Volume VII: Table of Contents

	 Introduction

	  Part I:           Church Historian's Excerpt from From Ford's
                    History of Illinois
	 Chapter I:         Conditions in Hancock County Reviewed by Governor
                    Ford--The State Arms of the Legion Surrendered on
                    the Demand of the Governor
	 Chapter II:        Submission of the Prophet to the Requirements of
                    the Governor--Gathering of the Enemy Forcesd of
                    the Prophet--Governor Ford's Defensive
                    Justification for his Placement of the Hostile
                    Forces at Carthage and the Dismissal of Others
	 Chapter III:       Governor Ford's Visit to Nauvoo--Fears on the
                    Way--Insulting Speech to the
                    Citizens--Resented--Hears of the Assassination of
                    Joseph and Hyrum Smith

	  Part II:          Extension of Quotations from Ford's Hisotry of
                    Illinois
	 Chapter IV:        Governor Ford's Comments on the Character of
                    Joseph Smith and His Followers--He Conjectures on
                    the Future of Mormonism
	 Chapter V:         Political Considerations of the Period Following
                    the Death of the Prophet--"Trial" of the
                    Murderers--Status of Civil Government in Hancock
                    County

	  Part III:         Memoirs of the Late President John Taylor
                    Respecting Affairs at Nauvoo Leading up to the
                    Martyrdom of the Prophet and Patriarch: Governor
                    Ford's Responsibility Therein
	 Chapter VI:        The Martydom of Joseph Smith: Review of
                    Conditions in Illinois Preceding that Event
	 Chapter VII:       John Taylor and Doctor Bernhisel's Interview with
                    Governor Ford--Pledge of Governor Ford for the
                    Security of Joseph Smith if He Would Come to
                    Carthage
	 Chapter VIII: Interview Between Joseph Smith and Governor
               Thomas Ford
	 Chapter IX:        The Assault Upon the Prison--The Murder of Joseph
                    and Hyrum Smith
	 Chapter X:         Was Governor Ford Responsible for the Murder of
                    the Prophet and Patriarch of the New Dispensation

	  Part IV:          Historians' Second Compilation of Historical
                    Items of Church History, From 22nd of June, 1844
                    to 8th of August, 1844
	 Chapter XI:        Miscellaneous Events Apart from the Major Facts
                    of the Martydom of the Prophet and Patriarch from
                    June 22nd, 1844 to June 29th, 1844
	 Chapter XII:       Movements in Hancock County, Carthage, Nauvoo,
                    Warsaw and Quincy, for the Maintenance of Peace
                    Following the Martydom: List of the Names of
                    Those Who Were In the Mob Assembled to Slay the
                    Prophet
	 Chapter XIII: The Martydom in Poetry--Efforts for Food Supplies
               and Protection for the People of Nauvoo
	 Chapter XIV:       A Chapter of Sundry Events at Various Places and
                    Documents Following the Martydom: United States
                    Press Comments on the Murder
	 Chapter XV:        Chapter of Miscellaneous Documents, Press
                    Excerpts and Movements of Leading Elders of the
                    Church at Nauvoo and Elsewhere
	 Chapter XVI:       The Movements of the Apostles and Other Leading
                    Brethren in the East and at Nauvoo--Important
                    Communication from Governor Ford
	 Chapter XVII: Gathering of the Twelve and Other Leading Elders
               at Nauvoo--Death of Elder Samuel H. Smith,
               Brother of the Prophet, Early Missionary of the
               Church and One of the Eight Witnesses of the Book
               of Mormon
	 Chapter XVIII:     The Gathering of the Twelve Apostles from the
                    East to Nauvoo: Preliminary Meetings Looking to
                    the Settlement of the Question of the Presidency
                    of the Church
	 Chapter XIX:       The Settlement of Church Leadership--The Twelve
                    Apostles Accepted as the Presidency of the
                    Church, Brigham Young at Their Head.

	  Part V:           Excerpts from the Manuscript History of Brigham
                    Young From August 9, 1844, to October 8, 1848
	 Chapter XX:        Events Immediately Following the Sustaining of
                    the Quorum of the Twelve as the President of the
                    Church--Resumption of the Church
                    Activities--Perpetuation of the Policy of the
                    Prophet.
	 Chapter XXI:       Formal Trial and Excommunication of President
                    Sidney Rigdon--Restless Movements of James
                    Emmett--Mission Activities of the
                    Church--Movements of State Officials and the Mob
                    of Hancock County
	 Chapter XXII: Epistle of the Twelve to the Church--Moral and
               Spiritual Guidance
	 Chapter XXIII:     Minutes of the Important Conference of October
                    6th to 8th,	1844--The Church Set In
                    Order--Duties of the Priesthood
                    Expounded--Economics Considered.
	 Chapter XXIV: The Preliminary Steps to the Forthcoming
               Prosecution of the Murderers of Joseph and Hyrum
               Smith--The Work in the Society Islands--Temple
               Affairs--Financial Embarrassment
	 Chapter XXV:       Progress of Work on the Temple--Miscellaneous
                    Movements in Church and State
	 Chapter XXVI: The Great Conference of the Seventies at
               Nauvoo--Organization of New Quorums--Dedication
               of the Seventies' Hall--Notable
               Discourses--Doctrinal Instructions by President
               Brigham Young on Priesthood--The Twelve--The
               Seventy--And the Bishopbric
	 Chapter XXVII:     Campaign Against Wickedness Both by the Church
                    Authorities and the Nauvoo City Counsel--Villainy
                    of Nauvoo's Enemies
	 Chapter XXVIII:    The Story of Continued Progress in the Church in
                    Nauvoo, In Europe and In the United States--Plea
                    for the Return of James Emmett's Company
	 Chapter XXIX: The James Emmett Company Officially
               Visited--April Conference of 1845--Municipal
               Corporations Under General State Law--Western
               Movement Proposed by Governor Ford
	 Chapter XXX:       An Appeal to Lyman Wight to be United with the
                    Twelve--Letters to the President of the United
                    States and the Governors of the Respective
                    States--Letters of Governor Ford to State
                    Military Leaders
	 Chapter XXXI: Sundry Events Grouped Together Looking to an
               understanding with the State Government at
               Nauvoo--Harvest Feast at Nauvoo
	 Chapter XXXII:     Preparations for Westward Journey--The Final
                    Word: The Church Must Leave Illinois--Details of
                    the Plans--American Government Fails in the Case
                    of the Latter-Day Saints
	 Chapter XXXIII:    Last Conference at Nauvoo--Plea of the "Mother of
                    Prophets"--Pathetic
	 Chapter XXXIV:     Official Message to the Saints in the United
                    States--Removal of the Church to the
                    West--Organization--Oliver Cowdery's Tender of
                    Services--The Bigelow Case--Warren-Young-Taylor
                    Outrage--The Power of Prayer vs.
                    Mobocracy--Appeal to Governor Ford
	 Chapter XXXV: Important Letters, Friendly and
               Otherwise--Summary of Recent Procedure in and
               About Nauvoo with Comment of an Editorial from
               the Times and Seasons
	 Chapter XXXVI:     Murders by Mobs Continued--Confession of Dr.
                    Robert D. Foster--Farewell of Orson Pratt to
                    Eastern Saints--Westward by Shipping--The Durfee
                    Murder Case
	 Chapter XXXVII:    Dedication of Parts of the Temple--Endowments
                    Given--Roman Catholic Efforts to Purchase the
                    Temple and Other Nauvoo Property--The Church in
                    England--United States Federal Charges of
                    Counterfeiting Against Church Authorities--Church
                    Publications for 1845
	 Chapter XXXVIII:   Large Number of Persons Endowed in the
                    Temple--January and February, 1846--Catholic
                    Church Efforts to Purchase L.D.S.
                    Property--Friendly Attitude of Judge Josiah
                    Lamborn--Repeated Hostile Efforts of State
                    Officials--Departure of the Twelve Hastened by
                    False Reports Circulated by Governor Ford
	 Chapter XXXIX:     Departure of Brigham Young From
                    Nauvoo--Proposition of "A. G. Benson &
                    Co."--Proposed Contract--Public Meeting in the
                    Temple--Mississippi Bridged by Ice--Limited
                    Number Who Crossed on the Ice With Teams and
                    Families--Petition to the Governor of
                    Iowa--Reflections on Commencement of Exodus from
                    Nauvoo
	 Chapter XL:        Discontinuance of Daily Quotations from the
                    Manuscript History of Brigham Young--Sundry
                    Events in the Marching Encampment from the Close
                    of February to Mid-June
	 Chapter XLI:       The Return to Winter Quarters--The Organization
                    of and Universal Acceptance of the First
                    Presidency of the Church, Brigham Young, Heber C.
                    Kimball and Willard Richards--1847-8 President
                    Young's Last Journey Over the Plains


        HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
                                PERIOD II

               From the Manuscript History of Brigham Young
                       and Other Original Documents

                                Volume VII
                An Introduction and Notes by B. H. Roberts
                         Published by the Church
     

                               INTRODUCTION

Volume VII is divided into six parts:

	I. Church Historians' Excerpt from Ford's History of Illinois, pp. 1
to 31.

	II. Later Church Historians' Extension of Quotations from Ford's
History of Illinois, pp. 33 to 51.

	III. Personal Account of the Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith by
the Late President John Taylor, pp. 53 to 126.

	IV. Second Compilation of Historical Items of Period I of Church
History, From 22nd of June, 1844, to 8th of August, 1844 (Compiled by
Church Historians George A. Smith and Wilford Woodruff, from the Journals
of Elders Willard Richards, Wilford Woodruff and others), pp. 127 to 243.

	V. Excerpts from the Manuscript History of Brigham Young from August
9, 1844, to October 8, 1848---Apostolic Interregnum---Inauguration of, and
Sustaining of the Second First Presidency of Three, pp. 245 to 630.

	The Church Documentary History, Period I, (The History of Joseph
Smith the Prophet by Himself---his daily Journal in fact), necessarily
closed with Joseph's martyrdom to which was added a brief account of his
obsequies, and of his various services to humanity. The Historians of the
Church who brought to a close that Period, George A. Smith, cousin of the
Prophet and one of the Twelve Apostles, and Wilford Woodruff, also one of
the Twelve Apostles, immediately followed that close by publishing a long
and unbroken excerpt from Governor Thomas Ford's History of Illinois,
Which was published in 1854, about six months after the governor's death.
This posthumous work gave large space to the activities and adventures of
the Prophet and his people in Illinois, from 1839 to 1846. This, in fact,
constitutes about the only part of Ford's History that is of permanent
value or importance.

	George A. Smith and Wilford Woodruff's excerpt from Ford's History of
Illinois extends from page 328 to page 354; which is about two-thirds of
what the governor wrote on the Mormons. Their quotation ends in the middle
of a sentence, this because they were unwilling, doubtless, to include the
vicious assault upon the character of the Prophet with which the sentence
ends. The saints may now, however, be indifferent to such assaults upon
the character and life's work of their Prophet, since time has placed the
true value upon his character and the success of his work, vindicating
both; rendering the "pelting of his memory with vile epithets"as supremely
vain. Besides Ford's treatise of the Mormons in Illinois has some valuable
material for their history not to be had elsewhere. And the student will
have the satisfaction of knowing that he has practically all that the
governor-enemy of the saints has said against them, and that the Prophet's
followers have not blanched from all that is written of him by this
opponent. The governor closes his chapter xi with the account of the trial
of the murderers of the Prophet and Patriarch with the concession that
government in Illinois had failed so far as protecting the Latter-day
Saints in their rights, and adds that "there can be no government in a
free country where the people do not voluntarily obey the laws;" which, of
course, closes his connection with the events that occurred during the
lifetime of the Prophet.

	For the rest of Ford's connection with the History of the Church of
the Latter-day Saints, excerpts are given including official letters,
etc., as the events are developed; and are chosen and used in this present
edition, and constitute Part II of this volume.

	Governor Ford's contributions to the history of that period are
followed by a review and commentary upon them by the late President John
Taylor, who was a contemporary with Governor Ford and a leading
participant in those events. This constitutes Part III of this volume. It
is a review and commentary of the period of highest value, a
statesman-like paper, a document of highest historical value of the times;
and one marvels at the high tone with which the document planned, being
dispassionate, and one might say, written unexpectedly in an impartial
spirit. The balancing of the pros and cons as to the responsibility of
Governor Ford for the murder of the martyred being surprisingly fair to
the governor. In my study of historical documents in which judgment is
rendered upon such questions, without exception I can say that I have
examined nothing that is equal in spirit and justice to this review by
President Taylor of Governor Ford's responsibility for the murder. The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can well be proud of this
performance of their great Apostle and later President of the Church. It
deserves to live forever

	Part IV treats the Apostolic succession to the Presidency of the
Church, from the death of the Prophet to August 8, 1844, a compilation
made by the Church Historians George A. Smith and Wilford Woodruff from
the Journals of Elders Willard Richards and Wilford Woodruff and others.
It considers, and settles the claims of guardianship to the church made by
Sidney Rigdon; finally disposes of his case; and installs the Presidency
of the Twelve Apostles which continued until the First Presidency of Three
could be re-established.

	This touches what may be regarded as an important factor in the
matter of arranging the transition from one administration in the
Presidency of the Church to another. On the 6th of April, 1830, it was
declared that a record should be kept in the church and that in it Joseph
Smith should be called a "seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, an elder of the church through the will of God the Father,
and the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ, being inspired of the Holy Ghost
to lay the foundation thereof and to build it up unto the Most Holy
Faith."

	It will be recognized that there were thus provided, even on the day
the church was organized, very great powers of Presidency and
administrative functions for Joseph Smith in the leadership of the church.

	Later the Lord referred to the matter again and that by way of
warning to the Prophet: "And I have sent forth the fullness of my gospel
by the hand of my servant Joseph; and in weakness have I blessed him: and
I have given unto him the keys of the mystery of those things which have
been sealed. even things which were from the foundation of the world, and
the things which shall come from this time until the time of my coming, if
he abide in me, and if not, another will I plant in his stead."

	In another revelation the Lord enlarged upon this theme as follows:
"Hearken ye elders of my church, and give ear to the words which I shall
speak unto you. For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye have
received a commandment for a law unto my church. through him whom I have
appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelation from my hand.
And this ye shall know assuredly---that there is none other appointed unto
you to receive commandments and revelations until he be taken if he abide
in me. But verily, verily, I say unto you, that none else shall be
appointed unto this gift except it he through him, for if it be taken from
him he shall not have power except to appoint another in his stead."

	This makes known the fact that though the Prophet should not even
abide in the Lord he would still have power left to appoint another in his
stead; and how much more would he be competent to appoint another in his
stead if he continued to abide in the Lord!

	This right to appoint another in his stead the Prophet Joseph
exercised, occasioned by his own approaching martyrdom. At the October
Conference---the 6th, 1844---the conference following the martyrdom of the
Prophet---in the presence of thousands making up the congregation,
President Young asked the question: "Did Joseph ordain any man to take his
place: He did. Who was it? It was Hyrum [his brother], but Hyrum fell a
martyr before Joseph did". Holding in mind that the Lord has said that
the Prophet Joseph Smith should not have taken from him the splendid
powers of Presidency given to him for the guidance of the church---if he
would "abide in the Lord". And in the event of his not abiding in the
Lord, then he should not have power---"except to appoint another in his
stead." It is clear that the Prophet was acting within his rights to
appoint another to succeed himself in the Presidency of the Church when he
appointed

	Hyrum to succeed him. For surely, if when not abiding in the Lord he
would still have power to appoint another in the prophetic office, and to
succeed him in the Presidency of the Church, much more would he have the
right to make the appointment when continuing to abide in the Lord. And
this power he exercised; according to President Young he even "ordained"
Hyrum to succeed him; but Hyrum, according to Joseph's own statement,
would not leave him.

	In like manner the Christ designated St. Peter to succeed him in the
leadership of the church, by saying: "I will give unto thee the keys of
the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed
in heaven." Thus did the Christ before his crucifixion appoint his
successor in the Presidency of the Church in that dispensation.

	Thus the Prophet Joseph Smith in appointing Hyrum Smith to be his
successor in the leadership of the New Dispensation Church, did but follow
the example of his divine Lord. But with Hyrum Smith falling a martyr
before the Prophet Joseph Smith himself: did, there was, of course, an end
to that appointment: it had no chance to be presented to the people for
approval, which, of course, would have been necessary as in the case of
all officers in the church, or before the sub-division of it over which it
is proposed they should exercise presiding jurisdiction. Also it amounts
to certainty that had Hyrum Smith survived his brother, and his name had
been presented to the church as its President, he would have been
overwhelmingly sustained by the saints for the office. But Hyrum dead
before the Prophet was killed, it left no one else designated for the
place of President, and hence choice and reconstruction of the Presidency
devolved upon the next quorum in authority---the Twelve Apostles, which
also is not only the "next" quorum in authority, but also "equal" in
authority to the First Presidency, and therefore capable of doing
whatever the First Presidency could do. It was under this quorum and its
authority that President-Brigham Young and his fellow Apostles proceeded
to their construction of the First Presidency.

	Part V of volume VII constitutes the larger section of the volume and
consists of transcriptions from the Manuscript History of Brigham Young,
to the close of the year 1848, and is the most important quotation of
original documents to be had covering that period of time, setting forth
the administration of the Twelve Apostles under the leadership of
President Young. The value of this collection from original sources is
beyond instant realization. As in the quotations from the Journal of
Joseph Smith in the preceding six volumes of this series, so this section
in volume VII gives the day by day and incident by incident transactions
of the Apostles, disclosing the very spirit and administrative effects of
the procedure and policies of their period. It is a most profitable
contribution to the annals of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. In it are revealed the truly and highly spiritual and unselfish
efforts of the Twelve in directing the affairs of the church to the
advantage of the organization and to the welfare of the saints. Their
solicitude, watchfulness and prayerful interest in all the departments of
the work of God are marvelous. The missionary service of the church in all
the world was universal and untiring: throughout the United States, the
Pacific groups of islands, the work in England. Also the local interests:
the building up of Nauvoo, the completion of the Temple, the unstinted
pouring of the contributed wealth of the people into its structural
completion and interior embellishment, notwithstanding that they knew they
could hold possession of it but a few months, and then it must be
abandoned. It was the heroic and unselfish adherence to a completion of a
commandment of God.

	Nor did their zeal and sacrifices go unrewarded; for from December
10th, 1845, when the first endowments were given, to the 7th of February,
1846---when the Temple was closed for ordinance work---5,669 ordinances
had been performed. These mostly for full endowment ceremonies, as the
church in the main knows those ordinances today, However, some baptisms
for the dead merely may have been recorded in the enumeration; also there
may be slight variations above or below the figures here given; as the
daily numbers, from which this total is made up, are occasionally given in
round numbers. But think of the work accomplished, 5,669 endowments given!
After full allowance is made for all slight variations that may have
occurred, the official report makes it certain that over 5,500 endowments
had been given in the Nauvoo Temple! So many of the saints entrusted with
the sacred mysteries of the House of the Lord!

	Meantime both the officers and church membership were making every
exertion to prepare the church for removal to the west in fulfillment of
the predictions of the Prophet Joseph Smith sometime previous to his
death. In addition to this was their contention with authorities in high
station in the state, more menacing to their security than the murderous
assaults of mobs. In all things there was manifested a union of spirit and
effort of the Apostles that proclaimed them true disciples of the Lord.
They were a perfect example of a group united in one, a well-nigh perfect
unanimity of purpose and action seemed to prevail. The spirit of the
Christian religion was manifested in their forbearance and long continued
patience with men of restless ambition who sought to divide the people and
lead away groups of them. Such men as James Emmett who led a company of
people into the western wilderness; Lyman Wight one of the Quorum of the
Twelve, who led a company of people into Texas; Bishop George Miller,
always restive under restraint, who broke away from the main group of the
people, impatient with whit he thought was the too slow action of
President Young and his brethren; their patience with Wm. Smith, one of
the Twelve, then, and later Patriarch to the church, and brother of the
Prophet. Their action in his trying case was a model of brotherly
forbearance. Their uniform kindness and care for the Mother of the Prophet
exhibited a truly Christian spirit and disproves the charges against the
Twelve, that are sometimes made by dissentients, of tyranny,
self-aggrandizement, and inordinate, and self-seeking ambition.

	In all things the Twelve manifested their faith in prayer. God was
their only refuge, as manifested in their constant appeal, to him in their
days of trial. No one can read the annals of this volume and be in doubt
of that; in sickness, in danger; in missionary undertakings; against the
violence of mobs; in coping with the cunningly devised plans of political
leaders, corrupted courts and scheming adventurers ---against all these
forces they employed the power of faith and prayer. But read the annals of
the trying years covered by this volume of the History of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and you have in hand the world's finest
example of faith and trust in God through prayer. Was one sick, the others
prayed; was some group wayward, and rebellious, a circle met in prayer;
did influential men in high places meet to conspire against them, the
brethren sought to thwart their plans by an appeal to God through prayer;
was one or more unjustly haled into the courts before unjust judges,
prayer softened their hearts or confused their judgments; did mobs assail,
did hell rage---prayer was both sword and shield. That all this may appear
I take a cross section in Nauvoo experiences for an illustration which is
but characteristic of the whole period.

	I select items from the record of the months of August and September,
1844--in free quotation--and set down the direct experiences which
illustrate the procedure of these presiding brethren that will indicate
the spirit of the work they undertook and carried through. Under date of
August 10, 1844, the day following the settlement of the Twelve Apostles
as the Presiding Authority of the Church---this:

	"The city council subscribed about $80.00 for the aid of the police.
In addition to this really inadequate compensation Brigham Young, Heber C.
Kimball, George A. Smith and Hyrum Kimball relinquished their dues as
councilors that the taxes might be lessened and the police be paid.* * *
Daniel Spencer was elected to fill the remainder of the term of the late
Mayor Joseph Smith. An ordinance was passed allowing $100.00 per year to
the mayor, and $1.00 a day to the councilors and aldermen while in
session. * * * Also an ordinance prohibiting brothels and for suppressing
disorderly characters was passed.

	Wednesday, August 14.---[Brigham Young recording the incidents
throughout] I attended meeting of the Twelve, Temple Committee and Nauvoo
House Committee and the stone cutters for the Temple. * * * Agreed to
raise the wages of the windlass men to $1.50 per day. The meeting
terminated in a feeling of renewed determination to prosecute the work on
the Temple.

	Thursday, August 15.---The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles met at my
house. * * * The council resolved to bear off the kingdom of God in all
the world in truth, virtue and holiness, and to continue to set their
faces as a flint against every species of wickedness, vice and dishonesty
in all its forms: I met in a prayer circle with the Twelve and a few
others in the afternoon and prayed for the sick."

	RECOGNIZING THE PROPHET JOSEPH'S PLACE IN THE NEW DISPENSATION "Let
no man presume for a moment that his place will be filled by another, for,
remember, he stands in his own place, and always will; and the Twelve
Apostles of this dispensation stand in their own place and always will
both in time and eternity to minister, preside and regulate the affairs of
the whole church. * * * How vain are the imaginations of the children of
men to presume for a moment that the slaughter of one, two, or a hundred
of the leaders of this church could destroy an organization so perfect in
itself and so harmoniously arranged that it will stand while one member of
it is left upon the earth."

	PROPHET'S COPY Of THE NEW TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE "Monday, August
19,---Elder Willard Richards called on Emma Smith, widow of the Prophet,
for the new translation of the Bible. She said she did not feel disposed
to give it up at present

	Wednesday, August 21.----Council of the Twelve Apostles at my house
to meet Elder Lyman Wight. Elder John Taylor went after him with a
carriage; found him sick and unable to attend. Sociable gathering of a
number of the Twelve at Wilford Woodruff's. The brethren were accompanied
with their wives. Elder Woodruff was blessed and set apart for his mission
to England under the hands of the members of the quorum of the Twelve
Apostles present."

	BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD RESUMED Several of the Twelve Apostles were
baptized for their dead this same afternoon. This (August 24th) was the
first renewal of baptisms for the dead since the death of the Prophet
Joseph, The ordinance took place in the temporary baptismal font in the
Temple.

	"Tuesday, August 27.---Met with the officers of the Nauvoo Legion in
council. Six of the Apostles were present. The council decided that they
would carry out all the views of their martyred Prophet: The brethren felt
very spirited on the subject

	Thursday, August 29.---This was fast day and I attended meeting at
the stand and laid hands on several of the sick.

	Wednesday, September 4.---Willard Richards sick. The Twelve

	Apostles and a few others met at my house in the evening and prayed
for the preservation of the church and ourselves and that the Lord might
bind up the apostates and preserve the honest in heart

	Thursday, September 5.---Everyone attended public prayer meeting and
exposed the false prophets.

	Friday, September 6.---Elder Heber C. Kimball and I visited the sick
until 2 p. m.

	Saturday, September 7.---Accompanied by Elder Kimball I waited upon
Elder John P. Greene and attended to ordinances for him: He was on his
deathbed.

	Monday, September 9.---I attended council with the Quorum of the
Twelve at Elder Heber C. Kimball's. Thence I went in company with Elder
Kimball through the city attending to business and visiting Elder John P.
Greene and Parley P. Pratt who were sick.

	Monday, September 9.----The wayward labored with Elder Heber C.
Kimball and George A. Smith labored diligently with James Emmett that he
might be persuaded to desist from his intended course of taking away a
party of misguided saints into the wilderness

	Friday, September 13.---In company with Brother Heber C. Kimball and
his wife, Vilate, I visited Mother Lucy Smith, Mother of the Prophet.

	Same day.---Reports concerning the movement of the mob who are making
preparations for what they call a `wolf hunt' on the 26th and 27th of this
month. * * * They design coming and attempting to drag some more
authorities of the church out to Carthage to murder them.

	Saturday, September 14.---In company with Elders Heber C. Kimball and
George A. Smith I called on Sister Hyrum Smith.

	Elder Amasa M. Lyman being very sick and reported to be dying.
Brothers Kimball and George A. Smith and I retired to my upper room
(prayer room) and prayed for him; he was healed from that very hour.

	Evening, visited Brother Amasa M. Lyman (sick nigh unto death).

	Monday, September 16.--Building of an arsenal in Nauvoo near the
temple for housing the arms of the people. I went to the ground secured
for the ARsenal. We uncovered our heads and lifted our hands to heaven and
I dedicated the ground by prayer to the God of the armies of Israel. I
took the spade and broke the ground for the cellar.

	Thursday, September 19.--At home, waiting upon my wife who is very
sick. The saints called upon me for counsel and direction.

	Friday, September 20.--Attending to ordinances in behalf of the
saints and laying hands on the sick. The Lord is with me continually.

	Sunday, September 22.--Governor's agent arrived in Nauvoo. Elder John
Taylor made affidavits against T. C. Sharp and Levi Williams, two of the
murderers of Joseph Smith.

	Monday, September 23.--This evening Sheriff Deming came into Nauvoo
for a Mormon posse to take Sharp and Williams. The Twelve decided that it
was imprudent to take Mormons for that purpose and advised him
accordingly.

	Tuesday, September 24.--I attended council at Winsor P. Lyons.  Six
of the brethren of the Twelve were present, and Elder Joseph Young [senior
President of the Seventy]. We selected seventy presidents to preside over
the seventies--over the ten quorums of the seventies then in
contemplation, and fifty high priests to preside over different sections
of the country.

	Thursday, September 26.--The Quincy militia [state troops] were
escorted about town by the Nauvoo band--(act of courtesy on the part of
the Nauvoo band).

	Held a council at the Temple office and appointed four watchmen to
watch the Temple tonight. Some of Wight's Company have come to town and
they report that they have come to deface the capitals [placed upon the
columns of the Temple] and burn the lumber around the Temple.

	Friday, September 27.--This was the day set apart by the anti-Mormons
for the great `wolf hunt'.

	Governor's troops came into Nauvoo to revert the purpose of it and
the hunt failed. Several of the staff officers of the Nauvoo Legion
appeared in uniform without arms, which the governor regarded as a hint to
remind him of his disarming the Legion previous to the massacre of Joseph
and Hyrum Smith.

	Sunday, September 29.--I attended meeting. * * * Afternoon, I went to
the Seventies' Hall and ordained the sixty-three members of the First
Quorum of Seventy to be presidents over the quorums from the second to the
tenth inclusive.

	Monday, September 30.--I breakfasted at Elder Heber C. Kimball's. We
laid hands on the sick and visited Mother Lucy Smith.

	The Twelve used their influence to prevent the brethren and sisters
from attending the ball given by William Marks. The same was to come off
on Wednesday evening in the dining room of the Mansion, which was still
stained with the blood which flowed from Joseph and Hyrum as their bodies
lay in said room preparatory to burial.

	Tuesday, October 1, 1844.--Evening, attended a meeting of the Quorum
of the Twelve for prayer. A very interesting session."

	So throughout. These men, Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, were
devoted to prayer and the power thereof, nor could aught shake them from
that anchorage. It was par excellence the period of prayer in the church;
and of works, too, for nothing could exceed their activity; faith and
works were evenly balanced; none could be more thoroughly convinced than
they that "faith without works is dead, being alone." And so faith and
works went hand in hand in this period, and held a great and disinherited
and expatriated people together; and transported them across the plains
and over the mountains to where they found refuge from their temporary
ills, and sanctuary; and place and means to lengthen their cords and
strengthen their stakes--a period for development.

	In no other way can men of this and future generations so well learn
"the faith of their fathers", or their character, than by a study of this
sector of the Church History recorded in the annals of volume VII.


	I. CHURCH HISTORIANS' EXCERPTS FROM FORD'S HISTORY OF ILLINOIS


        HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
                                VOLUME VII
                                PERIOD II
               FROM THE MANUSCRIPT HISTORY OF BRIGHAM YOUNG
                       AND OTHER ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
                            

                               CHAPTER I. 
   CONDITIONS IN HANCOCK COUNTY REVIEWED BY GOVERNOR FORD----THE STATE 
       ARMS OF THE LEGION SURRENDERED ON THE DEMAND OF THE GOVERNOR

                               Explanation

THE following lengthy excerpt from the History of Illinois by Thomas Ford,
Governor of that State from 1842-6 was made by the Historians of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, George A. Smith and Wilford
Woodruff---1862---and published in the Millennial Star of that year (Vol.
xxiv, pp. 519-584 passim). It is taken from Ford's History in unbroken
quotation from page 329 to page 354. In a brief paragraph preceding this
quotation (p. 328) the governor had said in commenting upon the character
of the Mormon people: "Upon the whole, if one-half of these reports had
been true [i. e. reports derogatory of their character] the Mormon
community must have been the most intolerable collection of rogues ever
assembled; or, if one-half them were false, they were the most maligned
and abused." The beginning of the Historians' excerpt:

	REVIEW OF GOVERNOR FORD'S PERFORMANCES "Governor Ford is certainly a
man who performed mighty wonders. He not only compelled two innocent men,
by virtue of his office as Governor of Illinois, to go before two
different magistrates on the same charge, contrary to the Constitution and
laws of the state; to surrender themselves into the custody of a mob
magistrate (not the one who issued the writ); go to prison under a
military guard on an illegal mittimus, granted contrary to law, without
any examination; put in a criminal cell without having been examined for
crime; brought them out of prison contrary to law; thrust them back again
under the most solemn and sacred pledges of his personal faith, and the
faith of the state, for their protection; guarded them with men whom he
knew to be treacherous, and to have resolved on the death of the
prisoners, until they were murdered in cold blood, and then professed to
be `thunderstruck'!

	It is our wish to do strict justice to the memory of this heroic
governor, who, in addition to the above-named mighty achievements, on his
deathbed bequeathed to the astounded world a volume of 447 pages,
entitled, `History of Illinois from 1818 to 1847, containing a full
account of the rise, progress, and fall of Mormonism', etc,, from which we
copy the following:---

	GOVERNOR FORD'S STATEMENT `But the great cause of popular fury was,
that the Mormons at several preceding elections had cast their vote as a
unit, thereby making the fact apparent that no one could aspire to the
honors or offices of the country, within the sphere of their influence,
without their approbation and votes. It appears to be one of the
principles by which they insist upon being governed as a community, to act
as a unit in all matters of government and religion. They express
themselves to be fearful that if division should be encouraged in
politics, it would soon extend to their religion, and rend their church
with schism and into sects.

	This seems to me to be an unfortunate view of the subject, and more
unfortunate in practice, as I am well satisfied that it must be the
fruitful source of excitement, violence, and mobocracy, whilst it is
persisted in. It is indeed unfortunate for their peace that they do not
divide in elections, according to their individual preferences or
political principles, like other people.

	This one principle and practice of theirs arrayed against them in
deadly hostility all aspirants for office who were not sure of their
support, all who have been unsuccessful in elections, and all who were too
proud to court their influence, with all their friends and connections.

	These also were the active men in blowing up the fury of the people,
in hopes that a popular movement might be set on foot which would result
in the expulsion or extermination of the Mormon voters. For this purpose,
public meetings had been called, inflammatory speeches had been made,
exaggerated reports had been extensively circulated, committees had been
appointed, who rode night and day to spread the reports, and solicit the
aid of neighboring counties. And at a public meeting at Warsaw,
resolutions were passed to expel or exterminate the Mormon population.

	This was not, however, a movement which was unanimously concurred in.
The county contained a goodly number of inhabitants in favor of peace, or
who at least desired to be neutral in such a contest. These were
stigmatized by the name of Jack-Mormons, and there were not a few of the
more furious exciters of the people who openly expressed their intention
to involve them in the common expulsion or extermination.

	A system of excitement and agitation was artfully planned and
executed with tact. It consisted in spreading reports and rumors of the
most fearful character.

	As examples: On the morning before my arrival at Carthage [June 21,
1844], I was awakened at an early hour by the frightful report, which was
asserted with confidence and apparent consternation, that the Mormons had
already commenced the work of burning, destruction, and murder, and that
every man capable of bearing arms was instantly wanted at Carthage for the
protection of the country. We lost no time in starting; but when we
arrived at Carthage we could hear no more concerning this story.

	Again: during the few days that the militia were encamped at
Carthage, frequent applications were made to me to send a force here and a
force there, and a force all about the country, to prevent murders,
robberies, and larcenies, which it was said were threatened by the
Mormons. No such forces were sent, nor were any such offenses committed at
that time, except the stealing of some provisions, and there was never the
least proof that this was done by a Mormon.

	Again: on my late visit to Hancock county, I was informed by some of
their violent enemies that the larcenies of the Mormons had become
unusually numerous and insufferable. They indeed admitted that but little
had been done in this way in their immediate vicinity; but they insisted
that sixteen horses had been stolen by the Mormons in one night, near
Lima, in the county of Adams.

	At the close of the expedition, I called at this same town of Lima,
and upon inquiry was told that no horses had been stolen in that
neighborhood, but that sixteen horses had been stolen in one night in
Hancock county. This last informant being told of the Hancock story, again
changed the venue to another distant settlement in the northern edge of
Adams.

	As my object in visiting Hancock [county] was expressly to assist in
the execution of the laws, and not to violate them, or to witness or
permit their violation, as I was convinced that the Mormon leaders had
committed a crime in the destruction of the press, and had resisted the
execution of process, I determined to exert the whole force of the state,
if necessary, to bring them to justice.

	But seeing the great excitement in the public mind, and the manifest
tendency of this excitement to run into mobocracy, I was of opinion that
before I acted I ought to obtain a pledge from the officers and men to
support me in strictly legal measures, and to protect the prisoners in
case they surrendered; for I was determined, if possible, that the forms
of law should not be made the catspaw of a mob, to seduce these people to
a quiet surrender, as the convenient victims of popular fury.

	I therefore called together the whole force then assembled at
Carthage, and made an address, explaining to them what I could, and what I
could not legally do, and also adducing to them various reasons why they,
as well as the Mormons, should submit to the laws, and why, if they had
resolved upon revolutionary proceedings, their purpose should be
abandoned.

	The assembled troops seemed much pleased with the address, and upon
its conclusion the officers and men unanimously voted, with acclamation,
to sustain me in a strictly legal course, and that the prisoners should be
protected from violence.

	Upon the arrival of additional forces from Warsaw, McDonough, and
Schuyler, similar addresses were made, with the same result.

	It seemed to me that these votes fully authorized me to promise the
accused Mormons the protection of the law in case they surrendered.

	They were accordingly duly informed that if they surrendered they
would be protected, and if they did not, the whole force of the state
would be called out, if necessary, to compel their submission. A force of
ten men was despatched with the constable to make the arrests and to guard
the prisoners to headquarters.

	In the meantime, Joe Smith, as Lieutenant-General of the Nauvoo
Legion, had declared martial law in the city. The Legion was assembled,
and ordered under arms. The members of it residing in the country were
ordered into town. The Mormon settlements obeyed the summons of their
leader, and marched to his assistance. Nauvoo was one great military camp,
strictly guarded and watched, and no ingress or egress was allowed except
upon the strictest examination.

	In one instance, which came to my knowledge, a citizen of McDonough,
who happened to be in the city, was denied the privilege of returning
until he made oath that he did not belong to the party at Carthage, that
he would return home without calling at Carthage, and that he would give
no information of the movement of the Mormons.

	However, upon the arrival of the constable and guard, the mayor,
Joseph Smith, and common council at once signified their willingness to
surrender, and stated their readiness to proceed to Carthage next morning
at eight o'clock. Martial law had previously been abolished.


	The hour of eight o'clock came, and the accused failed to make their
appearance. The constable and his escort returned. The constable made no
effort to arrest any of them, nor would he or the guard delay their
departure one minute beyond the time, to see whether an arrest could be
made.

	Upon their return they reported that they had been informed that the
accused had fled and could not be found.

	I immediately proposed to a council of officers to march into Nauvoo
with the small force then under my command, but the officers were of
opinion that it was too small, and many of them insisted upon a further
call of the militia.

	Upon reflection I was of opinion that the officers were right in the
estimate of our force, and the project for immediate action was abandoned.

	I was soon informed, however, of the conduct of the constable and
guard, and then I was perfectly satisfied that a most base fraud had been
attempted; that, in fact, it was feared that the Mormons would submit, and
thereby entitle themselves to the protection of the law.

	It was very apparent that many of the bustling, active spirits were
afraid that there would be no occasion for calling out an overwhelming
militia force, for marching it into Nauvoo, for probable mutiny when
there, and for the extermination of the Mormon race. It appeared that the
constable and the escort were fully in the secret, and acted well their
part to promote the conspiracy.

	Seeing this to be the state of the case, I delayed any further call
of the militia, to give the accused another opportunity to surrender, for
indeed I was most anxious to avoid a general call for the militia at that
critical season of the year.

	The whole spring season preceding had been unusually wet. No
ploughing of corn had been done, and but very little planting. The season
had just changed to be suitable for ploughing. The crops which had been
planted were universally suffering, and the loss of two weeks, or even of
one, at that time, was likely to produce a general famine all over the
country.

	The wheat harvest was also approaching; and if we got into a war,
there was no foreseeing when it would end, or when the militia could
safely be discharged.

	In addition to these considerations, all the grist-mills in all that
section of the country had been swept away, or disabled, by the high
waters, leaving the inhabitants almost without meal or flour, and making
it impossible then to procure provisions by impressment or otherwise, for
the sustenance of any considerable force.

	This was the time of the high waters, of astonishing floods in all
the rivers and creeks in the western country, The Mississippi river at St.
Louis was several feet higher than it was ever known before; it was up
into the second stories of the warehouses on Water Street. The steamboats
ran up to these warehouses, and could scarcely receive their passengers
from the second stories. The whole American [Missouri] bottom was
overflowed from eight to twenty feet deep, and steamboats freely crossed
the bottom along the road from St. Louis to the opposite bluffs in
Illinois. Houses and fences and stock of all kinds were swept away, the
fields near the river, after the water subsided, being covered with sand
from a foot to three feet deep, which was generally thrown into ridges and
washed into gullies, so as to spoil the land for cultivation.

	Families had great difficulty in making their escape, Through the
active exertions of Mr. Pratt, the mayor of St. Louis, steamboats were
sent in every direction to their relief. The boats found many of the
families on the tops of their houses, just ready to be floated away.

	The inhabitants of the bottom lost nearly all their personal
property. A large number of them were taken to St. Louis in a state of
entire destitution, and their necessities were supplied by the
contributions of the charitable of that city. A larger number were forced
out on to the Illinois bluffs, where they encamped, and were supplied with
provisions by the neighboring inhabitants.

	This freshet nearly ruined the ancient village of Kaskaskia. The
inhabitants were driven away and scattered, many of them never to return.

	For many years before this flood there had been a flourishing
institution at Kaskaskia, under the direction of an order of nuns of the
Catholic Church. They had erected an extensive building, which was
surrounded and filled by the waters to the second story; but they were all
safely taken away, pupils and all, by a steamboat which was sent to their
relief, and which ran directly up to the building and received its inmates
from the second story. This school was now transferred to St. Louis, where
it yet remains,

	All the rivers and streams in Illinois were as high, and did as much
damage in proportion to their length and the extent of their bottoms, as
the Mississippi.

	This great flood destroyed the last hope of getting provisions at
home, and I was totally without funds belonging to the state, with which
to purchase at more distant markets, and there was a certainty that such
purchases could not have been made on credit abroad. For these reasons I
was desirous of avoiding a war, if it could be avoided.

	In the meantime, I made a requisition upon the officers of the Nauvoo
Legion for the state arms in their possession. It appears that there was
no evidence in the quartermaster-general office of the number and
description of arms with which the Legion had been furnished.

	Dr. Bennett, after he had been appointed quarter-master-general, had
joined the Mormons, and had disposed of the public arms as he pleased,
without keeping or giving any account of them.

	On this subject I applied to General Wilson Law for information. He
had lately been the major-general of the Legion. He had seceded from the
Mormon party; was one of the owners of the proscribed press, had left the
city, as he said, in fear of his life; and was one of the party asking for
justice against its constituted authorities, He was interested to
exaggerate the number of arms rather than to place it at too low an
estimate.

	From his information I learned that the Legion had received three
pieces of cannon and about two hundred and fifty stand of small arms and
their accoutrements. Of these, the three pieces of cannon and two hundred
and twenty stand of small arms were surrendered. These arms were demanded
because the Legion was illegally used in the destruction of the press and
in enforcing martial law in the city, in open resistance to legal process
and the posse comitatus.

	I demanded the surrender also on account of the great prejudice and
excitement which the possession of these arms by the Mormons had kindled
in the minds of the people.


	A large portion of the people, by pure misrepresentation, had been
made to believe that the Legion had received of the state as many as
thirty pieces of artillery and five or six thousand stand of small arms,
which in all probability, would soon be wielded for the conquest of the
country, and for their subjection to Mormon domination.

	I was of opinion that the removal of these arms would tend much to
allay this excitement and prejudice, and, in point of fact, although
wearing a severe aspect, would be an act of real kindness to the Mormons
themselves.' "


                               CHAPTER II. 
          SUBMISSION OF THE PROPHET TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE 
            GOVERNOR----GATHERING OF THE ENEMY FORCES OF THE 
  PROPHET----GOVERNOR FORD'S DEFENSIVE JUSTIFICATION FOR HIS PLACEMENT 
      OF THE HOSTILE FORCES AT CARTHAGE AND THE DISMISSAL OF OTHERS 

	On the 23rd or 24th day of June, Joe Smith, the mayor of Nauvoo,
together with his brother Hyrum, and all the members of the council, and
all others demanded, came into Carthage and surrendered themselves
prisoners to the constable on the charge of riot.

	They all voluntarily entered into a recognizance before the justice
of the peace for their appearance at court to answer the charge, and all
of them were discharged from custody except Joe and Hyrum Smith, against
whom the magistrate had issued a new writ on a complaint of treason, They
were immediately arrested by the constable on this charge, and retained in
his custody to answer it.

	The overt act of treason charged against them consisted in the
alleged levying of war against the state by declaring martial law in
Nauvoo, and in ordering out the Legion to resist the posse comitatus.
Their actual guiltiness of the charge would depend upon circumstances.

	If their opponents had been seeking to put the law in force in good
faith, and nothing more, then an array of military force in open
resistance to the posse comitatus and the militia of the state most
probably would have amounted to treason.

	But if those opponents merely intended to use the process of the law,
the militia of the state, and the posse comitatus, as catspaws to compass
the possessions of their persons for the purpose of murdering them
afterwards, as the sequel demonstrated the fact to be, it might well be
doubted whether they were guilty of treason.

	Soon after the surrender of the Smiths, at their request I dispatched
Captain Singleton with his company from Brown county to Nauvoo, to guard
the town, and I authorized him to take command of the Legion. He reported
to me afterwards, that he called out the Legion for inspection, and that
upon two hours' notice two thousand of them assembled, all of them armed,
and this after the public arms had been taken away from them. So it
appears that they had a sufficiency of private arms for any reasonable
purpose.

	After the Smiths had been arrested on the new charge of treason, the
justice of the peace postponed the examination, because neither of the
parties were prepared with their witnesses for trial. In the meantime, he
committed them to the jail of the county for greater security.

	In all this matter the justice of the peace and constable, though
humble in office, were acting in a high and independent capacity, far
beyond any legal power in me to control. I considered that the executive
power could only be called in to assist, and not to dictate or control
their action; that in the humble sphere of their duties they were as
independent, and clothed with as high authority by the law, as the
executive department, and that my province was simply to aid them with the
force of the state.

	It is true, that so far as I could prevail on them by advice, I
endeavored to do so. The prisoners were not in military custody, or
prisoners of war, and I

	could no more legally control these officers than I could the
superior courts of justice.

	Some persons have supposed that I ought to have had them sent to some
distant and friendly part of the state for confinement and trial, and that
I ought to have searched them for concealed arms; but these surmises and
suppositions are readily disposed of by the fact, that they were not my
prisoners, but were the prisoners of the constable and jailor, under the
direction of the justice of the peace; and, also, by the fact that by law
they could be tried in no other county than Hancock.

	The jail in which they were confined is a considerable stone
building, containing a residence for the jailor, cells for the close and
secure confinement of the prisoners, and one larger room, not so strong,
but More airy and comfortable than the cells, They were put into the cells
by the jailor; but upon their remonstrance and request, and by my advice,
they were transferred to the larger room, and there they remained until
the final catastrophe. Neither they nor I seriously apprehended an attack
on the jail through the guard stationed to protect it, nor did I apprehend
the least danger on their part of an attempt to escape, for I was very
sure that any such an attempt would have been the signal of their
immediate death. Indeed, if they had escaped, it would have been fortunate
for the purposes of those who were anxious for the expulsion of the Mormon
population, for the great body of that people would most assuredly have
followed their Prophet and principal leaders, as they did in their flight
from Missouri.

	I learned afterwards that the leaders of the anti-Mormons did much to
stimulate their followers to the murder of the Smiths in jail, by alleging
that the governor intended to favor their escape. If this had been true,
and could have been well carried out, it would have been the best way of
getting rid of the Mormons. These leaders of the Mormons would never have
dared to return, and they would have been followed in their flight by all
their church, I had such plan in my mind, but I had never breathed it to a
living soul, and was thus thwarted in ridding the state of the Mormons two
years before they actually left, by the insane frenzy of the anti-Mormons.

	Joe Smith, when he escaped from Missouri, had no difficulty in again
collecting his sect about him at Nauvoo; and so the Twelve Apostles, after
they had been at the head of affairs long enough to establish their
authority and influence as leaders, had no difficulty in getting nearly
the whole body of Mormons to follow them into the wilderness two years
after the death of their pretended Prophet.

	The force assembled at Carthage amounted to about twelve or thirteen
hundred men, and it was calculated that four or five hundred more were
assembled at Warsaw. Nearly all that portion resident in Hancock were
anxious to be marched into Nauvoo.

	This measure was supposed to be necessary to search for counterfeit
money and the apparatus to make it, and also to strike a salutary terror
into the Mormon people by an exhibition of the force of the state, and
thereby prevent future outrages, murders, robberies, burnings, and the
like, apprehended as the effect of Mormon vengeance on those who had taken
a part against them.

	On my part, at one time, this arrangement was agreed to. The morning
of the 27th day of June was appointed for the march, and Golden's Point,
near the Mississippi river, and about equi-distant from Nauvoo and Warsaw,
was selected as the place of rendezvous.

	I had determined to prevail on the justice to bring out his
prisoners, and take them along. A council of officers, however, determined
that this would be highly inexpedient and dangerous, and offered such
substantial reasons for their opinions as induced me to change my
resolution.

	Two or three days' preparation had been made for this expedition. I
observed that some of the people became more and more excited and
inflammatory the further the preparations were advanced. Occasional
threats came to my ears of destroying the city and murdering or expelling
the inhabitants.

	I had no objection to ease the terrors of the people by such a
display of force, and was most anxious also to search for the alleged
apparatus for making counterfeit money; and, in fact, to inquire into all
the charges against that people, if I could have been assured of my
command against mutiny and insubordination. But I gradually learned, to my
entire satisfaction, that there was a plan to get the troops into Nauvoo,
and there to begin the war, probably by some of our own party, or some of
the seceding Mormons taking advantage of the night to fire on our own
force, and then laying it on the Mormons.

	I was satisfied that there were those amongst us fully capable of
such an act, hoping that in the alarm, bustle and confusion of a militia
camp, the truth could not be discovered, and that it might lead to the
desired collision.

	I had many objections to be made the dupe of any such or similar
artifice. I was openly and boldly opposed to any attack on the city,
unless it should become necessary, to arrest prisoners legally charged and
demanded. Indeed, if anyone will reflect upon the number of women,
inoffensive and young persons, and innocent children, which must be
contained in such a city of twelve or fifteen thousand inhabitants, it
would seem to me his heart would relent and rebel against such violent
resolutions. Nothing but the most blinded and obdurate fury could incite a
person, even if he had the power, to the willingness of driving such
persons, bare and houseless, on to the prairies, to starve, suffer, and
even steal, as they must have done, for subsistence. No one who has
children of his own would think of it for a moment.

	Besides this, if we had been ever so much disposed to commit such an
act of wickedness, we evidently had not the power to do it. I was well
assured that the Mormons, at a short notice, could muster as many as two
or three thousand well-armed men. We had not more than seventeen hundred,
with three pieces of cannon, and about twelve hundred stand of small arms,
We had provisions for two days only, and would be compelled to disband at
the end of that time. To think of beginning a war under such circumstances
was a plain absurdity.

	If the Mormons had succeeded in repulsing our attack, as most likely
would have been the case, the country must necessarily be given up to
their ravages until a new force could be assembled, and provisions made
for its subsistence. Or if we should have succeeded in driving them from
their city, they would have scattered; and, being justly incensed at our
barbarity, and suffering with privation and hunger, would have spread
desolation all over the country, without any possibility on our part, with
the force we then had, of preventing it. Again, they would have had the
advantage of being able to subsist their force in the field by plundering
their enemies.

	All these considerations were duly urged by me upon the attention of
a council of officers, convened on the morning of the 27th of June. I also
urged upon the council that such wanton and unprovoked barbarity on their
part would turn the sympathy of the people in the surrounding counties in
favor of the Mormons, and therefore it would be impossible to raise a
volunteer militia force to protect such a people against them. Many of the
officers admitted that there might be danger of collision. But such was
the blind fury prevailing at the time, though not showing itself by much
visible excitement, that a small majority of the council adhered to the
first resolution of marching into Nauvoo; most of the officers of the
Schuyler and McDonough militia voting against it, and most of those of the
county of Hancock voting in its favor.

	A Very responsible duty now devolved upon me, to determine whether I
would, as commander-in-chief, be governed by the advice of this majority.
I had no hesitation in deciding that I would not; but on the contrary, I
ordered the troops to be disbanded, both at Carthage and Warsaw, with the
exception of three companies, two of which were retained as a guard to the
jail, and the other was retained to accompany me to Nauvoo.

	The officers insisted much in council upon the necessity of marching
to that place to search for apparatus to make counterfeit money, and more
particularly to terrify the Mormons from attempting any open or secret
measures of vengeance against the citizens of the county, who had taken a
part against them or their leaders.

	To ease their terrors on this head, I proposed to them that I would
myself proceed to the city, accompanied by a small force, make the
proposed search, and deliver an address to the Mormons, and tell them
plainly what degree of excitement and hatred prevailed against them in the
minds of the whole people, and that if any open or secret violence should
be committed on the persons or property of those who had taken part
against them, that no one would doubt but that it had been perpetrated by
them, and that it would be sure and certain means of the destruction of
their city and the extermination of their people.

	I ordered two companies, under the command of Captain R. F. Smith, of
the Carthage Greys, to guard the jail. In selecting these companies, and
particularly the company of the Carthage Greys for this service, I have
been subjected to some censure. It has been said that this company had
already been guilty of mutiny, and had been ordered to be arrested whilst
in the encampment at Carthage, and that they and their officers were the
deadly enemies of the prisoners. Indeed, it would have been difficult to
find friends of the prisoners under my command, unless I had called in the
Mormons as a guard, and this I was satisfied would have led to the
immediate war and the sure death of the prisoners.

	It is true that this company had behaved badly towards the
brigadier-general in command on the occasion when the prisoners were
shown along the line of the McDonough militia. This company had been
ordered as a guard. They were under the belief that the prisoners, who
were arrested for a capital offense, were shown to the troops in a kind of
triumph, and that they had been called on as a triumphal escort to grace
the procession. They also entertained a very bad feeling towards the
brigadier-general who commanded their service on the occasion.

	The truth is, however, that this company was never ordered to be
arrested; that the Smiths were not shown to the McDonough troops as a mark
of honor and triumph, but were shown to them at the urgent request of the
troops themselves, to gratify their curiosity in beholding persons who had
made themselves so notorious in the country.

	When the Carthage Greys ascertained what was the true motive in
showing the prisoners to the troops, they were perfectly satisfied. All
due atonement was made on their part for their conduct to the
brigadier-general, and they cheerfully returned to their duty.

	Although I knew that this company were the enemies of the Smiths, yet
I had confidence in their loyalty and integrity, because their captain was
universally spoken of as a most respectable citizen and honorable man. The
company itself was an old independent company, well armed, uniformed and
drilled, and the members of it were the elite of the militia of the
county.

	I relied upon this company especially because it was an independent
company, for a long time instructed and practiced in military discipline
and subordination. I also had their word and honor, officers and men, to
do their duty according to law.

	Besides all this, the officers and most of the men resided in
Carthage, in the near vicinity of Nauvoo, and, as I thought, must know
that they would make themselves and their property convenient and
conspicuous marks of Mormon vengeance in case they were guilty of
treachery.

	I had at first intended to select a guard from the county of
McDonough, but the militia of that county were very much dissatisfied to
remain; their crops were suffering at home, they were in a perfect fever
to be discharged, and I was destitute of provisions to supply them for
more than a few days. They were far from home, where they could not supply
themselves, whilst the Carthage company could board at their own houses,
and would be put to little inconvenience in comparison,

	What gave me greater confidence in the selection of this company as a
prudent measure was, that the selection was first suggested and urged by
the brigadier-general in command, who was well known to be utterly hostile
to all mobocracy and violence towards the prisoners, and who was openly
charged by the violent party with being on the side of the Mormons.

	At any rate, I knew that the jail would have to be guarded as long as
the prisoners were confined; that an imprisonment for treason might last
the whole summer and the greater part of the autumn before a trial could
be had in the circuit court; that it would be utterly impossible, in the
circumstances of the country, to keep a force there from a foreign county
for so long a time; and that a time must surely come when the duty of
guarding the jail would necessarily devolve on the citizens of the county.

	It is true, also, that at this time I had not believed or suspected
that any attack was to be made upon the prisoners in jail. It is true that
I was aware that a great deal of hatred existed against them, and that
there were those who would do them an injury if they could. I had heard of
some threats being made, but none of an attack upon the prisoners whilst
in jail. These threats seemed to be made by individuals not acting in
concert. They were no more than the bluster which might have been
expected, and furnished no indication of numbers combining for this or any
other purpose.

	I must here be permitted to say, also, that frequent appeals had been
made to me to make a clean and thorough work of the matter by
exterminating the Mormons or expelling them from the state. An opinion
seemed generally to prevail that the sanction of executive authority would
legalize the act; and all persons of any influence, authority, or note,
who conversed with me on the subject, frequently and repeatedly stated
their total unwillingness to act without my direction, or in any mode
except according to law.

	This was a circumstance well calculated to conceal from me the secret
machinations on foot. I had constantly contended against violent measures,
and so had the brigadier-general in command; and I am convinced that
unusual pains were taken to conceal from both of us the secret measures
resolved upon. It has been said, however, that some person named
`Williams', in a public speech at Carthage, called for volunteers to
murder the Smiths, and that I ought to have had him arrested. Whether such
a speech was really made or not is yet unknown to me.'"


                              CHAPTER III. 
 GOVERNOR FORD'S VISIT TO NAUVOO----FEARS ON THE WAY----INSULTING SPEECH 
  TO THE CITIZENS ----RESENTED----HEARS OF THE ASSASSINATION OF JOSEPH 
                             AND HYRUM SMITH

	HAVING ordered the guard, and left General Deming in command in
Carthage, and discharged the residue of the militia, I immediately
departed for Nauvoo, eighteen miles distant, accompanied by Colonel
Buckmaster, quartermaster-general, and Captain Dunn's company of dragoons.

	After we had proceeded four miles, Colonel Buckmaster intimated to me
a suspicion that an attack would be made upon the jail. He stated the
matter as a mere suspicion, arising from having seen two persons converse
together at Carthage with some air of mystery. I myself entertained no
suspicion of such an attack; at any rate, none before the next day in the
afternoon, because it was notorious that we had departed from Carthage
with the declared intention of being absent at least two days. I could
not believe that any person would attack the jail whilst we were in
Nauvoo, and thereby expose my life and the life of my companions to the
sudden vengeance of the Mormons upon hearing of the death of their
leaders. Nevertheless, acting upon the principle of providing against mere
possibilities, I sent back one of the company with a special order to
Captain Smith to guard the jail strictly, and at the peril of his life,
until my return.

	We proceeded on our journey four miles further. By this time I had
convinced myself that no attack would be made on the jail that day or
night. I supposed that a regard for my safety, and the safety of my
companions, would prevent an attack until those to be engaged in it could
be assured of our departure from Nauvoo. I still think that this ought to
have appeared to me to be a reasonable supposition.

	I therefore determined at this point to omit making the search for
counterfeit money at Nauvoo, and defer an examination of all the other
abominations charged on that people, in order to return to Carthage that
same night, that I might be on the ground, in person, in time to prevent
an attack upon the jail, if any had been meditated. To this end we called
a halt; the baggage wagons were ordered to remain where they were until
towards evening, and then return to Carthage.

	Having made these arrangements, we proceeded on our march, and
arrived at Nauvoo about four o'clock of the afternoon of the 27th day of
June. As soon as notice could be given, a crowd of the citizens assembled
to hear an address which I proposed to deliver to them. The number present
has been variously estimated from one to five thousand.

	In this address I stated to them how and in what their functionaries
had violated the laws; also the many scandalous reports in circulation
against them, and that these reports, whether true or false, were
generally believed by the people. I distinctly stated to them the amount
of hatred and prejudice which prevailed everywhere against them, and the
causes of it, at length.

	I also told them, plainly and emphatically, that if any vengeance
should be attempted openly or secretly against the persons or property of
the citizens who had taken part against their leaders, that the public
hatred and excitement was such, that thousands would assemble for the
total destruction of their city and the extermination of their people, and
that no power in the state would be able to prevent it.

	During this address some impatience and resentment were manifested by
the Mormons at the recital of the various reports enumerated concerning
them, which they strenuously and indignantly denied to be true. They
claimed to be a law-abiding people, and insisted that as they looked to
the law alone for their protection, so were they careful themselves to
observe its provisions.

	Upon the conclusion of this address I proposed to take a vote on the
question, whether they would strictly observe the laws even in opposition
to their Prophet and leaders. The vote was unanimous in favor of this
proposition.

	The anti-Mormons contended that such a vote from the Mormons
signified nothing; and truly the subsequent history of that people showed
clearly that they were loudest in their professions of attachment to the
law whenever they were guilty of the greatest extravagances; and, in fact,
that they were so ignorant and stupid about matters of law that they had
no means of judging of the legality of their conduct only as they were
instructed by their spiritual leaders.

	A short time before sundown we departed on our return to Carthage.
When we had proceeded two miles, we met two individuals, one of them a
Mormon, who informed us that the

	Smiths had been assassinated in jail, about five or six o'clock of
that day. The intelligence seemed to strike every one with a kind of
dumbness. As to myself it was perfectly astounding, and I anticipated the
very worst consequences from it.

	The Mormons had been represented to me as a lawless, infatuated and
fanatical people, not governed by the ordinary motives which influence the
rest of mankind. If so, most likely an exterminating war would ensue, and
the whole land would be covered with desolation.

	Acting upon this supposition, it was my duty to provide as well as I
could for the event. I therefore ordered the two messengers into custody,
and to be returned with us to Carthage. This was done to get time to make
such arrangements as could be made, and to prevent any sudden explosion of
Mormon excitement before they could be written to by their friends at
Carthage.

	I also dispatched messengers to Warsaw, to advise the citizens of the
event. But the people there knew all about the matter before my messengers
arrived. They, like myself, anticipated a general attack all over the
country. The women and children were removed across the river, and a
committee was dispatched that night to Quincy for assistance.


	The next morning, by daylight, the ringing of the bells in the city
of Quincy announced a public meeting. The people assembled in great
numbers at an early hour. The Warsaw committee stated to the meeting that
a party of Mormons had attempted to rescue the Smiths out of jail; that a
party of Missourians and others had killed the prisoners to prevent their
escape; that the governor and his party were at Nauvoo at the time when
intelligence of the fact was brought there; that they had been attacked by
the Nauvoo Legion, and had retreated to a house where they were then
closely besieged; that the governor had sent out word that he could
maintain his position for two days, and would be certain to be massacred
if assistance did not arrive by the end of that time.

	It is unnecessary to say that this entire story was a fabrication. It
was of a piece with the other reports put into circulation by the
anti-Mormon party, to influence the public mind and call the people to
their assistance. The effect of it, however, was that by ten o'clock on
the 28th of June, between two and three hundred men from Quincy, under the
command of Major Flood, embarked on board of a steamboat for Nauvoo, to
assist in raising the siege, as they honestly believed.

	As for myself, I was well convinced that those, whoever they were,
who assassinated the Smiths, meditated in turn my assassination by the
Mormons. The very circumstances of the case fully corroborated the
information which I afterwards received, that upon consultation of the
assassins it was agreed amongst them that the murder must be committed
whilst the governor was at Nauvoo; that the Mormons would naturally
suppose that he had planned it; and that in the first outpouring of their
indignation they would assassinate him by way of retaliation; and that
thus they would get clear [rid] of the Smiths and the governor all at
once. They also supposed, that if they could so contrive the matter as to
have the governor of the state assassinated by the Mormons, the public
excitement would be greatly increased against that people, and would
result in their expulsion from the state at least.

	Upon hearing of the assassination of the Smiths, I was sensible that
my command was at an end, that my destruction was meditated as well as
that of the Mormons, and that I could not reasonably confide longer in the
one party or in the other.

	The question then arose, what would be proper to be done. A war was
expected by everybody. I was desirous of preserving the peace. I could not
put myself at the head of the Mormon force with any kind of propriety, and
without exciting greater odium against them than already existed. I could
not put myself at the head of the anti-Mormon party, because they had
justly forfeited my confidence, and my command over them was put an end to
by mutiny and treachery. I could not put myself at the head of either of
these forces, because both of them in turn had violated the law, and, as I
then believed, meditated further aggression. It appeared to me that if a
war ensued, I ought to have a force in which I could confide, and that I
ought to establish my headquarters at a place where I could learn the
truth as to what was going on.

	For these reasons I determined to proceed to Quincy, a place
favorably situated for receiving the earliest intelligence, for issuing
orders to raise an army if necessary, and for providing supplies for its
subsistence. But first, I determined to return back to Carthage and make
such arrangements as could be made for the pacification and defense of the
country.

	When I arrived there, about ten o'clock at night, I found that great
consternation prevailed. Many of the citizens had departed with their
families, and others were preparing to go. As the country was utterly
defenseless, this seemed to me to be a proper precaution. One company of
the guard stationed by me to guard the jail had disbanded and gone home
before the jail was attacked, and many of the Carthage Greys departed soon
afterwards.

	General Deming, who was absent in the country during the murder, had
returned. He volunteered to remain in command of a few men, with orders to
guard the town, observe the progress of events, and to retreat if menaced
by a superior force.

	Here, also, I found Dr. Richards and John Taylor, two of the
principal Mormon leaders, who had been in the jail at the time of the
attack, and who voluntarily addressed a most pacific exhortation to their
fellow citizens, which was the first intelligence of the murder which was
received at Nauvoo. I think it very probable that the subsequent good
conduct of the Mormons is attributable to the arrest of the messengers,
and to the influence of this letter.


	Having made these arrangements, I departed for Quincy. On my road
thither, I heard of a body of militia marching from Schuyler, and another
from Brown [counties]. It appears that orders had been sent out in my
name, but without my knowledge, for the militia of Schuyler county. I
immediately countermanded their march, and they returned to their homes.

	When I arrived at Columbus, I found that Captain Jonas had raised a
company of one hundred men, who were just ready to march. By my advice
they postponed their march to await further orders.


	I arrived at Quincy on the morning of the 29th of June, about eight
o'clock, and immediately issued orders, provisionally, for raising an
imposing force, when it should seem to be necessary.

	I remained at Quincy for about one month, during which time a
committee from Warsaw waited on me, with a written request that I would
expel the Mormons from the state. It seemed that it never occurred to
these gentlemen that I had no power to exile a citizen, but they insisted
that if this were not done, their party would abandon the state. This
requisition was refused, of course.

	During this time also, with the view of saving expense, keeping the
peace, and having a force which would be removed from the prejudices in
the country, I made application to the United States for five hundred men
of the regular army, to be stationed for a time in Hancock county, which
was subsequently refused.

	During this time also, I had secret agents amongst all parties,
observing their movements, and was accurately informed of everything that
was meditated on both sides. It appeared that the anti-Mormon party had
not relinquished their hostility to the Mormons, nor their determination
to expel them, but had deferred further operations until the fall season,
after they had finished their summer's work on their farms.

	When I first went to Carthage, and during all this difficult
business, no public officer ever acted from purer or more patriotic
intentions than I did. I was perfectly conscious of the utmost integrity
in all my actions, and felt lifted up far above all mere party
considerations. But I had scarcely arrived at the scene of action before
the Whig press commenced the most violent abuse, and attributed to me the
basest motives.

	It was alleged in the Sangamon Journal, and repeated in the other
whig newspapers, that the governor had merely gone over to cement an
alliance with the Mormons; that the leaders would not be brought to
punishment, but that a full privilege would be accorded to them to commit
crimes of every hue and grade, in return for their support of the
democratic party. I mention this not by way of complaint, for it is only
the privilege of the minority to complain, but for its influence upon the
people.

	I observed that I was narrowly watched in all my proceedings by my
whig fellow citizens, and was suspected of an intention to favor the
Mormons.

	I felt that I did not possess the confidence of the men I commanded,
and that they had been induced to withhold it by the promulgation of the
most abominable falsehoods.

	I felt the necessity of possessing their confidence, in order to give
vigor to my action, and exerted myself in every way to obtain it, so that
I could control the excited multitude who were under my command. I
succeeded better for a time than could have been expected; but who can
control the action of a mob without possessing their entire confidence?

	It is true, also, that some unprincipled democrats all the time
appeared to be very busy on the side of the Mormons, and this circumstance
was well calculated to increase suspicion of every one who had the name of
democrat.

	It was many days after the assassination of the Smiths before the
circumstances of the murder fully became known. It then appeared that,
agreeably to previous orders, the posse at Warsaw had marched on the
morning of the 27th of June in the direction of Golden's Point, with a
view to join the force from Carthage, the whole body then to be marched
into Nauvoo.

	But by the time they had gone eight miles, they were met by the order
to disband; and learning at the same time that the governor was absent at
Nauvoo, about two hundred of these men, many of them being disguised by
blacking their faces with powder and mud, hastened immediately to
Carthage.

	There they encamped, at some distance from the village, and soon
learned that one of the companies left as a guard had disbanded and
returned to their homes. The other company, the Carthage Greys, was
stationed by the captain in the public square, a hundred and fifty yards
from the jail, whilst eight men were detailed by him, under the command of
Sergeant Franklin A. Worrell, to guard the prisoners.

	A Communication was soon established between the conspirators and the
company, and it was arranged that the guard should have their guns charged
with blank cartridges, and fire at the assailants when they attempted to
enter the jail.

	General Deming, who was left in command, being deserted by some of
his troops, and perceiving the arrangement with the others, and having no
force upon Which he could rely, for fear of his life retired from the
village,

	The conspirators came up, jumped the slight fence around the jail,
were fired upon by the guard, which, according to arrangement, was
overpowered immediately, and the assailants entered the prison, to the
door of the room where the two prisoners were confined, With two of their
friends, who voluntarily bore them company.

	An attempt was made to break open the door, but Joe Smith being armed
with a six-barrelled pistol, furnished by his friends, fired several times
as the door was bursted open, and wounded three of the assailants. At the
same time several shots were fired into the room, by some of which John
Taylor received four wounds, and Hyrum Smith was instantly killed.

	Joe Smith now attempted to escape by jumping out of the second story
window, but the fall so stunned him that he was unable to rise; and being
placed in a sitting posture by the conspirators below, they dispatched him
with four balls shot through his body.

	Thus fell Joe Smith, the most successful impostor in modern times.'"
* * * * *

	II EXTENSION OF QUOTATIONS FROM FORD'S HISTORY OF ILLINOIS

	Explanation. THE former Historians of the Church, George A. Smith and
Wilford Woodruff (see Millennial Star, Vol. xxiv, p. 584, 1862) end their
quotation from Ford's History of Illinois at p. 354, and in the middle of
an unfinished sentence. There are other matters however in the book that
should be preserved to history, which deal with subsequent events of
Mormon affairs in Hancock county, and as it is not likely that Ford's
History of Illinois will ever be published again, and inasmuch also as his
treatise upon Mormon affairs is the most important part of the book, we
shall do a service both to the History of the Church and to the History of
Illinois by publishing further excerpts, These quotations will make up
chapters iv and v.


                               CHAPTER IV. 
        GOVERNOR FORD'S COMMENTS ON THE CHARACTER OF JOSEPH SMITH 
      AND HIS FOLLOWERS---HIS CONJECTURES ON THE FUTURE OF MORMONISM

	IT is necessary to repeat the part of the sentence with which the
last chapter closed:

	"Thus fell Joe Smith, the most successful impostor in modern times; a
man who though ignorant and coarse, had some great natural parts, which
fitted him for temporary success, but which were so obscured and
counteracted by the inherent corruption and vices of his nature that he
never could succeed in establishing a system of policy which looked to
permanent success in the future. His lusts, his love of money and power,
always set him to studying present gratification and convenience, rather
than the remote consequences of his plans. It seems that no power of
intellect can save a corrupt man from this error. The strong cravings of
the animal nature will never give fair play to a fine understanding, the
judgment is never allowed to choose that good which is far away, in
preference to enticing evil near at hand. And this may be considered a
wise ordinance of Providence, by which the counsels of talented but
corrupt men, are defeated in the very act which promised success.

	It must not be supposed that the pretended Prophet practiced the
tricks of a common impostor; that he was a dark and gloomy person, with a
long beard, a grave and severe aspect, and a reserved and saintly carriage
of his person; on the contrary, he was full of levity, even to boyish
romping; dressed like a dandy, and at times drank like a sailor and swore
like a pirate. He could, as occasion required, be exceedingly meek in his
deportment; and then again rough and boisterous as a highway robber; being
always able to satisfy his followers of the propriety of his conduct. He
always quailed before power, and was arrogant to weakness. At times he
could put on the air of a penitent, as if feeling the deepest humiliation
for his sins, and suffering unutterable anguish, and indulging in the most
gloomy forebodings of eternal woe. At such times he would call for the
prayers of the brethren in his behalf, with a wild and fearful energy and
earnestness. He was full six feet high, strongly built, and uncommonly
well muscled. No doubt he was as much indebted for his influence over an
ignorant people, to the superiority of his physical vigor, as to his
greater cunning and intellect.

	His followers were divided into the leaders and the led; the first
division embraced a numerous class of broken-down, unprincipled men of
talents, to be found in every country, who, bankrupt in character and
fortune, had nothing to lose by deserting the known religions, and carving
out a new one of their won. They were mostly infidels, who holding all
religions in derision, believed that they had as good a right as Christ or
Mahomet, or any of the founders of former systems, to create one for
themselves: and if they could impose it upon mankind, to live upon the
labor of their dupes. Those of the second division, were the credulous
wondering Part of men, whose easy belief and admiring natures, are always
the victims of novelty, in whatever shape it may come, who have a capacity
to believe any strange and wonderful matter, if it only be new, whilst the
wonders of former ages command neither faith nor reverence; they were men
of feeble purposes, readily subjected to the will of the strong, giving
themselves up entirely to the direction of their leaders: and this
accounts for the very great influence of those leaders in controlling
them. In other respects some of the Mormons were abandoned rogues, who had
taken shelter in Nauvoo, as a convenient place for the headquarters of
their villainy; and others were good, honest, industrious people, who were
the sincere victims of an artful delusion. Such as these were more the
proper objects of pity than persecution. With them, their religious belief
was a kind of insanity; and certainly no greater Calamity can befall a
human being, than to have a mind so constituted as to be made the sincere
dupe of a religious impostor. * * *

	* * * The world now indulged in various conjectures as to the further
progress of the Mormon religion. By some persons it was believed that it
would perish and die away with its founder. But upon the principle that
`the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church', there was now really
more cause than ever to predict its success. The murder of the Smiths,
instead of putting an end to the delusion of the Mormons and dispersing
them, as many believed it would, only bound them together closer than
ever, gave them new confidence in their faith and an increased fanaticism.

	The Mormon Church had been organized with a First Presidency,
composed of Joe and Hyrum Smith and Sidney Rigdon, and Twelve Apostles of
Jesus

	Christ. The Twelve Apostles were now absent, and until they could be
called together the minds of the saints' were unsettled, as to the future
government of the church. Revelations were published that the prophet, in
imitation of the Savior, was to rise again from the dead. Many were
looking In gaping wonderment for the fulfillment of this revelation, and
some reported that they had already seen him, attended by a celestial army
coursing the air on a great white horse. Rigdon, as the only remaining
member of the First Presidency, claimed the government of the church, as
being successor to the Prophet. When the Twelve Apostles returned from
foreign parts, a fierce struggle for power ensued between them and Rigdon.
Rigdon fortified his pretensions by alleging the will of the Prophet in
his favor, and pretending to have several new revelations from heaven,
amongst which was one of a very impolitic nature. This was to the effect,
that all the wealthy Mormons were to break up their residence at Nauvoo,
and follow him to Pittsburgh. This revelation put both the rich and the
poor against him, The rich, because they did not want to leave their
property; and the poor, because they would not be deserted by the wealthy.
This was fatal to the ambition of Rigdon; and the Mormons, tired of the
despotism of a one-man government, were now willing to decide in favor of
the Apostles. Rigdon was expelled from the church as being a false
prophet, and left the field with a few followers, to establish a little
delusion of his own, near Pittsburgh; leaving the government of the main
church in the hands of the Apostles, with Brigham Young, a cunning but
vulgar man, at their head, occupying the place of Peter in the Christian
hierarchy.

	Missionaries were dispatched to all parts to preach in the name of
the `martyred Joseph': and the Mormon religion thrived more than ever. For
a while it was doubtful whether the reign of the military saints in Nauvoo
would not in course of time supplant the meek and lowly system of Christ.
There were many things to favor their success, The different Christian
sects had lost much of the fiery energy by which at first they were
animated. They had attained to a more subdued, sober, learned, and
intellectual religion. But there is at all times a large class of mankind
who will never be satisfied with anything in devotion, short of a heated
and wild fanaticism. The Mormons were the greatest zealots, the most
confident in their faith, and filled with a wilder. fiercer, and more
enterprising enthusiasm, than any sect on the continent of America: their
religion gave promise of more temporal and spiritual advantages for less
labor, and with less personal sacrifice of passion, lust, prejudice,
malice, hatred, and ill will, than any other perhaps in the whole world.
Their missionaries abroad, to the number of two or three thousand, were
most earnest and indefatigable in their efforts to make converts:
compassing sea and land to make one proselyte. When abroad, they first
preached doctrines somewhat like those of the Campbellites; Sidney Rigdon,
the inventor of the system, having once been a Campbellite preacher: and
when they had made a favorable impression, they began in far-off allusions
to open up their mysteries, and to reveal to their disciples that a
perfect `fullness of the gospel' must be expected. This `fullness of the
gospel' was looked for by the dreamy and wondering disciple, as an
indefinite something not yet to be comprehended, but which was essential
to complete happiness and salvation. He was then told that God required
him to remove to the place of gathering, where alone this sublime
`fullness of the gospel' could be fully revealed, and completely enjoyed.
When he arrived at the place of gathering.

	he was fortified in the new faith by being withdrawn from all other
influences; and by seeing and hearing nothing but Mormons and Mormonism;
and by association with those only who never doubted any of the Mormon
dogmas. Now the `fullness of the gospel' could be safely made known. If it
required him to submit to the most intolerable despotism; if it tolerated
and encouraged the lusts of the flesh and a plurality of wives; if it
claimed all the world for the saints; universal dominion for the Mormon
leaders; if it sanctioned murder, robbery, perjury, and larceny, at the
command of their priests, no one could now doubt but that this was the
`fullness of the gospel', the liberty of the saints, with which Christ had
made them free,

	The Christian world, which has hitherto regarded Mormonism with
silent contempt, unhappily may yet have cause to fear its rapid increase.
Modern society is full of material for such a religion. At the death of
the Prophet, fourteen years after the first Mormon Church was organized,
the Mormons in all the world numbered about two hundred thousand souls
(one-half million according to their statistics); a number equal, perhaps,
to the number of Christians, when the Christian Church was of the same
age. It is to be feared that in course of a century, some gifted man like
Paul, some splendid orator, who will be able by his eloquence to attract
crowds of the thousands who are ever ready to hear, and be carried away by
the sounding brass and tinkling cymbal of sparkling oratory, may command a
hearing, may succeed in breathing a new life into this modern
Mahometanism, and make the name of the martyred Joseph ring as loud, and
stir the souls of men as much, as the mighty name of Christ itself.
Sharon, Palmyra, Manchester, Kirtland, Far West, Adamon Diahmon
(Adam-ondi-Ahman), Ramus. Nauvoo, and the Carthage jail, may become holy
and venerable names, places of classic interest, in another age; like
Jerusalem. the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, and Mount
Calvary to the Christian, and Mecca and Medina to the Turk. And in that
event, the author of this History feels degraded by the reflection, that
the humble governor of an obscure state, who would otherwise be forgotten
in a few Years, stands a fair chance, like Pilate and Herod, by their
official connection with the true religion, of being dragged down to
posterity with an immortal name, hitched on to the memory of a miserable
impostor. There may be those whose ambition would lead them to desire an
immortal name in history, even in those humbling terms. I am not one of
that number.

	About one year after the Apostles were installed into power, they
abandoned for the present the project of converting the world to the new
religion. All the missionaries and members abroad were ordered home; it
was announced that the world had rejected the gospel by the murder of the
Prophet and Patriarch, and was to be left to perish in its sins. In the
meantime, both before and after this, the elders at Nauvoo quit preaching
about religion. The Mormons came from every part, pouring into the city;
the congregations were regularly called together for worship, but instead
of expounding the new gospel, the zealous and infuriated preachers now
indulged only in curses and strains of abuse of the Gentiles, and it
seemed to be their design to fill their followers with the greatest amount
of hatred to all mankind excepting the `saints'. A sermon was no more than
an inflammatory stump speech, relating to their quarrels with their
enemies, and ornamented with an abundance of profanity. From my own
personal knowledge of this people, I can say with truth, that I have never
known much of any of their leaders who was not addicted to profane
swearing. No other kind of discourses than these were heard in the city.
Curses upon their enemies, upon the country, upon government, upon all
public officer, were now the lessons taught by the elders, to inflame
their people with the highest degree of spite and malice against all who
were not of the Mormon Church, or its obsequious tools. The reader can
readily imagine how a city of fifteen thousand inhabitants could be
wrought up and kept in a continual rage by the inflammatory harangues of
its leaders.

	In the meantime, the anti-Mormons were not idle; they were more than
ever determined to expel the Mormons; and being passionately inflamed
against them, they made many applications for executive assistance. On the
other hand, the Mormons invoked the assistance of government to take
vengeance upon the murderers of the Smiths. The anti-Mormons asked the
governor to violate the Constitution, which he was sworn to support, by
erecting himself into a military despot and exiling the Mormons. The
Mormons, on their part. in their newspapers, invited the governor to
assume absolute power, by taking a summary vengeance upon their enemies,
by shooting fifty or a hundred of them, without judge or jury. Both
parties were thoroughly disgusted with constitutional provisions
restraining them from the summary attainment of their wishes for
vengeance; each was ready to submit to arbitrary power, to the fiat of a
dictator, to make me a king for the time being, or at least that I might
exercise the power of a king, to abolish both the forms and spirit of free
government, if the despotism to be erected upon its ruins could only be
wielded for its benefit, and to take vengeance on its enemies. It seems
that, notwithstanding all our strong professions of attachment to liberty,
there is all the time an unconquerable leaning to the principles of
monarch and despotism, whenever the forms, the delays, and the restraints
of republican government fail to correct great evils. When the forms of
government in the United States were first invented, the public liberty
Was thought to be the great object of governmental protection. Our
ancestors studied to prevent government from doing harm, by depriving it
of power. They would not trust the power of exiling a citizen upon any
terms; or of taking his life, without a fair and impartial trial in the
courts, even to the people themselves, much less to their government. But
so infatuated were these parties, so deep did they feel their grievances,
that both of them were enraged in their turn, because the governor firmly
adhered to his oath of office; refusing to be a party to their
revolutionary proceedings; to set aside the government of the country, and
execute summary vengeance upon one or the other of them."


                               CHAPTER V. 
       POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF THE PERIOD FOLLOWING THE DEATH 
      OF THE PROPHET----"TRIAL" OF THE MURDERERS ---STATUS OF CIVIL 
                       GOVERNMENT IN HANCOCK COUNTY

	ANOTHER election was to come off in August, 1844, for members of
congress, and for the legislature; and an election was pending throughout
the nation for a president of the United States. The war of party was
never more fierce and terrible than during the pendency of these
elections. The parties in many places met separately almost every night;
not to argue the questions in dispute, but to denounce, ridicule abuse,
and belittle each other, with sarcasm, clamor, noise, and songs, during
which nothing could be heard but hallooing, hurrahing, and yelling, and
then to disperse through town, with insulting taunts and yells of defiance
on either side.

	In all this they were but little less fanatical and frantic on the
subject of politics, than were the Mormons about religion. Such a state of
excitement could not fail to operate unfavorably upon the Mormon question,
involved as it was in the questions of party politics, by the former votes
of the Mormons. As a means of allaying excitement, and making the question
more manageable, I was most anxious that the Mormons should not vote at
this election, and strongly advised them against doing so. But Colonel E.
D. Taylor went to their city a few days before the election, and the
Mormons, being ever disposed to follow the worst advice they could get,
were induced by him and others to vote for all the democratic candidates.
Colonel Taylor found them very hostile to the governor, and on that
account much disposed not to vote at this election. The leading whig
anti-Mormons, believing that I had an influence over the Mormons, for the
purpose of destroying it had assured them that the governor had planned
and been favorable to the murder of their Prophet and Patriarch. The
Mormons pretended to suspect that the governor had given some countenance
to the murder, or at least had neglected to take the proper precautions to
prevent it. And yet it is strange that at this same election, they elected
General Deming to be the sheriff of the county, when they knew that he had
first called out the militia against them, had concurred with me in all
the measures subsequently adopted, had been left in command at Carthage
during my absence at Nauvoo, and had left his post when he saw that he had
no power to prevent the murders. As to myself, I shared the fate of all
men in high places, who favor moderation, who see that both parties in the
frenzy of their excitement are wrong espousing the cause of neither; which
fate always is to be hated by both parties. But Colonel Taylor, like a
skillful politician, denied nothing, but gave countenance to everything
the Mormons said of the governor; and by admitting to them that the
governor was a great rascal; by promising them the support of the
democratic party, an assurance he was not authorized to make, but which
they were foolish enough to believe, and by insisting that the governor
was not the democratic party, he overcame their reluctance to vote.
Nevertheless, for mere political effect, without a shadow of justice, the
whig leaders and newspapers everywhere, and some enemies in the democratic
ranks, immediately charged this vote of the Mormons to the governor's
influence; and this charge being believed by many, made the anti-Mormon
party more famous than ever in favor of the expulsion of the Mormons.

	In the course of the fall of 1844, the anti-Mormon leaders sent
printed invitations to all the militia captains in Hancock, and to the
captains of militia in all the neighboring counties in Illinois, Iowa, and
Missouri, to be present with their companies at a great wolf hunt in
Hancock; and it was privately announced that the wolves to be hunted were
the Mormons and Jack-Mormons. Preparations were made for assembling
several thousand men, with provisions for six days; and the anti-Mormon
newspapers, in aid of the movement, commenced anew the most awful accounts
of thefts and robberies, and meditated outrages by the Mormons. The whig
press in every part of the United States, came to their assistance. The
democratic newspapers and leading democrats, who had received the benefit
of the Mormon votes to their party, quailed under the tempest, leaving no
organ for the correction of public opinion, either at home or abroad,
except the discredited Mormon newspaper at Nauvoo. But very few of my
prominent democratic friends would dare to come up to the assistance of
their governor, and but few of them dared openly to vindicate his motives
in endeavoring to keep the peace. They were willing and anxious for Mormon
votes at elections, but they were unwilling to risk their popularity with
the people, by taking a part in their favor, even when law and justice,
and the Constitution, were all on their side. Such being the odious
character of the Mormons, the hatred of the common people against them,
and such being the pusillanimity of leading men, in fearing to encounter
it.

	In this state of the case I applied to Brigadier-General J. J.
Hardin, of the state militia, and to Colonels Baker and Merriman, all
whigs, but all of them men of military ambition, and they, together with
Colonel William Weatherford, a democrat with my own exertions, succeeded
in raising about five hundred volunteers; and thus did these whigs, that
which my own political friends, with two or three exceptions, were slow to
do, from a sense of duty and gratitude.

	With this little force under the command of General Hardin, I arrived
in Hancock county on the 25th of September. The malcontents abandoned
their design, and all the leaders of it fled to Missouri. The Carthage
Greys fled almost in a body carrying their arms along with them. During
our stay in the county the anti-Mormons thronged into the camp, and
conversed freely with the men, who were fast infected with their
prejudices, and it was impossible to get any of the officers to aid in
expelling them. Colonels Baker, Merriman and Weatherford, volunteered
their services if I would go with them, to cross with a force into
Missouri, to capture three of the anti-Mormon leaders, for whose arrest
writs had been issued for the murder of the Smiths. To this I assented,
and procured a boat, which was sent down in the night. and secretly landed
a mile above Warsaw. Our little force arrived at that place about noon;
that night were to cross to Missouri at Churchville, and seize the accused
there encamped with a number of their friends; but that afternoon Colonel
Baker visited the hostile encampment, and on his return refused to
participate in the expedition, and advised all his friends against joining
it. There was no authority for compelling the men to invade a neighboring
state, and for this cause, much to the vexation of myself and several
others, the matter fell through.

	It seems that Colonel Baker had already partly arranged the terms for
the accused to surrender. They were to be taken to Quincy for examination
under a military guard; the attorney for the people was to be advised to
admit them to bail, and they were to be entitled to a continuance of their
trial at the next court at Carthage; upon this, two of the accused came
over and surrendered themselves prisoners.

	But at that time I was held responsible for this compromise with the
murderers. The truth is, that I had but little of the moral power to
command in this expedition. Officers, men, and all under me, were so
infected with the anti-Mormon prejudices that I was made to feel severely
the want of moral power to control them. It would be thought very strange
in any other government that the administration should have the power to
direct, but no power to control. By the Constitution the governor can
neither appoint nor remove a militia officer. He may arrest and order a
court martial. But a court martial composed of military officers, elected
in times of peace, in many cases upon the same principles upon which
Colonel Pluck was elected in New York City, is not likely to pay much
attention to executive wishes in opposition to popular excitement. So,
too, in Illinois, the governor has no power to appoint, remove, or in
anywise control sheriffs, justices of the peace, nor even a constable; and
yet the active cooperation of such officers with the executive, is
indispensable to the success of any effort the governor may take to
suppress civil war. If anyone supposes that the greatest amount of talents
will enable anyone to govern under such circumstances, he is mistaken. It
may be thought that the governor ought to create a public sentiment in
favor of his measures, to sway the minds of those under him to his own
course, but if anyone supposes that even the greatest abilities could
succeed in such an effort against popular feeling, and against the
inherent love of numerous demagogues for popularity, he is again mistaken.

	GOVERNOR FORD'S PLEDGE OF SAFETY TO THE PROPHET ADMITTED I had
determined from the first that some of the ringleaders in the foul murder
of the Smiths should be brought to trial. If these men had been the
incarnation of satan himself, as was believed by many, their murder was a
foul and treacherous action, alike disgraceful to those who perpetrated
the crime, to the state, and to the governor, whose word had been pledged
for the protection of the prisoners in jail, and which had been so
shamefully violated; and required that the most vigorous means should be
used to bring the assassins to punishment. As much as anything else the
expedition under General Hardin had been ordered with a view to arrest the
murderers.

	Accordingly, I employed able lawyers to hunt up the testimony,
procure indictments, and prosecute the offenders. A trial was had before
Judge Young in the summer of 1845. The sheriff and panel of jurors,
selected by the Mormon court, were set aside for prejudice, and elisors
were appointed to select a new jury. One friend of the Mormons and one
anti-Mormon were appointed for this purpose; but as more than a thousand
men had assembled under arms at the court, to keep away the Mormons and
their friends, the jury was made up of these military followers of the
court, who all swore that they had never formed or expressed any opinion
as to the guilt or innocence of the accused. The Mormons had one principal
witness, who was with the troops at Warsaw, had marched with them until
they were disbanded, heard their consultations, went before them to
Carthage, and saw them murder the Smiths. But before the trial came on,
they had induced him to become a Mormon, and being much more anxious for
the glorification of the Prophet than to avenge his death, the leading
Mormons made him publish a pamphlet giving an account of the murder; in
which he professed to have seen a bright and shining light descend upon
the head of Joe Smith, to strike some of the conspirators with blindness,
and that he heard supernatural voices in the air confirming his mission as
a Prophet! Having published this in a book, he was compelled to swear to
it in court, which of course destroyed the credit of his evidence. This
Witness was afterwards expelled from the Mormons, but no doubt they will
cling to his evidence in favor of the divine mission of the Prophet.

	THE--"TRIAL"! THE STATE OF THE COURT Many other witnesses were
examined, who knew the facts, but under the influence of the
demoralization of faction, denied all knowledge of them. It has been said,
that faction may find men honest, but it scarcely ever leaves them so.
This was verified to the letter in the history of the Mormon quarrel. The
accused were all acquitted.

	During the progress of these trials, the judge was compelled to
permit the courthouse to be filled and surrounded by armed bands, who
attended court to browbeat and overawe the administration of justice. `The
judge himself was in a duress, and informed me that he did not consider
his life secure any part of the time. The consequence was, that the crowd
had everything their own way; the lawyers for the defense defended their
clients by a long and elaborate attack on the governor; the armed mob
stamped with their feet and yelled their approbation at every sarcastic
and smart thing that was said; and the judge was not only forced to hear
it, but to lend it a kind of approval. Josiah Lamborn was attorney for the
prosecution: and O. H. Browning, O. C. Skinner, Calvin A. Warren, and
William A. Richardson, were for the defense.

	At the next term, the leading Mormons were tried and acquitted for
the destruction of the heretical press. It appears that, not being
interested in objecting to the sheriff or the jury selected by a court
elected by themselves, they in their turn got a favorable jury determine
upon acquittal, and yet the Mormon jurors all swore that they had formed
no opinion as to the guilt or innocence of their accused friends. It
appeared that the laws furnished the means of suiting each party with a
jury. The Mormons could have a Mormon jury to be tried by, selected by
themselves; and the anti-Mormons, by objecting to the sheriff and regular
panel, could have one from the anti-Mormons. From henceforth no leading
man on either side could be arrested without the aid of an army, as the
men of one party could not safely surrender to the other for fear of being
murdered; when arrested by a military force the Constitution prohibited a
trial in any other county Without the consent of the accused. No one would
be Convicted of any crime in Hancock; and this put an end to the
administration of the criminal law in that distracted county. Government
was at an end there, and the whole community were delivered up to the
dominion of a frightful anarchy. If the whole state had been in the same
condition, then indeed would have been verified to the letter what was
said by a wit, when he expressed an opinion that the people were neither
capable of governing themselves nor of being governed by others. And truly
there can be no government in a free country where the people do not
voluntarily obey the laws."

	III MEMOIRS OF THE LATE PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR RESPECTING AFFAIRS AT
NAUVOO LEADING UP TO THE MARTYRDOM OF THE PROPHET AND PATRIARCH: GOVERNOR
FORD'S RESPONSIBILITY THEREIN

	Explanation FOLLOWING the preceding excerpts from Ford's History of
Illinois, setting forth his views of Latter-day Saint affairs in the state
of Illinois during his incumbency of the office of governor of that state,
and also what really amounts to a defense of himself in relation to those
events, I deem it important that a Latter-day Saint statement covering the
same period of time and events, with comments thereon, should be made.
Such a statement and comments I find in an historical document written by
John Taylor, late President [the third] of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, a close participant in these events; and second only in
nearness to the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum in them; and
who also was nearly made a complete martyr to the cause in which they
suffered, being savagely wounded in Carthage Prison, and only narrowly
escaping the death visited upon them. This statement and the comments upon
this eventful period were made at a time far enough removed from the
excitement of those days to enable the writer to speak temperately upon
the events of that period, and at the same time in a judicial and
statesmanlike spirit, that greatly enhances the value of the document.

	As seen by the introductory paragraph, the paper was prepared at the
request of George A. Smith and Wilford Woodruff, Church Historians, under
the title of "The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith"; and was filed in the
Historian's Office, Salt Lake City.

	This document will make up chapters vi to x inclusive.


                               CHAPTER VI. 
     THE MARTYRDOM OF JOSEPH SMITH; REVIEW OF CONDITIONS IN ILLINOIS 
                          PRECEDING THAT EVENT 

	"BEING requested by Elders George A. Smith and Wilford Woodruff,
Church Historians, to write an account of events that transpired before,
and took place at, the time of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, in Carthage
Jail, in Hancock county, state of Illinois, I Write the following,
principally from memory, not having access at this time to any public
documents relative thereto farther than a few desultory items contained in
Ford's History of Illinois. I must also acknowledge myself considerably
indebted to George A. Smith, who was with me when I wrote it, and who,
although not there at the time of the bloody transaction, yet, from
conversing with several persons who were in the capacity of Church
Historians, and aided by an excellent memory, has rendered me considerable
service.

	These and the few items contained in the note at the end of this
account are all the aid I have had. I would farther add that the items
contained in the letter, in relation to dates especially, may be
considered strictly correct.

	After having written the whole, I read it over to the Hon. J. M.
Bernhisel, who with one or two slight alterations, pronounced it strictly
correct. Brother Bernhisel was present most of the time. I am afraid that,
from the length of time that has transpired since the occurrence, and
having to rely almost exclusiVely upon my memory, there may be some slight
inaccuracies, but I believe that in general it is strictly correct. As I
figured in those transactions from the commencement to the end, they left
no slight impression on my mind.

	In the year 1844, a very great excitement prevailed in some parts of
Hancock, Brown and other neighboring counties of Illinois, in relation to
the `Mormons', and a spirit of vindictive hatred and persecution was
exhibited among the people, which was manifested in the most bitter and
acrimonious language, as well as by acts of hostility and violence,
frequently threatening the destruction of the citizens of Nauvoo and
vicinity, and utter annihilation of the `Mormons' and `Mormonism', and in
some instances breaking out in the most violent acts of ruffianly
barbarity. Persons were kidnapped, whipped, persecuted, and falsely
accused of various crimes; their cattle and houses injured, destroyed, or
stolen; vexatious prosecutions were instituted to harass, and annoy. In
some remote neighborhoods they were expelled from their homes without
redress, and in others violence was threatened to their persons and
property, while in others every kind of insult and indignity were heaped
upon them, to induce them to abandon their homes, the county, or the
state.

	These annoyances, prosecutions, and persecutions were instigated
through different agencies and by various classes of men, actuated by
different motives, but all uniting in the one object----prosecution,
persecution, and extermination of the saints,

	There were a number of wicked and corrupt men living in Nauvoo and
its vicinity, who had belonged to the church, but whose conduct was
incompatible with the gospel; they were accordingly dealt with by the
church and severed from its communion. Some of these had been prominent
members, and held official stations either in the city or church. Among
these were John C. Bennett, formerly mayor; William Law, counselor to
Joseph Smith; Wilson

	Law, his natural brother, and general in the Nauvoo Legion; Dr. R. D.
Foster, a man of some property, but with a very bad reputation; Francis
and Chauncey Higbee, the latter a young lawyer, and both sons of a
respectable and honored man in the church, known as Judge Elias Higbee,
who died about twelve months before.

	Besides these, there were a great many apostates, both in the city
and county, of less notoriety, who for their delinquencies, had been
expelled from the church. John C. Bennett and Francis and Chauncey Higbee
were cut off from the church; the former was also cashiered from his
generalship for the most flagrant acts of seduction and adultery; and the
developments in their cases were so scandalous that the high council,
before whom they were tried, had to sit with closed doors.

	William Law, although counselor to Joseph, was found to be his most
bitter foe and malinger, and to hold intercourse [it was alleged] ,
contrary to all law, in his own house, with a young lady resident with
him; and it was afterwards proven that he had conspired with some
Missourians to take Joseph Smith's life, and (the Prophet) was only saved
by Josiah Arnold and Daniel Garn, who, being on guard at his house,
prevented the assassins from seeing him. Yet, although having murder in
his heart, his manners were generally courteous and mild, and he was well
calculated to deceive.

	General Wilson Law was cut off from the church for seduction,
falsehood, and defamation; both the above were also court-martialed by the
Nauvoo Legion, and expelled. Foster was also cut off I believe, for
dishonesty, fraud, and falsehood. I know he was eminently guilty of the
whole, but whether these were the specific charges or not, I don't know,
but I do know that he was a notoriously wicked and corrupt man.

	Besides the above characters and `Mormonic' apostates, there were
other three parties, The first of these may be called religionists, the
second politicians, and the third counterfeiters, blacklegs, horse
thieves, and cutthroats.

	The religious party were chagrined and maddened because `Mormonism'
came in contact with their religion, and they could not oppose it from the
scriptures. Thus like the ancient Jews, when enraged at the exhibition of
their follies and hypocrisies by Jesus and his Apostles, so these were
infuriated against the `Mormons' because of their discomfiture by them;
and instead of owning the truth and rejoicing in it, they were ready to
gnash upon them with their teeth, and to persecute the believers in
principles which they could not disprove.

	The political party were those who were of opposite politics to us.
There were always two parties, the whigs and democrats, and we could not
vote for one without offending the other, and it not unfrequently happened
that candidates for office would place the issue of their election upon
opposition to the `Mormons', in order to gain political influence from
religious prejudice, in which case the `Mormons' were compelled, in
self-defense, to vote against them, which resulted almost invariably
against our opponents. This made them angry; and although it was of their
own making, and the `Mormons' could not be expected to do otherwise, yet
they raged on account of their discomfiture, and sought to wreak their
fury on the `Mormons'. As an instance of the above, when Joseph Duncan was
candidate for the office of governor of Illinois, he pledged himself to
his party that, if he could be elected, he would exterminate or drive the
`Mormons' from the state. The consequence was that Governor Ford was
elected. The whigs, seeing that they had been out-generaled by the
democrats in securing the `Mormon' vote, became seriously alarmed, and
sought to repair their disaster by raising a crusade against the people.
The whig newspapers teemed with accounts of the wonders and enormities of
Nauvoo, and of the awful wickedness of a party which could consent to
receive the support of such miscreants, Governor Duncan, a brave, honest
man, and who had nothing to do with getting the `Mormon