When, after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the mobs raged about Nauvoo, Daniel defended the city. Indeed he fought valiantly in the last battle of Nauvoo, serving as a leader of the defenders as they provided cover for the straggling evacuees. He was not baptized until 1846 but proceeded at that time to move west with the Saints.
Well respected for his many years of integrity, he was elected Attorney General of Deseret in 1849. Later when Jedediah M. Grant died at the age of forty, Daniel was ordained an Apostle and set apart as Second Counselor to President Brigham Young. Though an Apostle, President Wells was never sustained as a member of the Twelve. When President Young died in 1877, he was sustained as a Counselor to the Twelve Apostles.
