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Minutes and Discourse, 29 December 1843

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Minutes and Discourse, 29 December 1843

Source Note

Nauvoo City Council, Minutes, and JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL], 29 Dec. 1843; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, Nov. 1842–Jan. 1844, pp. 30–32; handwriting of ; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, Feb.–Dec. 1841.

Historical Introduction

At a special session of the , Illinois, city council on 29 December 1843, JS participated in the swearing in of the city’s new full-time police force and counseled them on their duties. Nearly three weeks earlier, on 12 December, and had delivered two petitions to the city council that called for the creation of a full-time police force to serve as “a more sure and certain order of guarding the peace and safety of the citizens of Nauvoo” following the kidnappings of and his father, . The city council granted the petition and passed an ordinance authorizing JS to create a police force of forty men charged with defending Nauvoo’s citizens, enforcing city ordinances, and preventing theft.
By 29 December, JS selected the forty men to serve on ’s police force. Many of the men he selected had significant military experience in the or state militias. Like other early nineteenth-century police forces, Nauvoo’s force adopted a military-like command structure, which was presided over by as captain and , , and as lieutenants. Roundy was a longtime member of the city’s night watch, and Dunham, Rich, and Stout were particularly active in Nauvoo’s military, legal, and extralegal responses to the Avery kidnappings. Additionally, before delivering the petitions to the city council, Stout and Dunham had participated in public meetings on 11 December calling for the creation of a police force.
The city council met at four o’clock in the afternoon on 29 December, and the forty policemen took their oath of office before the council. Alderman , mayor JS, and city councilor then addressed the council regarding the duties and importance of the newly formed police force. Along with charging them to prevent thefts and enforce city ordinances, JS counseled the police to leave Missourians and opponents of the alone and rely on legal means to defend the city, echoing rhetoric he began employing ten days earlier. JS also addressed internal threats, stating that he feared “a Brutus,” or false friend, more than his enemies abroad. After the speakers concluded, the council heard three petitions from city residents and then adjourned to its next regularly scheduled meeting on 13 January 1844.
However, the city council reconvened five days later in the first of several special meetings held in part to respond to the fallout from JS’s remarks and the police’s subsequent actions. After the police were sworn into office, rumors began to circulate in the city that the officers had taken a private oath to support and defend JS and oppose his enemies. Additionally, in describing JS’s remarks to others in , some of the police intimated or asserted that the Brutus mentioned by JS was either , his second counselor in the , or , the president of the , because of their opposition to plural marriage. Law and Marks confronted JS from 2 to 5 January 1844 in private meetings and in the special meetings of the city council, during which JS vigorously denied the reports. His journal thrice stated that there was “nothing at all” to the allegations.
, the city recorder, kept the minutes of the 29 December city council meeting in the city council’s rough minute book.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Historical Introduction to Ordinance, 12 Dec. 1843–B; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 12 Dec. 1843, 24; Nauvoo Second Ward, Resolutions, 11 Dec. 1843; Nauvoo Third Ward, Resolutions, 11 Dec. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; see also “Joseph Smith Documents from August through December 1843.”

  2. [2]

    Ordinance, 12 Dec. 1843–B.

  3. [3]

    The ordinance authorized JS as mayor to select the forty officers. One of the policemen, James Pace, later stated that he was “chosen a Policeman by Joseph Smith” directly. (Ordinance, 12 Dec. 1843–B; Pace, Autobiographical Sketch, 4.)

    Pace, James. Autobiographical Sketch, ca. 1861. James Pace, Papers, 1846–1861. CHL.

  4. [4]

    Dunham, Account Book, [91]–[93]. Stout noted on a June 1844 list of Nauvoo policemen that “the regular police . . . were mostly officers in the Legion.” (Thomas Bullock, Record of Events, 26 June 1844, [1], Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL.)

    Dunham, Jonathan. Account Book, 1825–1844. Jonathan Dunham, Papers, 1825–1846. CHL. MS 1387 fd 5.

    Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.

  5. [5]

    Other military offices listed in 1844 records and in JS’s history included ensigns, sergeants, corporals, musicians, pioneers, and privates. (Mitrani, Rise of the Chicago Police Department, 2–3; Dunham, Account Book, [91]–[93].)

    Mitrani, Sam. The Rise of the Chicago Police Department: Class and Conflict, 1850–1894. The Working Class in American History. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2013.

    Dunham, Jonathan. Account Book, 1825–1844. Jonathan Dunham, Papers, 1825–1846. CHL. MS 1387 fd 5.

  6. [6]

    As brigadier general in the Nauvoo Legion, Rich twice mobilized Stout’s regiment, on 9 and 19 December 1843, in response to orders from JS. On 18 December, Stout—though not a constable or any other legal officer—was chosen to attempt to arrest Levi Williams for his role in the Avery kidnappings. Dunham and Stout apparently led an attempt on 20–21 December to kidnap or otherwise interfere with witnesses in Iowa Territory planning to testify against Daniel Avery in Clark County, Missouri. (Notice, Wasp, 21 May 1842, [3]; Historical Introduction to Military Order to Wilson Law, 8 Dec. 1843; Charles C. Rich to Hosea Stout, Order, Nauvoo, IL, 9 Dec. 1843; Theodore Turley to George W. Crouse, Order, Nauvoo, IL, [19] Dec. 1843, in Order Book, 1843–1844, 13, 14–15, Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL; Historical Introduction to Petition from Aaron Johnson, 18 Dec. 1843; Historical Introduction to Military Order to Wilson Law, 18 Dec. 1843–A; JS, Journal, 21 Dec. 1843; Charles Shumway, Report, ca. 1843, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL; Jackson, Narrative, 15–19; see also Historical Introduction to Military Order to Wilson Law, 18 Dec. 1843–B.)

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

    Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.

    Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.

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

    Jackson, Joseph H. A Narrative of the Adventures and Experience of Joseph H. Jackson, in Nauvoo. Disclosing the Depths of Mormon Villainy. Warsaw, IL: By the author, 1844.

  7. [7]

    Historical Introduction to Ordinance, 12 Dec. 1843–B; Nauvoo Second Ward, Resolutions, 11 Dec. 1843; Nauvoo Third Ward, Resolutions, 11 Dec. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.

  8. [8]

    See Historical Introduction to Complaint, 18 Dec. 1843; and Clayton, Journal, 19 Dec. 1843.

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

  9. [9]

    See Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 13 Jan. 1844, 41.

  10. [10]

    Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 3, 5, and 10 Jan. 1844, 32–41.

  11. [11]

    Many of the police officers believed it was their duty to “guard the city and especially Br Joseph Smith,” and at least some of them favorably compared their organization to the Danites, a vigilante force that was created in 1838 to defend the church and the First Presidency. (Haight, Journal, [21]; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 3 Jan. 1844, 34–36; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 215–216; Jackson, Narrative, 16, 22; LeSueur, 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, 37–47.)

    Haight, Isaac Chauncey. Journal, 1852–1862. Photocopy. CHL. MS 1384.

    Lee, John D. Mormonism Unveiled. St. Louis, MO: Sun Publishing Company, 1882.

    Jackson, Joseph H. A Narrative of the Adventures and Experience of Joseph H. Jackson, in Nauvoo. Disclosing the Depths of Mormon Villainy. Warsaw, IL: By the author, 1844.

    LeSueur, Stephen C. The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1987.

  12. [12]

    Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 3 and 5 Jan. 1844, 32–40. In his journal, Law stated that he was told he was “suspected of being a Brutus, and consequently narrowly watched, and should any misconceive my motives my life would be jeopardized.” (Law, Diary, 2 Jan. 1844, in Cook, William Law, 38.)

    Cook, Lyndon W. William Law: Biographical Essay, Nauvoo Diary, Correspondence, Interview. Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1994.

  13. [13]

    Law, Diary, 2 Jan. 1844, in Cook, William Law, 38; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 3 and 5 Jan. 1844, 32–40; JS, Journal, 3–5 Jan. 1844.

    Cook, Lyndon W. William Law: Biographical Essay, Nauvoo Diary, Correspondence, Interview. Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1994.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 1 Mar.–31 Dec. 1843, 86a–89d *Minutes and Discourse, 29 December 1843 Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, November 1842–January 1844 Minutes, 29 December 1843, Partial Draft History Draft [1 March–31 December 1843] History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”
that our difficulties from the State of are hurled on us through the influ[en]ce of our neighbors around us.— the has boasted of being a law abiding man. it is our best policy to acquaint the by affidavits &c so that when the onset comes he will be obliged to send the militia to our support. [blank] Let us keep cool, as a cucumber in a frosty morning, [blank] say nothing about . Soft words turn away wrath “in the heart of a fool,” therefore <​we will​> Poor pussey this generation. [blank] keep time,— have the ordinances in possession and study them, & ferret out all brothels and disorderly conduct, and if a transgressor resists cuff his ears,— if any one lifts a weapon presents a pistol &c take its his life if need<​s​> be, take care of <​to save your​> yourselves <​own lives​>, Let no horse be taken away,— or any thing stolen.— Let alone, stay at home, if any man attempts to bribe you tell me, Let us have a reformation, [blank] the spe[c]ulators are in this & wanting to sell revolving pistols, to us to fight the Mo [Missourians] <​and the Mo’ to fight us,​> I think my life more in danger from some little doe head of a fool in this <​the​> than from all the volobulory [volubility?] of enemies abroad, and <​if​> I can escape the <​the hand of an as​> assassin of a Brutus I can live as <​like​> as <​might​> Caesar, <​have lived if he had not the been for a Brutus​>— I have <​have had​> pretended friends who have betrayed me as I am informed. Then Blessed the police,— it may be said in time to come where is our <​if​> old policemen— <​if you m[a]gnify your office,​> Let us have one of our policemen <​if you will magnify you[r] office​> shall be the blessing that shall be conforrd on you in time to come. if you wi
Counseller , spoke,— of the importance of the Police office,
The mayor said that if any one offerd a bribe to a poli[c]eman the will pay that Policeman twice the amount offered for the info[r]mation to be repo[r]ted to the mayor.
Petition of to have Licenc to retail Spirits read & ordered to be laid on the table.
Petition of & others, for openi[n]g a part of the street called Mulholland St— as far east as the corporations line [p. 31]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes and Discourse, 29 December 1843
ID #
13199
Total Pages
3
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:439–445
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [11]

    In a 12 December 1843 letter, Illinois governor Thomas Ford encouraged the Saints to support the law. Ford concluded by stating that he would only do what “the Const[it]ution and laws may require.” (Letter from Thomas Ford, 12 Dec. 1843.)

  2. [12]

    On 6 December 1843, a day after he learned about the Avery kidnappings, JS, acting in his capacity as mayor, obtained an affidavit describing the kidnappings and forwarded it to Ford, promising to “forward, as soon as they can be had all the facts relative to the case, as a suitable person will go immediately to the place and get the necessary affidavits.” JS sent another affidavit containing additional details to Ford on 11 December. Later in the month, JS and other justices of the peace received additional affidavits describing the kidnappings and subsequent events. JS’s clerk William W. Phelps forwarded these affidavits to the governor on 30 December. (Affidavit from Dellmore Chapman and Letter to Thomas Ford, 6 Dec. 1843; Letter to Thomas Ford, 11 Dec. 1843; Complaint, 18 Dec. 1843; Affidavit from Orson Hyde, 28 Dec. 1843; Affidavit from Daniel Avery, 28 Dec. 1843; William W. Phelps, Nauvoo, IL, to Thomas Ford, Springfield, IL, 30 Dec. 1843, JS Office Papers, CHL.)

  3. [13]

    See Proverbs 15:1.

  4. [14]

    At the previous city council meeting, on 21 December 1843, JS instructed the city marshal and proposed police force “to see that all carrion is removed, that all houses are kept in order,— stops boys fighting, prevent children floting off on the ice, correct any thing out of order; like a father.” (Minutes, 21 Dec. 1843.)

  5. [15]

    In the mid-1830s, gun manufacturers Samuel Colt and Ethan Allen manufactured and popularized handguns that allowed operators to fire repeated rounds using a rotating mechanism. Colt’s design included a revolving cylinder with a single barrel, while Allen’s consisted of multiple rotating barrels. Both manufacturers contracted with agents in St. Louis to sell their weapons, though Allen’s design was by far the more popular of the two during the early 1840s. (Garavaglia and Worman, Firearms of the American West, 95–104.)

    Garavaglia, Louis A., and Charles G. Worman. Firearms of the American West, 1803–1865. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984.

  6. [16]

    One newspaper editor defined dough-head as “a poor, silly, harmless creature, with hardly brains sufficient to keep his own fingers out of the fire.” The term was sometimes used synonymously with the related doughface, which meant someone whose allegiances or opinions were as easily malleable as dough. (Editorial, Republican Watchman [Monticello, NY], 9 July 1840, [2]; Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms, 397–398.)

    Republican Watchman. Monticello, NY. 1828–1861.

    Bartlett, John Russell. Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases, Usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States. New York: Bartlett and Welford, 1848.

  7. [17]

    In 44 BC, the Roman ruler Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated by several senators, including his “highly honoured companion” Marcus Junius Brutus. (See Plutarch’s Lives, 127, 137, 161, 163.)

    Plutarch’s Lives, Translated from the Original Greek: With Notes, Critical and Historical: and a Life of Plutarch. Translated by John Langhorne and William Langhorne. Baltimore: W. C. William and Joseph Neal, 1831.

  8. [18]

    TEXT: Possibly “of”.

  9. [19]

    TEXT: Richards apparently began to write “if you will magnify your office” before erasing the partially formed clause and making three attempts to insert it earlier in the paragraph.

  10. [20]

    Two and a half weeks earlier, on 12 December, the city council granted JS an exemption from the city’s temperance ordinance, allowing him “to sell, or give Spirits, of any quantity” to guests in the Nauvoo Mansion. Cahoon’s petition is not extant, but he was presumably requesting a license granting him a similar exemption. Cahoon previously ran a “grog shop” in Nauvoo that was declared a public nuisance in October 1841 by the Nauvoo City Council because it violated the Nauvoo temperance ordinance. The Nauvoo Legion destroyed the building at JS’s direction. (Ordinance, 12 Dec. 1843–C; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 23 Oct. 1841, 26–27; Pulaski Cahoon to the Nauvoo City Council, Petition, Hancock Co., IL, 1 Nov. 1841, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Historical Introduction to State of Illinois v. Eagle.)

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