Deming, Backenstos, and Robison were prominent citizens of Carthage who had been elected as county sheriff, state legislator, and county recorder, respectively. They were openly sympathetic to the Latter-day Saints and thus hated by the anti-Mormon faction. In a letter to Brigham Young three weeks earlier, Backenstos wrote, “I have stood boldly for the maintanance of your just rights for which I have been threatened with Extermination by a the Mobers of this County,” a reference to a recent attempt made by the Carthage Greys to force him from Carthage. Shortly after his election as sheriff the prior fall, Deming similarly informed his parents that the anti-Mormon “exterminators . . . threaten death to all who have enough daring or humanity to oppose them.” In December 1844 he stated that the anti-Mormons “have so long & often threatened me that I have become familiar with the talk of lynchings & death.” In July 1845 a letter published in the Illinois State Register stated that Deming “has been surrounded by enemies who have threatened to commit indignities of the most degrading kind upon his person for attempting to execute official duties when placed in his hands, and yet his worst enemies have never been able to establish any thing against his character in a moral or religious point of view, excepting that he is a Jack Mormon, or a man opposed to illegal violence against the Mormons.” Robison may have been similarly threatened at this time and certainly was later. When violence against the Latter-day Saints intensified in Hancock County in September 1845, he was targeted by the anti-Mormon mob and was “compelled to flee from Carthage with his family in order that their lives might be spared.” (Jacob B. Backenstos, Carthage, IL, to [Brigham Young et al.], 13 Apr. 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; Miner R. Deming, Carthage, IL, to Stephen Deming et al., Litchfield, CT, 22 Aug. 1844; Miner R. Deming, Springfield, IL, to Stephen Deming et al., Litchfield, CT, 22 Dec. 1844, Minor Rudd Deming and Abigail Deming, Papers, 1826–1849, Illinois History and Lincoln Collections, University Library, University of Illinois, Urbana, underlining in original; “Fatal Affray at Carthage,” Illinois State Register [Springfield], 4 July 1845, [2]; Jacob B. Backenstos, “Proclamation: No. 3,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 17 Sept. 1845, [3].)

Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

Deming, Minor Rudd, and Abigail Barnum Deming. Papers, 1826–1849. Illinois History and Lincoln Collections. University Library, University of Illinois, Urbana.

Illinois State Register. Springfield, IL. 1839–1861.

Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

On 12 April 1845 U.S. deputy marshal Peter Van Bergen arrived in Nauvoo to serve writs on over a dozen Latter-day Saints, including Brigham Young, for alleged unpaid debts. Following Van Bergen’s departure on 14 April 1845, John Taylor and William W. Phelps, the editors of the Nauvoo Neighbor, published several articles denouncing the recent events and warning that until the murderers of JS and Hyrum Smith were prosecuted, Latter-day Saints would oppose any attempt to enforce writs in Nauvoo—sentiments that the two men had expressed elsewhere, including in meetings of the Council of Fifty. A week later, the newspaper declared that the Saints would not recognize any “civil process” until the U.S. government compelled Missouri and Illinois to redress Mormon losses in those states resulting from “expulsion and the robbery from the one State and martyrdom and State plunder in the other.”

Several Illinois newspapers republished and condemned these editorials. The Warsaw Signal, a newspaper that stridently opposed the Latter-day Saints, cited these editorials as proof that “Mormonism has for its object and aim the subversion of all law and the establishment of a despotism founded on the will of the leaders of the Church.” The Sangamo Journal likewise warned, “Let these Mormons commit one new overt act, and they will realize these truths. There are one hundred men in this State, who would shoulder their arms to sustain the laws, and do ample justice to the offenders, where there is one who would support the Mormons.” Even the Illinois State Register, which often took a more sympathetic view toward the Saints, wrote, “If the people of Nauvoo follow such advice, it will cause them more trouble than they are aware of. The law is supreme, and must be obeyed. If the officer is resisted, it becomes his duty to report the fact to his superior; and, ultimately, if process could not be served otherwise, it would be done at the point of the bayonet of the U. S. troops.” (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 15 Apr. 1845; “The Old Tune,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 16 Apr. 1845, [3]; Letters to the Editor, Nauvoo Neighbor, 16 Apr. 1845, [3]; “Our Rights,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 23 Apr. 1845, [2]; “The Late Writs,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 23 Apr. 1845, [2]; “Important,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 23 Apr. 1845, [2]; “The Curtain Lifted,” Warsaw Signal, 30 Apr. 1845, [2]; “Mormon Threats!,” Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 8 May 1845, [2]; “Further Resistance of Law Advocated,” Illinois State Register [Springfield], 2 May 1845, [2].)

Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

Illinois State Register. Springfield, IL. 1839–1861.

The practice of whistling dissenters and others out of Nauvoo continued, though its support by church leaders had declined. On 4 May, only two days earlier, Brigham Young instructed the extralegal police force of bishops and deacons to “let every body alone, if they keep out of your path” and charged them to bring the “gang of boys running thro’ the Streets” under control, stating that “we will put a stop to such work.” On 13 April, Young had expressed similar concerns to the Nauvoo high priests quorum. After that meeting Young and other church leaders sought to mitigate or halt the actions of whistling companies on at least three occasions over the next several weeks. Nevertheless, Young and others continued to value the extralegal defenders of the city, noting that their actions were “more terrible than the police ever was, to our enemies.” (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1845; Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 4 May 1845; High Priests Quorum Record, 13 Apr. 1845; Letter to the Editor, 19 Apr. 1845, in Warsaw [IL] Signal, 23 Apr. 1845, [2]; Huntington, History, 105–106; Stout, Journal, 27 Apr. 1845.)

Historian’s Office. General Church Minutes, 1839–1877. CHL

High Priests Quorum Record, 1841–1845. CHL.

Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

Huntington, Oliver B. History, 1845–1846. Oliver Boardman Huntington, Papers, 1843– 1932. BYU.

Stout, Hosea. Journal, Oct. 1844–May 1845. CHL. MS 1910.