The sheriff labored under a mistake. The steps now taken resulted, not in a demonstration of his authority, but in the final expulsion of all the Mormons from Illinois and Iowa.
General Hardin announced the coming of his force, which numbered about four hundred men, in a proclamation addressed "To the Citizens of Hancock County," dated September 27. He called attention to the lawless acts of the last two years by both parties, characterizing the recent burning of houses as "acts which disgrace your county, and are a stigma to the state, the nation, and the age." His force would simply see that the laws were obeyed, without taking part with either side. He forbade the assembling of any armed force of more than four men while his troops remained in the county, urged the citizens to attend to their ordinary business, and directed officers having warrants for arrests in connection with the recent disturbances to let the attorney-general decide whether they needed the assistance of troops.
But the citizens were in no mood for anything like a restoration of the recent order of things, or for any compromise. The Warsaw Signal of September 17 had appealed to the non-Mormons of the neighboring counties to come to the rescue of Hancock, and the citizens of these counties now began to hold meetings which adopted resolutions declaring that the Mormons "must go," and that they would not permit them to settle in any of the counties interested. The most important of these meetings, held at Quincy, resulted in the appointment of a committee of seven to visit Nauvoo, and see what arrangements could be made with the Mormons regarding their removal from the state. Notwithstanding their defiant utterances, the Mormon leaders had for some time realized that their position in Illinois was untenable. That Smith himself understood this before his death is shown by the following entry in his diary:—
"Feb. 20, 1844. I instructed the Twelve Apostles 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, and where we can build a city in a day, and have a government of our own, get up into the mountains, where the devil cannot dig us out, and live in a healthy climate where we can live as old as we have a mind to."*
The Mormon reply to the Quincy committee was given under date of September 24 in the form of a proclamation signed by President Brigham Young.* In a long preamble it asserted the desire of the Mormons "to live in peace with all men, so far as we can, without sacrificing the right to worship God according to the dictates of our own consciences"; recited their previous expulsion from their homes, and the unfriendly view taken of their "views and principles" by many of the people of Illinois, finally announcing that they proposed to leave that country in the spring "for some point so remote that there will not need to be a difficulty with the people and ourselves." The agreement to depart was, however, conditioned on the following stipulations: that the citizens would help them to sell or rent their properties, to get means to assist the widows, the fatherless, and the destitute to move with the rest; that "all men will let us alone with their vexatious lawsuits"; that cash, dry goods, oxen, cattle, horses, wagons, etc., be given in exchange for Mormon property, the exchanges to be conducted by a committee of both parties; and that they be subjected to no more house burnings nor other depredations while they remained.
The adjourned meeting at Quincy received the report of its committee on September 26, and voted to accept the proposal of the Mormons to move in the spring, but stated explicitly, "We do not intend to bring ourselves under any obligation to purchase their property, nor to furnish purchasers for the same; but we will in no way hinder or obstruct them in their efforts to sell, and will expect them to dispose of their property and remove at the time appointed." To manifest their sympathy with the unoffending poor of Nauvoo, a committee of twenty was appointed to receive subscriptions for their aid. The resignation of Sheriff Backenstos was called for, and the judge of that circuit was advised to hold no court in Hancock County that year.
The outcome of the meetings in the different counties was a convention which met in Carthage on October 1 and 2, and at which nine counties (Hancock not included) were represented. This convention adopted resolutions setting forth the inability of non-Mormons to secure justice at the hands of juries under Mormon influence, declaring that the only settlement of the troubles could be through the removal of the Mormons from the state, and repudiating "the impudent assertion, so often and so constantly put forth by the Mormons, that they are persecuted for righteousness' sake." The counties were advised to form a military organization, and the Mormons were warned that their opponents "solemnly pledge ourselves to be ready to act as the occasion may require."
Meanwhile, the commissioners appointed by Governor Ford had been in negotiation with the Mormon authorities, and on October 1 they, too, asked the latter to submit their intentions in writing. This they did the same day. Their reply, signed by Brigham Young, President, and Willard Richards, Clerk,* referred the commission to their response to the Quincy committee, and added that they had begun arrangements to remove from the county before the recent disturbances, one thousand families, including the heads of the church, being determined to start in the spring, without regard to any sacrifice of their property; that the whole church desired to go with them, and would do so if the necessary means could be secured by sales of their possessions, but that they wished it "distinctly understood that, although we may not find purchasers for our property, we will not sacrifice it or give it away, or suffer it illegally to be wrested from us." To this the commissioners on October 3 sent a reply, informing the Mormons that their proposition seemed to be acquiesced in by the citizens of all the counties interested, who would permit them to depart in peace the next spring without further violence. They closed as follows:—
"After what has been said and written by yourselves, it will be confidently expected by us and the whole community, that you will remove from the state with your whole church, in the manner you have agreed in your statement to us. Should you not do so, we are satisfied, however much we may deprecate violence and bloodshed, that violent measures will be resorted to, to compel your removal, which will result in most disastrous consequences to yourselves and your opponents, and that the end will be your expulsion from the state. We think that steps should be taken by you to make it apparent that you are actually preparing to remove in the spring.
"By carrying out, in good faith, your proposition to remove, as submitted to us, we think you should be, and will be, permitted to depart peaceably next spring for your destination, west of the Rocky Mountains. For the purpose of maintaining law and order in this county, the commanding general purposes to leave an armed force in this county which will be sufficient for that purpose, and which will remain so long as the governor deems it necessary. And for the purpose of preventing the use of such force for vexatious or improper objects, we will recommend the governor of the state to send some competent legal officer to remain here, and have the power of deciding what process shall be executed by said military force.
"We recommend to you to place every possible restraint in your power over the members of your church, to prevent them from committing acts of aggression or retaliation on any citizens of the state, as a contrary course may, and most probably will, bring about a collision which will subvert all efforts to maintain the peace in this county; and we propose making a similar request of your opponents in this and the surrounding counties.
"With many wishes that you may find that peace and prosperity in the land of your destination which you desire, we have the honor to subscribe ourselves,
"JOHN J. HARDIN, W. B. WARREN. "S. A. DOUGLAS, J. A. MCDOUGAL."
On the following day these commissioners made official announcement of the result of their negotiations, "to the anti-Mormon citizens of Hancock and the surrounding counties." They expressed their belief in the sincerity of the Mormon promises; advised that the non-Mormons be satisfied with obtaining what was practicable, even if some of their demands could not be granted, beseeching them to be orderly, and at the same time warning them not to violate the law, which the troops left in the county by General Hardin would enforce at all hazards. The report closed as follows:—
"Remember, whatever may be the aggression against you, the sympathy of the public may be forfeited. It cannot be denied that the burning of the houses of the Mormons in Hancock County, by which a large number of women and children have been rendered homeless and houseless, in the beginning of the winter, was an act criminal in itself, and disgraceful to its perpetrators. And it should also be known that it has led many persons to believe that, even if the Mormons are so bad as they are represented, they are no worse than those who have burnt their houses. Whether your cause is just or unjust, the acts of these incendiaries have thus lost for you something of the sympathy and good-will of your fellow-citizens; and a resort to, or persistence in, such a course under existing circumstances will make you forfeit all the respect and sympathy of the community. We trust and believe, for this lovely portion of our state, a brighter day is dawning; and we beseech all parties not to seek to hasten its approach by the torch of the incendiary, nor to disturb its dawn by the clash of arms."
The Millennial Star of December 1, 1845, thus introduced this correspondence:—
THE END OF AMERICAN LIBERTY
"The following official correspondence shows that this government has given thirty thousand American citizens THE CHOICE OF DEATH or BANISHMENT beyond the Rocky Mountains. Of these two evils they have chosen the least. WHAT BOASTED LIBERTY! WHAT an honor to American character!"
The winter of 1845-1846 in Hancock County passed without any renewed outbreak, but the credit for this seems to have been due to the firmness and good judgment of Major W. B. Warren, whom General Hardin placed in command of the force which he left in that county to preserve order, rather than to any improvement in the relations between the two parties, even after the Mormons had agreed to depart.
Major Warren's command, which at first consisted of one hundred men, and was reduced during the winter to fifty and later to ten, came from Quincy, and had as subordinate officers James D. Morgan and B. M. Prentiss, whose names became famous as Union generals in the war of the rebellion. Warren showed no favoritism in enforcing his authority, and he was called on to exercise it against both sides. The local newspapers of the day contain accounts of occasional burnings during the winter, and of murders committed here and there. On November 17, a meeting of citizens of Warsaw, who styled themselves "a portion of the anti-Mormon party," was held to protest against such acts as burnings and the murder of a Mormon, ten miles south of Warsaw, and to demand adherence to the agreement entered into. On February 5, Major Warren had to issue a warning to an organization of anti-Mormons who had ordered a number of Mormon families to leave the county by May 1, if they did not want to be burned out.
Governor Ford sent Mr. Brayman to Hancock County as legal counsel for the military commander. In a report dated December 14, 1845, Mr. Brayman said of the condition of affairs as he found them:—
"Judicial proceedings are but mockeries of the forms of law; juries, magistrates and officers of every grade concerned in the civil affairs of the county partake so deeply of the prevailing excitement that no reliance, as a general thing, can be placed on their action. Crime enjoys a disgraceful impunity, and each one feels at liberty to commit any aggression, or to avenge his own wrongs to any extent, without legal accountability.... Whether the parties will become reconciled or quieted, so as to live together in peace, is doubted.... Such a series of outrages and bold violations of law as have marked the history of Hancock County for several years past is a blot upon our institutions; ought not to be endured by a civilized people." *
Meanwhile, the Mormons went on with their preparations for their westward march, selling their property as best they could, and making every effort to trade real estate in and out of the city, and such personal property as they could not take with them, for cattle, oxen, mules, horses, sheep, and wagons. Early in February the non-Mormons were surprised to learn that the Mormons at Nauvoo had begun crossing the river as a beginning of their departure for the far West. "We scarcely know what to make of this movement," said the Warsaw Signal, the general belief being that the Mormons would be slow in carrying out their agreement to leave "so soon as grass would grow and water run." The date of the first departure, it has since been learned, was hastened by the fact that the grand jury in Springfield, Illinois, in December, 1845, had found certain indictments for counterfeiting, in regard to which the journal of that city, on December 25, gave the following particulars:—
"During the last week twelve bills of indictment for counterfeiting Mexican dollars and our half dollars and dimes were found by the Grand Jury, and presented to the United States Circuit Court in this city against different persons in and about Nauvoo, embracing some of the 'Holy Twelve' and other prominent Mormons, and persons in league with them. The manner in which the money was put into circulation was stated. At one mill $1500 was paid out for wheat in one week. Whenever a land sale was about to take place, wagons were sent off with the coin into the land district where such sale was to take place, and no difficulty occurred in exchanging off the counterfeit coin for paper.... So soon as the indictments were found, a request was made by the marshal of the Governor of this state for a posse, or the assistance of the military force stationed in Hancock County, to enable him to arrest the alleged counterfeiters. Gov. Ford refused to grant the request. An officer has since been sent to Nauvoo to make the arrests, but we apprehend there is no probability of his success."
The report that a whole city was practically for sale had been widely spread, and many persons—some from the Eastern states—began visiting it to see what inducements were offered to new settlers, and what bargains were to be had. Among these was W. E. Matlack, who on April 10 issued, in Nauvoo, the first number of a weekly newspaper called the Hancock Eagle. Matlack seems to have been a fair-minded man, possessed of the courage of his convictions, and his paper was a better one in, a literary sense than the average weekly of the day. In his inaugural editorial he said that he favored the removal of the Mormons as a peace measure, but denounced mob rule and threats against the Mormons who had not departed. The ultra-Antis took offence at this at once, and, so far as the Eagle was supposed to represent the views of the new-comers,—who were henceforth called New Citizens,—counted them little better than the Mormons themselves. Among these, however, was a class whom the county should have welcomed, the boats, in one week in May, landing four or five merchants, six physicians, three or four lawyers, two dentists, and two or three hundred others, including laborers.
The people of Hancock and the surrounding counties still refused to believe that the Mormons were sincere in their intention to depart, and the county meetings of the year before were reassembled to warn the Mormons that the citizens stood ready to enforce their order. The vacillating course of Governor Ford did not help the situation. He issued an order disbanding Major Warren's force on May 1, and on the following day instructed him to muster it into service again. Warren was very outspoken in his determination to protect the departing Mormons, and in a proclamation which he issued he told them to "leave the fighting to be done by my detachment. If we are overpowered, then recross the river and defend yourselves and your property."
The peace was preserved during May, and the Mormon exodus continued, Young with the first company being already well advanced in his march across Iowa. Major Warren sent a weekly report on the movement to the Warsaw Signal. That dated May 14 said that the ferries at Nauvoo and at Fort Madison were each taking across an average of 35 teams in twenty-four hours. For the week ending May 22 he reported the departure of 539 teams and 1617 persons; and for the week ending May 29, the departure of 269 teams and 800 persons, and he said he had counted the day before 617 wagons in Nauvoo ready to start.
But even this activity did not satisfy the ultra element among the anti-Mormons, and at a meeting in Carthage, on Saturday, June 6, resolutions drawn by Editor Sharp of the Signal expressed the belief that many of the Mormons intended to remain in the state, charged that they continued to commit depredations, and declared that the time had come for the citizens of the counties affected to arm and equip themselves for action. The Signal headed its editorial remarks on this meeting, "War declared in Hancock."
When the news of the gathering at Carthage reached Nauvoo it created a panic. The Mormons, lessened in number by the many departures, and with their goods mostly packed for moving, were in no situation to repel an attack; and they began hurrying to the ferry until the streets were blocked with teams. The New Citizens, although the Carthage meeting had appointed a committee to confer with them, were almost as much alarmed, and those who could do so sent away their families, while several merchants packed up their goods for safety. On Friday, June 12, the committee of New Citizens met some 600 anti-Mormons who had assembled near Carthage, and strenuously objected to their marching into Nauvoo. As a sort of compromise, the force consented to rendezvous at Golden Point, five miles south of Nauvoo, and there they arrived the next day. This force, according to the Signal's own account, was a mere mob, three-fourths of whom went there against their own judgment, and only to try to prevent extreme measures. A committee was at once sent to Nauvoo to confer with the New Citizens, but it met with a decided snubbing. The Nauvoo people then sent a committee to the camp, with a proposition that thirty men of the Antis march into the city, and leave three of their number there to report on the progress of the Mormon exodus.
On Sunday morning, before any such agreement was reached, word came from Nauvoo that Sheriff Backenstos had arrived there and enrolled a posse of some 500 men, the New Citizens uniting with the Mormons for the protection of the place. This led to an examination of the war supplies of the Antis, and the discovery that they had only five rounds of ammunition to a man, and one day's provision. Thereupon they ingloriously broke camp and made off to Carthage.
After this nothing more serious than a war of words occurred until July 11, when an event happened which aroused the feeling of both parties to the fighting pitch. Three Mormons from Nauvoo had been harvesting a field of grain about eight miles from the city.* In some way they angered a man living near by (according to his wife's affidavit, by shooting around his fields, using his stable for their horses, and feeding his oats), and he collected some neighbors, who gave the offenders a whipping, more or less severe, according to the account accepted. The men went at once to Nauvoo, and exhibited their backs, and that night a Mormon posse arrested seventeen Antis and conveyed them to Nauvoo. The Antis in turn seized five Mormons whom they held as "hostages," and the northern part of Hancock County and a part of McDonough were in a state of alarm.
Civil chaos ensued. General Hardin and Major Warren had joined the federal army that was to march against Mexico, and their cool judgment was greatly missed. One Carlin, appointed as a special constable, called on the citizens of Hancock County to assemble as his posse to assist in executing warrants in Nauvoo, and the Mormons of that city at once took steps to resist arrests by him. Governor Ford sent Major Parker of Fulton County, who was a Whig, to make an inquiry at Nauvoo and defend that city against rioting, and Mr. Brayman remained there to report to him on the course of affairs.
What was called at that time, in Illinois, "the last Mormon war" opened with a fusillade of correspondence between Carlin and Major Parker. Parker issued a proclamation, calling on all good citizens to return to their homes, and Carlin declared that he would obey no authority which tried to prevent him from doing his duty, telling the major that it would "take something more than words" to disperse his posse. While Parker was issuing a series of proclamations, the so-called posse was, on August 25, placed under the command of Colonel J. B. Chittenden of Adams County, who was superseded three days later by Colonel Singleton. Colonel Singleton was successful in arranging with Major Parker terms of peace, which provided among other things that all the Mormons should be out of the state in sixty days, except heads of families who remained to close their business; but the colonel's officers rejected this agreement, and the colonel thereupon left the camp. Carlin at once appointed Colonel Brockman to the chief command. He was a Campbellite preacher who, according to Ford, had been a public defaulter and had been "silenced" by his church. After rejecting another offer of compromise made by the Mormons, Brockman, on September 11, with about seven hundred men who called themselves a posse, advanced against Nauvoo, with some small field pieces. Governor Ford had authorized Major Flood, commanding the militia of Adams County, to raise a force to preserve order in Hancock; but the major, knowing that such action would only incense the force of the Antis, disregarded the governor's request. At this juncture Major Parker was relieved of the command at Nauvoo and succeeded by Major B. Clifford, Jr., of the 33rd regiment of Illinois Volunteers.
On the morning of September 12, Brockman sent into Nauvoo a demand for its surrender, with the pledge that there would be no destruction of property or life "unless absolutely necessary in self-defence." Major Clifford rejected this proposition, advised Brockman to disperse his force, and named Mayor Wood of Quincy and J. P. Eddy, a St. Louis merchant then in Nauvoo, as recipients of any further propositions from the Antis.
The forces at this time were drawn up against one another, the Mormons behind a breastwork which they had erected during the night, and the Antis on a piece of high ground nearer the city than their camp. Brayman says that an estimate which placed the Mormon force at five hundred or six hundred was a great exaggeration, and that the only artillery they had was six pieces which they fashioned for themselves, by breaking some steamboat shafts to the proper length and boring them out so that they would receive a six-pound shot.
When Clifford's reply was received, the commander of the Antis sent out the Warsaw riflemen as flankers on the right and left; directed the Lima Guards, with one cannon, to take a position a mile to the front of the camp and occupy the attention of the men behind the Mormon breastwork, who had opened fire; and then marched the main body through a cornfield and orchard to the city itself. Both sides kept up an artillery fire while the advance was taking place.
When the Antis reached the settled part of the city, the firing became general, but was of an independent character. The Mormons in most cases fired from their houses, while the Antis found such shelter as they could in a cornfield and along a worm fence. After about an hour of such fighting, Brockman, discovering that all of the sixty-one cannon balls with which he had provided himself had been shot away, decided that it was perilous "to risk a further advance without these necessary instruments." Accordingly, he ordered a retreat and his whole force returned to its camp. In this engagement no Antis were killed, and the surgeon's list named only eight wounded, one of whom died. Three citizens of Nauvoo were killed. The Mormons had the better protection in their houses, but the other side made rather effective use of their artillery.
The Antis began at once intrenching their camp, and sent to Quincy for ammunition. There were some exchanges of shots on Sunday and Monday, and three Antis were wounded on the latter day.
Quincy responded promptly to the request for ammunition, but the people of that town were by no means unanimously in favor of the "war." On Sunday evening a meeting of the peaceably inclined appointed a committee of one hundred to visit the scene of hostilities and secure peace "on the basis of a removal of the Mormons." The negotiations of this committee began on the following Tuesday, and were continued, at times with apparent hopelessness of success, until Wednesday evening, when terms of peace were finally signed. It required the utmost effort of the Quincy committee to induce the anti-Mormon force to delay an assault on the city, which would have meant conflagration and massacre. The terms of peace were as follows:
"1. The city of Nauvoo will surrender. The force of Col. Brockman to enter and take possession of the city tomorrow, the 17th of September, at 3 o'clock P.m.
"2. The arms to be delivered to the Quincy Committee, to be returned on the crossing of the river.
"3. The Quincy Committee pledge themselves to use their influence for the protection of persons and property from all violence; and the officers of the camp and the men pledge themselves to protect all persons and property from violence.
"4. The sick and helpless to be protected and treated with humanity.
"5. The Mormon population of the city to leave the State, or disperse, as soon as they can cross the river.
"6. 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.
"7. 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."
The noticeable features of these terms are the omission of any reference to the execution of Carlin's writs, and the engagement that the Mormons should depart immediately. The latter was the real object of the "posse's" campaign.
The Mormons had realized that they could not continue their defence, as no reenforcements could reach them, while any temporary check to their adversaries would only increase the animosity of the latter. They acted, therefore, in good faith as regards their agreement to depart. How they went is thus described in Brayman's second report to Governor Ford: *
"These terms were not definitely signed until the morning of Thursday, the 17th, but, confident of their ratification, the Mormon population had been busy through the night in removing. So firmly had they been taught to believe that their lives, their city, and Temple, would fall a sacrifice to the vengeance of their enemies, if surrendered to them, that they fled in consternation, determined to be beyond their reach at all hazards. This scene of confusion, fright and distress was continued throughout the forenoon. In every part of the city scenes of destitution, misery and woe met the eye. Families were hurrying away from their homes, without a shelter,—without means of conveyance,—without tents, money, or a day's provision, with as much of their household stuff as they could carry in their hands. Sick men and women were carried upon their beds—weary mothers, with helpless babes dying in the arms, hurried away—all fleeing, they scarcely knew or cared whither, so it was from their enemies, whom they feared more than the waves of the Mississippi, or the heat, and hunger and lingering life and dreaded death of the prairies on which they were about to be cast. The ferry boats were crowded, and the river bank was lined with anxious fugitives, sadly awaiting their turn to pass over and take up their solitary march to the wilderness."
On the afternoon of the 17th, Brockman's force, with which the members of the Quincy committee had been assigned a place, marched into Nauvoo and through it, encamping near the river on the southern boundary. Curiosity to see the Mormon city had swelled the number who entered at the same time with the posse to nearly two thousand men, but there was no disorder. The streets were practically deserted, and the few Mormons who remained were busy with their preparations to cross the river. Brockman, to make his victory certain, ordered that all citizens of Nauvoo who had sided with the Mormons should leave the state, thus including many of the New Citizens. The order was enforced on September 18, "with many circumstances of the utmost cruelty and injustice," according to Brayman's report. "Bands of armed men," he said, "traversed the city, entering the houses of citizens, robbing them of arms, throwing their household goods out of doors, insulting them, and threatening their lives."
Brockman's force was disbanded after its object had been accomplished, and all returned to their homes but about one hundred, who remained in Nauvoo to see that no Mormons came back. These men, whose number gradually decreased, provided what protection and government the place then enjoyed. Governor Ford received much censure from the state at large for the lawless doings of the recent months. A citizens' meeting at Springfield demanded that he call out a force sufficient "to restore the supremacy of the law, and bring the offenders to justice." He did call on Hancock County for volunteers to restore order, but a public meeting in Carthage practically defied him. He, however, secured a force of about two hundred men, with which he marched into Nauvoo, greatly to the indignation of the Hancock County people. His stay there was marked by incidents which showed how his erratic course in recent years had deprived him of public respect, and which explain some of the bitterness toward the county which characterizes his "History." One of these was the presentation to him of a petticoat as typical of his rule. When Ford was succeeded as governor by French, the latter withdrew the militia from the county, and, in an address to the citizens, said, "I confidently rely upon your assistance and influence to aid in preventing any act of a violent character in future." Matters in the county then quieted down. The Warsaw newspapers, in place of anti-Mormon literature, began to print appeals to new settlers, setting forth the advantages of the neighborhood. But a newspaper war soon followed between two factions in Nauvoo, one of which contended that the place was an assemblage of gamblers and saloon-keepers, while the other defended its reputation. This latter view, however, was not established, and most of the houses remained tenantless.
Amid all their troubles in Nauvoo the Mormon authorities never lost sight of one object, the completion of the Temple. To the non-Mormons, and even to many in the church, it seemed inexplicable why so much zeal and money should be expended in finishing a structure that was to be at once abandoned. Before the agreement to leave the state was made, a Warsaw newspaper predicted that the completion of the Temple would end the reign of the Mormon leaders, since their followers were held together by the expectation of some supernatural manifestation of power in their behalf at that time* Another outside newspaper suggested that they intended to use it as a fort.
Orson Pratt, in a letter to the Saints in the Eastern states, written at the time of the agreement to depart, answering the query why the Lord commanded them to build a house out of which he would then suffer them to be driven at once, quoted a paragraph from the "revelation" of January 19, 1841, which commanded the building of the Temple "that you may prove yourselves unto me, that ye are faithful in all things whatsoever I command you, that I may bless you and cover you with honor, immortality, and eternal life."
The cap-stone of the Temple was laid in place early on the morning of May 24, 1845, amid shouts of "Hosannah to God and the Lamb," music by the band, and the singing of a hymn.
The first meeting was held in the Temple on October 5, 1845, and from that time the edifice was used almost constantly in administering the ordinances (baptism, endowment, etc.). Brigham Young says that on one occasion he continued this work from 5 P.M. to 3.30 A.M., and others of the Quorum assisted.
The ceremony of the "endowment," although considered very secret, has been described by many persons who have gone through it. The descriptions by Elder Hyde and I. McGee Van Dusen and his wife go into details. A man and wife received notice to appear at the Temple at Nauvoo at 5 A.m., he to wear white drawers, and she to bring her nightclothes with her. Passing to the upper floor, they were told to remove their hats and outer wraps, and were then led into a narrow hall, at the end of which stood a man who directed the husband to pass through a door on the right, and the wife to one on the left. The candidates were then questioned as to their preparation for the initiation, and if this resulted satisfactorily, they were directed to remove all their outer clothing. This ended the "first degree." In the next room their remaining clothing was removed and they received a bath, with some mummeries which may best be omitted. Next they were anointed all over with oil poured from a horn, and pronounced "the Lord's anointed," and a priest ordained them to be "king (or queen) in time and eternity." The man was now furnished with a white cotton undergarment of an original design, over which he put his shirt, and the woman was given a somewhat similar article, together with a chemise, nightgown, and white stockings. Each was then conducted into another apartment and left there alone in silence for some time. Then a rumbling noise was heard, and Brigham Young appeared, reciting some words, beginning "Let there be light," and ending "Now let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Approaching the man first, he went through a form of making him out of the dust; then, passing into the other room, he formed the woman out of a rib he had taken from the man. Giving this Eve to the man Adam, he led them into a large room decorated to represent Eden, and, after giving them divers instructions, left them to themselves.
Much was said in later years about the requirement of the endowment oath. When General Maxwell tried to prevent the seating of Cannon as Delegate to Congress in 1873, one of his charges was that Cannon had, in the Endowment House, taken an oath against the United States government. This called out affidavits by some of the leading anti-Young Mormons of the day, including E. L. T. Harrison, that they had gone through the Endowment House without taking any oath of the kind. But Hyde, in his description of the ceremony, says:—
"We were sworn to cherish constant enmity toward the United States Government for not avenging the death of Smith, or righting the persecutions of the Saints; to do all that we could toward destroying, tearing down or overturning that government; to endeavor to baffle its designs and frustrate its intentions; to renounce all allegiance and refuse all submission. If unable to do anything ourselves toward the accomplishment of these objects, to teach it to our children from the nursery, impress it upon them from the death bed, entail it upon them as a legacy." *
In the suit of Charlotte Arthur against Brigham Young's estate, to recover a lot in Salt Lake City which she alleged that Young had unlawfully taken possession of, her verified complaint (filed July 11, 1874) alleged that the endowment oath contained the following declaration:—"To obey him, the Lord's anointed, in all his orders, spiritual and temporal, and the priesthood or either of them, and all church authorities in like manner; that this obligation is superior to all the laws of the United States, and all earthly laws; that enmity should be cherished against the government of the United States; that the blood of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and Apostles slain in this generation shall be avenged."
As soon as the agreement to leave the state was made, the Mormons tried hard to sell or lease the Temple, but in vain; and when the last Mormon departed, the structure was left to the mercy of the Hancock County "posse." Colonel Kane, in his description of his visit to Nauvoo soon after the evacuation, says that the militia had defiled and defaced such features as the shrines and the baptismal font, the apartment containing the latter being rendered "too noisome to abide in."
Had the building been permitted to stand, it would have been to Nauvoo something on which the town could have looked as its most remarkable feature. But early on the morning of November 19, 1848, the structure was found to be on fire, evidently the work of an incendiary, and what the flames could eat up was soon destroyed. The Nauvoo Patriot deplored the destruction of "a work of art at once the most elegant in its construction, and the most renowned in its celebrity, of any in the whole West."
When the Icarians, a band of French Socialists, settled in Nauvoo, they undertook, in 1850, to rebuild the edifice for use as their halls of reunion and schools. After they had expended on this work a good deal of time and labor, the city was visited by a cyclone on May 27 of that year, which left standing only a part of the west wall. Out of the stone the Icarians then built a school house, but nothing original now remains on the site except the old well.
The Nauvoo of to-day is a town of only 1321 inhabitants. The people are largely of German origin, and the leading occupation is fruit growing. The site of the Temple is occupied by two modern buildings. A part of Nauvoo House is still standing, as are Brigham Young's former residence, Joseph Smith's "new mansion," and other houses which Mormons occupied.
The Mormons in Iowa were no more popular with their non-Mormon neighbors there than were those in Illinois, and after the murders by the Hodges, and other crimes charged to the brethren, a mass meeting of Lee County inhabitants was held, which adopted resolutions declaring that the Mormons and the old settlers could not live together and that the Mormons must depart, citizens being requested to aid in this movement by exchanging property with the emigrants. In 1847 the last of these objectionable citizens left the county.
Two things may be accepted as facts with regard to the migration of the Mormons westward from Illinois: first, that they would not have moved had they not been compelled to; and second, that they did not know definitely where they were going when they started. Although Joseph Smith showed an uncertainty of his position by his instruction that the Twelve should look for a place in California or Oregon to which his people might move, he considered this removal so remote a possibility that he was at the same time beginning his campaign for the presidency of the United States. As late as the spring of 1845, removal was considered by the leaders as only an alternative. In April, Brigham Young, Willard Richards, the two Pratts, and others issued an address to President Polk, which was sent to the governors of all the states but Illinois and Missouri, setting forth their previous trials, and containing this declaration:—"In the name of Israel's God, and by virtue of multiplied ties of country and kindred, we ask your friendly interposition in our favor. Will it be too much for us to ask you to convene a special session of Congress and furnish us an asylum where we can enjoy our rights of conscience and religion unmolested? Or will you, in special message to that body when convened, recommend a remonstrance against such unhallowed acts of oppression and expatriation as this people have continued to receive from the states of Missouri and Illinois? Or will you favor us by your personal influence and by your official rank? Or will you express your views concerning what is called the Great Western Measure of colonizing the Latter-Day Saints in Oregon, the Northwestern Territory, or some location remote from the states, where the hand of oppression will not crush every noble principle and extinguish every patriotic feeling?" After the publication of the correspondence between the Hardin commission and the Mormon authorities, Orson Pratt issued an appeal "to American citizens," in which, referring to what he called the proposed "banishment" of the Mormons, he said: "Ye fathers of the Revolution! Ye patriots of '76! Is it for this ye toiled and suffered and bled? ... Must they be driven from this renowned republic to seek an asylum among other nations, or wander as hopeless exiles among the red men of the western wilds? Americans, will ye suffer this? Editors, will ye not speak? Fellow-citizens, will ye not awake?"*