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Sealings for couples commenced the following day, January 9, 1846. We are at a loss to know why William H. and Eliza did not have this ordinance performed at this time. The sealings did not take place until March 2, 1861, in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah. President Brigham Young officiated. Patriarch John Smith had given William H. Folsom a Patriarchal Blessing on February 5, 1846, in Nauvoo.
The Folsom family was not among the Saints leaving Nauvoo in the spring of 1846. They witnessed the dedication of the Temple on May 1, 1846, and William H. continued to work on some of the interior finishing.
Church Historian Andrew Jenson records the following:
"The few remaining Saints at Nauvoo, of whom only about one hundred and twenty-five were able to bear arms, were attacked by an armed mob, about eighteen hundred strong, who with five pieces of artillery bombarded the city for several days. The brethren organized for self-defense and stopped the mobbers about two miles from the city. --The mobbers were prevented from entering Nauvoo by the gallantry of the "Spartan Band", who fired on the enemy with cannons made of steamboat shafts." (Church Chronology for Sept. 10 & 11, 1846.)
The following is a description of the Battle of Nauvoo as related to Church Historian Andrew Jenson by William Harrison Folsom, one of the Spartan Band:
When the mob observed that most of the able bodied men had left Nauvoo in the Spring of 1846, they increased their indignities. This condition increased all during the summer months. Finally, those in charge of the Saints remaining in Nauvoo asked for sixty days in which to prepare to leave the City but Carlin and Thomas S. Brockman, who were in charge of the mob, gave orders for their men to march on the City and force the Saints to leave immediately. On the 10th of September, Brockman, at the head of his group, marched into Nauvoo. The Saints or "Defenders" as they were called were organized into three small companies under Commander Gates, William Anderson and Repshaw. Daniel H. Wells, Captain Clifford, and William Cutler were also officers of the "Defenders." (Note: These officers are listed in the Journal of John W. Dutson, member of Nauvoo Legion, but Church records state that Captain Anderson and Almon L. Fuller were in charge of the "Spartan Band", as the "Defenders" were known. To continue with the Folsom story...)' "The Saints had been promised reinforcements by Mayor Parker, but they did not arrive. They soon realized that they would be attacked and must rely' on their own resources to defend themselves. Consequently, they converted old steam boat shafts which they salvaged from the Mississippi River, into cannon. Each company built a shelter during the night time and they attempted to prevent entrance into the City."
"Thursday 10 September (1846) I was in the Nauvoo Temple repairing guns at the time the mob was cannonading our brethren. In the evening Wendall Nance, Elijah Fordham and myself were in the south side of the Temple making powder plot. We 'worked until late and slept in the Temple. About noon of the 11th we put one (powder plot) in the ground at the northwest corner of Esquire D. H. Wells field in the lane. At this time the mob was advancing across Law's North hemp field and were in sight before we got it planted. The mob formed a line of battle and advanced towards us until they were stopped by William Gheen's cannon who fired the first shot at them. The next was fired by William Somerville and the third by William Gheen; then we retreated some distance and the mob halted a short time.