Part 5: 1–15 May 1844

The first two weeks of May 1844 were a time of relative calm in the stormy final months of JS’s life. , who kept JS’s personal journal as his “private se[c]retary & historian,” wrote of JS spending “pleasant” days riding out on the prairie near , Illinois, to show land to prospective buyers, participating in meetings, preaching to the , and attending the theater. An undercurrent of continuing tensions with former friends and disaffected Saints, however, was also manifest in JS’s involvement in municipal court proceedings and courts-martial of officers.

Two of the documents featured in this section were written in verse. The first is a letter from Tennessee resident to JS. McCorkle came to the previous month to investigate the church and meet JS. Unable to visit with JS in person because his trip coincided with many church activities, McCorkle returned to Tennessee and wrote a lengthy letter of introduction, much of it in rhymed verse. The second document written in verse is a short poem that JS wrote to , a young woman visiting Nauvoo who had joined the church about two years earlier. Neff had brought with her an autograph book, and JS was one of several prominent Saints who wrote an inscription to her.

Eleven of the fifteen documents featured in this part are items of correspondence. In addition to the letter from , JS received letters from five other men who were not members of the church. wrote from , Arkansas, asking JS to send a preacher to the area to instruct him and others who were interested in learning more about the church. Bostonian sent a letter volunteering to support the memorial that apostle had presented to the Congress and offering his own military experience to assist JS should the memorial succeed. The other items of correspondence include a note asking for information about a lost horse, a letter of introduction, and a letter notifying JS that he was being sent a copy of a book containing an essay on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The two legal documents in part 5 reference the ongoing conflict between JS and a few other prominent residents. On 6 May 1844, JS petitioned the Nauvoo Municipal Court for a writ of because of his arrest on a complaint by . Although the relationship between the two men had been strained for a few years, the catalyst for this complaint was comments JS made about Higbee in a city council meeting in early January 1844. While investigating rumors about a conspiracy against JS and the church by member and Nauvoo president , JS made some comments that offended Higbee. Three days after preparing his petition, JS—acting as mayor in an unrelated case—issued an arrest warrant for for assault. Foster’s relationship with JS had similarly been tenuous for a few years, and he had recently been excommunicated by JS and other church leaders. On Sunday, 12 May 1844, JS delivered a public discourse defending himself from criticism by Francis M. and , Foster, the Law brothers, and other dissenters in Nauvoo.

In addition to the documents mentioned previously, part 5 includes correspondence from and , who reported on their electioneering missions for JS’s presidential campaign, and from , who apologized for his absence from a meeting. The section concludes with two letters from JS: one to Whig presidential candidate regarding Clay’s position on redress for losses church members sustained when they were expelled from and another to apostles and about their labors in .