According to a hostile account provided by an interpreter who was present at JS’s April 1843 interview with three Potawatomi chiefs, the chiefs claimed to have received intelligence identifying JS as a British agent. “The Chiefs had full confidence that Joe Smith was in reality a British Officer, saying also that though they had been repeatedly informed this by the whites, and in proof of their assertion presented a large British medal made of silver, representing a half moon with the image of a Kings crown on one side.” (Henry King, Keokuk, Iowa Territory, to John Chambers, Burlington, Iowa Territory, 14 July 1843, in Territorial Papers of the United States, the Territory of Iowa, reel 56.)

Territorial Papers of the United States, the Territory of Iowa, 1838–1846. National Archives Microfilm Publications, microcopy M325. 102 reels. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1979.

Although records of meetings between JS and American Indian delegations during the 1840s do not mention such requests, they were likely routine. When several Potawatomis arrived in Nauvoo in June 1843 when JS was away, they “manifested a desire to see the Temple & the city” and “said they were hungry.” Wilford Woodruff “took them home & fed them gave them some trinklets &c.” (Woodruff, Journal, 26 June 1843.)

Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.