History of Utah - Chapters VII-VIII



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Chapter VII.
Brigham Young Succeeds Joseph.
1844-1845.

The Question of Succession--Biography of Brigham Young--His Early Life--
Conversion--Missionary Work--Made President of the Twelve--His Devotion 
to the Prophet--Sidney Rigdon and Brigham Young Rival Aspirants for the 
Presidency--Rigdon's Claims--Public Meetings--Brigham Elected President 
of the Church--His Character--Temple- Building--Fresh Disasters--the 
Affair at Morley--the Men of Quincy and the Men of Carthage--the Mormons 
Consent to Abandon Their City.

   Upon the death of Joseph Smith, one of the questions claiming 
immediate attention was, Who shall be his successor? It was the first time 
the question had arisen in a manner to demand immediate solution, and the 
matter of succession was not so well determined then as now, it being at 
present well established that upon the death of the president of the 
church the apostle eldest in ordination and service takes his place.

   Personal qualifications would have much to do with it; rules could be 
established later. The first consideration now was to keep the church from 
falling in pieces. None realized the situation better than Brigham Young, 
who soon made up his mind that he himself was the man for the emergency. 
Then to make it appear plain to the brethren that God would have him take 
Joseph's place, his mind thus works: "The first thing that I thought of," 
he says, "was whether Joseph had taken the keys of the kingdom with him
 
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from the earth. Brother Orson Pratt sat on my left; we were both leaning 
back on our chairs. Bringing my hand down on my knee, I said, 'The keys of 
the kingdom are right here with the church.'" But who held the keys of the 
kingdom? This was the all-absorbing question that was being discussed at 
Nauvoo when Brigham and the other members of the quorum arrived at that 
city on the 6th of August, 1844. 

   Brigham Young was born at Whitingham, Windham county, Vermont, on the 
1st of June, 1801. His father, John, a Massachusetts farmer, served as a 
private soldier in the revolutionary war, and his grandfather as surgeon 
in the French and Indian war.1 In 1804 his family, which included nine 
children,2 of whom he was then the youngest, removed to Sherburn, Chenango 
county, New York, where for a time hardship and poverty were their lot. 
Concerning Brigham's youth there is little worthy of record. Lack of means 
compelled him, almost without education, to earn his own livelihood, as 
did his brothers, finding employment as best they could. Thus, at the age 
of twenty-three, when he married he had learned how to work as farmer, 
carpenter, joiner, painter, and glazier, in the last of which occupations 
he was an expert craftsman.

   In 1829 he removed to Mendon, Monroe county, where his father then 
resided; and here, for the first time, he saw the book of Mormon at the 
house of his brother Phineas, who had been a pastor in the reformed 
methodist church, but was now a convert to Mormonism.3

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   About two years later he himself was converted4 by the preaching of 
Elder Samuel H. Smith, brother of the prophet; on the 14th of April, 1832, 
he was baptized, and on the same night ordained an elder, his father5 and 
all his brothers afterward becoming proselytes. During the same month he 
set forth to meet the prophet at Kirtland, where he found him and several 
of his brethren chopping wood. "Here," says Brigham, "my joy was full at 
the privilege of shaking the hand of the prophet of God...He was happy to 
see us and bid us welcome. In the evening a few of the brethren came in, 
and we conversed together upon the things of the kingdom. He called upon 
me to pray. In my prayer I spoke in tongues. As soon as we rose from our 
knees, the brethren flocked around him, and asked his opinion...He told 
them it was the pure Adamic language;...it is of God, and the time will 
come when Brother Brigham Young will preside over this church." In 1835 he 
was chosen, as will be remembered, one of the quorum of the twelve, and 
the following spring set forth on a missionary tour to the eastern states. 
Returning early in the winter, he saved the life of the prophet, and 
otherwise rendered good service during the great apostasy of 1836, when 
the church passed through its darkest hour.6 

   Brigham was ever a devoted follower of the prophet, and at the risk of 
his own life, shielded him against the persecutions of apostates. At the 
close of 1837 he was driven by their machinations from Kirtland,7

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and took refuge at Dublin, Indiana, where he was soon afterward joined by 
Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. Thence, in company with the former, he 
went to Missouri, arriving at Far West a short time before the massacre at 
Haun's Mill. Once more Brigham was compelled to flee for his life, and now 
betook himself to Quincy, where he raised means to aid the destitute 
brethren in leaving Missouri,8 and directed the first settlement of the 
saints in Illinois, the prophet Joseph, Parley P. Pratt, and others being 
then in prison. 

   By revelation of July 8, 1838,9 it was ordered that eleven of the 
quorum should "depart to go over the great waters, and there promulgate my 
gospel, the fulness thereof, and bear record of my name. Let them take 
leave of my saints in the city Far West, on the 26th day of April next; on 
the building spot of my house, saith the Lord." As the twelve had been 
banished from Missouri and could not return with safety, many of the 
church dignitaries urged that the latter part of this revelation should 
not be fulfilled. "But," says Brigham, "I felt differently, and so did 
those of the quorum who were with me." The affairs of the church were now 
in the hands of the twelve, and their president was not the man to shrink 
from danger. "The Lord had spoken, and it was their duty to obey."

   The quorum started forth, and reaching Far West toward the end of 
April, hid themselves in a grove. Between midnight of the 25th and dawn of 
the 26th

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they held a conference, relaid the foundation of the house of the Lord,10 
and ordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith as apostles in place of 
those who had fallen from grace. "Thus," says Brigham, "was this 
revelation fulfilled, concerning which our enemies said, if all the other 
revelations of Joseph Smith came to pass, that one should not be 
fulfilled." 

   Upon the excommunication of Thomas B. Marsh, in 1839, the office of 
president of the twelve devolved by right on Brigham by reason of his 
seniority of membership. On the 14th of April, 1840, he was publicly 
accepted by the council as their head, and at the reorganization of the 
church councils at Nauvoo he was appointed by revelation on the 19th of 
January, 1843, president of the twelve travelling council.

   After the founding of Nauvoo, the president, together with three 
others of the quorum,11 sailed for Liverpool, where they arrived on the 
6th of April, 1840, the tenth anniversary of the organization of the 
church. Here he was engaged for about a year in missionary work, of which 
more hereafter. Taking ship for New York on the 20th of April, 1841, he 
reached Nauvoo on the 1st of July, and was warmly welcomed by the prophet, 
who a few days afterward12 received the following revelation: "Dear and 
well-beloved brother Brigham Young, verily thus saith the Lord unto you, 
my servant Brigham, it is no more required at your hand to leave your 
family as in times past, for your offering is acceptable to me; I have 
seen your labor and toil in journeyings for my name. I therefore command 
you to send my word abroad, and take special care of your family from this 
time henceforth and forever. Amen."

   Already the mantle of the prophet was falling upon the president of 
the twelve; already the former had

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foretold his own death; but notwithstanding the revelation, Brigham was 
sent as a missionary to the eastern states, and at Peterborough, New 
Hampshire, received news of the tragedy at Carthage jail. 

   When Governor Ford and his militia were preparing to march on Nauvoo 
for the purpose of forestalling civil war, the only course open to the 
prophet and his followers was a removal from Illinois. In 1842 an 
expedition had been planned to explore the country toward or beyond the 
Rocky Mountains; but when Joseph Smith put himself forward as a candidate 
for the presidency of the United States, all other matters were for the 
time forgotten. Brigham claimed that had he been present the assassination 
would never have occurred; he would not have permitted the prophet's 
departure for Carthage: rather would he have sent him to the mountains 
under a guard of elders. But Brigham had no reason to complain of the 
dispensation of providence which was now to bring his clear, strong 
judgment and resolute will to the front.

   Prominent among the aspirants for the presidency of the church was 
Sidney Rigdon, one of the first and ablest to espouse the cause, and not 
altogether without grounds for his pretensions. He had performed much 
labor, had encountered many trials, and had received scanty honors, being 
at present nothing more than preacher, and professor of history, belles-
lettres, and oratory. By revelation of January 19, 1841, he had been 
offered the position of counsellor to the prophet,13

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if he would consent to humble himself. But Sidney would not humble 
himself. Soon after Joseph's death, at which he was not present, he had a 
revelation of his own, bidding him conduct the saints to pittsburgh.14 
Visiting that city, he found the time not yet ripe for this measure; and 
meanwhile returning to Nauvoo, the 3d of August, he offered himself on the 
following day as a candidate for the presidency, aided by Elder Marks. 

   Sidney now put forth all his strength to gain influence and secure 
retainers. He must have Joseph's mantle; he must have the succession, or 
henceforth he would be nothing. It was a momentous question, not to be 
disposed of in a day. To substantiate his claim, Sidney could now have 
visions with the best of them; on various occasions he told how the Lord 
had through him counselled the people to appoint him as their guardian. He 
requested that a meeting should be held on the following sabbath, the 8th 
of August, for the further consideration of the matter. But prior to this 
meeting Parley Pratt and two others of the twelve bade the candidate go 
with them to the house of John Taylor, who yet lay prostrate with his 
wounds. Taylor expostulated with him, but to no purpose. Sidney continued 
to press his claims, even assuming the sacred office, prophesying and 
ordaining. On the sabbath named, according to appointment, Sidney and his 
supporters met in the grove near the temple; but were confronted by the 
apostles, with Brigham at their head. Standing before them, Sidney 
addressed the

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brethren for nearly two hours. Yet he seemed to make no impression. "The 
Lord has not chosen him," said one to another. The assembly then adjourned 
to two o'clock, when the saints in and about Nauvoo gathered in great 
numbers. After singing and prayer, through the vast assemblage was heard a 
voice, strikingly clear, distinct, and penetrating.15 It was the voice of 
Brigham, who said: "Attention, all! For the first time in my life I am 
called to act as chief of the twelve; for the first time in your lives you 
are called to walk by faith, your prophet being no longer present in the 
flesh. I desire that every one present shall exercise the fullest liberty. 
I now ask you, and each of you, if you want to choose a guardian, a 
prophet, evangelist, or something else as your head to lead you. All who 
wish to draw away from the church, let them do it, but they will not 
prosper. If any want Sidney Rigdon to lead them, let them have him; but I 
say unto you that the keys of the kingdom are with the twelve."16 

   It was then put to vote, Brigham meanwhile saying, "All those who are 
for Joseph and Hyrum, the book of Mormon, book of Doctrine and Covenants, 
the temple, and Joseph's measures, they being one party, will be called 
upon to manifest their principles boldly, the opposite party to enjoy the 
same liberty."17 The result was ten votes for Sidney, the quorum with 
Brigham at their head getting all the rest. Elder Philips then motioned 
that all "who have voted for Sidney Rigdon be suspended until they can 
have a trial before the high council."18

   The truth is, Sidney was no match for Brigham. It was a battle of the 
lion and the lamb; only Brigham

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did not know before that he was a lion, while Sidney received the truth 
with reluctance that he was indeed a lamb. Something more than oratory was 
necessary to win in this instance; and of that something, with great joy 
in his heart, Brigham found himself in possession. It was the combination 
of qualities which we find present primarily in all great men, in all 
leaders of men-intellectual force, mental superiority, united with 
personal magnetism, and physique enough to give weight to will and 
opinion; for Brigham Young was assuredly a great man, if by greatness we 
mean one who is superior to others in strength and skill, moral, 
intellectual, or physical. The secret of this man's power-a power that 
within a few years made itself felt throughout the world-was this: he was 
a sincere man, or if an impostor, he was one who first imposed upon 
himself. He was not a hypocrite; knave, in the ordinary sense of the term, 
he was not; though he has been a thousand times called both. If he was a 
bad man, he was still a great man, and the evil that he did was done with 
honest purpose. He possessed great administrative ability; he was far-
seeing, with a keen insight into human nature, and a thorough knowledge of 
the good and evil qualities of men, of their virtues and frailties. His 
superiority was native to him, and he was daily and hourly growing more 
powerful, developing a strength which surprised himself, and gaining 
constantly more and more confidence in himself, gaining constantly more 
and more the respect, fear, and obedience of those about him, until he was 
able to consign Sidney to the buffetings of Satan for a thousand years, 
while Brigham remained president and supreme ruler of the church.19

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   Thus Brigham Young succeeded Joseph Smith. The work of the latter was 
done. It was a singular work, to which he was singularly adapted; the work 
yet to be done is no less remarkable, and a no less remarkable agent is 
raised up at the right moment. Matters assume now a more material turn, 
and a more material nature is required to master them-if coarser-grained, 
more practical, rougher, more dogmatical, dealing less in revelations from 
heaven and more in self-protection and self-advancement here on earth, so 
much the better for the saints. "Strike, but hear me!" Joseph with 
Themistocles used to cry; "I will strike, and you shall hear me," Brigham 
would say. 

   No wonder the American Israel received Brigham as the gift of God, the 
Lion of the Lord,20 though the explanation of the new ruler himself would 
have been nearer that of the modern evolutionist, who would account for 
Brigham's success as the survival of the fittest. It was fortunate for the 
saints at this juncture that their leader should be less prophet than 
priest and king, less idealist than business manager, political economist, 
and philosopher. Brigham holds communion with spiritual powers but 
distantly, perhaps distrustfully; at all events, he commands the spirits 
rather than let them command him; and the older he grows the less he has 
to do with them; and the less he has to do with heavenly affairs, the more 
his mind dwells on earthly matters. His prophecies are eminently 
practical; his people must have piety that will pay. And later, and all 
through his life, his position is a strange one. If the people about 
Nauvoo are troublesome, God orders him west; and then he tells

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him if roads are opened and canals constructed it will please him. From 
these practical visions come actions, and on a Sunday the great high-
priest rises in the tabernacle and says: "God has spoken. He has said unto 
his prophet, 'Get thee up, Brigham, and build me a city in the fertile 
valley to the south, where there is water, where there are fish, where the 
sun is strong enough to ripen the cotton plants, and give raiment as well 
as food to my saints on earth. Brethren willing to aid God's work should 
come to me before the bishop's meeting.'" "As the prophet takes his seat 
again," says an eye-witness, "and puts on his broad-brimmed hat, a hum of 
applause runs around the bowery, and teams and barrows are freely 
promised." 

   To whatsoever Brigham applied himself he directed his whole strength, 
provided his whole strength was necessary to the accomplishment of his 
purpose. There were others in the field against him, aspirants for the 
late prophet's place, besides Sidney; but directing his efforts only 
against the most powerful of them, the president of the twelve summoned 
the quorum and the people, as we have seen, crushed Rigdon and his 
adherents by one of the master-strokes which he was now learning, declared 
the revelations of Rigdon to be of the devil, cut him off, cursed him, and 
was himself elected almost without a dissenting voice, giving all 
ostensibly the fullest liberty to act, yet permitting none of them to do 
so, and even causing ten to be tried for dissenting. Henceforth none dared 
to gainsay his authority; he became not only the leader of the Mormons, 
but their dictator; holding authority for a time as president of the 
twelve apostles, and finally in the capacity of the first presidency, 
being made president of the whole church in December 1847.

   Brigham Young was now in his forty-third year, in the prime of a hale 
and vigorous manhood, with exuberant vitality, with marvelous energy, and 
with unswerving faith in his cause and in himself. In stature
 
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he was a little above medium height; in frame well-knit and compact, 
though in later years rotund and portly; in carriage somewhat stately; 
presence imposing, even at that time, and later much more so; face clean 
shaven now, but afterward lengthened by full beard except about the mouth; 
features all good, regular, well formed, sharp, and smiling, and wearing 
an expression of self-sufficiency, bordering on the supercilious, which 
later in life changed to a look of subdued sagacity which he could not 
conceal; deep-set, gray eyes, cold, stern, and of uncertain expression, 
lips thin and compressed, and a forehead broad and massive-his appearance 
was that of a self-reliant and strong-willed man, of one born to be master 
of himself and many others. In manner and address he was easy and void of 
affectation, deliberate in speech, conveying his original and suggestive 
ideas in apt though homely phrase.21 When in council he was cool and 
imperturbable, slow to decide, and in no haste to act; but when the time 
for action came he worked with an energy that was satisfied only with 
success. 

   Like his predecessor, he was under all circumstances naturally a brave 
man, possessing great physical strength, and with nerves unshaken by much 
excess or sickness. That he was given to strong drink has often been 
asserted by his enemies, but never by his friends, and rarely by impartial 
observers. He was always in full possession of himself, being far too wise 
a man to destroy himself through any indiscretion.

   He was undoubtedly the man for the occasion, however, for no other 
could, at this juncture, save the Mormons from dissolution as a sect and 
as a people. If the saints had selected as their leader a man less 
resolute, less confident, less devoted to his cause and to his people, a 
man like Sidney Rigdon,

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for example, Mormonism would have split into half a dozen petty factions, 
the strongest of which would hardly be worthy of notice. 

   Discussing the great Mormon leaders, Hyde, who though an apostate was 
one of the most impartial of writers, says: "Brigham Young is far superior 
to Smith in everything that constitutes a great leader. Smith was not a 
man of genius; his forte was tact. He only embraced opportunities that 
presented themselves. He used circumstances, but did not create them. The 
compiling genius of Mormonism was Sidney Rigdon. Smith had boisterous 
impetuosity, but no foresight. Polygamy was not the result of his policy, 
but of his passions. Sidney gave point, direction, and apparent 
consistency to the Mormon system of theology. He invented its forms and 
many of its arguments. He and Parley Pratt were its leading orators and 
polemics. Had it not been for the accession of these two men, Smith would 
have been lost, and his schemes frustrated and abandoned. That Brigham was 
superior not only to Smith but also to Rigdon is evident."

   Burton says: "His manner is at once affable and impressive, simple and 
courteous,...shows no sign of dogmatism,...impresses a stranger with a 
certain sense of power; his followers are, of course, wholly fascinated by 
his superior strength of brain." Temper even and placid, manner cold, but 
he is neither morose nor methodistic. Often reproves in violent language; 
powers of observation acute; has an excellent memory, and is a keen judge 
of character. "If he dislikes a stranger at the first interview, he never 
sees him again. Of his temperance and sobriety there is but one opinion. 
His life is ascetic; his favorite food is baked potatoes with a little 
buttermilk, and his drink water."22

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   Further: though he made his people obey him, he shared their 
privations. Soon we shall find him rousing his followers from the lethargy 
of despair, when their very hearts had died within them, and when all 
cheeks blanched but his; speaking words of cheer to the men, and with his 
own sick child in his arms, sharing his scant rations with women and 
children who held out their hands for bread. 

   For a brief space after the election of Brigham the saints had rest. 
The city of Nauvoo continued to thrive;23 a portion of the temple was 
finished and dedicated,24 the building of the Nauvoo house and council-
house was progressing rapidly.

   Their buildings were erected with great sacrifice of time, and amidst 
difficulties and discouragement in consequence of poverty. Money was 
exceedingly scarce.25 The revelation requiring tithing, made in 1838, was 
first practically applied in Nauvoo; the tenth day was regularly given to 
work on the temple; the penny subscriptions of the sisters are mentioned, 
which was a weekly contribution, and was intended for the purchase of 
glass and nails. Every effort was made to encourage manufacture, and to 
utilize their water-power. At a meeting of the trades delegates
 
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there was intelligent discussion as to the place becoming a great 
manufacturing centre.26 

   In January 1845 it was proposed that a building for the high-priests 
should be erected, to cost $15,000, and the work was cheerfully 
undertaken. There were frequent entertainments given in the way of dances 
and public dinners in the Nauvoo mansion and in the bowery six miles out 
of the city.27 At their conference in April, thousands gathered. The 
temple was pushed forward, as the people were counselled to receive their 
endowments there as early as possible. On the 24th of May the walls were 
finished, and the event was duly celebrated.28 On the 5th of October their 
first meeting in the temple was held.29 From mites and tithings it was 
estimated that a million dollars had been raised. Brigham, Parley, and 
others of the quorum administered in the temples to hundreds of people, 
the services often continuing all day and night.30 At the end of December 
one thousand of the people had received the ordinances. And all this was 
done midst renewed persecutions, and while the people were making 
preparations to evacuate the city.

   The masons withdrew the dispensation previously granted to Nauvoo, and 
to this day they refuse to admit Mormons into their order.

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   Fresh disaster now approached Nauvoo. The whigs and the democrats of 
Illinois had both sought to secure the Mormon vote, until finally they 
began to declare that Mormonism signified a government not in accord with 
that of the United States. The city charter had been repealed in January 
1845, and Daniel Spencer, who had been elected to fill the remainder of 
the term of the murdered mayor, was deposed, as were all the other city 
officers; a new charter was before the legislature, but never granted. 
These and like measures, followed as they were by the discharge of Joseph 
Smith's assassins, imparted to the gentiles renewed courage. The crimes of 
the whole country were laid at the door of the saints. Nauvoo was 
denounced as a den of counterfeiters, cattle-thieves, and assassins,31 
the leaders of the gang being men who in the name of religion outraged all 
sense of decency. The smuts retaliated in kind; and shortly it came about 
that in sections settled by Mormons gentiles feared to travel, and in 
sections settled by gentiles Mormons feared to travel. In view of this 
state of affairs, which was more like old-time feudalism than latter-day 
republicanism, Governor Ford made an inspection of the city, and declared 
that fewer thefts were committed in Nauvoo in proportion to population 
than in any other town in the state. The cause of this, however, may have 
lain in the fact that the population of Nauvoo was chiefly Mormon, and 
whatever might be their depredations upon the gentiles, the saints were 
not accustomed to steal from each other. 

   At a place called the Morley settlement, in Hancock county, in 
September 1845, the people held a meeting to devise means for the 
prevention of thievery. Though few definite charges were advanced, there 
was much said derogatory to Mormon honesty. Presently the discharge of a 
gun was heard, once or twice, perhaps more. It was said the shots were 
fired

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by Mormons, and that they took aim at the house in which the meeting was 
held. Soon the cry went abroad that the Mormons were in arms, and there 
were quickly volunteers at hand to help the men of Morley. A meeting was 
held, and it was resolved to expel the saints. At the time appointed, 
armed bands appeared and burned some twenty Mormon dwellings, driving the 
inmates into the bushes.32 The people of Illinois were evidently now 
determined to adopt the previous policy of the men of Missouri. This was 
not all. Word had come that forces from Nauvoo were moving to the aid of 
the Mormons at Morley, whereupon the gentiles throughout all that region 
banded, threatening to burn and drive out the saints until not one should 
remain. As a beginning, Buel's flouring mill and carding machine, near 
Lima, the property of a Mormon, was reduced to ashes.33 

   And now the men of Quincy, their old friends and benefactors, turned 
against them; and though not manifesting the deadly hate displayed in some 
quarters, were nevertheless resolved that the Mormons should depart from 
the stake. On the 22d the citizens met and agreed that further efforts to 
live in peace with the Mormons were useless.34

   Indeed, the saints themselves had reached the

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same conclusion. It was no new idea to them, seeking a home elsewhere. It 
was a rough element, that by which they were surrounded, an element which 
brought upon them more of evil than of good. Comparatively few additions 
were made to their number from the bold border men of Missouri and 
Illinois, most of their proselytes coming from other parts of the United 
States and from Europe. The whole great west was open to them; even during 
the days of Joseph there had been talk of some happy Arcadian retreat far 
away from every adverse influence;35 and in the fertile brain of Brigham 
the idea assumed proportions yet broader and of more intensified form, 
significant of western empire and isolation somewhere in California or the 
Pacific isles, with himself as leader, and followers drawn from every 
quarter of the globe. 

   A general council was held on the 9th of September, at which it was 
resolved that a company of fifteen hundred men be selected to go to Salt 
Lake Valley, and a committee of five was appointed to gather information 
relative to the subject.36 There were frequent meetings of the authorities 
and consultations in regard to emigrating to California.37

   The saints would go, they said, but they must have a reasonable time 
in which to dispose of their property

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and leave the country.38 The meeting at Quincy, notice of which with a 
copy of the resolutions was sent to Nauvoo, named six months as the time 
within which the Mormons must depart. In answer, the council of the church 
replied, on the 24th of September, that they could not set forth so early 
in the spring, when there would be neither food for man or beast, nor even 
running water, but that it was their full intention to depart as soon as 
possible, and that they would go far enough, God helping them, forever 
thereafter to be free from their enemies. Meanwhile all they asked was 
that they should not be further molested by armed bands or suits at law, 
but rather assisted in selling their property and collecting their 
effects.39 

   To this the men of Quincy gave assent; at the same time pledging 
themselves to prompt action in case of failure oil the part of the saints 
to keep their promise, and taking measures to secure a military 
organization of the people of Adams county.40

   It was not to be expected that Carthage would remain idle while other 
towns were acting. A convention of delegates from nine surrounding 
counties was held there about the end of September, and four 
commissioners, among whom were Hardin, commander of the state militia, and 
Douglas, senator,41 were sent to Nauvoo to demand the departure of the 
Mormons. The deputation was met by the council of the twelve with the 
president at their head, and answer was promptly made that the removal 
would

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take place as speedily as possible. "What guarantee will you give us?" 
asked Hardin. "You have our all as guarantee," answered Brigham. "Young is 
right," said Douglas. But this reply would not satisfy all the 
commissioners, and the twelve were requested to submit their intentions in 
writing, in order that they might be laid before the governor and people 
of the state. This was done.42 

   The commissioners then returned home; but not even yet were the men of 
Carthage content. To the resolutions passed at Quincy were added others of 
similar nature, and the whole adopted. A plan of organization was agreed 
upon, and arrangements were made for calling meetings and securing 
volunteers, who were to select their own officers and report to the Quincy 
military committee. The judge of Hancock county was requested by this 
convention not to hold

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court during that autumn, for fear of collision between saints and 
gentiles, and the governor was recommended to station in that vicinity 
a small military force to keep peace during the winter. 

   During the height of the troubles at Nauvoo, Orson Pratt was in New 
York, where on the 8th of November, 1845, he addressed a farewell message 
to the brethren in the east, calling upon such of them as had means to 
sell their property, buy teams, and join the overland emigration, and 
those who had none to take passage in the ship Brooklyn, chartered for the 
purpose by Elder Samuel Brannan, and which was to sail round Cape Horn, 
via the Hawaiian Islands, for California. Shortly after, the Brooklyn 
sailed with 238 emigrants, the price of passage being $50 for adults, with 
$25 additional for subsistence. The details of this expedition, with names 
of the emigrants, their doings in California, and the departure for the 
Great Salt Lake of a large portion of them, is given in volume V. chapter 
XX. of my History of California. Upon his return to Nauvoo, Pratt brought 
$400 worth of Allen's six-shooting pistols.

1 Waite's The Mormon Prophet and his Harem. Linforth, Route from 
Liverpool, 112, note, states that his grandfather was an officer in the 
revolutionary war; this is not confirmed by Mrs Waite, who quotes from 
Brigham's autobiography. Again, Nabby Howe was the maiden name of 
Brigham's mother, as given in his autobiography; while Linforth reads 
Nancy Howe; and Remy, Jour. to G. S. L. City, i. 413, Naleby Howe. 

2 Born as follow: Nancy, Aug. 6, 1786, Fanny, Nov. 8, 1787, Rhoda, Sept. 
10, 1789, John, May 22, 1791, Nabby, Apr. 23, 1793, Susannah, June 7, 
1795, Joseph, Apr. 7, 1797, Phineas, Feb. 16, 1799, and Brigham, June 1, 
1801. Two others were born later: Louisa, Sept. 25, 1804, and Lorenzo Dow, 
Oct. 19, 1807.

3 In Ibid., it is mentioned that before the organization of the latter-day 
church, Phineas had wrought a miracle, 'whereby a young girl on the point 
of death had been restored to life.' Remy does not give his authority. 

4 At a branch of the church at Columbia, Penn. Tullidge's Life of Young, 
78. 

5 John Young was made first patriarch of the church. He died at Quincy, 
Ill., Oct. 12, 1839. Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 2.

6 Tullidge's Life of Brigham Young, 83. In a speech delivered after he 
became president, Brigham says: 'Ascertaining that a plot was laid to 
waylay Joseph for the purpose of taking his life, on his return from 
Monroe, Michigan, to Kirtland, I procured a horse and buggy, and took 
brother William Smith along to meet Joseph, whom we met returning in the 
stage-coach. Joseph requested William to take his seat in the stage, and 
he rode with me in the buggy. We arrived at Kirtland in safety.'

7 'On the morning of Dec. 22d I left Kirtland in consequence of the fury 
of the mob, and the spirit that prevailed in the apostates, who threatened 
to destroy me because I would proclaim publicly and privately that I knew, 
by the power of the holy ghost, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the 
most high God, and had not transgressed and fallen, as apostates 
declared.' Id., 84. 

8 I held a meeting with the brethren of the twelve and the members of the 
church in Quincy, on the 17th of March, when a letter was read to the 
people from the committee, on behalf of the saints at Far West, who were 
left destitute of the means to move. Though the brethren were poor and 
stripped of almost everything, yet they manifested a spirit of willingness 
to do their utmost, offering to sell their hate, coats, and shoes to 
accomplish the object. At the close of the meeting $50 was collected in 
money and several teams were subscribed to go and bring the brethren.' 
Id., 89-90. 

9 This is the date given in Doctrine and Covenants, 381 (ed. S. L. City, 
1876). See also Linfcrth's Route from Liverpool, 112, note. Tullidge gives 
July 8, 1836. Life of Brigham Young, 90. 
 
10 'Elder Cutler, the master workman of the house, recommenced laying the 
foundation by rolling up a large stone near the south-east corner. Id., 
92.
 
11 Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith, and Parley P. Pratt. Reuben Hedlock 
also accompanied them.

12 On July 9th. Doctrine and Covenants, 409.
 
13 Doctrine and Covenants, 406. In this same revelation the officers of 
the priesthood were likewise named: Hyrum Smith, patriarch; Joseph Smith, 
presiding elder over the whole church, also translator, revelator, seer, 
and prophet, with Sidney Rigdon and William Law as councillors, the three 
to constitute a quorum and first presidency. Brigham Young, president over 
the twelve travelling council, who were Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, 
Orson Pratt, Orson Hyde, William Smith, John Taylor, John E. Page, Wilford 
Woodruff, Willard Richards, George A. Smith, and some one to be appointed 
in place of David Patten; a high council, Samuel Bent, H. G. Sherwood, 
George W. Harris, Charles C. Rich, Thomas Grover, Newel Knight, David 
Dort, Dunbar Wilson, Aaron Johnson, David Fulmer, Alpheus Cutler, William 
Huntington; president over a quorum of high priests, Don Carlos Smith, 
with Amasa Lyman and Noah Packard for counsellors; a priesthood to preside 
over the quorum of elders, John A. Hicks, Samuel Williams, and Jesse 
Baker; to preside over the quorum of seventies, Joseph Young, Josiah 
Butterfield, Daniel Miles, Henry Herriman, Zera Pulsipher, Levi Hancock, 
James Foster-this for elders constantly travelling, while the quorum of 
elders was to preside over the churches from time to time; to preside over 
the bishopric, Vinson Knight, Samuel H. Smith, and Shadrach Roundy, and 
others. 

14 See his memorial to the Pennsylvania legislature, in Times and Seasons, 
v. 418-23. Remy says that he was also instructed to pay a visit; to Queen 
Victoria, and overthrow her if she refused to accept the gospel Jour. to 
G. S. L. City, i. 411; a statement for which I find no authority.
 
15 'He [Brigham] said, as he stood on the stand, he would rather sit in 
sackcloth and ashes for a month than appear before the people, but he 
pitied their loneliness, and was constrained to step forward, and we know 
he was, because he had the voice and manner of Joseph, as hundreds can 
testify.' Reminiscences of Mrs F. D. Richards, MS., p. 14. 

16 Woodruff's Journal, MS., Aug. 8, 1844.

17 Hist. Brigham Young, 1844, MS., 25.

18 Wifford Woodruff states that Rigdon did not receive a single vote. 
Reminiscences, MS., 2.
 
19 Sidney had a trial, and was convicted and condemned. Sidney Rigdon was 
a native of Saint Clair, Penn., where he was born in 1793. Until his 26th 
year he worked on his father's farm, but in 1819 received a license to 
preach, from the society known as the regular baptists, being appointed in 
1822 to the charge of the first baptist church in Pittsburgh, where he 
became very popular. In 1824 he resigned his position, from conscientious 
motives, and joined the Campbellites, supporting himself by working as a 
journeyman tanner. Two years later he accepted a call as a Campbellite 
preacher at Bainbridge, O., and afterward built up churches at Mantua and 
Mentor in that state. In 1830 he joined the Mormon church, being converted 
by the preaching of Parley. Further particulars will be found in Times and 
Seasons, iv. 177-8, 193-4, 209-10; Cobb's Mormon Problem, MS., 12; 
Tucker's Mormonism, 123-7; Pittsburgh Gaz., in S. F. Bulletin, Aug. 4, 
1876. Returning to Pittsburgh after his excommunication, Sidney led a life 
of utter obscurity, and finally died at Friendship, Allegheny County, N. 
Y., July 14, 1876. Lippincott's Mag., Aug. 1880. 

20 See note 41, p. 192, this vol.

21 Bowles, Across the Continent, 86, says that even at 64 he spoke 
ungrammatically. This criticism is a fair commentary on the difference 
between a Bowles and a Brigham. 
 
22 City of the Saints, 292-3,; Mormonism, 170. Hyde is by no means one of 
Brigham's flatterers, but appears to speak from conviction. On the same 
page he remarks: 'Brigham may be a great man, greatly deceived, but he 
is not a hypocrite;' and on the next page: 'Brigham, however deceived, is 
still a bad man, and a dangerous man; and as much more dangerous, being 
sincere in thinking he is doing God's work, as a madman is than an 
impostor.' In Id., 136-40, we have a short and succinct narrative of 
Brigham's career up to the assassination of Joseph Smith, probably the 
best that has yet been written in such brief space. 

23 'Almost every stranger that enters our city is excited with 
astonishment that so much has been done in so short a time.' Likewise 
there was always work enough for them among the gentiles, who 'did not 
know how to make a short johnny-cake until our girls taught them.' Speech 
of Elder Kimball, April 8, 1845, in Id., vi. 973. Says John Taylor: 'When 
we first settled in Nauvoo,...farming lands out of the city were worth 
from $1.25 to $5 per acre; when we left they were worth from $5 to $50 per 
acre. We turned the desert into a city, and the wilderness into a fruitful 
field or fields and gardens.' Millennial Star, viii. 115. Bennett mentions 
a community farm near Nauvoo, which was cultivated in common by the poorer 
classes. History of the Saints, 191. 

24 It was dedicated May 1, 1846, by Wilford Woodruff and Orson Hyde. Two 
days later they held their last meeting there. Woodruff's Rem., MS., 3.

25 'When corn was brought to my door at ten cents a bushel, and sadly 
needed, the money could not be raised.' Utah Notes, MS., p. 6. 
 
26 There was $500 or $600 already collected from the penny subscriptions, 
which was drawn by order of Brigham to meet a debt on land which must be 
immediately paid. Hist. B. Young MS., Dec. 5, 1844. John Taylor says it 
was intended to establish manufactures at Nauvoo on a large scale, for 
which the services of English emigrants were to be secured. At the head of 
the rapids, near Nauvoo, stood an island, to which it was proposed to 
build a dam, leaving spaces for water-wheels, and thus securing power for 
mills. Rem., MS., 19-20. 

27 In Hist. B. Young, MS., July 9, 1845, is a description of a public 
dinner for the benefit of the church, where Young, Kimball, Taylor, and 
others officiated at the table.

28 At six o'clock in the morning the people assembled. The 'Capstone
March,' composed for the occasion, was played by Pitt's band; Brigham laid 
on the last stone and pronounced the benediction, and the whole 
congregation shouted, Hosanna! hosanna to God and the lamb! amen, amen, 
and amen!' Hist, B. Young, MS., 83.

29 The first stone was laid April 6, 1841.

30 'I commenced administering the ordinances of endowment at five o'clock 
and continued until half-past three in the morning.' Id., MS., Dec. 10, 
1845.
 
31 For specimens of the accusations brought against them, see Hall's 
Mormonism Exposed, 24-34. 
 
32 Says the Quincy Whig: 'If the Mormons have been guilty of crime, why, 
punish them; but do not visit their sins on defenceless women and 
children. This is as bad as the savages.' Sheriff Backenstos thus 
testifies: 'It is proper to state that the Mormon community have acted 
with more than ordinary forbearance, remaining perfectly quiet, and 
offering no resistance when their dwellings, other buildings, stacks of 
grain, etc., were set on fire in their presence, and they have forborne 
until forbearance is no longer a virtue.' Fullmer's Expulsion, 19. 

33 'Mobs commenced driving out the Mormons in the lower part of Hancock 
co., and burning their houses and property...The burning was continued 
from settlement to settlement for ten or eleven days without any 
resistance whatever. The people at Nauvoo sent out wagons and teams to 
bring those people in whom the mob had driven out of their homes.' Wells' 
Narrative, MS., 35-6. 'The mob said they would drive all into Nauvoo, and 
all Nauvoo into the Mississippi.' Richards, Rem., MS., 16.

34 'It is a settled thing that the public sentiment of the state is 
against the Mormons, and it will be in vain for them to contend against 
it; and to prevent bloodshed and the sacrifice of so many lives on both 
sides it is their duty to obey the public will, and leave the state as 
speedily as possible. That they will do this, we have a confident hope, 
and that, too, before the last extreme is resorted to, that of force.' 
Fullmer's Expulsion, 20.
 
35 On the 20th of Feb., 1844, according to the Millennial Star, xxii. 819, 
Joseph counselled the twelve to send out a delegation and 'investigate the 
locations of California and Oregon, and hunt out a good location where we 
can remove to after the temple is completed, where we can build a city in 
a day and have a government of our own.' In Taylor's Reminiscences, MS., 
19, is the following: 'A favorite song in Nauvoo, and of my own 
composition, was entitled "The Upper California, O that's the land for 
me!" what is now Utah being known by that name. Joseph Smith was the first 
who talked of the latter-day saints coming to this region. As early as 
August 1842 he prophesied that the saints would be driven to the Rocky 
Mountains, and there become a mighty people.' 

36 See Hist. B. Young, 1845, MS., 19.

37 F. D. Richards read Fremont's Journal to the twelve, and later 
Hastings' account of California was read. Hist. B. Young, MS., 308-16. A 
letter was also read to the authorities from Brother Sam Brannan, stating 
that the secretary of war and others of the cabinet were planning to 
prevent their moving west-alleging that it was against the law for an 
armed body to go from the U.S. to any other government; that it would not 
do to let them go to California or Oregon, but that they must be 
obliterated. Hist. B. Young, MS., 305.

38 One thousand families, including 5,000 or 6,000 souls, would remove in 
the spring. Hist. B. Young, MS., 1845, 234. Hundreds of farms and some 2,
000 houses were offered for sale in Nauvoo city and county. 'There was 
grain enough growing within 10 miles of Nauvoo, raised by the Mormons, to 
feed the whole population for two years, if they were to do nothing but 
gather it in and feast upon it.' Id., MS., 35. 

39 A lengthy communication to this effect was drawn up and signed by 
Brigham Young, president, and Willard Richards, clerk. Printed in full in 
Fullmer's Expulsion, 20-1.

40 Answer in full in Id., 22.

41 The other two were W. B. Warren and J. A. McDougal. Tullidge's Life of 
Young, 8.

42 In answer to the letter of the commissioners, the saints on the same 
day said, after referring to their communication of the 24th to the Quincy 
committee: 'In addition to this, we would say that we had commenced making 
arrangements to remove from the country previous to the recent 
disturbances; that we have four companies of 100 families each, and six 
more companies now organizing, of the same number each, preparatory to a 
removal. That 1,000 families, including the twelve, the high council, the 
trustees, and general authorities of the church, are fully determined to 
remove in the spring, independent of the contingencies of selling our 
property; and this company will comprise from 5,000 to 6,000 souls. That 
the church, as a body, desire to remove with us, and will if sales can be 
effected so as to raise the necessary means. That the organization of the 
church we represent is such that there never can exist but one head or 
presidency at any one time. And all good members wish to be with the 
organization; and all are determined to remove to some distant point, 
where we shall neither infringe nor be infringed upon, so soon as time and 
means will permit. That we have some hundreds of farms and some 2,000 
houses for sale in this city and county, and we request all good citizens 
to assist in the disposal of our property. That we do not expect to find 
purchasers for our temple and other public buildings; but we are willing 
to rent them to a respectable community who may inhabit the city. That we 
wish it distinctly understood that although we may not find purchasers for 
our property, we will not sacrifice it, nor give it away, or suffer it 
illegally to be wrested from us. That we do not intend to sow any wheat 
this fall, and should we all sell, we shall not put in any more crops of 
any description. That as soon as practicable we will appoint committees 
from the city, La Harpe, Macedonia, Bear Creek, and all necessary places 
in the country, to give information to purchasers. That if these 
testimonies are not sufficient to satisfy any people that we are in 
earnest, we will soon give them a sign that cannot be mistaken-we will 
leave them.' In Hist. B. Young, MS., Nov. 1845, it is stated that there 
were families organized 3,285: wagons on hand 1,508; wagons commenced 1,
892. 



Page 214

Chapter VIII.
Expulsion From Nauvoo.
1845-1846.

A Busy City--Meeting in the Temple--Sacrifice of Property--Detachments 
Move Forward--a Singular Exodus--the First Encampment--Cool Proposal 
From Brother Brannan--the Journey--Courage and Good Cheer--Swelling of 
Their Numbers--the Remnant of the Saints in Nauvoo--Attitude of the 
Gentiles--the Mormons Attacked--Continued Hostilities--the Final 
Departures--the Poor Camp--a Deserted City.

   THE holy city now presented an exciting scene. Men were making ready 
their merchandise, and families preparing to vacate their homes. Hundreds 
were making tents and wagon covers out of cloth bought with anything they 
happened to have; companies were organized and numbered, each of which had 
its own wagon-shop, wheelwrights, carpenters, and cabinetmakers, who were 
all busily employed.1 Green timber was prepared for spokes and felloes, 
some kiln-dried, and some boiled in salt and water. it the Nauvoo house 
shops were established as well as at the mason's hall and arsenal. Iron 
was brought from different parts of the country, and blacksmiths were at 
work night and day.2

   Some three years previous, the prophet Joseph had ordered that there 
should not be another general conference

Page 215

until it could be held in the temple. And now, on the 5th of October, 
1845, five thousand persons assembled, and on the following day began the 
great conference, which lasted three days. The saints, however, were 
permitted but short enjoyment of their beautiful structure, a meagre 
reward for all the tell and money expended. Holiness to the Lord was the 
motto of it; and there was little else they could now carry hence; the 
hewn stone, the wood-work, and the brass they must leave behind. This 
building was to them as a temple "where the children of the last kingdom 
could come together to praise the Lord." As they cast one last gaze on 
their homes and the monuments reared to their faith, they asked, "Who is 
the God of the gentiles? Can he be our God?"3 

   In the same number of the Times and Seasons in which appeared a notice 
of this meeting was published a circular signed by Brigham Young, and 
addressed to the brethren scattered abroad throughout America, informing 
them of the impending change. "The exodus of the nations of the only true 
Israel from these United States to a far distant region of the west, where 
bigotry, intolerance, and insatiable oppression will have lost its power 
over them, forms a new epoch, not only in the history of the church, but 
of this nation."4

Page 216

   The arbitrary acts of the people of Illinois in forcing the departure 
of the saints lays them open to the grave charge, among others, of a 
desire to possess their property for less than its value. Houses and lots, 
farms and merchandise, could not be turned into money, or even into wagons 
and live-stock, in a moment, except at a ruinous sacrifice. Granted that 
the hierarchy was opposed to American institutions, that the Mormons 
wished to gain possession of the United States and rule the world: no one 
feared the immediate consummation of their pretentious hopes. Granted that 
among them were adulterers, thieves, and murderers: the gentiles were the 
stronger, and had laws by which to punish the guilty. It was not a noble 
sentiment which had actuated the people of Missouri; it was not a noble 
sentiment which now actuated the people of Illinois, thus to continue 
their persecutions during the preparations for departure, and drive a 
whole cityful from their homes out upon the bleak prairie in the dead of 
winter. 

   In January 1846 the council ordered that a detachment should set forth 
at once, and that the remainder of the saints should follow as soon as 
possible. "Beloved brethren," said their leader, "it now remains to be 
proven whether those of our family and friends who are necessarily left 
behind for a season, to obtain an outfit through the sale of property, 
shall be mobbed, burned, and driven away by force. Does any American want 
the honor of doing it? or will any Americans suffer such acts to be done, 
and the disgrace of them to remain on their character, under existing 
circumstances. If they will, let the world know it."

   The world was soon to know it. Driven almost at the point of the 
sword, a large number of the saints, soon afterward followed by the 
president, the twelve, the high council, and other companies, gathered on 
the eastern bank of the Mississippi early in February.

   There was but little money in circulation throughout
 
Page 217

the west at this time. Over vast wild sections skins were the only 
currency, and at the settlements traffic for the most part assumed the 
form of barter or exchange of labor. It was, therefore, exceedingly 
difficult, as I have said, for the saints to get their property into 
portable form, even after selling their lands at half or quarter their 
value. The gentiles, of course, could pay what they pleased, being the 
only buyers, and the saints being forced to sell. Moreover, there was more 
property thrown upon the market than could be taken at once, and the 
departure of so large and thrifty a portion of the population was of 
itself sufficient to depreciate property. The best they could do was to 
exchange their lands for wagons and horses and cattle, and this they did 
to as large an extent as possible, scouring the country for a hundred 
miles around in search of live-stock.5 

   And now, putting upon their animals and vehicles such of their 
household effects as they could carry, in small detachments the migratory 
saints began to leave Nauvoo.6 Before them was the ice-bound river, and 
beyond that the wilderness.

   There is no parallel in the world's history to this migration from 
Nauvoo. The exodus from Egypt was from a heathen land, a land of 
idolaters, to a fertile region designated by the Lord for his chosen 
people, the land of Canaan. The pilgrim fathers in flying to America came 
from a bigoted and despotic people-a
 
Page 218

people making few pretensions to civil or religious liberty. It was from 
these same people who had fled from old-world persecutions that they might 
enjoy liberty of conscience in the wilds of America, from their 
descendants and associates, that other of their descendants, who claimed 
the right to differ from them in opinion and practice, were now fleeing. 
True, the Mormons in various ways had rendered themselves abominable to 
their neighbors: so had the puritan fathers to their neighbors. Before 
this the Mormons had been driven to the outskirts of civilization, where 
they had built themselves a city; this they must now abandon, and throw 
themselves upon the mercy of savages. 

   The first teams crossed about the 10th, in flat boats, which were 
rowed over, and which plied forth and back from early dawn until late into 
the night, skiffs and other river craft being also used for passengers and 
baggage. The cold increased. On the 16th snow fell heavily; and the river 
was frozen over, so that the remainder of the emigration crossed on the 
ice. Their first camp, the camp of the congregation, was on Sugar Creek, a 
few miles from Nauvoo and almost within sight of the city.7 All their 
movements were directed by Brigham, who with his family and a quorum of 
the twelve, John Taylor, George A. Smith, Heber C. Kimball, Willard 
Richards, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Parley P. Pratt, and Amasa Lyman, 
joined the brethren on Sugar Creek on the 15th. Wilford Woodruff, who had 
been sent to preside over the mission to England, joined the emigration 
later at Mount Pisgah.

   On the morning of the 17th, all the saints in camp being assembled 
near the bridge to receive their leader's instructions, the president 
stood upright in his wagon, and cried with a loud voice, "Attention! the

Page 219

whole camp of Israel."8 He then went on to say that as the Lord had been 
with them in times past, howsoever singular had been his method of proving 
his presence, so would he be with them in the future. His empire, the 
empire of his people, was established, and the powers of hell should not 
prevail against it.9 

   After this, with comparatively light hearts, they broke camp, and 
slowly wending their way westward, disappeared at length beyond the 
horizon, in pursuit once more of the ever-mocking phantom of home. Whither 
they journeyed they were as yet uncertain. They knew only that they were 
to search out, probably beyond the Rocky Mountains, if not indeed among 
them, some isolated spot, where, far away from the land of boasted 
freedom, the soil, the skies, and mind and manners were free. If they were 
offensive to the laws, if the laws of the land were offensive to them, 
they would go where they might have land and laws of their own.

   Considering their situation, and what they had been lately called to 
undergo-ignominy, insult, the loss of property, the abandonment of 
home-there was little complaint. It was among their opponents, and in the 
midst of a general recital of their wrongs, that the saints were 
accustomed to put on a long face and strike into a doleful strain. Among 
themselves there were

Page 220

few people more free from care, or more light-hearted and happy. 

   In the present instance, though all were poor and some destitute, and 
though man and beast were exposed to driving rain and hail, and the chill 
blasts of a western winter often sweeping down upon them unchecked from 
the limitless prairie, they made the best of it, and instead of wasting 
time in useless repining, set themselves at work to make the most of their 
joys and the least of their sorrows. On the night of March 1st, when the 
first camp was pitched beyond Sugar Creek, after prayer they held a dance, 
and as the men of Iowa looked on they wondered how these homeless outcasts 
from Christian civilization could thus praise and make merry in view of 
their near abandoning of themselves to the mercies of savages and wild 
beasts.10 Food and raiment were provided for all; for shelter they had 
their tents and wagons, and after the weather had spent somewhat of its 
ruggedness, no extreme hardships were suffered. Without attempting long 
distances in a single day, they made camp rather early, and after the 
usual manner of emigrants, the wagons in a circle or semicircle round the 
camp-fire, placed so as best to shield them from the wind and wild beasts 
and Indians, with the animals at a convenient distance, some staked, and 
some running loose, but all carefully guarded. The country through which 
they passed was much of it well wooded; the land was fertile and afforded 
abundant pastures, the grass in summer being from one to ten feet high. 
Provisions were cheap: corn twelve cents and wheat twenty-five to thirty 
cents a bushel,

Page 221

beef two cents a pound, and all payable in labor at what was then 
considered good wages, say forty or fifty cents a day. 

   Into the wilderness they went, journeying day after day on toward the 
setting sun, their hearts buoyant, their sinews strengthened by a power 
not of this world. Forever fades the real before the imaginary. There is 
nothing tougher than fanaticism. What cared they for wind and rain, for 
comfortless couches or aching limbs?-the kingdom of the Lord was with 
them. What cared they for insults and injustice when the worst this world 
could do was to hasten heaven to them? So on toward the west their long 
train of wagons rolled, leaving each day farther and farther behind the 
old, cold, fanatical east, with its hard, senseless dogmas, and its 
merciless civilization, without murmurings, without discord, the man above 
any other on earth they most loved and feared riding at their head, or 
standing with uplifted and extended hands as his people passed by, 
blessing and comforting them. "We were happy and contented," says John 
Taylor, "and the songs of Zion resounded from wagon to wagon, 
reverberating through the woods, while the echo was returned from the 
distant hills."11

   There were brass or stringed instruments in every company, and night 
and morning all were called to prayers12 at the sound of the bugle. Camp-
fires drew around them the saints when their day s work was finished, and 
singing, dancing, and story-telling enlivened the hour.

   As they went on their way their ranks were swelled by fresh bands, 
until there were brought together 3,000 wagons, 30,000 head of cattle, a 
great number of mules and horses, and immense flocks of sheep.

Page 222

Richardson Point13 they made their second stationary camp, the third at 
Chariton River, the fourth at Locust Creek, where a considerable time was 
spent. Then there were-so named by the saints-Garden Grove,14 a large 
timbered tract which had been burned over, Mount Pisgah,15 and finally 
Winter Quarters, in Nebraska, on the west side of the Missouri, a little 
above the modern Omaha, on the site of the present town of Florence.16 At 
Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah were established farming settlements for the 
benefit of those who were to follow. In July the main body reached the 
Missouri at the spot now known as Council Bluffs, and soon afterward many 
crossed the river in a ferry-boat of their own construction, and pitched 
their tents at Winter Quarters. Other large encampments

Page 223

were formed on both banks of the river, or at points near by, where grass 
was plentiful. In early autumn about 12,000 Mormons were assembled in this 
neighborhood, or were on their way across the plains. 

   Leaving here the advance portion of the emigration, let us return to 
Nauvoo and see how it fared with those who were still engaged in 
preparations for their pilgrimage. It had been stipulated, the reader will 
remember, that the Mormons should remove from the state in the spring, or 
as soon afterward as they could sell their property, and that meanwhile 
they should not be molested. Long before spring, thousands had crossed the 
Mississippi, among whom were all the more obnoxious members of the sect. 
Meanwhile, how had the gentiles kept their faith?

   But passing the cause, what a picture was now presented by the 
deserted city and its exiled inhabitants!-the former, as Colonel Kane 
viewed it-but which view must be regarded as ideal rather than strictly 
historical-with "its bright new dwellings set in cool green gardens, 
ranging up around a stately dome-shaped hill, which was crowned by a noble 
marble edifice, whose high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. 
The city appeared to cover several miles; and beyond it, in the 
background, there rolled off a fair country, checkered by the careful 
lines of fruitful husbandry."

   To the Nauvoo Eagle Major Warren sent notice from Carthage, on the 
16th of April, that he had been directed by the governor to disband on the 
1st of May the force which had been kept there ostensibly for the 
protection of the saints, as the time appointed for their departure would 
expire on that day.17 The day arrived, and there were yet many Mormons 
remaining, many who had found it impossible to remove on

Page 224

account of sickness, failure to dispose of their property, or other 
adverse fortune; whereat the men of Illinois began to bluster and threaten 
annihilation. Warren, who had disbanded his troops on the 1st, received an 
order from the governor on the following day to muster them into service 
again. This he did; for he would, if possible, see the treaty between the 
Mormons and the governor faithfully carried out, and while urging the 
saints to haste, he endeavored to stand between them and the mob which now 
threatened their lives and the destruction of their property.18 

   Major Warren appears to have performed his duty firmly and well, and 
to have done all that lay in his power to protect the Mormons. In a letter 
to the Quincy Whig, dated May 20th, he writes: "The Mormons are leaving 
the city with all possible despatch. During the week four hundred teams 
have crossed at three points, or about 1,350 souls. The demonstrations 
made by the Mormon people are unequivocal. They are leaving the state, and 
preparing to leave, with every means God and nature have placed in their 
hands." It was but the lower class of people that clamored for the 
immediate expulsion of the remnant of the saints-the ignorant, the 
bigoted, the brutal, the vicious, the lawless, and profligate, those who 
hated their religion and coveted their lands.

Page 225

   On the 6th of June the people of Hancock county met at Carthage to 
arrange for celebrating the 4th of July. One of the citizens rose and said 
that since the Mormons were not all removed they could not rejoice as 
freemen. Mormon affairs then took precedence, and another meeting was 
appointed for the 12th, an invitation being sent to the gentiles at Nauvoo 
who had occupied the deserted dwellings of the saints. It happened that 
this was the day appointed for the assembling of the militia, with a view 
to raise volunteers for the Mexican war; and now, it was thought, was a 
good opportunity to show the Mormons the military strength of the county. 
The officers conferred, and without authority from the governor, marched 
their troops, some three or four hundred in number, to a place called 
Golden Point, five miles from Nauvoo, where they encamped, and opened 
communication with the city. It happened, however, at this juncture, that 
Colonel Markham and others had returned with teams from Council Bluffs for 
some of the church property, and arming a force of six or eight hundred, 
prepared to sally forth; the name of Colonel Markham was a terror to evil-
doers, and the militia fled, no one pursuing them. 

   There were yet remaining, as late as August, certain sturdy saints 
who, having committed no crime, would not consent to be driven from their 
homes or barred from their occupations. Among these was a party engaged in 
harvesting wheatat a settlement eight miles from Nauvoo, in company with 
one or two of the gentiles, although it was forbidden by the men of 
Illinois that any Mormon should show himself outside the city, except en 
route for the west. The harvesters were seized and beaten with clubs, 
whereupon the people of Nauvoo, both Mormons and gentiles, took up the 
matter. Some arrests were made, and the culprits taken to Nauvoo, but by 
writ of habeas corpus were removed to Quincy, where they met with little 
trouble. While in Nauvoo, a gun in the hands

Page 226

of a militia officer was recognized by William Pickett as belonging to one 
of the harvesters. Pickett took possession of the weapon, and a warrant 
was issued against him for theft; when an officer came to arrest him, he 
refused to surrender. As the Mormons stood by him in illegal attitude, the 
affair caused considerable excitement. 

   In short, from the let of May until the final evacuation of the city, 
the men of Illinois never ceased from strife and outrage. Of the latter I 
will mention only two instances: "A man of near sixty years of age," 
writes Major Warren in the letter just referred to, "living about seven 
miles from this place, was taken from his house a few nights since, 
stripped of his clothing, and his back out to pieces with a whip, for no 
other reason than because he was a Mormon, and too old to make a 
successful resistance. Conduct of this kind would disgrace a horde of 
savages." In August a party consisting of Phineas H. Young, his son 
Brigham, and three others who were found outside the city, were kidnapped 
by a mob, hurried into the thickets, passed from one gang to another-men 
from Nauvoo being in hot pursuit-and for a fortnight were kept almost 
without food or rest, and under constant threat of death.

   Fears are now entertained that, by reason of the popular feeling 
throughout the country, Nauvoo city will be again attacked; the gentile 
citizens therefore ask Governor Ford for protection, whereupon Major 
Parker is sent to their relief.19 All through August

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troubles continue, the anti-Mormons almost coming to blows among 
themselves. Before the end of the month about six hundred men are 
assembled at Carthage, by order of Thomas Carlin, a special constable, 
ostensibly to enforce the arrest of Pickett, but in reality to enforce the 
expulsion of the Mormons. Major Parker orders the constable's posse to 
disperse, otherwise he threatens to treat them as a mob. The constable 
replies that if the major should attempt to molest them in discharge of 
their duty he will regard him and his command as a mob and so treat them. 
"Now, fellow-citizens," declares a committee selected from four counties,
20 in a proclamation issued at Carthage, "an issue is fairly raised. On 
the one hand, a large body of men have assembled at Carthage, under the 
command of a legal officer, to assist him in performing legal duties. They 
are not excited-they are cool, but determined at all hazards to execute 
the law in Nauvoo, which has always heretofore defied it. They are 
resolved to go to work systematically and with ample precaution, but under 
a full knowledge that on their good and orderly behavior their character 
is staked. On the other hand, in Nauvoo is a blustering Mormon mob, who 
have defied the law, and who are now organized for the purpose of 
arresting the arm of civil power. Judge ye which is in the right." 

   Intending, as it seems, to keep his word, Carlin places his men under 
command of Colonel Singleton, who at once throws off the mask, and on the 
7th of September announces to Major Parker that the Mormons must go. On 
the same day a stipulation is made, granting to the saints sixty days' 
extension of time, and signed by representatives on both sides.21

Page 228

But to the terms of this stipulation the men of Illinois would not 
consent. They were sore disgusted, and rebelled against their leaders, 
causing Singleton, Parker, and others to abandon their commands, the posse 
being left in charge of Constable Carlin, who summoned to his aid one 
Thomas Brockman, a clergyman of Brown county, and for the occasion dubbed 
general. On the 10th of September the posse, now more than a thousand 
strong, with wagons, equipments, and every preparation for a campaign, 
approached Nauvoo and encamped at Hunter's farm. 

   At this time there were in the city not more than a hundred and fifty 
Mormons, and about the same number of gentiles, or, as they were termed, 
'new citizens,' capable of bearing arms, the remainder of the population 
consisting of destitute women and children and of the sick. Many of the 
gentiles had departed, fearing a general massacre, and those who remained 
could not be relied upon as combatants, for they were of course unwilling 
to risk their lives in a conflict which, if successful, would bring them 
no credit. Nothing daunted, the little band, under command of colonels 
Daniel H. Wells22 and William Cutler, took up its position on the edge of 
a wood in the suburbs of Nauvoo, and less than a mile from the enemy's 
camp.23

   Before hostilities commenced, a deputation from Quincy24 visited the 
camp of the assailants, and in vain attempted to dissuade them from their 
purpose. No sooner had they departed than fire was opened on the Mormons 
from a battery of six-pounders, but without effect. Here for the day 
matters rested. At sunrise the posse changed their position, intending to 
take the city by storm, but were held in cheek by

Page 229

Captain Anderson25 at the head of thirty-five men, termed by the saints 
the Spartan band. The enemy now fired some rounds of grape-shot, forcing 
the besieged to retire out of range; and after some further cannonading, 
darkness put an end to the skirmish, the Mormons throwing up breastworks 
during the night.26 

   On the morning of the 12th the demand of unconditional surrender was 
promptly rejected; whereupon, at a given signal, several hundred men who 
had been stationed in ambush, on the west bank of the river, to cut off 
the retreat of the Mormons, appeared with red flags in their hands, thus 
portending massacre. The assailants now opened fire from all their 
batteries, and soon afterward advanced to the assault, slowly, and with 
the measured tramp of veterans, at their head being Constable Carlin and 
the Reverend Brockman, and unfurled above them-the stars and stripes. When 
within rifle-range of the breastworks the posse wheeled toward the south, 
attempting to outflank the saints and gain possession of the temple 
square. But this movement had been anticipated, and posted in the woods to 
the north of the Mormon position lay the Spartan band. Leading on his men 
at double-quick, Anderson suddenly confronted the enemy and opened a brisk 
fire from revolving rifles.27 The posse advanced no farther, but for an 
hour and a half held their ground bravely against the Spartan band, the 
expense of ammunition in proportion to casualties being greater than has 
yet been recorded in modern warfare. Then they retreated in excellent 
order to the camp. The losses of the Mormons were three killed and a few 
slightly wounded; the losses of the gentiles are variously

Page 230

stated.28 Among those who fell were Captain Anderson and his son, a youth 
of sixteen, the former dying, as he had vowed that he would die, in 
defence of the holy sanctuary. 

   The following day was the sabbath, and hostilities were not renewed; 
but on that morning a train of wagons, despatched by the posse for 
ammunition and supplies, entered the town of Quincy. It was now evident 
that, whether the men of Illinois intended massacre or forcible expulsion, 
it would cost them many lives to effect either purpose. With a view, 
therefore, to prevent further bloodshed, a committee of one hundred 
proceeded to Nauvoo and attempted mediation. At the same time the Reverend 
Brockman sent in his ultimatum, the terms being that the Mormons surrender 
their arms, and immediately cross the river or disperse, and that all 
should be protected from violence.29 There was no alternative. The armed 
mob in their front was daily swelling in number, while beyond the river 
still appeared the red flag; their own ranks, meanwhile, were being 
rapidly thinned by defection among the new citizens.30

Page 231

   On the 17th of September the remnant of the Mormons crossed the 
Mississippi, and on the same day the gentiles took possession of Nauvoo.31 

   It was indeed a singular spectacle, as I have said, this upon the 
western border of the world's great republic in the autumn of 1846. A 
whole cityful, with other settlements, and thousands of thrifty

Page 232

agriculturists in the regions about, citizens of the United States, driven 
beyond the border by other citizens: not by reason of their religion 
alone, though this was made a pretence; not for breaking the laws, though 
this was made a pretence; not on account of their immorality, for the 
people of Illinois and Missouri were not immaculate in this respect; nor 
was it altogether on account of their solid voting and growing political 
power, accompanied ever by the claim of general inheritance and universal 
dominion, though this last had more to do with it probably than all the 
rest combined, notwithstanding that the spirit of liberty and the laws of 
the republic permitted such massing of social and political influence, and 
notwithstanding the obvious certainty that any of the gentile political 
parties now playing the role of persecutors would gladly and 
unscrupulously have availed themselves of such means for the 
accomplishment of their ends. It was all these combined, and so combined 
as to engender deadly hate. It gave the Mormons a power in proportion to 
their numbers not possessed by other sects or societies, which could not 
and would not endure it; a power regarded by the others as unfairly 
acquired, and by a way and through means not in accord with the American 
idea of individual equality, of equal rights and equal citizenship. In 
regard to all other sects within the republic, under guard of the 
constitution, religion was subordinated to politics and government; in 
regard to the Mormons, in spite of the constitution, politics and 
government were subordinated to religion. 

   And in regard to the late occupants of the place, the last of the 
Mormon host that now lay huddled to the number of 640 on the western bank 
of the river in sight of the city:32 if the first departures from Nauvoo 
escaped extreme hardships, not so these. It was the

Page 233

latter part of September, and nearly all were prostrated with chills and 
fevers;33 there at the river bank, among the dock and rushes, poorly 
protected, without the shelter of a roof or anything to keep off the force 
of wind or rain, little ones came into life and were left motherless at 
birth.34 They had not food enough to satisfy the cravings of the sick, nor 
clothing fit to wear. For months thereafter there were periods when all 
the flour they used was of the coarsest, the wheat being ground in coffee 
and hand mills, which only cut the grain; others used a pestle; the finer 
meal was used for bread, the coarser made into hominy. Boiled wheat was 
now the chief diet for sick and well. For ten days they subsisted on 
parched corn. Some mixed their remnant of grain with the pounded bark of 
the slippery elm which they stripped from the trees along their route. 

   This encampment was about two miles above Montrose on the Mississippi, 
and was called the Poor Camp. Aid was solicited, and within three weeks a 
little over one hundred dollars was collected, mostly in Quincy, with 
provisions and clothing, though the prejudice against them was deep and 
strong.35 Some of the people were crowded into tents, made frequently of 
quilts and blankets; others in bowers made of brush; others had only 
wagons for shelter. They suffered from heavy thunder-storms, when the rain 
was bailed out with basins from their beds. Mothers huddled their children 
in the one dress which often was all they possessed, and shaking with ague 
or burning with fever, took refuge from the pitiless storms under wagons 
and bushes.36

Page 234

   "While the people for the most part were ill with chills and fever," 
says Wells, "quail fell into camp and were picked up with ease.37 This 
supply was looked upon as miraculous by the half famished people. So long 
had they been lashed by the fierce winds of misfortune, that now they 
accepted with gratitude this indication of providential care. 

   Wagons were sent from Winter Quarters for the removal of the people 
from Poor Camp; and gradually all reached the various stations in which 
the Mormons had gathered.38

   Of their long journey many painful incidents are recorded. Weakened by 
fever or crippled with rheumatism, and with sluggish circulation, many 
were severely frost-bitten. Women were compelled to drive the nearly worn-
out teams, while tending on their knees, perhaps, their sick children. The 
strength of the beasts was failing, as there were intervals when they 
could be kept froth starving only by the browse or tender buds and 
branches of the cotton-wood, felled for the purpose.39

   At one time no less than two thousand wagons could be counted, it was 
said, along the three hundred miles of road that separated Nauvoo from the 
Mormon encampments. Many families possessed no wagons,

Page 235

and in the long procession might be seen vehicles of all descriptions, 
from the lumbering cart, under whose awning lay stretched its fever-
stricken driver, to the veriest makeshifts of poverty, the wheelbarrow or 
the two-wheeled trundle, in which was dragged along a bundle of clothing 
and a sack of meal-all of this world's goods that the owner possessed. 

   On arriving at the banks of the Missouri, the wagons were drawn up in 
double lines and in the form of squares. Between the lines, tents were 
pitched at intervals, space being left between each row for a passage-way, 
which was shaded with awnings or a lattice-work of branches, and served as 
a promenade for convalescents and a playground for children.

   And what became of Nauvoo? The temple was destroyed by fire and 
tempest,40 and all the wood-work consumed, while the rock was utilized for 
miles around as foundations of houses, for door-steps, and other purposes. 
A French company coming in later bought the stone from those in 
possession, and built wine-vaults. Foundations of buildings were broken 
up, and houses once surrounded by carefully tended flower-gardens, 
pillaged of all that was valuable, were now abandoned by their ruthless 
destroyers.41 "At present," writes Linforth, "the Icarians form the most 
important part of the population of Nauvoo...They live in a long ugly row 
of buildings, the architect of which and of the school-house was a 
cobbler." In the house built for the prophet and his family dwelt in 1854 
the prophet's widow, his mother, and his family.42

1 Parley Pratt's calculation for an outfit of every family of 5 persons 
was 1 good wagon, 3 yoke cattle, 2 cows, 2 beef cattle, 3 sheep, 1,000 lbs 
flour, 20 lbs sugar, 1 rifle and ammunition, a tent and tent-poles, from 
10 to 20 lbs seed to a family, from 25 to 100 lbs tools for farming, and a 
few other items, the cost being about $250, provided they had nothing else 
but bedding and cooking utensils. Hist. B. Young, MS., 125. 

2 In December the drying-house of emigrating company no. 18 was burned to 
the ground, consuming $300 worth of wagon timber. Id., MS., Dec, 1845.
 
3 Kane, with the carelessness usual in his statements, says that the 
temple was completed and consecrated in May, and that the day after its 
consecration its ornaments were carried away. 'For that one day the temple 
shone resplendent in all its typical glories of sun, moon, and stars, and 
other abounding figured and lettered signs, hieroglyphs, and symbols; but 
that day only. The sacred rites of consecration ended, the work of 
removing the sacrasancta proceeded with the rapidity of magic. It went on 
through the night; and when the morning of the next day dawned,' all the 
ornaments and furniture, everything that could provoke a sneer, had been 
carried off; and except some fixtures that would not bear removal, the 
building was dismantled to the bare walls. It was this day saw the 
departure of the last elders, and the largest hand that moved in one 
company together. The people of Iowa have told me that from morning to 
night they passed westward like an endless procession. They did not seem 
greatly out of heart, they said; but at the top of every hill, before they 
disappeared, were to be seen looking back, like banished Moors, on their 
abandoned homes and the far-seen temple and its glittering spire.' The 
Mormons, 21. 

4 Times and Seasons, vi. 1018. In this number is a notice, signed by 
Willard Richards, cutting off William Smith, the prophet's brother, for 
apostasy.
 
5 'The Mormons went up and down with their furniture, etc., and traded for 
anything that could travel, such as an animal or a wagon...Another company 
went out in May, but they did not sell their property, leaving it in the 
hands of trustees to sell.' Wells' Narrative, MS., 37. Their two-story 
brick house, which they had occupied but three months, and which they had 
denied themselves in every way to build, Mrs Richards says was sold for 
'two yoke of half-broken cattle and an old wagon.' Reminiscences, MS., 20. 

6 When we were to leave Mo., the saints entered into a covenant not to 
cease their exertions until every saint who wished to go was removed, 
which was done...We are better off now than we were then;...he [B. Y.] 
wants to see this influence extend from the west to the east sea.' Brigham 
moved: 'That we take all the saints with us, to the extent of our ability, 
that is, our influence and property; seconded by Elder Kimball, and 
carried unanimously.' This covenant was entered into Oct. 6, 1845. Times 
and Seasons, vi. 1011. 
 
7 'We encamped at Sugar Creek, in the snow, while two of my children were 
very ill. We slept in our wagons, which were placed close to our tents.' 
Horne's Migrations, MS., 16. 
 
8 The camp of Israel was wherever the president and apostles were. 

9 It has been stated that after dismissing his congregation on the 17th 
the president led several of the twelve aside to a valley east of the 
camp, and held a council. A letter was then read from Samuel Brennan, a 
Mormon elder then in New York, together with a copy of an agreement 
between him and one A. G. Benson. Brennan was at that time in charge of a 
company of saints bound for the Pacific coast by way of Cape Horn, and the 
agreement which he forwarded for Brigham's signature required the pioneers 
to transfer to A. G. Benson and company the odd numbers of all the town 
lots that they might acquire in the country where they settled. 'I shall
select,' writes Brennan, 'the most suitable spot on the bay of San 
Francisco for the location of a commercial city.' the council refused to 
take any action in the matter. In case they refused to sign the agreement, 
Tullidge soberly relates, Life of Brigham Young, 19-23, the president, it 
was said, would issue a proclamation, setting forth that it was the 
intention of the Mormons to take sides with either Mexico or Great Britain 
against the United States, and order them to be disarmed or dispersed! 
Further mention of this matter is made in History of California, vol. v. 
cap. xx., this series.
 
10 'In the latter part of March we started for Council Bluffs, 400 miles 
distant, and were three months on the way. Crossing a long prairie in a 
fearful storm, the mud became so soft that we could not travel, and we 
were obliged to encamp; the water was several inches deep all over our 
camping-ground; we had no wood for a fire, and no means of drying our 
soaked clothing. In the morning everything was frozen fast; and a squirrel 
was found frozen...Frequently boughs were laid on the ground before the 
teams could pass...We had to camp in mad until the roads were dry enough 
to travel.' Horne's Migrations, MS., 18-19. 

11 'It is true,' he writes, 'that in our sojourning we do not possess all 
the luxuries and delicacies of old-established countries and cities, but 
we have abundance of the staple commodities, such as flour, meal, beef, 
mutton, pork, milk, butter, and in some instances cheese, sugar, coffee, 
tea, etc.' Letter in Millennial Star, viii. 114. 

12 Each family had prayers separately. Taylor's Rem., MS., 9.
 
13 In Lee County, Iowa, three weeks from their staging-point. 

14 About 150 miles from Nauvoo, on the east fork of the Grand River. 'Many 
located there, ploughing and sowing, and preparing homes for their poor 
brethren for a longer period.' Horne's Migrations, MS., 19. 'On the 
morning of the 27th of April the bugle sounded at Garden Grove, and all 
the men assembled to organize for labor. Immediately hundreds of men were 
at work, cutting trees, splitting rails, making fences, cutting logs for 
houses, building bridges, making ploughs, and herding cattle. Quite a 
number were sent into the Missouri settlements to exchange horses for 
oxen, valuable feather-beds and the like for provisions and articles most 
needed in the camp, and the remainder engaged in ploughing and planting. 
Messengers were also despatched to call in the bands of pioneers scattered 
over the country seeking work, with instructions to hasten them up to help 
form the new settlements before the season had passed; so that, in a 
scarcely conceivable space of time, at Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah, 
industrious settlements sprung up almost as if by magic.' Tullidge's Life 
of Brigham Young, 41.

15 This site was discovered by Parley, who was sent forward to reconnoitre 
by Brigham. It was situated on a branch of Grand River, and for years was 
the resting-place for the saints on their way to Utah. Autobiog. P. Pratt, 
381.

16 Here 700 log cabins and 150 dugouts (cabins half under ground) were 
built. A large quantity of hay was cut, and a flouring mill erected. Id., 
383.

17 'The removal of the entire population,' the major adds, has been locked 
forward to as an event that could alone restore peace and quiet to this 
portion of our state,' Fullmer's Expulsion, 24. 
 
18 'Thus while with one hand he pushed the saints from their possessions 
across the river to save their lives, with the other he kept at bay the 
savage fiends who thirsted for blood, and who would fain have washed their 
hands in the blood of innocence, and feasted their eyes on the smoking 
ruins of their martyred victims.' Id., 24-5. From Nauvoo, May 11, 1846, 
Warren writes: 'To the Mormons I would say, Go on with your preparations, 
and leave as fast as you can. Leave the fighting to be done by my 
detachment. If we are overpowered, then recross the river and defend 
yourselves and property. The neighboring counties, under the 
circumstances, cannot and will not lend their aid to an unprovoked and 
unnecessary attack upon the Mormons at this time; and without such aid the 
few desperadoes in the county can do but little mischief, and can be made 
amenable to the law for that little. The force under my command is 
numerically small; but backed as I am by the moral force of the law, and 
possessing as I do the confidence of nine tenths of the respectable 
portion of the old citizens, my force is able to meet successfully any mob 
which can be assembled in the county, and if any such force does assemble, 
they or I will leave the field in double-quick time.' 

19 'Sir-I have received information that another effort is to be made on 
Monday next to drive out the inhabitants of Nauvoo, new as well as old, 
and destroy the city. I am informed that it is believed in the surrounding 
counties that the new citizens in Nauvoo are all Mormons, and that the 
remnant of the old Mormon population are determined to remain there, 
although I am assured that the contrary in both particulars is the truth. 
You are therefore hereby authorized and empowered to repair to Nauvoo, and 
there remain until you are relieved. You will immediately inquire how many 
of the inhabitants are new citizens, and how many of them are Mormons; how 
many of the old Mormon population remain, and what the prospect is of 
their removal in a reasonable time; and in case an attack on the city 
should be attempted or threatened, you are hereby authorized to take 
command of such volunteers as may offer themselves, free of cost to the 
state, to repel it and defend the city.' Fullmer's Expulsion, 29-30. 

20 Among the members was the Rev. Thomas S. Brockman, who afterward took 
command of the posse. 

21 Hostilities to cease; the city to be evacuated in 60 days, 25 men 
remaining to see the stipulation carried out. Id., 34-5.
 
22 Who afterward became lieut-gen. of the Nauvoo legion in Utah. 

23 There were about 300 Mormons and new citizens who could then bear arms 
against the mob, but on the day of the fight no more than 100 could be 
found to go, as the Mormons were continually leaving.' Wells' Narrative, 
MS., 39.

24 John Wood, the mayor, Major Flood, Dr Conyera, and Joel Rice. See 
Wells' Narrative, MS., passim.
 
25 He was more than brave, he was presumptuous. Wells, in Utah Notes, MS., 
p. 7. 

26 'Many of our log houses were torn down by the mob, which numbered 1,000 
men; we made barricades of corn-stalks stacked up.' Wells, in Utah Notes, 
MS., 7.

27 Elder John S. Fullmer, then a colonel in the Nauvoo legion, claims that 
he directed this movement. Expulsion, 38.

28 'But three in all were killed...Meetings were held to stop the effusion 
of blood,...but there was no necessity for such action, when no blood was 
shed.' Wells, in Utah Notes, 7. 

29 '1st. The city of Nauvoo will surrender. The force of Reverend Brockman 
to enter and take possession of the city to-morrow, the 17th of September, 
at three o'clock P.M. 2d. The arms to be delivered to the Quincy 
committee, to be returned on crossing the river. 3d. The Quincy committee 
pledge themselves to use their influence for the protection of persons and 
property, and the officers of the camp and the men likewise pledge 
themselves. 4th. The sick and helpless to be protected and treated with 
humanity. 5th. The Mormon population of the city to leave the state or 
disperse as soon as they can cross the river. 6th. Five men, including the 
trustees of the church, and five clerks with their families (William 
Pickett not one of the number), to be permitted to remain in the city for 
the disposition of property, free from all molestation and personal 
violence. 7th. Hostilities to cease immediately, and ten men of the Quincy 
committee to enter the city in the execution of their duty as soon as they 
think proper.' It will be observed that nothing is said about the 
surrender of Pickett. He was not even arrested.

30 'The mob entered the temple, instituted an inquisition, and regardless 
of the Mormons or new citizens, went from house to house plundering cow-
yards, pig-pens, hen-roosts, and bee-stands indiscriminately; thus turning 
some of their best friends into enemies, bursting open trunks and cheats, 
searching for arms, keys, etc.' p. 343. 'In the temple ringing the bells, 
shouting, and hallooing; they took several to the river and baptized them, 
swearing, throwing them backward, then on to their faces, saying: "The 
commandments must be fulfilled, and God damn you."'. Hist. B. Young, MS., 
345. 

31 The best narrative, and indeed the only one that enters 
circumstantially into all the details of the expulsion from Nauvoo, is 
contained in the Assassination of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the Prophet and 
the Patriarch of the Church of Latter-day Saints. Also a Condensed History 
of the Expulsion of the Saints from Nauvoo by Elder John S. Fullmer (of 
Utah, U. S. A.), Pastor of the Manchester, Liverpool, and Preston 
Conferences. Liverpool and London, 1855. The work is written from a Mormon 
standpoint, but including as it does copies of the despatches of Illinois 
officers and officials, of the stipulations between the belligerents, and 
of some comments made by the Quincy Whig, appears in the main reliable. 
The author's comments on the gentiles are sufficiently bitter, and his 
description of the fight at Nauvoo and the valor of the saints militant 
must of course be taken with due allowance. For instance: 'Seeing our men 
take possession of some vacant buildings on the line of their approach, 
they took a position on an elevated spot of ground, and opened a heavy 
cannonade at a distance of something less than half a mile. This was 
returned with great spirit on our part from guns made of steam shafts that 
carried six-pound balls. Many were the balls that we picked up as they 
came rolling and bounding among us, and we sent them back with as much 
spirit and precision as they were first sent.' p. 37. Col Kane says: 'A 
vindictive war was waged upon them, from which the weakest tied in 
scattered parties, leaving the rest to make a reluctant and almost 
ludicrously unavailing defence.' The Mormons, 54. In the General Epistle 
of the Twelve, Dec. 23, 1847, in Snow's Voice of Joseph, 14-15, we read: 
'In September 1846 an infuriated mob, clad in all the horrors of war, fell 
on the saints who had still remained in Nauvoo for want of means to 
remove, murdered some, and drove the remainder across the Mississippi into 
Iowa, where, destitute of houses, tents, food, clothing, or money, they 
received temporary assistance from some benevolent souls in Quincy, St 
Louis, and other places, whose names will ever be remembered with 
gratitude. Their property in Hancock co., Illinois, was little or no 
better than confiscated; many of their houses were burned by the mob, and 
they were obliged to leave most of those that remained without sale; and 
those who bargained sold almost for a song; for the influence of their 
enemies was to cause such a diminution in the value of property that for a 
handsome estate was seldom realized enough to remove the family 
comfortably away; and thousands have since been wandering to and fro, 
destitute, afflicted, and distressed for the common necessaries of Life, 
or unable to endure, have sickened and died by hundreds; while the temple 
of the Lord is left solitary in the midst of our enemies, an enduring 
monument of the diligence and integrity of the saints.' Mention of the 
expulsion from Nauvoo is of course made in most of the books published on 
Mormonism, but in none of them, except perhaps in one or two of the meet 
rabid anti-Mormon works, which I have not thought it worth while to 
notice, is the conduct of the Illinois mob defended.

32 A few months before, Nauvoo with the neighboring Mormon settlements had 
contained some 20,000 saints, of whom in July about 15,000 were encamped 
on the Missouri River, or were scattered through the western states in 
search of employment. 
 
33 While at Montrose, Heber C. Kimball writes thus in his journal of the 
condition of his family, his wife having a babe a few days old, and he 
himself ill with ague. 'I went to the bed; my wife, who was shaking with 
the ague, having two children lying sick by her side;...the only child 
well was little Heber Parley, and it was with difficulty he could carry a 
two-quart pail full of water from a spring at the bottom of the hill.' 

34 'Such deaths occurred from exposure and fright in Nauvoo. The camp 
journalist recorded: Effect of persecution by the Illinois mob.'

35 The trustees from Nauvoo also distributed clothing, and molasses, salt, 
and salt pork. Hist. B. Young, MS., 1846, 383.

36 Mrs Clara Young's Experience, MS., 3.

37 'On the 9th of October, while our teams were waiting on the banks of 
the Miss. for the poor saints...left without any of the necessaries of 
life,...and nothing to start their journey with, the Lord sent flocks of 
quail, which lit upon their wagons and on their empty tables, and upon the 
ground within their reach, which the saints, and even the sick, caught 
with their hands until they were satisfied.' Hist. B. Young, MS., 1847, 9. 
This phenomenon extended some 30 or 40 miles along the river, and was 
generally observed. The quail in immense quantities had attempted to cross 
the river, but it being beyond their strength, had dropped into the river 
boats or on the bank.' Wells, in Utah Notes, MS., 7. 

38 See The Mormons: A Discourse delivered before the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania, March 26, 1850, by Thomas L. Kane. Philadelphia, 1850. A 
copy of it will be found at the end of Orson Pratt's Works, and in 
Mackay's The Mormons, 200-45. The story of the Mormon exodus, as handed 
down to us by a man of Colonel Kane's powers of observation, would have 
been a valuable record were it not plainly apparent that truth is too 
often sacrificed to diction. Among Mormon writers we find no detailed 
narrative of this exodus, and among others little that is not borrowed 
from the colonel's discourse.

39 Snow's Biography, 89.

40 The temple was half destroyed by fire on Nov. 19, 1848. Nauvoo Patriot, 
in Millennial Star, xi. p. 46; and on May 27, 1850, further damaged by a 
tornado. Hancock Patriot, in Mackay's The Mormons, 210. For cut of 
remnants, see Linforth's Route from Liverpool to G. S. L. Valley, 62, and 
Hyde's Mormonism, 140. See also George Q. Cannon, in Juvenile Instuctor, 
vol. ix. no. 5, and Wells' Narrative, MS., 41; Deseret News, Aug. 24, 
1850; Frontier Guardian, July 24, 1850. 

41 As James Linforth describes in writing of Nauvoo in 1858.

42 Route from Liverpool to G. S. L. Valley, 63.