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Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 22 June 1844

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Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 22 June 1844

Source Note

JS as mayor and lieutenant general, Military Order, , Hancock Co., IL, to , [, Hancock Co., IL], 22 June 1844. Featured version copied [ca. 22 June 1844]; handwriting of ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes docket, use marks, and notation.
Single leaf measuring 9⅝ × 7¾ inches (24 × 20 cm). The right side of the recto was irregularly cut, which suggests that the leaf was removed from a book or larger sheet. The letter was trifolded for filing.
The order was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. The document was copied into JS’s manuscript history in 1856 by Jonathan Grimshaw, who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1856. The order was possibly listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904. The graphite notation “AJ” was added to the document by Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. By 1973 this letter had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early docket, its inclusion in JS’s history, its possible listing in the circa 1904 inventory, its notation, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  2. JS History, vol. F-1, 140; Source Note for and Historical Introduction to History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1; see also Historian’s Office, Journal, 7 June 1853; and Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 30 Aug. 1856, in Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 364.

    Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.

    Historian’s Office. Letterpress Copybooks, 1854–1879, 1885–1886. CHL. CR 100 38.

  3. “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [4], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL. This inventory lists two undated letters to Jonathan Dunham under the year 1844. One of these could be referring to the order featured here. JS, however, wrote to Dunham on more than two occasions in 1844.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  4. Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.

    Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.

    Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.

    Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

  5. See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

Acting as both the mayor of , Hancock County, Illinois, and the lieutenant general of the , JS issued an order to acting major general on 22 June 1844 instructing him to prepare the city’s defenses. After receiving multiple reports that mobs hostile to him and the were organizing in , JS had taken steps to protect Nauvoo against mob violence. On 18 June he mustered the city’s militia, declared the city under martial law, and called for volunteers to come and help defend the city. On 19 June, JS instructed Dunham to place pickets along the roads leading out of Nauvoo as well as in the city’s streets and along the bank of the . JS also issued orders to obtain all the gunpowder and lead in the city and to distribute all the available weapons to those who could wield them. In addition, JS and others scouted to the south of Nauvoo along the river road. , who accompanied JS, reported that after some discussion, JS ordered that a company cut down trees and throw up a breastwork across the river road to prevent a mob attack from that direction.
On 20 June, JS, his military staff, and reconnoitered the prairie east of , looking for an advantageous place to fight a battle, and “laid out the manner of entrenching the City if it should be necessary.” This same day, JS “made arrangements to procure provisions for the inhabitants of the City,” and in the evening, he sent his brother and , the colonel of the First Regiment of the Second Cohort of the Nauvoo Legion, to visit all of Nauvoo’s stores to procure gunpowder. On 21 June, JS and his staff again went out to the prairie east of the city—this time to choose a location for the legion’s encampment. The following day, JS directed city marshal to buy all the cloth in Nauvoo’s stores to make tents for members of the legion to camp in. reported going to JS’s home that evening and “consulting on the best measures to be taken in case of attack.”
At 7:00 p.m. JS issued the featured order to instructing him to have the legion fortify the and to provide his men with tents so they could camp nearby. A historical sketch of the Nauvoo Legion written in 1845 elaborated on these written instructions, explaining that Dunham was to direct each regiment of the Second Cohort to work a three- or four-hour shift digging entrenchments the next day.
Later that night, at 10:00, church members and returned to carrying a letter from Governor . In his letter, Ford noted that he had heard reports that the n had “been ordered under arms to resist any attempt to arrest the persons accused” of committing during the Nauvoo Expositor’s destruction. Ford demanded that all the accused “submit in all cases implicitly to the process of the courts and to interpose no obstacles to an arrest either by writ of or otherwise.” After receiving this letter, JS decided to dismiss the legion early in the morning on 23 June. Consequently, JS’s 22 June order was never carried out.
The original order, presumably delivered to , is apparently not extant. At some point, made a copy of the order, which is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. See Historical Introduction to Mayor’s Order to John P. Greene, 17 June 1844.

  2. Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 17 June 1844; Proclamation, 18 June 1844; Discourse, 18 June 1844.

  3. Stout, “History of the Nauvoo Legion,” 19 June 1844.

  4. Albert P. Rockwood, Statement, 7 Sept. 1856, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

  5. Stout, “History of the Nauvoo Legion,” 20 June 1844; Albert P. Rockwood, Statement, 7 Sept. 1856, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL; JS, Journal, 20 June 1844.

    Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

  6. Stout, “History of the Nauvoo Legion,” 21 July 1843 and 20 June 1844.

  7. JS, Journal, 21 June 1844; William Clayton, Daily Account of JS’s Activities, 14–22 June 1844; Stout, “History of the Nauvoo Legion,” 21 June 1844.

  8. Stout, “History of the Nauvoo Legion,” 22 June 1844.

  9. Clayton, Journal, 22 June 1844.

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

  10. JS, Journal, 22 June 1844.

  11. Stout, “History of the Nauvoo Legion,” 22 June 1844.

  12. Richards, Journal, 22 June 1844.

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

  13. Letter from Thomas Ford, 22 June 1844.

  14. Letter to Thomas Ford, 22–23 June 1844; Richards, Reminiscences and Journal, 23 June 1844; Hale, “Account Keept of the Nauvoo Legion,” 23 June 1844; Stephen Markham, Fort Supply, Utah Territory, to Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 20 June 1856, [1]–[2], Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL.

    Richards, Samuel W. Reminiscences and Journal, ca. 1843–1845. Samuel W. Richards, Papers, 1839–1909. CHL. MS 1841.

    Hale, Jonathan. “An Account Kept of the Nauvoo Legion.” Jonathan Hale, Papers, 1835–1845. CHL. MS 3214, fd. 1.

    Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 22 June 1844
History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

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Copy
General Orders
Mayor’s office. & Head Quarters Of the .—
June. 22. 1844
To Col. ,)
Acting Major Gen Noo. Legion)
Sir.
You will proceed without delay, with the assistance of the Nauvoo Legion to prepare the back ground of said for defence against mobs an invasion by mobs; Cause the Legion to be furnished with tents; And make your encampment in the vicinity of your labors.
Joseph Smith— Mayor,
Of the city of , & Liut
Gen. of Nauvoo Ligeon.
Col. ,
Major Gen in Command,
Nauvoo, Legion
<​seperated.​> [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 22 June 1844
ID #
1430
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. TEXT: Insertion written vertically in left margin.

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