USA > Utah > History of Utah > Part 15
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Situated in a graceful bend of the majestic Father of Waters, on an eminence commanding a noble view of the broad and rolling river, here sweeping round it in a semi-circle, Nauvoo, even as the site of the lovely city it soon became, well merited the surname of Beautiful. The site of the city, prior to May, 1839, when the Mormons made their first purchase of lands in that locality, was the little town or village of Commerce, which title it continued to bear until about a year later, when it was rechristened by the Saints Nauvoo.
Among the landed proprietors from whom they made extensive purchases in and around Commerce was Daniel H. Wells, famous in
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Utah history as General and as "Squire" Wells. He was a native of Trenton, Oneida County, New York, and was descended from Thomas Wells, the fourth Governor of Connecticut. He was now in his twenty-fifth year, and had resided in Illinois since he was eighteen. At first he had engaged in clearing land and farming, but before coming of age had entered upon his official career, being first elected constable and then justice of the peace. He also held an office in the first military organization of Hancock County. He was noted for courage and wisdom, and was a man of strict integrity and of broad and generous soul. He was not then connected with any religious society. In politics he was a staunch Whig, but was much esteemed by men of all creeds and parties.
A foe to oppression in all its forms, and a fearless champion of universal freedom, Squire Wells at once befriended the outcast Mormons upon their arrival in his neighborhood, and extended to them a cordial welcome. He might have speculated out of their necessities at that time, but would not. Platting his land into city lots he let them have it almost on their own terms-low rates and long-time payments. Though not a Mormon until after the Prophet's death, Daniel H. Wells was always his staunch and faithful friend.
Another land-owner from whom the Saints purchased largely in that locality was Dr. Isaac Galland, who also joined the Church. With him the Prophet had corresponded upon the subject while in Liberty jail.
Lands were likewise secured on the Iowa side of the river; about one hundred families settling in Lee County, opposite Nauvoo, in 1839. Brigham Young dwelt there, at a place called Montrose. The Iowa purchase included the town of Nashville, with twenty thousand acres of land adjoining, upon which was projected and partly built the Mormon town of Zarahemla.
Nauvoo was not altogether "a city set upon a hill." Some of it lay in the low lands, where the surface sloped down to the river. Here the soil was naturally moist and miry, superinducing malaria ;
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in consequence of which the locality was at first very unhealthy. Within a short time, however, under the energetic labors of the thrifty and industrious Saints,-whose mission seems to have been from the beginning to make the wilderness blossom,-the climate underwent a salutary change, regarded by the devout people as miraculous, and thenceforth it became a wholesome as well as a charming place of abode. But this was not until after some painful and protracted sieges of sickness, which at one time prostrated nearly all the inhabitants of Commerce, and many people in the neighboring towns.
It was during the reign of such an epidemic, in the latter part of 1839, that the Twelve Apostles of the Church-or a majority of them -started upon their first mission to foreign lands. They had been appointed to this mission in July, 1838, while the Saints were in Missouri. It had then been declared by the Prophet that they should meet upon the Temple grounds at Far West on the 26th of the ensuing April, and take formal leave of the city, prior to crossing the "great waters." What special significance was attached to this event we know not, but the Apostles and the Prophet seemed to regard it as very important and were determined to see the prophecy fulfilled.
The Missourians, however, who had been informed by their apostate allies of the prediction concerning the 26th of April, were just as firmly resolved to thwart it. Probably this was one reason why Bogart and his mob, as related, expelled the few remaining Mormons from Far West about the middle of April. It was their boast that if all others of "Joe Smith's prophecies" should be fulfilled, this one, now that he was in prison and his people driven from the State, should fail.
Before day-break, however, on the morning of April 26th, 1839. Apostles Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, John E. Page and others rode into Far West. Holding a meeting on the temple grounds, they ordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith to the Apostleship, and having severed thirty-one persons from the Church, bade adieu to the half-deserted, half-ruined 12-VOL. 1.
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city and departed, ere their enemies had arisen to renew their oath that the words of the Mormon Prophet relating to this event should never be realized. Subsequently, the founding of Nauvoo and the labor of settling their people in that vicinity, with the terrible epidemic that swept over them that summer, unavoidably delayed the departure of the Apostles from America.
During August and September, however, seven of the Twelve, namely : Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, * Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith, with Elders Theodore Turley, Reuben Hedlock and Hiram Clark, left Com- merce for Europe. Most of them were weak and ailing, and some even arose from sick beds, burning with fever or shaking with ague to begin the journey. Their families, whom they were forced to leave behind, were also sick and well-nigh helpless. Penniless, as usual, and with swelling hearts, these devoted men went forth to perform their duty, trusting in Him who feedeth the sparrows and heareth the young ravens when they cry, to minister to their own needs, and to care for and'comfort their wives and little ones.
Of such undaunted mettle and quenchless zeal were the men whom the Mormon Prophet had gathered round him as his Apostles, in whose destiny it was written that they should not only war with "principalities and powers," contending for their faith with the learned polemists of Christendom, but battle in the same strength and sturdiness of purpose with Nature's sterile elements, and conquering redeem a desert.
Reference has been made to the widespread sympathy and com- passion for the Saints, coupled with abhorrence and detestation for their oppressors, felt by the generous people of Illinois when the homeless refugees first came among them. Indignation was rife that in a free land and in an enlightened age a community should thus be persecuted for their opinions; that a sovereign state of the American Union, instead of shielding its citizens from mobocracy, should
* Parley had but recently escaped from Richmond jail, Missouri.
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actually join hands with the lawless element and assist in the work of wholesale plunder and expatriation. Upon Governor Boggs and his coadjutors censure was heaped unsparingly. Upon the hapless victims of their tyranny favors were abundantly bestowed. Said the Quincy Argus of March 16th, 1839 :
We have no language sufficiently strong for the expression of our indignation and shame at the recent transaction in a sister State, and that State Missouri, a State of which we had long been proud, alike for her men and history, but now so fallen that we could wish her star stricken out from the bright constellation of the Union. We say we know of no language sufficiently strong for the expression of our shame and abhorrence of her recent conduct. She has written her own character in letters of blood, and stained it by acts of merciless cruelty and brutality that the waters of ages cannot efface. It will be observed that an organized mob, aided by many of the civil and military officers of Missouri, with Governor Boggs at their head, have been the prominent actors in this business, incited, too, it appears, against the Mormons by political hatred, and by the additional motives of plunder and revenge. They have but too well put in execution their threats of extermination and expulsion, and fully wreaked their vengeance on a body of industrious and enterprising men who had never wronged nor wished to wrong them, but on the contrary had ever comported themselves as good and honest citizens, living under the same laws, and having the same right with themselves to the sacred immunities of life, liberty, and property .*
Professor Turner, of Illinois College, wrote :
Who began the quarrel? Was it the Mormons ? Is it not notorious, on the con- trary, that they were hunted like wild beasts, from county to county, before they made any desperate resistance ? Did they ever, as a body, refuse obedience to the laws, when called upon to do so, until driven to desperation by repeated threats and assaults from the mob? Did the State ever make one decent effort to defend them as fellow-citizens in their rights, or to redress their wrongs ? Let the conduct of its governors, attorneys, and the fate of their final petitions answer. Have any who plundered and openly massacred the Mormons ever been brought to the punishment due to their crimes? Let the boasting murderers of begging and helpless infancy answer. Has the State ever remunerated even those known to be innocent, for the loss of either their property or their arms? Did either the pulpit or the press through the State raise a note of remonstrance or alarm ? Let the clergymen who abetted and the editors who encouraged the mob answer.
To be sure, not all the people of Illinois shared these sentiments. The Mormons had enemies there as well as friends. These, it is
* Some of the Missouri papers of that period contained similar articles, denouncing the ill-treatment of the Mormons and censuring the Legislature for avoiding an investiga- tion of the crimes committed against them.
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almost needless to say, were largely of the religious element, who could neither forget nor forgive that Joseph Smith, whatever his innocence of crime, had been guilty of founding a new Church, which opposed theirs, and in spite of all that had been said and done against it, was fast becoming a power in the land.
Of course there were exceptions even here; but this was the general feeling among earnest Christians concerning Mormonism. They sincerely and heartily hated the system, and their hatred extended in most instances to all connected with it. It was this class, in conjunction with two others, its traditional allies-politi- cians and apostates-that finally encompassed the murder of the Mormon Prophet, and the driving of his people into the western wilderness.
As yet, however, there were no signs of such an issue. Illinois had opened her arms to the exiles. Her governor, Thomas Carlin, and other State officials, with editors, professors and prominent citizens in general had taken the lead in extending aid and sympathy to the outcast community. Thousands of dollars in money, clothing and provisions had been contributed for their relief by the citizens of Quincy and other places, and every effort made of which a humane and benevolent people seemed capable, to cause the Saints to forget their former sufferings in the assurance of present protection and promised peace.
Nor were the people of Iowa at all behind in friendly feeling for the Mormons. Robert Lucas, Governor of that Territory-a former governor of Ohio-treated them kindly, pledged to them the protec- tion of the Constitution and the laws, and testified to their general repute as "industrious, inoffensive and worthy citizens."
One of the first steps taken by the Prophet, after planting the feet of his people in these places of refuge, was to lay their grievances before the general government. A committee, consisting of himself. Sidney Rigdon and Elias Higbee, was appointed at a conference held at Commerce, October 5th, 1839, to proceed to Washington for that purpose. They started on the 29th of October. Elder Rigdon,
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owing to ill health, did not go any farther than Columbus, Ohio. His companions reached the capital late in November.
On the way thither the Prophet met with an exciting adventure, in which the part he played doubtless saved the limbs if not the lives of several persons. The coach upon which they were traveling was descending a mountain pass of the Alleghanies. The driver having laid down his lines and got off at a wayside tavern, the horses, becoming frightened, ran away. Climbing from the inside of the vehicle to the driver's seat, while the horses were in furious motion. the Prophet secured the reins and skillfully guided the foaming steeds until they were brought to a stand-still. On the coach were several ladies and some members of Congress. The daring feat of their fellow-traveler, whose identity they were unaware of, was greatly admired and gratefully mentioned by all. Later they learned with much surprise that the one to whom they were so deeply indebted was no other than Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet.
He remained several months at the capital, forming- many acquaintances among leading statesmen and politicians of the period, and pleading earnestly the cause of his plundered and exiled people. But beyond the personal interest that he excited his mission was apparently fruitless. The authority of the general government to interfere in the affairs of a State,-even when that State had acted as Missouri had done,-where not denied, was seriously doubted, especially by Democrats, and it was a Democratic adminis- tration that held the reins of power. Others, though holding different views, were unwilling, for political reasons, to champion the cause of the unpopular Mormons. Policy, the Prophet discovered, rather than principle, swayed the hearts and minds of the majority of his country's statesmen. The Committee on Judiciary, to whom the memorial of the Saints was referred, with claims against Missouri for about one-and-a-half million dollars, finally reported adversely upon the petition. This, however, was after the Prophet left Washington.
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While there he had interviews with the President, Martin Van Buren, who said, after listening to his story : "Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you." This frank democratic statement the Mormon leader might have excused,-though himself a Whig, and differing from the President on the "State Rights" question involved. But Van Buren unwisely added: "If I take up for you I shall lose the votes of Missouri,"-referring to the approaching presidential election. Personal ambition, quite as much as loyalty to his political principles, was thus shown to be his ruling motive. For such an admission Joseph Smith's fearless, uncalculating spirit was hardly prepared. Heartsick and disgusted at what he deemed a display of pusillanimity in high places, he now left Washington for home.
Passing through Chester County, Pennsylvania, he formed the acquaintance of Edward Hunter, a prosperous farmer and an influential man in that vicinity, who was already favorably impressed with Mormonism. He soon afterwards embraced the faith and removed to Illinois. Edward Hunter became Bishop of the Fifth Ward of Nauvoo, and in Utah the Presiding Bishop of the Church.
From Chester County the Prophet proceeded to Philadelphia, where a flourishing branch of the Church existed, and then returned to Illinois, arriving at Commerce on the 4th of March, 1840.
Hyrum Smith, in the absence of his associates, had had presi- dential charge of the Churh. Stakes of Zion had been organized at Commerce and in Iowa. William Marks became President of the Commerce Stake, with Charles C. Rich and Austin Cowles as his counselors. The members of the High Council were G. W. Harris, Samuel Bent, Henry G. Sherwood, David Fullmer, Alpheus Cutler, William Huntington, Thomas Grover. Newel Knight, Charles C. Rich, David Dort, Seymour Brunson and Lewis D. Wilson. On the Iowa side John Smith was President of the Stake, and Reynolds Cahoon and Lyman Wight were his counselors. Members of the High Coun- cil: Asahel Smith, John M. Burk, A. O. Smoot, Richard Howard, Willard Snow, Erastus Snow, David Pettigrew, Elijah Fordham,
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Edward Fisher, Elias Smith, John Patten and Stephen Chase. Alan- son Ripley was Bishop in Iowa. Other stakes were in early contem- plation.
At Commerce in November, 1839, Don Carlos Smith and Ebenezer Robinson had established a semi-monthly paper called the Times and Seasons. This was the organ of the Church. In its columns Hyrum Smith had published an account of the Missouri persecutions. The Prophet became the editor of this paper. The Nauvoo Wasp, edited by William Smith, and afterwards renamed the Nauvoo Neighbor, was a later publication.
On April 6th, 1840-the tenth anniversary of the Church-the Saints convened, according to custom, in general conference. Dur- ing its session Apostles Orson Hyde and John E. Page were appointed to take a mission to Palestine. Orson Hyde accepted the call, and subsequently departed for the Holy Land. Elder Page failed to fulfill his mission. It was the beginning of his defection from Mormonism. President Joseph Smith detailed to the conference his recent visit to Washington, including his interview with Van Buren, of whom he expressed his opinion in plain terms. Resolutions were passed thanking the people of Illinois, their representatives in Congress, their governor, Thomas Carlin, and Governor Lucas, of Iowa, for aid, sympathy and protection.
Commerce now changed its name to Nauvoo. During their first year of occupancy, hundreds of houses had been erected by the Saints, who were fast flocking to their new gathering place, and the insignifi- cant hamlet of a few months before was rapidly assuming the dimensions of a city. The bend in the Mississippi at this point gave the place three river fronts, with some of the streets terminating at the water's edge. The thoroughfares were wide, crossing each other at right angles; a model of healthfulness and beauty many times copied by the city-building Saints in laying out their settlements in the Rocky Mountains. The houses, embowered in groves and gar- dens, tastefully and securely fenced, ranged all the way from the neatly white-washed log-cabin, through buildings of brick and frame
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to the stately mansion of stone. When the Temple came to crown the noble hill upon which the city had already climbed, and the busy hum of industry from forge, mill and factory arose as incense from a hundred altars, Nauvoo, the home of twice ten thousand people, was not only the City Beautiful of the Saints, but bid fair to become, in the not far distant future, the pride and glory of Illinois .*
At the time of which we write, May, 1840, the town had from two to three thousand inhabitants, and was divided ecclesiastically into three wards-Upper, Middle and Lower-presided over severally by Bishops Edward Partridge,} Newel K. Whitney and Vinson Knight. As the place grew, these three wards became four, then ten, while in the farming districts, outside the city, three additional wards were created.
Thus were affairs at Nauvoo prospering. Thus, with that won- derful recuperative power which has ever characterized them as a people, were these whilom exiles of Missouri already recovering from the effects of the persecution which had robbed them of well- nigh their earthly all.
The Mormons now began to take part in Illinois politics. Per- haps it would have been well for them in a worldly sense, though not so well in a sense far wider and higher, had they refrained from exercising this right. Though not immediately apparent, it was the beginning for them of untold sorrow. Next to the rancor of religious hatred is the bitterness of political animosity. The Mormons ere this had experienced both. They were fated ere long to again exper- ience them.
A great presidential election was approaching. The celebrated "log-cabin and hard cider" campaign was in progress, and Whigs and Democrats throughout the entire land were working arduously in the interests of their respective parties. William Henry Harrison was the Whig candidate for the Presidency, while Martin Van Buren had
* Nauvoo in 1844-5 was said to be the most populous city in the State.
+ Bishop Partridge died on May 27th of that year.
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again been put forward by the Democrats. In Hancock County, Illinois, the two great parties were almost equally divided. A hand- ful of votes, thrown either way, would suffice to turn a local election. This balance of power was held by the Mormons. To secure and retain their favor, therefore, became an object with politicians of both sides.
Most of the Mormons were traditionally Democrats. In Ohio, in February, 1835, they had started a paper called the Northern Times, supporting democracy. But now, it seems, they mostly voted with the Whigs, casting their ballots for the Harrison electors. The reason probably was, not that Joseph Smith was a Whig, but that Martin Van Buren was a Democrat. At subsequent elections in Illinois the majority of the Mormons generally voted the democratic ticket.
They were quite naturally averse, however, to supporting their enemies on any ticket, or men whom they believed incompetent, corrupt and immoral. They insisted, not only upon representation for themselves, but that men of character and ability be put forward, if their vote was wanted to elect them. The politicians, not always able to furnish what was required, no doubt deemed this fastidi- ous. Many thought it dictatorial. Misunderstandings occurred, and much ill-feeling was at times created. Men whom the Mormons thus rejected as nominees,-for at times they carried their point in caucus,-as well as those whom they defeated at elections, generally became their enemies.
Among their friends in political circles were Hon. Sidney H. Little and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, the former a Whig and the latter a Democrat. Mr. Little, who was a State senator, died before the Mormon troubles in Illinois had fairly begun. Judge Douglas, who was Secretary of the State, though he eventually proclaimed against the Saints, was their friend for several years after the Prophet's death. Stephen A. Douglas and Joseph Smith each regarded the other as a master spirit. It was by means of the Mormon vote, during the Prophet's lifetime, that "the little giant" finally attained to the
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United States Senate. His opponents styled him "the Mormon-made Senator."
In 1840, as said, the Saints supported the Whig party in the contest which resulted in the defeat of Martin Van Buren, and the election of General Harrison as President of the United States. The anxiety of the rival parties to attach the Mormons to their interests, was doubtless an important element in the peace and prosperity enjoyed by the Saints during this period.
But now a cloud, "a cloud no bigger than a man's hand," but that hand an inveterate foe to the Prophet and his people, appears upon their horizon. It is the forerunner of a storm, a storm which, though not bursting forth instanter, shall know no lull when once its fury breaks, till the blood of that Prophet has been shed, and another and a crowning exodus of that people-from the confines of civiliza- tion to the wilds of the savage west-shall have startled by its strangeness and awakened by its unparalleled achievement, a world's wonder.
On the 15th of September, 1840, the Governor of Missouri, Lilburn W. Boggs, made a demand upon Thomas Carlin, Governor of Illinois, for Joseph Smith, junior, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Parley P. Pratt, Caleb Baldwin and Alanson Brown, as fugitives from justice. The demand, it seems, was retaliative in its character. On the 7th of July, preceding, a party of Missourians had kidnapped four Mormons, namely : James Allred, Noah Rogers, Alanson Brown and Benjamin Boyce, whom they carried over the river to Tully, Lewis County, Missouri, tied them to trees and whipped them unmercifully.
Their excuse for their lawlessness and barbarity was that the Mormons had stolen from them. The valley of the Mississippi, at that time, was infested with thieves and rogues of every description ; preying upon all classes, the Saints included. Some of these thieves were probably Mormons, weak and wicked enough to thus retaliate upon those who had robbed them of their all. But the Mormon people were not given to thievery, nor was there any proof that the four men abducted and abused by the Missourians were guilty. They
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were in the river-bottom hunting horses, it is said, when the men of Tully, after recovering some stolen goods near Warsaw, twenty miles below Nauvoo, came upon and captured them.
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