Mormonism.ca Home Story Of

In Illinois

A State Of Civil War
After 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 Mormons

A State Of Civil War
After 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 Arrest








The 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.




Next: The Murder Of The Prophet - His Character

Previous: The Suppression Of The Expositor



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