Patrick O'Bannion, the Mormons' scout.

Lockhart fled down the hill to the militia camp,[11] while the Mormon company formed a line in three columns, led by David W. Patten, Charles C. Rich, and Patrick Durfee.

The Mormons collected their wounded as well as the baggage which Bogart's unit had left in the camp and made their way back to Far West.

Exaggerated reports of the Mormon incursion into Daviess County and of the battle (some claiming that half of Bogart's men had been lost) made their way to Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs.

He responded by issuing an executive order calling out 2,500 state militiamen to put down what he perceived to be open rebellion by the Mormons.

Two days later, Governor Boggs issued an order that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state" and directed the militia to carry this into effect.