Nauvoo After The Exodus

Brockman's force was disbanded after its object had been
accomplished, and all returned to their homes but about one
hundred, who remained in Nauvoo to see that no Mormons came back.
These men, whose number gradually decreased, provided what
protection and government the place then enjoyed. Governor Ford
received much censure from the state at large for the lawless
doings of the recent months. A citizens' meeting at Springfield
demanded that he call out a force sufficient "to restore the
supremacy of the law, and bring the offenders to justice." He did
call on Hancock County for volunteers to restore order, but a
public meeting in Carthage practically defied him. He, however,
secured a force of about two hundred men, with which he marched
into Nauvoo, greatly to the indignation of the Hancock County
people. His stay there was marked by incidents which showed how
his erratic course in recent years had deprived him of public
respect, and which explain some of the bitterness toward the
county which characterizes his "History." One of these was the
presentation to him of a petticoat as typical of his rule. When
Ford was succeeded as governor by French, the latter withdrew the
militia from the county, and, in an address to the citizens,
said, "I confidently rely upon your assistance and influence to
aid in preventing any act of a violent character in future."
Matters in the county then quieted down. The Warsaw newspapers,
in place of anti-Mormon literature, began to print appeals to new
settlers, setting forth the advantages of the neighborhood. But a
newspaper war soon followed between two factions in Nauvoo, one
of which contended that the place was an assemblage of gamblers
and saloon-keepers, while the other defended its reputation. This
latter view, however, was not established, and most of the houses
remained tenantless.

Amid all their troubles in Nauvoo the Mormon authorities never
lost sight of one object, the completion of the Temple. To the
non-Mormons, and even to many in the church, it seemed
inexplicable why so much zeal and money should be expended in
finishing a structure that was to be at once abandoned. Before
the agreement to leave the state was made, a Warsaw newspaper
predicted that the completion of the Temple would end the reign
of the Mormon leaders, since their followers were held together
by the expectation of some supernatural manifestation of power in
their behalf at that time* Another outside newspaper suggested
that they intended to use it as a fort.

* A man from the neighborhood who visited Nauvoo in 1843 to buy
calves called on a blind man, of whom he says: "He told me he had
a nice home in Massachusetts, which gave them a good support. But
one of the Mormon elders preaching in that country called on him
and told him if he would sell out and go to Nauvoo the Prophet
would restore his sight. He sold out and had come to the city and
spent all his means, and was now in great need. I asked why the
Prophet did not open his eyes. He replied that Joseph had
informed him that he could not open his eyes till the Temple was
finished."--Gregg, "History of Hancock County," p. 375.


Orson Pratt, in a letter to the Saints in the Eastern states,
written at the time of the agreement to depart, answering the
query why the Lord commanded them to build a house out of which
he would then suffer them to be driven at once, quoted a
paragraph from the "revelation" of January 19, 1841, which
commanded the building of the Temple "that you may prove
yourselves unto me, that ye are faithful in all things whatsoever
I command you, that I may bless you and cover you with honor,
immortality, and eternal life."

The cap-stone of the Temple was laid in place early on the
morning of May 24, 1845, amid shouts of "Hosannah to God and the
Lamb," music by the band, and the singing of a hymn.

The first meeting was held in the Temple on October 5, 1845, and
from that time the edifice was used almost constantly in
administering the ordinances (baptism, endowment,etc.). Brigham
Young says that on one occasion he continued this work from 5
P.M. to 3.30 A.M., and others of the Quorum assisted.

The ceremony of the "endowment," although considered very secret,
has been described by many persons who have gone through it. The
descriptions by Elder Hyde and I. McGee Van Dusen and his wife go
into details. A man and wife received notice to appear at the
Temple at Nauvoo at 5 A.m., he to wear white drawers, and she to
bring her nightclothes with her. Passing to the upper floor, they
were told to remove their hats and outer wraps, and were then led
into a narrow hall, at the end of which stood a man who directed
the husband to pass through a door on the right, and the wife to
one on the left. The candidates were then questioned as to their
preparation for the initiation, and if this resulted
satisfactorily, they were directed to remove all their outer
clothing. This ended the "first degree." In the next room their
remaining clothing was removed and they received a bath, with
some mummeries which may best be omitted. Next they were anointed
all over with oil poured from a horn, and pronounced "the Lord's
anointed," and a priest ordained them to be "king (or queen) in
time and eternity." The man was now furnished with a white cotton
undergarment of an original design, over which he put his shirt,
and the woman was given a somewhat similar article, together with
a chemise, nightgown,, and white stockings. Each was then
conducted into another apartment and left there alone in silence
for some time. Then a rumbling noise was heard, and Brigham Young
appeared, reciting some words, beginning "Let there be light,"
and ending "Now let us make man in our image, after our
likeness." Approaching the man first, he went through a form of
making him out of the dust; then, passing into the other room, he
formed the woman out of a rib he had taken from the man. Giving
this Eve to the man Adam, he led them into a large room decorated
to represent Eden, and, after giving them divers instructions,
left them to themselves.

Much was said in later years about the requirement of the
endowment oath. When General Maxwell tried to prevent the seating
of Cannon as Delegate to Congress in 1873, one of his charges was
that Cannon had, in the Endowment House, taken an oath against
the United States government. This called out affidavits by some
of the leading anti-Young Mormons of the day, including E. L. T.
Harrison, that they had gone through the Endowment House without
taking any oath of the kind. But Hyde, in his description of the
ceremony, says:--

"We were sworn to cherish constant enmity toward the United
States Government for not avenging the death of Smith, or
righting the persecutions of the Saints; to do all that we could
toward destroying, tearing down or overturning that government;
to endeavor to baffle its designs and frustrate its intentions;
to renounce all allegiance and refuse all submission. If unable
to do anything ourselves toward the accomplishment of these
objects, to teach it to our children from the nursery, impress it
upon them from the death bed, entail it upon them as a legacy." *

* Hyde's "Mormonism," p. 97.


In the suit of Charlotte Arthur against Brigham Young's estate,
to recover a lot in Salt Lake City which she alleged that Young
had unlawfully taken possession of, her verified complaint (filed
July 11, 1874) alleged that the endowment oath contained the
following declaration:-- "To obey him, the Lord's anointed, in
all his orders, spiritual and temporal, and the priesthood or
either of them, and all church authorities in like manner; that
this obligation is superior to all the laws of the United States,
and all earthly laws; that enmity should be cherished against the
government of the United States; that the blood of Joseph Smith,
the Prophet, and Apostles slain in this generation shall be
avenged."

As soon as the agreement to leave the state was made, the Mormons
tried hard to sell or lease the Temple, but in vain; and when the
last Mormon departed, the structure was left to the mercy of the
Hancock County "posse." Colonel Kane, in his description of his
visit to Nauvoo soon after the evacuation, says that the militia
had defiled and defaced such features as the shrines and the
baptismal font, the apartment containing the latter being
rendered "too noisome to abide in."

Had the building been permitted to stand, it would have been to
Nauvoo something on which the town could have looked as its most
remarkable feature. But early on the morning of November 19,
1848, the structure was found to be on fire, evidently the work
of an incendiary, and what the flames could eat up was soon
destroyed. The Nauvoo Patriot deplored the destruction of "a work
of art at once the most elegant in its construction, and the most
renowned in its celebrity, of any in the whole West."

When the Icarians, a band of French Socialists, settled in
Nauvoo, they undertook, in 1850, to rebuild the edifice for use
as their halls of reunion and schools. After they had expended on
this work a good deal of time and labor, the city was visited by
a cyclone on May 27 of that year, which left standing only a part
of the west wall. Out of the stone the Icarians then built a
school house, but nothing original now remains on the site except
the old well.

The Nauvoo of to-day is a town of only 1321 inhabitants. The
people are largely of German origin, and the leading occupation
is fruit growing. The site of the Temple is occupied by two
modern buildings. A part of Nauvoo House is still standing, as
are Brigham Young's former residence, Joseph Smith's "new
mansion," and other houses which Mormons occupied.

The Mormons in Iowa were no more popular with their non-Mormon
neighbors there than were those in Illinois, and after the
murders by the Hodges, and other crimes charged to the brethren,
a mass meeting of Lee County inhabitants was held, which adopted
resolutions declaring that the Mormons and the old settlers could
not live together and that the Mormons must depart, citizens
being requested to aid in this movement by exchanging property
with the emigrants. In 1847 the last of these objectionable
citizens left the county.


Next: Preparations For The Long March

Previous: The Evacuation Of Nauvoo - The Last Mormon War

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