diff --git a/watchtower/wtserver/server.go b/watchtower/wtserver/server.go
index 99230276..24483d3a 100644
--- a/watchtower/wtserver/server.go
+++ b/watchtower/wtserver/server.go
@@ -295,6 +295,8 @@ func (s *Server) handleClient(peer Peer) {
 	}
 }
 
+// handleInit accepts the local and remote Init messages, and verifies that the
+// client is not requesting any required features that are unknown to the tower.
 func (s *Server) handleInit(localInit, remoteInit *wtwire.Init) error {
 	remoteLocalFeatures := lnwire.NewFeatureVector(
 		remoteInit.LocalFeatures, wtwire.LocalFeatures,
@@ -320,33 +322,6 @@ func (s *Server) handleInit(localInit, remoteInit *wtwire.Init) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (s *Server) readMessage(peer Peer) (wtwire.Message, error) {
-	// Set a read timeout to ensure we drop the client if not sent in a
-	// timely manner.
-	err := peer.SetReadDeadline(time.Now().Add(s.cfg.ReadTimeout))
-	if err != nil {
-		err = fmt.Errorf("unable to set read deadline: %v", err)
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	// Pull the next message off the wire, and parse it according to the
-	// watchtower wire specification.
-	rawMsg, err := peer.ReadNextMessage()
-	if err != nil {
-		err = fmt.Errorf("unable to read message: %v", err)
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	msgReader := bytes.NewReader(rawMsg)
-	nextMsg, err := wtwire.ReadMessage(msgReader, 0)
-	if err != nil {
-		err = fmt.Errorf("unable to parse message: %v", err)
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	return nextMsg, nil
-}
-
 // handleCreateSession processes a CreateSession message from the peer, and returns
 // a CreateSessionReply in response. This method will only succeed if no existing
 // session info is known about the session id. If an existing session is found,
@@ -558,6 +533,37 @@ func (s *Server) replyStateUpdate(peer Peer, id *wtdb.SessionID,
 	}
 }
 
+// readMessage receives and parses the next message from the given Peer. An
+// error is returned if a message is not received before the server's read
+// timeout, the read off the wire failed, or the message could not be
+// deserialized.
+func (s *Server) readMessage(peer Peer) (wtwire.Message, error) {
+	// Set a read timeout to ensure we drop the client if not sent in a
+	// timely manner.
+	err := peer.SetReadDeadline(time.Now().Add(s.cfg.ReadTimeout))
+	if err != nil {
+		err = fmt.Errorf("unable to set read deadline: %v", err)
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// Pull the next message off the wire, and parse it according to the
+	// watchtower wire specification.
+	rawMsg, err := peer.ReadNextMessage()
+	if err != nil {
+		err = fmt.Errorf("unable to read message: %v", err)
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	msgReader := bytes.NewReader(rawMsg)
+	nextMsg, err := wtwire.ReadMessage(msgReader, 0)
+	if err != nil {
+		err = fmt.Errorf("unable to parse message: %v", err)
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return nextMsg, nil
+}
+
 // sendMessage sends a watchtower wire message to the target peer.
 func (s *Server) sendMessage(peer Peer, msg wtwire.Message) error {
 	// TODO(conner): use buffer pool?