"But an alert Army bugler blew 'stable call.' To the mules, that meant food. So the Army mules not only returned, but some of the mules with Rockwell went, too. So he lost some of his own mounts," MacKinnon said. "His buddies kidded him about it for months."

Gen. (Daniel) Wells (commander of the Mormon militia), looking at me as straight as possible, asked if I could take a few men and turn back the trains that were on the road or burn them. I replied that I thought I could do just what he told me to. — Lot Smith, Mormon militia (Nauvoo Legion)

Eldredge, who is writing a guide to the trail of Johnston's Army, looks over the sage desert not far from the intersection of today's I-80 and U.S. 30 near Granger, Wyo. He says the war would first become hot here — literally and figuratively.

Lot Smith encountered an Army supply train here on Oct. 2, 1857. Amid his threats, the train promised to return east to avoid being burned. But as soon as Smith's militia was out of sight, the supply train turned west again to try to join the infantry and find protection.

After that, Smith decided to burn wagon trains whenever he had the chance — and burned 50 wagons in two detachments on Oct. 3. The next day he burned another unprotected train, after Smith and the wagonmaster had a short, classic conversation.

(I asked) him to get all of his men and their private property as quickly as possible out of the wagons for I meant to put a little fire to them. He exclaimed, "For God's sake, don't burn the trains." I said it was for his sake that I meant to burn them. — Capt. Lot Smith, Mormon militia

Eldredge says that while Mormons would claim to fire no shots at the Army during the war (although the Army said otherwise), one of Smith's men did fire a shot by accident just after that wagon burning that was a doozy. Smith recalled how it hit three of his own men.

He wrote, "The heavy ball passed through Orson P. Arnold's thigh, braking bone in a fearful manner, struck Philo Dibble in the side of the head, and went through Samuel Bateman's hat just missing his head and pulling his hair."

Hard-headed Dibble would suffer no damage and would participate in many more raids and help spy on Army movements from the top of Bridger Butte and other hills. More interesting to travelers today, he etched his name into rock along the Mormon trail near a Mormon express station that serves as a testament to his survival.

Advanced portions of the Army established what was to be called Camp Winfield — in honor of the U.S. Army's longtime commanding general, Winfield Scott — on the Ham's Fork river near the border of today's Sweetwater and Lincoln counties.