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Military Orders, 24 June 1844

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Military Orders, 24 June 1844

Source Note

, Military Order, , Hancock Co., IL, to JS as lieutenant general, , and , [, Hancock Co., IL], and JS as lieutenant general, Military Order, near , Hancock Co., IL, to and , [, IL], 24 June 1844; handwriting of and ; signature of JS; three pages; private possession. Includes notation. Transcription and physical description from digital images held at CHL.
Bifolium, apparently 4⅞ × 6¼ inches (12 × 16 cm). ’s order was written on the recto of the first leaf, and JS’s corresponding order and countersignature were written on the verso of that leaf. The return notation by was written on the recto of the second leaf, with the text running from bottom to top. The document was folded, probably for transmission. At some later time, the bottom part of the document was torn away, resulting in a loss of text. There is also wear along the folds and some holes in both leaves.
On 24 June 1844, governor gave this document to , commanding officer of the Augusta Dragoons, who delivered it to JS. After JS added his own order and carried out Ford’s order, Dunn added a return notation to Ford describing the arms that had been collected in . Dunn presumably returned the order to Ford on 24 or 25 June. At some point, likely during August 1844 or April–May 1846, the document came into the custody of . It apparently remained in the possession of the Woodruff family, passing to Woodruff’s great-granddaughter Fanny Louise Ensign Gunn, who was in possession of the document in 1961 when she allowed the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) to photocopy it. By 1968 the document had been sold to Goodspeed’s Book Shop Inc. in , which sold it that year to Hampton H. Trayner. Following Trayner’s death in 1972, ownership of the document transferred to his widow, Vera Eardley Trayner (later Lee). In 2001 she sold the document to a private collector in whose possession it currently remains. By 1973 the photocopy created in 1961 had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). In 2024, the document was loaned to CHL and digitized.

Footnotes

  1. Woodruff most likely acquired the document in Nauvoo. The only dates Woodruff was in the city between the time this document was created and the time he left Nauvoo with the Saints to travel to the Salt Lake Valley fell between 6 and 28 August 1844 and between 13 April and 24 May 1846, making either of those periods the most likely time for him to acquire the document. (Woodruff, Journal, 6 and 28 Aug. 1844; 13 Apr. and 24 May 1846.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  2. Gunn was born on 4 August 1898 to George Albert and Mary Catherine Woodruff Ensign. Mary was born to Fanny Lloyd and James J. Woodruff, a son of Wilford Woodruff. The photocopy was made on 16 June 1961. (“Provoan’s Mother Succumbs,” Daily Herald [Provo, UT], 1 Dec. 1966, 4; “Kin of Early LDS Leader Dies at Daughter’s Home,” Salt Lake Tribune, 13 Jan. 1961, 8B; Thomas Ford to JS, Jonathan Dunham, and Nauvoo Legion, Military Order, Carthage, IL; JS to Jonathan Dunham and Nauvoo Legion, Military Order, [near Carthage precinct], 24 June 1844, Provenance Note on Photocopy, JS Collection, CHL; Miller, Memorandum, 19 Sept. 1967.)

    Daily Herald. Provo, UT. 1873–.

    Salt Lake Daily Tribune. Salt Lake City. 1871–.

    Miller, Rowena J. Memorandum, 19 Sept. 1967. In Nauvoo Restoration, Inc., Corporate Files, 1839–1992. CHL.

  3. The document was sold to Trayner on 19 February 1968. (Goodspeed’s Book Shop, Purchase Order, Boston, MA, 19 Feb. 1968, private possession.)

    Goodspeed’s Book Shop. Purchase Order, Boston, MA, 19 Feb. 1968. Private possession.

  4. “Thursday Rites Held for Dr. Trayner,” Davis County Clipper (Bountiful, UT), 4 Aug. 1972, [5].

    Davis County Clipper. Bountiful, UT. 1892–.

  5. Vera Trayner Lee, Letter, Provo, UT, 1 Oct. 2001, private possession.

    Lee, Vera Trayner. Letter, Provo, UT, 1 Oct. 2001. Private possession.

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

Historical Introduction

On the morning of 24 June 1844, governor issued a military order in , Illinois, to JS, , and the demanding the surrender of all state arms held by the legion. The order was subsequently countersigned by JS in an order to Jonathan Dunham and returned to Ford with a notation by , commander of the Augusta Dragoons. In 1840 the state legislature had incorporated the city of , Illinois, and authorized city officials to establish the Nauvoo Legion, an independent unit of the state militia that was to be “at the disposal of the Governor for the public defence, and the execution of the laws of the State or of the .” The same incorporating act stipulated that the Nauvoo Legion was “entitled to their proportion of the public arms.” The legion evidently possessed at least some state arms by mid-1842, when its quartermaster general, , called in “all the public arms belonging to [the] Companies,” perhaps for redistribution. In September 1843 several city and legion officials sent a petition to JS, the legion’s commanding officer, requesting that he petition Governor Ford for additional state arms. Granting the petition, JS sent as his “appointed Agent” to Ford “to present the petitions of the Nauvoo Legion to draw public arms” from the state. While JS later “was pleasd” with the report of Phelps’s visit to Ford, it is unclear if the legion received additional arms from the state armory in the days or months following that meeting.
By 24 June 1844, determined that as commander in chief of the state militia he would make “a requisition upon the officers of the for the State arms in their possession.” Ford later reported that he did so in hopes of de-escalating the dangerous level of suspicion and fear between and those who opposed them in , Illinois. Popular rumors had greatly exaggerated ideas about the number of state arms in , suggesting that there were upwards of “thirty pieces of cannon and five or six thousand stand of muskets.”
Early in the morning of 24 June, issued the order to JS, the lieutenant general of the ; , the acting major general of the legion; and the legionnaires generally. He demanded that they surrender their state-issued weaponry to , a captain in the regiment of the state militia who was then acting as a colonel. Ford sent the order with Dunn that morning sometime before ten o’clock.
Around ten o’clock, while traveling from to , met JS and a large group of men near the farm of Latter-day Saints and Sally Hanford Fellows, approximately four miles west of Carthage. JS and his companions were traveling to Carthage to answer a charge of for their roles in the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor’s press on 10 June. Upon meeting at the farm, Dunn and JS went into the Fellowses’ home, where Dunn delivered ’s order to JS. On the second page of the document, JS emphasized the importance of following Ford’s order by issuing his own order instructing , who was with JS in the traveling party, and the other members of the to comply with the governor’s requisition. JS also wrote a letter to Ford informing him that he would return immediately to Nauvoo to ensure that the weapons were surrendered “proprly and without trouble to the state” before coming to Carthage.
JS and his company then returned to with , and JS immediately ordered that the arms be collected “without delay.” With the conflict—and the Missouri state militia’s confiscation of weapons from the Latter-day Saints before expelling them from the state—firmly in their memory, some of the Saints in Nauvoo were initially hesitant to obey JS’s orders. By six o’clock that evening, however, three cannons and 220 stands of arms had been collected. According to Latter-day Saint observer , Dunn and an unnamed gentleman made short speeches “expressing their gratitude at the peaceable conduct of the citizens of Nauvoo.” At some point, presumably soon after the arms were collected, Dunn wrote a return notation on the third page of the order, advising of the type and number of weapons turned in by the legion.
The document was presumably then carried back to by , who escorted JS to . The men arrived shortly before midnight on 24 June. Dunn presumably delivered the document to Ford soon after his arrival or early the next morning.
Because of damage to the document, portions of both ’s order and ’s return are missing. Because JS’s order is textually dependent upon Ford’s order, the two orders are featured together in the transcript. Dunn’s return notation is featured along with JS’s order.

Footnotes

  1. Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.

  2. “The First List of the Officers of the Nauvoo Legion, as Made Out by John C. Bennett. M. Gl.,” 1841, [1], Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL; Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, 13 Aug. 1842, 29. Soby again called in the public arms in May 1843. (Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, 20 May 1843, 32–33.)

  3. William W. Phelps et al. to JS, Petition, 9 Sept. 1843, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.

  4. Letter to Thomas Ford, 16 Oct. 1843.

  5. JS, Journal, 6 Nov. 1843.

  6. Ford, History of Illinois, 335.

    Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

  7. Ford, History of Illinois, 268, 336; see also “Joseph Smith Documents from 16 May through 28 June 1844.”

    Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

  8. Letter to Thomas Ford, 24 June 1844. JS’s company included other individuals named in the 11 June warrant for arrest on the charge of riot, as well as JS’s attorney James W. Woods and a few others. (See Letter to Thomas Ford, 23 June 1844.)

  9. Albert G. Fellows, “Historical Item 24 June 1844,” 30 Nov. 1854, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL.

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

  10. Letter to Thomas Ford, 24 June 1844. William Clayton specified that Dunn requested that JS and his companions return to assist in collecting the state arms. James W. Woods, one of JS’s attorneys, stated that “it was agreed by myself on behalf of Gen. Smith, that the order for the arms should be endorsed by Gen. Smith; and that he should place himself under the protection of Capt. Dunn, to return to Nauvoo and see the Governor’s order promptly obeyed and return with Capt. Dunn to Carthage.” (Clayton, Journal, 24 June 1844; James W. Woods, Statement, Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 30 June 1844, [1]; James W. Woods, Statement, Times and Seasons, 1 July 1844, 5:563; see also Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844.)

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

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  11. Clayton, Journal, 24 June 1844; Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844; Message of the Governor, 10. The number of arms collected reflects the number reported in a recent inventory of the legion’s state arms that Ford had requested. Wilson Law, who served as the legion’s major general before his disaffection from the church, reported that the Nauvoo Legion “had received three pieces of cannon and about two hundred and fifty stand of small arms and their accoutrements.” (Message of the Governor, 10.)

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

    Message of the Governor of the State of Illinois, in Relation to the Disturbances in Hancock County, December, 21, 1844. Springfield, IL: Walters and Weber, 1844.

  12. Clayton, Journal, 24 June 1844.

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

  13. Clayton, Journal, 24 June 1844; Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844.

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

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Military Orders, 24 June 1844
Military Order to Jonathan Dunham and Nauvoo Legion, 24 June 1844, Copy History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

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Head Quarters
June 24 1844
To Leiutenant Genl Joseph Smith & Major General and all commissioned and non commissioned officers and privates of the
Gentleman You are hereby ordered and directed to deliver to Col three pieces of cannon, with the carriages and other appendages together with all [page torn] [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Military Orders, 24 June 1844
ID #
1442
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Thomas Ford

Footnotes

  1. Thomas Ford handwriting begins.

  2. It is unclear why Dunn was referred to as a colonel in this document. At least as late as September 1843, Dunn held the rank of captain with the Augusta Dragoons, a unit in the state militia. However, given Dunn’s use of the rank of colonel in his return notation, it is possible that he was temporarily acting as a colonel during the June 1844 events in Hancock County. (Augusta Dragoons, Hancock Co., Illinois State Militia Commission Records, 1834–1855, vol. 17, pp. 86–87, Illinois State Archives, Springfield; Executive Record, 1843–1852, vol. 4, p. 133, microfilm 978,495, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Illinois Volunteers in the Mormon War, 41.)

    Illinois State Militia Commission Records, 1834–1855. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    Illinois Volunteers in the Mormon War: The Disturbances in Hancock County, 1844–1846. Compiled by Genie-Logic Enterprises. Palmer, IL: Genie-Logic Enterprises, 1997.

  3. The Nauvoo Legion evidently possessed at least one cannon in mid-1842, when the city council passed a resolution that the officers “make such Arrangements as they deem proper for the preservation of the Cannon belonging to the Nauvoo Legion.” In 1843 an inventory of the Nauvoo Legion Second Cohort listed the number of cannons in the legion’s possession as two. A September 1843 petition requested at least eight more cannons. Before writing this order, Ford received a more current estimate of the number of state arms in the possession of the Nauvoo Legion from Wilson Law, former major general of the legion, indicating that the legion had three cannons. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 19 May 1842, 83; “General Return of the Second Cohort or Brigade of the Nauvoo Legion of the Illinois Militia for the Year 1843,” CHL; William W. Phelps et al. to JS, Petition, 9 Sept. 1843, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU; Ford, History of Illinois, 336.)

    Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

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