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Discourse, 16 June 1844–B

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Discourse, 16 June 1844–B

Source Note

JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL, 16 June 1844]. Featured version copied [ca. 16 June 1844] in JS, Journal, 1842–1844, bk. 4, p. [158]; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. Includes use mark. For more complete source information, see the source note for Journal, December 1842–June 1844.

Historical Introduction

On the afternoon of 16 June 1844, JS spoke to the in , Hancock County, Illinois, on preparing for and preventing mob violence against the city. After the of the press of the Nauvoo Expositor on 10 June, reports of mob activity reached Nauvoo almost daily. One report was likely related to a “mass meeting of the citizens of ” who assembled at , Hancock County, on 13 June and adopted a set of resolutions passed at a similar meeting held earlier in , Hancock County. One of these resolutions stated that Hancock County citizens intended “to co-operate with our fellow citizens in this State, and , to exterminate, utterly exterminate, the wicked and abominable Mormon Leaders.” Another resolution appointed a committee in Warsaw to drive Saints out of their town and recommended that nearby townships do the same.
On 16 June, JS preached to the Latter-day Saints in the morning, and in the afternoon, at 2:00, he met with visitors from , Iowa Territory, who came “to Enquire into our [the Saints’] difficulties.” In the meeting, JS and justified the decision to destroy the Nauvoo Expositor press. After this meeting JS returned to the in the east of the construction site, where he had delivered his morning sermon, and spoke before a gathering of “some thou[sa]nds” at 4:00.
In this afternoon speech, JS instructed citizens to prepare to defend the city. In mentioning this discourse, noted that JS ordered the acting major general of the , , “to have the Legion in readiness to suppress all illegal violence in the City.” In an attempt to curb potential mob violence against the Saints, JS also called for delegates to visit nearby towns to explain the reasons behind the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor’s press and affirm that Nauvoo was a peaceful city.
That evening, chaired a public meeting that selected these delegates. JS’s diplomatic efforts on 16 June also included issuing a proclamation justifying the destruction of the Expositor’s press and composing a letter inviting governor and his staff to travel to to restore peace.
JS’s private secretary, , included an account of JS’s discourse in JS’s journal entry for 16 June. In Richards’s personal journal entry for 16 June, he noted that he wrote in the evening, and it could have been at this time that he inscribed the account featured here.

Footnotes

  1. Mayor’s Order to Nauvoo City Marshal, 10 June 1844; JS, Journal, 11 and 15 June 1844; Clayton, Journal, 11 and 15 June 1844; William Clayton, Daily Account of JS’s Activities, 14–22 June 1844.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  2. JS, Journal, 13 June 1844; Warsaw (IL) Signal, Extra, 14 June 1844, [1].

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  3. Discourse, 16 June 1844–A; JS, Journal, 16 June 1844; William Clayton, Daily Account of JS’s Activities, 14–22 June 1844.

  4. Historical Introduction to Discourse, 16 June 1844–A; JS, Journal, 16 June 1844; William Clayton, Daily Account of JS’s Activities, 14–22 June 1844.

  5. Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 10 June 1844; William Clayton, Daily Account of JS’s Activities, 14–22 June 1844. Sometime on 16 June, possibly in the evening, church member Thomas Wilson swore an affidavit indicating that an interstate mob, which included 1,500 Missourians, was gathering in Hancock County to harass church members in various branches and to destroy Nauvoo and kill its citizens if JS, Hyrum Smith, and other city leaders did not surrender. Clayton concluded his 16 June entry in his private journal by writing that “considerable excitement prevails in consequence of the threats of the mobocrats.” (Thomas Wilson, Affidavit, Nauvoo, IL, 16 June 1844, JS Office Papers, CHL; Richards, Journal, 16 June 1844; JS, Journal, 16 June 1844; Clayton, Journal, 16 June 1844; see also Rogers, “Federalism, Interstate Affairs, and Joseph Smith’s Final Attempt to Secure Federal Intervention in Nauvoo,” 159–165.)

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Rogers, Brent M. “‘Armed Men Are Coming from the State of Missouri’: Federalism, Interstate Affairs, and Joseph Smith’s Final Attempt to Secure Federal Intervention in Nauvoo.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 109, no. 2 (Summer 2016): 148–179.

  6. Delegates were assigned to travel to Warsaw, Rocky Run, Carthage, Lima, La Harpe, Pilot Grove, Spilman’s Landing, Appanoose, St. Mary’s, Chili, Fountain Green, Macedonia, Augusta, and Plymouth. (“Public Meeting,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1]; “Public Meeting,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 19 June 1844, [3]; see also Anson Call et al., Affidavit, Nauvoo, IL, 19 June 1844, Thomas Bullock First Copy, JS Office Papers, CHL.)

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  7. Proclamation, 16 June 1844; Letter to Thomas Ford, 16 June 1844.

  8. JS, Journal, 16 June 1844. Richards used different methods to record entries in JS’s journal. William Clayton, another secretary to JS, also noted that JS spoke but did not attempt to capture any of JS’s words. (Willard Richards, Draft Notes of JS’s Activities, 1842, 1844; Historical Introduction to Journal, Dec. 1842–June 1844; Historical Introduction to Discourse, 4 July 1843; William Clayton, Daily Account of JS’s Activities, 14–22 June 1844.)

  9. Richards, Journal, 16 June 1844.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Discourse, 16 June 1844–B
Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 4, 1 March–22 June 1844 History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [158]

inst[r]ucted them to keep cool prepare their arms for def[e]nce of the . as it was reported a mob was collecting at . &c— be qui[e]t.— make no distubnce [disturbance].— instuted [instructed] the meeting to orga[n]ize— & send delegates to all the surroudig [surrounding] tow[n]s and villages— & explain th[e] cause of the disturban[ce] and show them all was peace at & no caus[e] for mobs—— [p. [158]]
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Source Note

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Page [158]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, 16 June 1844–B
ID #
1404
Total Pages
1
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. Throughout the prior week, JS offered counsel, in public and in private, about responding to threats from vigilantes. On 11 June he instructed William W. Phelps to write a proclamation to Nauvoo, Illinois, citizens, which appeared in the 12 June issue of the city newspaper. The proclamation enjoined citizens to curb attempts “to disgrace and dishonor the city” by “unprincipled men” and admonished them “to keep the peace, by being cool, considerate, virtuous, unoffending, manly and patriotic.” Also on 11 June, JS spoke “on passing evensts [events],” saying that “I was ready to fight if the mob would compel me to.” To a small group, JS prophesied about his enemies, declaring that “if they did mob us it would be a precedent to come down upon their own heads with fury and vengeance.” On 15 June, JS advised that members of the church in Lima should resist—even to death—mob pressure to relinquish their arms. To another group he declared that if a mob attacked Nauvoo, the Saints would respond peacefully by reporting the violence to Thomas Ford, the Illinois governor. (Proclamation, 11 June 1844; JS, Journal, 11 June 1844; William Clayton, Daily Account of JS’s Activities, 14–22 June 1844; see also JS, Journal, 15 June 1844; and Clayton, Journal, 15 June 1844.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.