The Story of the Mormons:

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We have seen that the gathering of the Saints at Nauvoo was an
idea of Joseph Smith, and was undertaken against the judgment of
some of the wiser members of the church. The plan, so far as its
business features were concerned, was on a par with the other
business enterprises that the prophet had fathered. There was
nothing to sustain a population of 15,000 persons, artificially
collected, in this frontier settlement, and that disaster must
have resulted from the experiment, even without the hostile
opposition of their neighbors, is evident from the fact that
Nauvoo to day, when fifty years have settled up the surrounding
district and brought it in better communication with the world,
is a village of only 1321 inhabitants (census of 1900).

Politics were not eliminated from the causes of trouble by
Smith's death. Not only was 1844 a presidential year, but the
citizens of Hancock County were to vote for a member of Congress,
two members of the legislature, and a sheriff. Governor Ford
urgently advised the Mormons not to vote at all, as a measure of
peace; but political feeling ran very high, and the Democrats got
the Mormon vote for President, and with the same assistance
elected as sheriff General Deming, the officer left by Governor
Ford in command of the militia at Carthage when the Smiths were
killed, as well as two members of the legislature who had voted
against the repeal of the Nauvoo city charter.

The tone of the Mormons toward their non-Mormon neighbors seemed
to become more defiant at this time than ever. The repeal of the
Nauvoo charter, in January, 1845, unloosened their tongues. Their
newspaper, the Neighbor, declared that the legislature "had no
more right to repeal the charter than the United States would
have to abrogate and make void the constitution of the state, or
than Great Britain would have to abolish the constitution of the
United States--and the man that says differently is a coward, a
traitor to his own rights, and a tyrant; no odds what Blackstone,
Kent or Story may have written to make themselves and their names
popular, to the contrary."

The Neighbor, in the same article, thus defined its view of the
situation, after the repeal:--

"Nor is it less legal for an insulted individual or community to
resist oppression. For this reason, until the blood of Joseph and
Hyrum Smith has been atoned for by hanging, shooting or slaying
in some manner every person engaged in that cowardly, mean
assassination, no Latter-Day Saint should give himself up to the
law; for the presumption is that they wilt murder him in the same
manner . . . . Neither should civil process come into Nauvoo till
the United States by a vigorous course, causes the State of
Missouri and the State of Illinois to redress every man that has
suffered the loss of lands, goods or anything else by expulsion .
. . . If any man is bound to maintain the law, it is for the
benefit he may derive from it . . . . Well, our charter is
repealed; the murderers of the Smiths are running at large, and
if the Mormons should wish to imitate their forefathers and
fulfil the Scriptures by making it 'hard to kick against the
pricks' by wearing cast steel pikes about four or five inches
long in their boots and shoes to kick with, WHAT'S THE HARM?"
Such utterances, which found imitation in the addresses of the
leaders, and were echoed in the columns of Pratt's Prophet in New
York, made it easy for their hostile neighbors to believe that
the Mormons considered themselves beyond the reach of any law but
their own. Some daring murders committed across the river in Iowa
in the spring of 1845 afforded confirmation to the non-Mormons of
their belief in church-instigated crimes of this character, and
in the existence and activity of the Danite organization. The
Mormon authorities had denied that there were organized Danites
at Nauvoo, but the weight of testimony is against the denial.
Gregg, a resident of the locality when the Mormons dwelt there,
gives a fair idea of the accepted. view of the Danites at that
time:--

"They were bound together with oaths of the most solemn
character, and the punishment of traitors to the order was death.
John A. Murrell's Band of Pirates, who flourished at one time
near Jackson, Tennessee, and up and down the Mississippi River
above New Orleans, was never so terrible as the Danite Band, for
the latter was a powerful organization, and was above the law.
The band made threats, and they were not idle threats. They went
about on horseback, under cover of darkness, disguised in long
white robes with red girdles. Their faces were covered with masks
to conceal their identity."*

* "History of Hancock County." See also "Sketches and Anecdotes
of the Old Settlers," p. 34.

Phineas Wilcox, a young man of good reputation, went to Nauvoo on
September 16, 1845, to get some wheat ground, and while there
disappeared completely. The inquiry made concerning him led his
friends to believe that he was suspected of being a Gentile spy,
and was quietly put out of the way.*

* See Lee's "Mormonism Unveiled," pp. 158-159, for accounts of
methods of disposing of objectionable persons at Nauvoo.

William Smith, the prophet's brother, contributed to the
testimony against the Mormon leaders. Returning from the East,
where he had been living for three years when Joseph was killed,
he was warmly welcomed by the Mormon press, and elevated to the
position of Patriarch, and, as such, issued a sort of
advertisement of his patriarchal wares in the Times and Seasons*
and Neighbor, inviting those in want of blessings to call at his
residence. William was not a man of tact, and it required but a
little time for him to arouse the jealousy of the leaders, the
result of which was a notice in the Times and Seasons of November
1, 1845, that he had been "cut off and left in the hands of God."
But William was not a man to remain quiet even in such a retreat,
and he soon afterward issued to the Saints throughout the world
"a proclamation and faithful warning," which filled eight and a
half columns of the Warsaw Signal of October 29, 1845, in which,
"in all meekness of spirit, and without anger or malice" (William
possessed most of the family traits), he accused Young of
instigating murders, and spoke of him in this way:--

* Vol. VI, p. 904.

"It is my firm and sincere conviction that, since the murder of
my two brothers, usurpation, and anarchy, and spiritual
wickedness in high places have crept into the church, with the
cognizance and acquiescence of those whose solemn duty It was to
guardedly watch against such a state of things. Under the reign
of one whom I may call a Pontius Pilate, under the reign, I say,
of this Brigham Young, no greater tyrant ever existed since the
days of Nero. He has no other justification than ignorance to
cover the most cruel acts--acts disgraceful to any one bearing
the stamp of humanity; and this being has associated around him
men, bound by oaths and covenants, who are reckless enough to
commit almost any crime, or fulfil any command that their
self-crowned head might give them"

William was, of course, welcomed as a witness by the non-Mormons.
He soon after went to St. Louis, and while there received a
letter from Orson Hyde, which called his proclamation "a cruel
thrust," but urged him to return, pledging that they would not
harm him. William did not accept the invitation, but settled in
Illinois, became a respected citizen, and in later years was
elected to the legislature. When invited to join the Reorganized
Church by his nephew Joseph, he declined, saying, "I am not in
sympathy, very strongly, with any of the present organized bands
of Mormons, your own not excepted."

By the spring of 1845 the Mormons were deserted even by their
Democratic allies, some three hundred of whom in Hancock County
issued an address denying that the opposition to them was
principally Whig, and declaring that it had arisen from
compulsion and in self-defence. Governor Ford, anxious to be rid
of his troublesome constituents, sent a confidential letter to
Brigham Young, dated April 8, 1845, saying, "If you can get off
by yourselves you may enjoy peace," and suggesting California as
opening "a field for the prettiest enterprise that has been
undertaken in modern times."

An era of the most disgraceful outrages that marked any of the
conflicts between the Mormons and their opponents east of the
Rocky Mountains began in Hancock County on the night of September
9, when a schoolhouse in Green Plain, south of Warsaw, in which
the anti-Mormons were holding a meeting, was fired upon. The
Mormons always claimed that this was a sham attack, made by the
anti-Mormons to give an excuse for open hostilities, and
probabilities favor this view. Straightway ensued what were known
as the "burnings." A band of men, numbering from one hundred to
two hundred, and coming mostly from Warsaw, began burning the
houses, outbuildings, and grain stacks of Mormons all over the
southwest part of the county. The owners were given time to
remove their effects, and were ordered to make haste to Nauvoo,
and in this way the country region was rapidly rid of Mormon
settlers.*

* Gregg's "History of Hancock County," p. 374.

The sheriff of the county at that time was J. B. Backenstos, who,
Ford says, went to Hancock County from Sangamon, a fraudulent
debtor, and whose brother married a niece of the Prophet Joseph.*
He had been elected to the legislature the year before, and had
there so openly espoused the Mormon cause opposing the repeal of
the Nauvoo charter that his constituents proposed to drive him
from the county when he returned home. Backenstos at once took up
the cause of the Mormons, issued proclamation after
proclamation,** breathing the utmost hostility to the Mormon
assailants, and calling on the citizens to aid him as a posse in
maintaining order.

* Ford's "History of Illinois," pp. 407-408.

** For the text of five of these proclamations, see Millennial
Star, Vol. VI.

A sheriff of different character might have secured the help that
was certainly his due on such an occasion, but no non-Mormon
would respond to a call by Backenstos. An occurrence incidental
to these disturbances now added to the public feeling. On
September 16, Lieutenant Worrell, who had been in command of the
guard at the jail when the Smith brothers were killed, was shot
dead while riding with two companions from Carthage to Warsaw.
His death was charged to Backenstos and to O. P. Rockwell,* the
man accused of the attempted assassination of Governor Boggs, and
both were afterward put on trial for it, but were acquitted. The
sheriff now turned to the Nauvoo Legion for recruits, and in his
third proclamation he announced that he then had a posse of
upward of two thousand "well-armed men" and two thousand more
ready to respond to his call. He marched in different directions
with this force, visiting Carthage, where he placed a number of
citizens under arrest and issued his Proclamation No. 4., in
which he characterized the Carthage Grays as "a band of the most
infamous and villanous scoundrels that ever infested any
community."

* "Who was the actual guilty party may never be known. We have
lately been informed from Salt Lake that Rockwell did the deed,
under order of the sheriff, which is probably the case."--Gregg,
"History of Hancock County," p. 341.

"During the ascendency of the sheriff and the absence of the
anti-Mormons from their homes," said Governor Ford,* "the people
who had been burnt out of their houses assembled at Nauvoo, from
whence, with many others, they sallied forth and ravaged the
country, stealing and plundering whatever was convenient to carry
or drive away." Thus it seems that the governor had changed his
opinion about the honesty of the Mormons. To remedy the chaotic
condition of affairs in the county, Governor Ford went to
Jacksonville, Morgan County, where, in a conference, it was
decided that judge Stephen A. Douglas, General J. J. Hardin,
Attorney General T. A. McDougal, and Major W. B. Warren should go
to Hancock County with such forces as could be raised, to put an
end to the lawlessness. When the sheriff heard of this, he
pronounced the governor's proclamation directing the movement a
forgery, and said, in his own Proclamation No. 5, "I hope no
armed men will come into Hancock County under such circumstances.
I shall regard them in the character of a mob, and shall treat
them accordingly."

*Ford's "History of Illinois," p. 410.

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.

CHAPTER XIX. The Expulsion Of The Mormons

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."*

* Millennial Star, Vol. XX, p. 819.

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.

* Millennial Star, Vol. VI, p. 187.

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:--

* Text in Millennial Star, Vol. VI, p. 190.

"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!"

CHAPTER XX. The Evacuation Of Nauvoo--"The Last Mormon War"

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." *