In IllinoisA State Of Civil WarAfter Smith's Death - Rigdon's Last Days After The War Attitude Of The Mormons During The Southern Rebellion Beginning Of Active Hostilities Blood Atonement Brigham Young Brigham Young's Death - His Character Brigham Young's Despotism Colonel Kane's Mission Early Political History Eastern Visitors To Salt Lake City - Unpunished Murderers Even More On The History Of Mormonism Even More On The Religious Puzzle Facility Of Human Belief First Announcement Of The Golden Bible From The Mississippi To The Missouri From The Rockies To Salt Lake Valley Fruitless Negotiations With The Jackson County People Gentile Irruption And Mormon Schism Gifts Of Tongues And Miracles Growth Of The Church History Of Mormonism How Joseph Smith Became A Money-digger In Clay Caldwell And Daviess Counties Introductory Remarks Last Days At Kirtland More On Mormonism Social Puzzle More On The History Of Mormonism More On The Religious Puzzle Mormon Treatment Of Federal Officers Mormonism The Political Puzzle Nauvoo After The Exodus Notes On The History Of Mormonism Organization Of The Church Preparations For The Long March Progress Of The Settlement Public Announcement Of The Doctrine Of Polygamy Radical Dissensions In The Church - Origin Of The Danites - Tithing Renewed Trouble For The Mormons - The Burnings Rivalries Over The Succession Sidney Rigdon Smith A Candidate For President Of The United States Smith's Falling Out With Bennett And Higbee Smith's First Visits To Missouri Founding The City And The Temple Smith's Ohio Business Enterprises Smith's Picture Of Himself As Autocrat Social Aspects Of Polygamy Social Conditions In Nauvoo Some Church-inspired Murders The Building Up Of The City - Foreign Proselyting The Camps On The Missouri The Different Accounts Of The Revelation Of The Bible The Directions To The Saints About Their Zion The Evacuation Of Nauvoo - The Last Mormon War The Everlasting Gospel The Expulsion From Jackson County The Army Of Zion The Expulsion Of The Mormons The Fight Against Polygamy - Statehood The Final Expulsion From The State The First Converts At Kirtland The Following Companies - Last Days On The Missouri The Foreign Immigration To Utah The Founding Of Salt Lake City The Hand-cart Tragedy The Institution Of Polygamy The Last Years Of Brigham Young The Mormon Battalion The Mormon Bible The Mormon Purpose The Mormon War The Mormonism Of To-day The Mormons In Politics - Missouri Requisitions For Smith The Mormons' Beliefs And Doctrines Church Government The Mountain Meadows Massacre The Murder Of The Prophet - His Character The Nauvoo City Government - Temple And Other Buildings The Peace Commission The Pioneer Trip Across The Plains The Political Puzzle The Political Puzzle Continued The Reception Of The Mormons The Reformation The Religious Puzzle The Religious Puzzle Notes The Settlement Of Nauvoo The Smith Family The Social And Society Puzzle The Social Puzzle The Social Puzzle Notes The Spaulding Manuscript The Suppression Of The Expositor The Territorial Government - Judge Brocchus's Experience The Witnesses To The Plates Translation And Publication Of The Bible Uprising Of The Non-mormons Smith's Arrest Wild Vagaries Of The Converts The Story Of The MormonsA State Of Civil WarAfter The War Attitude Of The Mormons During The Southern Rebellion Beginning Of Active Hostilities Blood Atonement Brigham Young's Death - His Character Brigham Young's Despotism Colonel Kane's Mission Early Political History Eastern Visitors To Salt Lake City - Unpunished Murderers Facility Of Human Belief First Announcement Of The Golden Bible From The Mississippi To The Missouri From The Rockies To Salt Lake Valley Fruitless Negotiations With The Jackson County People Gentile Irruption And Mormon Schism Gifts Of Tongues And Miracles Growth Of The Church How Joseph Smith Became A Money-digger In Clay Caldwell And Daviess Counties Last Days At Kirtland Mormon Treatment Of Federal Officers Nauvoo After The Exodus Organization Of The Church Preparations For The Long March Progress Of The Settlement Radical Dissensions In The Church - Origin Of The Danites - Tithing Sidney Rigdon Smith's First Visits To Missouri Founding The City And The Temple Smith's Ohio Business Enterprises Social Aspects Of Polygamy Some Church-inspired Murders The Camps On The Missouri The Different Accounts Of The Revelation Of The Bible The Directions To The Saints About Their Zion The Everlasting Gospel The Expulsion From Jackson County The Army Of Zion The Fight Against Polygamy - Statehood The First Converts At Kirtland The Following Companies - Last Days On The Missouri The Foreign Immigration To Utah The Founding Of Salt Lake City The Hand-cart Tragedy The Last Years Of Brigham Young The Mormon Battalion The Mormon Bible The Mormon Purpose The Mormon War The Mormonism Of To-day The Mormons' Beliefs And Doctrines Church Government The Mountain Meadows Massacre The Peace Commission The Pioneer Trip Across The Plains The Reformation The Smith Family The Spaulding Manuscript The Territorial Government - Judge Brocchus's Experience The Witnesses To The Plates Translation And Publication Of The Bible Wild Vagaries Of The Converts |
Uprising Of The Non-mormons Smith's ArrestThe gauntlet thus thrown down by Smith was promptly taken up by his non-Mormon neighbors, and public meetings were held in various places to give expression to the popular indignation. At such a meeting in Warsaw, Hancock County, eighteen miles down the river, the following was among the resolutions adopted: "Resolved, that the time, in our opinion, has arrived when the adherents of Smith, as a body, should be driven from the surrounding settlements into Nauvoo; that the Prophet and his miscreant adherents should then be demanded at their hands, and, if not surrendered, a war of extermination should be waged, to the entire destruction, if necessary for our protection, of his adherents." Warsaw was considered the most violent anti-Mormon neighborhood, the Signal newspaper there being especially bitter in its attacks; but the people in all the surrounding country began to prepare for "war" in earnest. At Warsaw 150 men were mustered in under General Knox, and $1000 was voted for supplies. In Carthage, Rushville, Green Plains, and many other towns in Illinois men began organizing themselves into military companies, cannon were ordered from St. Louis, and the near-by places in Iowa, as well as some in Missouri, sent word that their aid could be counted on. Rumors of all sorts of Mormon outrages were circulated, and calls were made for militia, here to protect the people against armed Mormon bands, there against Mormon thieves. Many farmhouses were deserted by their owners through fear, and the steamboats on the river were crowded with women and children, who were sent to some safe settlement while the men were doing duty in the militia ranks. Many of the alarming reports were doubtless started by non-Mormons to inflame the public feeling against their opponents, others were the natural outgrowth of the existing excitement. On June 17 a committee from Carthage made to Governor Ford so urgent a request for the calling out of the militia, that he decided to visit the disturbed district and make an investigation on his own account.* On arriving at Carthage he found a considerable militia force already assembled as a posse comitatus, at the call of the constables. This force, and similar ones in McDonough and Schuyler counties, he placed under command of their own officers. Next, the governor directed the mayor and council of Nauvoo to send a committee to state to him their story of the recent doings. This they did, convincing him, by their own account, of the outrageous character of the proceedings against the Expositor. He therefore arrived at two conclusions: first, that no authority at his command should be spared in bringing the Mormon leaders to justice; and, second, that this must be done without putting the Mormons in danger of an attack by any kind of a mob. He therefore addressed the militia force from each county separately, urging on them the necessity of acting only within the law; and securing from them all a vote pledging their aid to the governor in following a strictly legal course, and protecting from violence the Mormon leaders when they should be arrested. * The story of the events just preceding Joseph Smith's death are taken from Governor Ford's report to the Illinois legislature, and from his "History of Illinois." The governor then sent word to Smith that he and his associates would be protected if they would surrender, but that arrested they should be, even if it took the whole militia force of the state to accomplish this. The constable and guards who carried the governor's mandate to Nauvoo found the city a military camp. Smith had placed it under martial law, assembled the Legion, called in all the outlying Mormons, and ordered that no one should enter or leave the place without submitting to the strictest inquiry. The governor's messengers had no difficulty, however, in gaining admission to Smith, who promised that he and the members of the Council would accompany the officers to Carthage the next morning (June 23) at eight o'clock. But at that time the accused did not appear, and, without any delay or any effort to arrest the men who were wanted, the officers returned to Carthage and reported that all the accused had fled. Whatever had been the intention of Smith when the constable first appeared, he and his associates did surrender, as the governor had expressed a belief that they would do.. Statements of the circumstances of the surrender were written at the time by H. P. Reid and James W. Woods of Iowa, who were employed by the Mormons as counsel, and were printed in the Times and Seasons, Vol. V, No. 12. Mr. Woods, according to these accounts, arrived in Nauvoo on Friday, June 21, and, after an interview with Smith. and his friends, went to Carthage the next evening to assure Governor Ford that the Nauvoo officers were ready to obey the law. There he learned that the constable and his assistants had gone to Nauvoo to demand his clients' surrender; but he does not mention their return without the prisoners. He must have known, however, that the first intention of Smith and the Council was to flee from the wrath of their neighbors. The "Life of Brigham Young," published by Cannon & Sons, Salt Lake City, 1893, contains this statement:-- "The Prophet hesitated about giving himself up, and started, on the night of June 22, with his brother Hyrum, W. Richards, John Taylor, and a few others for the Rocky Mountains. He was, however, intercepted by his friends, and induced to abandon his project, being chided with cowardice and with deserting his people. This was more than he could bear, and so he returned, saying: 'If my life is of no value to my friends, it is of no value to myself. We are going back to be slaughtered.'" It will be remembered that Young, Rigdon, Orson Pratt, and many others of the leading men of the church were absent at this time, most of them working up Smith's presidential "boom." Orson Pratt, who was then in New Hampshire, said afterward, "If the Twelve had been here, we would not have seen him given up." Woods received from the governor a pledge of protection for all who might be arrested, and an assurance that if the Mormons would give themselves up at Carthage, on Monday, the 24th, this would be accepted as a compliance with the governor's orders. He therefore returned to Nauvoo with this message on Sunday evening, and the next morning the accused left that place with him for Carthage. They soon met Captain Dunn, who, with a company of sixty men, was going to Nauvoo with an order from the governor for the state arms in the possession of the Legion.* Woods made an agreement with Captain Dunn that the arms should be given up by Smith's order, and that his clients should place themselves under the captain's protection, and return with him to Carthage. The return trip to Nauvoo, and thence to Carthage, was not completed until about midnight. The Mormons were not put under restraint that night, but the next morning they surrendered themselves to the constable on a charge of riot in connection with the destruction of the Expositor plant. * It was stated that on two hours' notice two thousand men appeared, all armed, and that they surrendered their arms in compliance with the governor's plans. Previous: The Suppression Of The Expositor
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