, Letter, , Wayne Co., IL, to JS and , , Hancock Co., IL, 25 July 1840. Featured version copied [probably ca. Aug. 1840] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 169–170; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.
Historical Introduction
On 25 July 1840, wrote from his home in , Illinois, to JS and in , Illinois. Bennett, who had apparently first met JS and Rigdon in January 1832 in , Ohio, was a prominent military figure in . He had helped incorporate an independent militia unit in southeastern Illinois named the “Invincible Dragoons” and had more recently been appointed quartermaster general of the Illinois state militia. In this letter, Bennett expressed his interest in the ’ welfare and reminded JS and Rigdon that he had offered to assist the Saints during conflicts with their neighbors in northwestern two years earlier. Bennett also declared he intended to move to , Illinois, the following spring to join church members gathering there. JS responded to this letter on 8 August 1840.
The original letter is apparently not extant, but inscribed a copy in JS Letterbook 2, probably soon after JS received the original.
McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
Smith, Andrew F. The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
James Berry, Letter, 25 Apr. 1839, Governor’s Correspondence, Military Affairs, 1839, Illinois Governor’s Correspondence, 1816–1852, Illinois State Archives, Springfield; Bennett, History of the Saints, 14–15.
Illinois Governor’s Correspondence, 1816–1852. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
While he was not precise in dating events from this time of his life, Coray later wrote that he finished copying correspondence into JS Letterbook 2 before JS and Bennett began drafting Nauvoo’s city charter. (Coray, Autobiographical Sketch, 4–5, 19.)
Coray, Howard. Autobiographical Sketch, after 1883. Howard Coray, Papers, ca. 1840–1941. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2043, fd. 1.
The last time I wrote you was during the pendency of your difficulties with the Missourians. you are aware that at that time I held the office of “Brigadier General of the Invincible Dragoons” of this and proffered you my entire energies for your deliverance from a ruthless and savage, tho. cowardly foe; but the Lord came to your rescue and saved you with a powerful arm. I am happy to find that you are now in a civilized land, and in the enjoyment of peace, and happiness. Some months ago I resigned my office with an intention of removing to your town, & joining your people; but hitherto I have been prevented: I hope however to remove to and unite with your next spring. I believe I should be much happier with you. I have many things to communicate which I would prefer doing orally, and I propose to meet you in on the first monday in Dec. next as I shall be there at that time on state and ’ business.
If I remove to I expect to follow my profession, and to that end I enclose you a slip from the “Louisville [p. 169]
In another letter he wrote to JS two days later, Bennett again referred to this letter he wrote to JS—probably in early 1839—during the “Mormon War” in Missouri. However, no correspondence from Bennett to JS dated prior to this 25 July 1840 letter has been located. Bennett stated in this letter that he wrote the earlier letter while he was serving as brigadier general of the Invincible Dragoons—a position within the second Illinois militia division to which he was commissioned on 20 February 1839. By that time, the majority of the Saints had left Missouri for refuge in Illinois and Iowa Territory, but JS was incarcerated in Clay County, Missouri, awaiting trial on charges including treason against the state. (Letter from John C. Bennett, 27 July 1840; Bennett, History of the Saints, 14.)
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
Bennett presumably meant that he would have assisted the Saints in an advisory or personal role, because his Illinois militia position would not have allowed him to provide any military or institutional support.
Bennett was probably referring to the Saints’ removal from the hostile situation in northern Missouri and their settling in western Illinois and eastern Iowa Territory during winter 1838–1839, although he may have been referring to JS’s escape from jail in April 1839 and his subsequent relocation to Illinois.
A couple of months before being commissioned quartermaster general of the Illinois militia in July, Bennett resigned his position as brigadier general of the Invincible Dragoons. (John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 14 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Wasp, 18 June 1842, [3].)